Holland Village Voice

"Don't get all mathy on me"

2007-04-24T08:43:00.001-07:00

A Dilbert strip on pay raises.

SG Day in NY: Possible Developments

2007-04-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: I'm attending SG Day in NY, and as an intended beneficiary I'm grateful for the Casaurina Roti Prata I'll get to eat, and I'm looking forward to the Singapore Short Films/Musical feat. Kit Chan.

Response has been overwhelming: the estimated number was 1000 Singaporeans but now the figure stands at about 3000 Singaporeans + 2000 "friends." Registration is now limited to Singaporeans only. Being the ever efficient Singapore, the event has been shifted to Wollman Rink at Central Park to accommodate the larger crowd. However, it still is a logistical nightmare:

The organizers are rejecting "foreign talent" registrations from now on. That's not aligned with our overall talent plan. What if a New York high roller with an Asian fetish wants to get in?
What happens when the goodie bags runs out (as they will)? Goodie bags are for Singaporeans only, but how will they check? Passport/ICs?
Worse yet, what happens when the food runs out prematurely? Although Prima Taste is a sponsor, the organizers claim that no pre-mixes will be used in preparation of the food.
The northeast has been having incredibly crappy weather.
The event starts at 10:30am, but people coming from D.C. and Boston (that's me) will be arriving at noon or later...and the event ends 4:30pm. 4-5 hours drive one-way for a 4-5 hours event: expectations will run high.
(Sounds like I'm just worried I won't get food when I get there, although that's not a big problem because I can head to one the Singaporean/M'sian restaurants like Penang, Sentosa or Nonya.)

Planned protest: one of the top returns on Google for "Singapore Day" is Singabloodypore's post publicizing a protest against the banning of FEER. I don't think the organizers can prevent that from happening in New York? Will be interesting to see what happens.
Recreating Zouk, MoS in New York with Mambo, Tiger Beer and Prata . A non-official event riding on the official event. Will self-organized, non-official events reach the financial ability/organization scale of official events sometime, with more Singaporeans abroad? Services catered to overseas Singaporeans have seem to stagnated at selling S'porean/M'sian food. Are Singaporeans too cosmopolitan/culturally indistinct to support a semi-permanent "Little Singapore?"

I'll add an actual report of the event after Saturday.

Pay as a social, and not purely economic issue

2007-04-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

I feel that the ministerial pay hike debate raged so fiercely because the government acted as if the issue was purely rational and economic when really it was much more about social issues. While ensuring that the talent higher up in the system are happily paid their worth, the government neglected the morale issue at lower ranks. Here's a relevant article from Stanford Graduate School of Business: Wage Imbalance between CEO and Workers sends a Bad Message.

Wage gaps may also increase the tendency for individuals to perceive more inequity than actually exists, which can amplify the dysfunctional effects. More boards of directors should start looking at executive pay as a social, and not purely economic, corporate issue, says O'Reilly.

NUS 116th, NTU 310th in Worldwide University Rankings of Research Competitiveness

2007-04-13T01:47:00.000-07:00

Wuhan University's reports were meant for a Chinese audience: they are in Chinese and carry nationalistic overtones. For the benefit of people who don't read Chinese, I've made a quick translation of the executive summary written by the team behind the rankings.

The report unintentionally casts Singapore's research aspirations in a negative light - not only is Singapore's top research university ranked 116th worldwide, Singapore does not make the top 30 list of countries in research competitiveness.

While universities in the United States have been trying to tame the frenzy of the college admission process and even break out of the rankings "game," China's rise in recent years has fueled an insatiable appetite for rankings that benchmark Chinese universities against the global research powerhouses like Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, Tokyo U, München and Toronto.

From personal conversations, I am of the (possibly misguided) opinion that Chinese students are particularly ranking-obsessed and brand-conscious. NUS and NTU attract Chinese students because they have reputations that place them as superior to most Chinese universities, especially with NUS/NTU's extensive links to prestigious US/UK universities. Of course, they are also more affordable and less selective than Imperial or Johns Hopkins.

What could/should NUS/NTU continue to do to attract and retain top research talent? Yet another personal story that may not be representative: I've a friend who's currently a PhD student at NUS is thinking of leaving for a more prestigious US PhD program she's been accepted into.

Currently, Singapore seems to have played the game rather well, balancing the needs of creating a prestigious perception (to attract foreign students) and building competitive systems (research ties with other universities and attracting research talent). As with many things in Singapore, the most unfortunate group may be local students who feel they've been taken for granted. Locals also tend to be cynical about the high rankings NUS/NTU received from certain reports and argue that the universities have placed brand building over student welfare and their education missions.

What do you think?

(The methodology of this series of rankings, as with many before, is suspect. For example, the rankings consider the nine universities that make up the University of Texas as one university, yet list UC Berkeley and UCLA as separate universities.)

People's Park

2007-04-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

People's Park - Zaobao translated

Inspired by Roland Soong’s EastSouthWestNorth(东南西北), I translate Singapore-generated Chinese news into English. The primary aim is to communicate in English the opinions carried on Singapore’s largest Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao (联合早报).

I’m not a professional translator - just trying to do a better job than the already amazing Babelfish would. You are encouraged to comment to correct inaccuracies you spot. Thank you.

This blog is not affiliated with Lianhe Zaobao (联合早报) or Singapore Press Holdings.

Sing, City! on YouTube

2007-04-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

DiaS'pura

2007-04-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

[DiaS'pura was an afternoon where famous Singaporean including Singapore Ambassador to US Prof Chan, filmmakers Colin Goh & Woo Yen Yen, poet Alfian Saat discussed issues about Singapore and a night where Penn students staged an original musical production on Singaporeans studying overseas (written by Caleb and Joshua Yap).]

The night before: Francis Seow
The night before DiaS'pura, I ran into Francis Seow - Singaporeans living in Boston meeting for the first time in Philadelphia. Despite having grown up in a media scape "enthralled" (his word for enslaved) by the PAP, I understood him as an intelligent, patriotic Singaporean who chose idealism over money.

"Very socialist" was his response when I told him my name. After what he has been through, he has developed a certain mindset that PAP would happily categorize as anti-PAP. While I applaud his courage, I lament the waste of his talent - I'm not sure if acting like martyrs, him and Chee Soon Juan, really move us forward. To be fair, not that they really had the luxury of choices.

Opening speaker: Prof Janice Bellace - Founding President of Singapore Management University
Prof Bellace spoke of a realization that dawned on her while she was President at SMU - that Singaporeans of my generation think so differently from our parents.

