BEYOND SG

Opening Ceremony of the Singapore Chancery

Meeting and Dinner with Vietnamese DPM and FM Pham Gia Khiem

I had a good meeting with Vietnam's DPM/FM Khiem on my first day in Hanoi. Bilateral relations are excellent. Over the last 10 years, they have expanded considerably. Over the weekend, I'll be in Danang to see the city and neighbouring Quang Nam province. I have not been to Danang before but remember it from Vietnam War days especially images of the US marines landing there. Much has changed since and US-Vietnam relations are now very good.

George Yeo

Shaking hands with DPM Khiem

 

Bilateral Meeting

 

Witnessing of MOU signing

 

Making informal remarks at dinner

 

Cultural performance

 

Thanking the cultural performers

 

Group photo with cultural performers

 

DPM Khiem bidding farewell

Inline skating

I had a pair of unused inline skates in the storeroom and I decided to try it out and to my utter surprise, it fitted relatively well. I always get the names wrong - I thought the sport is known as rollerblading when "rollerblade" is an inline skates' brand name owned by Nordica, an Italian group, not the sport's name.

Last week, i put the skates to test at East Coast. The only lesson i had is a manufacturer's website virtual clips. It is truly e-learning at its best. I followed the video clips' instructions to the letter and I managed to skate without even falling once. As you can see in the photo, I am adequately protected and looked like some robotic Borg but it was cool to be able to even travel a short distance shakily on my first attempt. My lawyers call this "bragfest"!

Subsequently, I did some online research and realised a qualified coach would accelerate the learning process. I bought a new pair of inline skates from a coach's store, codenamed SEBA FR2 which is sleek black (my fengshui colors haha) and looked like some Transformer's boots with wheels. It is supposedly one of the best value shalom and beginner inline skate. I speak with complete ignorance here and I dont wish to get into any branding war here (like BMW versus Audi, Star Wars versus Star Trek.)Time will tell.

Well.. one small step for Harold.. one big step towards speed and fun.

Will keep my readers posted if I survive all the falls...

Harold Fock

Syria's Grand Mufti Dr Hassoun

I had a wonderful meeting with Syria's Grand Mufti Dr Ahmad Badruddin Hassoun this morning at Foreign Ministry.  He has a view of religion which most Singaporeans would be very comfortable with.  When he gave a talk to the European Parliament early last year, his speech emphasizing that states should be created on a civil basis rather than a religious basis received wide applause.  He said that 'there's no such thing as a holy war, there can never be a holy war, only peace can be holy'.

The Grand Mufti is in Singapore at the invitation of MUIS to give a distinguished lecture.  We have some 60 religious students studying in Syria. He came with a son who is the Mufti of Aleppo.

George Yeo

 

 

Singapore's Amb Robert Chua Meets Aung San Suu Kyi

In  response  to media queries that the Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Robert Chua was among three Ambassadors invited to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 20 May 2009 in Yangon, the MFA Spokesman said:

The  Myanmar  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  (MOFA)  had today invited  members  of  the  diplomatic community to observe the ongoing trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at Insein Prison in Yangon.  The Myanmar MOFA  also  invited  the  Dean  of the Diplomatic Corps, currently the Singapore  Ambassador,  as well as a representative of Thailand as the ASEAN Chair and a representative from Russia, as the current President of  the  United Nations Security Council, to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after the adjournment of her trial this afternoon.

Our  Ambassador  in Yangon Mr Robert Chua has reported that the meeting took place at a guest house within Insein Prison. Daw Aung San Suu  Kyi  informed the diplomatic representatives that she and her two housekeepers   are   well  and  being  well  treated  by  the  Myanmar authorities.   Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also informed the three diplomatic representatives  that  there  could be many opportunities for national reconciliation  if all parties so wished, and that she did not wish to use  the  intrusion  into  her  home  as  a  way to get at the Myanmar authorities.  She also expressed the view that it was not too late for something  good to come out of this unfortunate incident.  As Dean and on  behalf of the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Chua expressed the hope that   there  would  be  peaceful  national  reconciliation  and  that representatives of the diplomatic corps would be able to meet both Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar leaders regularly.

George Yeo

Star Trek

For many in my generation, memories of Captain Kirk and Dr Spock in the original Star Trek television serial in the 70's are etched in our permanent memory. Somehow, Star Trek had a depth and a subtlely which put it in a different class from Star Wars. The new movie Star Trek hews close to the original. It makes good use of computer graphics. It was a relief not to have to sit through mind-numbing extended battle scenes. The maturing of Jim Kirk as leader and Spock as half-human, half-Vulcan, was well-treated. The multi-ethnic crew of USS Enterprise might seem too much of a bow to political correctness today but for the fact that it was in the original a long time ago before PC became fashionable.

I saw the movie last weekend at Tampines Mall GV with family and thought it good value for money. Although my sons enjoyed the movie too and found it inspiring, I am not sure if they heard the same echoes from the past.

