Jan 25, 2008
No TV - that's how top Malay student did it
THE eldest of five siblings, 16-year-old Nurul Azizah Johari tries to always set a good example to her two sisters and two brothers.
She did just that yesterday when she was named top Malay student at the O levels.
The Methodist Girls' School student scored eight A1s - and an A2 for Physics - to the delight of her parents, who took time off work to join her at the school.
'I was surprised she did so well as she did not perform well for her prelims,' said mum Rosidah Muhamad, 41, who runs a cafeteria. Her dad runs a courier business.
Azizah scored B3s for Physics and Combined Humanities in the prelims, but turned these into A2 and A1 at the O levels.
The former Shuqun Primary pupil took Chinese as a third language but dropped it in Sec 3 when she found it hard to cope.
Azizah, who has always been among the top students in class, focused on revising for the O levels by giving up her favourite TV shows like drama series CSI.
'I refrained from watching TV and stopped going online,' she said.
Azizah, who likes sports especially soccer, hopes to become a doctor.
Another mission girls' school student who did well was Lauren Lindsay John, 16 - one of 10 top Indian students at this year's O levels.
The Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School student scored 8A1s, one of which was for Chinese. An only child, her software engineer dad is Indian-Chinese and her mother is Chinese.
She has not thought about a future career but guessed it will have to do with accounting. 'I like math!' she said.
HO AI LI and DIANA OTHMAN
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Best of the bunch: Singapore students clinch top two spots
Jan 25, 2008
Best of the bunch: Singapore students clinch top two spots
But top group has 11 foreigners compared to eight S'poreans
By Ho Ai Li and Jessica Lim
WHEN Pearlyn Ler re-entered the Singapore school system at Primary 5 after two years in the United States, she could hardly understand a word on the Mandarin news bulletins.
Yesterday, an A2 for Higher Chinese turned out to be the only so-called blemish in Pearlyn's O-level results.
The Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS) student scored nine A1s and one A2, making her one of two top O-level students this year.
While her command of English was strengthened by interacting with native speakers in the US, she worked hard to brush up her Chinese - by speaking Mandarin to her cousins, for instance.
She did well enough to read Higher Chinese, but her grades were still sometimes below her expectations.
'I didn't feel very secure about Chinese. Sometimes, I couldn't answer the questions asked in comprehension tests,' said Pearlyn, who has a younger brother.
However, she scored an A1 for her third language, German.
Language also proved to be the 'Achilles heel' of the other top student, Kim Chan Xinhui, 17, from Methodist Girls' School. She had A1s for all subjects except Japanese, her third language, for which she scored an A2.
The two top students stood out for being Singaporean, as this year's pick of the O-level crop featured 11 foreigners out of 19.
Over the past few years, foreign students, especially scholarship holders, have dominated the top ranks, with top Singaporean students opting to bypass the O levels for six-year integrated programmes that take them to the A levels or International Baccalaureate.
In general, not more than 20 per cent of a school's places are given to foreign students.
The trend of foreigners taking top placings started with the 2005 O levels, with a dozen out of 39 students. Then it was 12 out of 25 for the 2006 exams.
Six of the 11 foreign top students this year hail from China. Malaysians and an Indonesian make up the rest.
All the top students from Catholic High and Crescent Girls' - six in all - are foreign students on scholarship.
Hu Yiqing, 18, the only child of a government official and university professor, arrived from Jiangsu on a scholarship to start Secondary 3 at Crescent Girls.
And like most of her peers in the same boat, she struggled with English initially.
'There was a time I went to McDonalds and instead of asking for French fries, I asked for fried rice,' said Yiqing, now at Hwa Chong Institution.
Likewise, Catholic High's Tan Tzer Han, 17, from Penang, had to work on his English when he received a scholarship here to start Sec 3.
He failed his first English test, but started compiling word lists which he would commit to memory. He also read two English books a week.
Kim, the youngest of the three children of an engineer and insurance manager, hopes to study science.
Pearlyn, whose father is a senior technician and mother, a housewife, hopes to become a gynaecologist.
'I think it's wonderful to be the first to see miracles happening every day and to play a part in them,' she said.
Best of the bunch: Singapore students clinch top two spots
But top group has 11 foreigners compared to eight S'poreans
By Ho Ai Li and Jessica Lim
WHEN Pearlyn Ler re-entered the Singapore school system at Primary 5 after two years in the United States, she could hardly understand a word on the Mandarin news bulletins.
Yesterday, an A2 for Higher Chinese turned out to be the only so-called blemish in Pearlyn's O-level results.
The Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS) student scored nine A1s and one A2, making her one of two top O-level students this year.
While her command of English was strengthened by interacting with native speakers in the US, she worked hard to brush up her Chinese - by speaking Mandarin to her cousins, for instance.
She did well enough to read Higher Chinese, but her grades were still sometimes below her expectations.
'I didn't feel very secure about Chinese. Sometimes, I couldn't answer the questions asked in comprehension tests,' said Pearlyn, who has a younger brother.
However, she scored an A1 for her third language, German.
Language also proved to be the 'Achilles heel' of the other top student, Kim Chan Xinhui, 17, from Methodist Girls' School. She had A1s for all subjects except Japanese, her third language, for which she scored an A2.
The two top students stood out for being Singaporean, as this year's pick of the O-level crop featured 11 foreigners out of 19.
Over the past few years, foreign students, especially scholarship holders, have dominated the top ranks, with top Singaporean students opting to bypass the O levels for six-year integrated programmes that take them to the A levels or International Baccalaureate.
In general, not more than 20 per cent of a school's places are given to foreign students.
The trend of foreigners taking top placings started with the 2005 O levels, with a dozen out of 39 students. Then it was 12 out of 25 for the 2006 exams.
Six of the 11 foreign top students this year hail from China. Malaysians and an Indonesian make up the rest.
All the top students from Catholic High and Crescent Girls' - six in all - are foreign students on scholarship.
Hu Yiqing, 18, the only child of a government official and university professor, arrived from Jiangsu on a scholarship to start Secondary 3 at Crescent Girls.
And like most of her peers in the same boat, she struggled with English initially.
'There was a time I went to McDonalds and instead of asking for French fries, I asked for fried rice,' said Yiqing, now at Hwa Chong Institution.
Likewise, Catholic High's Tan Tzer Han, 17, from Penang, had to work on his English when he received a scholarship here to start Sec 3.
He failed his first English test, but started compiling word lists which he would commit to memory. He also read two English books a week.
Kim, the youngest of the three children of an engineer and insurance manager, hopes to study science.
Pearlyn, whose father is a senior technician and mother, a housewife, hopes to become a gynaecologist.
'I think it's wonderful to be the first to see miracles happening every day and to play a part in them,' she said.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Jan 19, 2008
Overhaul of bus system for smooth, fast trips
Govt to control planning of routes, bus market to be open to competition
By Goh Chin Lian
BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.
The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.
Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.
More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details yesterday in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.
This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.
The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.
The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.
But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?
His ministry's solution for buses combines radical strokes with fine tweaking.
It is the fruit of a year-long study to take stock of a 1996 road-map on land transport and lay out a new one, good for the next 10 to 15 years.
The planners turned to consultants who assessed what worked for such cities as London, Hong Kong and Melbourne, and sought public views.
The 'new philosophy', as Mr Lim calls it, is to plan transport through the eyes of the commuter - from the time he thinks about making his journey to the time he reaches his destination.
'Our land transport system must be planned and built for people, not vehicles,' he said.
'Can people get to a train station or bus stop quickly and comfortably? Are the connections good? How long is the total journey time and waiting time between transfers? How crowded are the buses and trains? Can people get timely and user-friendly travel information?'
The Government will consider such concerns when it plans the bus routes and opens them up to the best bidder to run them, possibly as early as 2010.
It will specify standards for what commuters, in a 2007 official poll released yesterday, see as still lacking in the current system - less overcrowding, shorter waiting times.
If the consultants are right, the market has room for a few more bus operators.
These major changes aside, the planners are also tweaking the system to make transfers seamless.
The fare system will be changed so that commuters do not have to pay when making transfers. They will be charged just for the total distance travelled.
They will get a new season pass for use on all trains and buses, regardless of operator.
And the wait for the connection will be shorter. Buses will be given more priority on the roads later this year.
Some commuters, in welcoming the changes, say they are overdue.
Tampines GRC MP and deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport Ong Kian Min expects complaints from commuters whose routes get re-drawn by the Land Transport Authority, but thinks they should not sidetrack people from the overall good the changes bring.
'I hope the minister will have the political will and the support from the people to see this through,' said Mr Ong.
It is not clear yet if bidding for the bus routes will eventually push fares up or down. Mr Lim said new gains by operators as a result of opening the market to competition could be reflected in the formula that caps fare rises.
The two bus operators were optimistic about their prospects when the bus routes are carved up for bidders.
SBS Transit, which has a bigger share, saw the share price of its parent ComfortDelGro fall five cents to $1.61, while its own stayed unchanged at $2.83. SMRT's rose one cent to $1.73.
All eyes are now on the coming announcements. Mr Lim said there will be a need to reduce the vehicle growth rate and raise Electronic Road Pricing charges.
Motorists and aspiring car owners can do their sums then, on whether it makes sense to make their other car the bus or the MRT.
chinlian@sph.com.sg
New targets
Shorter wait
August 2009: Eight in 10 services to run every 10 minutes or less, down from today's 15 minutes.
Zippier travel
2015: Eight in 10 commuters will complete their trip within one hour, up from seven in 10 today.
Catching up with the car
2020: Trips on public transport to take no more than 1.5 times that by car, down from today's 1.7 times.
Overhaul of bus system for smooth, fast trips
Govt to control planning of routes, bus market to be open to competition
By Goh Chin Lian
BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.
The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.
Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.
More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details yesterday in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.
This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.
The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.
The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.
But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?
His ministry's solution for buses combines radical strokes with fine tweaking.
It is the fruit of a year-long study to take stock of a 1996 road-map on land transport and lay out a new one, good for the next 10 to 15 years.
The planners turned to consultants who assessed what worked for such cities as London, Hong Kong and Melbourne, and sought public views.
The 'new philosophy', as Mr Lim calls it, is to plan transport through the eyes of the commuter - from the time he thinks about making his journey to the time he reaches his destination.
'Our land transport system must be planned and built for people, not vehicles,' he said.
'Can people get to a train station or bus stop quickly and comfortably? Are the connections good? How long is the total journey time and waiting time between transfers? How crowded are the buses and trains? Can people get timely and user-friendly travel information?'
The Government will consider such concerns when it plans the bus routes and opens them up to the best bidder to run them, possibly as early as 2010.
It will specify standards for what commuters, in a 2007 official poll released yesterday, see as still lacking in the current system - less overcrowding, shorter waiting times.
If the consultants are right, the market has room for a few more bus operators.
These major changes aside, the planners are also tweaking the system to make transfers seamless.
The fare system will be changed so that commuters do not have to pay when making transfers. They will be charged just for the total distance travelled.
They will get a new season pass for use on all trains and buses, regardless of operator.
And the wait for the connection will be shorter. Buses will be given more priority on the roads later this year.
Some commuters, in welcoming the changes, say they are overdue.
Tampines GRC MP and deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport Ong Kian Min expects complaints from commuters whose routes get re-drawn by the Land Transport Authority, but thinks they should not sidetrack people from the overall good the changes bring.
'I hope the minister will have the political will and the support from the people to see this through,' said Mr Ong.
It is not clear yet if bidding for the bus routes will eventually push fares up or down. Mr Lim said new gains by operators as a result of opening the market to competition could be reflected in the formula that caps fare rises.
The two bus operators were optimistic about their prospects when the bus routes are carved up for bidders.
SBS Transit, which has a bigger share, saw the share price of its parent ComfortDelGro fall five cents to $1.61, while its own stayed unchanged at $2.83. SMRT's rose one cent to $1.73.
All eyes are now on the coming announcements. Mr Lim said there will be a need to reduce the vehicle growth rate and raise Electronic Road Pricing charges.
Motorists and aspiring car owners can do their sums then, on whether it makes sense to make their other car the bus or the MRT.
chinlian@sph.com.sg
New targets
Shorter wait
August 2009: Eight in 10 services to run every 10 minutes or less, down from today's 15 minutes.
Zippier travel
2015: Eight in 10 commuters will complete their trip within one hour, up from seven in 10 today.
Catching up with the car
2020: Trips on public transport to take no more than 1.5 times that by car, down from today's 1.7 times.
Jan 18, 2008
Major overhaul to improve bus travel
The radical changes promise to get commuters to their destination faster
By Goh Chin Lian
BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.
The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.
Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.
More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details on Friday, in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.
This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.
The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.
The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.
But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
Major overhaul to improve bus travel
The radical changes promise to get commuters to their destination faster
By Goh Chin Lian
BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.
The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.
Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.
More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details on Friday, in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.
This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.
The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.
The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.
But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
Samsui women of today
Jan 15, 2008
The Samsui women of today
By John Gee
SELF-RELIANT: Former Samsui worker Yip Say Mui, now deceased, would collect cardboard near her Redhill flat to earn money. Even in her 90s, she was too proud of her independence to rely on government aid. -- PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN
SAMSUI women have a small but distinct niche in Singapore's history. Their broad red hats and blue-black samfoo marked them out as they went back and forth to work on the island's building sites.
Since the last working Samsui women retired, their image has become a fixture in Singapore's perception of how it transformed itself into a modern city.
They are eulogised in drama serials; there are Samsui women T-shirts, collectible figures and dolls on sale at the Chinatown Heritage Centre; and when the Dim Sum Dollies performed The History Of Singapore at the Esplanade last July, one segment was devoted to Samsui women.
The Samsui women are seen to represent values that present- day Singaporean society regards highly. With their reputation for resilience and hard work, they embody the spirit that has gone into the making of modern Singapore, and are sometimes held up as an inspiring example for younger generations accustomed to a less arduous life.
Samsui women themselves have had little say in how their contemporary image was shaped. The women's social circumstances meant that they recorded little of their own views and experiences. Few could read or write and, until recently, other people took no great interest in their lives and memories.
Samsui women worked hard because they had to. Nation-building was not on their minds when they set out to work in Singapore's construction industry; making a living was. Many who came were in their teens. Most came alone. As they stepped onto the Singapore pier in the 1930s after months at sea in grim and often perilous conditions, the road ahead must have seemed daunting indeed.
Yet decades later, thousands of women continue to leave their families behind to seek jobs in Singapore. Many are employed as domestic workers.
There are similarities as well as significant differences between these two groups of women.
