it is yes it is we have to give uh due credit uh wherever it's uh you know recognisable and so on but then again, haven't you destroyed the environmental so much you have destroyed the environment so much that no matter whatever efforts you have done it will not bring back, the melting polar caves at the north pole it would not bring back animal extinctions it will not bring back any energy that has been lost even though any energy that is lost can be renewed or can be actually given back a different life through an alternative that energy cannot be given back in its exact form


so that being said any and every effort though it might be a bit helpful will never protect the environment you're only doing so to actually just minimise effect of it but however it is never possible to just wholly wipe off the entire, bad effect that we have had on the environment since many countries require increasing amount of energy to progress thank you


okay so , I'll start off first right


so my stand on this question would be that it is important to save plant and animal species which are indeed uh in danger of extinction , for one saving endangered species it helps to improve our quality of life especially when it comes to our health so uh in in terms of like for example the cure from


malaria it comes from this tree called the chincona tree which is in the amazon basin so it help to cure that disease and, in this vein right even more new medicines can be found from like unknown species of plants and what I feel is that it is even possible to find a groundbreaking medicine which can only be derived from an endangered plant


and let's say that if this plant goes extinct even before research is conducted we may face the vulnerability to future pandemics and uh epidemics I mean and infections so , while it is in the nature of like uh disease to adapt


and all but it's our responsibility to defend ourselves from it, so in terms of sustaining endangered species it only empowers us to minimise our own current and future suffering and it helps us to ensure our continued existence and also when my point would be that when ecosystems fail our own health is at risk


so when we are saving these endangered plant and animal species, we are ultimately saving ourselves


see the thing is in terms of the health of an ecosystem it is it's fundamentally maintained by the plants and animals that are around us, when these species become endangered it is a sign of the ecosystems imbalance and this balance is something that is difficult to maintain and that when we say that


there's a loss of a species it is not just the loss of one species it actually triggers the loss of other species as well so when for example when grey wolves they were hunted to near extinction in the yellowstone national park, there were beaver populations that also decreased significantly due to that this is because the elk which without the wolf as its predator it graced more heavily on plants needed by beavers for winter survival so because of that the beaver population also decreased significantly and


when we talk about the conservation of endangered species it is important for humans as well so in in a in a in a way we can say that it is all linked to one another, and that a well-balanced ecosystem is what purifies our environment it gives us our


clean air to breathe and it gives us a healthy water system and it allows us to have like a diverse marine life it allows us to have like land for agricultural production all of this is its a linked cycle so we can't just say that, certain species of plants or animals shouldn't be


shouldn't be uh saved or shouldn't there there shouldn't be like uh efforts to, save them from being in danger of the extinction because, one uh one of this loss of a certain species of plants or animals it ultimately connects to another plant or species and ultimately connects to us humans as well


so like I previously mentioned saving taking on the efforts to save these plant or animal species which are in danger of extinction, uh allows us to ultimately save our own kind as well


okay thank you Dhurga the thing about humans not having an opinion and all that it it doesn't really make sense in this


uh context because it is because humans have an opinion and in terms of, whether they were doing it for survival or whether they are doing it for fun, the thing is that even we ourselves are actually contributing to this species of plants and animals going extinct yes we needed we do need plants and animals for food


and yet we we did use this grey wolves for fur and that's these are actually just contributing factors to their extinction but uh does that mean we'll just let them go extinct because , that shouldn't be the case why we should actually save these plants and uh animal species is also because actually they do they they


they do provide valuable insight even into like biological research so in terms of this I can say that the habits of maybe some rare species, they they remain undiscovered they remain like mystifying by preserving these animals and plants we are uh we are able to observe their interaction with their natural habitats


and this can only be done through in-depth research and some of these observations they they can be facilitated by the wildlife preservation which may come to revolutionise scientific knowledge, and overall when we stand to gain a greater understanding of our natural environment we


get a broader base of knowledge which it never hurts in in in like in that pursuit, and for instance like to give an example like the lineage of great cats was only like fully made known to us with when there was thorough studies on the critically endangered snow leopards so the timely intervention of this


wildlife world wildlife foundation in educating about this snow leopard hunting uh and, the such education is what has stabilised the snow leopards population and


uh I think this has facilitated in the studies to like in our studies to advance our knowledge on how we shouldn't be contributing to their extinction and how we should be actually conserving them instead because of


their uses for medicine and for their uses in our biological research of, not just them and their natural habitat but in in whichever ways that they would actually be deemed useful for us uh with them being in existence


so in terms of embarking on preservation efforts we are actually preserving a so called wealth you can you can call it you can call these plant and animal species as sort of wealth that, goes beyond our own emotional and material satisfaction and which is worthy of preserving


so in terms of saying that we like in terms of saying that one will only want to save these, species of plants and animals when it is proven beneficial to them it is indeed a selfish way of looking at it because


we we are not able to say what tomorrow holds so in when we look at it that way just because it is not beneficial to us now doesn't mean that it won't be beneficial to us tomorrow or just because a certain plant uh or


animal seems redundant to us doesn't mean that it actually is redundant for human the human population in general what just like they say , our our our rubbish could be another person's treasure and


just because we may not need a certain plant's uh uses for a certain medicine, because we may not have that certain disease or infection doesn't mean that it is not useful for uh another group of people and like and a wider population elsewhere in some other country


so at the end of the day we can't say that we should just let this animal and plant species just go into extinction because they may hold benefits in them that we have not discovered and


all living things uh they they should be saved as much as possible we can't just like how we wouldn't let a human being die just just just because you know maybe they are dying we we we kind of, put in our effort to save them till the very end we should be doing the same for


animals and plants whether they are useful to us or whether they are not useful to us that's uh very secondary thing because they are created to live with us we are we're supposed to co-exist so we should, co-exist with them and we should not we also shouldn't be taking efforts to


we also shouldn't be engaging in acts that lead to their extinction that is wrong but that that is for another topic on another day but this uh at the end of the day what I I'm trying to say is that the extinction uh of


plants and animals like we shouldn't let plants and animals become extinct and we should uh take our efforts as much as possible to preserve them and keeping it keeping our ecosystem as rich and as diverse as we can is what is best for us humans


okay so, in terms of the second topic it is, whether uh, that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist so I would like to start off by saying that my stand is that


both economic growth and environmental concerns cannot co-exist peacefully in order for in order to improve either one of these two aspects one has to be compromised upon , so my first point is that countries are unwilling to have slow growth and is uh reaping growth at the expense of the environment so it is important to note that if alternative sources of energy which


is prevalent now they are not managed properly then they have disastrous consequences for the community and the environment at large, so for example there was the japan nuclear meltdown in twenty eleven which showed us the extent of these effects where despite the root cause was a natural and unavoidable disaster


the poor post post-disaster management was what led to many problems the resulting radiation it it inconvenienced the thousands of people and more than just , adding on to the human collateral damage the environment was not spared and plants and fishes were also severely affected by these radiation leaks


not only that large economies are unwilling to have slow economic growth and some are even accused of trying to cheat their way out of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by creating dishonest


forestry accounting loopholes so in this case we can use china as an example which has attained a high level of economic growth over the years but in spite of this the air pollution in china is twenty times over the safe limit


and this has led to many health problems such as lung cancer and even higher rates of infant mortality, so this basically shows that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist or that the intense care and caution must be pleased to ensure that both are viable in our society


okay so in terms of , countries so when we look at countries as a whole we can split them into two groups, one would be the high-income countries and one would be the low-income countries this is to address the resources and the ability that they may have to


countries they often rely more on the non-extractive industries such as manufacturing and services


and but they also consume more per capita and import more raw materials whereas in contrast when we talk about low-income countries populations depend more on the extractive industries which is agriculture logging and mining, but they have a lower per capita consumption rate and a higher population growth


so to add onto that developing economies are not as concerned with the environment and the consumption of natural resources as they've already face environmental problems which are directly related to their state of poverty


so for example uh this could be like due to the inadequate sewage systems or their lack of clean drinking water their living conditions their the the unsanitary living conditions that they that they are in and so given that this is their situation


conservation measures it tends to be the last of their worries and uh to add on to that there is an uh estimated five hundred million people globally that rely on the goods and services provided by healthy coral reef ecosystems that


effects of uh climate change that are already revealing to be a threat to the livelihood and to the potential uh ecological collapse is beyond intervention in that case and the feedback between the income and the population growth between


this uh whole uh diverse range of countries is pushing these countries further away from environmental sustainability , so as a society as a as a uh on a global level I feel that we are not using this kind of a knowledge to steer the economic growth towards win-win outcomes