First keynote: Prof Chan Heng Chee - Singapore Ambassador to the United States
Prof Chan immediately proved Prof Bellace's point when she failed to connect to a young, well-traveled audience charmed by America's school of democracy. She tried to drive some points across with much force: Singapore's "culture of competence," immediately followed by our vulnerability, why we shouldn't be unnecessarily apologetic to our SEA neighbors for our success, how well-regarded Singapore is in some countries, how marketable we are as Singaporeans. She spoke of Singaporeans' first right as "the right to education" while free speech ranks much lower.

I understand her position, her job to speak in those ways, and since it was the second time I heard her speak, I wasn't expecting her to say something controversial. But even when she clearly exceeded her allocated speech time, she insisted on answering questions. That really struck me as a certain type of desperation, as if she was trying to inoculate us against the later alternative speakers of the day.

When I photographed her holding one of the gifts presented to her in appreciation, a ClubSG t-shirt that monographed the merlion logo on an image of the Love sculpture, I heard her comment "Very nice colors!" She failed to uncode the meaning of the t-shirt, just as youths today must baffle her: what message are we young, well-traveled Singaporeans sending, and how can we blame her generation for not understanding us?

Panel discussion: Yian Huang, Woo Yen Yen, Alfian Saat, Jing - Pursuing your passions
Prof Chan left, much to the disappointment of Yian and Alfian, who both felt the need to refute many of her points, but felt less than gracious "sniping behind her back." In response to some 6.5million-is-great comments Prof Chan had, Alfian showed a clip of his recent play "Homesick" that dealt with issues like the inferior treatment of Singaporeans in Singapore.

The panel was a dramatic switch to a anti-establishment, very raw and casual tone, like a conversation between old friends. Photographer Yian Huang joked that a Singaporean is defined as someone who thinks too much about what it means to be Singaporean. All in attendance were pretty much guilty as charged.

The panelists related very personal biographies of how they were consultant turned photographer, PhD turned filmmaker, doctor-to-be (re)turned poet. It is unfair to say that creative arts is the path of passion, but for my ibanking obsessed peers it was an appropriate counterweight.

During the Q&A, a pediatrician in her early 40s caused much of the crowd to turn and look her as she made her "statement, it's not really a question." She was almost in tears, and she pointed to her old father-in-law and young son, both also in attendance, and talked about responsibilities over pursuit of self-expression and selfish happiness. Yian and Jing both started asking her if she was happy and loved her job, and if she would consider that being happy herself as the basis
for happiness for her family. While the three spoke from their hearts, Yen Yen stepped in as the most understanding person by telling the pediatrician she was brave to choose what she did. Yen Yen herself was a part-time professor, in order to support her family, but turned out to be a great complement to her filmmaking.

When discussing the issue of being based in New York/Paris versus based in Singapore, I identified most with Yen Yen's answer - being in Singapore just makes me too angry and bitter, and that too many things have gone wrong. From a distance here in the US, it's actually easier to think of ways to make contributions back home.

Second keynote: Francis Seow
His mental capabilities seem to have deteriorated (although I have no basis for comparison), but it's probably on par with MM Lee's today. Controversial from sentence one to the end, he related anecdotes exposing the truth of Singapore, frequently making references to his book and the troubles he had publishing it (because of the Singapore government). I don't doubt Singapore did many things to block his books, but I feel very much the way...as Yen Yen said of Martyn See's Singapore Rebel, that she didn't think it was a well-made film but she thinks Martyn is usually a good director and she understood why he filmed it. If I can blend what Francis Seow says together with what the thought-police Singapore media churns out, then perhaps the product will strike me as closer to truth. I feel he's exaggerates as much as ST does, and it's hard for me to stomach.

Viewing him as an integral character in Singapore's history, as a Singaporean, I thank him for his contributions and I'm sorry it turned out this way.

Panel discussion 2: Colin Goh, Djinn, Li-Anne Huang - Singapore Film and Identity
Djinn showed a clip of his movie Perth that had the audience roaring in laughter. It was a kopitiam scene where Lim Kay Tong and another actor had a dialog loaded with Singlish expletives. Colin applauded that as progress in the Singapore film, recalling his absurdly censored scenes in "TalkingCock: The Movie."

I believe culture, film, media play roles that the government cannot and should not dream of controlling too much. No Singapore identity can take root if we attempt to make everyone speak Queen's/American/ChannelNewsAsia English. The speakers touched on topics like that, and also their difficulties in making commercially viable Singapore movies.

Musical Sing City!
A Joshua and Caleb Yap Production
I once attended a Sheares Hall musical production, where they staged Dick Lee's "Remix." That scarred me somewhat, because it really is difficult find people who can sing AND dance AND act. I entered this musical being a skeptic. Not that this musical was perfect, but the songs customized lyrics, the heartfelt-ness of the acting/singing helped very much. The microphones were very annoying, switching on-and-off at whim and sometimes I couldn't hear their singing, but in spite of all these, the musical succeeded on reaching the audience. Many people in the audience cried at one song or another (mostly girls). Sometimes over-the-top acting and overly cheesy lyrics get to people, and I must admit I felt goosebumps at some points.

The musical cramps all the possible overseas singaporean students issues into a compact package - long-distance relationships, GPAs versus risk-taking, scholarships versus parents sponsored, uncommunicative, demanding but actually very loving fathers, clustering of Singaporeans (or any group) abroad etc

Better for you to check out the website with free downloads of Sing City songs

More on DiaS'pura

Hiatus

2007-03-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hi! Many thanks to readers, especially returning readers for checking back. Due to schoolwork (Java programming), research work (running simulations) and part-time work (alumni giving call center), I can't find time to post on HoViVo. I'm taking a break, but I'll definitely post some thoughts after DiaS'pura.

Re-examining Nantah's History (using Google Books)

2007-03-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

Re-examining Nantah's History
Using Google BookSearch

Political autobiographers have vested interests. Just today, the New York Times reported that Hillary Clinton contradicted events described in her autobiography.

According to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's autobiography From Third World to First (Google BookSearch), Nantah suffered negative externalities from being a Chinese-medium school. He recalls that Nantah had to lower "requirements for both admission and pass standards for graduation, further diminishing its academic reputation and market value for its graduates." He characterized himself as a passionate savior of Nantah, with a practical outlook and the support of MPs who were Nantah alumni. Against the sentiment of "most of [his] cabinet colleagues," MM Lee decided to "stir up a hornet's nest"to arrest the problem of Nantah graduates' lack of fluency in English at its infancy. In summary, he led the government to save Nantah from its unavoidable demise against the irrationality of Nantah's emotional alumni.

