KJ
PM Lee Hsien Loong’s call on young Singaporeans to ‘dare to dream’ is revealing in itself. Against the reality of Singapore, it sounds almost like a taunt: perchance to dream, but only if you dare.
I was a schoolteacher for a time. The hours were long and the work was grueling. But I enjoyed every moment of it.. The students – for it was always about the students – had made the job possible. In many ways, they made me possible. It was, as the cliché goes, the most wonderful time of my life.
I still keep in touch with some of them. And lately – it must be that time of the year again – they were asking me about what subjects to take in JC, in university. The sad thing is, they were constantly evaluating their choices in view of a ‘future career’. Thus, their subjects had to be ‘relevant’, ‘useful’. For some of them, their parents forbade them to even consider the Polytechnic. I thought it ludicrous, and felt a little rueful. They were basing their education on appearances, on an imagined future job that might well change, that they might not be interested in, or that might not even exist by then. Were they planning for a future life of frustrations and regrets?
It is not wrong – a career and a future are important considerations. But it is sad – they are only sixteen. And it can turn cruel when, without their realizing, their future becomes futile. By then it might be too late – living out a life not one to call their own, dreaming of someone else’s dreams.
And so it was a nice surprise to hear PM Lee telling students at the recent NTU forum to ‘dare to dream’, to ‘surprise yourself with what you achieve and create a better future for all of us.’ It was surprising not because such things even needed to be told – and told to university students. It was surprising for its familiar echo of what he had said in 2004: during his first National Day Rally speech, PM Lee urged a freer Singapore. ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom’ were those promising words.
In the ensuing five years, we have had ample opportunities to admire how our garden city has bloomed: the New Media has a new lasso, the Films Act gained some sophistication, the Public Order Act transforms one into an illegal assembly, and T-shirts with marsupial prints are roundly sent to jail. And these blooms merely skim the soil of the more sturdy trunks and deeper roots of control, censorship, and surveillance. I must have repeated these examples too many times. But some things simply never change.
***
We are not actually an apathetic people. At the cusp of our independence, in the fifties and sixties, Singapore was a hotbed of social, commercial, and political activities. The women were active in politics; community and entrepreneurial spirit were sustained by the countless merchants in their shops, hawkers by their stalls, and peddlers on the streets. The kampungs were little paradise for kids. They were a home for all. Artists, poets, singers and painters were all dreaming up their various different reality. Singapore looked like a proper city then; authentic, lively, and inspiring. So where have all the flowers gone?
It is not that our children do not dream, for to dream is only human. It is what happens to their dreaming as we put them through the State’s dehumanizing system, through those indoctrination camps pretending to be schools, where cold, economistic rationalism reigns supreme, must reign supreme. It is this same system that renders politics into mere administration, citizens into populations, into collective waged labour, and art and dreams in the state’s own image: cold, economistic, utilitarian. It is not the absence of revolution and tumult that there’s a dearth of political leaders. It is this illiberal, dehumanizing system that douses political fire. All our fire.
A few years ago, when Singapore decided to be a ‘renaissance city’, its methods were predictable: it conjured a Renaissance Masterplan. And dotted throughout the edict were words like: hardware, software, systematic introduction, documentation, upgrade, benchmarking, baselines, multiplier effect.
But these are not the noble names of art. They are not the phrases of inspiration, passion, and the singular vision. They are the language of civil servants and technocrats, the meaningless jargon of econometrics.
And yet and yet, in Singapore, art cannot be a wildflower. One ‘must be realistic’, intones the Straits Times: ‘If you do not plan on becoming a concert soloist, there are enough job opportunities in the arts and arts-related fields. As Singapore gears up to be a creative hub, the number of jobs in the creative industry can only grow.’[1]
Can one plan on becoming a concert soloist? And so art becomes a ‘job opportunity’ in a country ‘geared up’ for art. Art as an investment. Art to enrich the State (now a ‘creative hub’). This is how the state dreams its dreams – the hubbub in a technocracy, the fallacies, the diktats (the fantasia of dictators). And so let a hundred artists bloom.