for both the good standards of living of the people and the environment as such I would still say that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist


okay so thank you, Dhurga for that, so in terms of saying that uh, , high-income countries and low-income countries on their own ends they are taking the efforts to make both uh environmental concerns and economic growth co-exist


what I would like to say regarding that is that this this is just going to be a never-ending cycle when we look at for example when we look at technology and market-based solutions these are not magic bullets


and the the faith in technology today it has become a a very religious thing but we what what I feel is that these are coming in too slowly to avoid the irresistible climate change which is already happening


so for instance when we talk about uh efficiency improvements, they lead to rebound effects so this is in context of economic growth itself so whereby the more efficient you are the more you consume so we as human beings tend to be greedy in terms of we just want to continue to live in like larger houses


we want to continue to have a better cars we always want to stay updated, and with the best items and, so for example cars and the consumption uh the consumption of uh gas gasoline uh it just continues to increase uh over and over as as as we continue to have economic growth which then impacts our environment


and renewable renewable energy which produces less net energy because it has a lower energy return on investment than fossil fuels for this and other reasons it cannot satisfy the current levels of energy consumption and it needs to be reduced


uh given the current state most of the world's fossil fuel reserves they must be actually left in the ground they must be unburned and they must be uh kept at a global temperature of not more than two degree celsius, as such actually fossil fuels should be like unburnable fuels but that is not how it is today instead we have fossil fuels producing large quantities of carbon dioxide when they are burned and these carbon emissions they trap heat in the atmosphere and they lead to climate change


and as such like science actually brings bad news to us and an article which is published in uh nature sustainability it argues that no country in the world meets the basic needs of its citizens, at a globally sustainable level of resource use so having said that the uncomfortable truth to be faced by policymakers is that economic growth is not environmentally is uh is environmentally unsustainable


okay so in terms of whatever Dhurga mentioned it was uh it was definitely something that uh it was a good point, but what I would like to ask is that how would those uh low-income countries take on this kind of


uh initiatives when they already are facing problems in terms of maybe manpower and their means to education and to conduct such , research to conduct such uh efforts in being environmentally friendly and also uh allowing businesses to face economic growth would


uh only be possible if maybe let's say higher-income countries helped to subsidise in some way for them to take these efforts properly, and uh on a global level at the end of the day we can't say that just cause certain countries even in those certain countries where they have the means and resources it really depends on these policymakers mindsets at the end of the day how they choose to look at it and then if you


if if there's already a loophole in there and there's also a loophole in terms of the low-income uh countries where they don't even have those means it becomes an entire situation where you can't say that environmental concerns and economic growth can co-exist peacefully


okay so my stand with this debate topic is that it is indeed possible to protect the environment when many countries do require the increasing amounts of energy to progress so


the first thing I would like to say is that the impact of uh the impact of this technology on the environment has included the misuse and damage of our natural earth, the technologies that have damage it uh that have damaged our world it's uh we can split it in two main ways pollution and the depletion of natural resources when it comes to pollution there's air and water pollution so in terms of


the main source uh that relates to all these technologies has emerged from the industrial revolution of the burning of fossil fuels factories power stations mass agriculture and vehicles, the consequences of air pollution that have derived from these it includes negative health impacts for humans and animals and also leads to global warming


whereby there is an increase amount of greenhouse gases and which affects the earth's atmosphere and causes the global temperature to rise water pollution on the other hand is when the water bodies are contaminated either the lakes rivers oceans and so on


uh specific example is the release of inadequately treated wastewater into natural water bodies which can lead to the degrade uh , degradation of uh aquatic ecosystems and other detrimental effects includes diseases such as typhoid and the destruction of ecosystems which negatively then affects the food chain in terms of uh depletion of natural resources


it's a negative impact of, the technology on the environment whereby there are several types of resource depletion with the the most severe of it being deforestation mining for diesel fossil fuels and minerals contamination of uh resources soil erosion and the over consumption of resources


these mainly occur as a result of agriculture mining water usage and our consumption of fossil fuels all of which have been enabled by the advancements of technology, so in in that case we've got like you know plastic choking our oceans we've got greenhouse gases warming our planet and air pollution poisoning our every breath we could go on about uh the


problems that come about uh but the main idea is that the earth is in trouble and that means that we are in trouble as well so, I would say that , I would say that uh in terms of protecting the environment when countries


require the country's requiring increasing amounts of energy to progress uh protecting our environment doesn't really , doesn't really may not really stand as much of a chance when these are happening err but the thing about this is that


the thing about this is that we should continue to put in the efforts to do so despite uh, despite the countries, requiring this kind of amounts of energy to progress


yup Dhurga please,


okay so that that was a very good argument by Dhurga the uh so I will come to my point because I wasn't talking about my point earlier so a a reason I believe, that protecting the environment and uh like economic


progress it's it's possible even though countries do require increasing amounts of energy today, is because of the increase in environmental awareness that we have and the desires to protect the environment so


whether it is for like a a reason a national level or or for a self-interest so an example would be in the according to the USA environmental agency where they say that today thirty percent of paper and plastic waste in the USA is being recycled


uh despite the fact that recycling is often like a low-profit margin business and it requires government subsidies to operate uh a thirty per cent recycling rate is indeed an achievement and , that, uh it shows that a government


one can, push for both progress and environmental protection at the same time with uh enough political will to do so also in terms of , uh, twenty two thousand eight uh when the olympic was concluded beijing went to reimpose their car quotas because it was in its interest to reduce the pollution levels to protect people's health and to attract the tourists and investors


when it comes to the self-interest or uh on a national uh interest level more than ever uh leading to green decisions being made which protect the environment or uh instinctive uh they


which may , sorry, so when these countries take green decisions to protect the environment it isn't just in their will to do so and they are able to, still take on these efforts despite having to use energy uh despite having to use a lot of energy because there is also the case of having renewable energy sources now as uh


Dhurga also mentioned the so, with such uh other forms of energy as well the it it really still depends on our own consciousness and our own , uh shift that we are taking in terms of environmental protection


and uh this is also possible even in the case where businesses want to maximise their profits because now uh a lot of companies have been uh uh making green products and they have started to sponsor uh many green movements


so for example we have companies such as uh Toyota and Honda, which have taken advantage of such a change in even in consumers preferences, to be environmentally friendly they create smaller cleaner cars and hydro electric cars


so which leads them to some sort of a progress and it it it's still turns profits for them while protecting the environment at the same time , it also is uh sort of a a trend for companies to appear green and that uh wall street research firm has a concluded in twenty O eight that green corporate citizenship it adds profits to a company's balance sheet


so this this explains why uh this well known companies they have been uh sponsoring environmental uh reform projects and they have been taking on uh green methods in terms of their own manufacturing


and uh it is it it it just uh goes to say that when companies take this kind of uh desire, for profit as well as to be environmentally friendly at the same time the it is possible for uh uh an environmentally sustainable growth of businesses


uh in the near future because it is currently already happening now


part one debate topic one


, okay good start now is it, okay


okay so anything to be art but not art is equal, so what do you think


okay, okay


okay, so (ppc) just because it is expensive do you think it has value to it to me art is something entirely different in a sense that it's not just about the monetary value that makes it valuable


and yes not all art is uh of equal value and not just because of monetary but some of some show us histories some show us about you know, (ppc) things that are not present now or maybe something extract that shows emotions to it


some sceneries you know not all art is just about you know money it's more more than that dude, but okay you say that uh modern art is not known or what but that is not the point of being known it's more of it being uh appreciated


because if everything is just money then I don't think that really uh that really is a spirit of art in a sense (ppc), okay so other than mona lisa what do you think is something okay what is an expression of art to you


(hmm)


okay


, okay for okay nice looking female okay lah art shouldn't just be pleasing to the eyes it will be should be uh thing that is challenging to the person like okay maybe it invoke an emotion that uh is not being is not


available, through other forms maybe they can show despair or maybe some it's just uh a scribble of it but that is art also, it's not just about uh what it shows but so what it doesn't show


but that does that make it less valuable I don't think SO, okay


(mmhmm) picasso yes


it's alright uh it was physical and emotional uh psychological factors that affect his art one of it was caused by depression


ya


okay maybe it's not as because we are not as exposed to the modern art so other than to the older generations


because okay if we had we learnt this through you know all all sort of forms but for modern arts we we have no chance be exposed to it cause there is too many of it, let's say online you can just click something can find everything in the world but then do we have the time to really appreciate any of it


see there's that's the point cause we are not able to, so do you


(ppc), okay speaking about okay arts right music is also cause is technically considered arts so what what do you think about that, ah music


yes but, okay but that depends on who you asked if you asked the older generation yes maybe they will say that okay the older age music is better but if you asked the current generation most of it but some don't even know who's mozart so what


so how does that fit what you said


I, that's my point exactly we are not exposed so how does that show that older generation do things better or know which is worse