Lowly jobs
LIKE most migrants who came to Singapore before 1950, Samsui women were from southern China, so they found some familiar institutions and customs when they arrived. They lived among people who, like themselves, mostly spoke Cantonese. Many of their immediate neighbours were also from the Samsui district.
Today's foreign domestic workers, by contrast, come mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Myanmar. They number about 170,000 in Singapore today, and are among the country's 650,000 migrant workers.
Both groups have faced the consequences of doing work that the better-off regard as lowly and unskilled.
While respected by employers as dependable workers, Samsui women were not regarded so positively by society at large in the 1930s and 1940s. Former Samsui worker Wong Ah Tai, now in her 90s and living in an old folks' home, said she felt people used to look down on them 'because, after all, we carry mud'.
Likewise, foreign workers today face varying attitudes, with some people crediting them for their hard work and dedication, and some denigrating their intelligence, honesty and other values.
In both cases, the 'pull' factor of jobs in Singapore drew in people subjected to the 'push' factor of poor economic conditions in their places of origin.
The Samsui women came from a rural area to the west of Guangzhou, where three rivers, or 'three waters' (Samsui in Cantonese), flowed into one. It was a region of grinding poverty, where life was made more wretched by natural disasters such as the catastrophic flood that washed away many homes and livelihoods in 1915.
The economic growth of Singapore attracted a steady flow of men from southern China until the early 1930s, when the Depression hit Singapore hard. In 1933, the colonial administration introduced the Aliens Ordinance to restrict Chinese immigration by limiting male entry, but left the door open to female migrants. And it was through this doorway that the Samsui women walked.
Eventually, well over 1,000, perhaps as many as 2,000, women came to Singapore to work in the construction industry in those years.
The experience of going into debt to pay for the journey to Singapore and of repaying it from their earnings is also common among both groups of workers.
Samsui women often had to work for more than a year to pay off their debts, while modern domestic workers usually repay their debts in six to nine months.
But there is a difference: Once she was in Singapore, a Samsui woman could go from one employer to another without penalty. But a modern domestic worker who wishes to transfer to another employer needs the consent of her existing one in most circumstances and ends up paying the equivalent of 11/2 to four months' salary to her agency to make the change.
Work comes first
THE most fundamental similarity between the two groups of women is in the commitment that both have made towards their families.
Most Samsui women gave up the prospect of marriage and children and lived very simply in order to save money to support relatives who they might never see again after they left home. They lived frugal lives, sharing accommodation and eating simple food. Whether it meant walking to or from work, gathering the wood for cooking from around building sites or repairing their clothes themselves, their lives were marked by their determination to save every cent they could.
Similarly, modern domestic workers are careful in their spending when they go out, and sometimes endure unreasonable and exploitative treatment simply because they do not want to risk losing their source of income.
Young single women who come to Singapore as domestic workers may see their chances of finding a husband and having children slip away with the passing years. Married women miss seeing their children grow up and may not be there when they are needed. Many mothers lavish love and care on other people's children during their years in Singapore while their own children miss them and feel emotionally deprived.
The personal sacrifice is enormous.
Changing political conditions also led to vast differences in the experiences of the two groups of migrant women. Singapore was still under British rule when the original Samsui women came, and it was expected that most migrants who were admitted would settle here. The authorities were not concerned much with what they did once they passed quarantine.
At independence, Singapore was hard-pressed to create jobs for all its citizens who needed them, so it operated a very restrictive policy towards foreign unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
Only after the economic take-off of the 1970s transformed the country's prospects did it open the doors to foreign migrant workers, but sensitivities about community relations prompted the government to want their presence to be temporary.
Male construction workers and female domestic workers are allowed into Singapore on work passes that must be renewed every two years. They are not permitted to marry locals or raise families here, or to settle permanently.
So while Samsui women could easily settle in Singapore once their useful work lives were over, today's work-permit holders have to leave the country within two weeks of the cancellation of their permits.
A room of their own
SAMSUI women took on work that was available every day because of economic necessity, not because they were compelled to work by contract. They had days or part-days off when work was not available. They usually laboured for around nine hours a day, not the 15 or so that is quite common for domestic workers today.
Once the working day was over, a Samsui woman's time was her own. She would go home and prepare and eat her evening meal. Afterwards, she might sit and talk with other women outside the houses where they stayed. There was enough space on the five-foot way outside the shophouses for other people to walk past them. The traffic of the working day had thinned out, and the air had cooled a little. Many smoked cigarettes as they whiled away an hour or so before going up to bed.
Samsui women came and went as they chose outside working hours: There was no one to lock them up in case they 'fell into bad company'. Their ability to reject a bad employer and the presence of fellow workers on-site no doubt protected them from physical and sexual abuse.
Working together and sharing accommodation, Samsui women provided support for each other, though living in close quarters and sometimes competing for work could also lead to friction.
Conversation, sympathy in difficult times and the chance for young women to learn from the more experienced all made it a little easier to cope with difficult circumstances.
Whatever else they had to bear, Samsui women were not forced to endure the debilitating, morale-rotting isolation of some of today's domestic workers, whose employers try to isolate them from the outside world and deny them the right to go out, meet friends and know a few hours when their lives are their own.
Perhaps a recognition that the motivations of foreign domestic workers and the sacrifices that they make are similar to those of the now-respected Samsui women could help to bring about greater consideration for these modern migrants.
John Gee is a freelance writer and president of Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group for migrant workers.
A longer version of this essay was written in conjunction with an ongoing exhibition of photographs of Samsui women at bus stops around Singapore, part of the M1 Singapore Fringe art festival (www.singaporefringe.com).
15 Jan 300m in poverty in China
Jan 15, 2008
300 million people in China living in poverty
Many peasants in the heartland scrape by on less than US$1 a day
YANGMIAO (HENAN) - WHENEVER she falls ill, Madam Li Enlan, 78, picks herbs from the woods that grow near her home instead of buying modern medicines.
She has never seen a doctor and, like many residents of this area, lives in a meagre barter economy, seldom coming into contact with cash.
'We eat somehow, but it's never enough,' she said. 'At least we're not starving.'
In this region of southern Henan province, in village after village, people are too poor to heat up their homes in the winter and many lack basic comforts such as running water.
Mobile phones, a near ubiquitous symbol of upward mobility throughout much of this country, are seen as an impossible luxury.
People here often begin conversations with a phrase that is still not uncommon in today's China: 'We are poor.'
China has moved more people out of poverty than any other country in recent decades, but the persistence of destitution in places like central Henan province fits in with the findings of a recent World Bank study that suggests that there are still 300 million poor people in China - three times the number that the bank previously estimated.
'Henan has the largest population of any province, approaching 100 million people, and the land there just cannot support those kinds of numbers,' said Mr Albert Keidel, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on Chinese poverty.
'It is supposed to be a breadbasket, but there has always been major discrimination against grain-based areas in China. The profit you can get from a hectare of land from vegetables, or a fish farm or oils, is so much more.'
Other experts say that Henan and other heavily populated parts of the Chinese heartland are often excluded from the financial support that goes to the coastal areas, and anti-poverty measures there are having little effect.
Typically, residents of these areas say, money intended for them is appropriated by corrupt local officials who pocket it or divert it to business investments.
Paradoxically, they say, they are overlooked precisely because of their proximity to the major economic centres of the east. They are forced to fend for themselves on the theory that they can make do with income sent home by migrant labourers and other forms of trickle-down wealth.
'Previous poverty alleviation policy focused more on western China, places like Gansu, Qinghai or Guizhou, which were poorer,' said Mr Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute, a Beijing non-governmental organisation.
Here in Henan's rural Gushi County, only 73,000 of 1.4 million farmers fall below the official poverty level of US$94 (S$135) a year, which is supposed to be enough to cover basic needs, including maintaining a daily diet of 2,000 calories.
'We should bear in mind that this poverty standard is very low,' Mr Wang said, echoing the view of many Chinese economists.
Many more people in this part of Henan subsist between the official poverty line and the US$1-a-day standard long used by the World Bank.
Last month, the World Bank's estimate of the number of poor people in China was tripled to 300 million from 100 million after a new survey of prices altered the picture of what a US dollar can buy.
The new standard was set according to what economists call purchasing power parity.
Given the huge size of China's population, even a small change in the definition of poverty can produce widely different estimates.
NEW YORK TIMES
300 million people in China living in poverty
Many peasants in the heartland scrape by on less than US$1 a day
YANGMIAO (HENAN) - WHENEVER she falls ill, Madam Li Enlan, 78, picks herbs from the woods that grow near her home instead of buying modern medicines.
She has never seen a doctor and, like many residents of this area, lives in a meagre barter economy, seldom coming into contact with cash.
'We eat somehow, but it's never enough,' she said. 'At least we're not starving.'
In this region of southern Henan province, in village after village, people are too poor to heat up their homes in the winter and many lack basic comforts such as running water.
Mobile phones, a near ubiquitous symbol of upward mobility throughout much of this country, are seen as an impossible luxury.
People here often begin conversations with a phrase that is still not uncommon in today's China: 'We are poor.'
China has moved more people out of poverty than any other country in recent decades, but the persistence of destitution in places like central Henan province fits in with the findings of a recent World Bank study that suggests that there are still 300 million poor people in China - three times the number that the bank previously estimated.
'Henan has the largest population of any province, approaching 100 million people, and the land there just cannot support those kinds of numbers,' said Mr Albert Keidel, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on Chinese poverty.
'It is supposed to be a breadbasket, but there has always been major discrimination against grain-based areas in China. The profit you can get from a hectare of land from vegetables, or a fish farm or oils, is so much more.'
Other experts say that Henan and other heavily populated parts of the Chinese heartland are often excluded from the financial support that goes to the coastal areas, and anti-poverty measures there are having little effect.
Typically, residents of these areas say, money intended for them is appropriated by corrupt local officials who pocket it or divert it to business investments.
Paradoxically, they say, they are overlooked precisely because of their proximity to the major economic centres of the east. They are forced to fend for themselves on the theory that they can make do with income sent home by migrant labourers and other forms of trickle-down wealth.
'Previous poverty alleviation policy focused more on western China, places like Gansu, Qinghai or Guizhou, which were poorer,' said Mr Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute, a Beijing non-governmental organisation.
Here in Henan's rural Gushi County, only 73,000 of 1.4 million farmers fall below the official poverty level of US$94 (S$135) a year, which is supposed to be enough to cover basic needs, including maintaining a daily diet of 2,000 calories.
'We should bear in mind that this poverty standard is very low,' Mr Wang said, echoing the view of many Chinese economists.
Many more people in this part of Henan subsist between the official poverty line and the US$1-a-day standard long used by the World Bank.
Last month, the World Bank's estimate of the number of poor people in China was tripled to 300 million from 100 million after a new survey of prices altered the picture of what a US dollar can buy.
The new standard was set according to what economists call purchasing power parity.
Given the huge size of China's population, even a small change in the definition of poverty can produce widely different estimates.
NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Schemes for the needy
ALL the five community development councils administer the following four schemes:
1. ComCare Self-Reliance:
Targeted at improving the work prospects of needy, low-income families to get them out of the poverty trap. The Work Support Programme is the main vehicle for delivering self-reliance. It is directed at three sub-groups - the unemployed poor, chronically poor families and those who are too old or ill to work.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in financial year 2006 (FY 06): 4,233
Amount they spent in FY 06: $10.1 million
2. ComCare Grow:
This scheme helps ensure that children from needy families are looked after before, during and after school, while their parents are earning a living. There are three broad schemes in this category: The Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) gives needy families with children in kindergarten subsidies of up to $82 per month. The Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC) gives subsidies of up to $320 to offset childcare fees. The Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme (SCFAS) provides subsidies of up to $160 a month for parents who place their children in student-care centres before or after school.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 13,012
Amount they spent in FY 06: $18.8 million
3. ComCare EnAble:
Focuses on helping the needy who require long-term assistance because of disability or old age. Funds the Public Assistance Scheme for older folk without family support.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 2,947
Amount they spent in FY 06: $9.8 million
4. Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) Scheme
Gives young, lowly educated, low-income couples around $100,000 worth of incentives, including housing and training grants and education grants for their children. But couples cannot have more than two children and cannot divorce.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 226
Amount they spent in FY 06: Not available.
For more information, log on to www.centralsingaporecdc.org.sg or call 1800-222-0000
More relief at 'local' level
Local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national aid programmes
GRASSROOTS AID: Retiree Chua Teng Siew, 73, receives meal and grocery vouchers under a new scheme by the Central Singapore CDC. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
WHEN retiree Chua Teng Siew returned home with a bag of five apples last September, it was the first time he had bought fruit in years.
With no family to fall back on and no savings, the 73-year-old bachelor has been on public assistance since 2001.
The $290 he gets from the Government every month is enough to meet his rent, conservancy charges and three square meals, if he sticks to bread and water for breakfast and $2 economy rice meals for lunch and dinner.
In a bid to get the elderly poor to eat more nutritious meals, the Central Singapore Community Development Council piloted a scheme last September to give them $30 worth of food vouchers every month.
The brainchild of Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo, the vouchers can be exchanged for groceries at the Sheng Siong supermarket.
Says the MP: 'Good nutrition is really important if our elderly are to remain active as they age. Our voucher scheme is just a way of providing the elderly with the opportunity to have food they cannot otherwise afford.'
Mr Chua, for instance, uses the vouchers to buy fruit, milk and, occasionally, coffee. About 300 hawkers in the area have also begun accepting the vouchers in lieu of cash.
In fact, some like noodle stall vendor Ngo Meng Nguen, 49, have gone a step further. He 'subsidises' those who pay with vouchers, and accepts a $2 voucher for a plate of seafood hor fun that normally costs $4. 'I've always wanted to do something for those who are less fortunate. It's good to get this chance,' he says.
In nearby Kampong Glam, another initiative started by the local residents' committee is improving the diet of poor folk. Every Sunday, local grassroots workers distribute bread that has been donated by upscale hotels and eateries and is delivered by the Food From The Heart charity.
Among regulars who queue for bread every week is Hamidah (not her real name), 29, a housewife and mother of four whose husband is in jail. Her children look forward to the bread the entire week. 'It's a treat for them,' she says.
Usually initiated in partnership with local grassroots or voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), the CDC's local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national schemes such as ComCare, says CDC general manager Agnes Kwek.
Each CDC has the flexibility to devise schemes that it feels are best suited to meet the unique needs of its resident population.
Here is a snapshot of some of the other local help schemes available at Central Singapore CDC.
