The Million Dollar Question for Singapore: What's Holding Back Our Entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship is a state of mind. - Guy Kawasaki

Over lunch, I asked my friend from the Singapore-MIT Alliance program his plans after graduation. I was curious whether he would stay here in the US, head to Singapore or return home to India. He replied he would eventually want to start his own company, and that launched an extended discussion on entrepreneurship in Singapore. He felt Singapore was the shining star in Asia for starting up due to its excellent Intellectual Property laws, I countered by saying the culture of risk-taking is absent, success stories are few and stale, and related stories of a couple of would-be entrepreneurs I know who are now bankers.

Banking
Dipankar, a Director of Technology in a small Singapore firm, wonders at the lack of Singaporean presence on BusinessWeek's Asia's Best Entrepreneurs under 25. Part of the answer can be found on the Straits Times' titillating headline today of "Young super earners" (emphasis mine). The cover story details the astronomical compensations bankers receive. The moral of ST's story? The best way to earn money is no longer through studying law or medicine, with banking you can make more - faster. Singapore is trying to do everything at the same time, attract more private wealth and develop the banking industry while encouraging local start-ups. Does banking, an industry that promises money straight up, siphon off talent that might have otherwise ventured into starting companies?

National Service
Since the BW article specifies "under 25," Paddy Tan, founder of BAK2u, guessed that "hitting it big before 25 years of age is not easy especially where majority of the males have to enter the national service for a couple of years." If age were not the issue, would Singapore measure up to the rest of Asia? I know at least Israel does really well in entrepreneurship and tech start-ups.

Lack of poster boy/girl companies
Hardwarezone, the closest Singapore gets to YouTube, was sold to Singapore Press Holdings for $7.1 million when it had an annual revenue of $6million. Tangowing encapsulates the idea in his lament that "the Creative story is just so old." Cobalt Paladin points out that Finland, with the same population as Singapore, has Nokia.

Risk Adverse Culture, Scholarships
In an interview with InnovationMagazine.com, Guy Kawasaki brings up Israel as an example where population is small but people are risk-takers: "Israel has five million people, six million entrepreneurs, and fifteen million opinions. Singapore has five million people, six entrepreneurs, and one opinion."

He also suggested some radical ideas like "eliminate government service following government-sponsored education abroad."

Money
MIT's entrepreneurship competition gives USD$100k, SMU's competition gives only USD$20k. Is that why???

My friends
Since I'm trained as an economist and an engineer, I'm always inclined to dismiss anecdotes as biased sampling. But here I would like to share some random personal stories of friends with you. Stories related people who, at one point or another, were pursuing activities for reasons like passion on top of money.

1. A friend who was part of the team that was in the semis for the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (USD $20k) He now works for a big pharma firm, a MNC. I'm not sure if he will start-up something some day.
2. A friend who worked at O'Brien's in preparation of starting his own sandwich shop in the underserved (in terms of healthy food) CBD. I helped him draft corporate identity for the store. He now works for a big bank.
3. A friend who took a semester off Wharton to start a boxers line under his parents' license. My other friend made a documentary. After graduating, he'll start by working for some big firm.
4. Some alumni I met as a pre-frosh, who left banking to start a photography+film school.
5. Close friend of mine, photographer.
6. Another photographer, related to a close friend of mine.
7. My favorite Singapore graphic designers (:Phunk) who made it.
8. My friend Kaushal, who used to work with Woolert (still under development).
   

---
My friend says over MSN:

VCs in Singapore
but anyway, its not for the lack of entrepreneurs or wannabes.....its the mentality of VCs here, who i find very diff from those in US. VCs or even angels here demand to see a positive cash flow before wanting to invest and thats ridiculous. VCs/angels here are risk averse. yes why not just mention the VC/angel environment here
hmm but singapore is truly unique, it wont be a silicon valley, but hey, the gov is as entrepreneurial as they come by. if govs could win awards for being entrepreneurial, i dare say Singapore would be in the running for the award

My friend also points me to a success story from the NUS Overseas College program

snami8 vodcasts

Snami8 is by "a bunch of Singaporean students studying in the US, with an interest to feature the diverse activities and lifestyles of Singaporean students overseas."

Episode 1 - The Boxer(s) Rebellion
You can watch it on YouTube or download via snami8.com
Description of episode:

The premier episode of snami8 video podcasts is about a friend of mine, Philip, and his range of Levi's Inside Boxers. Last fall, Philip took a semester off from his studies at the Wharton School to start a business, and half a year later he was hawking Levi's boxers, which are now available in Levi's stores all across Singapore.

Now, what's your geographical imagination of the world?