(ppc), yes uh but then if you you asked the correct audience they will always say that that is the best but we will always have uh you know conflicting answers from people


because there is no way for you to to exactly say what is valuable and how is it why it is more valuable than that, cause it's all part of preference you know some people may like uh contemporary some some will like classical some may like you know but at the end of the day


it's what you like so to say that it's not equal value it's plausible lah,


okay, okay, (mmhmm)


okay, yes


yes, okay, okay for that it's also based on your uh platform okay because the platform on the one I listen to confirm will go with that but how about other platforms like radios or what how do they define which is more valuable


, yes because that is their target audience ah that's the thing that is their target audience that's why they have to play what is pleasing to their target audience but


the whole pool does not include just them it's more than that there is those that appreciate that doesn’t even appreciate that radio due to the you uh music that they play that that maybe they like something else like you know


yes yes exactly


that's why that may that’s make it that's the thing that make it equal in a sense there will you will always find someone that likes and doesn't like certain things so in a sense that everything there is uh you know


someone that prefers it and also someone that hates it so in a sense all of it is all same value in that sense, don't you agree


yes, are you okay, okay but then uh how do you make it how do you define that it is uh not of equal value then in that sense


okay


the ranking, yes


yes because that is not the in thing the trend did the you know the the in thing at the moment, but then that doesn't mean that nobody still listens to that there's still you know a large target audience that still taps in that that enjoyment in a sense


okay, okay but then where where did you did you get this data from Spotify Youtube , , how about those that listen to you know traditional music forms of like C Ds or you know all those old school


so how do you track those that, ,


ya


okay shall we conclude that, stop the app


part two debate topic two


okay (ppc)


(ppc), okay


K, ya but it is just an escape rather than you know there is nothing more to it okay the one that you described does does it have any value in a sense that (um ) any values that you can learn from okay let's say game of thrones, what does I mean it in a sense what does it prove or what does it give you (ppc) other than entertainment


what values do you see from that , okay


okay but then, yes okay, (uh huh),


okay, but then how get back to the question how does that offer anything more than escape from reality then, the


(ppc), yes that is correct okay


okay sorry sorry to interrupt, yes ah but that just proved the point that escape from reality sells but it doesn't show that there's anything more to it than that


yes but but then how does that offer anything more than an escape cause all your points point pointed that okay maybe this is a good escape this is good in a sense that you forget so it makes you forget like you know


for, at the moment lah so you can you are immersed in this universe where you are not you but you are in you are in the shoes of the character so it gives an escape so what more does it offer other than that


okay maybe other forms okay, okay


K as in film yes, in what sense


okay, okay


okay sorry you just go ahead I’m listening, I just need


actually most love it there is the appeal to it in the escape from reality that is the main thing but okay other that maybe we can debate on morality maybe we can debate that you know it shows goodness always win


but then does that work in the real world no it doesn't it doesn't always you know, does not show that there is the case so in a sense you watch that just to escape but then other than okay morality what else do you think it offers what other values


because okay talking about values, okay maybe for us we believe in that set of values but there are also groups that have live in an entire completely different set of values but does that make it any different I mean does that make it does that make them wrong


I don't think so, (mmhmm), okay


what is popular, , okay


okay, harry potter okay


(ppc) okay so, okay so what what problems does that try to tackle what issues should they bring up in a sense inequality or maybe power or like


okay, okay muggles it's basically uh it's basically uh what do you call it ah it's a slur


okay scary, okay


(mmhmm), okay


okay, (ppc), so other than that what other fantasy films really is and more an escape from reality than the one that you described and how so


okay for me I I believe that , what is it at the end of the day is an escape K dude K you say that uh it will result in some issues and also that you know we deserve some issues about culture about ah how how do I say this


society in general but then how they tackle it's still something that is not realistic in a sense where, (ppc) they always show by doing the right thing everything just goes away but in real life it doesn't happen like that so in a sense to me it's just an escape


cause (ppc) in that situation where everything is ideal, you can just do something and okay happily ever after that's all but in the real world there is still the aftermath to settle with so, it doesn't really show uh okay doesn't really help or actually solve any issues that's going up by your turn


what do you think, (ppc), (mmhmm)


yes exactly cause it's just an escape (, (ppc)


okay X men


no actually at one point uh the mutants were exterminated and also culled by the humans uh genocide so how is that so in that sense how is that any better


okay magneto yes because of his past


xavier, so basically he's like a martin luther king


segregation,


yes, (uh huh)


(ppc)


okay, okay


okay so I simulate a scenario (uh huh) so a scenario that maybe sorry so you are saying that this could be used as a scenario that would help, solve some issues instead your opinion in a sense


is that what you're trying to say, so to uh simulate uh a scenario where segregation or okay maybe uh how do I go there,


something about being different is bad know know that that is a theme we have nowadays right, so how does that in a sense help offer more than an escape, okay because if you look to it okay doing good doing that yes of course it is a good it's a very good thing but how does that


uh how do I say how does that uh solve the problem how does that go to their underlying problem that they are trying to you know, uh make how do I say spice it up so people will be engaged other than that, cause they will only use those uh in a sense popular opinions in a


other than you know logical, it's okay it's


, (uh huh)


okay so any other than other than harry potter and X men, okay let's say we are okay we talk about something else uh make it some other films


or maybe books, (uh huh) percy jackson ah, okay so it's good versus evil so I mean other than that are there other themes do you have other themes that are good and evil that kind of you know


because ah what we've been discussing all all these time is just about the fight between good and evil how about, and ya the you know problems that, or you want to put about


okay (ppc) how about how fantasy, does not really respond well to to the problem but rather than uh dramatising it for the audience cause


my sense fantasy that indicate that is the that is one of the, who's that, but one of the purpose of it, sorry again


uh sorry I mean (ppc) uh how does fantasy groups what does not who offers more than you know an escape, other than you know it being good and evils than other than other than that theme


okay


so basically to emulate how the ancient uh civilisation and and all okay, okay, so we stop


part three debate topic three, okay should


, (ppc), okay the art initiative should focus more local talents rather than foreign talents, okay your point (ppc) or should I start ya okay you start first


but their lifestyle, (ppc)


(ppc), okay so may I, okay I concur I believe that there is a need to not just focus on the local talent because ah foreign talent brings up more ideas more you know exposure to the world that we are not able to


uh received from just local talents okay they have different values different ideas different you know all of these different types of things how they tackle things different so in a sense, we need more of both local and foreign but then foreign that of course will (ppc) open us up to the world like how things are overseas and all which is something local influence may not be able to give us


so in a sense that no we shouldn't just focus on local talent the focus should be on the broad broad you know uh spectrum of not accepting everything rather than just what we are comfortable with


so your point


(ppc)


okay okay, okay, okay


(ppc) yes exactly okay so my point is the diversity the diversity would help rather than you know being the same old thing, there should be more diverse in the sense where you can appreciate everything rather than just what is accepted on your local uh you know in a local setting


okay something like uh Marina Bay Sands, K if you were to follow our traditional setting that is not something that is uh how do I say, that will not be something local in a sense but it becomes an our our icon now so in a sense why should we just focus on local


okay, sorry


okay, (ppc)


okay, why not


ya but the thing is uh (ppc) globalisation makes us exposed to everything so our influences is also exposed so there is ah, okay influences are something that we are not able to escape from let's say for now okay american culture and all that the western culture


cause before this we are more traditional more you know close but now before this influence, before this influence, it because it grow also in a sense where we don't just rely on just one system of belief


or we (ppc) and and you challenge the norm, popular


exactly, so does it does that just prove my point


ideas desserts, exactly


basically that yes that is the idea of it


for us to be more inclusive for us to be you know able to tackle issues of the world through through other you know other ways rather than just what you are used to, cause that is how we grow as a country and also as a person for us to be exposed and then learning from that how they deal with it K maybe an art form


is also one way how they express all their issues also, it's also that ideas that they brought in the difference in it how they tackle everything, so in a sense (ppc) we should also focus more on we should also focus on foreign talents in a sense


ah yes diversify


okay, different (ppc)


okay, okay let's K let's


(ppc)


okay example of that would be japan see how does that work for them first low birth rate also uh an ageing population, because of the focus on you know local and being inclusive sorry exclusive only to to them so


that that's an example that uh that shows that you know you cannot just focus on one local talent should diversify and accept, cause, for them it's more of uh I think japan is always first and everything


so, how does that work in our society if that is the point that you're going to know bring, okay, cause in a sense would be sorry sorry in a sense we are similar we are an ageing population


and also we are closed but not as closed as them so if we are going in that direction towards like how they are we will face more problems, your point


