Creating a Vibrant Living Space at Changi Simei

Changi Simei, Singapore, 30 Oct 2010

Finally, HDB has given approval to upgrade Changi Simei Residents’ Committee (RC) Zone 3 and Zone 4 (from Blk 140 to 235 through the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP). With this approval, our Simei estate will see a transformation by 2014 or earlier.

The NRP is aimed at upgrading the living environment based on the needs and preferences of residents with all costs borne by the government. Hence residents’ involvement plays an important part in its success.  

This exciting and important journey started with Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, our Member of Parliament for East Coast Group Representation Constituency. She has worked hard in her pursuit to upgrade our ageing HDB estate as our peoples’ representative in parliament.

Through her works, HDB selected RC Zone 1 and 2 for the NRP in 2009.

Works began immediately with the formation of the NRP Working Committee. Together with the appointed architect, a survey form was sent to residents to seek their feedback on their needs. Many residents participated actively to give feedback and collectively decide on what facilities they want. In addition, many topographical surveys on the ground were also being undertaken before coming up with an initial plan. The initial plan was taken to the residents for their inputs. Two more consultations and a dialogue were held with residents to involve them to work on the NRP plan. Concurrently, the architect also submitted the proposed upgrading plan to the relevant agencies for their inputs as without their approval, no works could proceed.  

The in-principle approval was obtained after much deliberation by these relevant agencies. The whole planning and approval process took more than a year. Finally the plan incorporating residents’ suggestions if possible was ready to seek final approval. To facilitate the approving process, the final NRP plan was presented in a brochure delivered to each home. Residents living in RC Zone 1 and 2 gave an overwhelming 87% “yes” to proceed with the NRP.

The NRP is currently in the tender stage. In the next couple of months, the NRP Working Committee, the architect and East Coast Town Council will be working hands in gloves to ensure the commencement of the construction works, mitigate the potential noises and inconvenient issues likely to be raised by residents. We are confident that we can manage learning from the Lift Upgrading Project which was completed in early 2009 for the entire estate less one block. The only block that did not qualify for the LUP is due to the high costs as there are few benefitting units to share the costs.     

With half the estate being upgraded through NRP, Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo continues to pursue with HDB the upgrading of RC Zone 3 and Zone 4. She is passionate about upgrading the estate to create a vibrant living space thus she keeps close track on the progress of her request. The grassroots organisations also pitched in to pursue the upgrading issues.

After many months of hard works, our efforts paid off with HDB announcing that RC Zone 3 and 4 are selected for the NRP in late September. We are glad that at long last, the upgrading of RC Zone 3 and Zone 4 will complete the transformation of our HDB estate less the newer HDB blocks. Though these newer blocks are not upgraded, newer facilities like drop off porches, BFA etc would be added to complement the look and feel of the Simei HDB estate.

The news on upgrading for RC Zone 3 and Zone 4 was shared with residents attending the RCs’ block parties this evening by Ms Jessica Tan. In her announcement, Ms Jessica Tan stressed that the NRP focused on upgrading the common areas only at no costs to the residents as the government will bear the full upgrading costs. As the NRP is a project own by residents, Ms Jessica Tan encouraged her residents to support the NRP as NRP can only proceed if 75% of residents give their approval through a simple voting process.

To give an idea of what NRP entails, the architect’s drawing of RC Zone 1 and 2 were displayed and shared with residents bearing in mind that the final designs for RC zone 3 and Zone 4 differ from RC Zone 1 and Zone 2. I thought the sharing was useful to create an awareness of what the NRP means as “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

I must commend both Residents’ Committees for organising their respective block parties to draw out residents this evening. Both parties served as social platforms to enable social gatherings. Unlike the old kampong days, where residents are united by a common interest and kinship, the same cannot be said today because our social norms have changed in view of societal indifference. There is a need to organise activities to facilitate interactions of residents.                 

This evening, both RC Zone 3 and Zone 4 organised the block parties with different themes. RC Zone 3 adopted the carnival style with karaoke and flea market party while RC Zone 4 focused on 4 different types of food and karaoke to draw its residents out. Judging from the turnout of residents from both zones, both parties were a success.

This evening, I saw more youths attending both the block parties. The participation was an encouraging sign. It was a good start and the question is how to sustain their interests in grassroots events? Our grassroots leaders will need to innovate and be creative.

The block parties may be over by now but our works in the grassroots will continue to bring changes to the living environment and creating opportunities for interaction between residents. We see our vision and press on.

Moving the World…Land Transport Authority

Changi Simei, Singapore, 27 Oct 2010

This year marks the 3^rd year of the Community Partnership Division, a Division in Land Transport Authority (LTA). In the last 3 years, the Division through its Community Partnership Officers had delivered many projects in partnership with the local grassroots organisations for the benefits of residents.

To be honest, the officer attached to Changi Simei, Mr Lim Sun Kiat, his immediate superior, Deputy Director Mr G Yuvaraj had to work the “guts” out to deliver projects to support the local grassroots leaders. New initiatives on transport, infrastructure, parking, street lights and any thing relating to the transport ministry are being surfaced at the monthly Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) for follow up actions. It is marvelous of Mr Lim to meet our non stop requests. I must add that any requests from the CCC are thought through and those with hidden agenda masquerading as community projects are largely dropped with the residents being kept in the loop.

