I am grateful to ST Forum for publishing my letter on their Online on 23rd Feb 2016.
These three sentences were deleted:
“Many well-known philosophers left their pearls of wisdom behind for the posterity of the world. Many governments have applied various philosophies into their policies to address poverty, but the ideals of altruism to attain a better and peaceful world have remained elusive, like a dream.”
“If pairing the poor and rich students to mix and interact is the panaceas, I am sure many learned experts with their wisdom, logic and vast educational experiences would have applied it by now to nip the problems in the bud for a heavenly world to appear.
In schools, not all students will be able to relate well and deeply with compassion for one another situation as the wide divide separating them might not be easy to bridge.”
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“Create right environment to nurture idealism in the young”
Published
2 min ago in ST Online, 23rd Feb 2016
When Professor Kishore Mahbubani met Dutchman Boyan Slat, I hope he asked him about his upbringing and educational background, which would have prepared him and influenced his idealism (“In search of Singaporean idealism”; Feb 20).
In the West, youngsters leave home at the age of 18 to be independent of their families.
In Singapore, many youngsters live a sheltered life and are taken care of by family, because of our Eastern cultures and societal norms.
In that sense, we are probably different from Mr Slat from the start.
It would be ideal to nurture more idealistic young Singaporeans, and our education system must evolve to meet the challenge.
We have to ask where philosophy, idealism and poverty stem from, and how they are interrelated and affect the lives and daily activities of humans.
If we do not grasp, appreciate and accept the common ground among the three, then, many with idealistic hopes will miss the wood for the trees.
However, education alone cannot unleash the inherent moral sensibilities of our youngsters.
It is not easy to reverse the torrential flow of negativity coming from the inner core of a person, because of preconceived notions and preconditioning from a young age and the environment he lives in.
Of more disturbing concern are the unrelenting influences of the Internet, which have become a clear and present danger. No one can be insulated completely and effectively from the Internet today.
Many nations have the same aspiration to become a society that is idealistic.
This is what dreams are made of. However, whether the seeds will sprout and bear good fruit depends on how each nation nurtures its young.
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The original text of my letter:
I refer to “In search of Singaporean idealism” in ST, 20th Feb 2016, and I hope Mr Mahbubani asked Mr Boyan Slat for the secret of his upbringing and educational background, which have prepared and influenced him to become a youth driven by idealism.
Did Mr Slat leave home at age 18 to be independent of his family? Unlike in Singapore many of our youths live a sheltered way of life and are taken care of by the family, due to our eastern cultures and societal norms. In that sense, we are different from the start.
Whether in the East or in the West, we have to ask where philosophy, idealism and poverty stem from, and what is the common ground for them to be inter-related to affect the lives and daily activities of humans.
Many well-known philosophers left their pearls of wisdom behind for the posterity of the world. Many governments have applied various philosophies into their policies to address poverty, but the ideals of altruism to attain a better and peaceful world have remained elusive, like a dream.
Humankind has to grasp, appreciate and accept the true source or cause among the three in awe. If not, then, many with idealistic hopes will miss the wood for the trees, and in disappointment.
If pairing the poor and rich students to mix and interact is the panaceas, I am sure many learned experts with their wisdom, logic and vast educational experiences would have applied it by now to nip the problems in the bud for a heavenly world to appear.
In schools, not all students will be able to relate well and deeply with compassion for one another situation as the wide divide separating them might not be easy to bridge.
Education alone cannot unleash the inherent moral sensibilities of every student, young and old alike.
It is not easy to reverse the torrential flow of the negative aspects coming from the inner core of a person, due to preconceived notions and preconditioning from a young age and the environment he lives in.
Of more disturbing concern is the unrelenting and negative influences of the WWW, which has become a clear and present danger. No one with an electronic gadget can be insulated from it completely and effectively today.
It would be ideal to nurture more idealistic young Singaporeans well, and our educational systems must evolve to meet the challenges.
However, many nations have the same inspirations to become a society that is idealistic compared with others.
This is what dreams are made up of. But not all seeds will sprout for it to bear good fruits no matter how well intended each nation might have in nurturing their young.
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“In search of Singaporean idealism”
Kishore Mahbubani For The Straits Times
Published
2 hours ago in ST on 20th Feb 2016
A meeting with a young Dutchman spurs the writer to reflect on the deficit of this quality among Singapore youth.
One of the small privileges of my life is being invited, from time to time, to attend the annual Davos meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Hence, from Jan 19 to 23 this year, I found myself wandering through the corridors of the WEF Congress Centre. I learnt a lot.
I also got an opportunity to shake the hands of many globally renowned individuals, including Mr Kofi Annan, Mr Tony Blair, the Queen of the Netherlands, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Fareed Zakaria, to name a few.
Yet, the most impressive individual I shook hands with is 21 years old. His name is Boyan Slat, a young Dutchman who has made it his life’s mission to rid the oceans of plastic. Over the last 30 to 40 years, millions of tonnes of plastic have polluted the oceans. Most of it comes from land-based sources.