(mmhmm), (ppc), yes but then sorry but then how are they how are we going to approach it that in the future with the current you know uh ageing population because of


because of okay sorry go ahead first


okay


okay, okay but then for arts it's okay (ppc), you say that it is a work culture yes but also art derive its equation from more than that in a sense that


some is from being different some of it feel you know uh challenges, but not just traditions in a sense but then also something that is not local may bring about more variety in a sense that local may not be able to


so how does that (ppc) how does that help us in a sense, spell, that, ya like why why should we focus on you know something that is uh


we are used to, because something different when a better understanding of it in my our opinion


okay let's okay, okay anime


okay, okay


yes but then also uh ( okay for anime right okay for anime there is uh outside influence like you know U S and everything it's not just about know japan culture


okay Naruto (uh huh),


what does that have to do , okay ninjas, (uh huh) okay


okay (ppc) okay in that sense so how how about we put in the topic to a different example, so okay other than japan, what other countries like focus more on their own culture rather than you know outside influences in your opinion


so as in other okay other than japan or other than you know, K new zealand how so


okay, facial okay


face tattoo, okay, okay, okay the haka ok


unique green new zealand right, okay culture


of course


okay, okay, trailers I have no point against that but


(ppc) I still believe that you know some okay may maybe we not we shouldn't just focus mainly on foreign talent but partly on it also , for the ideas and difference that it will provide us in a sense because for us to rely solely on local talent it is not uh sustainable in a sense also cause there won't


there won't be much of a uh different direction and also that concludes my okay


, !wah!, part one debate topic one


oh okay, so for the topic that we are going to be discussing it's about uh arts and the value lah, ,


okay for me I would say firstly I would say that we are surrounded by arts lah we cannot run away from it and every everywhere that you go everything that you see is inspired by a an art form or design basically


but we will all agree that not all art is of equal value lah because why because they're not all not all arts have similar impact in our lives in our society, okay firstly is I would say for example I will give you uh paintings of the older older times like for example mona lisa is an important or it's a quite a famous painting that all of us know


and if you were to compare it to uh current uh paintings or current uh arts like for example abstract art which we which we would not have, which doesn't influence the society as much as compared to older older form of uh art forms like paintings sculptures and uh architecture


so it it makes sense because why because based we have to look at it uh based at uh on pricing or cost, the painting for mona lisa is uh forty years ago it was at it was estimated to be at around hundred million dollars and if you to consider inflation it will definitely be much more lah


and if you were to ask anyone uh uh in the in public in general public they the first thing that they would think about when they are talking about art, is basically older older painting they I don't think anyone is they would


I don't think anyone that you know or the general public would have any idea about the current arts or the current paintings that are currently in the market right now, unless of course you are a art collector lah and then even so even so art collectors they are prefer to collect arts uh paintings sculptures or anything which have


have value and these uh usually these form of art forms are the older older older art forms lah, K , so my first point is okay I have, yup


oh okay so uh mona lisa is just an example of a famous painting there are also other paintings by famous artists like uh uh picasso uh da vinci, and also famous sculptures uh of of course you would know this sculpture called david it's by if I'm not wrong it's by michelangelo okay so this


this kind of art forms if if you to see quality wise okay if you compare it to contemporary arts lah for example there's no question


okay so uh if you were to compare older arts and contemporary arts that you you can see right now, quality wise uh there's no question that uh the quality is definitely of a lower quality lah if you were to look at modern arts uh okay for example there there is this painting there's this printing called the white painting


okay it it it fetched a value of fifty million dollars but it's just a piece of white on canvas and of course it it was a controversial uh time when uh when the art was sold for that much amount because everyone can see that it's


is not of high quality or it's not of as memorable or as you know as uh aesthetically pleasing as compared to older arts, so the idea that contemporary arts are not appreciated is the reason is it's because of this uh kind of art being of lower quality and not as nice looking as uh older art forms lah


okay if you were to look at uh reaching to a broader audience lah if you were to give those two uh paintings that I just mentioned which is the mona lisa and the white painting, they call it the white painting because it's white uh if you were to give someone a choice which one would they prefer to keep inside their household or wherever I would think it's safe to say that uh almost everyone would rather


keep the mona lisa painting because it's it's of it's, uh is of higher value and it's of a higher value because of the detail and the quality that da vinci had put into to paint that uh painting


cause we can we can look at other other forms of art forms we we uh the mona lisa painting was during the renaissance era lah during the uh italian, uh art scene but if you were to look at uh much more modern uh form of paintings like the like the ones done by picasso it's


yes so this this uh his uh method or his style it's quite similar to abstract arts lah, and because as you can see from uh when he gets older and uh when he gets older his uh form of painting uh is affected by his physical ability to paint the art so you can


uh yes so picasso was uh uh was but widely known for his uh depression lah he he


there was a uh there was one of the paintings where I think a few of his paintings where he actually took uh psychedelic drugs to help with his painting, and you can you can see it in in the art form in in the product and if you were to compare it to current art by current uh artist


uh there is the the story behind it it's not as it's not as uh appealing it's not as , uh as memorable,


(ppc)


, okay uh, okay, okay so uh I would agree that the general audience or the general public would not have that opportunity to appreciate uh contemporary arts because they are not exposed to it and because there is no awareness that uh has been brought up uh with this uh art forms lah


and there's also the reason why that happens because, no one likes to uh no one appreciates uh uh contemporary arts because of the quality that they see from uh the product of these ah artists


and if an, uh what is considered art, music okay okay so uh I think we uh delve too much into painting okay so let's uh focus in music okay okay so if you were to ask anyone or uh ourselves lah basically


if you were to compare if you were to ask the opinion or the opinions of the general public, ah they would say that uh older forms of music is much more captivating it's much more nicer I would say compared to current uh


uh apa ni music lah the


okay so uh the reason why people uh don't listen to classical music it's because of uh firstly it's because of lifestyle and because classical music doesn't fit into their lifestyle of being, uh busy being uh packed with uh activities cause classical music takes time to appreciate it takes


it takes uh ya so, yup so it uh comes back to my point where not all art is of equal value because if you were to compare uh classical music and to current contemporary music


the the uh value that the public put into will not be the same ya, people would uh at first uh put into more value with uh depending on who you are asking uh they will put more value on maybe contemporary music because they are able to appreciate the the music itself


so if you were to look at it be it music be it , uh any any form of art lah uh it's there is no uh there's no way that all these form of arts will be of equal value because the general consensus is that


uh more value will be put into one rather than the other


uh ya so I think I think that basically sums up where ya there's no possible way that any I mean arts to be of equal value lah because people have different opinions people have different tastes


and uh like if you were to look at it okay if you to focus on music okay, you will notice that there is a like a top top hundred or top ten uh current musics top hits okay so if you were to look at the number one and maybe at the number hundred of of that ranking


there is a big difference in value so these two music or these two songs are will not be of equal value based on the ranking itself where the the top, the number one hit song will definitely be uh listened to a more wider audience and then appreciated by more people then compared to uh the number hundred that uh will be listen by lesser or maybe appreciated by lesser people


okay so if you don't if you don't look at radios okay uh how they work is they gather feedback from listeners and gather uh, ya


yup so so, okay so if you were to look at radios and uh okay there are different different channels different different uh radios lah like that focuses on different genres or different uh forms of music


for example classical uh pop rock so there's this different platforms where if I were to if someone were to put uh be a fan of pop music they will listen to the pop radio channel, so they they will not they will not want to listen to classical music because because because they don't find value in listening in classical music


so a fan of classical music would would listen to a classical music radio channel because they don't find value in listening to pop music


uh if you do to look if you were to look at it that way where there is uh a group of people that appreciate a form of music then I will say that okay then then that is of equal value for everyone but


if you were to look at as a whole like in in the world or the world population, okay it it uh I would define it as not as equal value because okay if you were to uh focus on topic of uh musics lah


uh the first evidence is the basically the uh, yes the ranking like if you to look into Spotify okay top hundred hits there is no classical music there because generally people have no value or they they don't find value in listening to classical music so


, , yup


yup uh ya definitely there would be a a a group of uh classical music listeners but if you don't look at it size wise there is not much, if you were to compare it to pop music listeners ya you'd


ah definitely there are different platforms lah for this kind of uh for uh niche the niche market that they will be able to know to find , uh numbers that supports the the idea that uh this form of uh this genre of music is still being listened to but you have to look at it size wise


it's definitely not going to be as much as compared to uh the much more popular genres of music so okay so we left with five seconds ah


ah


part two debate topic two, okay, uh okay so for this topic we will uh talking about whether fantasy books and films offer anything more than an an escape from reality