It never occured to me that maps are not as factural nor impartial as they seem to be until i started reading geography at university. What is depicted on the map, as well as what is not included tells a lot of stories. Of course it would be highly impossible to do an exact replica of the actual ground conditions on a map, therefore information has to selectively chosen to be represented on a map. Ever wondered who holds the power to choose what to include on a map and why in that manner? Why are there so many colours and lines dividing countries on a map when in the real physical world, there are often no mammoth lines separating two countries?

During my first geography class in university, the lecturer gave us the task of drawing either the world or singapore map without referring to any sources. It was supposed to be a hand-drawn map based entirely on our own perceptions of our own country or the rest of the world. This task yielded some very interesting results.

For instance, some people drew the whole MRT lines of Singapore, complete with the exact station names --> this person probably takes the train very frequently. Yet another person drew all the major expressways of Singapore --> this person is probably a driver or biker. Or some people are able to locate on the map the places around their homes very well, but left the rest of the spaces blank. All these information gives a very good indication of the map-illustrator's background.

I am highly tickled by "map" below, which is based on the perceptions of some Singaporeans. I am quite sure this might be how some Singaporeans view our neigbouring countries and the world beyond, such as how Indonesia is only restricted to haze and Batam or how India is only filled with programmers. The portrayal of Thailand reflects the mindset of many a Singaporean. Ever since the budget airlines burst into the aviation scene in our part of the world, many of our countrymen have been making numerous weekend trips to Bangkok for cheap shopping, food and massages. I have had friends who commented "Wah, i didn't know Thailand can be so advanced with such a happening night scene and so many chio girls." Then i replied "That is Bangkok, not Thailand."

Indeed, it is highly amazing how some people (not only Singaporeans) can view the world with such warped and stereotypical mindsets. It should be noted that Singapore appears many times larger than what it really is on this map.

Now, how does your view of the world looks like? Try drawing a map of your own locality, town, country or the world. It will probably show how much you know of the world, or conversely, how little you know of it.

The Vegasification of Singapore

[img: Will the new Singapore look like "Paris?"]

With URA's new lighting plan, Singaporeans will soon experience unprecedented freedom in choosing their paths - at the Orchard and Bideford road junction. At other decisive junctions, STB remains firmly in control.

In the 90s, Singapore was Disneyfied to attract more tourist dollars. The historic Tiger Balm Gardens was insensitively developed into the multi-million dollar theme park "Haw Par Villa." A new Chinatown was constructed because the living version was not sanitary for tourist consumption. In September 1993, William Gibson named Singapore "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" in Wired magazine. Rem Koolhaas followed with an even more scathing critic:

Well, Singapore has succeeded in removing any trace of authenticity. It is a culture of the contemporary. And many Asian cities are like this now, seeming to exist of nothing but copies - in many instances bad copies - of Western architecture.

Now as we enter the age when the ash has settled from the failures of the commercial Haw Par Villa and Sentosa's Volcano Land, when Dubai has become more Disneyfied than us, we decide to enter the next stage: Vegasification. Developments like the XL mall Vivocity and two future casino resorts aren't enough - we need bright lights a la Times Square or the Strip. The city is already warm enough and guzzling enough energy, but we now have the CBD in a "blue-white glow" that does as much as air-con in truly bringing down the outdoor temperature of Singapore.

Why are we doing this? The Straits Times vodcast suggests that we can't be contended "after being voted number two most exciting city for dining and nightlife, the city will certainly have a glowing future ahead and become number one."

Yes, it's back to being number one again. Meanwhile, let's relocate Geylang next to the casino resorts - what is Vegas' exciting nightlife without the seedy side?

Related posts:

• Singapore is sick, architecturally
• $100 in Singapore

"Uniquely Singapore"

Are Singaporeans Spoilt? Once again another complaint has managed to garner newspaper coverage, this time with regards to overcrowded trains. SMRT says that trains do not reach full capacity even during peak hours whilst commuters claim that trains are overcrowded and indadequate. What is interesting is the inclusion of opinion from "people who have experience of commuter trains overseas" who are full of praise of our train system. Comparisons were made with the London, Tokyo and NY with the final conclusion that our system is not as screwed up as theirs and therefore we should quit complaining. Being "very famous overseas" ( probably becasue of my chewing gum jamming up a train door in Tokyo) and having travelled on all the 3 subway systems mentioned I do agree that Singapore's MRT system is pretty SMaRT. BUT so what if their rush hour transport system is worse than ours? Does that mean that it is tolerable for us to put up with this status quo? Complaints and criticism is the way Singapore works, it is part of our culture making us "uniquely Singapore".