Wang Gungwu, currently Director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, offered a different take when interviewed for the book Diasporic Chinese Ventures: The Life and Work of Wang Gungwu (Google BookSearch). He said, "Nantah...suffered active discrimination...neither [Malaysia/Singapore] government was prepared to recognize them." That was before Singapore gained independence from Malaysia. Later in the interview, he attributed the decline of Nantah to Singapore no longer admitting Malaysian students, when at Nantah "three out of five students were graduates of Malaysian middle schools, some of which were stronger than their counterparts in Singapore."

Wang's account does not directly negate Lee's, but highlights that Nantah's situation then was more complex than just of its medium of instruction. Unfortunately, almost all secondary official Singapore accounts have followed Lee's story without mention of Wang's portions. (for example: the Library Board's and news reports on Channel News Asia etc)

I have great respect for MM Lee - he is a shrewd politician who has led Singapore decisively for decades. Yet the history of many cannot be written by a single hand, and we as Singaporeans need to understand our history in holistic ways.

The blind anger against MM Lee for subsuming Nantah under NUS has faded, the Nantah alumni probably have college-age kids by now. I believe MM Lee's good name will stand to gain further with more re-examining of our history. Right now his name is sullied (mostly abroad) by the extremist-anti-PAP camp who has the argument that Singaporeans are ignorant of "the truth." These anti-PAPers go around fashioning themselves as martyrs liberating us ignorant masses. It is time to remove their weapon of accusation, to open up and re-examine the history books, so they can no longer argue that PAP is popular because of its singular grip on history. As the Nantah story tells us, history is more complex than that.

---
This is the first in a series examining the ideas of "Singapore" and "Diaspora," in anticipation of DiaS'pura at Penn. Prof. Chan Heng Chee, Singapore's Ambassador to the US, Prof. Janice R. Bellace, Founding President of Singapore Management University, and Francis Seow, will speak at the event. Although the website of DiaS'pura lists Francis Seow as a Fellow at both Harvard and Yale, I failed to find information from either Harvard's or Yale's website that indicates he is still currently of those positions.

There is no official partnership between HoViVo and DiaS'pura, I'm just writing with an interest as a Penn alumnus and Singaporean.

Obscure Back Roads

2007-02-27T23:44:00.000-08:00

[Fiction - Draft] Part 4, originally written May 2006
What happened was that for a few months after Tina came back from four years of Manhattan, she couldn't date. She remembers stifling her shivers whenever she met men who spoke with such strong Singlish accents. And one of them was promising enough, until he confessed he would rather be watching Mr and Mrs Smith than "slow" Annie Hall. Then somehow Damien came into her life. She was idling at Clarke Quay's tcc, pondering over a random tourist's comment that "everything is too new here" when he intruded, not giving her time to compose herself:

'And I don't suppose you're the ST journalist?"

He'd said it in such a casual manner that his accent had failed to register.

Related posts:
Part 1 of story - Dinner Music for People who aren't Very Hungry
Part 2 of story - The Sound of Silence
Part 3 of story - New Amsterdam

P65 MPs: Style over Substance?

2007-02-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

Singapore Post-1965 Politicians: Style over Substance?
Dancing their ways to our hearts, snaking their ways to our minds

Style
Barack Obama is a lesson in style - people trust and are charmed by him. He appears on shows like Conan, and young voters eagerly reach back to him. In the same fashion, our P65 MPs are signaling their desire to connect to us. Us - the group of post-65ers who will make up the majority of voters in the next election. But we just laugh at them. And at best the journalist writing for the Associated Press about P65 Chingay was restraining his smirk.

Are we observers hypocrites? Weren't we the ones who wanted PAP to loosen up from their paternalistic ways? I have a parallel first hand experience - I was a student councilor in JC. Mass dances are huge at my JC, and being responsible for devising new dances and passing on traditional ones, we councilors spent time practicing, performing and leading dances. Some students weren't impressed, they thought we cared too much for dancing - and we weren't even good at it. I enjoyed dancing but realized I was no dancer. But I danced on. Maybe I was pushed by more senior members of the establishment because they thought it was crucial in our service to students. Definitely I felt a passion to serve my fellow students. Yet style is a two-way street - not just about exhibiting, but about listening to feedback and reacting...stylishly.

If you pardon my example, aren't dances usually as mating rituals? So what are the p65 MPs using it as a vehicle for - substance?

Substance
To give them some credit
True to PAP, our P65 MPs prefer subtlety. Their blog may sometimes seem like inane recollections of their day or childhood, but carefully embedded in each entry is subtext on a hefty topic, like for example racial harmony or urban planning. The MPs have better uses of their time than to sit in front of a computer and blog nostalgia. Clearly they are using our common childhood memories to connect. C'mon, we Singaporeans are a sappy bunch, suckers for Korean dramas and more family-oriented than most city-dwellers. Politics are about grassroots power - with their posts in various languages and different MPs focusing on separate niches like arts & design, minority issues, the p65 blog is much weightier than most people give them credit for.

Then to take some away - personal peeve
First, maybe I'm claustrophobic, but something personal: I hate frames, so I dislike the layout, even when the frame is inlaid. I prefer my customized frameless version.

If I put on my postmodernist glasses and analyze why I don't like the border of happy smiling MP faces, I guess I'm bothered by how much it reminds me of our GRC system. How I don't vote single politicians but by the gang.

The lack of dialog, the lack of engagement
"It's Where We Talk," claims the tagline in a handwritten font. I'm not sure who "we" refer to, but most readers of the p65 blogs are not satisfied with the level of political engagement. While Singapore bloggers were debating the GST hike in November 2006, the first posts from the MPs didn't come till much later. Even when that happened, some MPs were accused of not responding directly to comments readers left.

Lim Wee Kiat was singled out by a reader (named anonymously "Singaporean") as "the only P65 MP here on this blog who is willing to discuss govt policies." I'm sure there are many readers who are equally frustrated with the lack of dialog and engagement. So the return volley from the MPs is: why then, no one comes the webchats and real-life sessions (other than Young PAP members)?

Our impatient world
As David Harvey succinctly said of our post-modern times, we face "Time-space compression." (Space)Here I am blogging in the United States, but my readers come mainly from Singapore. (Time)Maybe the complaint about the lack of engagement is really a complaint about the lack of timely posts? Some of the most popular Singapore political bloggers are not just the best writers, they are the most frequent writers. Politicians, however, are probably not passionate bloggers. It's part of what they do, but my advice is for us readers to slow down and push for more engagement while not pushing for more frequency.