K so if if you were to look at how uh how fantasy books or film exist it's because of firstly because they want it to be to move away from, the current society or current uh place that we live in in in this world where generally when we're talking about fantasy books if you to look at uh


older authors lah such as uh tolkien or the author that uh like percy percy jackson, K if uh and also uh game of thrones K so these uh books and films they they are more towards medieval times medieval era where


uh K say, so for game of thrones uh I I don't watch game of thrones can we let let's focus on lord of the rings okay it's a it's a famous uh famous trilogy lah famous uh movie


okay so uh lord of the rings it's it's made by this author called J R R tolkien it's a he's a quite a famous author lah so he actually created this a lord of the rings


lord of the rings universe it is quite an expansive expansive universe where they have their own culture they have their own languages they have their own uh, technology they have their own it's basically he created a new world a new a new world away from reality


K so if you were to and and in that book or in that universe did he have created at least fifteen languages he created his own fifteen for the characters in his books to uh converse in so if you were to look at it okay uh if you to


okay uh so so you you need to look at it uh in a more, uh err


different in a different perspective because if uh if someone were to uh read his books or to watch the uh adapted films they would be able to appreciate the the, the detail and also the the planning and also the the way this uh universe has been executed in the books in the films and for this okay you need to have a


you need to have a good understanding of the human psychology you need to have a good understanding of how society works in general because if, tolkien he's actually a he's actually a quite uh highly educated person uh where ya so if you're to able to appreciate his artwork you will be able to see that the detail or the


the planning they have put into uh writing his books is the reason why this book has been so quite this his his book has been quite successful where they have adapted it into a film okay


okay so ah when it comes to fantasy books and films lah okay you get the the general idea is that it needs to be different from the world or the uh reality that we live in


okay so if you were to look at other other uh other fantasy other fantasy films lah for example uh narnia okay


narnia is uh if you were to look if you to have watched the film or if to read somewhere about it narnia the book I mean the movie I'm not sure whether it's a book, okay let's just say that it's a film uh okay it is heavily influenced on christianity the topics discussed and the characters inside the film is based on the bible and the characters in the bible


so it's not it's not, okay, okay so uh if you were to watch the films lah you will know that the characters inside the films are based on the characters inside the bible


so it's not far it's not uh it's it's that uh the film have uh I mean uh what what the film offers is the moral uh understanding of being a character in


okay, okay uh being a character in the film and also being a character in the bible where they have they they they are they are they will be facing a lot of challenges they will be facing a lot of conundrums moral conundrums uh based on the decisions that they make


so so if you don't if you say that fantasy films are an escape from reality it's it it doesn't apply to all I will say to to all fantasy films


morals based on what what we uh no uh what what what we are facing in the real society right now


and it provides a different insight a different perspective to how we make our decisions if if you were to follow it closely based on uh the film or the book itself okay for for example err one famous fantasy


theme I mean uh uh films or books is harry potter okay, K so harry potter they are able to put the normal society and also the magic society together in one uh J K rowling are are able to to put these two different


different universe into one one universe,


okay ah so uh if you were to if you were to read or watch the films ah you would see that these two the muggles and the wizards they are living


okay so okay so ya lah I mean I mean that that's what the wizarding world uh uh calls this uh the human the normal regular humans lah, okay so you can see that these two universe uh these two society are separated because they they find it hard for them to uh work together to live harmoniously together as one because the regular humans okay they they find


they find the the the people with uh magic the the wizarding world are a of a threat of a threat to them because they are not able to of uh of course they are not able to defend if let's say if someone were to use magic upon them so you can see that


this is actually not and not so much far from reality as you can see from this current climate right right now where, uh people have nationalistic values people are opposing free immigration because they see that they are of different culture and of different understanding and


they they think that they are not able to uh I mean people coming in are not able to assimilate to the culture that they are coming into so this is is not, okay so this is not different or this not far from fantasy films uh I mean uh far from harry potter universe


uh so for yourself do you have any uh points that you want to bring up


uh okay so if you were to mention about uh using the methods that uh this film for books uses to tackle our real world issues, obviously it will not have the same impact because of the uh the outcome would be I mean the outcome will different but but but but they they will be able to provide a different insight or different perspective to with it how how do you want to approach


uh solving the problem okay if you were to look at err okay X men X men X men have uh quite a popular topic where, uh the X uh the mutants and the humans are not able to work together which is a similar concept


uh of harry potter lah okay so how they use this I mean how how they how they solve this issue is by actually allowing these uh mutants to join the human society given


yup that that that is that is uh I mean that is correct lah, uh I mean uh that wait


okay so the if you to look at the uh films okay the reason why the humans are are are not wanting the mutants to join because of the threat that they uh give to the humans themselves


okay if you look at uh one of the characters magneto he has this ya he he wanted to I mean take over or uh control the uh human society by using his powers but


his friend uh siapa uh the professor X okay he have different uh ideas he wanted he he wanted, ya he wanted the mutants to work together and work together with humans because he doesn't want uh mutants to be hunted down he doesn't want mutants to be uh out casted


so one of one one of the ways that he used one of the methods that he used is by showing the humans that they are not a threat they are able to you know work together , and they are able to use their powers for for for good


of course if you were to look at uh films they they need plot I mean they need uh plot progression like for example the the magneto, how how he wants to rule the world as as a form to engage the audience but if you were to look at it like in how how uh how what are the methods that they used to


to be the same or they are not not not so much different compared to the uh apa ni to the human


humans the regular humans, so we can use these you can use this method, uh for, okay we can use this method to uh help assimilate maybe foreigners into foreigners into the


okay it's , uh yes, yes


, okay so uh, so the the common theme that we can find in uh X men or harry potter is that they are not able to uh work together as different societies so you can look at it this way where


uh in the current world like people are facing racism people are facing bigotry they are not able to uh join the regular society to be a uh, contributing to the society because of their differences and if you were to use ah if you were to use the fantasy films or books as a reference or on how they tackle this issue you can see that


uh almost all of them uh use the method of being more opened being more understanding being more uh aware of the the differences in in culture in society so if you to apply


okay okay one one famous fantasy film is percy jackson okay so percy jackson focus uh is heavily influenced by mythology lah the greek mythology


, oh uh


so uh what are the points that you want to talk about


uh, ya okay so uh what what's the point ah


okay, okay so uh one of the common theme in uh in uh older fantasy books if they are focused on ancient times ancient times okay


so these books allow the audience or the readers to have a better insight or better understanding on on how, the ancient society or the older society works uh on and how they (uh


part three debate topic three


ah okay so for, for this one we'll be talking about, whether uh we should, yes, (ppc)


okay so, uh, okay so uh if you were to look at uh arts or the art society in different different uh nations or different different societies, the arts that they you can find or the artist that you can find in


in the country itself are heavily influenced by their culture by their religion by by the society lah, so if by their lifestyle by their basically by who they are so who they are will influence how the art form will be produced or how they


they achieve that form of art so if you were to we uh we should focus more on local talent because they are able to provide us with uh, insight into how the country basically singapore uh uh uh uh uh the way it is


so you can find the influence by the the in the arts is influenced by how singapore is, so if you were to bring in foreign talents to to help uh I mean if you to focus more on foreign talent they will not have a good understanding or they will not be able to replicate replicate


uh how they are feeling or how they are how singapore is lah, ,


okay so ya I agree that we should uh have a wider wider reach to uh artists whether be it local or foreign artists because


we we all agree that the arts scene in singapore is not as established is not as uh it's not as well known as compared to arts from our neighbouring countries or from other countries , but the reason why their art form is appreciated it's because they are different from other countries for example


uh okay one one famous art I mean uh art form is architecture architecture is heavily influenced by the society heavily influenced by culture heavily influenced by , uh religion so if you were to if you were to visit okay if you were to visit some country like for example turkey


turkey the architecture will be different from someone in australia so so so if we were to


okay so why I why I mentioned we should focus on local it's because of the influence by society okay if you were to look uh for someone who is looking for


uh okay uh uh tourist for example they will not they will not want you can stop saying okay they will they will not want to uh to visit a country where, all the uh art forms are similar as to a different country from across the


ok sure, okay uh okay they would they would want to see something different as compared to where they are from if if I were to be from singapore and I were to visit maybe uh russia