One suggestion which I think was not practicable  from a resident was to install more signalised pedestrians’ crossings to facilitate safer road crossing. Such suggestion if implemented would result in one pedestrian crossing at every hundred metres. It was justifiable from the pedestrians’ perspective but taken into the overall plan, such a suggestion hinders the smooth flow of traffic. It would also result in more motorists beating the red lights. Therefore there is a need for a balanced perspective where the CCC and LTA would sit to explore possibilities.  If this suggestion was implemented along Simei St 3 which already has 5 traffic lights, it will be one too many over a one km stretch of road. The Community Partnership Division also assist to sort out land ownership to facilitate the installation of street lamps on a footpath with heavy human traffic from Guan Soon area to the MRT station. The street lights not only brighten the place, it also provides residents with better security to their homes and individual walking alone home especially ladies.              

The past 3 years had been exciting and rewarding for grassroots leaders at Changi Simei. I hope the management at the Community Partnership Division also finds the new partnership equally rewarding although the grassroots leaders can at times be very demanding. Nonetheless, in the last 3 years, we were very focus on our vision and through the close partnership we kept up as a team to deliver projects to benefit and convenience to our residents.

Nevertheless, like a coin, there are two sides. We cannot guarantee a 100% satisfaction in projects that we have delivered. Some how, there would be some people who would be upset no matter what and how best we could mitigate implications. It is a real challenge but together with Mr Lim and the strong support of his colleagues at LTA, we are able to overcome the odds as a team.     

The CCC is now working with LTA to implement the cycling town project at Changi Simei which was announced a couple of months ago by LTA. Like Tampines and Pasir Ris, there are many residents who use bicycles as a mean of transportation. For their own safety, many choose to cycle on pedestrian path therefore subjecting pedestrians to risk. It is not uncommon to have heard about the rash and irresponsible cyclists. To protect the interests of pedestrians, a cycling path would serve its purpose well as there would be a clear delineation of usage. Henceforth, it would be illegal to cycle on pedestrians’ foot path.

The planning for a cycling track along Street 1 has been incorporated into the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP). Residents living from Blk 101 to Blk 139 had voted with 87% for the implementation of the NRP. The go ahead for the NRP has been given and NRP works are expected to start by early 2011 and would be completed in 2 years. Many residents including I are excited with the NRP.      

The CCC hopes to bring forward the cycling town project which is currently owned by LTA to be line with the NRP for the entire estate. This is to synchronise with the construction works in NRP and to minimise disruptions and imposing further inconveniences to residents. To implement the cycling town project independently may also be seen as poor co-ordinations between the NRP project and the cycling town project. We need both hands to generate a clap. We will try to facilitate the timelines of both projects which are owned by different ministries.

This evening, 27 Oct 2010 together with a couple of my fellow grassroots colleagues, we attended a sharing session at LTA HQ. The session was organised by the Community Partnership Division to update the grassroots leaders from the neighbourhood committees (NC). Changi Simei was represented by East View Garden NC, Melville Park NC, Sea Breeze NC and Sunbird-Apollo NC. Well, instead of the grassroots leaders thanking the LTA for a great job done and developing a people centred transport system, we were presented with a plaque as a token of appreciation for the contributions of the NCs to bring the best for the residents. We are appreciated the thoughtful gesture of LTA.

During the sharing session, 3 presentations were made. LTA presented the close collaborations with local grassroots leaders while the two NCs presented on the lessons learnt and how together with LTA resolved some of the ground issues especially parking in the private estates. Through these presentations, experiences were shared. It is like a Community of Practice which we exchanged notes on the way ahead. I have brought back some pointers from the sharing.

Overall, the Community Partnership Division has done well in the last 3 years to deserve my commendation. When it was started 3 years ago, I half suspected that it was another public relations exercise. The last 3 years have proven that the Division exists for a meaningful purpose to touch base with the ground and helping to move our world. It has fulfilled its mission. Well done…LTA and many good projects to come with this close partnership.

Volunteerism

Changi Simei, Singapore, 20 Oct 2010

The word “volunteerism” means different thing to different. Some see it as being “busy body”, some define it as “an opportunity to accumulate more co-circular points or to fill their resumes”. There are those who do not even care as there is always “some body” out there to do the job.

How many of us will step forward to offer our time or talents for a charitable or worthwhile cause and without looking for some perks, benefits etc at some point of time?

Fortunately, volunteerism is not dead in Singapore. Though our numbers of volunteers may not be as big as those in the USA, nonetheless, at the grassroots level which I am familiar with, there are more than 30,000 volunteers. This is a respectable numbers. However, volunteerism is not about numbers. It is about stepping forward to contribute to important causes through our innate altruistic feelings.

At Changi Simei, many of our residents do step forward to volunteer as grassroots leaders. They assume many positions of leaderships as we have many standing committees. We firmly believe in the many helping hands approach and every grassroots leader has the potential to contribute to the solution of societal issues.

Volunteering is also about emotional satisfaction which money cannot buy. It is priceless. Apart from emotional satisfaction, there are other practical benefits like making new friends. I dare to say that I have made many friends while serving in the grassroots organisations. These friends enhance my personal and psychological well being. Before I volunteer as a grassroots leaders, I hardly know get to know my neighbours in depth. It is merely greetings and saying “hi”.

