here fishy fishy

“The PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) is currently studying how we can better engage overseas Singaporeans, in particular recruiting the young overseas students back to Singapore, and is seeking feedback from the students on how the government could facilitate that.”

Apparently there was another similar session held a few weeks ago, where some students gave their reasons for not wanting wholeheartedly to return to Singapore after graduation. And in typical talking-down style, the speaker defended all the policies that the students had questioned, and even implied that they were unpatriotic/dishonourable/rude (I’m not really sure what he said, exactly, because I know about it through hearsay, but I know it was something not very nice).

So, I got to thinking.

Why, indeed, is there reluctance for Singaporean students to return to those sunny shores of our garden-island-state? And why do I not witness the same reluctance in any of my classmates that hail from Hong Kong – arguably comparable in terms of size, economy and social demographic?

Personally, I think that returning to Singapore will reduce the chances of any student who has harboured thoughts of an international career to actually embark on it.

There is the comfort (false, it may be) of being ‘at home’ and thus stifling the desire to remove oneself from a place where mummy is just 20mins away. Also, even if one still manages to retain one’s international aspirations, unless one has held a job in an MNC or even a regional company, there is little scope of advancement coming from a wholly Singapore-owned company unless one is truly and remarkably exceptional. Further, the dynamism and get-up-and-go-get-‘em attitude and spirit is just something I don’t see in Singapore, unless you’re talking about the top levels of MNCs, which will be impossible to get a job at without first having had international experience somewhere else, thus perpetuating the problem above.

As discussed with Jem, while I was desperately filling out application forms for training contracts with firms in London and he was twiddling his thumbs waiting for calls to interviews, would you rather be a big fish in a small pond, or a medium sized fish in a big pond?

I think most people concentrate on the size of the fish, but forget about the size of the pond. A small pond can only sustain that much of an ecosystem, and is highly susceptible to external shock. A big pond has a larger, more self-sustainable ecosystem, greater variety of species, and is much better placed to adapt to new situations imposed by external sources.

And anyway, if you’re already a big fish, there’s no impetus to improve oneself or get bigger, meaner and stronger. At least in a big pond, there’s challenge and there’s competition and there’s intellectual stimulation.

Like I told several of my interviewers, I want to work internationally and it’s a lot easier to work in international offices having started out in London than in Singapore. One just cannot deny the fact that certain cities have better and more attractive prospects than others in terms of getting to the top-end of a not-so-level playing field.

Another reason might be society. Perhaps after being exposed to the free and liberal-mindedness of mainstream society and the press, Singapore seems claustrophobic and smothering. This would explain the difference in attitude between the students from Hong Kong and those from Singapore. Civil society in Hong Kong is much more developed there than in Singapore despite, and in spite of, the fact that they are a Chinese territory.

Or it might just simply be down to a matter of money. I can only do a comparison between lawyers, but I will assume that the information can be extrapolated into other fields. For a lawyer who qualified in 2001, average yearly pay would be £42,500 - £53,000 in London, £60,000 - £72,500 in Hong Kong, and £26,500 - £50,000 in Singapore (source here). Even after taking into account the cost of living, Singapore still doesn’t seem to provide the best remuneration, especially since many firms in London provide perks like you’d never believe, e.g. free use of on-site gymnasium with swimming pools, in-house café/restaurants, season passes to football, theatre or opera, etc.

So, what can the Permanent Secretary of the PMO do to convince people like me to return?

Nothing, really.

Anecdotal evidence amongst fellow schoolmates who have gotten jobs in London has shown that nothing much can be done to convince them to return immediately after graduation. It’s not selfish or unpatriotic to think that if one can begin a career in London, one should embrace it and make the most of one’s opportunity. In fact, I think one ought to be suspicious of anyone who is overeager to return to Singapore and who has been scornful of others’ attempts at securing a job in London after graduation, but perhaps I am not giving enough weight to the ties of family and girl/boyfriends.

Nevertheless, I think the question posed focuses on the wrong group of people. What good can fresh graduates do in a system where heirarchy, seniority and bureacracy reigns? Whatever fresh ideas and new thoughts that we might introduce will merely be dismissed as being the 'idealistic wishful thinking of a young upstart'. So, unless that changes and the views of young people are regarded as equally important and useful, both of which are highly unlikely, then perhaps it should not be us that the government should be seeking to attract.

