Civic groups and TT’s future

Then there are other longer-established groups, such as Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), which is concerned with environmental issues. There is Vision on Mission (VOM), which helps ex-prisoners be re-integrated into the society. There is the Global Organisation for People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), whose latest cause is the revamping of the National Awards. The Constitution Reform Forum has a self-explanatory title. And the list keeps growing.

The existence of such groups reflects both a negative and positive development. On the negative side, citizens have begun to take such action because of a loss of faith in the Government. That loss has moved beyond mere exasperation at government’s inability to perform its basic functions efficiently — building infrastructure, supplying water and electricity, enforcing law and order — to an attitude that professional politicians are the worse people to create a developed country. However, such views of the government are hardly new. So the positive aspect of this recent flourishing of civic groups is that they may reflect a new social conscience on the part of citizens, especially elite citizens who are no longer comfortable with the status quo which has given them wealth and success.

The latest organisation to appear on the scene is the Committee for Transformation and Progress (C4TAP), which styles itself as a political action group but not a political party. The organisation, which was launched on Saturday at Crowne Plaza, has "political transformation" as its main agenda. Within this context, it wants discussion on State reform, development of the onshore economy, and arresting the crime wave. The C4TAP group plans to hold discussions on various hot-button issues over the next few months.

Whether it will become a political party remains an open question, but no doubt we shall be seeing a few more specifically political organisations springing up within the next few years.

Some of these groups may make a positive difference, others may have pernicious effects, most will have no impact at all. In the long run, however, it is important that this trend continues. All advanced societies have progressed by the action of citizens’ groups. It is such groups, not governments, which raise civic consciousness, and it is that consciousness which truly maintains social and political stability. What we are seeing now in our society is not a new development, in the sense that such groups have existed since the late 19th century and were especially active in the 1930s. But clearly we are at a crucial juncture in our history, and whether the country fails or succeeds may well hinge on how effective the present crop of civic organisations are.