As volunteers, I have picked up along the way some soft skills on people management and socialisation skill. Dealing with people is a challenge and through the constant practices in the course of grassroots works, I can sharpen these skills and become a better person.

Sharpening of soft skill is one aspect of personal development. Thinking and generating new ideas engages the mind. This alone is valuable as a thinking mind is a healthy mind. An idle mind spells trouble and soon Dementia and Parkinson Disease will set in to take control of the mind. For both medical conditions, they have no boundary and it can affect every one from the rich to the poor, the intellect to those with no formal education. I have seen elderly grassroots leaders who still possess a strong presence and alert mind.   

In the last two years, many younger and professionals have been recruited into the grassroots organisations in Changi Simei and low attrition rate and thus growth in grassroots members. The challenge is how to develop the feeling of feeling good in voluntary works. Therefore, I have adopted the approach of celebrating success to recognise the contributions of all our grassroots leaders. Recognising achievements is one approach and when complementing it with an engagement strategy will create affinity among the grassroots leaders.

At Changi Simei, recently, I form another standing committee called the Integration and Naturalisation Committee to help in the engagement of new citizens. The role is to integrate them into our local community. The standing committee comprises of new citizens and true bred Singaporeans. The standing committee met on last Sunday and will meet again to map out a new strategy to engage the new citizens.

The spirit of volunteerism is growing and I hope that in years to come, the numbers of volunteers will increase to make our society filled with compassion and warm.

We Are Together……as a team

Changi Simei, Singapore, 17 Oct 2010 

It was almost two years on 19 Oct 2008 at Singapore Parliament House, volunteer grassroots leaders were formally appointed for a new two years term by our adviser, Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, Member of Parliament for East Coast Group Representation Constituency. That new term took effect from 1 Oct 2008 to 30 Sep 2010. With the ever ticking clock of moving forward, we have completed our two years term. 

We would not have came this far in Changi Simei if not for our volunteer grassroots leaders, their ideas and their commitment albeit their busy schedules to drive the various initiatives. It is through their hard work and the spirit that they have embraced like dynamism, determination, confidence, unity and compassion that see us delivering projects as a team. In a sense, the strong commitment of grassroots leaders is the core of our grassroots organisation. It is the ordinary grassroots leaders who reached out and engaged residents to find out what residents think, how residents feel and what their concerns are. The feedback from these grassroots leaders sharpens the CCC’s understanding of residents’ sentiments and concerns. It thus helps the CCC to focus on these issues to build the community in Changi Simei.

On 14 Oct 2010, to thank our grassroots leaders who embody the spirit of each doing their part and contributing in their areas of expertise and skills to build Changi Simei as our home, the CCC invited them to an appreciation dinner. The dinner in its original form cannot compensate the contributions of these volunteer grassroots leaders. Nevertheless, the appreciation dinner is our way to express our appreciation to them for committing their time and effort to serve on the various grassroots organisations. Personal invitations were sent to invite all our grassroots leaders.

Though it was a Thursday night, 230 grassroots leaders attended the appreciation dinner. Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo was in attendance to interact with our grassroots leaders. Although the appreciation dinner was simple, it was the personal touch and sincerity to thank them that count towards the success of the appreciation dinner. Grassroots leaders who attended enjoyed the night and company of other grassroots leaders. The spirit of Changi Simei was in the air.

During the dinner, Chairman CCC gave an account on the works being delivered by our grassroots leaders which called for celebrations. In essence, Chairman touched on two strategic objectives which have provided a framework to carry out our grassroots works and the two strategic objectives will remain as our focus in the next two years.  

The first is community building which will remain the focus of the new term CCC and its grassroots leaders. Community building is about creating common space for residents of various races, backgrounds and age to meet, interact to become friends, cultivate a sense of mutual responsibilities as well as a warm feeling towards each others. This strategic objective is a continuing process that will never end. The day it ends spells “doom” for our community. There are examples of such doomed communities for example the genocide in Rwanda or the Balkcan’s Conflict which took place not too long ago. Nearer home, our neighbouring countries are mired in racial and religious tensions instead of nation building. We cannot and will never allow such tensions to take place in our country.   

We have made progress in our society and it has also changed in tandem with our vibrant economy. With rising incomes, the way we engage our residents will change. To continue building the community, we too need to adapt to the new generation with new thinking. The successful formula in the past may not work in current society without adaptation. Therefore, the new term CCC and all its grassroots leaders will have to review and examine the “how” to create new common space to meet the needs of the new generation. We can only understand their needs only when we understand what they are thinking about. Therefore, in the process of engaging these new generations, we also need to draw them into the community to understand them better. Therefore, leadership renewal cannot be ignored.

The second objective is to enhance the infrastructure and the living environment in Changi Simei to complement the engagement process. With limited fund available, there is always the challenge of managing demands which exceeds supplies. The “wants” of residents are many and fulfilling them is a matter of prioritisation if their “wants” are practical and beneficial to residents at large. There are also wants that cannot be fulfilled in view of their practicability, high costs, those with personal agenda or those contravening public policies and governance. Nevertheless, the grassroots leaders will need to engage to these residents even though these residents may be upset, refused to understand or calling grassroots leaders’ names. As long as we are doing the right thing, we shall not fear about what these “upset” residents think about us. We live our own lives while they live theirs. In the next two years, we need to initiate more infrastructural works to improve our local environment.