I will I will not want to see a singaporean influenced society in russia because I want I want to see something we we want to see something different as compared to where we are usually exposed to because


okay so if you were to say it that way the reason why uh western culture is uh uh popular in our country it's because it is different from what we are exposed to so so ya lah I mean that


okay so okay no because because we want something different if you were to look at uh western culture do they want to be exposed to something similar obviously not they want something different they want a different different culture or different ya different


ya so if you were to focus on foreign talents in Singapore, you will we providing them with the same things that they are exposed to where we we will not be able to provide them with , uh local uh uh influences or local


uh ideas that perhaps they are looking forward to they are looking forward to appreciating and if you were to bring in the foreign talents into singapore okay uh they will bring with their with them their own understanding their own


uh their own methodologies ideologies


okay so uh like you mentioned that uh we should be more that uh we should diversify about our understanding of uh of the uh apa ni the society


okay it it it has there is no way for us to escape from that because of globalisation lah ya basically people are getting more closer to each other and their through the use of internet they will be able to access to different


studies different err different ideologies different from other countries from far away so if you were to say that , of of course we we we will not be able to escape from this because of technology because of the current climate lah


so so if if if you were to bring in foreign talents it will further dilute our our culture further dilute our our society , uh as a whole because of uh globalisation basically cause if wewe we will will not put our own twist to it our our our own


okay so if you were to look at japan as an example why why why kut habis , ah


okay so if you were to use japan as an example okay for someone to want to visit or to understand more of japanese culture, they want to have an authentic experience about it they want to have a true to source uh experience about japanese culture about uh the the japanese society so if if you


!huh!, uh okay so so like I mentioned earlier uh people would want to have an authentic experience for the japanese culture the the japan society


okay they they want to go to japan to experience japan they would not they they they I don't think they uh I mean any tourist or travelers they want to go to japan to experience , germany ya because they want to make sure that whatever that they're going through there or what whatever they're going to experience there is


is uh the authentic japan that they are looking forward to so if you were to if you have to visit japan for example okay, uh their architecture their their art forms are heavily influenced by their own culture


and that is why that is why it is very widely appreciated because it's something different as compared to whatever that, the the others are more exposed to (ppc) because they are able to learn from it they are able to have a better understanding of how it works of how the society work of how the arts in their society are I mean are influenced by their own culture by their own


community


what do you mean by help


uh okay so okay uh if you were to look at uh japanese culture okay okay one of one of the common I mean uh popular is uh if you were to be a fan of anime okay


it's the the samurai the ninjas okay you will not be able to find it in other countries okay so anime itself is an art form, where they are they are introducing japanese culture into their uh into the uh into their apa ni into their books into their films


into into into into their arts lah the the japanese arts so if


, ya I mean ya it's I agree that there is uh outside influence because there is no way for us to escape from outside influence so but the idea is that they focus more on their own local cultures rather than you know focusing on uh


uh canadian culture or mexican culture they are focused they focused on more on towards uh japanese culture while also infusing outside uh influences into their art forms , this this allows the art forms to be more widely appreciated to be more widely uh they are able to reach out to a broader audience by infusing different different cultures into their


uh film into to their books but the main concept of it is basically japanese culture if you have to look at uh one of the famous anime Naruto I I had I have I uh am not a fan of Naruto but, I know that it is something to do with uh what uh like fight fight lah like fighting styles okay japanese fighting styles okay it's different


as compared to you were to look ah ninjas okay ninjas you will not be able to find ninjas in uh where, in england or france as you can see this it's it's the because they focus on their own locally breed uh ideas their own locally breed cultures like ninjas and people love it because it is different from what they are exposed to


did naruto will not be will not be as famous or will not be as widely regarded if they were to be of similar or, uh is common common identity like Naruto have for example ninjas because it is their own japanese culture


oh okay so uh, okay new zealand this is new zealand their own ancient identity it's very strong and it's very they well built lah their foundation it's is is good if you were to if


if you were to look at uh if you were to uh visit new zealand or if you were to have met a uh a new zealander you will be able to recognise them straight away because of their own, because their own upbringing because of their culture that they have brought into the world okay because they their arts that for example the haka


the the maori face tattoo okay it is very can stop


yes if if you to infuse it with foreign talents and foreign cultures, will it be the same it will not be the same will it be as quite will it be as uh widely regarded nope so that is why it's important for us in our society to focus on our local talents because they're able to bring forward


our own personal culture to it our own personal upbringing our own personal ideas into the world rather than incorporating many many ideas from outside to show you know talents lah


time's up part, one debate topic, one


okay so, uh I am Danisha I'm on the opposition party so for my case I will have to disagree with what you mention you said that uh humility is basically the quality of having modest or low view of one's importance


and that is a desirable trait for me I will say that I disagree with that term because in current times especially during this pan, demic uh, there are cases of people getting retrenched so I will uh use this maslow hierarchy of needs where they have five different levels


uh they call it the self actualisation which is all do at the top and that is something that they will be able to achieve once they are ready achieve those at the bottom so when we look at it uh from the top there's self actualisation esteem needs belongingness and love


safety and physiological needs so from my point with the current pandemic people are not able to have that sense of security and safety so I would say that humility is not desirable in the current times maybe in the future but currently not as yet


because uh they don't have uh that security feeling of wanting to, do something on ah for others to be ah able to understand other people position when they themselves are not able to meet their needs


so in this case where people are having retrenchments and they are trying to find ways to survive for them and their families so only for them they don't care about other people's cases uh that is my point ya


but uh for me because I found that ah in the current , pandemic if you realise a lot of singaporeans are focusing on themselves uh maybe from your point you say that it's about the egoistic at the top shouldn't help the bottom and all that but personally what I see is that uh when we see that people with a different social economy uh social uh


financial status such as those from the low financial status right this kind of people usually requires that assistant and they would desire humility , but those who are more well to do uh tend to be a little selfish for I wouldn say they will be a little selfish like what you say egoistic right because


I found that actually , there is this term called false humility where, by they deceive themselves by avoiding truth uh and I quote this actually from the book how to find selfless joy in a me first world by leslie verdict using this stump


uh it's actually to say that human nature is to put ourselves first because it's our survival instincts and, like I said earlier because of this pandemic and there's a retrenchment uh face a lot of people are losing their financial income so ah they're trying to find ways to support themselves first before they can put this uh


conscious effort of becoming uh to have humility towards other people so if they cannot survive themselves then uh, they are unable to help others survive also you get uh the idea


you have anything to say about that


touching on that right I do have a certain views where there are people, who focus on themselves and they said uh that they are, uh they want to help others I not saying any specific person but there are people who are


uh very well to do but they do not put in the effort to, put humility in themselves whereby they actually make donations to support those indeed so this kind of people are the ones that ah I would say that ah I disagree that in the current times uh humility is not desired


well and I would say maybe it's because in the context of those who are well to do with very uh stable financial income of uh or maybe are slightly more uh better than average these are the people that


don't desire humility in themselves but those uh of the lower income would desire it ah that that's my view how about yours


sorry can you repeat that again the the what the fifth uh what sorry


(mmhmm)


for me uh maybe if we look at it instead from individuals uh let's look at it as big as a country , there are cases of even though there is a pandemic currently ongoing at, uh there are actually people who


are suffering in their country and they decide to find refuge in other countries what happens is that in these other countries uh they actually send them away so if you want to say humility is present or desirable in this case


it's a little hard to say or for, a mass group of people in uh like for countries I would say but if you were to point out individuals then uh yes we can curb that circle but for a mass public when the leaders themselves don't have humility then that would not be able to allow their people to actually have


that kind of humility or empathy for those people who actually needed the help, that that's my point uh but what do you think about those countries that actually sent them away how do you think we can improve it,


think uh thank you, but uh for people wise right uh sometimes people can be a little selfish despite wanting to help others uh, example we are like, we want to help a person that's asking for donations and then uh we ourselves let's say we only have five dollars and with that five dollars we wishes to we wish to eat and we want to help that person but we don't have that extra five dollars to donate to that person


so maybe from your point , we can actually work together and help one another by compiling all these little bits or maybe we donate one dollar out of that five dollars compiling all it together and then after that using that amount of money to help those people that actually needed the help


so uh I will thank you for your opinion uh that is actually very good actually yup thank you


alright alright


times up part two debate topic two


for my part as the opposition I will say that, I would say that uh humans are don't exactly have much of a choice uh when it comes to considerations for other people so uh as much as we are a social creature and there we have choices to make uh despite what others said


uh we also have to consider what other factors that, could make that choice turn back, so in my point of view is that there are consequences to our choices uh let me give me uh let give let me give an example such that