But Art is not an investment. It cannot be geared up. Art refuses dictation.
Like dreams, it is free. It has to be.
***
I am reminded of the story of three Singaporean boys – Cheng Yu, Keegan, and Wen Yi. Two promising pianists and a passionate actor. They were boys who dreamt, even if tentatively:
When Cheng Yu was thirteen, he won the first prize and the Marion S. Gray Outstanding Musician Award at the prestigious Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition in America. That was in 1998. Ten years later, he ended up a medical student at NUS. Couldn’t he have gone on to become a pianist of acclaim, and be alive in his dreams? No. Cheng Yu’s father had threatened to ‘become a beggar’ if he continued to study music..
Not only do we ourselves stop dreaming, we stop our loved ones from dreaming too.
Then there is Keegan. Like Cheng Yu, Keegan had also won the Marion S. Gray Outstanding Musician Award – the second Singaporean to do so. Like Cheng Yu, he also wanted to study music. But no, This time it was the State. He had to complete his full-time National Service first. ‘I tried to practise while in NS but there was hardly any time,’ Keegan said. ‘I felt quite bad about it initially; there is regret. But never mind, I have learnt to move on.’ When Keegan completes his NS, he will switch to business studies. But never mind. He has learnt the language of reality, of pragmatism. The lingua franca of Singapore.
They all have, because they must. Their respective fathers insisted on that. Nafa’s lost boys, as the media termed them. Father’s missing sons. Except, they’re still here, in captivity, kept by other people’s dreams.
Except for one. The one who got away and never came back:
Wen Yi was a fifteen year-old student. He wanted to switch his CCA from track-and-field to drama. But his parents objected to it. Sports medals count, because they can be counted. Theatre and drama can’t.
When passion meets pragmatism, the choice can be hard to bear.
So Wen Yi enacted, in real life, from his original script, his ‘final act of rebellion’. Like a good artist, the day before, he had sent out his invite, and the play had to go on: ‘Will you as a friend accompany me on this day?’
And from the eleventh-floor bedroom window of his home, he turned to brave his invisible audience.
Wen Yi reminded me of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
… Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Except for Wen Yi, it was no dream, there was no awakening, and there was no more restoring of amends.
Wen Yi stands atop his window ledge and falls away.[2]
***
They say art mirrors reality. Doesn’t it?
Some of us wonder why Wen Yi ended his life over such a seemingly small matter. We wonder why Cheng Yu and Keegan couldn’t cut a compromise, or resume their pursuits afterwards.. But after what? For some others, they wonder why, in Singapore, dreams are made out to be a small matter, that dreams have to relentlessly be haunted by reality. And whose reality is it?
So we shake our heads and slant our glances. A life is gone, and perhaps, we all know why.
Perhaps in Singapore, it is better not to dream.
There is this marvelous song by Faye Wong, called 开到荼蘼 [kāi dào tú mí]. It is sung with incredible panache and voice, the lyrics are exquisite and steeped in the Buddhist philosophy of transcendence. Near the song’s end, it describes how a resplendent promise made by a loved one can send one’s heart a fluttering, just like how a flower blooms. But inevitably, just like every flower, every blossom – that very apex of beauty and hope – is also when that flower meets its death. 心花怒放 | 却开到荼蘼. Let a hundred flowers bloom indeed.
When we wonder, where have all the flowers gone – the musicians, artists, writers – it’s not hard to find them. Beneath the swathes of engineers and accountants, doctors and lawyers, there are those piles of abandoned hopes and deserted dreams. Occasionally, a wistful soul might catch a momentary glimpse of that other life.. The life that might have been, but now hidden in the shade or withered on the vine. And in the end, they themselves, too, like those detritus of dreams, would be buried under, in someone else’s happiness, prosperity, and eventually be forgotten, as if none of them had ever lived.