Admittedly, all we did in the past was to complain and complain but at least now the complaints have shifted into more credible forums (from kopitiams to intellectual blogs and the www). I believe that this need for criticism and synicism is a positive point that should be harnessed. It should also extend beyond the realm of public transportation. Take the recent Biennale 06 for example. Some people loved it and some people touted it as absolute rubbish. Those who loved it will feel that people who don't are probably ignorant and vice versa. The right view is not important. Rather what is important is the discourse itself. And with that I think that the Art Scene in Singapore is off to a good albeit late start. Fabian has always been moaning and groaning about the state of architecture in Singapore. Why? Because of a lack of feedback from the people? Because of a general lack of interest in the topic? And his conclusion is that Singaporeans get bad buildings because we don't Complain.

Ahhh the magic C word.

Last friday, the Straits Times ran an article, "Make not owning a car the smart choice". The article started off with an introduction to the transport system in Singapore starting from the 1970s all the way to the present. He then went through all the acronyms from LTA to COE and ERP eventually arriving at "The Solution". However, I was surprised that the Singapore Dream and the 5 Cs were not once addressed in the article. Isn't one of the reasons for owning a car in Singapore that of it being a status symbol. And what better way of flauting a status symbol than to drive it around. Especially since this status symbol happens to be extremely mobile with 4 wheels and all. The article does suggest that a lifestyle change is in order, but I think it goes deeper than that. I think a psyche change is in order. True, the car sharing system in Switzerland seems to work very well for the Swiss and could possibly work well here on one condition. That the cars being shared are all Mercedes. Besides, the Swiss have other status symbols to boast of such as owning a ski chalet at St Moritz and proper cheese fondue. At the end of the day, unless we are able to remove the social premium that comes with owning a car (preferably a Mercedes), the problem of high car usage will always remain. How do we go about doing that? Well ensuring that the public transport system is relatively complain free is a good start. Better still why not remove Car from the the 5 Cs and replace it with Complain instead.

GST Hike: Sugar-coating backfired? Look again and spot the trojan horse.

Just as Wee Shu Min slid off the Technorati charts, the GST hike focused Singaporean bloggers on the elite/lower-income divide again. PM Lee sugar-coating of the bitter pill as an "offset package" appears to have backfired - the widespread knowledge that GST is regressive has riled bloggers into exposing what seems to be a "robbing Peter to pay Peter" scheme. I think the center of gravity of the issue has been misplaced. The lower-income group has been politicized as a red herring. We need to clarify our thoughts. We should separate the issue into its two dependent, yet distinct constituents: first, the GST hike should help Singapore's economy improve its competitiveness and second, the government should offset the regressive effects of GST. And while we've been so busy arguing about the GST hike, did we just let something slip past us? (more on that later)

Lower-income group used as a political tool
During elections, the opposition parties frequently painted the PAP as a party that neglected the lower-income group. In return, the PAP drills new recruits into acting like nuns, making sure their resume includes the item community service. The handshakes made in wet-markets and other photo-ops involving MP+lower-income person is PAP's way of saying "we care."

Bloggers, use our collective wisdom...wisely
Bloggers have been flailing their hands (on keyboards, no less), churning out data, writing to the ST Forum to show how regressive GST is. Bloggers form a tremendous source of intelligence in Singapore - I hope we will stop chanting "GST is regressive" (because we all now it is true) and dig deeper for more problems/solutions. Anecdotal evidence is really flimsy, the other camp has a Finn saying he left his welfare state to come to Singapore and did that convince you? PM Lee already stated how he is going to tackle the regressive problem. Is GST the best way forward for our economy? Let's discuss that.

The GST hike is economically sound
Let us leave the minefield of social policies for a while and look at the other issue - economics. I am of the very few, but certainly neither the first nor the second, who believe that the GST hike is economically sound. The general understanding is that raising the GST creates room to lower the corporate tax rate and attract foreign direct investment, which should eventually benefit all involved in Singapore's economy.

A blogger erroneously concluded that only Hong Kong has a lower corporate tax rate than Singapore. I say that because Reuters already reported that Slovakia's is lower. However, he is right to focus on Hong Kong because Hong Kong is what we are worried about. I found an OECD report that states "corporate taxation has a non-negligible impact on FDI location choices" while emphasizing that other legislative and fiscal policies are equally important in determining FDI. Singapore is on an all-else-equal situation with Hong Kong, (even air quality has become equally bad in both cities) and corporate tax might decide which is favored. The bigger act PM Lee might be trying to achieve is to tilt the FDI balance towards Singapore. The last lines of the Reuters report implicitly praised Singapore as being prescient. In another part of the same article, he succinctly argued that "the lowest-wage earners might not take so kindly to a S$2 increase in their S$100 electricity bill. Yet if people don't have jobs, electricity will be expensive at any price."

On a somewhat related note, Germany aims to lower its corporate tax from 39% to 29% in response to globalization (from IHT).