smokers uh they choose to smoke in a public area, but are in that public area there are many people walking pass which could have underlying health issues or they could have a secondhand smoker uh symptom such as uh having a risk of coronary heart disease uh which actually by this article


uh under the institute of medicine uh the book is called secondhand smoke exposure and cardiovascular effects they could exposure to secondhand smoke increases risk of coronary heart disease by about twenty five to thirty percent and this is just by absorbing a secondhand smoke


so I would say that my life isn't my choice because people sometimes unknowingly uh enter into a situation where they got no other choice except to accept that situation because of other people's uh


not being able to concede uh not uh they are not being considerate


but uh for you to say that for those uh secondhand smoker to choose that path what if in a scenario where that is the only path and that the smoker is uh being inconsiderate to the secondhand smokers uh


actually by right he uh that person wasn't supposed to smoke there and he decided to smoke there so there is a risk of this secondhand smokers to fall ill because of that uh that smoker's inconsideration to the mass public so my point is that


when people chooses to do something uh out of their wish instead of to consider whether other people might be affected by it , these people tend to have consequences that can harm others which uh they themselves may uh may not know of so uh when this kind of thing happens it's not about a blame game but rather it's more of


thinking for others before you make a conscious decision so uh when you said that uh there are limitations to the choices that we make but we choose to make that choice uh I will say that sometimes what people


think of instead of having a choice they would rather want to, handle that situation in a much more pleasant manner that's why they prefer to do that as such so uh maybe from your point is that


this people chooses to accept that a situation because they they make the conscious effort, to think that that situation is the best because they have considerations for others and somehow through that it also limits them to other choices that they can make uh that's my point


uh not not exclusively but rather when you make choices that uh you don't think of the consequences then yes it would uh it could affect others when uh what I meant was that when you see that you have a choice or these choices are something that you have to consider first so


uh in a way uh let's let me give another scenario, let's say you have a three different job offers one that could harm you one that is , not as what you expected but uh it's doable and maybe one that is a dream come true so within these three choices there's also limitation would you rather harm yourself you make the choice to harm yourself or would you rather


uh just do something because it's easy or will you try to do something that's uh it's a dream uh and then there's another set of scenario where your parents say no you must do this because I want you to do this so uh in your current stand is that


if you are given such uh restrictions by, a people and then at the same time you want to do something that you wish to do uh, what will happen is that uh sometimes you are limited you want to make it easy for them so that you will uh you want to make it accommodating for them uh considerations to what your parents said yah so in this kind of scenario sometimes is very limited to what you can


choose to do you get I mean


I understand what you mean but let's say we take of this situation where people who are in africa uh


they are in a like those village uh they don't really have a job that uh can put a food to their, uh to uh to bring food to their family so in this kind of scenarios like it will be difficult for them to make a choice because their only choice is I want to survive and uh to work so that I can earn food for my family but


there are uh when you said that they they have choices what do you think about this kind of people who have an ultimatum of nothing they cannot do much they cannot they all they can do is just do manual labor and that is as much as they can do


I would agree that our choices we we do have a certain choices that we can make uh I agree with your point but for me I would say that sometimes people , they have this certain mindset where uh


my uh not my country gave me uh these choices of I will I need to survive, or I I need to work hard to be able to earn my income so uh when you said that they are a progressive country I agree, but the thing is sometimes these people are they are conditioned to think that they don't have the choice so


they uh they are conditioned to rely on their government they are conditioned to survive by thinking that this is the only way I can do it so sometimes it's uh it's not that they don't make a conscious effort or they don't make the choice to improve themselves but rather they


are unable to do what that can bring them for them because they haven't thought that far they are unable to think that far because of the stress of, of their own situation they might not be able to bring themselves to a better state uh


that that's something that I would say uh that's why people sometimes don't have choices, ya


times up, part three debate topic three


hi okay so to start, off with the world would be a better place if more political leaders will, when I would say that yes uh the world would definitely be a better place currently in the UN's they're actually trying to have a more balanced in their


uh politics are in every country to try to achieve a balance between man and woman so from what we see in the current uh the various countries that has women leaders ah singapore ourselves also have a woman leader our president


and uh like example in new zealand with these women are representing women uh in a, political setting will actually provide , some sort of inspiration and at the same time, they are also able to do things that were guy uh normal uh ladies and are in the in the country to actually try to achieve uh


what they also do so uh, in this uh new zealand uh I actually found out that the uh minister uh actually tried, to focus on her people she focused on people who are uh especially those in poverty


and also she tried to provide better jobs for people in a rural areas, so I would say that uh through these small little actions uh it is making the world a better place because uh there is a different perspective are in the in the community board where these women are the ones that represent


those who are who might not be hurt, so what what do you think about it


for me, I will say that maybe it it's not about, uh whether man or woman are in bubble but rather, it's more of providing better opportunities for women so that they actually can represent themselves because uh


I found out that, there are certain countries that represent uh the woman's interest in parliament , but those people that represent them are actually men so they might not be able to understand that, uh what women really want then they might uh misrepresent or they might uh


by uh by chance you might actually uh form up a wrong regulation so for me I would think that it will be better if more women will available to speak up for themselves rather than having men to speak up for them


you said that there's actually uh men are used to responsibilities and they tend to be more dominant because they are so used to it right so I do see that uh, in parliament right especially in a specific country uh because men represented the woman's uh health care uh these women are not able to


pursue uh what they're actually require so like example women tend to be dismissed easily when they seek for uh, medication or where they seek for like uh abortion or, menstruation pain or else anything regarding with our health care for their industry so women tend to be dismissed easily as compared to men because men thinks that it's uh it's nothing


but in fact actually it's because they don't have someone to represent the woman in that industry that is why uh it can be misrepresented


okay uh where we left off once there in political leaders uh if there were a lot more woman it will be better because uh there will be more representation for women since


uh man uh don't uh really have uh, say to say that uh women's uh women require this women require that so it's more of a spurt perspective from a woman's point of view which is important so that a woman can be represented to say that what they actually want instead of having men to say what we want


I would agree that use uh it is true that men and women have to walk hand in hand to be able to make sure that they make uh the right decisions that's correct but the thing is there are many governments uh that is focused on


too much men in as a polluted uh as their political leaders but the fact that there are the lack of women they are unable to walk hand in hand with movement you see because uh in order to have a woman's point of view and to be able to understand man cannot walk


a woman's ground like uh like you said earlier man cannot walk to women's ground but rather, this uh we need more women in part as a political leader I'm not saying that women should overtake man but rather there should be a balance between men and women so that they can have an open discussion they can uh they're able to have a better understanding because currently a majority of the


uh parliament a man and a woman could be just a small bunch of them so they are not able to have a say in it and, despite having women in a as a political leader sometimes uh when you have to take a vote uh you need a majority's vote correct what if men are unable to understand what the women are saying and uh ended up


uh making a wrong decision they take a vote and voted for something that women actually wanted but they didn't vote for that so uh that's my point of view instead of having, a dominant men being, political leaders uh I'll prefer to have more women on board uh having a balance between both so that's my opinion on it


uh it's true that, the we are supposed to walk the ground together for men and women but, uh when it comes to political leaders I think uh, it will be a better opportunity for women to actually have a say in their government because I don't see that majority of the countries and their parliaments are always


full of man I'm not saying that they are bad or evil but rather oh it is to have avoid hurt by the woman community because women are not being hurt, and the regulation the rules and regulations in that country might not uh tend to those roles that cater to women you see so uh my point of view is that or it is true that men and women can work together but it is a


better opportunity for women to have a say in what they truly want instead of having a man to represent themselves and in this case uh I will say uh it's better to have women but, but in equal quantities instead of having a majority of a certain uh gender that that's my point of view and ya thank you


debate topic one


okay for this topic is humility still desirable today so I'll shall begin as the proposition on the definition of what humility is actually about


humility in definition as a quality of having a modest although view of one's importance and what desirable can actually be defined is the advantages or advisable or unnecessary trade to one


of how someone views or how you are able to accept someone else's view so for this humility which I am going to be touching on what, uh I suggest humility is that is


asset for a self improvement uh to be able to recognise areas of life that we need to work on or such as the attributes of humility such as to acknowledge your own weaknesses or your own differences towards yourself confidence and your pride in your


work or your life so why I suggest that this humility is desirable today is because to be able to uh stand your ground but also to understand where someone else is coming from


is actually quite admirable or I would say I would say something that is of a tremendous inner strength so what, I actually think that why humility is actually desirable is because in a world where


we are unable to be heard or we are unable to be accepted uh willingly or welcomingly uh humility is able to uh protrude or uh, intrude someone else's ego


