A lot of people don’t understand what the purpose of the People’s Association (PA) is, what the grassroots leaders in PA do, and who are these people.
Lai, let lao niang explain to you so you can explain to your friends and family during gatherings and flex that you got a lot of knowledge.
What is the purpose of the People’s Association (PA) and who are the grassroots leaders?
The PA was set up on 1 July 1960, even before Singapore became independent. The purpose of PA is to bring the Gahmen closer to the people. And grassroots leaders are volunteers appointed by the PA to serve in various grassroots organisations (GROs).
As of October 2022, there are about 38,000 grassroots leaders.
What do grassroots leaders do?
Grassroots leaders are not there to grow grass. But instead, they help to bring the people and Gahmen closer.
They help the Gahmen to gather feedback from residents, implement the Gahmen’s social programmes and also help to explain Gahmen policies to residents so that people understand why these policies are set in place.
So hor, PA is just like any other statutory board of the Gahmen of Singapore, they are autonomous organisations that have been tasked to carry out operational functions by legal statutes passed as Acts in the Parliament of Singapore.
A bit like prefects in school, if the discipline master asks you to catch people who never tuck in their shirts, you also bo bian cannot say no because it’s a direction from the discipline master and the school rule.
On top of carrying out the tasks the Gahmen ask them to do, they also do a lot of sai gangs good work like helping the Gahmen to distribute masks, hand sanitsers, care packs, set up the vaccination centres, and make sure the operations run smoothly, etc, and more recently the distribution of Community Development Council (cdc) vouchers.
Who can become grassroots leaders leh? Is it only PAP supporters can be grassroots leaders?
The answer is no.
Many of the grassroots leaders are volunteers, which means they are commoners like you and me who step up to serve, without expecting any returns. Come from the heart one ya.
In other words, your ah gong, ah ma, father, mother, sister, brother, hambaanglaang, everyone and anyone (INCLUDING OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS) can become a grassroots leader, as long as you got the passion to serve, help others and contribute to the community.
Even if you are a Worker’s Party (WP) supporter, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) supporter, Rave Party, or Pizza Party supporter, you CAN join the PA and become a grassroots leader. Nobody is stopping you ya, you can just go and volunteer yourself.
