Examining the political awakening of Singaporeans: a satirical book aspiring to drive deeper reflection and actions.

• Main Author: Chee, Panna Tien Hui.
• Other Authors: Michael Thaddeus Tan Koon Boon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::History::Asia::Singapore::Politics and government; DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Design::Industry; DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Print media; DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Drawing, design and illustration; DRNTU::Visual arts and music::General::Social aspects
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48783
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The General Election 2011 has been widely coined a “watershed election”. Many social issues were fiercely debated online and it was touted that the social media played a significant role in causing vote swings against the PAP. While many hailed this the political awakening of Singaporeans, there are reports that suggest the claims on social media promoting high degree of political / social issue engagement to be over-exaggerated. A 2011 survey by Institute of Policy Studies revealed that though Singaporeans are consuming more political content, political participation remains low. Offline or on-the ground involvement by Singaporeans to bring real social changes tend to be much muter in comparison to the fiery discussions online. Findings in this disparity between words and actions sparked off interest in developing “Singapore Salah Lah: Singaboy’s Survival Guide to Combating Floods, Train Breakdowns and Other Hullabaloos”, a book aimed at triggering reflection among Singaporeans to push for more action in social activism. This report describes in detail the design premises and approach, and provides reflection on the development process of the book. The end product is a graphical satire that pokes fun at social anxiety and questions political and social motivations. In part inspired by “Ig Nobel Prizes”, an American parody of the Nobel Prizes, and Singapore’s TV very own parody programme, the Noose, this project seeks to get Singaporeans to first laugh at themselves then ponder the next step forward in contributing to positive social changes. In the words of Issac Asimov, the famous science fiction writer, it is hoped that humour can “do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy and literature than any number of dull arguments”.