***
My advice to my former students was simple (but what else could I say?): Look around you, look at the adults, at your own parents.. Working in their jobs, living out a daily drudgery, dreaming of another life. So why not wake up to that other life that you dream about?
Wouldn’t they then be more worldly-wise, more dreamful? More fluent in laughter, in passion, in love? Wouldn’t they be happier then, however their future might turn out?
But perhaps even that is too much to ask. Too idealistic. Not practical, not pragmatic. Dream on, we like to say. This is why PM Lee’s dare to dream is revealing in itself. Against the reality of Singapore, it sounds almost like a taunt: to sleep, perchance to dream, but only if you dare. For those who do, the awakening is often rude; it is the bright daylight of Singapore. And for that they are fortunate. Because for some others, their dreams disperse without the consolation of morning.
[1] The Straits Times, “Careers in the Arts”, 14 December 2008.
[2] The Straits Times, “Boy Jumped over CCA”, 27 November 2008.
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Dare to dream….even though there is a huge penalty…
Saying it is easy, LHL, it doesn’t cause you anything other then energy and saliva….
but when will the rein be loosen so that people dare to dream
“where have all the flowers gone” ?
Our flowers are surrounded by thorns, and eventually become weeds and superficial plastic flower in pursue of materialism and pragmatism. Flowers where no butterfly will happily visit.
So yeah, dare to dream but don’t expect others to think on behalf of you.
If i were born with a silver spoon i would dare to dream too, Mr Prime Minister Sir.
For once, let us dare to dream of voting out this government first. Otherwise whatever dream we have will turn to nightmare.
“Dare to dream” only if you are in the famiLee or in the same party.
Otherwise only misery, pain & regret.
LHL speeches convinced nobody. It is more like a story telling: Once a upon a time……
He has No charisma in his speeches unlike Obama or Anwar.
S’pore education is just about getting to be No.1. So from young, many learn to back-stabbings, cheatings, lies, etc. No moral values at all. These kids will bring these social ills to adulthood. When they realised they can’t be No.1 anymore, they fall into depression….suicide is most likely choice if not treated.
Sports, music, arts will not be an iron rice bowl in S’pore. No point getting medals but you are still hungry. That why many parents advise their children to take such activities as leisure.
Top positions only belong to famiLee. No exemption. famiLee have its Priviledges.
Ho Jinx formly from MINDEF can be in Temasek cos she is in famiLee.
“Dare to Dream”….but only Nightmares.
Remember a few years ago, when there was this Siingaporean pianist who was scheduled to perform in Singapore. Some media reports on him skiping NS & going overseas to study music surface. There was a big uproar & people start writing to forum pages about inequility & unfair treatments of the talented versus the ordinary. My guy friend even remark sarcastically that he should have taken up piano lesson when he was young so as to avoid NS. I was appalled by people’s (namely male Singaporeans) reactions. Singaporeans are not big hearted lot of people. Instead of being proud of their countrymen, they scorn them. They are jealous of others who are doing better or who are more talented than them. What is there to say? I’ll migrate 1st before I consider giving birth.
Beautifully written post. You must have been a Literature teacher.
our prince the prime minister dared not even dreamed HIMSELF!!!
even all his dreams must be authored by bhis ole man FIRST!!!
asked him 1 honest question…
what is his dream for a normal truebred singaporean citizen?
many shared 1 common dream
did he fullfilled their common dream @ all?
Well-written, thought-provoking article, although I feel there is a tendency among Singaporeans to blame the govt for anything and everything. There are many, including TOC’s own Alfian Sa’at, who chose to follow their dreams, despite the many risks and damages they entail, therefore proving that dreaming is possible, even in the Lion City.
