By: Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Parliamentary Secretary For Health And Community Development, Youth And Sports
29 January 2005, 3.00pm at the Atrium @ Orchard
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good afternoon
It gives me great pleasure to be with you this afternoon to launch eGen - Singapore's first local youth blog community with an e counselling component.
The Internet has become a vital part of our lives. From disseminating simple information, we have moved to using the Internet to simplify our work, carry out everyday transactions such as banking or shopping and even engage in online learning. The young in particular are at the vanguard of new and innovative Internet usage.
Those of us who work with young people need to understand these trends. Many of these developments may present challenges to us and we need to equip ourselves if we are to continue engaging the young. But certainly, there are also many opportunities for us to capitalise on them.
Blogs, or online journals or diaries, is one phenomenon that is becoming popular among youth today. The youth agency under Fei Yue Community Services, Project 180 (Youth Services) recognising this trend, came up with the concept for eGen slightly more than a year ago. Based on their awareness of the popularity of blogs overseas and their interaction with Internet-savvy Singaporean youth, they came up with ideas of using blogs to engage young people and social workers and counsellors providing e counselling services to youth who need guidance.
With the support of the Community Chest and the National Council of Social Service, the Team turned their idea into reality in April last year. In less than 10 months, the site has reached more than 700 young bloggers. This is a notable achievement!
Well, I was one of them. I started blogging a couple of days ago for the first time. What greeted my first blog was a string of welcoming comments from young people. I even had a quick tutorial of how to use the blogging system. One thing that was unfair though was that they know who I am but I do not know them. But that's ok. What is important is that I get to see first hand what young people are up to.
There were several observations that impressed me about the site :
- One, young people need an outlet to write their thoughts and feelings.
- Two, young people can really write their thoughts and feelings. They feel comfortable and see the avenue as a way of ventilating their thoughts.
- Three, there is a community of support providers in cyberspace! This is excellent as young people feel supported for the challenges/problems that they are facing. I think this is where I would commend again Project 180's initiative of having online counsellors/social workers be part of the blogging community.
- Four, young people stay up late at night! I started blogging at 12 midnight and by 2 am they are still up blogging!!! They really have energy!
- Five, avenues like this is an excellent opportunity for parents to understand issues that young people are struggling with. I urge parents to visit such sites and view for themselves so that they get a better appreciation of young people, like I did. But my advice, do not patronise the young people. Respect them for who they are and for their thoughts and feelings. They must be commended for their willingness to share them openly with others. Engage them positively with appreciation and respect.
But as we all know, cyber space is in itself not without problems. We have heard stories of how young people fall prey to internet perpetrators. Here I think peer monitoring is critical. As bloggers, you need to support one another and look out for one another to prevent anyone falling victim of ill-intent individuals.
I would like to commend Project 180 (Youth Services) for recognising our emerging youth trends and taking the initiative to leverage on them to connect with our Youth. I hope that many other youth agencies will likewise find new and innovative ways to reach out to our youth. I wish Project 180 (Youth Services) and its community of young bloggers continued success with eGen.
Thank you.
MCYS SPEECH NO: 04/2005
DATE OF ISSUE: 29/01/2005