The GST hike might not be the best way forward
We have PhD in economics candidates arguing about this issue, so I hope we'll see more academic discussion being pulled in. Today, one of the greatest economists of all time died. Coincidentally, Milton Friedman championed one of the most innovative taxation and welfare policies. His idea was to have a "negative income tax" that involves a flat tax (like GST) coupled with reimbursements based on income. He argued that it was a progressive tax while not being dragged down by (inefficiencies of) bureaucratic welfare systems. A paper from Johns Hopkins on NIT is available here. The government needs to explain to us why the GST hike is the best way forward, compared to the alternatives like NIT.

Trojan Horse
The GST hike has featured so prominently that we seem to have let a greater sum of money pass by without being debated. The Channel News Asia report on the GST hike ended with these words

"Another change will be the amending of the Constitution to allow the government to tap the capital gains received from investing the national reserves."

If you remember ex-President Ong Teng Cheong, arguably our President who did the most to act as an agent of checks-and-balances against the government, you will remember that he ran into most trouble using his Presidential power vested by the Constitution to investigate the use of our national reserves. I haven't investigated how much "capital gains from investing the national reserves" amount to, but I suspect the GST money will appear to be peanuts. (Disclaimer: I am not an elitist, the GST hike is painful and involves lots of money).

I would deeply appreciate feedback on this blog post. Thank you for reading.

Language links and breaks

Just picked up a book about the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia (SEA) and that got me thinking...

For those who have done a bit of travelling in Southeast Asia, you would have realised that Chinese can be a very useful language in the region. If one can speak the native language, that will be the most ideal. But many a times, i feel that Chinese comes a close second to English as the next widely used language in the region.

The Chinese influences on Thai language and culture are aplenty. For instance, as many Sino-Thais are of Teochew origins, the Thai language has absorbed many Teochew words into the language system, such as tâwkay, tâuhuay, suai... If you are familiar with either Teochew or Hokkien, i am sure you will be able to figure what these few words mean.

I have had several amusing encounters with the Thais. Once my friend and i stopped by the roadside to buy some street goodies to fill our rumbling stomachs in the middle of the night. As i was still speaking in halting Thai then, the hawker could not hold his curiousity and asked where i was from. So i replied Singapore. He continued to ask me if i have heard of a guy called Kim Yõng. At that moment, i was thinking inside my heart "there are so many Chinese in Singapore, how would i know a guy called Kim Yõng?" Seeing the blank look on my face, my friend went on to tell me that the hawker was actually referring to a writer. Then it struck on me that he was referring to the famous wuxia (martial arts & chivalry) author - Jin Yong (Louis Cha).

And then there was another time when i sat down for coffee with a couple of newly-made Thai friends at a local cafe. Knowing that i am a Singaporean Chinese, one girl was very interested in the Chinese language, so she enquired if i have read sãam kok. I was once again lost for a few seconds until they said curiously "don't your know that book? It's a chinese classic." It then dawned on me that they are talking about Sanguo Yanyi (or widely known in English as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms).

Last December, a group of friends and i decided to take a trip to Cambodia. There, we also had quite a few instances of talking to Cambodians of Chinese origins. There was one evening where we stopped at a roadside stall for supper in Phnom Penh. When the young girl delivered noodles to our table, we asked her the price of the food in English. She then surprised us by replying in Mandarin! That really piqued our curiousity, so we enquired about her background and found out that she learnt Manadarin from her mother and she had a keen interest in learning the language.

Isn't this interesting? The Chinese has a popular saying - wherever there's water, there will be Chinese. (Just a side note at this juncture: Hey, i am no Chinese chauvinist, just like to ponder how the identify of the SEA Chinese will differ from society to society, and time to time).

In SEA, the Singaporean population has the greatest proportion of ethnic Chinese. Elsewhere in the region, some of the Chinese have successfully assimiliated into the local society, adopted local names, etc. but there are examples where they still stick out like sore thumbs from the so-called indigenous majority. There were also periods in recent SEA history when the Chinese were labelled Communists, suspected of disloyalty to the native country, suffered discrimination, etc. With the exception of Singapore, the Chinese diaspora in SEA are often viewed as having immense economic power but lacking in the political power.

Sometimes, i wonder how differently our lives would have mapped out if our grandparents and forefathers had not chose to sink their roots in Singapore.

Tintin in Singapore

I went to a talk called "Comics Strips in Belgium - The big success of a small country."

The first reason Willem De Graeve, deputy director the Belgian Comic Strip Center, gave for the success of comic strips in Belgium is Hergé, creator of Tintin. He described how Tintin inspired many young Belgians to choose drawing as a career, and today Belgium has the highest concentration of professional comic artists in the world.