I think that there are also many out there, myself included, who don’t dream not because we don’t dare to, but because our dreams aren’t tied to what we do. Our dreams involve being with the ones we love: our spouses, our children, our friends. As such, we could very well work jobs that bore us to tears or break our backs, and we’d still feel happy and contented.
So ironic, PM Lee wants young people to ‘dare to dream’, but the environment he places us in is unsuitable for young people to ‘dare to dream’ at all.
Dear KJ, your articles need to be put together as a book. :(
nawaz, Singaporeans will not blame the govt for anything and everything when the govt no longer have a hand in anything and everything. Of coz dreaming is possible anywhere even in Singapore. Do you dare to dream better more bigger?
if u live in a nanny state of coz u blame the nanny for everything.
There isn’t much Singaporean students can dream this days except dreaming to be employed by big cooperation. Every students are preparing themselves to hold some of the highest position possible, if it is Ikea, Popular or Fair Price it got to be the store manager at least. Can you imagine how many furniture shops of the 70s does Ikea represent? How many book store does Popular represent? How many provision shops does Fair Price represent? When the time we didn’t have Ikea, Popular or Fair Price we have thousands and thousands of shop keepers who can send their children to UK universities. How many employees of Ikea, Popular and Fair Price can send their children to receive an oversea education this days? So the children of Ikea, Popular and Fair Price’s bosses can dream but not those of their employees, not yours and mind I am afraid. Sorry LHL, today I have to disagree with you.
I posted this earlier but apparently it couldn’t get through.
I see this article as more of an indictment of Asian society than of the government itself. I know of a Hong Kong student at Caltech who took his life when his dreams of being a pianist didn’t mesh with his dad’s plans for him. Pragmatism and demands for filial piety exist everywhere.
That being said, there’s no use in staying forever caught up in anger and resentment because society (or the PAP, if everything bad in Singapore has to come back to that) doesn’t support one the way it should. Thinking out of the box can save a lot of future grief.
If financial independence to pursue one’s dreams is the limiting factor, then take a look at gems such as the Incomplete Guide to Financial Aid for Singaporeans (http://igfas.wiki.zoho.com/) (started up no less than by Mr AcidFlask himself) or take inspiration from See Kok Heng (www.oikono.com) who supported himself through U Penn. Or even someone I know who put an ad in the US newspapers to marry any guy who would support her financially through her degree (Lateral thinking to the max!) They’re happily married now.
If leaving Singapore for pastures anew is not to one’s liking, then do something on the internet, out of reach of government intervention. Post a video on Youtube of one’s performance and with enough fame, donations will pour in. Better still, move to Taiwan, pour all of your scorn and indignation into a rap video directed at Singapore, cause a media storm and get a recording deal out of it. Singapore Idol, check. Complaints choir, check. Parody videos, check. There’s Twitter and Facebook and Myspace and TakingItGlobal and so many other ways to get out of the rut that one can get stuck in, if only a little creativity is exercised.
Go ahead and elect opposition candidates or spoil the vote so that the PAP doesn’t win with a huge landslide, but someone is always going to fall through the cracks, because that is life. So let’s just take control of our lives and not leave it to others, especially politicians of any sort, to decide.
My heart aches for young lives lost:: for Wen Yi, Witaya, Chan Hong who could only dream of a life filled with possibilites & respect in another world, where death is but a doorway to another humanity which has been denied to you in this.
Namo Amitabaha.
that’s one of the reasons why people are emigrating too, that you can’t “dream” here or live with a a poetic less travelled path. If you do, reality hits you faster than an MRT train. if you get to survive from that, you will learn to adopt and accept this harsh reality and “move on”.
there aren’t many alternatives in singapore in terms of that, and everybody is expected to conform. and when you don’t, the price that you pay is often significant, to the extent that it may marginalised for the rest of your life.
everything is implemented with so much pragmatism and “for your own good” mantra. government policies do that, parents do that, bosses do that. whose good is it? you wonder.
with such heavy-handed handholding and remote controlling of people under them, there isn’t much compassion in this country (despite the heartware marketing by the gahmen). when people see that they are ignored, neglected and marginalised, they will jump boat when they see one, and there is nothing to hold them back. they didn’t feel treasured, loved or respected.
the only thing they miss is prolly some of their frens whom they grew up and shared precious memories with, and the wonderful taste of singapore food.
it has become some sorta tourist attraction for those who can do that, as for the rest…..they can only slog on and chant “boh bian”, and whatever MSM is selling them.
