For Want of a Better Title

Civil Society should stay above the fray

SDP has called for a civil society alliance with the Opposition (no prizes for guessing which party they had in mind), but I beg to differ.

I am a firm believer in civil society, and they act to fill in gaps where the political parties cannot. I also believe that civil society groups should work with political parties to bring about their goals, but there should not be an alliance. An alliance means being tied to one another and coming to aid each other in time of need. That defeats the point of being a civil society organisation. Governments come and go, and sometimes to achieve a goal it may be necessary to work with the party in power. If one is associated with a certain political party, then one can only ride the coattails of that party to get things done.

Also Ms Chee has pointed out civil society organisations must speak out against government abuse. Working too closely with an opposition party that could become the government party some day makes it difficult then to criticise that ally’s abuse of governmental power.

So my advice to all CSOs is to stick to an independent line and work with whomever the situation calls for. Alliances can be a dangerous thing if one is not careful.