I feel that comics help define culture in Belgium - a country that might otherwise struggle with an identity crisis from being sandwiched by three bigger neighbors who used to colonize it (Netherlands, France, Germany). Belgians speak Dutch (Flemish), French and German. Arguably, the lack of a spoken national language created a visual alternative in comics.

Singapore appears similar in that we have bits and pieces of our culture from China, India, Malaysia and Britain, all (but India) of which used to hold political sway over our country. We struggle with the same language issues - there's English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, none of which are our own. Other than food and Singlish (more on this later), we don't have much we define ourselves by.

Perhaps we Singaporeans can be defined as being mostly very materialistic? It is difficult to imagine a Singaporean parent supporting his/her child's ambition of being a cartoon artist. We lack inspiring role models who have taken more alternative paths to success. Is that because we prefer everything, including success, to happen within the short term?

Growth of culture is tied to media freedom. Contrary to that, the Singapore government views the media as a form of control, and culture as a form of tourist or export revenue.

Culture is inevitably intertwined with politics. Tintin began his career uninterested in politics. Although in Tintin's debut, Hergé spread counter-propaganda against Soviet communism, he was acting as a mouthpiece for a conservative Catholic newspaper. As he progressed in his career, he became more interested in political causes. The Blue Lotus is widely regarded as the turning point, where he infused the story with anti-Imperialist sentiment.

Today, Singapore filmmakers run into the censorship wall frequently. Although sometimes the issue is politics, most of the time it is because films use Singlish. Singlish films gets the worst of both worlds - they would not qualify at the Academy as a foreign language film, but would get cut by Singapore censors. Why? Apparently, 2 hours of Singlish exposure in the cinema is dangerous, considering we get many times that in our everyday lives. I call the Singapore government action against Singlish the disease of autoimmunity.

Perhaps if we belong to an *dirty word alert* elite stratum, we can avoid Singlish, supposedly the language of the heartlanders? You hear Singlish much less in locations like Paragon and Palais Renaissance. Is the current debate on elitism a failure of Singapore's supposed meritocracy?

As it happened, Tintin was read by the upper class in Belgium. There was a corresponding comic, Spirou, popular among blue collar. I don't know if there was a class issue with Tintin.
The speaker today, Willem De Graeve, said that Tintin is a hero, not a superhero, and we can find a bit of him in ourselves.

Do we see everyday leadership in our politicians? Probably no, but I'm glad Wee Shu Min's dad was honest in his opinions. I would rather know of his true leanings than have him pretend he sympathizes. That's the part I like most about some Singapore politicians - I may not agree with them, but at least they're still not smooth enough and let their tails out of their coats now and then.

Towards the end of today's discussion about Belgian comics, a few of us in the audience brought up the idea of fan culture in comics. Since the speaker was a Public Relations man and not an academic, he was not entirely familiar with Henry Jenkin's work. Eventually, a Belgian girl from the Comparative Media Studies explained the ideas to him in Dutch. I actually understood quite a bit of their conversation. Listening to a discussion about fan culture in Dutch was one of those moments when I felt my diverse education paths converge.

Yet I fear. Will "useless" skills like understanding other countries, understanding others unlike us be appreciated in Singapore? Is there only a single path to success in Singapore - agree with what's printed on the ST, support the ban of Feer, keep hushed about condoning the house arrest of Aung Sang Suu Kyi (while trading with the drug lords indirectly).

I'm not talking about the Chee Soon Juan version of being a self-burning martyr. I'm saying that it is hypocritical to hold back alternative views claiming to champion heartlanders who care only about bread and butter issues while telling heartlanders to grab their own bread and butter.

Warning: Warming Alert!

I bet, if i will to ask a layperson along the streets of Singapore about the climate change crisis, i will probably get some blank stares. "Err what? The haze problem issit?" Worse still, i have heard some people associating global warming with the ozone layer. These are two separate issues, for goodness' sake.

But the greatest sin of all, was a government worker in the environmental line to ask me about the link of climate change to mosquitoes. I almost fainted and was screaming silently inside my heart, "The warmer temperatures will induce the breeding of the mosquitoes, resulting in a higher likelihood of dieseases like malaria and dengue fever, idiot!"

No doubt, environmental awareness has often been a perennial neglect among many in Singapore. However, there is now one global environmental crisis that is facing humanity - the threat of climate change, that no government nor corporation nor individual should neglect. Many parts of the world, especially the European countries have already taken note and drawn up policies actions to tackle this impending environmental crisis. David King, the chief scientific advisor to the British goverment once proclaimed that “Climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today—more serious even than the threat of terrorism.” However, it seems that most parts of Asia, Singapore included, has yet to fully wake up from their slumber of ignorance.