Safe Home Scheme: The scheme gives the elderly poor and the disabled subsidies of up to $1,000 per household to 'elder-proof' their homes, by adding features like grab bars and slip-proof tiles to ensure the elderly don't hurt themselves at home. The applicants, however, must be prepared to pay a part of the costs. Applications are administered by the VWO Touch Caregivers.
Ride Scheme: This is a transport subsidy, capped at $150 per month, to help those elderly who wish to attend day care or day rehabilitation centres defray their transport costs.
Talking Dollars and Sense: Conducted in English, Mandarin and Malay, these are three-hour basic budgeting workshops that teach families which are in financial distress how to save money and live within their means.
Nurture Programme: Meant for children from low-income or single-parent families, this weekly programme is both educational and fun. Children aged between six and 10 are treated to art and craft, storytelling, balloon sculpting and reading sessions.
RADHA BASU
SCHEME #1: PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FOR THE DESTITUTE
Making every cent count
Aid recipients try to make the most of cash grants through careful budgeting
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent
GETTING BY: Widow Jenny Tan and her intellectually disabled sons Andrew (left) and Eddie survive on a government grant of $580 a month and $100 from a church. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
View more photos
AFTER a stroke felled Mr Koh Cheng Huat in 1995, his wife and their two intellectually disabled adult sons were reduced to living on the $500 his former employer gave them out of charity every month.
As the ailing karung guni helper's medical bills piled up, so did their financial woes. 'There were days when we lived only on rice,' recalls housewife Jenny Tan, 68.
Ironically, things eased after he died in 2001 and aid from his employer dried up. The family was put on public assistance, which is administered by the community development councils. They now get $580 a month from the Government and another $100 from a church. They are also eligible for free health care, free rations and, occasionally, free cooked food from local welfare organisations.
Madam Tan and her sons, Andrew, 32, and Eddie, 31, are among Singapore's 3,000 or so destitute folk who have no other means of support and are on public assistance. The Government gives them a monthly cash grant ranging from $290 for a single living alone to $940 for a family with three school-going children.
Parliament witnessed a heated debate in March last year on whether these amounts were enough.
According to neighbours Monah Selamat, 76, and Emily Low, 78, who each gets $290 a month in public assistance, it is enough if you are thrifty and budget carefully.
They live in adjacent one-room rental units on Mei Ling Street.
They prepare small meals of rice and meat or vegetables at home and are in bed by 9pm to save on electricity. After paying the bills, they say they have enough left over to go on at least one outing a month to Tekka Market or IMM shopping mall.
'We pool our money and sometimes can even afford to take a taxi back,' says the childless and widowed Madam Monah in her prettily decorated flat, complete with colourful lace curtains and a matching bedspread.
A floor below is the stench- ridden flat of another public assistance recipient.
Grime coats the floor. A 81-year-old widow lives there with six cats. A leaflet from a welfare organisation offering free home cleaning services is stuck to the door, but she has refused help.
CDC social service manager Sani Lim, who drops in on all three women once a year to check on their well-being, says that sometimes it is personal habits and disposition, rather than money, that make the difference in how a person lives. 'There is very little you can do for a person who does not want to be helped,' he says.
radhab@sph.com.sg
SCHEME #2: WORK SUPPORT
THE year 2006 almost knocked out Mr Ismail Sanif.
In July, the 40-year-old father of two was retrenched from his warehouse assistant job. Soon after, wife Hasna Hamid also lost her factory operator job.
September brought the final whammy. Unable to pay a $3,000 fine for being involved in a bar brawl, Mr Ismail was sentenced to 37 days in jail.
Life worsened upon his release. He sent out three or four job applications every day, all in vain. 'No one wanted an ex-inmate,' he remembers.
The nadir came when the electricity in their three-room Ang Mo Kio home was cut after one too many unpaid bills. He had to fan his two girls, aged eight and 10, to sleep on hot nights.
After a year of unemployment, he approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council for help in June last year.
He was placed on the Work Support Programme that helps low-income families become self-reliant by improving their job opportunities. He was given $150 cash to help with transport money for job interviews and vouchers to settle his electricity bill arrears.
Two days later, he was referred for an interview as a dispatch rider and hired on the spot. 'My new boss said the company did not care about my past, only my future,' he recalls.
He put in long hours and did extra deliveries for extra cash. Six months on, he earns around $2,200 a month, more than he ever earned before. Madam Hasna too has found work as a factory operator. The family has not returned for public assistance since.
Since it was introduced in July 2006, the Work Support Programme has become one of the key pillars of the CDCs' drive to help the poor help themselves. More than 4,200 individuals and families have been helped since the programme began.
Central Singapore Mayor Zainudin Nordin says: 'We want programmes that are sustainable and allow our clients to take responsibility for their future, rather than depend on handouts.'
The programme is divided into three schemes. The first, which Mr Ismail benefited from, targets the unemployed.
Apart from help to get a job, poor families are given cash grants or vouchers, as well as 'top-ups' to childcare or kindergarten subsidies, for up to six months. In return, the clients must work with officers to get a job within that time.
A second scheme is aimed at people who may be employed but are in such low-paying jobs that they cannot make ends meet. They get cash and vouchers and can also make use of a training grant to improve their chances of getting better-paying jobs. The vouchers can be used to pay rent, utilities or conservancy charges.
Support under this programme is extended for a maximum of two years.
The final programme is for those who cannot work because of old age, illness or a disability. Clients require a medical certificate to get help, which includes cash handouts and vouchers.
Assistance is usually reviewed every six months for the second and third scheme and only rarely does a family get the maximum level of subsidy.
RADHA BASU
SCHEME #3: HOME OWNERSHIP PLUS EDUCATION (HOPE)
Hope for lower skilled comes with strict terms
Package of up to $100k requires families to stay small and intact
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent
A RIGHT-SIZED HOME: The scheme not only helps oil rig worker Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, and wife Olivia Castillo, 31, with a housing grant for their Bukit Batok flat and grants to upgrade their skills, but also provides bursaries for children Netashya, (left), 13 and Shyaquir, seven. But their much-needed financial security comes with strings attached: they cannot have more than two kids or divorce. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
WHEN Ms Olivia Castillo spotted teenagers doing drugs along the corridors of her Lengkok Bahru block of one-room rental flats, she knew she had to move out - and on.
She and her husband, then working as a dispatch rider, were too poor to buy their own flat, so they and their two young children bunked in with his parents for nearly a decade while they dreamt of having their own place.
That dream came true last year.
Home is now a spacious 12th-floor executive flat in Bukit Batok, complete with a plush sofa set and crystal chandelier.
Ms Castillo says her dream was made possible by hard work and a government scheme that gives up to $100,000 worth of incentives to low-educated, low-income couples to lift them out of the poverty trap.
It includes a $50,000 housing grant - given in monthly instalments - bursaries for children as well as a training grant of up to $10,000.
But the largesse under the Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) scheme comes with strings attached. Female applicants must be aged 35 and under. Couples cannot have more than two children. They cannot divorce.
None of that deterred Ms Castillo, 31, when she first read about the scheme in 2004 and approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council to sign up.
Childhood sweethearts, she and her husband dropped out of school to marry after their N levels. Daughter Netashya, now 13, was born soon after. Son Shyaquir Mon followed six years later.
After a few false starts - a truncated education, early marriage - life is finally looking up for the family.
Her husband, Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, has spent the past five years working as an oil rig 'rope-access specialist'. He climbs up heights of 50m on a rope to access parts of oil rigs that cannot be reached by machines.
It is dangerous, back-breaking work but, by sheer grit, he has reached a supervisory position and quadrupled the family income in the last four years.
The Hope scheme provided the family with much-needed economic security, says Ms Castillo.
But their prosperity today is due largely to her husband who has tirelessly toiled seven-day weeks, without taking any vacations.
'There is no substitute for hard work,' the housewife concludes.
Not everyone on the scheme, however, has success stories to share.
Part-time telemarketer Khadija (not her real name), 36, signed up in November last year because her husband, a frequently unemployed odd-job worker, was in prison.
Her infant son cannot hear very well and has a deformed foot. A recent medical bill was $1,000 - $300 more than what she earns each month.
But their marriage has gone downhill ever since she found out he was a secret society member. 'He also lied about his job, saying he owned a barber shop, before he married me,' she laments.
Because she is seeking a divorce, she has returned the Redhill flat she got through the Hope scheme and lives with her mother now.
radhab@sph.com.sg
Long hard road to self-reliance
Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there are still some people who slip through the cracks. But there is hope for them. Community Correspondent RADHA BASU worked with officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council to find out how the organisation helps
HELPING HUB: Service@Central is the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub, where those in need can go for assistance.
View more photos
LAUGHTER gurgles from Mr Ahmad Habib's two-room rental flat. His grandchildren are involved in a riotous jumping game. But the unemployed 59-year-old's face is creased with worry as he spends his days reciting the Quran and praying for divine intervention.
'Do you think we will get any help? My bank account is empty,' he implores from behind his metal grille gate, worry dispensing with the formality of a proper greeting.
An unusual assignment has delivered me to Mr Ahmad's doorstep. For two weeks in November, I worked alongside officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) to find out first-hand how this key pillar of Singapore's social security system works on the ground.
Weeks earlier, Mr Ahmad was one of the 3,400 weary and worried souls who shuffle through the doors of the CDC every month. Most are in need of money, jobs or just empathy. When his divorced younger son was jailed in 2006, he was saddled with caring for his two young grandchildren aged five and eight. But back then, he had a job.
The $1,000 he earned as a Changi Airport gardener was enough to feed his wife, Madam Salamah Nor, 55, and the two young ones. But when Madam Salamah became bedridden after a spinal operation in April, he had to quit his job to look after her and their grandchildren.
His two other children are in no position to help. His eldest son, a bachelor, was recently released from jail and is unemployed. His divorced daughter is struggling with four children of her own. With less than $200 left in his bank account, Mr Ahmad approached the CDC for help late last year.
After hearing out his tale of woe - and checking papers such as his bank book to ascertain his financial status - social assistance officer Gin Chua put Mr Ahmad on the ComCare Work Support (Employment) programme, which helps unemployed people from low-income families get jobs. The CDC also agreed to provide him with $250 a month in cash, and pay his rent and conservancy charges for three months.
But while the paperwork clears, Mr Ahmad has been scrimping on food. 'These kids are not choosy - their favourite food is eggs and ketchup,' he says. 'But even that costs money.'
IT IS another busy afternoon at Service@Central, the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub. Perched on one of the nondescript plastic chairs that fill the waiting room, an elderly man is muttering to himself and wiping away tears with a grubby sleeve. His emaciated fingers clutch a plastic bag filled with documents.
'My money will end next month,' he rails, pulling out a white card. 'How will I live?' The card states he will receive $250 from the CDC every month till end-November, 2007.
The counter staff quickly alert social services manager Elizabeth Aw, 24, the officer assigned to his case. She calmly escorts him into a tiny cubicle, where she assures him in soft, measured tones that his assistance will be extended.
The former restaurant worker suffers from an anxiety disorder and has been certified unfit to work by the Institute of Mental Health. He had already been informed over the phone that his assistance would be extended. 'I guess it was his worry that drove him here,' Ms Aw says, smiling wanly.
Later that day, a grey-haired housewife in a worn sweatshirt comes in. Her odd-job worker husband earns $40 a day, but most of it goes to paying for his father's nursing home fees. She is 53 but kidney problems and depression have made her unemployable.
The couple have a three-room HDB flat, but she maintains that 'it's old and not renovated, no one will want to buy it'. Before she is escorted out, a date is made for officers to visit her husband the following week.
WITHIN a month, Mr Ahmad's assistance is approved. But the housewife's case is dropped. Her husband has flatly refused any assistance. 'We don't have much but don't need any help. My wife approached the CDC without my knowledge,' he says.
About six in 10 people referred to the CDC for financial help return empty-handed. Some refuse help, and most others have stable sources of income. To make sure tax payers' money goes to the genuinely needy, the CDC staff spend a lot of time doing assessment interviews, document checks and home visits.
A few days after former cleaner Wasi Rashid, 69, and his nephew Haris Abdullah, 59, come to the CDC for help, social services manager Nazrin Begum Hamid, 33, turns up at the two-room rental flat that the two men share.
Mr Wasi is partially blind and cannot hear well. Mr Haris suffers from psychiatric problems. Neither is employed. The bachelors live on around $500 a month from their CPF savings and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) and occasional food rations.
The flat is dark and dank, with the rain falling heavily outside. The lights are not switched on because the previous month, they chalked up arrears of $16 on their electricity bill.
After scrutinising their bank books, and inquiring about outside help, Ms Nazrin makes a quick tour of the flat, lifting cushions and peering under the sofa with a torchlight. 'Such visits allow us to check for bedbugs and to ensure that the homes of the elderly are clean,' she says, recalling a case when she noticed bedbugs crawling out of the shirt of a client she visited.
About three weeks later, their request for help is denied because they still have money left in their CPF accounts.
Ms Nazrin's next stop is the one-room Telok Blangah flat of former stall helper Pichagani Shaik Dawood, 82. For the last six months, unable to work and with no more savings, the wiry man has been surviving on $200 he gets monthly from the CDC, which is up for review.
For the past 50 years, he has led a lonely existence in Singapore, working in menial jobs to support his family in his native India. But in October, a $1 4-D ticket he bought yielded a rare stroke of luck - a $2,000 win, he reveals cheerfully.
Unfortunately, the revelation of a windfall means his assistance will have to be terminated, for a while at least. When Ms Nazrin first explains to him that others could use the financial help more than him right now, he looks a bit perplexed, then nods his assent after realisation sets in. But before she leaves, she arranges for a voluntary welfare organisation to provide him with free meals at home in the interim. At the door, she reminds him: 'Uncle, please contact us when the money runs out.'
FOR many of the CDC's 112 officers, the long hours of playing financial adviser, agony aunt and private investigator all rolled into one can be exhausting. But the responsibility comes with rewards. 'I am always moved by the trust the clients put in us, sharing their most personal details,' says Ms Aw, a National University of Singapore social work graduate, who joined the CDC two years ago.
Recently, she was the first person one of her clients - an unemployed mother of four - called after landing a job. 'Sharing a client's joy after months of hardship and hard work is the biggest reward.'
Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there has been no let-up in the numbers trudging into the CDC seeking jobs. In November last year, there were 594 such cases, up from 518 last January.