Mr Slat has been working on this life mission since the age of 16.
Initially, he was disappointed. He ran into a wall of rejections. He contacted hundreds of companies for sponsorship. All turned him down. But then, he had a breakthrough in 2013, after his TEDx talk went viral.
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of people were clicking on his website. He set up a crowdfunding platform. It raised US$80,000 (S$113,000) in 15 days. His Ocean Cleanup project has now designed a V-shaped array of floating barriers that can passively capture plastic.
ST ILLUSTRATION: MIEL
(Go to theoceancleanup.com to look at his plans.)
Mr Slat’s idealistic venture has received the support of many powerful people, including Mr Marc Benioff, the head of Salesforce. Indeed, it was in the office of Salesforce where I met him, together with Mr Peter Schwartz, a well-known futurist who is an old friend of Singapore.
Mr Slat wanted to meet me because he also has a plan to clean up the Strait of Malacca. And he wanted me to approach some Singapore companies to support this project. (I plan to approach them after writing this column.)
The big question that came to my mind after meeting Mr Slat was this: Why is a young Dutchman worrying about the Strait of Malacca? Why aren’t there any Singaporean teenagers worrying about the dirty and polluted waters around Singapore?
The simple answer – which may be a painful truth for us – is that there is a deficit of idealism among Singapore’s youth.
THE IDEALISM PARADOX
A column like this cannot possibly answer why our youth tend to be less idealistic. It could be due to the strong prevailing culture of pragmatism. It could be the overwhelming pressure from Singapore parents on their children to make sensible and practical life decisions, like focusing on good vocational training, whether it be in polytechnics or in practical courses in universities. Singapore parents believe that the best way to help their children is to encourage them to be sensible early.
Yet, one paradox of life is that idealism in youth can pay off handsomely in the long run. A good example of this is provided by Dr Henry Kissinger. I had always assumed that he was a pragmatic soul who was a disciple of Machiavelli and Metternich.
Yet, a distinguished Harvard historian, Professor Niall Ferguson, has produced a weighty volume on Dr Kissinger’s early life (1923-1968) which is titled simply The Idealist.
Prof Ferguson challenges all the popular beliefs about Dr Kissinger as being a very cunning and manipulative statesman. Instead, he asserts that what drove Dr Kissinger was a deep sense of idealism. Instead of being inspired by Machiavelli and Metternich, Dr Kissinger was inspired by philosophers like Baruch Spinoza and Immanuel Kant.
Prof Ferguson points out that in an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 24, 1973, just two days after he was confirmed as Secretary of State, Dr Kissinger cited Kant in his address.
He said: “Two centuries ago, the philosopher Kant predicted that perpetual peace would come eventually, either as the creation of man’s moral aspirations or as the consequence of physical necessity. What seemed utopian then loomed as tomorrow’s reality; soon there will be no alternative.”
Most cynics do not speak of “perpetual peace”. Idealists do, and Dr Kissinger did so.
IDEALISM PAYS OFF
I have also learnt from my personal life that idealism pays off in the long run. When I enrolled in the National University of Singapore (NUS) in July 1967, I did the sensible and practical thing and studied economics, sociology and philosophy. In my second year, for the first time, NUS allowed second-year Arts and Social Sciences students to do three subjects instead of majoring in one or two. I ended up as the only student to study three subjects, with a sensible allocation of four units to economics and two units each to sociology and philosophy.
Early in my second year, I discovered that the economics courses were taught in a mechanical fashion. Instead of being asked to challenge major concepts, we were asked to memorise them. It was learning by rote. By contrast, in every philosophy class, we were asked to challenge everything.
Hence, each time I attended a philosophy class, I would feel sparks going off, metaphorically speaking, in my brain.
As a result, I did something impractical. I asked NUS for permission to repeat my second year so that I could major only in philosophy and drop economics and sociology.
Fortunately, NUS agreed. My President’s Scholarship was suspended for a year. Since my family could not afford to pay my fees, I taught night classes, known as Lembaga, to earn money to pay for one year of studying philosophy.
Did it pay off? It paid off handsomely. Many years later, when I had to defend Singapore’s position in hostile fora (like the Non-Aligned Movement), I rediscovered the power of logic.
In one meeting, we fought against the Cuban delegation, which was then defending the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In response, I used simple logic. I said that by arguing in favour of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Cuban delegates supported the principle that a big neighbour could invade and occupy a small neighbour. If the Cuban delegates accepted this principle, they were creating a logical precedent which would justify an American invasion of Cuba.
Needless to say, the Cuban delegates were embarrassed. Logic is irrefutable. Of course, the hundreds of speeches I gave in the UN, as well as the past two decades of active writing (including five books), were also helped by the study of philosophy.