To be fair, the Singapore government has started to take notice of this climate issue and some actions have been taken. For instance, Singapore has finally signed, ratified and ascended the Kyoto Protocol this year. The Singapore Green Plan 2012 has also set targets to reduce the national carbon emissions levels. The National Committee on Climate Change (NCCC) aims to increase climate change awareness and hopes to incorporate active partication from all sectors of the society. But there are still way lots of room for improvement. The carbon-hedonistic lifestyles that many Singaporeans are leading certainly do not spell of knowledge of the global warming (and warning).

It is also rather disappointing that "An Inconvenient Truth" has quietly slipped into the local cinemas. I had earlier expected tremendous promotional coverage on this environmental film which features former US Vice President Al Gore, but not many seem aware of this film if not for my own efforts to advertise it. Maybe the movie distributors find the film a bit too steeped in the US/Gore politics or that the documentary style of the film (more like an Al Gore's talkshow) would not appeal to the general population, but there are plenty of well-illustrated graphics and statistics which i thought it is a good way to scare the daylights out of the audience by highlighting this inconvenient truth (global warming) and hopefully galvanise them into action. People who would watch this film are probably the converts, while the message should be spreaded far and wide to the sceptics and non-converts too. But now, judging from the lack of advertising and promotional efforts, the planet might warm up faster than the movie-goers warm up to this film.

Do not ignore this warning!

$100 in Singapore

How to spend $100 in Singapore
I entered the Gridskipper's contest of how to spend $100 in (one of 20 cities Wallpaper* published a guide to).

Here's my entry (edited and published by Gridskipper)

They said "Competition for the set of Wallpaper* City Guides just got a bit harder with this $100 a day itinerary from Holland Village Voice. You think you can do better? tips@gridskipper.com is open for you."

9am

Exit Bukit Gombak MRT (subway) station ($1.25 ride). Order a "teh ah lia" (Indian hot tea with milk, infused with ginger, $0.50) to go from one of the coffee shops and ask to "da bao" (takeout) - you might get it in a cool cup likethis.
If you're adventurous, order "kaya toast" (toast with creamy coconut jam and small explosions of butter nuggets, $1) or, if you want to play it safe, head to a nearby mall to buy bread and pastries from "Breadtalk. Bring your breakfast to Little Guilin , an area with granite outcroppings from the Triassic age (200 million years old) for a quiet start to the day (free).
10:30am
Take a short walk and observe the public housing blocks inspired undoubtedly by Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation. Arrive at Church of St Mary of the Angels, a 3-year-old building, a church that seeks to reach out to modern times. The centerpiece is Jesus suspended free from the crucifix skylight. The WOHA designed church uses colors to represent different uses and inspirations (oak to represent importance, brown inspired by Franciscan robes). For lunch, take the MRT to Tanjong Pagar Station, to Maxwell Food Centre for a piping hot bowl of Chinese Porridge, pairing it with ceviche like raw fish. ($7)
There are other stalls selling food that's more familiar/similar to American Chinese takeout or Thai food. Wash them down with a Tiger beer ($2).

2pm
Walk 5 minutes to Ann Siang Hill For shopping, check out the Asylum, a store that stocks designers ranging from Comme Des Garcons to local unknowns while being a studio for the designers (kind of like Reed in LES). Or maybe head to Front Row, both a gourmet grocer and a clothes retailer. If you're already starting to have late afternoon hunger pangs, check out the "Patissier for creations like beer mousse with custard and beer sponge cake, earl grey crème brulee with coffee beans. It's located in a Peranakan (Chinese Baroque-styled) shophouse, like most stores in Ann Siang Hill. After you've spent 20 or 30 bones, head to one of the newest museums in town is the nearby Red Dot Design Museum. Entrance is $3.50.

Dinner
The Turquoise Room(7 Lock Road, $25 each for dinner w/o drinks, tax included)
Unlike restaurants located in the by-now-congested Rochester Park, the Turquoise Room is nested in Gilman Village, a place that feels so private - it's finding a clearing amidst lush forest. Review trotters are notably absent in this place that's perfect for dining tête-à-tête. The décor is rustic Greek. The food is satisfying in its simplicity, yet not boring. Choose to sit out on the wooden deck, and a few glasses of wine later, you will think you are in Greece, some beach in Queensland, or maybe Heaven.
Post-dinner
Old Changi Hospital (Locate it yourself, free)
If you are the only person you know who likes the Blair Witch Project, visit Singapore. The Old Changi Hospital takes quite a bit of walking to get to. You might be disappointed to find that the place is flooded with teenagers armed with torchlights, but c'mon it's free and the teenagers try to scare you. Best rooms are the mortuary (when used as a hospital by the British) or torture chamber (when the Japanese invaded).