KJ,
Tell my mother,
Tell my father
I’ve done the best I can
To make them realise
This is my life
I hope they understand
I’m not angry, I’m just saying…
Sometimes goodbye
Is a second chance
Please don’t cry
One tear for me
I’m not afraid of
What I have to say
This is my one and
Only voice
So listen close, it’s
Only for today
Well, I just saw hailey’s
Comet SHOOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Said why you always running
In place?
Even the man in the
Moon disappears
Somewhere in the
Stratosphere
Listen to the song on Youtube, it was sung by Shinedown,the theme song for my life….
James Michael Parthi.
look guys, don’t take his words too seriously lah, its just an aspiration.
or hokkien is chui gong lan pah song.
Just listen to the song ‘Dream On’ get Fat Hope?
Wow, great piece.
People, you will never see quality compassionate writing of this level in the Straits Times. It would be beyond their intellect. Besides, those who have no conscience cannot relate to such empathy. Mainstream journalism’s expression of care and concern is a self involved one: the yearning for lost youth and the seeking of solace in a mutt or pooch.
Didn’t know KJ was a school teacher in Singapore. Thought he was living and working abroad in banking and hedge funds after being blacklisted by potential employers here.
TOC, could you please clarify if the initials “KJ” represent one single writer or do they represent a pen name shared by different contributors?
#20) KJ is a ‘he’ meh? :)
Siapa (#20),
KJ is one writer. Not a phantom. ;)
Dear Nazaz,
I refer to your comment “10) nawaz on September 18th, 2009 6.07 pm”
From what I have read, the article does not constitute sole blame to the government. Furthermore, as sound-minded citizens, all of us do understand that there is always more than a single cause for anything. Had it not been this way, it would have been a fallacy of single cause, right?
I have to agree with you that Singapore has had a sprinkling of individuals who followed their dreams down paths less taken. However, you have proven what KJ has tried to put across which is the fact that there are “many risks”; hence the reason why dreaming is so daunting. Why would that the “many risks” appear to be daunting you may ask and I will tell you that the answer lies in pragmatism.
In no way was KJ asserting that “dreaming is [im]possible”. KJ is simply agreeing that people really need to “dare to dream” with added emphasis on “dare” due to the “many risks” involved.
Ironically, the reason you give for not dreaming is in itself, a dream. I have something to ask though. Can you, with a clear conscience, allow your loved ones to grow up in an environment which stifles dreams?
Nights (:
A poignant article with a generous dose of grace, thank you KJ for this wonderful essay. It definitely delights and demands reflection.
I suppose different people have different dreams too, (yes, even in Singapore). Many anchor their dreams in material wealth and reputation; others go beyond that to seek aspirations that please and enrich their souls; some hope to achieve both.
Having a dream and being able to pursue one can be two separate matters. I’m sure we know friends and colleagues who secretly harbor far more noble aspirations, or simple aspirations that have to be deferred, or even extinguished because of financial or familial obligations. Perhaps that speaks for some of us personally too.
And I think that we should also give that brand of courage due recognition, the courage to shelf their individual desires in lieu of their family and other equally noble commitments.
Lest I get misunderstood, I’m not trying to demonize those who pursue their dreams, neither am I interested to valorize those who defer theirs. I think we need to be aware that why and how Singaporeans choose and afford to chase their dreams are grounded in shades of contexts which we often reduce to simplistic cuts of pragmatism (e.g., not practical/ too high fulatin), ability (e.g., cannot make it, no money), or both.
