A new web site, www.p65.sg, has been rolled out by the government of Singapore, with the aim of providing a platform to Singaporeans born after the city-state’s independence in 1965 to write about anything they wish, even race and religion.

“The p65 blog will serve to allow young people to share their views, which are non-partisan, neutral and can be constructive criticism of policies,” said Parliamentary Secretary, Teo Ser Luck. 

The governing party of Singapore, People Action Party (PAP), has taken this initiative; and the party’s MPs will gather feedback online. 

PAP, in the past year too, revamped its web site to include videos and podcasts, while the MPs have set up accounts on social networking site Facebook and micro-blogging site Twitter.

It was after five months of the 2006 election that the p65 blog was set up by the post-65 MPs. A source said: “The early postings were personal, non-political blogs for the young to get to know their political leaders. It was also a way for them to get feedback on political issues.”

However, the blog could not get many contributors, which led to the new site that lined up eight regular contributors, among them Singaporeans studying and working abroad.