Why the average Singaporean should care

Leong Wee Keat Today Online 23 Jun 09;

SURE, it gets this little red dot more visibility. But why should the ordinary Singaporean care that there are now two Lee Kuan Yew global prizes, or about the ongoing Singapore International Water Week?

There is more than one way to answer this. The first is in dollar-and-cent terms.

With the population of cities worldwide expected to swell by some 2 billion in the next 25 years, the possibilities for any party that can offer urban planning ideas are enormous, said Spanish urban planner Alfonso Vegara.

"The challenge is equivalent to building 400 other Singapores over the next 25 years. It is a huge responsibility. It is also a huge opportunity for cities with eco-solutions," he said.

This leads to another point: Making the Republic not just relevant, but important to the world.

There has been clear effort in recent years to brand Singapore as an international "thought leader" in the sustainable development field, by encouraging innovation and the development of solutions to critical issues facing the world of the future.

This is another way of saying that while we may be an island of 4.8 million, the trick is to ensure that our worth to the planet is far out of proportion to size or resources.

Of course, Singapore has a vested interest in staying ahead of the curve on issues like urban planning, battling climate change and managing scarce resources like power and water: The matter of pure physical survival.

There is another driving reason for associating the Singapore brand-name with environmental excellence and urban liveability.

That is the global battle for a vital resource: Talent. Not just the scientists and researchers who would want to relocate here for their work, but also the ordinary mobile global citizen who would want a city with good air, uncongested roads, well-planned public transport, differentiated housing and green landscape to make their base.

There is just one kink in this vision: The Singapore public.

Matters at the community level have yet to catch up to the image being projected to the world at a Government level.

Messages to do with recycling, saving energy and just generally being more eco-conscious, do not seem to have gotten through to the larger community, feels political analyst Eugene Tan.

"I don't think we are anywhere close to the Swiss, in terms of our relationship with the environment. We still don't see it as a symbiotic relationship but more as a transaction," said the law professor from the Singapore Management University.