But I agree with KJ that in Singapore the situation seems to be more of an issue of mindset and that deficiency in dreamin’ and chasin’ has been deliberately and insidiously cultivated over time. In the incumbent’s haste to stem out political activism, the authorities have inadvertently weed out creativity and aspiration, as well as, to borrow Obama’s idea, the audacity to hope. The incumbent has worked themselves into a double-bind fix. Now they want creativity (and a very specific specie of creativity that can be cashed and counted), yet not know how to grow and kill it at the same time. Talk about the liability of their success!
More importantly, in this socio-political environment, we have picked up how to quickly – too quickly and unthinkingly – label dreams by convenient standards based of pragmatism and ability. I think that is another dangerous thing that is yet to be addressed. We need to unlearn that. The audacity to dream is not a trait but a skill to be perfected. It’s a skill to recognize value in both failure and success. In this day and age, we need to shift where we place our premium, not on well trodden path but on the road less traveled.
Sincerely,
Eric
I am impressed by KJ’s mastery of Chinese as well.
I actually feel that my english is improving by reading more of KJ’s nice articles which feel like poetry to me.
Thanks KJ.
It is IMPORTANT to DREAM. But not all who dream can get good returns.
But then, thinking of returns will tarnish the dream. The concept lies on a fine line.
I think a portion has to attribute to fate/luck/environment/people.
Just remember anything you do will have repercussions, big or small.
For me, I did dream, and achieved SIGNIFICANT RESULTS. But then, the dream is over. I need to find a new dream….
I want people like KJ, Li BiHui, and other sophisticated writers who possess deep thoughts, humanity, grace, intellect and academia to be Ministers. These writers put to shame all the millionaire ministers and President scholars!
In Singapore, you have to be asleep to believe in dreams.
@nawaz – perhaps for every poet that manages to surface, there’re more who didn’t manage to. Perhaps there’s aspects about Singapore that needs to be critiqued. One dream given up is one too many. What more the loss of dreamers themselves?
@Michelle – I agree that pragmatism and filial piety exist anywhere, perhaps varying to degrees and definitions. Thus, it was not just an indictment ‘Asian’ society. There are bits of the ‘West’ in Asia, and ‘Asia’ in the West. There’re many commonalities between the two, e.g. the so-called ‘Asian values’ and ‘Victorian values’. Rather than such orientalist notions, I think these situations are more usefully (and accurately) described as consequences of industrialization/modernity that are affecting the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ alike.
@ WD Tan & Eric – thanks for conveying so lucidly these sentiments that I share. I agree entirely with this part: “The incumbent has worked themselves into a double-bind fix. Now they want creativity (and a very specific specie of creativity that can be cashed and counted), yet not know how to grow and kill it at the same time. Talk about the liability of their success!”
We are a pragmatic lot, and to be less so, we need to address the underlying reasons. Broadly: 1. the PAP govt’s development-state model; 2. an authoritarian (arguably tyrannical) system; 3. the absence of social safety-nets.
Dreaming becomes impossible, expensive, risky. Better be pragmatic…
I support the numerous endeavours that Michelle listed. We shouldn’t be trapped in angst, though I think more introspection is good. The fact that we have to constantly tell others that we can dream, have to dream, have to dare to dream, either as a well-meaning suggestion, or as a defensive/justificatory stance, suggests that there are obstacles that are peculiar to Singapore. The lack of such ideals and norms indicate that we are yet a society that can truly dream our individual dreams. I think that society is a worthwhile aspiration. : )
As always, another excellently written piece by KJ. Every sentence is a revelation. Every revelation is a thought-provoking persuasion to bring our homeland back to its glory days of simple humanity – a humanity that thrived on the colourful nature of every citizen, unique in his own way.