Besides celebrating our successes in our grassroots works, the appreciation dinner also served as an occasion for Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo and Chairman CCC to acknowledge the contributions of grassroots leaders who are retiring and stepping down as part of the leadership renewal process. Leadership renewal is a continuous process without any end point otherwise, at some point in time, there will be a vacuum in its leadership which the CCC cannot ill-afford.  In this new term of office, the CCC has inducted many young professionals into the various grassroots organisations. These young professionals had attended the tea sessions conducted by the CCC as part of its sharing effort on the works of grassroots organisations. It is hoped that more young professionals will volunteer themselves to serve the community after the sharing session. The CCC’s leadership is confident that its leadership renewal is on the right track for the good of Changi Simei.

The CCC also took the opportunity to allow the formal appointment of grassroots leaders in the next term of office. Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, formally presented the certificate of appointment to the grassroots leaders. As grassroots leaders, we will continue to serve with our passions and from our hearts.

The Time is Always Right to Share….

Changi Simei, Singapore, 12 Oct 2010 

“I have been living here for many years and I don’t even realise that there are so many activities and so forth…… being carried out by grassroots organisation”. This was what one resident said at the end of my sharing session on community development on 9 Oct 2010. Was I being surprised? No, not at all as I have heard this before during house to house visits and other sharing sessions.

This is a hard reality on the ground. Many residents are not aware that many of the improvements on infrastructure wokrs implemented and community based activities and events being organised within the estate are attributable to the selfless and passionate grassroots leaders. These residents can be forgiven. It is natural for them to think that these are the good works of government agencies.

Government agencies do play a crucial role in supporting, funding and implementing these projects but our grassroots leaders are the catalysts for change and they drive these initiatives to fruition. At times, there is a “long and running battle” to seek support and funding from government agencies on the projects we have conceived. There are also feeling of frustrations and irritations especially when the grassroots and government agency each holds opposite views of an issue or project. If we can compromise, the grassroots leaders will. If we cannot, the grassroots leaders will pursue with passion and yet remain rational without losing sight of our mission as grassroots leaders to get the job done.

One example of our frustrations was for “justifying” the covered link way extending from Blk 106 to join to the bus stop. It took a few months but at the end of the day, the government agency relented to bring forward the link way project. The link way project was hence completed in 2009 instead of the original plan in 2012 during the neighbourhood renewal. We did not raise the “white flag” on the first sign of rejection but we soldiered on and persevered for the benefit of residents. This  lesson taught us to continue to look forward for the good of residents.

In the last 4 years since 2006, we have accomplished many projects ranging from improvements in infrastructure, upgrading of HDB estate and private estate, organised activities to bond residents etc, there are also trying time for us. With more well read and travel constituents, higher expectations and more demands are also being placed on us to deliver our services. We are not afraid of works but at times, these expectations and demands are simply irrational and personal motivated. One example of an irrational demand was a resident who claimed to be a leader in his own right and demanded the removal of the pedestrians’ crossing at the side gate of Changkat Primary School which the Citizens’ Consultative Committee had earlier installed with the help of LTA. The reason being, a couple of minutes were lost in reaching home. It was a few minutes saved over a life and I made my position clear. I was “labelled” by this resident but I did not lose sleep over it as it is one of the grassroots leaders’ volunteering hazards. Over the years, there were other demands like constructing a tunnel to Singapore Expo which is possible but financially not feasible.

Grassroots besides being the catalysts who lead, we are also like a network plugged in with government agencies through feedback collection, disseminating and educating residents like a teacher and a helper. By helping, I meant lending our ears to listen and empathise and offer our hands to help those are in genuine need.

Two years ago, a family saw Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, our Member of Parliament during her Meet-the-People session. The family was financially challenged and they desired to equip their son with a decent education. The grassroots leader swung into actions and after establishing the needs of the family decided to sponsor their son’s education on the proviso that their son passed his examination. There was no conditions attached to sponsoring their son’s education. We wanted their son to do well and be self-sustained rather than relying and tax the society. We were not disappointed. Their son did well enough to receive a study award for furthering his education. There were other examples like providing free tuition to students from needy family to prepare for their PSLE.  The last year’s cohort did not disappoint either as one of them scored a 249 in PSLE and many who were in the border line gained admission into the Express stream. Everyone passed their PSLE, a consolation to us.

From the internet forums, many netizens made all sorts of inaccurate observations on grassroots leaders. Some questioned the motive of volunteering perhaps for personal glory or to advance their personal gains. Some even went to the extent of casting doubts on the integrity of grassroots leaders. Nonetheless, many volunteered and stand to be counted to advance but the interests of the community with the larger motive of building a strong and cohesive country. In my sharing, I have emphasised that there are no “freebies” for grassroots leaders, grassroots leaders pay for their season parking, a Phase 2B in primary one registration is similar to those parents who have volunteered in the schools of their choice etc.

There are many myths of grassroots leader. The stereotyping of grassroots leaders are created by those who hearsay or have gripes with the establishments. I want to qualify that in any vocations, occupations etc, there are black sheep, free-riders or those with ulterior motives in the ranks and files. Why do these people pre-judge and conclude that grassroots leaders are “bad, undesirable and selfish beings?”. I leave the decision to readers to make.         