One such person is Madam Julia Jacqueline Pang, 61, who wheeled herself into the CDC looking for work one morning. Childhood polio left the spunky mother of a grown-up son wheelchair-bound, but she managed to work as a factory operator earning $800 a month. But in 2005, an accident robbed her of mobility in her arms.
Two years on, her savings have dried up. 'My son has his own family to look after; I don't want to burden him,' she says, 'I just want to rely on myself.'
The CDC, working in partnership with the Workforce Development Agency, has a comprehensive scheme to help her. Career consultants fill in an electronic questionnaire listing her qualifications, work experience, state of health and job preferences. They then scan various job databases to find a suitable match.
There is also a free computer aptitude test for job seekers to find out where their strengths lie. Those who need to brush up on skills are sent for training courses. Not only is the training free, but candidates are also given a stipend of $30 a day to attend.
To MP and head of Central Singapore CDC, Mayor Zainudin Nordin, ensuring employability is one of the most important aspects of the CDC's work. 'If your focus is self-development, then even if your company or job is in jeopardy, you will be likely to find another job quickly,' he says.
But helping put low-income, lowly educated workers on the path towards self-reliance is a long, arduous process.
In the first half of last year, about 440 job seekers registered with the CDC every month. About 260 - or more than one in two - were successfully placed each month. But many could not keep their jobs due to ill health, mental problems or 'attitude problems'.
When Ms Sumathi Gopal walked into the CDC last year, she had no home, no job and only $1.80 in her bank account. Her mother was dead, her father in a nursing home and she had fallen out with her only brother.
The CDC's first priority was to get her employed. But with only primary school education and health problems - a leg infection that made her unable to stand for long periods - this was easier said than done.
As part of the employment assistance programme, she was sent on a six-day 'job preparation exercise' that taught her how to face interviewers and manage stress. Then she was linked up with a company looking for a carpark cashier, one of the few available blue-collar jobs that would not require her to stand for long periods.
She began work in late November. 'I don't think I could have managed to get a job without the CDC's help,' Ms Sumathi said then, beaming.
Barely a month later, her leg condition worsened. She was warded in hospital for five days, quit her job and neglected to inform her CDC career consultant Rasidah Rashid.
Now, she's better and is back in the queue for a job.
Like most of her colleagues, Ms Rasidah is used to such setbacks. 'I tried calling her several times to check how she was doing, but she never returned my calls,' she says, her tone tinged with disappointment.
'Now I guess we need to start over again.'
CDCs: A brief history
What are CDCs? When were they set up?
The community development councils were set up just over a decade ago - in 1997 - to foster community bonding and enhance social cohesion among residents.
The brainchild of then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong, they were first mooted at the National Day Rally in 1996 to build 'heartware', bind Singaporeans together and motivate them to take part in community projects.
Singapore was carved into nine distinct geographical 'districts', each with its own CDC. The CDCs were tasked with administering a few help schemes for the needy, such as the Public Assistance Scheme, where the destitute get a monthly government grant.
In 2001, the nine CDCs were reconstituted into the current five - covering the central, north-east, north-west, south-east and south-west parts of Singapore. Each CDC is headed by a government-appointed Mayor.
While community bonding is still a mission, since 2001, the CDCs have evolved to become the lead government agency that disburses help to the needy.
They still administer the Public Assistance Scheme, together with other financial aid schemes to help the poor meet their housing, education and employment needs. They also provide job-matching services.
Central Singapore CDC:
Set up in 1997, Central Singapore CDC is the country's largest in terms of resident population, being home to more than 860,000.
Geographically, it covers the heart of Singapore - stretching from Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Besar which are areas rich in history and culture, to largely middle-class Bishan-Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio, and finally to the leafy suburbs of Yio Chu Kang.
Nearly one in five of its residents is above 60 years old. It also has a sizeable population of elderly poor.
ALL the five community development councils administer the following four schemes:
1. ComCare Self-Reliance:
Targeted at improving the work prospects of needy, low-income families to get them out of the poverty trap. The Work Support Programme is the main vehicle for delivering self-reliance. It is directed at three sub-groups - the unemployed poor, chronically poor families and those who are too old or ill to work.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in financial year 2006 (FY 06): 4,233
Amount they spent in FY 06: $10.1 million
2. ComCare Grow:
This scheme helps ensure that children from needy families are looked after before, during and after school, while their parents are earning a living. There are three broad schemes in this category: The Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) gives needy families with children in kindergarten subsidies of up to $82 per month. The Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC) gives subsidies of up to $320 to offset childcare fees. The Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme (SCFAS) provides subsidies of up to $160 a month for parents who place their children in student-care centres before or after school.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 13,012
Amount they spent in FY 06: $18.8 million
3. ComCare EnAble:
Focuses on helping the needy who require long-term assistance because of disability or old age. Funds the Public Assistance Scheme for older folk without family support.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 2,947
Amount they spent in FY 06: $9.8 million
4. Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) Scheme
Gives young, lowly educated, low-income couples around $100,000 worth of incentives, including housing and training grants and education grants for their children. But couples cannot have more than two children and cannot divorce.
Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 226
Amount they spent in FY 06: Not available.
For more information, log on to www.centralsingaporecdc.org.sg or call 1800-222-0000
More relief at 'local' level
Local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national aid programmes
GRASSROOTS AID: Retiree Chua Teng Siew, 73, receives meal and grocery vouchers under a new scheme by the Central Singapore CDC. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
WHEN retiree Chua Teng Siew returned home with a bag of five apples last September, it was the first time he had bought fruit in years.
With no family to fall back on and no savings, the 73-year-old bachelor has been on public assistance since 2001.
The $290 he gets from the Government every month is enough to meet his rent, conservancy charges and three square meals, if he sticks to bread and water for breakfast and $2 economy rice meals for lunch and dinner.
In a bid to get the elderly poor to eat more nutritious meals, the Central Singapore Community Development Council piloted a scheme last September to give them $30 worth of food vouchers every month.
The brainchild of Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo, the vouchers can be exchanged for groceries at the Sheng Siong supermarket.
Says the MP: 'Good nutrition is really important if our elderly are to remain active as they age. Our voucher scheme is just a way of providing the elderly with the opportunity to have food they cannot otherwise afford.'
Mr Chua, for instance, uses the vouchers to buy fruit, milk and, occasionally, coffee. About 300 hawkers in the area have also begun accepting the vouchers in lieu of cash.
In fact, some like noodle stall vendor Ngo Meng Nguen, 49, have gone a step further. He 'subsidises' those who pay with vouchers, and accepts a $2 voucher for a plate of seafood hor fun that normally costs $4. 'I've always wanted to do something for those who are less fortunate. It's good to get this chance,' he says.
In nearby Kampong Glam, another initiative started by the local residents' committee is improving the diet of poor folk. Every Sunday, local grassroots workers distribute bread that has been donated by upscale hotels and eateries and is delivered by the Food From The Heart charity.
Among regulars who queue for bread every week is Hamidah (not her real name), 29, a housewife and mother of four whose husband is in jail. Her children look forward to the bread the entire week. 'It's a treat for them,' she says.
Usually initiated in partnership with local grassroots or voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), the CDC's local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national schemes such as ComCare, says CDC general manager Agnes Kwek.
Each CDC has the flexibility to devise schemes that it feels are best suited to meet the unique needs of its resident population.
Here is a snapshot of some of the other local help schemes available at Central Singapore CDC.
Safe Home Scheme: The scheme gives the elderly poor and the disabled subsidies of up to $1,000 per household to 'elder-proof' their homes, by adding features like grab bars and slip-proof tiles to ensure the elderly don't hurt themselves at home. The applicants, however, must be prepared to pay a part of the costs. Applications are administered by the VWO Touch Caregivers.
Ride Scheme: This is a transport subsidy, capped at $150 per month, to help those elderly who wish to attend day care or day rehabilitation centres defray their transport costs.
Talking Dollars and Sense: Conducted in English, Mandarin and Malay, these are three-hour basic budgeting workshops that teach families which are in financial distress how to save money and live within their means.
Nurture Programme: Meant for children from low-income or single-parent families, this weekly programme is both educational and fun. Children aged between six and 10 are treated to art and craft, storytelling, balloon sculpting and reading sessions.
RADHA BASU
SCHEME #1: PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FOR THE DESTITUTE
Making every cent count
Aid recipients try to make the most of cash grants through careful budgeting
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent
GETTING BY: Widow Jenny Tan and her intellectually disabled sons Andrew (left) and Eddie survive on a government grant of $580 a month and $100 from a church. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
View more photos
AFTER a stroke felled Mr Koh Cheng Huat in 1995, his wife and their two intellectually disabled adult sons were reduced to living on the $500 his former employer gave them out of charity every month.
As the ailing karung guni helper's medical bills piled up, so did their financial woes. 'There were days when we lived only on rice,' recalls housewife Jenny Tan, 68.
Ironically, things eased after he died in 2001 and aid from his employer dried up. The family was put on public assistance, which is administered by the community development councils. They now get $580 a month from the Government and another $100 from a church. They are also eligible for free health care, free rations and, occasionally, free cooked food from local welfare organisations.
Madam Tan and her sons, Andrew, 32, and Eddie, 31, are among Singapore's 3,000 or so destitute folk who have no other means of support and are on public assistance. The Government gives them a monthly cash grant ranging from $290 for a single living alone to $940 for a family with three school-going children.
Parliament witnessed a heated debate in March last year on whether these amounts were enough.
According to neighbours Monah Selamat, 76, and Emily Low, 78, who each gets $290 a month in public assistance, it is enough if you are thrifty and budget carefully.
They live in adjacent one-room rental units on Mei Ling Street.
They prepare small meals of rice and meat or vegetables at home and are in bed by 9pm to save on electricity. After paying the bills, they say they have enough left over to go on at least one outing a month to Tekka Market or IMM shopping mall.
'We pool our money and sometimes can even afford to take a taxi back,' says the childless and widowed Madam Monah in her prettily decorated flat, complete with colourful lace curtains and a matching bedspread.
A floor below is the stench- ridden flat of another public assistance recipient.
Grime coats the floor. A 81-year-old widow lives there with six cats. A leaflet from a welfare organisation offering free home cleaning services is stuck to the door, but she has refused help.
CDC social service manager Sani Lim, who drops in on all three women once a year to check on their well-being, says that sometimes it is personal habits and disposition, rather than money, that make the difference in how a person lives. 'There is very little you can do for a person who does not want to be helped,' he says.
radhab@sph.com.sg
SCHEME #2: WORK SUPPORT
THE year 2006 almost knocked out Mr Ismail Sanif.
In July, the 40-year-old father of two was retrenched from his warehouse assistant job. Soon after, wife Hasna Hamid also lost her factory operator job.
September brought the final whammy. Unable to pay a $3,000 fine for being involved in a bar brawl, Mr Ismail was sentenced to 37 days in jail.
Life worsened upon his release. He sent out three or four job applications every day, all in vain. 'No one wanted an ex-inmate,' he remembers.
The nadir came when the electricity in their three-room Ang Mo Kio home was cut after one too many unpaid bills. He had to fan his two girls, aged eight and 10, to sleep on hot nights.
After a year of unemployment, he approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council for help in June last year.
He was placed on the Work Support Programme that helps low-income families become self-reliant by improving their job opportunities. He was given $150 cash to help with transport money for job interviews and vouchers to settle his electricity bill arrears.
Two days later, he was referred for an interview as a dispatch rider and hired on the spot. 'My new boss said the company did not care about my past, only my future,' he recalls.
He put in long hours and did extra deliveries for extra cash. Six months on, he earns around $2,200 a month, more than he ever earned before. Madam Hasna too has found work as a factory operator. The family has not returned for public assistance since.
Since it was introduced in July 2006, the Work Support Programme has become one of the key pillars of the CDCs' drive to help the poor help themselves. More than 4,200 individuals and families have been helped since the programme began.
Central Singapore Mayor Zainudin Nordin says: 'We want programmes that are sustainable and allow our clients to take responsibility for their future, rather than depend on handouts.'
The programme is divided into three schemes. The first, which Mr Ismail benefited from, targets the unemployed.
Apart from help to get a job, poor families are given cash grants or vouchers, as well as 'top-ups' to childcare or kindergarten subsidies, for up to six months. In return, the clients must work with officers to get a job within that time.
A second scheme is aimed at people who may be employed but are in such low-paying jobs that they cannot make ends meet. They get cash and vouchers and can also make use of a training grant to improve their chances of getting better-paying jobs. The vouchers can be used to pay rent, utilities or conservancy charges.
Support under this programme is extended for a maximum of two years.
The final programme is for those who cannot work because of old age, illness or a disability. Clients require a medical certificate to get help, which includes cash handouts and vouchers.
Assistance is usually reviewed every six months for the second and third scheme and only rarely does a family get the maximum level of subsidy.
RADHA BASU
SCHEME #3: HOME OWNERSHIP PLUS EDUCATION (HOPE)
Hope for lower skilled comes with strict terms
Package of up to $100k requires families to stay small and intact
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent
A RIGHT-SIZED HOME: The scheme not only helps oil rig worker Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, and wife Olivia Castillo, 31, with a housing grant for their Bukit Batok flat and grants to upgrade their skills, but also provides bursaries for children Netashya, (left), 13 and Shyaquir, seven. But their much-needed financial security comes with strings attached: they cannot have more than two kids or divorce. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
WHEN Ms Olivia Castillo spotted teenagers doing drugs along the corridors of her Lengkok Bahru block of one-room rental flats, she knew she had to move out - and on.
She and her husband, then working as a dispatch rider, were too poor to buy their own flat, so they and their two young children bunked in with his parents for nearly a decade while they dreamt of having their own place.
That dream came true last year.
Home is now a spacious 12th-floor executive flat in Bukit Batok, complete with a plush sofa set and crystal chandelier.
Ms Castillo says her dream was made possible by hard work and a government scheme that gives up to $100,000 worth of incentives to low-educated, low-income couples to lift them out of the poverty trap.
It includes a $50,000 housing grant - given in monthly instalments - bursaries for children as well as a training grant of up to $10,000.
But the largesse under the Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) scheme comes with strings attached. Female applicants must be aged 35 and under. Couples cannot have more than two children. They cannot divorce.
None of that deterred Ms Castillo, 31, when she first read about the scheme in 2004 and approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council to sign up.
Childhood sweethearts, she and her husband dropped out of school to marry after their N levels. Daughter Netashya, now 13, was born soon after. Son Shyaquir Mon followed six years later.
After a few false starts - a truncated education, early marriage - life is finally looking up for the family.
Her husband, Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, has spent the past five years working as an oil rig 'rope-access specialist'. He climbs up heights of 50m on a rope to access parts of oil rigs that cannot be reached by machines.