Perhaps the more important question ought to be, after establishing careers and proving ourselves to be good at what we do, what can be done to convince us then to return to Singapore? Or, what can be done to convince already-established professionals with international experience to return to Singapore?

But until then, it seems there is not much magnetism emanating from Singapore when scholarship students find as many ways as possible to delay their return, as evidenced by a surge of Master’s students present in and around the country, and when scholars quit the public sector soon after they have finished their bond in search of greener pastures elsewhere.

Don't Panic

Panic is when I leave it until the 28th of November to fill out an application form that requires input from my personal tutor and has to reach by 1st December.

Panic is when there is no money in my printing account, no staples in any of the fucking staplers in the printing room, no paperclip to attach forms to envelope, and no time.

But it's okay. Because everything turned out fine, and I got my forms countersigned and sent off right before my lecture at 4pm.

Now, I'm off to do the crossword.

Weekender 04

+ Courtney Pine at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea; see the mid-to-upper-middle-classes come out for a cultural event just so they can drop it into conversation the next time they have a dinner party. But fantastic set with great showmanship and foot-tapping, get-up-and-get-dancing performance otherwise.

+ And then there were the railworks between Robertsbridge and Hastings, i.e. no train from Battle (Welcome to 1066 Country!); driving through some serious countryside to get to Frant, where we dumped the car and got on a train back to London to see

+ The Doctors of Love at Filthy McNasty's; great music, but overcrowded by fashionista types with perfect hair and black wardrobes and skinny men in blazers (i think real fashion and magazine fashion might be slightly out of sync), but increased the count of my possessions by 2 proper gin glasses. hurray!

+ Further procrastination and paucity of work done; the coldness has set in and my brain refuses to thaw itself. resulting in lots of newspaper reading and thumbing through christmas catalogues for gifts i'll never give or receive.

+ With the winter looking like how it is, i'm not looking forward to anymore school; the holidays are so close and yet so far, with an essay and 2 reports to get through first. oh the obstacles to freedom! and the obstacles to curling up beside the radiator all day long, getting up only for hot chocolate and cake.

Singapore Rebel

Okay, because i am totally slow on the uptake, i've only just watched this - when i really ought to be writing an essay on legal normative orders and what happens in times of revolution, does the legal order lose it's validity merely due to its loss of effectiveness, or is it because the basic assumption that the legal order is valid in the first place has changed.

Come to think of it, rather interesting topic to be thinking about when considering Singapore and its Constitution and the Government etc. But anyway, i did a little snooping at the Attorney-General's Statute folder and got several helpful definitions for the greater good of wo/mankind.

Keep in mind the following when watching Singapore Rebel

As defined in the Film Act (CAP 107) S2(1):
“party political film” means a film —
(a) which is an advertisement made by or on behalf of any political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body; or
(b) which is made by any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore;

and according to the Societies Act (Cap 311) S2,
“political association” includes any society which the Minister may by order declare to be a political association;

and the Political Donations Act (CAP 236) S2(1)
“political association” means —
(a) a political party or an organisation which has as one of its objects or activities the promotion or procuring of the election to Parliament or to the office of President of a candidate or candidates endorsed by the organisation; or
(b) an organisation (not being a branch of any organisation) whose objects or activities relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore and which is declared by the Minister, by order in the Gazette, to be a political association for the purposes of this Act


And, you know, of course the video is totally persuasive. Don’t we believe everything we see on teevee, and believe everything we read or hear? I mean, we’re trained to believe in the absolute truth of what we are told, and not to question the right or wrongs of it. Weren’t we?