There were many others issues and achievements shared in my session to create an awareness of the works of grassroots organisations. My educated guess was that these residents took away the knowledge of grassroots works and how the grassroots organisations are structured in Changi Simei to achieve its vision of an inclusive and vibrant society.

Perhaps the sharing session was detailed with high energy level, those attended decided to put in their applications to join the grassroots organisations to contribute to the society. It is how we make the difference instead of hiding behind a faceless cyberspace to criticise with inaccurate information.

Reaching Out….to build a strong community

Changi Simei, Singapore, 9 Oct 2010

“Reaching Out”….. just two simple words. But these two simple words carry a lot more meanings especially in our grassroots works. My own interpretation is “reaching out” is a proactive approach to contact, connect with and communicate to bring people together so that they live and  work together as friends in a community. The larger intent is to build our social capital through a community with strong bonding and a resilient community in time of crisis. It is a huge mission which alone can achieve little. Fortunately, there are many like-minded and passionate people who voluntarily step forward to be counted as a team to facilitate the mission of building social capital for the good of our society at large.

These three words “contact, connect and communicate” are complemented by one word. This one word is a buzz word frequently used word by almost everyone from political leaders to business leaders to managers to teachers to supervisor etc …. “to engage”. Engagement is about continuous contact to evoke the feeling of being actively involved and the feeling of ownership of anything the person being engaged is interested in. Engagement is therefore a must have ingredient for any successful effort to build social capital. Nonetheless, engagement will not just happen without the physical effort to reach out first. In a sense, these words are synonymous to each other and their combinations deliver the desired outcomes that we want.

Many people including grassroots leaders may interpret “Reaching Out” as greeting each other or perhaps knowing each other. Other than saying “Hello” and they don’t go beyond. I will not be surprised that many may greet each other every morning in the lifts, at the void deck etc but how many actually can address each other by names? Therefore, reaching out is more than initial contact but a series of continuous actions to create space for interaction before any long term relationships and strong bonds can be built. . 

In order to reach out, there is a need to invest in time. Without the investment in time, the “breaking-in” phase which requires physical contact will be a challenge. The battle is half won when residents open up to the grassroots leader if residents assess them to be sincere and reliable. Once this phase is achieved, the second phase of “breaking-through” becomes easy as residents will become acquaintance as relationships between them improve. The final phase of “breaking-out” is now possible when their relationships deepen through continuous engagements.

Continuous engagement hence plants the seed of success in developing a strong sense of belonging and pride in the community. The three phases seem easy but can only succeed if “time”, a scarce resource of grassroots leaders can be managed well. One other consideration is about being “thick skin” (a local Chinese expression of determination despite of rejections)    even if the initial contact to reach out to residents failed. These are my personal experience in reaching out to residents.

Back in Changi Simei, we organise large-scale programmes like National Day Dinner, National Day live telecast, festive season’s celebrations and respective cultural events to create space for interaction. The various grassroots organisations also organise smaller events like block parties, floor parties, house to house visits, skipping for charity etc to engage residents. These activities may not cater to the interests of individual and therefore, we create social interests groups like sports social groups for table tennis, badminton, brisk walk, detox dance, qiqong, gardening etc for residents to meet regularly to engage one another.

It is through such social gatherings that strong communities are formed. Take for example the brisk walkers at RC Zone 3, it started with few residents 3 years ago, the numbers of these brisk walkers today have increased to a respectable numbers and its numbers is still on the rise. It is not the numbers that matter most. What matter most is that over the years these brisk walkers become acquaintances and though they are not members of the RC, many also volunteer to complement the strengths of their RC members when call upon to support the RC activities. It is through years of cultivation that has resulted in such strong relationship and the RC also has its own recall system to activate these brisk walkers.

Besides these, tea sessions are also being conducted once in every two months by the CCC to engage residents. The objective of the tea sessions is to share and to create awareness on the vision and mission, works and work processes of the grassroots organisations. Though the turnout may not be by the hundreds, the turnout of more than 10 residents in a session fits well into the CCC’s vision of engaging these residents. At times, we also see residents living in other part of Singapore turning up to attend our sessions which we do not turn them away.

It is part of our engagement strategy to create space to build social capital. After the sharing session, one commonly heard remark is “I have living here for many years and I don’t even realise that there are so many activities and so many things have been done by the grassroots organisations”. Such remark is a proxy of our success in our first phase of reaching out to them.   We do follow up and many also decide to join our grassroots organisations as they realise that our works are carried out for the good of the community. Many of these new members are professionals or holding managerial positions and their memberships fit into our leadership renewal process.                            

Perhaps there are other better approaches on reaching out to residents thus prompting Peoples’ Association to organise a “Reaching Out” session at Changi Simei Community Club on 8 Oct 2010 for the South East and South West Districts. Minister Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in Prime Minister Office and 2^nd Minister for Transport chaired the dialogue session. Other Members of Parliament and Adviser, Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, Mr Chan Soo Sen, Mr Lim Biow Chuan and Mr Sitoh were also present to share their experience in reaching out to residents.

