Simple is the Reason of My Heart

Books on the Virtues and Follies of Internet

A intense back pain has forced me to stay at home this weekend. Since I am bedridden most of the time, I take this time to read intensely or surf the web, as compared to my daily habit of reading one hour before sleep. While I am currently working with founders in web 2.0 start-ups, I am surveying for new ideas from the cyberspace and known literature. So, as a matter of those who are interested in the web 2.0 space, I have decided to recommend two books which illustrate two different perspectives (from the good to the bad) on the phenomenon of the current internet (web 2.0, new media and virtual worlds) and its impact on our culture and economy.

Social Political Blogging: Singapore vs US

Recently, I did an interview with Jude Yew, a Singaporean PhD researcher about the impact of new (or social) media in the past 2006 general elections in Singapore. During the interview, we started teasing out the differences in the social political blogosphere between Singapore and US. Coupled with the observation on the netroots activity in the US Presidential Elections 2008 and the evolution of the Singapore blogosphere after the 2006 elections, some interesting differences emerge from that comparison. 

Institution Memory is Essential For Youth Activism in Singapore

My colleague in Singapore Angle, Dansong wrote that it is the lethargy rather than the apathy that dampens youth activism today. In my own engagement with student entrepreneurial initiatives in Singapore, one reason to support this increasing lethargy in youth activism, is the lack of institution memory and leadership transition. As a result, every few years, we see our youths continuing re-inventing the wheel, where they could have moved on to greater initiatives from their existing projects. I will provide some suggestions (drawing on my experience in the restructuring of NUS Entrepreneurship Society) on how we can help to engage youth into building sustainable and interesting initiatives for the future in Singapore.

On Intellectuals and Deliberate Withdrawal

A recent comment by my Singapore Angle colleague, Wayne Soon sets me thinking.  The article, "Weapons of the Weak: Everyday forms of Resistance among Singaporeans" gives examples of both open and covert "weapons" by Singaporeans against the establishment and advocates that these actions "represent a daily form of coping mechanism for many living in Singapore day in and out." A lively discussion proceeds after the article, and Wayne made this interesting comment, "Is deliberate withdrawal from political and social life by intellectuals (in Singapore) a weapon of the weak?" As a matter of fact, the same question can be directed at some societies where the intellectuals withdraw themselves in the midst of a crisis within the country. So, I have pieced together my scrambled thoughts and make a personal and modest attempt to address this question.

Flight of the Educated Class

An interesting book entitled "The Flight of the Creative Class" by Richard Florida which I read recently and an insightful podcast by Dr Subramanian Ranganan from INSEAD business school lecturer offered me some thoughts about the creative talents leaving Singapore. It also resolves a dilemma about why Americans are still holding the center of dominance despite having a poor primary, high school and college education. It is a known fact that the Asian countries have both rigorous and rigid (tied with lots of rote learning) education system. For example, it is a common finger pointing exercise to blame the Singapore education system for the lack of creativity and innovation in our research and development sector. So, here is an interesting perspective on why our government like to boast about our education system and yet at the same time, losing the talent to US and Europe which are still hailed as the centres of innovation.

Generations

Sometime back, when I was about to leave University, I saw a debate between two generations of people in a university program. What they are debating, was about the mission of the program. Being part of the pioneer batch of the program, I joined because the original mission would provide me the training towards where I wanted to be, that is to become an academic. My juniors interpreted it differently. Strangely, that kind of conflict comes in cycles. When I started to mentor my students in NUS, the same thing happens with the conflict between different generations. Whenever I am approached to be an arbitrator for such matters, my answer would be, "Each generation has their own set of values and attitudes. Sometimes, it is better to let them naturally evolve rather than trying to dictate their course, even sometimes it is wrong." Even saying that, I am also caught in the dilemma when my students could move into the wrong course of action. Yet, in the end, I decided to let them to make the mistake because if they did not experience a fall, how are they going to be made stronger. So, can the same be said about our young Singaporeans today?