In short, an unwise, impractical and idealistic decision to study philosophy as a teenager proved to be a wise long-term decision.
In the same way, I do believe that if we can increase the idealism quotient of young Singaporeans, the lives of Singaporeans would become much richer. And Singapore as a society will have more than its fair share of great dreamers who will strive to make the world a better place.
Let me conclude with a simple suggestion to improve the idealism quotient of young Singaporeans.
The advantage of living in Singapore is that we live in a stable, well-ordered society.
Paradoxically, the disadvantage of living in Singapore is that we live in a stable, well-ordered society.
As a result, young Singaporeans are rarely exposed to more challenging environments where they have to deal with real challenges, including poverty.
There is an amazingly simple solution. Each class in a Singapore secondary school should be paired with an equivalent class in a poor district in South-east Asia, be it in Myanmar or the Maluku Islands.
Each year, once a year, the Singaporean children should visit the class they are paired with.
Each Singapore child should become a buddy of someone who comes from a really poor family.
I have absolutely no doubt that this simple experience will unleash the inherent moral sensibility of any young Singaporean and make him or her into a far more idealistic Singaporean. A Singapore with a surplus of idealism will end up as a far better society.
Of this, I have no doubt. The paradox of idealism is that it always pays off in the long run.
The writer is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and is the author of Can Singapore Survive?
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“No lack of youth with idealism”
Published
1 hour ago in ST Forum, 24th Feb 2016
I disagree that Singapore’s youth lack idealism, because there are many young people doing all kinds of volunteer work here (“In search of Singaporean idealism”; last Saturday).
Just because we are not working on a project as big as Ocean Cleanup does not mean we are not working hard to do something about issues we care about.
Marine trash is a pressing issue correlated with mass fish deaths, and it is not well known because no one sees much of it.
The National Environment Agency spends about $1.4 million cleaning recreational beaches every year, but there are also organisations doing something about it, including the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, Outward Bound Singapore and Sea Shepherd Singapore.
An online response to last Saturday’s commentary said that we need to scrape idealism off the classroom floor, but I do not fully agree.
We need to light the fire of idealism in everyone, because everyone knows that the world can be a better place, but not everyone knows how to go about doing it.
Look at the Love Our MacRitchie Forest movement. Its members have dedicated no small amount of time and effort in fighting for an ideal: That our natural heritage deserves to be protected and that our primary forests, what little we have, are worth protecting.
And who are most of these people? Youth.
Look at the People’s Movement to Stop Haze. Its members have spent countless hours researching and reaching out to Singaporeans about the causes of the haze, and letting people know that they can do something more than just buying masks and air purifiers.
Who are these people? Youth.
These are ground-up movements by people who genuinely care and want to do something about issues affecting Singapore.
Other areas, such as the arts and humanitarian issues, are also filled with young people with ideals. Their story may not be known to people outside their community, but that does not mean they do not exist.
All the same, we could do with more young people with the ideals and the passion to change things for the better.
So, to the idealistic youth: Let us strive towards our vision of a better world.
by Ho Xiang Tian
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There’s a time for pragmatism and for idealism
Professor Kishore Mahbubani commented that young people in Singapore lack idealism, and suggested that the strong prevailing culture of pragmatism here has led to the diminishing presence of ideals among the young of today (“In search of Singaporean idealism“; Feb 20).
It is important for us to take a step back to understand what we mean by idealism, and to look at the context in which idealism should and should not exist.
The pursuit of idealism refers to an attitude in which we place a high regard for a sense of morality and self-actualisation when deciding what actually needs to be done.
This suggests a need for action and the hope for making an impact.
By this definition, the seeking of idealism in the young of today is not a matter of creating challenges for them, but building pathways for dreams.
Like Prof Mahbubani, I had the opportunity to represent Singapore and have travelled to various countries to witness how young people around the world are advocating change.
I saw young Singaporeans making waves on the international stage, challenging conventions and following ideals.
However, everything was different when they came back to Singapore. They were told that they were “back in reality”.
What we need to do as a society is nurture such budding innovators, and allow them to have the avenue to continue pursuing dreams.
Yet, it is equally important for us to recognise that the pursuit of idealism involves a certain degree of risk.
Individuals would have to make seemingly impractical choices and take a chance that the outcome may not necessarily turn out well.
Thus, we should deliberate when we should encourage the pursuit of idealism, and when we must shy away from it.
For example, in matters related to the country’s home affairs, are we ready to face the risk that comes from pursuing idealism?
To be idealistic about our national safety and take chances in areas related to security put actual lives of citizens at risk, and give rise to social tension and unrest.
Such matters should never be compromised for the sake of pursuing dreams and aspirations.
All in all, rather than saying that our young lack idealism, I would say that society needs to start accepting idealism in young people and, under possible scenarios, recognise these “unwise, impractical and idealistic” dreams as unpolished gems, ready to change the world if given the chance.
by Goh Jia Hao
tankoktim 