Late Night
You still have $30 left to dance your night away in Zouk, Ministry of Sound or the soon-to-be-open St. James Power Station - an old warehouse renovated into a huge multi-rooms club. If you don't want to take the chance of going to bed unlaid, head to "Fishtanks" in Geylang (NSFW). Shun, gawk or partake, this is the discrete version of Amsterdam's red light district. Houses on the even numbered Lorongs (streets) have specific architecture - screens that block direct views off while allowing you a titillating glance inside. (Market rates, but are negotiable). Wonderful 24-hour street food, durians and other edibles can be found on odd numbered streets if you're hungry for something else.

Musical legacy from a beloved king

A clarinet soloist performs during the Royal Concert at VCH

Two Sundays ago on Oct 8, I attended “A Concert of Royal Compositions in Honour of the 60th Anniversary Celebrations of His Majesty’s Accession to the Throne” at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. The tickets for this concert were made available, free-of-charge through the Royal Thai embassy and various channels. So I felt very fortunate to be able to obtain several passes to the concert because I heard there was a long waiting list of people interested in the concert but did not manage to get the tickets.

Organized by the Thai Ministry of Culture, Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Royal Thai Embassy, the concert is performed by the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and conducted by H.E. Rear Admiral M.L. Usni Pramoj, RTN., Privy Councillor. BSO has been touring the region to give goodwill concerts as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of His Majesty’s Accession to the Throne as well as to promote bilateral ties and Thai culture. Singapore was the third stop in the region for BSO. It had earlier performed in Vietnam and Indonesia before moving on to the Philippines after Singapore.

King Bhumibol is a gifted composer and musician, and has gained numerous accolades internationally as an acclaimed jazz musician. To date, the talented King Bhimbibol has composed 48 royal pieces, but it was impossible to pack all these pieces into a two-hour concert. Therefore, BSO only performed a selected version of sixteen royal pieces with a focus on the clarinet, flute and French horn as some of the lead solos during the performance. Some of the royal pieces performed include "Alexandra", "Lullaby", "A Love Story", "Royal Marines March", "Magic Beams", etc.

I must admit I am not very acquainted with classical music, but I certainly found the King’s pieces short, easy on the ears and tremendously enjoyable. The last royal piece “Can’t you ever see” has a distinctive jazz flavour to it, bringing the whole concert programme to a high note. When the last note sounded, the audience could not get enough of these melodious pieces and shouts of “encores” quickly resonated across the concert hall. To the delight of the audience, the conductor came back to conduct another two pieces.

I am really, really in awe of King Bhumibol! These royal compositions are indeed a musical legacy, a valuable extension to his good deeds for his people and the world. Kudos to BSO for such a delightful evening of royal music as all my friends, both Thais and Singaporeans alike enjoyed the concert tremendously. It was indeed phror maak maak (meaning very melodious in Thai).

Some background trivial: For those not so familiar with Thai happenings, this year marks the 60th anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s accession to the throne. King Bhumibol is currently the longest ruling monarch in the world, having ascended the throne in 1946. Over the years under his reign, he has devoted much time and effort to initiate royal projects that have bettered the lives of many Thai people, therefore he is a extremely revered and respected figure in Thailand, almost reaching god-like status.

Singaporean Dreaming

Collapsing under the burden of tutorials and projects that seem to all converge at the same time, I managed to force myself to live up to my commitment to this blog. When Fabian first approached me to contribute to this blog, his email stated that I was the one of the first few people that came to his mind when he was conceptualising this blog. I must say that his ass kissing has improved tremendously since our Army Daze and it was on this point that I accepted his kind invitation. I chose Sunday because Sunday is suppose to be a laid back day, filled with trivial light hearted stuff like the Sunday Times for example or watching back to back episodes of CSI on AXN. And it is somewhere in between the Sunday Times and Couch Potatoing that I hope my blog posts will reside.
Sunday is also a day for church and I managed to drag myself up for mass this morning, half hoping that my attendance in church would induce God to bestow upon me the answers for my double tutorial tomorrow. Instead he gave me a half answer to a big question that I did not ask, which left me pondering and not working on my tutorials. Yet somehow, amidst all this walking in the 'wrong' direction, I did find a sense of fulfillment, not in the I've-solved-a-complex-problem sense but more like the I've-solved-one-side-of-the-rubiks-cube sense. In this morning's sermon, the priest shared with us an interesting story about money and happiness. And in order to take up space on this blog post, I will now share it with you. There was a fisherman who had just came back from sea. He had sold his catch and was sitting on the beach, smoking his pipe, relaxing. The perfect picture of contentment. A businessman walked by and started making small talk with the fisherman.
Businessman: "Why are you sitting on the beach relaxing when there is still plenty of time to make another trip out to sea?"
Fisherman: "And what would I do then?"
Businessman: "you can sell the extra catch for more money and if you keep this up you might actually save enough money to get another boat".
Fisherman: "And what would I do then?".
Businessman: "You can increasae your catch with another boat and earn even more money. And if you save enough, you can eventually buy another boat and expand your fishing fleet till you are as rich as me."
Fisherman: "And what would I do then?"
Businessman: "Then you can retire and enjoy life"
Fisherman: "And what do you think i'm doing now?"
I think regardless of whether you are a believer in God or not (and no $ is not a God), most Singaporeans chasing the Singapore Dream will find this a pertinent point. It seems to be the case that in Singapore, for one to enjoy life, one must have money. How much money? I think we seem to have complicated things by trying to put a material valuation on something intangible. It is as good as measuring an apple's worth with oranges. What then is the solution? Well, if I had the solution, I wouldn't be on the verge of death by homework. But most of the important things in life do not have clear cut answers. So maybe that is the key to the whole issue. To lead a happy life, one should pursue one's dreams but bear in mind that we should not measure happiness with money? Perhaps I am just being an apologist for the Singapore Dream. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. One thing's for sure, my pile of readings is still as high as
when I started this blog entry. And on this note it is au revoir till next Sunday where I promise at least a photo and less farting.

