The Intelligent Singaporean: Reflections & Future Directions

As of today, IS is about 45 days old.

What started as a plain blog with just a few entries has taken off into a project beyond my wildest dreams. Having been in a position to observe the blogosphere – particularly the ‘commentary’ segment of it, here are some of my observations:

a. The blogosphere is growing rapidly

Every couple of days I come across a fresh, new blog, that adds to the diversity of ‘internet chatter.’ Also, bloggers that have otherwise remained inactive appear to be putting their keyboards to work. This growth is very heartening and encouraging. The bloggers also seem to be getting younger and older – younger in the sense that more youngsters are starting to think about serious issues, and older in the sense that more ‘senior’ people are beginning to embrace the internet as a source of commentary. These are both very positive trends for the Singapore blogosphere which I am sure will continue well into the future.

b. Quality of commentary is improving.

The seasoned writers, good as they already are, are coming up with even better commentary than before. Less seasoned writers are also beginning to put more effort and quality into their essays. And those with little experience are plucking up the courage to just give blogging a try. And just imagine, to be able to observe this in a short time span of 45 days – this surely marks a bright future for the blogosphere.

c. More aggregators are popping up

Yes. IS is one of them. But the fact that others are also trying to add a sense of organisation to the fragmented nature of the internet – is just as much a positive sign as the increasing number of writers. Some of the aggregation models have yet to succeed, and that is a sign that the blogosphere is still growing, and has yet to approach maturity. But the continued trial, error and experimentation will eventually yield fruitful results.

With these observations in mind, I intend to take IS in the following directions:

i. The increasing amount of content means that I can’t simply post every single interesting piece that I come across. As such, I will be focussing on quality posts from now on, rather than quantity. The big names (SA, Mr Wang, Yawning Bread etc.) will continue to be featured, but I am sure there are plenty of lesser knowns who are capable of insightful commentary as well – i will endeavour to search for these and bring them to your attention.

ii. This focus on quality necessarily comes at the expense of quantity. I will try to restrict myself to a fewer number of posts each day – say, 3 to 5. In terms of sheer quantity of aggregation, I would like to refer you to Singapore Surf, run by Heng-Cheong. He’s been running his operation for 8 years now, and i encourage you to add his rss feed to your feedreaders. In addition, I have added his feed to my right hand panel. I find his work very useful, and I’m sure you will too.

iii. In view of the success of the PM Rally Speech special, I wish to try more topical mass aggregations. And here is where I need your help – to suggest topics that you want to see. I prefer working on these since the finished work is more presentable than individual posts, and it allows me to go into the past and draw together a wide range of posts from different time frames.

I hope you have enjoyed reading I.S. so far, and do comment if you have any ideas!

Cheers, insp.

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When will we stop messing with the quotas?

“The KTM has never been a fan of manpower engineering ‘cos it seems that we can never get it right. It is therefore baffling to the KTM why the Garmen is trying to do this yet again in terms of training more lawyers and doctors.

There is a fact of life that the Garmen must open up their eyes to see and that fact is that the local pool of talent is limited. No matter how you look at it, the population is a bell-curve and increasing the number of lawyers trained doesn’t make the population smarter on the whole.” …more (KTM)

Thoughts on PM’s Rally Speech 2006: Resurgence of Singapore Inc.

“Last Sunday, our Prime Minister has delivered his rally speech for the workyear of 2006. He discussed our current progress and a possible roadmap on the Singapore economy. While spending the last two days reading, listening and thinking over the main points of the speech, I realized that something that was amiss in his speech. The keywords “entrepreneurship”, “enterprise” and “entrepreneurs” did not appear anywhere at all in the speech. In this commentary, I shall deconstruct the portions regarding the economy from his speech and discuss the implications from the revival of the Singapore Inc to entrepreneurship.” …more (SG Entrepreneurs)

Mr Wang is Right

“When PM Lee in his Rally Speech delivers the ultimate punchline to lay the bak chor mee to rest, to signal Government’s engagement with the Digital Age Singaporean, those dreaming of somewhere else, he utters the phrase “Mee Siam Mai Hum”.

This becomes an instant classic of dis-connect. …

… in this case, Mee Siam has never had cockles as an ingredient. Two other distinctly Singapore dishes use cockles. Laksa and Fried Kway Teow Noodles. Most Singaporeans know this. Its a fact of life. ”

How kind of Xenoboy to point this out. No wonder I felt as if something was wrong.

…more (Xenoboy)

The Void Deck Interview: WP Chairman Sylvia Lim!

“Woah (Matrix’s Neo style)! NCMP Sylvia Lim was kind enough to be interviewed chop chop by the nosey Void Deck.” …more (Void Deck)

On Blamelessness: A Helpless Entry

“In an earlier post, the idea of the complaining Singaporean cropped up (again). Molly posited that, if Singaporean complainers can be categorized, there are at least two categories. Firstly, there is the kind of complainers that know exactly what they are complaining about and can articulate their so-called complaints well; secondly, there is the kind of cathartic complainers who are letting of steam.” …more (Molly Meek)

Exclusive Report-Confluence 06 Insights and Sylvia Lim’s Speech in HPAIR

“I attended the Confluence 06 Ministerial Dialogue with Students (mainly Overseas) and also the annual Academic Conference of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations 06 which was held in Singapore this year.

I will share my observation of particular aspects of both conferences starting with Sylvia Lim’s Speech in HPAIR’s Gala Dinner at Ritz Carlton Millenia.” …more (Singapore Angle)

Reflections on heartware

“he reason for building heartware – to root overseas-jaunting Singaporeans to their homeland – in PAP terms. A pragmatic, sensible, and rational reason.

Let me add one more reason why you should build heartware, and not just heartware. Why you should also build intellectual civil discourse, with no contradictory bullshit such as this:” …more (Joseph)

Call Connect to Singapore

“If we could subsist on words, perhaps we should have a National Day Rally every month. To rally us into the brave new world. To know that the powerful seeks to connect with us. That the powerful encourages us to connect amongst ourselves. That the powerful, pleads that we connect with the land. Connection Singapore.” …more (Xenoboy)

A Kindness Revolution

“During the nation building years, 41 years ago to be exact, the needs of the people were different. During the turbulent years, the people were looking for food, job, housing, social and economic stability. Now, Singapore has successfully progressed from third world to first. All the above issues are no longer as important as they are no longer as much an issue today.” …more (Cobalt Paladin)