It’s Monday again and we’re into our last few days before the big event on Saturday – the inaugural session of the National Youth Assembly! This writer has unfortunately been under the weather of late, but all is well now and we have your weekly updates ready to go!
What Happened?
Over the past two weeks, the bills were completed and submitted to the Office of the Chairman for final approval before being allowed to be tabled in parliament. Having come up with the final versions of their bills and searched the streets for signatures to ensure that their ideas have sufficient public backing – our MYA’s have geared up for the final 5 days before their inaugural session at the Old Parliament House. On top of all the final preparations that they’ve been making, the MYA’s were introduced to the Speaker of Parliament, Haresh Sivaram. Haresh spent half a year working in Parliament and couldn’t be better equipped to oversee our inaugural session. Having introduced himself, the Speaker went on to clearly indicate his expectations for our MYA’s, especially in the importance of maintaining decorum during their youthful discourse.
Post-introductions, there was serious business as there was a final pick of the 5 bills that would be debated during the 2 day assembly. This was after both sides of the Assembly and the YOC came to an agreement that pursuing new bills on the area of water was not required as Singapore has already looked into safeguarding its future when it comes to Water. The Government will be sponsoring bills on Food and Shelter while the areas of Biodiversity and Energy will be fronted by the Opposition. To see what happens in the area of Waste, you’ll have to come down on the day itself! So remember to head on down to the Old Parliament House on the 1st and 2nd of August to see what the future policy makers of Singapore have in mind for our sustainable future.
What’s Happening this Week?
Final discussions within parties and preparations for Saturday will be what both sides will be focussing on, but on Tuesday, there will be a meeting with the YOC to decide the order in which bills are read in the Assembly. Apart from that, its all down to the first weekend of August – 51 youth parliamentarians mirroring the 51 seats occupied by our first parliamentarians 50 years ago and its all only 5 days away. So this is an open invitation to everyone out there to be witness to the creativity of their ideas, the intensity of their determination and the results of their hard labour over the past months – join us at the Old Parliament House for the first ever National Youth Assembly!
What’s Up Next Week?
The aftermath of the NYA will slowly start to sink in as our MYAs take a short breather after months of hard work, but only a short breather as the focus will soon come back to relooking bills after public opinion has weighed in. Then the task of getting feedback and constructive criticism from policy-makers will come into play with our MYAs continuing in their endeavours to see their bills refined continously till they find them in a manner that becomes presentable to our decision makers in government.