George Yeo

Winning the Peace in Sri Lanka

Many Tamils worldwide must have mixed feelings about the crushing defeat of the Tigers in Sri Lanka. On the one hand, there is relief that a long, brutal war has come to an end. Whatever the underlying causes, the violence done to innocent civilians could not be justified. But, on the other hand, there is also a concern that Singhalese triumphalism can lead to another long round of conflict and tragedy.

Churchill once said: In defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity. This is the time for the Sri Lankan Government to reach all to all groups in the country and work towards national reconciliation. Whatever the rights and wrongs committed by both sides in the past, this victory presents a fresh opportunity to build a new future for all Sri Lankans. Although it will take time to purge the poison out of the system, the healing can now begin.

George Yeo

Hiroshima Peace Park

Japanese schoolchildren waved when President and Mrs Nathan arrived at the Peace Memorial. The terrible event of August 6 happened more than sixty years ago. Since then, the city has being rebuilt and, on the surface, life has returned to normal. The Peace Park was designed to be a park with lots of open spaces for visitors to wander around. The memorial itself is not monumental in scale, just a simple structure with an eternal flame at back of it and, in the distance, the ruins of the dome of the old Hiroshima Prefecture Exhibition Hall can be seen.

It is at the museum hall that the full horrors are recorded. One cannot see the exhibits without feeling conflicted. Were the Americans justified in dropping the bomb? Why two, first on Hiroshima, then, a few days later, on Nagasaki which I visited two years ago? Was it to save more lives being lost in the Pacific? Was it to end the war quickly before Stalin could make further gains in the Far East? We were told that no serving US President has visited either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. A survivor of the Hiroshima bomb recounted his suffering to President Nathan.

Over a hundred million people died during the Second World War. Killing was planned on an industrial scale. New technologies were tested on innocent civilians. Scientists planned the fire bombing of entire cities. Six million Jews were killed during the holocaust. The memories continue to haunt us. As US leaders don't visit the atomic bomb sites, Japanese leaders are reluctant to visit Nanjing. Benedict XVI, a German, received sharp criticisms during his current visit to the Holy Land. When the Hiroshima survivor met President Nathan, he began with an apology for what the Japanese Imperial Army did in Singapore from 1942 to 1945. But he was still angry with the US.

The inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can never forget what happened to them. Nothing they did could justify what was done to them. What they now seek is not revenge but peace. When I told the Mayor of Hiroshima that one doesn't achieve peace through pacifism, he acknowledged my point immediately but added that the constituencies which favour peaceful resolution of conflicts should always speak out. Looking back, the 20th century was the bloodiest century ever in human history. We must learn from our mistakes. With the technology we now have, we can destroy much of humanity in the 21st century if we are not possessed of a higher moral sense.

George Yeo

 

The New Star Trek, The End of Cold War and a Lesson from Captain Kirk

I get a bit of misty eyes whenever I hear Spock says "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."

I am one of those tech nerds who grew up with Star Trek and it is a wonderful reunion to see the franchise getting a fantastic reboot in the new movie "Star Trek" by JJ Abrams. This is not a movie review but a movie recommendation. Just GO WATCH IT! Rotten Tomatoes, the top movie critic site rated it between 94-96% "FRESH", a rating normally awarded to those near-flawless, rare Hollywood movies. It is that good and it will probably be 2009's best summer movie. It is technically perfect, fun-filled, character-driven and heroic .. well, I can go on and on. I hate to say this and offend the millions of Star Wars fan (I'm one too), it makes Lucas' Episode 1,2 and 3 look a bit dated. Here is space opera at its best.

Over the weekend, out of nostalgia, I bought the "old" classic Star Trek movies (yup, including the one with the whales) that are now in Bluray format and had a blast watching it. My daughter, who is 4.7 years old, got terribly upset when Spock sacrificed himself in the radiation chamber to save the ship. I explained the concept of sacrifice to her and she was miserable for a few minutes. It is a terrible awakening in a young mind that good guys and heroes do not have happy endings. Luckily, this is Hollywood and Star Trek. I showed her the whale episode and told her Spock downloaded his data into his best friend and transferred it back to his new Genesis-powered body. (If you don't have a clue, go watch the classics.) Obviously she did not get it but when she saw Spock alive, she was overjoyed. Talk about nerdism passing to the next generations (bad pun but i cant help it).

Here is one interesting story. During the thawing or perhaps the end of the Cold War, Paramount Pictures showed one of the Star Trek movies to the Russian audience. And the good doctor "Bones" said,"The bureaucratic mentality is the one constant in the universe!" The Russian audience laughed for 5 minutes and the director, upon reflection, felt it was one of those precious moments when we humans let go and make a liberating, unified stance of what we really want in our society. Maybe they should show it to our civil servants and see how long they laugh.

