i don’t know what it means, but i sure do love how it looks and sounds

“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.

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.

+ 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.

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 of course the video is 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?

they are blasting Bob Marley from their truck while collecting the bins.

i heart reggae. i heart rastas too.

ooh! one of dem dey got dreds!

this is much too amusing for a midday monday when i’m supposed to be starting on writing an essay 3 hours ago but have not typed out one word.

and amongst the jangling of bottles and cans, oh wait. they’re not the dustbin men. they’re the recycling people! all the more fitting to have reggae drift down the street, those songs of freedom.

RASTAFARI!

when there’s not much else to do, i like to sit against the radioator and listen to Tracy (Kid Loco remix) by Mogwai and imagine.

i wander through my mind and my memories and wonder what’s happened to all the people i used to know, and how they’re doing.

perhaps it’s the cold and the dark, but i seem to be doing that a lot more often nowadays. i try and remember the last time i’ve seen so-and-so, and its usually such a long time ago that i can’t remember.

and sometimes i wish it was that time again when the three or four of five of us hung out at Gardens or playing mahjong or just chilling and playing cards in the cafe.

what happens when the friends you’ve made along the way somehow or other ended up on a different route? and when will the place and time come when our paths intersect once more and for that moment we can pretend that nothing else has changed?

there are so many people i’d love to call up and catch up with whose numbers i no longer have or never had in the first place.

shame.

when the time comes, i’m going to get out a pair of really sharp scissors (well, actually even blunt and kiddy ones for cutting paper shapes will do) and watch my hair fall in little pieces onto the table.

i used to cut my hair with a specially-made-for-layering scissors, with the blade on one side and a comb on the other. somehow, between moving from cartwright gardens to elephant&castle, they got lost and were never to be found again.

my hair hasn’t been trimmed in 13 months. the last time was when Taka cut my hair for free when she was at the Vidal Sassoon Academy in Knightsbridge and needed a model.

i’m just waiting for a few more weeks so i can magically transform this dry and knotty haystack into some semblance of chic elegance (yeah right). failing which i will chop it all off and have the christmas holidays to grow it out again.