[End of portion about MPs]
The Asides
Thanks for reading so far, I really appreciate it, and would be happy if you could leave comments.

Intra-country income disparity is a global phenomenon, countries rich as the United States and (previously) poor like China are grappling with it. I believe in the power of open markets, even in thoughts and debate, so I'm happy I live in a generation where I can influence how we tackle this problem.

Coming from a background that's at best lower-middle income, I empathize that the lower income groups need help, but I'm concerned at how Singapore politics have pressured politicians into what appears to be more welfarism, at least in appearance. With our globalized, connected world, institutions need to be nimble and quick, and I think too many complex welfare policies will drag us down.

Major diversion - The carnival as a microcosm of society
The level of democracy is reflected in our Chingay carnival. I was once in a carnival in Aalst, a small town in Belgium, and almost every float that went past was political - whether local, Belgian, European, or world-wide. Yet they were mostly very funny, if offensive (not at a Borat level though). For a while I thought there was a huge Danish population, because everyone was waving Danish flags...then I realized it was about the cartoons.

Whereas our Chingay is sanctioned clean fun. Carnivals aside, where's our space for expression? Where's our freedom of speech? Is governmental control hurting us? Let me give a YouTube example - if I want to learn about Lee Kuan Yew and I search for videos, only 5 are returned, and the top hit is about a cabbie complaining about him. Oh, no, readers of my blog who come from gov.sg, please don't start uploading innocently proper LKY clips on YouTube - learn the lesson we have to... our participatory culture needs the government to realize we are moving beyond top-down, government implemented.

IR
Decades ago, the worlds (Beauty World, Gay World, Great World etc) were what would be regarded as Casino resorts today - they offered the glamor, the exoticism...yet they went away, or were taken away.

When we return these places of decadent fun (come on, we all know casinos bring with them sins like gambling, drinking, dirty money, prostitution etc), we can't just be reintroducing them to attract hedge fund managers (Wall Street Journal suggested that's why we're doing it). Bankers come and go, and increasingly maybe Singaporeans come and go, but everyone knows - the Singaporean will at least pause and think before they pack, but the banker is gone as fast as that Mercedes cab comes...

Malaysian Ad in Hokkien

2007-02-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Petronas Chinese New Year 2006 clip in Hokkien (with Malay subs) on YouTube featuring some grannies bragging about their successful kids. Sounds very Singaporean too.

*spoilers*

The clip conveys a message similar to what PM Lee said about keeping family ties strong, but of course, the clip can't be aired on Singapore TV since it's in Hokkien. Moreover, the clip says family is more important than money - not quite the message Singapore's government would encourage.

New Amsterdam

2007-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Originally published May 2006.

New Amsterdam
[Fiction - Draft]
Ian had taken a short trip to Benelux two years earlier, and all that survived from that time were flashes of memory constantly invaded by random noise. No, he had not smoked weed in Amsterdam. So the joke goes, he went for the canals. No hos either, why would he, when the only visits he pays Geylang are for killer beef hor fun. But truly he had been there for Van Gogh, Anne Frank and Rembrandt. Van Gogh struck a chord in looking for a new Japan in Europe. Ian felt like he himself was searching for utopia. His friends took the route of mushrooms and other Amster-gems, but he had objected to anything that modified his mind.

"But you have the death penalty too," he retorted to his American friend, though he conceded that hanging was more brutal than lethal injection. He was more unsettled by the fact that he only knew about Singapore's investments through reading the Journal and FT. An opposition madman had accused the incorruptible government of supporting Burma's druglords. He didn't care for the madman and would never vote for him or his party, even as the opponent was PDP. What he was concerned with was how Singapore tolerates Aung Sang Su Kyi being under house arrest. Then again, foreign journalists claim the same of Singapore's political dissidents.

Journalism in Singapore

2007-02-18T23:33:00.000-08:00

Losing Faith of the Printed Word
I just spent the past hour and a half watching a BBC documentary on Tehran, and what struck me was the spirit of journalism, both of the BBC journalist and the journalists in Tehran. If Prof. Mahbubani said journalists have a tough job in Singapore, I suppose he was not speaking in terms relative to Iran. The Iranian journalists seem to display tenacity and passion I don't sense from reading the Straits Times. But I'm making an unfair comparison because those Iranian journalists featured didn't work for the equivalent of the ST - they work for smaller outfits that nonetheless have impressive circulation.

In the documentary, Rageh Omaar said that despite being news-obsessed, Iranians were "losing faith of the printed word." They browse newspapers but don't buy them. They have the fourth largest blogging community in the world, and Iranians are increasingly turning to Satellite TV and the Internet.

Foreigners tend to have an overly pessimistic impression of Iran - that it is a repressive regime when in fact there are many elements of democracy. The documentary makes me feel Singapore doesn't stand very far from where Iran is in terms of media freedom. We all have to paraphrase issues in euphemistic ways, and that is if we're allowed to talk openly about them. Bloggers are ok, so long as they do not attract too much attention. The "red lines" or "OB markers" are too broad to be useful - we are allowed to say what we want as long as we know how to dance around land mines.

An Iranian film had to be censored extensively before it could be screened locally, but went on to win at International Film Festivals - sounds familiar to Singapore? Journalists, documentary makers, filmmakers, visual artists have a central part in our world, because they communicate to us and remind us what we should be doing to progress our world.

Perhaps the reason why Holland Village Voice started out as a novel modeled after Kundera's is because I deeply feel and fear that media freedom in Singapore is an illusion. I felt compelled to speak in riddles, as Kundera did.

The old (circa May 2006 elections) post below was my attempt at writing about a character who censors the Singapore media in his own way.

The Sound of Silence
[Fiction]
The living room sounded silent as Tina turned her key, so she was surprised to see her Pa sitting in front of the TV (he had muted the news because the Progress Democratic Party was on). Her Pa had declared a cold war on her ever since the campaigning started. She sighed, but felt amused her Pa was exercising his censorship over the PDP. A refreshing change from work, perhaps.

Pa had sustained an unforgettable memory of loss. His mother tongue (Hokkien), and his university were both systematically eliminated. He was a radical Chinese educated. Today he speaks Singlish proudly, as if never wanting to let go of the vestige of his identity.

"There is no Singaporean language," sends Tina through her MSN window. She has always been irked by her boyfriend's accent and consistently incorrect grammar, but she was exhausted from work, and in no mood to fight.