The sharing of practices by other constituencies and the dialogue session were beneficial in term of understanding policies and best practices. In this session, I too also stood up not once but twice to share the approach of reaching out to private condo and landed estates’ residents in Changi Simei and to pose a question on the bureaucratic process of two government agencies which hinder engagements and frustrate the grassroots leaders. These are projects if implemented will benefit the residents enormously but unfortunately they are not on the menu of these agencies. The journey to pursue the two projects would continue although answer given was in general.

I have not expected an answer but at least I have created awareness on the bureaucracy and red tape of government agencies. I am not alone as other members from other districts also shared their views of government agencies. However, I would like to add that not all government agencies are stovepipe agencies. There are others like LTA and SPF who are opened and have been engaging us well. We have worked as a team.

Reaching out is hard work and for the good of the country, we will continue to make reaching out as one of our priority in our grassroots works.

Once Tightly Controlled…Now More Open

Changi Simei, Singapore, 7 Oct 2010

Some time in Sep last year, our government appointed an independent committee to review (Censorship Review Committee (CRC) and to update polices and rules on censorship of the broadcast media, films, videos, publications, audio materials, art and even new media. It is time since the last review was carried out in 2003 to keep pace with the fast changing media environment. This is especially so in the buzzing cyber space with no known boundary and the high internet penetration.  

Nonetheless, it is not an easy review to begin in view of our conservative society and other considerations like racial harmony, social cohesion, family and individual values. A review will come to a “stand still” if the CRC makes the review within the framework of the once successful approach of adding stringent rules instead of working in the view of the future. In today context, it is a fact that any objectionable contents can still be downloaded for proliferation in the multiple new media platforms due to the advent of digital technology thus making stringent rules less effective.   

It was good news that on 15 Sep 2010, the CRC submitted its recommendations to the government. Among the list of recommendations, the “hot” recommendations were allowing R21 (Restricted to 21 movie goers) films to be screen in Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates as well as on pay TV and video-on-demand but with parental lock. Other recommendations include the lifting of the 100 mostly pornographic websites in favour of a filtering service and easier licensing on arts events. The recommendation to lift pornographic websites was an eye-opener….I was thinking then, could this is for real? It was published in the media for the Minister for Information, communications and the Arts to decide.  

The recommendations by the CRC were debatable. It also generated interests among two camps, those who are pro to the recommendations and those who oppose the recommendations. Even the views of my members were mixed on these recommendations. The camp who is up in arms against the recommendations expressed their discomfort with the screening of R21 movies ie adult contents movies in HDB estates and pornographic sits. They felt that “our society” is not ready to absorb the new freedom fearing implications and spill over effect on the young especially in the HDB heartland estates. From a survey collected, there was also a strong public sentiment of about 60% against such R21 movies screening in HDB heartlands, although the current regulations allow the screening of R21 movies in theatres located outside the HDB heartlands.

Nonetheless, the pro camp felt that we should move away from a prescriptive environment but  to allow people to make their own choices on what they want to watch, read or not. I remembered the time I was living in the United States in 1992. Pornographic materials like Playboy, Penthouse, X-rated videos and the likes were easily accessible anywhere and anytime for examples at 24/7 supermarkets etc. The pay TV channels also screened restricted movies any time of the day. I had the choice then, but I did watch the pay TV channels. Such novelty can easily wear off as “see one and it is like seen” all as such movies come with poor plot but merely the parading of flesh to entice box office.   

When Singapore categorised the movies into few categories many years ago, I have watched two R21 movies, “The Wedding” starred by Joan Chen and “The Lust” starred by Tang Wei perhaps some 10 years later. Yes, there were some nude scenes but it was bore from the artistic angle and performing art. Unlike the “erotic” or XXX rated movies, there are good plots in R21 movies. Therefore, the fear of corrupting the minds of the young and innocent may not materialised. In addition, the strict enforcement by cinema operators through the burden of proof of identity is sufficient to deter the minors from trying to sneak into the theatre.

On 29 Sep 2010, the government responded to the CRC’s recommendations. It agreed to some of the recommendations. In essence, a new rating Parental Guidance 13 in addition to the current rating of General, No Children Under 16, Mature 18 and Restricted 21.  The PG 13 allows more choices for children especially those movies with less intimate scenes like the “The Red Cliff”or those movies which have much derogatory words during its dialogue. Ultimately, it is the parents who will still make the decision on whether the movie is suitable for their children under 13 years of age.    

I commend the CRC for its effort to break the sacred rules by making sweeping recommendations. At the  end of the day, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts had made his decision. He accepted 80% of the recommendations which was also good news. At least the minister was opened to new line of thought although he had also to be guided by societal norms and the need to balance the need to make more choices available. I quoted from Minister “We should move with, rather than move ahead of society. While we want to increase content choices for adults, we have to first ensure that society is generally comfortable with the direction and the pace of changes”

Having said that, the 100 pornographic websites were out, screening R21 movies in HDB heartlands was out and liberalisation of dialect films is out. Well, their bans do not constitute a total blackout especially to those who are interested to lay their hands on them. There are still other ways to access these sites.

Nevertheless, I thought the minister’s decision was wise, balancing the two camps of pro and against the recommendations. At the end of the day, it will be our decision to make on what we desire in our hearts and heads.

New Media….what’s new?