Michelle, the parody of your argument and suggestions begs one to question, Why? Why is it even necessary to consider these avenues you have suggested? Why does a native citizen, born and raised in his country, have to decide whether he wants to stay or leave, or do things that conform, in the name of pragmatism, otherwise he will see himself struggling to fit in for the rest of his life?
It is the argument of one who is totally blind to reason that “… someone is always going to fall through the cracks…”. No, my dear, it is not just someone, it is a whole generation that is falling through the cracks.
You’re absolutely right though that we should begin to take control of what we can do and not leave it to others to decide our fate. Our decision must be a collective, not personal, one. Our collective decision must be to get this government to see things the way we do, to feel as we do and to do the things that makes us truly passionate and proud to be Singaporeans.
TOC, you might want to start compiling KJ’s writings into a book. I am sure it will sell like hotcakes when the PAP starts to crumble. Hotter than that coffee-table book about the MIW.
Agent008 – that includes yourself.
KJ is Khairy Jamaluddin the son-in-law of Pak Lah the ex-PM of Malaysia, now the leader of UMNO youth. Maybe he still miss his collage days in Singapore?
TOC should find out if this is external hand in our local politics….haha!
27) Poor Undergrad on September 19th, 2009 12.52 am
It is IMPORTANT to DREAM. But not all who dream can get good returns.
What is your yardstick to measure returns?
KJ can also be Kenneth Jeyaratnam wat. Can be Karen Joseph also. And maybe Kamaluddin Jalil or King Julian.
TOC at # 23, thanks for the reply.
Walau at # 22, I’ve always assumed that the KJ contributing to TOC was male. That was presumptious on my part. KJ could well be a lady. If she is, I am willing to bet the bailed out bank her name is not Lee Hoong.
Bets aside, the person behind the KJ moniker is entitled to keep her identity private even though privacy doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the world we live in.
A man I once respected who has since gone the way of Anakin after he fell into the dark side has declared anonymity an illusion. No body died in that fall, only a soul.
If KJ had this Article disseminated three decades ago, a thousand flowers would have bloomed and a hundred thousand could be blooming in our midst.
Those Three Talents mentioned and the many others were victims of their parents who imposed and enforced their pragmatic views and ideas onto their offsprings. The Parents were however victims to the System perpetuated by the Pragmatic and Money-minded Leaders. Today, we are suffering from a double tragedies; the Authority has evolved into dictatorship and the citizens have been cowed into blind followers.
Though it is a little too late to recover(back to the old simple and naive era), the youngs today should and must find themselves betterlands(foreign lands) to have good and better dreams.
Nightmares await those living with false hopes in SIN.
patriot
This is certainly well written as it portrays the problem with youths nowadays – they dont dare to dream. Well, as a student (16) I am often faced with pressure from peers( lucky not parents) ; Be it the tough competition in studies or the immense stress in sports when ironically it is suppose to let us relax. That is a prob we all face currently. Competition is part and parcel of life but its starting to get to the brink of breaking dreams like what the author had stated. In school, we compete in terms of academic and sport results but once out there, we may have to desert our dreams for more pragmatic ones like getting into business instead of what one aspire to be when young. I always had a friend with a passion to be a policeman but as he grew up, he was forced to abandon the idea for others which is supposedly more likely to feed a family like a lawyer. Refering back to the point, even during a career talk organised by my school, most are inclined to visit talks from lawyers, successful businessmen than the policemen we once aspire to be to uphold justice. Living in SG is a competition. PAP had packaged us as mindless mannikins to fight since the age of 7 and forcing us to abandon our dreams for more practical ones. Well, i am certainly glad PM Lee had made that speech but it is too hard to break out of that cycle. Everyone wants to dream. But living in Singapore… It is really hard to dream.
farnie@4
“If I were borned with sliver spoon. I would dare to dream too”
If that’s the case, you wouldn’t even need to dream.