It is dangerous, back-breaking work but, by sheer grit, he has reached a supervisory position and quadrupled the family income in the last four years.
The Hope scheme provided the family with much-needed economic security, says Ms Castillo.
But their prosperity today is due largely to her husband who has tirelessly toiled seven-day weeks, without taking any vacations.
'There is no substitute for hard work,' the housewife concludes.
Not everyone on the scheme, however, has success stories to share.
Part-time telemarketer Khadija (not her real name), 36, signed up in November last year because her husband, a frequently unemployed odd-job worker, was in prison.
Her infant son cannot hear very well and has a deformed foot. A recent medical bill was $1,000 - $300 more than what she earns each month.
But their marriage has gone downhill ever since she found out he was a secret society member. 'He also lied about his job, saying he owned a barber shop, before he married me,' she laments.
Because she is seeking a divorce, she has returned the Redhill flat she got through the Hope scheme and lives with her mother now.
radhab@sph.com.sg
Long hard road to self-reliance
Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there are still some people who slip through the cracks. But there is hope for them. Community Correspondent RADHA BASU worked with officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council to find out how the organisation helps
HELPING HUB: Service@Central is the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub, where those in need can go for assistance.
View more photos
LAUGHTER gurgles from Mr Ahmad Habib's two-room rental flat. His grandchildren are involved in a riotous jumping game. But the unemployed 59-year-old's face is creased with worry as he spends his days reciting the Quran and praying for divine intervention.
'Do you think we will get any help? My bank account is empty,' he implores from behind his metal grille gate, worry dispensing with the formality of a proper greeting.
An unusual assignment has delivered me to Mr Ahmad's doorstep. For two weeks in November, I worked alongside officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) to find out first-hand how this key pillar of Singapore's social security system works on the ground.
Weeks earlier, Mr Ahmad was one of the 3,400 weary and worried souls who shuffle through the doors of the CDC every month. Most are in need of money, jobs or just empathy. When his divorced younger son was jailed in 2006, he was saddled with caring for his two young grandchildren aged five and eight. But back then, he had a job.
The $1,000 he earned as a Changi Airport gardener was enough to feed his wife, Madam Salamah Nor, 55, and the two young ones. But when Madam Salamah became bedridden after a spinal operation in April, he had to quit his job to look after her and their grandchildren.
His two other children are in no position to help. His eldest son, a bachelor, was recently released from jail and is unemployed. His divorced daughter is struggling with four children of her own. With less than $200 left in his bank account, Mr Ahmad approached the CDC for help late last year.
After hearing out his tale of woe - and checking papers such as his bank book to ascertain his financial status - social assistance officer Gin Chua put Mr Ahmad on the ComCare Work Support (Employment) programme, which helps unemployed people from low-income families get jobs. The CDC also agreed to provide him with $250 a month in cash, and pay his rent and conservancy charges for three months.
But while the paperwork clears, Mr Ahmad has been scrimping on food. 'These kids are not choosy - their favourite food is eggs and ketchup,' he says. 'But even that costs money.'
IT IS another busy afternoon at Service@Central, the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub. Perched on one of the nondescript plastic chairs that fill the waiting room, an elderly man is muttering to himself and wiping away tears with a grubby sleeve. His emaciated fingers clutch a plastic bag filled with documents.
'My money will end next month,' he rails, pulling out a white card. 'How will I live?' The card states he will receive $250 from the CDC every month till end-November, 2007.
The counter staff quickly alert social services manager Elizabeth Aw, 24, the officer assigned to his case. She calmly escorts him into a tiny cubicle, where she assures him in soft, measured tones that his assistance will be extended.
The former restaurant worker suffers from an anxiety disorder and has been certified unfit to work by the Institute of Mental Health. He had already been informed over the phone that his assistance would be extended. 'I guess it was his worry that drove him here,' Ms Aw says, smiling wanly.
Later that day, a grey-haired housewife in a worn sweatshirt comes in. Her odd-job worker husband earns $40 a day, but most of it goes to paying for his father's nursing home fees. She is 53 but kidney problems and depression have made her unemployable.
The couple have a three-room HDB flat, but she maintains that 'it's old and not renovated, no one will want to buy it'. Before she is escorted out, a date is made for officers to visit her husband the following week.
WITHIN a month, Mr Ahmad's assistance is approved. But the housewife's case is dropped. Her husband has flatly refused any assistance. 'We don't have much but don't need any help. My wife approached the CDC without my knowledge,' he says.
About six in 10 people referred to the CDC for financial help return empty-handed. Some refuse help, and most others have stable sources of income. To make sure tax payers' money goes to the genuinely needy, the CDC staff spend a lot of time doing assessment interviews, document checks and home visits.
A few days after former cleaner Wasi Rashid, 69, and his nephew Haris Abdullah, 59, come to the CDC for help, social services manager Nazrin Begum Hamid, 33, turns up at the two-room rental flat that the two men share.
Mr Wasi is partially blind and cannot hear well. Mr Haris suffers from psychiatric problems. Neither is employed. The bachelors live on around $500 a month from their CPF savings and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) and occasional food rations.
The flat is dark and dank, with the rain falling heavily outside. The lights are not switched on because the previous month, they chalked up arrears of $16 on their electricity bill.
After scrutinising their bank books, and inquiring about outside help, Ms Nazrin makes a quick tour of the flat, lifting cushions and peering under the sofa with a torchlight. 'Such visits allow us to check for bedbugs and to ensure that the homes of the elderly are clean,' she says, recalling a case when she noticed bedbugs crawling out of the shirt of a client she visited.
About three weeks later, their request for help is denied because they still have money left in their CPF accounts.
Ms Nazrin's next stop is the one-room Telok Blangah flat of former stall helper Pichagani Shaik Dawood, 82. For the last six months, unable to work and with no more savings, the wiry man has been surviving on $200 he gets monthly from the CDC, which is up for review.
For the past 50 years, he has led a lonely existence in Singapore, working in menial jobs to support his family in his native India. But in October, a $1 4-D ticket he bought yielded a rare stroke of luck - a $2,000 win, he reveals cheerfully.
Unfortunately, the revelation of a windfall means his assistance will have to be terminated, for a while at least. When Ms Nazrin first explains to him that others could use the financial help more than him right now, he looks a bit perplexed, then nods his assent after realisation sets in. But before she leaves, she arranges for a voluntary welfare organisation to provide him with free meals at home in the interim. At the door, she reminds him: 'Uncle, please contact us when the money runs out.'
FOR many of the CDC's 112 officers, the long hours of playing financial adviser, agony aunt and private investigator all rolled into one can be exhausting. But the responsibility comes with rewards. 'I am always moved by the trust the clients put in us, sharing their most personal details,' says Ms Aw, a National University of Singapore social work graduate, who joined the CDC two years ago.
Recently, she was the first person one of her clients - an unemployed mother of four - called after landing a job. 'Sharing a client's joy after months of hardship and hard work is the biggest reward.'
Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there has been no let-up in the numbers trudging into the CDC seeking jobs. In November last year, there were 594 such cases, up from 518 last January.
One such person is Madam Julia Jacqueline Pang, 61, who wheeled herself into the CDC looking for work one morning. Childhood polio left the spunky mother of a grown-up son wheelchair-bound, but she managed to work as a factory operator earning $800 a month. But in 2005, an accident robbed her of mobility in her arms.
Two years on, her savings have dried up. 'My son has his own family to look after; I don't want to burden him,' she says, 'I just want to rely on myself.'
The CDC, working in partnership with the Workforce Development Agency, has a comprehensive scheme to help her. Career consultants fill in an electronic questionnaire listing her qualifications, work experience, state of health and job preferences. They then scan various job databases to find a suitable match.
There is also a free computer aptitude test for job seekers to find out where their strengths lie. Those who need to brush up on skills are sent for training courses. Not only is the training free, but candidates are also given a stipend of $30 a day to attend.
To MP and head of Central Singapore CDC, Mayor Zainudin Nordin, ensuring employability is one of the most important aspects of the CDC's work. 'If your focus is self-development, then even if your company or job is in jeopardy, you will be likely to find another job quickly,' he says.
But helping put low-income, lowly educated workers on the path towards self-reliance is a long, arduous process.
In the first half of last year, about 440 job seekers registered with the CDC every month. About 260 - or more than one in two - were successfully placed each month. But many could not keep their jobs due to ill health, mental problems or 'attitude problems'.
When Ms Sumathi Gopal walked into the CDC last year, she had no home, no job and only $1.80 in her bank account. Her mother was dead, her father in a nursing home and she had fallen out with her only brother.
The CDC's first priority was to get her employed. But with only primary school education and health problems - a leg infection that made her unable to stand for long periods - this was easier said than done.
As part of the employment assistance programme, she was sent on a six-day 'job preparation exercise' that taught her how to face interviewers and manage stress. Then she was linked up with a company looking for a carpark cashier, one of the few available blue-collar jobs that would not require her to stand for long periods.
She began work in late November. 'I don't think I could have managed to get a job without the CDC's help,' Ms Sumathi said then, beaming.
Barely a month later, her leg condition worsened. She was warded in hospital for five days, quit her job and neglected to inform her CDC career consultant Rasidah Rashid.
Now, she's better and is back in the queue for a job.
Like most of her colleagues, Ms Rasidah is used to such setbacks. 'I tried calling her several times to check how she was doing, but she never returned my calls,' she says, her tone tinged with disappointment.
'Now I guess we need to start over again.'
CDCs: A brief history
What are CDCs? When were they set up?
The community development councils were set up just over a decade ago - in 1997 - to foster community bonding and enhance social cohesion among residents.
The brainchild of then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong, they were first mooted at the National Day Rally in 1996 to build 'heartware', bind Singaporeans together and motivate them to take part in community projects.
Singapore was carved into nine distinct geographical 'districts', each with its own CDC. The CDCs were tasked with administering a few help schemes for the needy, such as the Public Assistance Scheme, where the destitute get a monthly government grant.
In 2001, the nine CDCs were reconstituted into the current five - covering the central, north-east, north-west, south-east and south-west parts of Singapore. Each CDC is headed by a government-appointed Mayor.
While community bonding is still a mission, since 2001, the CDCs have evolved to become the lead government agency that disburses help to the needy.
They still administer the Public Assistance Scheme, together with other financial aid schemes to help the poor meet their housing, education and employment needs. They also provide job-matching services.
Central Singapore CDC:
Set up in 1997, Central Singapore CDC is the country's largest in terms of resident population, being home to more than 860,000.
Geographically, it covers the heart of Singapore - stretching from Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Besar which are areas rich in history and culture, to largely middle-class Bishan-Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio, and finally to the leafy suburbs of Yio Chu Kang.
Nearly one in five of its residents is above 60 years old. It also has a sizeable population of elderly poor.
What is the formula to win a Nobel prize?
What is the formula to win a Nobel prize?
Tharman: Curiosity, concern for society are some of the elements - but not glory seeking
By Shobana Kesava
MANY elements go into the formula that creates Nobel laureates, but seeking glory is not among them.
Instead, Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and three laureates agree, the potent mix includes intense curiosity, wide interests, years of devotion and a concern for society.
Mr Tharman was opening the first Molecular Frontiers Forum yesterday at the Biopolis. The two-day event drew local and overseas award-winning scientists, researchers and students.
Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, urged the youth present - from 14-year-olds to young adults - and their teachers, to follow their hearts and not be too concerned about seeking out the best route to success.
He cited numerous examples of laureates who had taken unusual paths. Several found the sciences only in adulthood.
Among them: Anthony J. Legget (Nobel prize in physics in 2003) first studied the classics at Oxford. Eric R. Kandell (medicine in 2000) majored in 19th and 20th century European history and literature at Harvard.
What it takes to be a winner
YEARS of scrutiny precede the granting of each $2.25 million Nobel Prize. Professor Bengt Norden (below) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Sweden chairs a committee that picks each year's winner in chemistry. He lists the panel's criteria:
The discovery has to open the door to changing the way we think. It could be original, or the serendipity of what the scientist makes of a discovery.
... more
Not all started with sterling academic records. 'Some couldn't get into university,' he noted.
'Do what you want and what you love at every stage of your life and you usually do well as a result of it. Not because you want achievement or to show results but because you love it,' he said.
The three Nobel laureates in chemistry who spoke to the more than 300 students in the audience agreed that they had always been open to delving into wide interests - from baseball and fishing to carpentry. Read widely, they urged.
'You need to know what's going on in the world in order to make a difference to it,' said American professor Barry Sharpless, who won the prize in chemistry in 2001.
He said 20 per cent of his reading is unrelated to science.
Connections are important too. Japanese laureate Ryoji Noyori, who also won the award the same year, noted that he had met Prof Sharpless and Prof Richard Schrock in 1969 in Harvard.
An American, Prof Schrock won the prize in 2005.
'When you keep connecting with scientists in different labs, each may uncover an invisible spot in the other's work because everyone has a different approach,' said Prof Sharpless.
All agreed that one 'winning' factor perhaps stood out: society's needs.
'The only research I wanted to do was that which makes a difference in society,' said Prof Schrock, whose work is used in global pharmaceutical companies today.
The laureates are here as part of a drive by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Sweden-based Molecular Frontiers Foundation to promote appreciation of molecular science as well as entice youth to pursue scientific inquiry.
Singapore is trying to nurture a new generation of scientists and engineers to fuel the multibillion- dollar science and technology industry.
Yishun Junior College (JC) teacher Jacky Wong, who was at the forum, said molecular sciences like nanotechnology are not yet taught at the JC level, but the forum equips him to encourage students about the possibilities that lie ahead of them.
'Even if they don't end up choosing it as a career, science teaches lifelong skills, logic and systematic thinking,' he said.
Finding the sessions interesting, too, was university student Chin Sau Yin, 23, who was thrilled to meet the world-renowned scientists.
Said Miss Chin: 'They are real people who even took breaks from academia, which led them to ideas on what could help meet society's needs.'
skesava@sph.com.sg
Tharman: Curiosity, concern for society are some of the elements - but not glory seeking
By Shobana Kesava
MANY elements go into the formula that creates Nobel laureates, but seeking glory is not among them.
Instead, Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and three laureates agree, the potent mix includes intense curiosity, wide interests, years of devotion and a concern for society.
Mr Tharman was opening the first Molecular Frontiers Forum yesterday at the Biopolis. The two-day event drew local and overseas award-winning scientists, researchers and students.
Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, urged the youth present - from 14-year-olds to young adults - and their teachers, to follow their hearts and not be too concerned about seeking out the best route to success.
He cited numerous examples of laureates who had taken unusual paths. Several found the sciences only in adulthood.
Among them: Anthony J. Legget (Nobel prize in physics in 2003) first studied the classics at Oxford. Eric R. Kandell (medicine in 2000) majored in 19th and 20th century European history and literature at Harvard.
What it takes to be a winner
YEARS of scrutiny precede the granting of each $2.25 million Nobel Prize. Professor Bengt Norden (below) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Sweden chairs a committee that picks each year's winner in chemistry. He lists the panel's criteria:
The discovery has to open the door to changing the way we think. It could be original, or the serendipity of what the scientist makes of a discovery.
... more
Not all started with sterling academic records. 'Some couldn't get into university,' he noted.
'Do what you want and what you love at every stage of your life and you usually do well as a result of it. Not because you want achievement or to show results but because you love it,' he said.
The three Nobel laureates in chemistry who spoke to the more than 300 students in the audience agreed that they had always been open to delving into wide interests - from baseball and fishing to carpentry. Read widely, they urged.
'You need to know what's going on in the world in order to make a difference to it,' said American professor Barry Sharpless, who won the prize in chemistry in 2001.
He said 20 per cent of his reading is unrelated to science.
Connections are important too. Japanese laureate Ryoji Noyori, who also won the award the same year, noted that he had met Prof Sharpless and Prof Richard Schrock in 1969 in Harvard.
An American, Prof Schrock won the prize in 2005.
'When you keep connecting with scientists in different labs, each may uncover an invisible spot in the other's work because everyone has a different approach,' said Prof Sharpless.
All agreed that one 'winning' factor perhaps stood out: society's needs.
'The only research I wanted to do was that which makes a difference in society,' said Prof Schrock, whose work is used in global pharmaceutical companies today.
The laureates are here as part of a drive by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Sweden-based Molecular Frontiers Foundation to promote appreciation of molecular science as well as entice youth to pursue scientific inquiry.
Singapore is trying to nurture a new generation of scientists and engineers to fuel the multibillion- dollar science and technology industry.
Yishun Junior College (JC) teacher Jacky Wong, who was at the forum, said molecular sciences like nanotechnology are not yet taught at the JC level, but the forum equips him to encourage students about the possibilities that lie ahead of them.
'Even if they don't end up choosing it as a career, science teaches lifelong skills, logic and systematic thinking,' he said.
Finding the sessions interesting, too, was university student Chin Sau Yin, 23, who was thrilled to meet the world-renowned scientists.
Said Miss Chin: 'They are real people who even took breaks from academia, which led them to ideas on what could help meet society's needs.'
skesava@sph.com.sg
MM's keys to living long and successfully
Jan 12, 2008
MM's keys to living long and successfully
By Lee Siew Hua
PLUGGED IN: MM Lee says his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world. he says 'you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going'. -- LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE PHOTO
View more photos
THE Minister Mentor has calculated his date with destiny.
His mother died of stroke at 74. His father was 94 when he died. Now that MM Lee Kuan Yew himself will turn 85 in September, he says: 'I've reached the halfway point.'
But he is living long and successfully - the theme of his dialogue at the first Silver Industry Conference - as his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world.
He would have shrunk away if he had retired, he said. 'Retirement means death,' he said, putting this point in the darkest light several times.
At a time when extending the retirement age is being debated, he thinks that those who expect to retire at 62 for a life of enjoyment are making the biggest mistake of their lives.
'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going,' he said.
IND A REASON TO GO ON
'The biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture. So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say, 'Oh 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them, 'You really want to die quickly?'
'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going.'
MM LEE
WORK AT LOWER GEAR
'I do not believe we should have a retirement age. It is very difficult to switch from what is a world practice which we adopted, the British left us at 55, we pushed it up to 60 and pushed it up to 62.
I think a man should go on working or a woman should go on working for as long as we can but changing the nature or the intensity of the work as he ages.'
MM LEE
Brain drain worry hits close to home
THE worry over brain drain has hit close to home for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Yesterday, he related this story from within his family: 'I have a grandson who has just gone to MIT, he's doing economics... Fortunately for the father, he decided to apply for a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, which means he is bonded to come back.
... more
His own father exemplified that. He swam every day and kept himself active. After retiring from the Shell company, he became a salesman, surprising people by selling watches at BP de Silva.
'But it kept him busy,' Mr Lee said. 'It kept him meeting friends.' His father had a routine, he added.
In a dialogue filled with family stories told with a light touch, he revealed how at each turning-point of life, he made choices to stay alive.
In his 30s, he was very fond of drinking and smoking.
Once, he met foreign correspondents, and an unflattering picture was printed. 'I had a big belly...a beer belly,' he told an amused audience of businessmen, policymakers and activists.
So he played more golf, but the belly stayed. 'There was only one way it could go down - consume less, burn out more.'
He quit smoking soon after he lost his voice and could not thank voters when he won a City Council election in 1957.
He would puff 10 cigarettes on stage before each campaign speech, watching people, sensing the mood.
'Three speeches a night, plenty of cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone.'
His one-hour-plus dialogue showed a less-glimpsed side of the nation's founding father as he spoke freely of his frailty.
But, true to his forceful nature, he fought each brush with mortality.
At one turning point in the 1970s, his daughter, about to graduate as a doctor, found him breathing heavily on the Istana lawn.
He told her: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.'
She said: 'Don't play golf. Run.'
He was not one bit keen on running, but loved golf. So in between golf shots, he started walking fast. Later, he ran.
After a few years, he told himself: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut down the golf and let's run.'
Another time, his doctor gave him a medical encyclopaedia, and he zoomed in on the ageing section to learn more.
'As you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have,' he said.
In his case, he said, he has 'led a very active life, connected with the world'.
And all that he has accumulated, he interprets it for Singapore, he said. Including his ideas about ageing vitally.
siewhua@sph.com.sg
MM's keys to living long and successfully
By Lee Siew Hua
PLUGGED IN: MM Lee says his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world. he says 'you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going'. -- LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE PHOTO
View more photos
THE Minister Mentor has calculated his date with destiny.
His mother died of stroke at 74. His father was 94 when he died. Now that MM Lee Kuan Yew himself will turn 85 in September, he says: 'I've reached the halfway point.'
But he is living long and successfully - the theme of his dialogue at the first Silver Industry Conference - as his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world.
He would have shrunk away if he had retired, he said. 'Retirement means death,' he said, putting this point in the darkest light several times.
At a time when extending the retirement age is being debated, he thinks that those who expect to retire at 62 for a life of enjoyment are making the biggest mistake of their lives.
'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going,' he said.
IND A REASON TO GO ON
'The biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture. So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say, 'Oh 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them, 'You really want to die quickly?'
'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going.'
MM LEE
WORK AT LOWER GEAR
'I do not believe we should have a retirement age. It is very difficult to switch from what is a world practice which we adopted, the British left us at 55, we pushed it up to 60 and pushed it up to 62.
I think a man should go on working or a woman should go on working for as long as we can but changing the nature or the intensity of the work as he ages.'
MM LEE
Brain drain worry hits close to home
THE worry over brain drain has hit close to home for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Yesterday, he related this story from within his family: 'I have a grandson who has just gone to MIT, he's doing economics... Fortunately for the father, he decided to apply for a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, which means he is bonded to come back.
... more
His own father exemplified that. He swam every day and kept himself active. After retiring from the Shell company, he became a salesman, surprising people by selling watches at BP de Silva.
'But it kept him busy,' Mr Lee said. 'It kept him meeting friends.' His father had a routine, he added.
In a dialogue filled with family stories told with a light touch, he revealed how at each turning-point of life, he made choices to stay alive.
In his 30s, he was very fond of drinking and smoking.
Once, he met foreign correspondents, and an unflattering picture was printed. 'I had a big belly...a beer belly,' he told an amused audience of businessmen, policymakers and activists.
So he played more golf, but the belly stayed. 'There was only one way it could go down - consume less, burn out more.'
He quit smoking soon after he lost his voice and could not thank voters when he won a City Council election in 1957.
He would puff 10 cigarettes on stage before each campaign speech, watching people, sensing the mood.
'Three speeches a night, plenty of cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone.'
His one-hour-plus dialogue showed a less-glimpsed side of the nation's founding father as he spoke freely of his frailty.
But, true to his forceful nature, he fought each brush with mortality.
At one turning point in the 1970s, his daughter, about to graduate as a doctor, found him breathing heavily on the Istana lawn.
He told her: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.'
She said: 'Don't play golf. Run.'
He was not one bit keen on running, but loved golf. So in between golf shots, he started walking fast. Later, he ran.
After a few years, he told himself: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut down the golf and let's run.'
Another time, his doctor gave him a medical encyclopaedia, and he zoomed in on the ageing section to learn more.
'As you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have,' he said.
In his case, he said, he has 'led a very active life, connected with the world'.
And all that he has accumulated, he interprets it for Singapore, he said. Including his ideas about ageing vitally.
siewhua@sph.com.sg
Friday, January 11, 2008
Obituary: Sir Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary, who has died at the age of 88, made it to the summit of Everest in 1953, and became the first man on the planet to reach its highest point.
As a boy in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary's fragile appearance belied his ground-breaking potential.
At school, he was in a gym group for those lacking co-ordination and admitted to feeling a "deep sense of inferiority".
But the 40-mile journey to school in Auckland each day gave young Edmund many hours to pore over adventure stories and travel ever further in his mind.
Unrecorded achievement
Although Sir Edmund briefly worked as a beekeeper after he left school, he had found his true vocation at the age of 16 while on a school trip to Mount Ruapehu, 320km (200 miles) south of Auckland.
He had seen snow for the first time as well as learning to climb.
After spending two years as a navigator in the New Zealand's air force, he joined a local Alpine Club to take on all the national peaks.
Unsatisfied by these local triumphs, he also travelled to the Himalayas and started wrestling to improve his strength.
This was all with the idea of taking on the ultimate challenge, becoming the first man to climb Everest.
By the time Sir Edmund attempted his ascent, seven previous expeditions to the top of the world's highest mountain had failed.
Sir Edmund recalled: "We didn't know if it was humanly possible to reach the top."
Despite this general trepidation, the determined New Zealander joined a trip led by British climber, Sir John Hunt.
After a gruelling climb up the southern face, battling the effects of high altitude and bad weather, Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay managed to reach the peak at 1130 local time on 29 May.
'All this - and Everest too!'
When they finally reached the top Sir Edmund, who lost four stone on the expedition, reported his first sensation as one of relief.
He took the famous photo of his Sherpa companion posing with his ice-axe, but refused Tenzing's offer to take one of him, so his ascent went unrecorded.
On the morning of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in May 1953, her subjects were told that Sir Edmund had made it to the summit.
As he was a New Zealander and therefore a citizen of the Commonwealth, British subjects celebrated his achievement as their own.
On the day the Queen was crowned, one newspaper headline crowed "All this - and Everest too!"
Sir Edmund was knighted for his efforts, and Tenzing given a medal.
The pair initially reported the ascent as one made in unison. Only after the Sherpa's death in 1986, did Sir Edmund reveal that he had been about 10 feet ahead at the final ridge.
Personal tragedy
Sir Edmund was apparently so shy that he even proposed to his wife with a message via her mother.
In the years that followed his famous ascent, he shunned the celebrity that had become his overnight.
Sir Edmund declined the Queen's invitation on the 50th anniversary
On the 50th anniversary of his achievement, he even turned down an invitation from the Queen, so that he could instead travel to Kathmandu to be with lifelong Sherpa friends.
He was made an honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.
Sir Edmund was far happier exploring.
During the next two decades, he led expeditions to the South Pole, searched for the fabled Yeti, and completed six Himalayan ascents.
And he became increasingly concerned by the plight of the Sherpa people he had met on his expeditions.
He spent two years as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India, and founded the Himalayan Trust in 1964, which helped establish clinics, hospitals and nearly 30 schools.
It also supported the construction of two airstrips, bringing in more tourists than Sir Edmund liked.
He continued this work after personal tragedy in 1975, when his wife and daughter died in a plane crash on their way to meet him at a construction site.
Although the explorer was inconsolable for a long time, he found solace in the Nepal landscape and its people.
'Life's a bit like mountaineering...'
He was a vociferous opponent of what he considered the commercialisation of the mountain, rich tourists paying their way to the ultimate altitude thrill, and often leaving rubbish behind them.
Sir Edmund enjoyed the friendship of Norgay and the Sherpa people
Seemingly forgetting his own determination to conquer the high ridges, Sir Edmund urged these later climbers to "leave the mountains in peace".
Although he will always be remembered for reaching the world's highest plateau, for the explorer himself, his greatest satisfaction came with the Nepalese people he befriended.
He said: "My most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and clinics. That has given me more satisfaction than a footprint on a mountain."
Sir Edmund Hillary remained philosophical about living with such an early achievement. He explained: "I've had a full and rewarding life. Life's a bit like mountaineering - never look down."
'My Himalayan climb with Hillary'
Brian Wilkins said Sir Edmund was an "utterly sensible person"
Mountaineer Brian Wilkins climbed with Sir Edmund Hillary, who has died at the age of 88, in the Himalayas in 1954. He told his daughter, BBC News's Lucy Wilkins, Hillary would be remembered for his "utter common sense" and determination.
Dr Wilkins was a young mountaineer chosen as one of 10 climbers in the New Zealand Alpine Club expedition to attempt peaks to the east of Everest.
Charles Evans, who had failed to reach the world's highest summit in Hillary's expedition, was also to climb with Dr Wilkins.
Even though Sir Edmund had won world-wide acclaim and was feted everywhere he went after the conquest of Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay the year before, he did not forget his prior commitments.
He had a tremendous determination. Even though he wasn't eating much, he showed he could go on for hours
"Despite all the demands on his time after Everest, such as writing a book about his life, he kept his promise. In all we climbed about 20 peaks over 20,000 ft," Dr Wilkins told the BBC News website from his home in Wellington, New Zealand.
But it was not all easy going for a man who had achieved a world first.
"The thing that I most remember about Ed, despite the fact that he wasn't at all well and he wasn't eating much, he was still able to go very well.
"He had a tremendous determination. Even though he wasn't eating much, he showed he could go on for hours," Dr Wilkins said.
Teamwork
Sir Edmund's lack of appetite was never fully explained, and Dr Wilkins said he had serious bouts of sickness in subsequent climbs. Once during the NZ Alpine Club climb, he collapsed and had to be carried down to a lower altitude.
