Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong threw down the gauntlet yesterday to NTU students – to build and imagine a future for Singapore as a “City of Buzz”.
Singapore has grown from a third-world backyard to a first-world nation, and it’s now up to the current generation to take a step further, he said.
Except the current crop are clueless architects in the wider scheme of things. Even when weaned off the mother’s milk, we still stand in the long shadow of a paternal government.
SM Goh spoke of the importance of a good, strong government that can be trusted to “look after your lives”. Only then can the “bottom-up buzz” that the government seeks to grow, flourish.
He also spoke at length about the government’s efforts to create an infrastructure and economy to support buzz at grassroots level.
Undoubtedly, the “hardware” is up. The “software”, then, has to be implemented by the people. So what’s the new buzzword?
This begs the question, how do we define the “bottom-up buzz”? Is it solely buzz generated by the people, or supported by the government?
Unfortunately, SM Goh spent the better half of his speech totalling up Singapore’s recent successes.
Students were left hanging on the exact kind of buzz that Singapore needed, which explained the recurring theme of the Q&A session. It centred on creating the right kind of buzz in areas such as civil society, political participation and the arts scene.
Clearly, there are approved buzz and non-approved ones, such as the droning of vuvuzelas. Certain brands of criticism are not as welcome, and where to draw the distinction is still unclear.
Ng Wai Mun, a fourth-year student at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, brought out a similar point when she asked whether the ‘buzz’ encouraged by the government included a certain amount of chaos and creativity.
In response, SM Goh emphasised the need to maintain a sufficient amount of control through “step-by-step” deregulation instead. This seemed to imply that an invisible hand was at play in moulding what the government thinks is the appropriate type of buzz.
Organically Grown – But By Whom?
Indeed, much of the current ‘buzz’ can be considered artificially generated by the government.
The Senior Minister mentioned Duxton Hill, which now oozed “financial buzz” after being cleaned of vice and sleaze. Yet, some might contend that such areas reflect the real Singapore beneath its shiny surface.
Furthermore, the government took the lead in transforming “a cultural desert only for makan” into an oasis in Asia. But how much of that oasis is left for the touristic consumption at the cost of genuine local nostalgia? It’s anyone’s guess.
The Youth Olympic Games also showed how our sporting talents took second-place behind the much-vaunted need to showcase and promote Singapore. The development of the sporting culture seemed like more of an afterthought, a bonus to Singapore.
Recall the sorry state of the National Stadium and the current FAS troubles, and you realise that buzz with little economic potential just isn’t worth the government’s weight behind it.
Economic imperatives have dominated Singapore since independence, and this common wisdom hasn’t changed much, it seems. Buzz seems to be appropriate only if it doesn’t meddle with the government’s magic formula for stability and progress. It is essential to have citizenry convinced of this vision of buzz. So long that the population deems the creation to be entirely artificial and only within accepted parameters, the “bottom-up buzz” will never take flight.
If not implemented with the human factor, buzz might just dissolve into pure hype and marketing, and fail to translate into tangibles.
Not Yet Ready to Leave the Nest
Some ground sentiment expressed dissatisfaction at “stupid” questions being tabled in the Forum. Macro issues of paramount importance were neglected in favour of micro concerns that should be asked somewhere else.
Yet, that is just a reflection of the conundrum at heart: have the authorities opened enough channels in engaging us, or do we lack the initiative to voice our concerns, since the government has always specified the correct route of action?
The Senior Minister also dropped a hefty election hint when he called upon NTU students to think hard and decide on the kind of government they want, especially if they want to pass on all the problems they have to the government.
But judging from the audience, we already know. If the government has held our hand every step of the way, why stop now?
The obedient child only gets spanked when he’s out of line. And this line is increasingly blurred as the government plays a game of hopscotch: one step forward in deregulating, and one step back when it deems certain buzz inappropriate.
Bottoms-Up to Bottom Up
Rome wasn’t built in one day, and neither will Singapore be.
But if Singapore is to be a “City of Buzz” for everyone, someone has to stop passing the buck, and build bridges that really matter. Perhaps the ‘buzz’ needed is better marketing of the channels between the government and citizens.
When third-year aerospace engineering student Alvin Pee bemoaned the lack of avenues for Singaporeans to be heard, SM Goh responded that the engagement process was always there. Whether citizens use it or not is up to their initiative.
The Feedback Unit has shed its image of being a government mouthpiece, but it is still an avenue mostly for the elite, students, and the politically and socially concerned. True, precious resources should not be allocated mindlessly for widespread consultations on minor policy decisions. Such a process would just curtail the government’s efficiency.
But policies such as Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) affects everybody intimately, including the man on the street. It would be better if the government engage the citizenry on such issues actively, rather than relying on existing mechanisms. That, truly, would be the best of both worlds: the government taking the lead, from the bottom-up.
If you like this story, please consider making a donation to help further the Enquirer's cause.
patriot
says:October 31st, 2010 at 12.03pm
Me had been asking foreigners for decades why they leave their countries to come to Singapore. And WHY THEY ARE NOT HELPING THEIR OWN GOVERNMENTS TO BUILD AND DEVELOP THEIR OWN MOTHERLANDS.
The answers that me got from them were always and invariably; ‘Uncle, You don’t undertand la, my country is hopeless, the rulers are rotten to the core, corrupt, oppressive and vain’.
Me hope that Singaporeans will not have to give the same answers when they settle abroad. Not that it is shameful to be frank, it is just damn shameful to have to say it honestly.
patriot