Bloggers' Code of Conduct II

Recently, because of the Kathy Sierra death threat incident, Tim O'Reilly, the man who coined the famous term "Web 2.0" decided to suggest a code of conduct for the bloggers. The debate is now propagated into the mainstream media, for example, BBC reported the story and offered the view that this might be the time to start thinking whether the blogosphere should be completely uncensored. What really struck me as I traced through the whole debate with a summary post from Tim O'Reilly entitled "Code of Conduct: Lessons learnt so far". He talked about the various viewpoints brought up from his earlier point, particularly arguing against the detractors' view that it is censorship. In some sense, by starting the debate going, he attracted different feedback and criticism that can now help to frame the issue better, for example, do we want to have a badge for a blogger code of conduct? do we need civility in the way how the bloggers and the commentators hold their discussion?

Sometime back last year, in Singapore blogosphere, the topic on a bloggers' association and a code of conduct is discussed. I earlier argued that  even if someone draws a code of conduct, not everyone will adhere to it. That's the beauty of the blogosphere which a lot of people do not appreciate. Even if something is drawn up, every blogger has the freedom to choose whether to follow the code of conduct. The Creative Commons license is a good example of how people decide to follow a code of conduct pertaining to copyright in the internet. Hence the argument that having a code of conduct equates to self-censorship is not a valid one. What the code of conduct really does is to ask the individual blogger to decide whether freedom of speech should come with responsibility.   

The First Worlds, Our Destination?

Recently, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew laid down in a speech to his constituency the vision about Singapore joining the first world nations in 20 years time. In his speech, he painted the vision of a lively and vibrant city of Singapore based on the emerging infrastructure springing out from the integrated resorts (IRs) and components added to create a new look to our city. What followed from the next few days in the mainstream media, is the discussion about Singaporeans ready for the first world, not just in infrastructure, but also in mentality.

I note the idealism in our leaders to come up with the vision, but mull over the implementation whether such a vision is possible. In the study of heat physics, we are told that it is impossible to attain absolute zero temperature for any system in the world. If such a state is achievable, then nothing in this world will be able to move. What I am trying to say here, is that in order for the system to achieve the ideal state, some sacrifices will be made and not everything will be desirable. Similarly, we can say the same about Singapore trying to attaining the same situation as the first world state.

Making Cohabitation Legal?

Lately, everyone is talking about population control, given our ministers talk about their aim to create a new city landscape based on a new target population of 6.5 million. Singapore is suffering a birth rate of 1.4 babies per couple, where the optimum number is 2 babies per couple. What this tells us, is that there is an increasing reluctance among couples to having more children. While Mr Wang consider the possibility of having the 3rd kid, most families will prefer to have 1-2 kids (see also a post by Kitana on the same subject), given the rising costs in our standards of living.

Social engineering has been a dominant aspect of Singaporean culture. If you don't notice lately, there are more posters glorifying about family life and the joy of having kids in your life. Yes, our government is actively telling most single men and women, particularly, the group of young urban professionals that you should start thinking about leaving your swinging bachelor status. So, I want to advance a different argument that cohabitation appears to be a better option compare to marriage for these single people and in fact, there is a better chance of converting singles to marriage by legalizing cohabitation. It is important to note that cohabitation is not illegal in Singapore (because most people just do it anyway), but there are no legal rights for cohabitating couples as compare to married couples.

The Audacity to Challenge

"another tradition to politics ... a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done."
- Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope"

Two recent interviews about the social-political landscape in the Singapore blogosphere and the recent forum on freedom of speech set me thinking about life in Singapore. It clears my thinking over some  personal issues, helps me to take a step back and take an introspective view about the world set in motion. Oftentimes, we don't really know how our actions can affect the uncertain world out there. Sometimes, they leave us to ponder their ramifications and made us wonder whether our actions are truly worth it.

In the end, I summarize my thoughts with a guiding principle that sets me to engage what is lacking in the Singaporean culture. It is the audacity to believe and challenge that you can achieve things greater than yourself, followed by the passion to overcome difficulties and endure the suffering to reach that goal and finally, youth is not wasted on the young. If you do not  pluck up the courage to challenge dogma that reside in the older generations, what hope is there left for those who come after you?

One Child & Two Cultures

The "One Child Policy" is the birth control policy that was introduced in China after Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese president was returned to power. The original motivation is to cope with the problem of overpopulation in order to grow the chinese economy. After twenty eight years, we are observing the effects of the one-child policy. Nobody has anticipated that the effect of such a policy possesses the potential of changing a cultural mindset.

In both societies, we are undergoing some profound shifts with policy changes which, at this point of time, have not blossomed. We examine how the balance can be tipped by such policy changes in China and Singapore and conceive the possible tipping points to our society.