But having a celebrity in their midst did not affect the NZ Alpine Club climbers.
Sir Edmund enjoyed being among fellow New Zealanders
"We were certainly conscious of who he was - a world-famous mountaineer. But once you're out there in the mountains you're all sleeping in the same tent, you're all part of the same endeavour.
"He was an utterly sensible person. He enjoyed spending time amongst New Zealanders because for him it was being back in the environment that he had worked his way up through."
For Dr Wilkins, a retired scientist, who is still an active climber at the age of 82, his down-to-earth qualities will be remembered as key to one of New Zealand's most famous sons.
"His face appears on one of our banknotes, he was given the highest honours in New Zealand, he was the high commissioner to India, but I think the thing that New Zealanders admired in him most was his utter common sense."
And the Sherpa people around the Everest region will miss him greatly too, Dr Wilkins said, as Sir Edmund set up a trust for building schools, hospitals and bridges which had become "his life's work".
Tributes for Everest 'colossus'
Sir Edmund Hillary was made an honorary Nepalese citizen
Everest hero
Tributes have been paid to Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the top of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, after he died aged 88.
New Zealand PM Helen Clark said a state funeral would be held for Sir Edmund, while Queen Elizabeth II said she was "very saddened" by his death.
Nepali Sherpas lit lamps and offered special Buddhist prayers in monasteries for his reincarnation.
Sir Edmund conquered the peak with Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953.
The first living New Zealander to appear on a banknote, his health had reportedly been failing since April, when he suffered a fall during a visit to Nepal.
'Legendary'
Flags at the New Zealand parliament in Wellington and at the Scott Base in Antarctica were at half mast as a mark of respect to the climber, who died of a heart attack at Auckland Hospital at 0900 local time Friday (2000 GMT Thursday).
All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing
New Zealand's prime minister described him as a "colossus".
"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," Ms Clark said in a statement.
"But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi.
"He was ours - from his craggy appearance to laconic style, to his directness and honesty. All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing."
'Knocked off'
Buckingham Palace in London said the Queen was sending a personal message of sympathy to Sir Edmund's widow and family.
The climber was 33 years old when he and Tenzing Norgay become the first men to climb the 8,850m (29,035ft) peak, just days before the monarch's coronation.
Before reaching base camp, ascent team walked 175 miles (282km) from Kathmandu and spent three weeks acclimatising
On May 26 initial attempt came within 300ft (91m) of summit, with final bid two days later
Five man team helped Hillary and Norgay to precarious point high up mountain where pair spent night in tent
Next morning they set out at 0630, reaching summit 1130
Returning to Everest's South Col camp, he famously greeted another member of the British expedition group with the words: "Well, George, we've knocked the bastard off."
Sir Edmund was knighted that year by the Queen for his achievement, and 42 years later was awarded her highest award for chivalry - the Order of the Garter.
His climbing partner died in 1986 but his son, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, said Sir Edmund was "a great explorer".
"The most important of all is that he was humble man, a simple man," he added.
The Sherpa community in Nepal said they were planning a memorial to the man they considered a second father.
"I lit butter lamps and offered prayers for his reincarnation as a human being," said Ang Rita Sherpa, 60.
After scaling Everest, Sir Edmund led a number of expeditions to the South Pole and devoted his life to helping the ethnic Sherpas of Nepal's Khumbu region.
Summit race
His Himalayan Trust has helped build hospitals, clinics, bridges, airstrips and nearly 30 schools. He was made an honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.
To my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and that the whole world spread out below us
Sir Edmund: Your tributes
Born in Auckland on 19 July 1919, Sir Edmund began climbing mountains in his native country as a teenager and soon earned renown as an ice climber.
By the time he attempted his ascent of Everest in 1953 as part of an expedition led by the British climber, Sir John Hunt, seven previous expeditions to the top of the mountain had failed.
After a gruelling climb up the southern face, battling the effects of high altitude and bad weather, Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay managed to reach the peak at 1130 local time on 29 May.
"I continued hacking steps along the ridge and then up a few more to the right... to my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and that the whole world spread out below us," Sir Edmund said.
The two men only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes because they were low on oxygen.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM - 9 Jan 2008
ISEAS 40TH ANNIVERSARY
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM
He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness
By Li Xueying
IT TAKES TIME: Mr Lee said he hoped a gracious society 'will come with cultivated living over a long period of time'. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.
But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).
In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.
'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,' he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.
Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.
The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.
Muslim radicals in S-E Asia will not prevail
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Islamic terrorists in South-east Asia cannot win the war against their governments.
He is optimistic that 'the early burst of enthusiasm that they can change the world' may fade away.
Speaking in response to a question on whether South-east Asian governments are losing the fight against terrorism, Mr Lee said on Monday: 'I'm not sure that's correct. I don't think they are losing so much as they are not beating it down as well as they can. The problem is they are not winning the hearts and minds of the people.'
... more
In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'
Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society'.
'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.
Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble'.
On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by', said Mr Lee.
'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.'
Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.
'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.
xueying@sph.com.sg
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM
He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness
By Li Xueying
IT TAKES TIME: Mr Lee said he hoped a gracious society 'will come with cultivated living over a long period of time'. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.
But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).
In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.
'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,' he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.
Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.
The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.
Muslim radicals in S-E Asia will not prevail
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Islamic terrorists in South-east Asia cannot win the war against their governments.
He is optimistic that 'the early burst of enthusiasm that they can change the world' may fade away.
Speaking in response to a question on whether South-east Asian governments are losing the fight against terrorism, Mr Lee said on Monday: 'I'm not sure that's correct. I don't think they are losing so much as they are not beating it down as well as they can. The problem is they are not winning the hearts and minds of the people.'
... more
In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'
Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society'.
'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.
Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble'.
On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by', said Mr Lee.
'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.'
Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.
'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.
xueying@sph.com.sg
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM - 9 Jan 2008
ISEAS 40TH ANNIVERSARY
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM
He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness
By Li Xueying
IT TAKES TIME: Mr Lee said he hoped a gracious society 'will come with cultivated living over a long period of time'. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.
But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).
In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.
'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,' he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.
Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.
The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.
Muslim radicals in S-E Asia will not prevail
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Islamic terrorists in South-east Asia cannot win the war against their governments.
He is optimistic that 'the early burst of enthusiasm that they can change the world' may fade away.
Speaking in response to a question on whether South-east Asian governments are losing the fight against terrorism, Mr Lee said on Monday: 'I'm not sure that's correct. I don't think they are losing so much as they are not beating it down as well as they can. The problem is they are not winning the hearts and minds of the people.'
... more
In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'
Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society'.
'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.
Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble'.
On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by', said Mr Lee.
'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.'
Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.
'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.
xueying@sph.com.sg
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM
He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness
By Li Xueying
IT TAKES TIME: Mr Lee said he hoped a gracious society 'will come with cultivated living over a long period of time'. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.
But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).
In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.
'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,' he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.
Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.
The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.
Muslim radicals in S-E Asia will not prevail
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Islamic terrorists in South-east Asia cannot win the war against their governments.
He is optimistic that 'the early burst of enthusiasm that they can change the world' may fade away.
Speaking in response to a question on whether South-east Asian governments are losing the fight against terrorism, Mr Lee said on Monday: 'I'm not sure that's correct. I don't think they are losing so much as they are not beating it down as well as they can. The problem is they are not winning the hearts and minds of the people.'
... more
In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'
Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society'.
'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.
Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble'.
On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by', said Mr Lee.
'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.'
Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.
'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.
xueying@sph.com.sg
Jan 5, 2008 - Year of the UN reef
Jan 5, 2008
2008: The International Year of the...
IN DANGER: Indonesia's coral reefs are under threat from coral mining and illegal fishing. -- PHOTO: AFP
POTATO
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
WHY: It will be an important staple in times of food scarcity. It occupies less land than other cereal crops for the amount of nutrition provided. It also draws the attention of the world to food crops and agriculture.
WEBLINK: www.potato2008.org
PLANET EARTH
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the International Union of Geological Sciences.
WHY: Attention to earth sciences will make the world a safer place to live. Scientists estimate that hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, with properly trained geologists, equipment and networking among meteorological stations around the globe.
WEBLINK: www.yearofplanetearth.org
CORAL REEF
WHO DECLARED IT: The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a 13-year partnershipamong world bodies, governments and non-government organisations.
WHY: To raise awareness about reefs and motivate action to reverse damage done. If trends continue, this decline is likely to lead to the loss of most of the world's reef resources in the next century.
WEBLINK: www.iyor.org
FROG
WHO DECLARED IT: Amphibian Ark
WHY: A third of all amphibians are threatened. The campaign draws attention to frogs, which are a key indicator of environmental health.
WEBLINK: www.amphibianark.org
2008: The International Year of the...
IN DANGER: Indonesia's coral reefs are under threat from coral mining and illegal fishing. -- PHOTO: AFP
POTATO
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
WHY: It will be an important staple in times of food scarcity. It occupies less land than other cereal crops for the amount of nutrition provided. It also draws the attention of the world to food crops and agriculture.
WEBLINK: www.potato2008.org
PLANET EARTH
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the International Union of Geological Sciences.
WHY: Attention to earth sciences will make the world a safer place to live. Scientists estimate that hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, with properly trained geologists, equipment and networking among meteorological stations around the globe.
WEBLINK: www.yearofplanetearth.org
CORAL REEF
WHO DECLARED IT: The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a 13-year partnershipamong world bodies, governments and non-government organisations.
WHY: To raise awareness about reefs and motivate action to reverse damage done. If trends continue, this decline is likely to lead to the loss of most of the world's reef resources in the next century.
WEBLINK: www.iyor.org
FROG
WHO DECLARED IT: Amphibian Ark
WHY: A third of all amphibians are threatened. The campaign draws attention to frogs, which are a key indicator of environmental health.
WEBLINK: www.amphibianark.org
Jan 5, 2008 - Planet Earth
Jan 5, 2008
A year in honour of reefs, Planet Earth and potatoes
By Shobana Kesava
TAKE your pick: 2008 is the Year of the...
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth.
But even the humble potato can have its day, er, year - courtesy of the UN too.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's declaration said The International Year of the Potato is a 'major event', presenting 'many opportunities to raise the profile of the potato among civil society'.
Past UN efforts have indeed created an impact.
The International Women's Year in 1975 led to the creation of the UN Development Fund for Women, to improve women's health, education and job opportunities.
Now, the world body hopes to raise general issues of agriculture through the unassuming tuber, to address issues of hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
Specifically, it wants to raise awareness of the importance of the potato itself.
The official Potato2008 website said the tuber produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Also, up to 85 per cent is edible, compared to 50 per cent in cereals.
This year is also International Year of the Reef, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). This is the second global campaign to reduce threats to coral reefs and to motivate people to take action to protect them. The first ran in 1997.
Of the reefs in 93 countries, those in South and South-east Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean are among those at greatest risk of destruction.
Explaining its significance, Dr Nigel Goh, assistant director at the National Parks Board's Marine Diversity Centre, said coral reefs absorb carbon dioxide, a key factor in global warming.
'Coral reefs make an impact on climate change, acting as a major global carbon sink,' he said.
Taking a shot at the spotlight this year are frogs and toads too. The Minnesota-based Amphibian Ark, an international non-governmental organisation, has decided it is time amphibians - cold-blooded vertebrates - had their day in the sun.
Meanwhile, the UN's International Year of Planet Earth is the largest global effort to promote earth sciences. It aims to raise US$20 million (S$28.8 million) from industries and governments to co-fund research and outreach activities.
The money will go towards projects like detecting deep and poorly accessible groundwater resources, lowering risks to man from natural and human-induced hazards, and encouraging the young to study earth sciences.
Chief executive officer of Science Centre Singapore, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, said the move will raise awareness of the subject in Singapore and 'help us understand sustainable actions better'.
He is positive the campaign can work.
'Already, we get calls from Singaporeans asking why we are not more involved in international campaigns,' he said.
A year in honour of reefs, Planet Earth and potatoes
By Shobana Kesava
TAKE your pick: 2008 is the Year of the...
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth.
But even the humble potato can have its day, er, year - courtesy of the UN too.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's declaration said The International Year of the Potato is a 'major event', presenting 'many opportunities to raise the profile of the potato among civil society'.
Past UN efforts have indeed created an impact.
The International Women's Year in 1975 led to the creation of the UN Development Fund for Women, to improve women's health, education and job opportunities.
Now, the world body hopes to raise general issues of agriculture through the unassuming tuber, to address issues of hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
Specifically, it wants to raise awareness of the importance of the potato itself.
The official Potato2008 website said the tuber produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Also, up to 85 per cent is edible, compared to 50 per cent in cereals.
This year is also International Year of the Reef, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). This is the second global campaign to reduce threats to coral reefs and to motivate people to take action to protect them. The first ran in 1997.
Of the reefs in 93 countries, those in South and South-east Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean are among those at greatest risk of destruction.
Explaining its significance, Dr Nigel Goh, assistant director at the National Parks Board's Marine Diversity Centre, said coral reefs absorb carbon dioxide, a key factor in global warming.
'Coral reefs make an impact on climate change, acting as a major global carbon sink,' he said.
Taking a shot at the spotlight this year are frogs and toads too. The Minnesota-based Amphibian Ark, an international non-governmental organisation, has decided it is time amphibians - cold-blooded vertebrates - had their day in the sun.
Meanwhile, the UN's International Year of Planet Earth is the largest global effort to promote earth sciences. It aims to raise US$20 million (S$28.8 million) from industries and governments to co-fund research and outreach activities.
The money will go towards projects like detecting deep and poorly accessible groundwater resources, lowering risks to man from natural and human-induced hazards, and encouraging the young to study earth sciences.
Chief executive officer of Science Centre Singapore, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, said the move will raise awareness of the subject in Singapore and 'help us understand sustainable actions better'.
He is positive the campaign can work.
'Already, we get calls from Singaporeans asking why we are not more involved in international campaigns,' he said.
Innovation sparks
Jan 4, 2008
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
Innovation's bright sparks
By Lam Chuan Leong, For The Straits Times
INNOVATION is now accepted by economists as essential to economic growth. But how does innovation drive markets and vice-versa? What conditions favour innovation?
Innovation consists of two phases: a generative phase and an extrapolative phase.
Because extrapolative innovation is about increasing order and knowledge, I shall refer to it as O-type innovation. O-type innovation is at the heart of most initiatives undertaken by businesses and governments. It uses expert knowledge and processes to identify and solve problems. For example, what the customer needs.