She wished she was back in the Village, shopping for trail mix or thumbing a discounted Murakami she was musing whether to buy or finish reading. Snapping out of the irrational wish, she turned on the TV in her own room so she can watch the PDP broadcast sans censorship. Somehow, her finger yearned for the mute button.

Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry

2007-02-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

I once heard in church the term Sunday Christians, used to refer to people who were religious only a day a week. On May 6th 2006, I started Holland Village Voice, wanting to help make sure that after the excitement surrounding the elections, online debate about the future of Singapore would continue, to make sure we are not Election Day Singaporeans.

The first format of the blog was novel-esque, a tribute to Kundera's writings about communist Prague. Perhaps it was too unfriendly a format for thinking about Singapore issues, but if you have the time to spare, please read the post below, and you will be able to pick up several issues I later wrote as opinion pieces, on media freedom, on how we approach the income disparity, on Thai-Singapore relations etc.

As always, thanks for reading, and comments are very welcome.

"Unhealthy, unreliable and dangerous"
"In a free-for-all Internet environment, where there are no rules, political debates could easily degenerate into an unhealthy, unreliable and dangerous discourse flushed with rumours and distortions to mislead and confuse the public."
The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Balaji Sadasivan)

Reference: Singapore Parliament Report on GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNS (Change of laws and regulations on use of Internet and podcasts)

Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry
[Fiction]
In May 2006, the Singaporean journalist Tina flipped over the front page of the States Times to face the article she had written. She silently read through it, pursing her lips, trying to read between the parts of the story she didn’t want to write. She despaired whenever her eyes ran over the views she didn’t endorse, but were tacked below her name, her byline.

Thousands of readers judged her over breakfast. Some were disappointed at her because they thought her Ivy League education would have given her an insistence on journalistic integrity. Other sympathized with her, or rather the State, – they understood the need for public order.

Thousands more debated with her in their minds after work. They knew that news was best consumed fresh, but the MRT ride home was the only time they could spare. Some were young, but clearly not apathetic. They had a $1.20 nasi lemak for breakfast, and ate lunch at the desk, but weren’t very hungry for dinner. They weren’t hungry for million-dollar political handouts either. Jazz music oozed from their iPod buds. Those dangerous syncopations and unreliable beats that they loved as nourishment, unlike the unhealthy dose of controlled news.

One of them, Ian, crushed the newspaper in anger. He didn’t need anyone to tell him how to think. Not another arrogant politician. He likes Thailand, and has many Thai friends who misinterpret his country as snobbish. Wedging his hand into his slim briefcase, he fished out Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. In the background, a woman in her late thirties was boasting how stealthy she was in taping all her fingers to mask her fingerprints. Now no one would know she had voted for the opposition. He smirked – each vote was identifiable by the voter by details printed on the envelope.

He returned to reading, and took a sharp breath reading Kundera’s line “The constitution did indeed guarantee freedom of speech, but the laws punished anything that could be considered an attack on state security.” His blog had been previously quoted a local tabloid article dealing with a sensitive political issue. He looked up as the MRT pulled into Aljunied station. On the platform he saw an old ah ma struggling with a makeshift trolley bursting with collected cardboard, and in the glass he saw his disheveled self. He sighed and wished Tina fought for the ah ma.

Problem Facing the Straits Times Forum

2007-02-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

Recent posts on Coffee & Cigarettes and Yawning Bread touch on, among other issues, the standards applied by the Straits Times Forum Editor. The triggers were 1. A letter by Mr Heng about "Old people have the social and moral obligation to take care of themselves." 2. Prof. Kishore Mahbubani speech at MediaCorp News Awards about "Singapore Journalists Have a Difficult Job."

Issue has been around
The issue of the ST Forum selection criteria has definitely been around for a while. I vaguely remember an old website called "Not the Straits Times Forum" that published rejected letters, and recently we've seen a new project "Straight Times Forum" that attempts to achieve the same.

On this archived tomorrow.sg page, you will find a blurb highlighting a November 2005 analysis carried out by lzydata on his blog Singapore Ink about the breakdown of ST Forum letters. It was pretty obvious how warped the selection criteria was. Unfortunately, Singapore Ink is neither active nor archived.

In May 2005, I had a brief e-mail exchange with someone from ST. The journalist from ST wrote an article about Singaporeans being apathetic about the China-Japan row then. I wrote him an e-mail suggesting that the ST Forum, by choosing to publish letters of complaint instead of those discussing serious issues, isn’t helping.

Specifically, I singled out letters like ""She shed 9kg. Now she is underweight" and "Luggage Blues on Valuair" as instances that should be directed to agencies of consumer affairs and the companies themselves.

You can read more on the comments portion of an archived tomorrow.sg page. I want to focus on his reply:

Defending the Straits Times Forum (in May 2005)

ST Journalist (not the ST Forum editor): ST is a paper that is "everything to everyone."
ST Journalist: Forum editor goes for the best and the widest range of issues.
ST Journalist: There are plans to publish all received letters online.

Those three points are weak, and highlight a single problem - declining readership:
ST is not "everything to everyone." It is not a community newspaper
The journalist romanticized the monopolistic role of the ST by saying that ST needs to publish letters like banning cats in HDBs because it is a community paper at the same time it is a national paper. But the Straits Times is not a community paper - it is a ruling party influenced publication. After the online elitist debacle about "poor people not helping themselves," Mr Heng's "old people not helping themselves" letter sounds terribly offensive and lacking in political savvy, and creates the suspicion of a background force propagating the mantra that Singapore cannot regress into a welfare state.

A community newspaper would be concerned about old people getting injured, and reporting on how the rest of the community is acting to improve the situation. Unlike the ST, a community newspaper does not publish letters telling people their foolishness is to blame for their own injuries, that they constitute a "time bomb."

I hope no one mistakes my next reference as bad taste, I mean it all in positive terms: Nobel Prize winner Alan MacDiarmid recently died because he "fell down stairs in his home." He was rushing to catch a flight. Would Mr. Heng consider Dr. MacDiarmid morally and socially irresponsible? He is a Nobel Prize winner after all, responsible for much more than taking care of grandkids (a noble task I must say. I love you, Grandma). He was just living his life to the fullest. I don't know what advice Mr Heng would give Dr. MacDiarmid - don't be last minute?

More disturbing is ST Forum Editor's decision to publish that letter. What did he/she mean to achieve by selecting such a letter of bad taste? If the argument is to provoke debate, should the ST Forum then publish letters of bad taste sliming the ruling party's policies? The ST cannot pretend to be a community newspaper because it is not - it tries to portray itself as close to hearts of Singaporeans so more Singaporeans would read it, but Mr Heng's letter exposes ST's inability to understand what a community newspaper does.