Changi Simei, Singapore, 3 Oct 2010

What is so new about new media? Isn’t the new media has been around for quite some time now. So what is the fuss about new media? I attended a new media sharing session this morning at the Changi Simei Community Club. The session was organised for grassroots leaders of East Coast GRC and Joo Chiat SMC.  Both Members of Parliament, Mr Chan Soo Sen (Joo Chiat SMC) and Ms Jessica Tan (East Coast GRC) were present at the session to support the session.

In her opening address, Ms Jessica Tan noted the riches of contents in the new media and being interactive, it is able to connect and engage readers easily than traditional media which is one way communication. Therefore, new media is a powerful media for outreach purpose and it has the viral effect.  Nonetheless, she also cautioned on the grave consequences if it is used to post information that lacks creditability and or is calculated to deceive, mislead or out to create mischief.

There are many examples of such information which lacks creditability or out to create mischief. Recently, a video streaming of a young man having sex with another man was the talk of the town.   This young man felt miserable and when pressure amounted, he decided to end his life…. a sad ending. In the local scene, a couple of years ago, a video streaming of a student having sex with her boyfriend also created misery for the couple. Their act was posted by some unknown person who picked up her mobile phone and did this unknown person know the grave consequences of the act which could potentially destroy the future of the couple? I guessed many may not be aware of the unintended consequences but perhaps thought that it was fun to share the video to the world at large to view.

Though there are the down sides of new media, there is also the positive side of new media. Take the example of “STOMP” publish by the Straits Times Interactive. Many will have seen pictures of areas which need attention being published in Stomp. One of the Stomp’s photograph on illegal parking at Simei MRT station despite the various initiatives taken to discourage illegal parking has the traffic police taking more active enforcement action. Unfortunately, motorists know the rules of the game. They disappear but to reappear again when the law enforcement officer left the area. Nonetheless, such positive posting creates awareness of the ground situation and hopefully the authorities monitor these sites which are voices from the ground for action. I am sure, the relevant authorities do monitor but they too need to set priorities as there are always inadequate resources to play “catch and mouse” game. Nonetheless, Stomp’ posting is one of the positive new media in the local scene.

Many people choose to exploit new media as currently there are few rules and regulations governing their postings which range from truth nothing but the truth to lies and at times derogatory and disparaging languages and remarks in an offensive manner. I have read many postings in my free time, it is hurting to read about irresponsible, reckless, foolish and immature postings and remarks of a person, government policies etc. There are also people with ill-intent masquerading or assuming some others’ identities to carry out “covert” operations.

Fortunately, the law is about to catch up with those crooks who ply the new media for their own means.  Recently, there are impending legal actions on such irresponsible individuals who made remarks which they will have to standby or risk being convicted in the court of law. The police are also on the look-out for people who masked and camouflaged themselves with the intention to groom under-age children for sexual act. A couple of them have been napped, convicted and now serving jail time.  

Why is the new media being subjected to so much abuse as compared to traditional media? My understanding is the new media is not about digitising media contents. It is about the creation of new contents which is dynamic with pulsing excitement in real time and real time interaction. This is where traditional media will not able to catch up. On top of this, the new media being new has grey areas which few laws are being enacted to curb its abuses. Thus, it creates a new generation of netizens who become bold to hide behind the screen to post all sorts of remarks. Perhaps they are also challenging the authorities to “arrest them if they can” knowing that to take them to task is not an easy task. The lacks of governance for new media enable those who are anti-establishments a field day as new media becomes a source for them to air their thoughts which they will not secure in traditional media.

In this morning session, besides the sharing by Dr Ori Sasson, there were other sharing from Peoples’ Association, Mr Steven Mun and Mr Jason Ong, both are new media champions in Joo Chiat and Changi Simei. The three sharing covered the practicability of using new media to reach out to residents to create a one community ie from a virtual community to real one community, lessons learnt in their journey of adopting new media, the challenges and tips on using new media as an outreach tool. Statistics were also being shared during the session less the technicality of using new media which will need another new session.

To round off the session, participants numbering almost 60 of them were challenged to share their thoughts on the three questions, How to increase outreach? How can we integrate virtual interaction with real world engagement as one? How can we measure the success of our outreach using new media? The sharing by the grassroots leaders yielded a couple of good ideas on how we can optimise the power of new media and what we can do with new media. We also learned about the pitfalls and the “evils” of new media when being abuses.

The Internet has survived many years of its existence and with the advent of new technology, the connectivity offers by the internet created a global village with no border and borderless communication to share and learn from each other. The cyberspace will continue to develop and without embracing the new game, we risk extinction in the cyber world as the IT technology is a very disruptive technology. Remember the negatives or camera films used by traditional cameras and where are these negatives or films now when digital cameras came into being in the last couple of years. They became extinct. The same can be said of those outlets processing negatives or films, they did survive because they adopted the new digital technology.

Internet through new media is here to stay and for a long time. Therefore, we will need to adopt them for our outreach programme. We should do more using new media.

Our Chinese Cultural Roots

Changi Simei, Singapore, 30 Sep 2010

Two weeks ago, I received an invitations from the Hao Ling Gong Taoist Temple committee to attend its deity‘s birthday celebration.  I had accepted the invitations as since 2002, I had attended numerous celebrations at the helm of the Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC).  By attending these dinners including the 7^th Moon Dinners, I have managed to cultivate a cordial relationship based on trust.  This relationship allows the building of networks for the benefit of the community at Changi Simei in religious harmony and tolerance.