Everything material you wish for would become a reality
#41,
I technically agree with you.
A rich man born with silver spoon cannot change that fact and that has happened and time cannot be reversed for him to prove otherwise.
He cannot prove that growing up poor he can also achieve the same.
Anyone disagrees?
Was that Anthony Robbins writing?
Don’t let MM Lee see this, or he’s gonna give another speech to bring your ‘highfalutin ideas’ ‘back to earth’.
Jokes and sarcasm aside, this is indeed a beautifully written article. I guess we have to be thankful that people like KJ, ‘artists’ in their own right, exist in spite of how our system of pragmatism has shaped us.
When I read this, my first thought was: How come such excellent articles never ever get published in the Straits Times or even Today?
But at least it does see the light of day here at TOC, which is, itself the result of some people’s dream of an alternative media. If only there were hudreds of TOCs, KJs, Alfian Sa’at, Andrew Lohs and others.
Oh well, one is still infinitely greater than none. And after one will eventually come two… and then… many.
Thanks, guys, for daring to dream!
A well-written essay.
Our immediate concern now is to turn the dream of getting rid of LKY into reality.(vote the PAP out).
Singapore would then be exorcised from the ghost of LKY. The thousands who are currently held captive by LKY’s ghost will be set free to dream whatever they want.
Top sentiments, superbly expressed.
When will the PAP, the Ministers and all their lackeys (including sadly, the majority of scholars who have learned nothing from their stints in the world’s most prestigious universities) ever grow up and behave like sensible mature men and women instead of continuing to be petty, petulant and vindictive.
TOC is one of the very few little green shoots appearing on the vine but it can be so easily plucked off by those who will NEVER grow into mature responsible adults, not in my life-time anyway.
And so it was a nice surprise to hear PM Lee telling students at the recent NTU forum to ‘dare to dream’, to ‘surprise yourself with what you achieve and create a better future for all of us.’
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After many years as a Singaporean, you must learn to read in between the lines. PM Lee really meant those words but, it is not about pursuing freedom of speech etc. What these phrases really meant:
Dare to dream: Think of innovative ways to do your job better to boost our GDP and make Singapore atttractive to foreign investors.
surprise yourself with what you achieve: Work harder and harder to bring value to Singapore beyond the wages you are paid, so that we can compete with China.
create a better future for all of us: Work hard not just in your job but do community work in your free time so that the govt don’t have to spend so much the help the poor.
Thus, seen from this perspective, PM Lee really meant those words, just not in the way you interpret them.
“And so it was a nice surprise to hear PM Lee telling students at the recent NTU forum to ‘dare to dream’”
Perhaps PM Lee is talking about “Wet Dream”.
44) Pimps And Prostitutes on September 20th, 2009 8.22 am
“When I read this, my first thought was: How come such excellent articles never ever get published in the Straits Times or even Today? ”
i save money by getting free yesterday’s news papers and never buying the Sunday newspaper. So, I don’t Buy the news.
Why i dun buy sunday papers?
1. well, there was a price hike before. expensive for me to pay and pay like this.
2. not many pages. does not make business sense for my karang guni.
So, if the news seller is fortunate, he only gets to earn from me only on saturdays and that day’s newspaper price also hiked. So, i buy only when i song.
If you have read LKY’s book you will understand why we are all in this predicament, and why the PAP has been in total control of our lives. By keeping the people constantly worrying about physiological and safety needs, nobody will have the time to think about esteem and self actualization. Dreamers come from the latter two stages.
So there is a reason behind the escalating prices of HDB, the influx of foreigners, and the very limited choices of courses for our youth. Meanwhile all excesses built up over the years are squirreled into hidden nooks and cranies of government investments chaired by alumni and lackeys of the PAP. If we believed in the PAP, today we should have surpassed the Swiss standard of living. What happened ?? Are our minister’s pay the only thing that shot through the roof of reasoning ?