Forum editor goes for widest range of issues, but "best letters?"
Some of the most best, meaning most insightful articles/opinions on Singapore are now appearing on the Internet, as writers find that they no longer have to be at the mercy of an opaque ST Forum policy. As more Singaporeans head online to debate national issues, the ST Forum will not have the best letters sent in to begin with.

More letters published, but not all
The ST Forum can't publish all letters, because of strict OB markers. The Internet has more relaxed rules (thankfully). Another reason why the ST Forum's readership is being diluted - why be told what to think?

Personally, I haven't been reading the ST Forum for a while. Or the ST. Not from the lack of trying - here's a good reason: I am a STI Online subscriber, but I frequently reach the screen that says that the ST servers are overloaded, and please wait or come back later. I don't get that - I thought the point of subscribing is so I'm supporting the purchase of more servers so I don't get that screen.

Anyway, as Yawning Bread implies, I agree that the ST is facing serious problems of the readers' trust and the exodus to online sources. I grew up reading the ST cover-to-cover, so I hope it will be given the freedom to develop into newspaper like the New York Times, read at places far from its source, rather than what it is today - a newspaper with a captive audience it can't keep captive.

5 reasons to attend DiaS'pura

2007-02-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

Diaspora+Singapura=DiaS'pura
University of Pennsylvania March 24th 2007

Her Excellency (Singapore Ambassador to US/Prof) Chan Heng Chee, who in her earlier academic career published numerous articles about the role of politics in Singapore, will be keynote speaker. A fellow speaker will be Harvard Fellow Francis Seow. I think that will be exciting for anyone interested in Singapore politics.
Founding President of Singapore Management University, Prof. Janice R. Bellace will speak.
Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen will be there to discuss the "Singapore identity" and the "nascent film industry" of Singapore (more accurately, the recently renewed film industry). I've heard them speak before, about issues like Singlish. They're very sincere, and influential in that their "Singapore Dreaming" e-mail a few years ago must have been a landmark in Singaporeans thinking about opting out of the materialistic path.
A musical to end the night with...the right note! No wait, since it's held at Penn, I guess there's an after-party that will bring us right to brunch.
I'll be there. Woohoo.

Liberal Arts for Liberal Arts' Sake

2007-02-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

What disturbed me and prompted me to write this post? Singapore is pursuing a liberal arts college as if it is another business opportunity and approaching starting a school like starting a factory. Education in a liberal arts sense is about seeing more than the business and practical side of things. Education is more than about being best and "first."

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Since Dr Tony Tan can be credited with the rapid success of Singapore Management University, having been indispensable to SMU in actions and words since it was just an idea, his recent declaration that "we [Singapore] must be first with [a] liberal arts school" suggests such a college would be established in the immediate future. Unsurprisingly, the urgent need is money.

The benefits that a liberal arts college will bring to Singapore are indisputable. Before such a college can succeed, the second most urgent need is to understand liberal arts education, in Biopolis-ian Singapore, for liberal arts' sake.

Fewer Students, More Student-Faculty Interaction
Tom Gerety, a former President of Amherst College argued that "we [at Amherst] believe in teaching as conversation because the best teaching is conversation." The small enrollments at liberal arts colleges allow a unique small-classroom style of teaching mostly absent in large research-oriented universities.

For Professors, Less (and Less Specialized) Research, More Teaching
Traditionally, professors at liberal arts colleges emphasize less on research, more on teaching. Their tenure is similarly judged more on quality of teaching than outputs in research. The Carleton College homepage proudly proclaims that its "talented faculty's...first priority is teaching."

In contrast to the large number of researchers at a research university, the relatively small number of faculty at liberal arts colleges should push them towards more generality and less specialization in their fields. Professor Timothy Burke of Swarthmore College discusses such issues in his post "building a liberal arts faculty."

Fewer Graduate Students, Focus on Undergrads
The focus on teaching over research translates into fewer graduate students. Instead, an unwavering focus on undergraduates characterizes liberal arts colleges. For example, liberal arts college Brywn Mawr has thrice the number of undergrads than grads in 2006/7. In the case of a research university like the University of Chicago graduate/professional students outnumber the undergrads two to one. [Please read comments by U of Chicago students on their experiences.]

However, there are also in-between universities, like Dartmouth College, that have both strong liberal arts undergrad focus and grad programs. Because of its numerous grad programs, Dartmouth is usually classified as a university, not a liberal arts college.

Less Hands-On, More General Knowledge and Intellectual Skills link
As opposed to professional/vocational training at research/professional-training universities (for example, life sciences research at NTU, aero engineering at MIT, accounting at SMU, pre-med focus at Johns Hopkins, finance concentration at Wharton, law at NUS), a liberal arts education prides itself in imparting the broad knowledge of humanities and sciences.

However, it has been noted in various studies that undergraduate colleges form a "Key pipeline of Research Scientists,"link opens PDF contributing disproportionate numbers of students to graduate schools.

A possible but unpleasant explanation for such a trend is that liberal arts colleges have moved closer to the teaching methods of the research/professional-training universities. Some point out that with decreasing enrolment in liberal arts programs, "even stand-alone liberal arts colleges are offering fewer liberal arts degrees and focusing increasingly on pre-professional programs" link

On one hand, liberal arts colleges should focus on their strength of flexibility - by consciously preparing students for many non-specific scenarios, their graduates are more adaptive and ready for our rapidly changing world.

On the other, liberal arts colleges might be utilizing their strength of high faculty-student ratio while venturing into hands-on vocational/professional training.

Measuring Liberal Arts on its own terms
Unfortunately, rankings of universities have become a worldwide obsession, and liberal arts colleges suffer greatly from the methodologies that favor research universities. As a result, liberal arts universities have struggled to remain confident on their own terms, feeling the need to justify their output in economic, tangible terms.

Ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan worried that "our universities are going to have to struggle to prevent the liberal arts curricula from being swamped by technology and science." Although he is inaccurate in grouping all of science out of liberal arts, he highlights that the weakness of liberal arts lies chiefly in our inability to value the humanities in its own terms. related link

Liberal Arts Programs in Large Research Universities
Coincidentally, in the same speech, Greenspan quotes a large research university's president when explaining the benefits of a liberal arts education. (disclosure: author is alumnus of Penn)

So-called liberal education is presumed to spawn a greater understanding of all aspects of living--an essential ingredient to broaden one's world view. As the President of the University of Pennsylvania, Judith Rodin, put it, such an understanding comes by "vaulting over disciplinary walls" and exploring other fields of study. Most great conceptual advances are interdisciplinary and involve synergies of different specialities. Yet the liberal arts embody more than a means of increasing technical intellectual efficiency. They encourage the appreciation of life experiences that reach beyond material well-being and, indeed, are comparable and mutually reinforcing.

