Can Singapore be a salad bowl, teens ask Vivian

Yes, nation welcomes individuals' uniqueness, says minister to SMS queries from students
Jane Ng, Straits Times 28 May 08;

ABOUT 600 pre-university students had a chance to lob questions at a minister yesterday on the broad topic Global City, Home For All. And they did - via SMS.

Even the shyer ones got their queries in during the 90 minutes Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan gave them at the annual Pre-University Seminar.

The questions - typographical errors and all - were flashed on the big screens on stage. It was the first time the seminar took this format.

The questions posed covered a broad range of topics - from global issues such as the rise in food and oil prices and income inequality, to local issues like why Singlish is not 'allowed', as well as controversial ones like whether Singapore should be more tolerant of homosexuals and opposition parties.

On Singlish, Dr Balakrishnan said the decision was a pragmatic one because Singaporeans needed to communicate with the world in a language universally understood.

The students also asked whether, instead of being a melting pot, Singapore could instead be a 'salad bowl', where each individual could retain his own uniqueness.

The minister agreed with the analogy, saying that Singapore was an open society which welcomed individuals' uniqueness.

Turning to opposition politics, he said the Government was not stopping anyone from going into it, but advised those contemplating it: Go into it because it is something you believe in, not because you want change for the sake of change.

To a student who asked what the Government was doing to help citizens amid the world food crisis and the American financial meltdown, he said the answer lay not in subsidies but in everyone working hard and smart to ensure that 'our goods and services are worth more than the food we eat, so we don't starve'.

Students also shared their aspirations when the minister asked them what their dreams were and what would make them happy and fulfilled. Their aspirations included being an aesthetic surgeon, a teacher, a top drummer and an astronaut.

To give more participants a say, the traditional keynote address was dropped in favour of short presentations by student panellists. These covered topics like whether Singapore was the place to live their dreams, and whether it would continue being a home for all.

Dr Balakrishnan said it was a 'great challenge' for him to respond to the text messages and presentations without a prepared script, and added: 'But I hope it was a more spontaneous session, a session which more truly reflected the concerns, ideas and dreams of the students.'

Victoria Ong, 17, a first-year student of Meridian Junior College, said she gained insights into what youth today thought and why the Government made certain decisions.

'We all have our own personal complaints and questions about what the Government does. I see better now why it makes certain decisions, even if I don't always agree with them.'

Minister Balakrishnan cautions against promoting use of Singlish
Channel NewsAsia 27 May 08;

SINGAPORE: Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has cautioned against promoting the use of Singlish.

Speaking at the Pre-University Seminar 2008 on Tuesday, Dr Balakrishnan said the move to promote the lingo is a "pet project" by "linguistic elites" that can cause more harm than good.

He said those championing the local lingo are mostly highly educated individuals who are able to effortlessly switch from Singlish to proper English.

"But very few of us, to be honest with you, really have the ability. For most of us, we can only speak one way. So I've often felt there's a bit of intellectual snobbery on the part of people who push Singlish," Dr Balakrishnan said.

Some 600 students from more than 20 institutions attended the dialogue session at Nanyang Technological University.- CNA/so

Launchpad for dreams, or just a workplace?
Students engage Minister on identity, political space and dual citizenship
Loh Chee Kong, Today Online 28 May 08;

FROM the word “go”, the flurry of SMSes flooded onto the giant screen — spelling out aspirations ranging from “world class rock drummer” and astronaut, to United Nations official and journalist exposing “the glaring inequities and corruption in the world”.

Such staunch idealism, expressed by young participants at the Pre-University Seminar yesterday, was matched only by their anxiety over whether their dreams could be fufilled from a “little red dot” some deemed too pragmatic and “narrow-minded”.

It was the first time that students at the annual event, :held this year at the Nanyang Technological University, had their SMSed thoughts projected onstage in real time.

And doing his best to assure the :590 youths from junior colleges, polytechnics and the Millennia Insitute that they could “change the world” with Singapore as the “launchpad”, was Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

The students wanted to know if Singapore was merely a great place to work and chase after material comforts, rather than a home. Could we be a global city and a home at the same time? :

Dr Balakrishnan told them: “We will send you out into the world, if need be, into outer space at some point in time, But we must always be a place from which you, your children and descendants, are launched from.”

In fact, he believes Singaporeans are better placed than many other peoples to ride the globalisation wave. A case in point: Quite a few Singaporeans are working for Google, and a number were, in fact, behind the creation of Gmail, saidDr Balakrishnan, recounting his recent visit to the Google headquarters in California.

And while some Singaporeans who succeeded overseas have criticised the “Singapore system”, the minister argued that it is this “tough, rigorous and pushy system” that gives citizens a “headstart”.

The Singapore of the past might be guilty of “forcing people to make choices too early” but things are different now, with “many more options — both in terms of scholarships, jobs and education courses”, he noted.

If :we welcome intellectual diversity however, students asked, why can’t we give more space for opposition politics or homosexuals? Dr Balakrishnan said social norms and “political rules, if need be” would continue to evolve.

Raffles Junior College’s John Chew pointed out: “In terms of religions and races, we know that we need to be tolerant. However, when it comes to political differences, it’s not just about me tolerating you. Is there any attempt on the part of the Government to include this segment of the population?”

Dr Balakrishnan said politics had to be “rough and tough ... because it is about lives”. He added: “These are issues in many parts of the world people are settling through blood, violence and wars. Here, all we do is argue with each other and you say we are intolerant.”

Another student lamented how, while Americans can talk about the “American Dream”, Singaporeans’ identity markers revolve only around mundane things such as chicken rice and the Merlion.

Dr Balakrishnan pointed out that some common values “underpin our society”, including “fairness and justice for all”, multiracialism, self-reliance and familyresponsibility.

While heartened that the youth “cared about each other” and “want to make a difference”, Dr Balakrishnan was worried about the risk of globalisation diluting Singaporeans’ sense of belonging, as the Republic sends its people out into the world and opens its doors to foreigners for economic expediency.

He urged the students: “Singapore must look, smell, feel in our hearts, like a home. If it is not, then all the success in the world would mean nothing for the future because there will be no Singapore.”