Is the People's Association (PA) a part of the People's Action Party (PAP)? The short answer is no - it is a statutory body of the government - but this is a question that grassroots volunteers have faced when encouraging residents to join them.

A new initiative might help the PA shed this image and build its relevance to a new generation of Singaporeans. This is the move to combine Residents' Committees (RCs) that serve public housing estates and Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) that serve private estates. Integrating them into one neighbourhood organisation could provide a chance for the PA to revamp its grassroots organisations, and to assert its role as an inclusive and non-partisan movement.