Besides networking with the Taoist groups, I also work with other main stream religious groups to bring them together as part of my community works.  We have seen success with many of these religious leaders volunteering to sit as members of the Inter Racial and Religious Confidence Circle as our resources for activation when the situation calls for them.  So far, I have not activated the religious leaders to mediate any religious differences.

The attendance of devotees at this evening dinner was great. There were two caterers catering to the dinner. The qualities of food provided by the two caterers were also known to me having attended many dinners in the last 8 years. I have no complaint on the food.

I have seen people of other faiths attending temple dinners in the past. What caught my attention was in yesterday dinner one “ang moh” (in Hokkien dialect for Caucasian) was among the hundred s of guests.  Perhaps his attendance is a testimony of what makes Singapore a successful nation in integrating people of other races and faith together. However, the integration of various races and religions into one society is still a dream far away of many nations. Not only is their dreams not realisable, some nations are fast moving towards racial and religious polarisation by implementing discriminating polices of giving superiority to one race, language or religion. Some of our neighbouring countries are good examples of increasing tension between races and religions. Perhaps the politicians in these countries are using these sensitive issues of races and religions to score their political points for themselves….but the country suffers in the long run.  

Well, I have digressed from the Chinese Temple dinner.

Besides, the 10-course Chinese dinner comprising of a “birthday noodles”, other dishes include a cold dish, shark fin soup, herbal chicken, steam fish, abalone with spinach, steam prawns etc.  These foods were prepared by chefs in a “field kitchen” environment. In Singapore, such dinners are prepared and cooked under temporary tents. In view of Ministry of Health’s hygiene requirements, these foods are prepared with the highest standard of hygiene. Caterer’s run the risk of having their food catering licences being suspended for a term of time or revoked for those who are found to deliberate breaching the hygiene standard promulgated by the Health Authority. So far, I have not heard of stomach upset after attending such dinners.

In the late century, “wayang” or Chinese Opera was popular. In every temple dinner, the temple management would engage a Chinese Opera troupe for two to three days performance depending on the duration of the temple celebration.  I remembered that as a young child, I looked forward to such temple celebrations not that I was religious but more on entertaining value. Unlike children in this century, where television, internet, computer and LAN games and the many good things in life are at available at one touch on the screen, to us Chinese Opera was the our only entertainment as the troupe would come with additional package of entertainment.  

Besides the Chinese Opera, there were as many foods and games stalls accompanying the troupe. I also remembered that the most popular game then was “ti kum” or in English, a game of chance. The game consisted a board and at the lower half there were rows of mini-envelopes laid out in nearly in horizontal and vertical rows. Inside each mini-envelop contained a lucky number which would be used to claim for prizes.  On the upper half of the board contained prizes. These prizes were also marked with similar numbers of the mini-envelopes. The player would claim the prizes when both set of numbers matched.  Each mini-envelope cost 5-cents and three for 10-cents. Nevertheless, these foods and games stalls did not survive the test of time. Today, they have larger into oblivion and forgotten.

These days, we may still have the Chinese Opera giving performances but the crowd is no longer present to cheer or to appreciate the opera. At times, the Chinese Opera performs to not even one audience. Nonetheless, I salute them for their determination, spirit and the professionalism that the “the show must go on, no matter what is happening”.  

Yesterday, I peeked into the backstage. I must qualify, not in an unethical manner (the backstage is not completely being covered for air circulation purpose).  I felt sorry for the Chinese Opera Troupe. I noticed that all its performers and even musicians were senior citizens. Seeing the senior folks, it boils down to the lack of succession planning as the Chinese Opera may not have invested in time and resources to cultivate the next generation to join their ranks and files. My guess is that given another 20 years, the Chinese Opera Troupe will also become an icon of the past. We will lose the heritage if nothing is done and it happens some time later.

Though the Chinese Opera Troupes may soon become extinct like the dinosaurs, one traditional practices is still going from strength to strength. The auction or “bidding war” is still very much welcome by devotees or the business people who attended the dinner. The bid can go up to as high as $500,000 (the highest in one of the dinner that I attended in aid of charity) or as low as a couple of hundred dollars. A prayer urn can go as high as $250,000 as the Chinese people believe that the prayer urn will bring prosperity and money to them and their families’ members.  A few pieces of black charcoal can fetch a prize of a few thousand dollars as black charcoal is known as “black gold” in the Chinese belief.  The highest bidders have up to one year to pay his successful bids. The bidding war at times pushes up the devotees’ adrenaline and loud applauses could be heard when two individuals are trying to out-bid each other. There must be logic and rationale in wanting the item put on bid.

Yesterday, a bidder bidded $2300 for a mini rice container which the Chinese believed that bringing rice container home would increase business opportunity, business will soar and thus increase the probability of a full rice container year after year.  I will leave readers to judge this Chinese belief for themselves.

After locating my table, one member of the organising committee came to welcome me. He also informed me that the temple management would like to make a donation to fund the activities of the Citizens Consultative Committee. I went on stage to collect the cheque donation. I want to say a big “Thank You” to them.

By the time the dinner ended, it was about 11 pm. I bided good night to members of the temple management. By the time I reached home, I was very tired. Nonetheless, I continued to write my blog to keep to my schedule of posting 2 blocks on every week.