Many large universities recreate the environment of high faculty-to-student ratio, broad-based liberal curriculum by having smaller programs. The Benjamin Franklin Scholars program at Penn and University Scholars Program at NUS are but two examples.

Schools are Not Factories
Singapore's rationale for starting a liberal arts college is to "groom future leaders in business, community and government." I believe in the strengths of a liberal arts education, but we must remember that causation doesn't mean correlation - many notable alumni from liberal arts colleges come from established political families. (We see a parallel in Ivy League universities). So we must believe in a liberal arts college for liberal arts' sake, and not treat it as another factory to churn out future leaders.

Other related links:

I was part of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program during my undergrad days at Penn, and loved the small-enrollment seminars I took that varied from a History research seminar on the Rise and Fall of the British Empire to a project-based Anthropology+Computer Modeling class on the Bolivian site of Tiwanaku. I am very happy Singapore is recognizing the liberal arts, but I hope we recognize liberal arts for liberal arts' sake. Thank you very much for reading!

Samsui Women Not Eligible for Workfare Bonus

2007-01-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts on Singapore
(Part I)
Consider this: if the "permanent" Workfare Bonus (to be announced in detail February 15 2007) requires the worker to "provide for Medisave" in order to be eligible, then Samsui Women who collect cardboard will not qualify. Samsui Women form a powerful and celebrated image of some early Singapore immigrants - risk-taking, industrious and resilient. More importantly, they literally built Singapore, constructing landmark buildings like the Capitol Cinema and buildings along Shenton way. Chingay processions and National Day Parades pretentiously remind us of their importance, but ironically a real Samsui Women couldn't get a ticket to the NDP.

The crucial question is then, what is the Singapore Dream - can Singapore promise material well-being/returns to all those who "built up Singapore?" Note that we weren't promised Workfare Bonuses or other material well-being in the Constitution.

'I know that some older Singaporeans have made this argument, that we were the generation who built up Singapore...now if you put the GST, you are actually making my nest egg shrink a little bit, so please be fair to me, give me something,' he noted.
'I think that's a fair argument and we will see to it.'
PM Lee Hsien Loong quoted on Straits Times Jan 25th 2007

Are we fulfilling our promise of material well-being by shifting from free markets to greater government intervention and welfare? Looking at America, a recent opinion piece on the Wall Street Journal argues that the real difference between Democrats and Republicans with regards to the growing income disparity is not that the former decided to raise minimum wage. The author argues the difference is that Republicans are more optimistic and believe that a smaller, more efficient government is the solution. In Singapore, by making Workfare Bonus "permanent," is the ruling party moving too far towards market intervention in return for popularity votes?

With whom does the promise end? Do we consider the current "unskilled" laborers (who actually have the skill of construction) from countries like India, China and Sri Lanka people who "built up Singapore?" Should the earlier immigrants deny the entry and contributions of later immigrants, the way some conservatives in the United States are trying to keep Mexicans out? Will our new inclusive society include our laborers and maids, or are they forever foreign?

(Part II)
Does the promise end with material well-being? Is the government also responsible for making sure Singapore isn't boring, isn't stifling, that happiness falls on our laps and 19 year old drug traffickers no longer get hanged? No. We as Singaporeans have to pursue our own un-boringness, our own media freedom, our own happiness, and if we believe so strongly - the abolishment of our death penalty. The way a woman decided to take care of single Samsui Women.

Dr. Chee has long tried to portray the government as hypocritical by alleging that the government trades with Burmese drug lords but hangs traffickers. But he offered no better solution. Had he attained office, he might have ended trade with Burma but that wouldn't have ended Burma's drug trade. He might have abolished the death penalty, but that wouldn't resolve the drug trafficking complications in Singapore. The critics of the death penalty have yet to offer an attractive alternative. (related HoViVo post: Singapore/Burma)

Singaporeans know that the death penalty is cruel and inhumane, we definitely don't rejoice in killing. Yet why do so many Singaporeans appear passive accomplices to the acts? Is it possible that Singaporeans are actually pro-death penalty because we think it is the best solution? We didn't promise any drug traffickers they won't be hanged. Our anti-death penalty activists may be better off changing the opinions of Singapore voters with more enlightened alternatives, instead of picking a fight with other "intelligent" Singaporeans.

Disclaimer: I'm expressing my own opinion, not the PAP's, not the Straits Times', not Intelligent Singaporean's.

Singapore's karaoke-singing cabby returns!

2007-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

Story at New Tang Dynasty Television (via Gridskipper)

(video links are towards the top of the page)
I especially like the part when he said "One fine day..."

E-mail to PTC on Premium Bus Service

2007-01-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

Inspired by MollyMeek's post
Also read the press release from PTC (opens a PDF)
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Dear PTC
Thank you for your move to grant more bus licenses. I appreciate your decision to give consumers more choices.

However, with all respect, I'm bothered by requirement three of your license (point 6c in your Press Release) that fares must be 1.5 time of existing services. I believe the minimum fare requirement should be removed for two reasons:

The third requirement appears redundant. The first two requirements of air-conditioning and all-passengers-seated already make the costs of running the new service higher than the current services. Moreover, the new provider has start-up costs and higher base costs due to the relative lack of scale.
The third requirement discourages competition with existing services. If the new provider makes an incredible productivity leap, it may be able to offer comparable fares yet superior service, competing with existing services on price and product. By mandating a fare floor, the new provider is unable to compete on price, but only on product. This protects the current service providers SBS etc. By limiting competition we preclude the emergence of a new low fare, premium product. Before JetBlue and Southwest airlines revolutionized the US airline industry, no one imagined a lower fare, premium product would be viable.

Your survey indicates that commuters may be willing to pay higher prices for better services. Although that means Singaporeans are willing to pay higher prices, it does not mean they prefer higher prices over lower prices. I sincerely encourage the PTC to consider removing the third clause and let market forces act.

I understand the PTC may have done further detailed research not revealed in the press release, and I would be interested to read about the deeper underlying reasons of the third requirement.

Thank you for reading my letter, and I look forward to your reply.

Why Students Drove, and will Drive, Social Change in Singapore

2007-01-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

A healthy dose of personal opinion is embedded in this blog post. I welcome disagreement - please leave comments.