Weekender 03, cont'd

okay now.

walking around Kennington and Lambeth North in the cold is not exactly my idea of fun, especially with a backlog of that thing called homework to do. but it was done. and taken into my eyes was an exhibition called 'inflight entertainment' (which wasn't really that good), and cement/plaster cakes and food (not that good either).

and then onto this backlog of homework.

i usually enjoy my weekend readings for my monday-deadline reports, but maaaan this week's readings are shite. and The Observer has proven to be too distracting for words - who can fail to be seduced by the Observer Food Monthly magazine? and the Selfridges christmas catalogue? so yeah. backlog.

from what i can see, the week ahead is going to be all toil and trouble. insolvency readings are to be relegated to the backburner as we head to hippie-run art space for S's scaffolding-and-wonky-mattress installation and lots of opening show drinks. and then it'll be attempting to do more work in an empty house with nothing for entertainment - you'd think that that would be a good reason for actually getting work done, but trust me, the winter laziness has set in and all i will be doing is poking around the kitchen and trying to start a fire in the fireplace.

so it's back to trying to get my readings done before the close of this evening, and studiously ignoring the alcohol and general mingling with the housemates, as well as the other more worthwhile pursuits (as compared to ploughing through sociological ethnographies on the state, the idea of the state, and the actual non-existence of the state).

like, whoa.

weekender 03

I know it’s a good day when the sun is shining brightly when I wake up at 10am; and when I jump out of bed and into a tumbler of gin&tonic at the Southwark Tavern after traipsing around Borough Market before the clock strikes 12noon.

The days are short. Carpe diem. Get as much drink down your gullet before the sun goes down.

These are the things I wish I had had the money to have bought at the market:
- apple&plum custard tartcake
- a whole wild seabass
- a kilogram of langoustines
- bunches of vegetables
- a cut of steak
- oak smoked herring and mackerel
- lime tree / marsala honey

But this is what I really actually spent my money on: an okay only latte from a greasy caff on the perimeters of the market.

And then to the Southwark Tavern we went for lots of drinks and calamari strips while waiting for W, a friend I see maybe only once or twice a year, to turn up. As the draught blew its way in, we retreated into the bowels (really, basement cellar) of said Tavern for lunch of sirloin steak ciabatta (me) and wedges with sautéed mushrooms and cheddar cheese (M) and sausages&mash with roast onion and gravy (W).

Lots of talking talking talking and wondering what we (he, W) wanted to do with his life, about travelling and Spanish, and Mexico Germany and Asia. Racism and being poitically correct bollocks and class and innate prejudices. And also about music and art and silly/scary/beautiful films that we'd recently seen or want to see.

Oh, and also about illegitimate relatives turning up 26 years after the fact and getting reintegrated into the family.

It was all so very very good.

Now that I’ve had such an exciting and inebriated day, all I can really do for the moment is the laundry and the vacuuming. And after this, sink down back into bed and read the Saturday papers and watch crappy teevee.

Have you had a nice day today?

Weekender 02

It’s funny how I can hear the-boys-from-down-the-street (and their friends) hanging out and chatting away about things and life and girls in general. I don’t think they know I’m sitting here at my desk typing or reading away while they sit outside my window on the little wall philosophising as only teenagers can do.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Talking about moving (yes, i know i'm so boring and this is one of the few things that i only talk about, but so?), and the formalities like whose name should go on the bills (his, because he's got a longstanding relationship with the utilities companies) and whose name shall go on the tenancy agreement (mine, only because I’m student and we won’t have to pay council tax) and the maybe-problem of guarantors (because they don't trust that i won't run away without paying my rent on time and so i have to pay it all upfront) and also about the berlin-secret-thing.

Turns out, I’m probably going to have the whole flat to myself a lot more than I thought I would. It’s good in the sense that I was freaking out slightly over my potential loss of personal (study) space and so this will mean I’ll have lots of space and quiet to do just that. On the other hand, I’m not so sure about living alone alone in an area that I’m not overly familiar with, even if elephant&castle isn't really that safe in terms of london-wise.

But anyways, it’s all still waaaaaay early times to be talking about anything. I mean, we’re not even going to seriously look for places until January or February, and we’re not moving till March. We’ve got loads of time to figure things out and get into some sense of things.

For now, I’ll just continue my live-alone-rehearsal since he’s away till Tuesday.

We are not all money-grubbing leeches

a sign in the school quad today:

will exchange Law and Consitutions of the European Union by Craig & DeBurca for a copy of Catcher in The Rye by JD Salinger
see, some of us really do have that thing other people call souls.