And talking about Federation (in Star Trek universe, they call it "United Federation of Planets"), I can't help but see the parallelism (another Trek pun coming "Mirror, Mirror") between a certain sports association in Singapore and Captain Kirk. Kirk does NOT take instructions well; nor does he SUCK UP to his less-talented superiors, he just wins with his intrepid crew and will defend his position in public. In almost every movie adventure, he almost inevitably will break some rules and step on someone's toes (normally the top brass) and get away with it because he wins and saves the Universe despite some impossible odds. In the movie, he always get his rewards - be it a Starship or a medal. In the movie, he can't read Klingon (an alien language) and I don't think he will sign any document he does not understand. And they have this galactic "Babel-fish" technology called the Universal Language Translater so that alien races could easily communicate with each other. Pulling a fast one is gonna be tough against Captain Kirk. You may not like him but what else can you do - he delivers the goods!

Oh yes, and my private value fund investment's philosophy is not very different from "Live Long and Prosper". For value fund to work, you need to have a long term perspective and you need to have a long life to enjoys the fruits of your investments.

I think we can learn a bit from the Star Trek movies.

Harold Fock

This is the thumb-sized Starship Enterprise model that sits on my Epson printer. 

 

The Untold Story of Success and the Right Learning Values

I have been reading "Outliers- The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell. Mr Gladwell writes popular social science books like The Tipping Point and Blink that are all top sellers. In his latest book, he examines success and why some people are successful and some people are not (despite having high IQ).

One of the fascinating facts is this - Bill Gates was the only few American teenagers at 13/14-year old who has accessed to a time-sharing mainframe terminal, the ASR-33, in his school computer club in 1968! The rest of the working world were still using punch card system and that was considered cutting edge, the very concept of having a modern kickass mainframe in elementary school is simply mind-boggling!

The author pointed out that we are often enamored by these rag to riches stories, one man against all odds success myths. "I am a useless schoolboy with poor grade and I suddenly transformed myself to some amazing entrepreneur through my hardwork, foresight and brilliance!" etc. Sure they are hardworking, opportunistic, street-smart and lucky. What was not asked is what kind of family background, what kind of support they had when they were kids and what kind of freak events that catapulted them to their own meteoric rise.

Another interesting findings were all the technology business billionaires were born within a few years apart. Why? Because if you were born in the right year, you would experience and get to "play" with the microcomputer. You become CEO of a mega software company. If you are born a few years later, you might become, perhaps, their 250th employee.

Of course, there are many counter examples and exceptions to the rule. It is always easy to say, "look my cousin went to the wrong school, came from a poor family, his dad abandoned him when young and now, he is the most successful lawyer in his firm." Well, one of them became President of United States. But it is worthwhile to get the complete story and not take the myth at the face level.

While on a plane reading the book, I could not resist asking my company Chief Technology Officer, Vic Sent the same "Outlier" question. His IT skill is legendary and in our group of companies, we have this "VSA" stamp of approval. It stands for "Vic Sent Approved". It means that it is a piece of hardware, software or technology that is worth buying or investing. My question is "What make you what you are?"

He thought about it for a moment and he was told me he was building his first hi-fi speakers from scratch at a grand old age of 17! He bought wood from a DIY shop in Bukit Merah, saw them to the right size, made a mess in the house (his  mom did not commit murder), borrowed books on audio mathematics and succeeded building a set of bona fide speakers!

Then he thought about his childhood and he said he took apart his remote control S$1000 car, removed the casing of the motor and rewired it with new copper wire. He tried various ways of winding it, he tried different thickness until he optimized the motor. He was a KID and his parents allowed him to access copper wire, DIY tools and take a toy apart. Vic Sent was imbued with the right learning values when he was a mere curious kid taking things apart.

His neighbors also played a part. As he stayed very near the university, they had many neighbors who worked in the education field and their kids are pre-disposed to sciences and technologies. So among his playmates, they had computer "nerds", engineer "wannabe" and "mad" scientists. It is such an environment that Vic Sent grew up in. Think about the possibilities and opportunities that he saw that were probably unavailable to many other school children and teenagers.

So what can we do as parents or as policy-makers? Due to limited resources, it is impossible to be "fair" and make such amazing learning environment accessible to all. I do not believe in the noble mantra "no child left behind" when the benchmark of staying in front is so incredibly varied. However, we can try to offer learning opportunities. We must train our kids to be curious. We must train them to be opportunists. We must encourage them to be life-long learners. The trouble is most parents (and the media) train their kids to be mere consumers and tourists of this planet when so much more can be achievable.

You may be poor. You may not go to the top schools. Your parents may be divorced. Your father is a drunkard. You may not have a computer. You may not speak well. But if you have the right learning values, you may not be the next software billionaire but you will be fine.

Harold Fock

(This is not an ad but the book is a good read. Check this out at Amazon.com or your nearest bookstore.)