Singapore is sick, architecturally

Buildings manifest the health of a city, revealing whether architects, planners and leaders connect to the majority of the people. By that measure, Singapore is sick because Singaporeans are not consulted enough when it comes to our city, our living environment.

Starchitects failed to build the Singapore architecture Icon
After being worked on by starchitects Sir Norman Foster twice, I.M.Pei twice, Kenzo Tange multiple times and now Moshe Safdie twice, Singapore still lacks an iconic building. The defining Singapore photograph had to be assembled - the representative Merlion had to be relocated to the front of the neoclassical Fullerton Hotel while making sure the Esplanade "Durian shells" could still be framed in the same picture. You know, just to be sure tourists know they are in Singapore. Tange's UOB Building becomes background, though his Indoor Stadium is somewhat more successful - it dominates the other side of the Bay.

Why doesn't Singapore have a Bank of China when we had I.M.Pei?

Missing the elements of Singapore?
Cities often tap on their history to constract distinctive buildings - Jinmao tower in Shanghai pays respect to pagoda architecture. In contrast, Singapore's architecture neglected our short but rich modern history - there is no reference to Peranakan architecture and no nod towards kampungs or other places that were at least very Singaporean upon a time. In fact, Singapore made some mistakes in not preserving even what we had - Koolhaas is known to have been furious at Singapore for tearing down parts of historic Chinatown.

Missing feedback
Perhaps there is no need to have Singaporean elements for the sake of it. Being kitsch doesn't help create an icon. Quite simply the reason might be that projects in Singapore lack criticism and feedback. Singaporeans lack the avenues to criticize loud enough. Such a role is usually played by the local media. Singapore's media silently let the architecture aspects of a huge project like the Marina Bay Sands get by when it flouted Feng Shui rules. The three hotel towers have been compared to joss sticks used for praying. Sticking chopsticks into a bowl of rice is rude. Superstitious gamblers are sure to frown on the design. Why the silence then? If the media dwells more on the architecture aspect, they then have to shine some light on the political aspects of the casino. Maybe that is the root of the issue.

Missing diversity
In Singapore, we have been known to complain of how bland HDB blocks are. HDB blocks would actually be classified as "Brutalist" architecture, in the same category as Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation, which architecture tourists travel to see. HDB blocks have nothing inherently inferior about them architecturally - the problem is that we lack diversity of styles. Fourty years and nothing seems to have changed? Typically, architecture is a pendulum that swings between extremes - a period of opulence is preceded by a trend of minimalism, and ensued by another opposing style. Public housing projects elsewhere have seen variations - in Singapore we have seen more of the same. Why are we missing diversity in architecture? Why aren't there new movements to challenge the old? Are we missing diversity in views only in architecture, or are there other things we should also be worried about?

Even though Gehry is known for his "Bilbao effect," even if he's part of the winning team for the second casino, I don't think he can cure us of our architecture illness. The cause is deeper, and we have to address that first.

Related links:

• Safdie talks about the Sands (his idea of Singapore is "arts and sciences.")
• A collection of photos of Singapore architecture with voice notes
• Gehry is visiting Singapore (opens a PDF)
• A related discussion - The Singapore Flyer vs Sands Sky Garden
  

There's no nature in Singapore? Says who?

It is true that we have no grand national parks to boost of, but that does not mean there simply isn't any nature in Singapore. This is very common misconception indeed. The truth is, we still have little pockets of nature left on this little island, just that they are increasingly threatened over time. In fact, one can spot nature in the heartlands too, as long as we are willing to keep our eyes and minds open. The pictures above were taken one morning when i was walking through my Tampines neighbourhood park.