O-type innovation needs a constant supply of new ideas. This is the role of generative innovation. I call the introduction of these ideas V-type innovation to stress their role in increasing variety.
V-type innovation requires an ability to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and relies on the ability to 'connect' existing ideas that have not previously been linked. These are characteristics usually associated with entrepreneurship.
V-type innovation may be compared to a furnace that supplies the energy to power the O-type, or extrapolative, phase of innovation. These two types work in tandem to create the 'Innovation Cycle', which is the engine of long- term economic growth.
Four factors favour V-type innovation:
1. Free Flow and Spread of Information
First, the free flow and diffusion of information. This is critical to both types of innovation. Without the knowledge of previous generations, even geniuses would have to re-invent the wheel.
Historically, economic growth and prosperity are strongest during those periods when there is a surge of new ideas and inventions brought about by V-type innovation. For example, the growth cycles following the invention of the steam engine, the motor car, electricity and the railroads.
This idea is consistent with neo-classical growth theory, which suggests that technical progress is the key to long-term growth. In other words, it allows us to escape the tyranny of diminishing returns from the traditional inputs of labour and capital.
2. Make it Easy - Free Market Entry and Exit
Second, free market entry and exit. Economies that make it easy for people to start new businesses have a better chance to produce innovation. This is especially so for radically new ideas, which rarely find rapid acceptance. Inventors must find a way to develop a prototype. So it is important that innovators can set up businesses easily to commercialise their ideas.
India claims to have a market- based system, but suffers a lower rate of growth because it has an onerous licensing regime that makes it difficult to set up a business. China did not allow for private business startups during its central planning days. In such circumstances, V-type innovation was not possible. Only O-type innovation - which takes advantage of existing processes to solve problems - was possible.
Besides the ease of market entry, other market characteristics that assist innovation include:
3. The Large Market
Breadth and size: Larger markets tend to have more people willing to use new technologies, thus helping to build up a critical mass of demand for the new product to be commercially viable.
A lack of market distortions, arising from restrictions and control either by governments or from monopolistic practices.
4. Rule of Law and Openess
Transparency and the rule of law: This is especially true with respect to property rights, including intellectual property rights.
Capital markets able to limit, transfer or spread risks: The invention of the limited liability company in particular is crucial because it limits the risks involved in commercialising an invention.
The third factor favouring V-type innovation is a suitable 'selection system'. The free market as we know it today does a good job as a 'selection system'. It is certainly better than a system in which innovations are selected by a planning committee.
With a panel of independent experts, there is always the danger that expert opinion will fail to re-cognise the potential of a new idea. History is full of such mistaken prognoses.
Free market selection can be described as an ex-poste system. New products and services are introduced. They compete with one another and the market chooses the winner. Submitting a novel idea to a panel, however, is an example of ex-ante selection because the choice is made before the production stage is reached.
The broader, deeper, more developed and diversified a market is, the greater the chance that the innovation will take root. It is not surprising that so many radically new innovations take place in the United States, which is the largest and most varied consumer market in the world.
Advanced capital markets tend to do a good job because they use ex-poste selection. Venture capital funds that seek emergent innovations and are prepared to take higher risks play a bridging role. But traditional loan financing from banks is less conducive to V-type innovation because it relies on ex-ante selection, in this case the banker responsible for approving the loan.
Finally, the reward system. Having used time and resources to develop an innovation, the innovator expects a financial return. The economy must provide the means to reward him. This is only possible if assets and intellectual property are protected.
Taxation affects rewards. Overly high income taxation has the effect of expropriating the innovator's return. A tax regime that is non-transparent or often changed raises the risk that the innovator will not be rewarded.
Singapore's case
SINGAPORE scores well in all the areas except in market size. With rare exceptions (mainly on social grounds), information and knowledge flow freely. Foreign companies are able to bring in their technology, skills and people without restriction. Companies can be established easily and at low cost. Both legislation and government policy prevent the development of restrictive market practices.
The selection system is based on a free market. Property rights are enforced, and stability of that protection is ensured. There are no confiscatory tax policies or arbitrary changes in tax laws.
But the economy does not have the size, breadth or depth of markets (physical and financial) to sustain a high rate of V-type innovation. The introduction of totally new ideas is a function of diversity, which is proportional to size. Improved education, skills and knowledge can multiply the effectiveness of O-type innovation, but do little for V-type innovation.
That explains why the state has intervened by giving grants to companies and research centres. This is a good move, but the danger of ex-ante planning, even with the best of intentions, is real.
This state intervention is probably why Singapore's economy is classified as a form of state-guided capitalism in the book Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, by William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, Carl J. Schramm (Yale University Press, 2007).
This book describes four types of capitalism: state-guided, oligarchic, big-firm and entrepreneurial. The authors argue that entrepreneurial capitalism is best for long-term growth.
State-guided capitalism is not necessarily optimal for sustained high growth, particularly when the country already has a fairly advanced level of development.
Why then does Singapore exhibit such high rates of growth? Is it because the time-frame of measurement is too short? Or are there extenuating circumstances?
In theory, the Singapore economy should show lower growth because it lacks a large, sophisticated market and does not have sufficient size to sustain the Innovation Cycle by itself. But Singapore's economy is not limited to its political boundaries.
This was recognised even in the early 1960s. Singapore was founded as an entrepot to serve the region. The initial economic strategy was to become part of the Malaysian market. When this failed, Singapore did what could now be considered an example of brilliant V-type innovation.
It opened up its economy, welcomed MNCs, and leap-frogged the region by becoming plugged into the global economy and in particular the US economy. This approach was certainly contrary to the conventional economic wisdom of the 1960s.
By plugging into the global economy, Singapore has become part of a larger system. Its growth is powered by an innovation cycle that operates on a transnational basis, even though some of the benefits are diluted as a result of being thousands of miles from the product and financial markets of the developed countries.
The importance of being close to large, diverse markets is underlined by Mr Bill Gates' comment that Microsoft intends to set up research centres only in places with a population of a billion or more, that is, China, India and Europe.
Becoming part of this global cycle of innovation means more than just engaging in trade. It involves actively encouraging foreign companies to bring their technology (O-type innovation) and research activities (V-type innovation) to Singapore. In doing so, they bring with them their knowledge and access to markets.
These companies thus perform the task of bridging the innovation cycle in the Singapore economy with that of other markets. They act like 'transport agents' in this innovation and information exchange in addition to their production and trading activities.
The huge importing power of the American market has given rise to the saying that when the US economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But it is not just that importing power that matters. The US provides large, sophisticated markets that allow the innovation cycle to work. The process of free trade and cross-border investments spreads the resulting innovation and production gains to other countries.
Conversely, innovation is needed to drive and sustain economic growth and hence markets. This then is the symbiotic relationship between markets and innovation.
Innovation needs markets as much as markets need innovation. Since innovation is so crucial to long economic growth and is so symbiotically linked to markets, it behoves policymakers to re-examine their own markets and investment policies when formulating economic policy.
The writer is chairman of the Competition Commission of Singapore. This article is extracted from a paper to be presented at a Nanyang Technological University seminar in March.
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
Innovation's bright sparks
By Lam Chuan Leong, For The Straits Times
INNOVATION is now accepted by economists as essential to economic growth. But how does innovation drive markets and vice-versa? What conditions favour innovation?
Innovation consists of two phases: a generative phase and an extrapolative phase.
Because extrapolative innovation is about increasing order and knowledge, I shall refer to it as O-type innovation. O-type innovation is at the heart of most initiatives undertaken by businesses and governments. It uses expert knowledge and processes to identify and solve problems. For example, what the customer needs.
O-type innovation needs a constant supply of new ideas. This is the role of generative innovation. I call the introduction of these ideas V-type innovation to stress their role in increasing variety.
V-type innovation requires an ability to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and relies on the ability to 'connect' existing ideas that have not previously been linked. These are characteristics usually associated with entrepreneurship.
V-type innovation may be compared to a furnace that supplies the energy to power the O-type, or extrapolative, phase of innovation. These two types work in tandem to create the 'Innovation Cycle', which is the engine of long- term economic growth.
Four factors favour V-type innovation:
1. Free Flow and Spread of Information
First, the free flow and diffusion of information. This is critical to both types of innovation. Without the knowledge of previous generations, even geniuses would have to re-invent the wheel.
Historically, economic growth and prosperity are strongest during those periods when there is a surge of new ideas and inventions brought about by V-type innovation. For example, the growth cycles following the invention of the steam engine, the motor car, electricity and the railroads.
This idea is consistent with neo-classical growth theory, which suggests that technical progress is the key to long-term growth. In other words, it allows us to escape the tyranny of diminishing returns from the traditional inputs of labour and capital.
2. Make it Easy - Free Market Entry and Exit
Second, free market entry and exit. Economies that make it easy for people to start new businesses have a better chance to produce innovation. This is especially so for radically new ideas, which rarely find rapid acceptance. Inventors must find a way to develop a prototype. So it is important that innovators can set up businesses easily to commercialise their ideas.
India claims to have a market- based system, but suffers a lower rate of growth because it has an onerous licensing regime that makes it difficult to set up a business. China did not allow for private business startups during its central planning days. In such circumstances, V-type innovation was not possible. Only O-type innovation - which takes advantage of existing processes to solve problems - was possible.
Besides the ease of market entry, other market characteristics that assist innovation include:
3. The Large Market
Breadth and size: Larger markets tend to have more people willing to use new technologies, thus helping to build up a critical mass of demand for the new product to be commercially viable.
A lack of market distortions, arising from restrictions and control either by governments or from monopolistic practices.
4. Rule of Law and Openess
Transparency and the rule of law: This is especially true with respect to property rights, including intellectual property rights.
Capital markets able to limit, transfer or spread risks: The invention of the limited liability company in particular is crucial because it limits the risks involved in commercialising an invention.
The third factor favouring V-type innovation is a suitable 'selection system'. The free market as we know it today does a good job as a 'selection system'. It is certainly better than a system in which innovations are selected by a planning committee.
With a panel of independent experts, there is always the danger that expert opinion will fail to re-cognise the potential of a new idea. History is full of such mistaken prognoses.
Free market selection can be described as an ex-poste system. New products and services are introduced. They compete with one another and the market chooses the winner. Submitting a novel idea to a panel, however, is an example of ex-ante selection because the choice is made before the production stage is reached.
The broader, deeper, more developed and diversified a market is, the greater the chance that the innovation will take root. It is not surprising that so many radically new innovations take place in the United States, which is the largest and most varied consumer market in the world.
Advanced capital markets tend to do a good job because they use ex-poste selection. Venture capital funds that seek emergent innovations and are prepared to take higher risks play a bridging role. But traditional loan financing from banks is less conducive to V-type innovation because it relies on ex-ante selection, in this case the banker responsible for approving the loan.
Finally, the reward system. Having used time and resources to develop an innovation, the innovator expects a financial return. The economy must provide the means to reward him. This is only possible if assets and intellectual property are protected.
Taxation affects rewards. Overly high income taxation has the effect of expropriating the innovator's return. A tax regime that is non-transparent or often changed raises the risk that the innovator will not be rewarded.
Singapore's case
SINGAPORE scores well in all the areas except in market size. With rare exceptions (mainly on social grounds), information and knowledge flow freely. Foreign companies are able to bring in their technology, skills and people without restriction. Companies can be established easily and at low cost. Both legislation and government policy prevent the development of restrictive market practices.
The selection system is based on a free market. Property rights are enforced, and stability of that protection is ensured. There are no confiscatory tax policies or arbitrary changes in tax laws.
But the economy does not have the size, breadth or depth of markets (physical and financial) to sustain a high rate of V-type innovation. The introduction of totally new ideas is a function of diversity, which is proportional to size. Improved education, skills and knowledge can multiply the effectiveness of O-type innovation, but do little for V-type innovation.
That explains why the state has intervened by giving grants to companies and research centres. This is a good move, but the danger of ex-ante planning, even with the best of intentions, is real.
This state intervention is probably why Singapore's economy is classified as a form of state-guided capitalism in the book Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, by William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, Carl J. Schramm (Yale University Press, 2007).
This book describes four types of capitalism: state-guided, oligarchic, big-firm and entrepreneurial. The authors argue that entrepreneurial capitalism is best for long-term growth.
State-guided capitalism is not necessarily optimal for sustained high growth, particularly when the country already has a fairly advanced level of development.
Why then does Singapore exhibit such high rates of growth? Is it because the time-frame of measurement is too short? Or are there extenuating circumstances?
In theory, the Singapore economy should show lower growth because it lacks a large, sophisticated market and does not have sufficient size to sustain the Innovation Cycle by itself. But Singapore's economy is not limited to its political boundaries.
This was recognised even in the early 1960s. Singapore was founded as an entrepot to serve the region. The initial economic strategy was to become part of the Malaysian market. When this failed, Singapore did what could now be considered an example of brilliant V-type innovation.
It opened up its economy, welcomed MNCs, and leap-frogged the region by becoming plugged into the global economy and in particular the US economy. This approach was certainly contrary to the conventional economic wisdom of the 1960s.
By plugging into the global economy, Singapore has become part of a larger system. Its growth is powered by an innovation cycle that operates on a transnational basis, even though some of the benefits are diluted as a result of being thousands of miles from the product and financial markets of the developed countries.
The importance of being close to large, diverse markets is underlined by Mr Bill Gates' comment that Microsoft intends to set up research centres only in places with a population of a billion or more, that is, China, India and Europe.
Becoming part of this global cycle of innovation means more than just engaging in trade. It involves actively encouraging foreign companies to bring their technology (O-type innovation) and research activities (V-type innovation) to Singapore. In doing so, they bring with them their knowledge and access to markets.
These companies thus perform the task of bridging the innovation cycle in the Singapore economy with that of other markets. They act like 'transport agents' in this innovation and information exchange in addition to their production and trading activities.
The huge importing power of the American market has given rise to the saying that when the US economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But it is not just that importing power that matters. The US provides large, sophisticated markets that allow the innovation cycle to work. The process of free trade and cross-border investments spreads the resulting innovation and production gains to other countries.
Conversely, innovation is needed to drive and sustain economic growth and hence markets. This then is the symbiotic relationship between markets and innovation.
Innovation needs markets as much as markets need innovation. Since innovation is so crucial to long economic growth and is so symbiotically linked to markets, it behoves policymakers to re-examine their own markets and investment policies when formulating economic policy.
The writer is chairman of the Competition Commission of Singapore. This article is extracted from a paper to be presented at a Nanyang Technological University seminar in March.
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