Significant history of student political activism in Asia
The foolish youths tend to agitate change - student activism has at least 50 years of history in most parts of the world, including Asia. For example, China had the May Fourth movement in 1919. Where collectivism is supposedly prized over individualism, students wielded their power in the 1960s for Japan and the 1910s, 50s, 60s, 70s for South Korea. These examples show that student activism isn't a recent phenomenon in Asia. On the contrary, student activism may have receded in some Asian countries in the most recent decades.

In Asia, "academic elite" as "countervailing force " in politics is not recent
In Asian countries previously colonized by the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese, the academic elite was a powerful driving force to counter the colonial establishment. Since the emergence of such politicians occurred in the years immediately following World War II, it is not a recent phenomenon. A possibly more accurate description would be that academic elite as a countervailing force in Asian politics has cycled through peaks and troughs, but in some countries their influence has never gone away.

Low level of student political activism in Singapore is not caused by high proportion of students living at home with parents
The student actions in 1954 against conscription in Singapore and in 1956 against anti-communist measures were executed mainly by middle school students (another link here). Students were mainly active in two high schools: Chung Cheng High School and the Chinese High School. In the 1950s, these students would have lived at home with their parents (with the obvious exception when they were engaged in sit-ins at the high schools).

Student political activism regarding Singapore by those not living at home with parents seemingly low today
(Warning: Contentious) During "Confluence," the "Global Students Ministerial Dialog" held in summer 2006 in Singapore, Singapore students studying abroad were given the opportunity to discuss their concerns with Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean. Most of the questions asked were rhetoric and amounted to fawning. Not surprising, since many scholarship holders were present, while Singaporeans studying abroad who have set their minds on leaving were absent. Some scholars may somehow feel obliged to agree with the ruling party for their future. Ironically, the ruling party is probably looking for the next generation of leaders who need to connect to the post-post-65ers and cannot survive the eventually post-LKY, new media world by nodding yes.

Student political activism in Asia significantly influenced by students abroad
For countries like Vietnam, Burma and Sri Lanka, instability at home has prompted many students to study and eventually live abroad. The diaspora (some in exile) have exerted incredible financial and political influence over events at home. For example, since the process of decolonization began, Sri Lanka was shaped by several prominent leaders like D S Senanayake and G G Ponnambalam who were educated in Oxford and Cambridge. Prior to her return to Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi was at Oxford.

The future of student-driven social change in Singapore
As more Singaporeans study abroad and more foreigners study in Singapore, and as more youths are active in blogging, we can expect greater interest in the determination of social policies in Singapore. When Singapore disallowed foreign universities setting up campuses in Singapore from engaging in potentially sensitive political/social research, the University of Warwick declined to establish themselves here. As we compete to be the education center of Asia (to be the Cambridge/Boston of Asia), as we consider starting liberal arts colleges, we must inevitably allow more media and political freedom. We Singaporeans have tended to be pessimistic about our political future and give ourselves too little credit. I believe students will drive social change of the future. As a Singaporean student, I will walk my talk.

Further reading:

The post is a loose reply to "Why University Students Do Not Drive Social Change in Singapore."

Examining Singapore's ties with Burma

2007-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Even the Economist couldn't save Burma
Even the usually insightful Economist newspaper stumbled when it came to the topic of how to save Burma. Its July 2005 opinion piece can be summarized as: the West and the East should come together and use carrots and sticks, but only if Burma's military junta responds to them. While the Economist's suggestions appeared to lack in novelty and applicability, they highlight the two fundamental problems: the lack of a cohesive response cause nations' efforts to negate each other and Burma's dictatorship does not seem to care anyway.

Singapore's ties motivated by economics, "untroubled by politics"
Like many others, Singapore's government did not know how to solve the complex political problems in Burma. So it decided to be all carrots. Once a major trading partner and investor in Burma, Singapore's approach was motivated by economics and as an article by a Burmese non-partisan exile journalist puts it, Singapore was "untroubled by Burma's political problems." The moves to keep Burma stable were probably to keep this golden goose alive. In contrast, some other ASEAN/Asian countries like Malaysia and East Timor were much more outspoken about demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi (democratically elected leader under house arrest). Even the exit from the Burmese markets in recent years were economic, rather than a protest against the military dictatorship.

The incapable opposition politician
Using choice words and video bites, Singapore's mainstream media portrayed Dr. Chee Soon Juan as a madman who made baseless accusations like Singapore's ties with Burmese drug lords. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stayed close by featuring him as a criminal and liar. Dr. Chee (and many Australian newspapers) used Burma to argue that the Singapore government was hypocritical - trading with drug lords yet hanging drug traffickers. The problem for Dr. Chee, other than lacking uncensored access to Singapore media, was that he did not and probably could not offer a better solution. Had he attained office through the Burma issue, he would have stopped trade with Burma, but that would not have solved Burma's problem. Prior to the general elections in 2006, opposition politics on a broader scale suffered from the same problem - criticism without better solutions.

The trouble with Singaporeans
It is not as much as Singapore's government is apathetic about Burma's civilian poverty and military atrocities as Singaporeans are. We might be too obsessed about money to care about our South East Asian neighbors' developments.

Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts fails to keep pace with changes
Although, MICA no longer has the monopoly on ICA, it insists on blunt instruments like banning FEER. By attempting to prevent Singaporeans from reading dissenting opinions about Singapore's previous trade ties with Burma, MICA instead makes dissenting views forbidden fruit and maybe Dr. Chee more believable (as if the government had something to hide). Truths may not always be self-evident, but they usually emerge after debate, not one-sided coverage by the Straits Times. If we are to move on to the next phase of our highly mobile and cosmopolitan city with a social problems time bomb (read: casino) embedded at its heart, we need more media freedom. And maybe we already have more media freedom. I don't think I will get into trouble for typing this post. But of course, if I were Burmese, I might be arrested and tortured. Help Burma, Singaporeans.

Further reading/participation:

Note regarding reading the full article on the Economist:

If you do not subscribe to the Economist.com, you may still have access through news archival websites like Factiva and LexisNexis through your school or company

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

2006-12-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

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.

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.
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.
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.
Some alumni I met as a pre-frosh, who left banking to start a photography+film school.
Close friend of mine, photographer.
Another photographer, related to a close friend of mine.
My favorite Singapore graphic designers (:Phunk) who made it.
My friend Kaushal, who used to work with Woolert (still under development).

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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

2006-12-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-12-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

[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:

"Uniquely Singapore"

2006-11-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-10-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-10-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

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.