on how you are able to, accept someone else is actually quite , quite quite encouraging for for someone to actually have that kind of trade so it doesn't matter whether you are at the right side or you are on the wrong side being able to lower your ground or uh able to


understand what someone else is coming from is what we need in today's society, yup


okay so I'm not saying that you are incorrect or wrong but in today's time where we have to acknowledge that times, are ever changing and that we


should grow as a society , so we should always help one another out if that's the case then the top shouldn't help the bottom and the bottom shouldn't help the middle and the middle shouldn't help the top because of this egoistic or the egoism kind of concept that we are living in we are unable to learn


unlearn and relearn because, we should always have this sense of oh we should, do something about this weak area oh we should do something about what, the society's facing because we are not accepting of it but because we are too


into our own space our own zone that we think that oh we are such , we are such low or we are such high people that we don't need any other anybody's help or we don't because of this retrenchment period of because of this


pandemic we are supposed to come together to we are supposed to be there for one another because this will only , input the sense of empathetic, which means by empathetic is to be generous be helpful and to be grateful because this is what we need in this kind of situation that we didn't even foresee in the past five years


and for the future to be where we want to be is where we have to start now, yeah


okay so, in , okay I'm not saying that we shouldn't we shouldn't focus on ourselves we should we should because we should, focus on ourselves is by prioritising the others when we think about ourselves oh I'm not doing this for myself I'm doing this for others but I will work on it myself I will work on myself to help others because of this trade that you have the humility in in you that you you


you rooted in because of that we are able to have better, leadership qualities we are able to have better sense of sensitivity sensibility because after all we are human before student we are human before and an engineer before we are human before and an accountant and


the soul root of what we are is we are human and if human don't want to help human we are unable to progress we are unable to move forward in this pandemic, yep


to round it off or to end it off what uh to support this kind of things as , in the world uh, where pandemic as the last thing you know that was on our mind is that we have progressive leaders but we also have narcissistic youth society so to have


a little bit of humility is able to breakthrough an agi community how we are, so shop around the corners but if we have to shun for the corners we have to round it up to make sure that everyone is inclusive everyone is included in this movement or this


moving or progressively moving forward is to have an if humility is to have a sense of helping others is to have this generosity that we, always seem to like in and that is the last thing that we want because we are not


able to grasp or the future is very bleak is because of situation that we're in, it's because that we are so into focusing that ourselves into focusing that, our situation as not desirable that is what


makes the future so bleak, so what do you think about that, okay so because the future is, the huge gap you know progressive


world where our our readers are very capable right and but we have also narcissistic youth in our society which always think, about insults and that is not what how we are supposed to move on with our future we are not sit of what if the future is bleak now is because we are so into focusing that


oh I should work on my situation first you know I should help myself first before I should help others it's because of that less or because of that little that you have, is what you are supposed to help the other person only then you are able to create this round or inclusive society this community that everyone is included


so had you think about that


okay so like I said that, because their leaders are not there that's what you saying it their leaders are not , uh be they don't have humility in themselves right okay so what we can do is because the people of the country themselves are united the country or the the government themselves will look oh !hey! our people are actually doing this out of their own compassion


the people are themselves doing it because we are not, we are not progressive or we the we ourselves are lacking in such aspect so if we see as a whole that the people themselves why in the country we have leaders and people is because everyone is equal


everyone has a role to play everyone has their own responsibility to make sure that the country is progressive the the country is doing well on their own despite the pandemic despite the difficult times so even if the


so even if the the people or the or the leaders are not doing what they are they should be but their people are and that is enough to, combat in such situation


okay, okay so so summarised my point why I stand firm on what my humility preposition is about is because


we need a world where people are inclusive people are included so despite the uh, situation right now we should have humility to break through an edgy society


part two debate topic two


okay to start off this debate my life my choice and how far can people expect to live life this way as let's start on the definition okay if we shorten out that my life my choice we are left with life choices and what will life choices


when it means that we have important decision which we make or about uh our life or our choices which revolves around our lives, okay so what choices actually means by the stand alone is the right the power or the opportunity to choose okay so how far can people expect to live life this way is for as long as they live because


throughout our lives we are, we will always be we will always have that freedom we will always have ya that freedom to choose uh despite saying that we have no choice so if


we have choices despite saying that we have no choice, as what I can point out is that one we accepting we are accepting the conditions as they exist so let's say you are saying that you have no choice it actually means that you are so


vulnerable to it that you just accept it as to way it is or two accepting responsibility for changing them so that is where choices, or we are deciding on choices the options that we have because we are


always bound by the the choices that we do or the decisions that we are making , and if I could by drawn pole sort is that we are our choices for the fact that you are here sitting here


talking and listening do we have our own choice that oh you want to listen to this we want to sit in for this you know we want to participate in this is because we have decision the decision to , and because we do that decision although we are bounded by a probably let's say uh your your parents say to live in australia and take up a degree which you didn't want to or


asks you to, live in in a small city or a smaller village just because they want you close to them is, that, by those kind of bound uh by by that circle that you are in you are still accepting the way that they are as it is so what


I think that know the the right or the power that we should have is , by opening up our choices or options we are actually looking ahead or looking far into life as to probably five years or even ten years if we are looking at it say yes


okay so uh to pick up from your point right uh whether someone someone or secondhand smoking that is actually a choice if uh I may be wrong that


in my stand uh, to walk into a path when you see a smoker that is a choice whether you want to proceed or not that is itself a choice because, if we understand like you said dangers of or the dangers of secondhand smoking or even smoking by itself is because


someone chooses to to start smoking they choose to it's not because may they maybe influenced by their peers they may be influenced by their family members but after all they get, the chance to choose themselves the choice or the option to proceed with something is under your own consequences and you are supposed to accept your own consequences which brings me to the point there having choices in life is to perceive what is right and what is wrong


and to actually face the opportunity of whether something is at large or something is at small and because we, live our life based on values and beliefs or even religion and they are actually solely bound by our responsibility of our own choices so if you are


accepting of it or let say you you walk into a pathway you know there's a smoker, you can actually divert your way or you can actually you know cover with your own cloth or there this so many other options in that I do not have a choice so


if relief a life that we see that, oh I I walk as because and I have second hand smoking is because I walked into a pathway there was a smoker we are actually blaming or there's a blaming game that will never end so if we accept consequences as hug we are able to perceive what is right and what is wrong


say yes


okay so what I would pick up from your , your statement was that , by by living at such or by living exclusively so you you you are inconsiderate to others and is is that right


yup yup so okay so to to get from your point or, okay so what I would I would say that, having your own life choices is as important as other people's right that's what you're trying to say right okay so if you are bounded by your own life choices you have no room to be influenced by the other people when you are


when you are bounded by your own life choices which means you decide on your own path you know you like what I said earlier on you perceive what is right and what is wrong what is the better opportunity what is at large in what is at , a smaller scale so if you


think that, oh to a certain extent that something is able to help my family or helped me myself that is also a life choice, you see that is also a life choice whether you want to help other people along the way that


you are helping yourself so I'm not saying that, , you know other people can be influenced or other people can actually be affected by our life choice we can you know we they can be affected and in this society that we perceive as we are so


into our life choices or we are so into the decision that we are making that we do not think of other people is because we think of other people is why we choose as such is in do you do you understand


okay so in that situation of course we are given opportunities by the exterior factors okay we are given uh the opportunity or the chances at living because of an exterior or superior being


in the sense if we look into it we are not going to religious, expect because it's because in africa they are governed by their own leaders and because their leaders say that they are doing fine and it's not like africa it's it's a country where they are solely


mainly facing poverty they are not because they are progressive countries in africa, or they are progressive in africa which are doing well despite their leaders being that way do they are given choices they are not they are not cook


to their own circle because of that so to summarise my point on , what life choices are really all about if you are bounded by a certain aspect you are still able to choose you are still going to accept the consequences or the conditions as they exist or whatever they are okay so


like like you said the africa situation , they're they are progressive states whether we want to see it as africa or not, they are progressive states so we they are actually accepting the responsibility of it of course they are not as well to do as our country as a as a first world country of course they are not doing as well


but they are doing well on their own accord, so to tubs summarise as a closing statement we can be influenced but we are free to choose yet we are not free from consequences of our choices so I I kind of agree with what you said so do you think


okay there's a there's a very good that you brought out the ya


there actually there's there's there's no right and wrong to life choices I believe because everyone like I said perceives what is right and what is wrong to their own accord to their own a limitation on their mindset so even if you say that


oh my life and my choice we are we we have the freedom to do so we like I said you you have to think on for your own self, even when the things that we do for others is to do the way we do for ourselves we are not limited to it lah


part three, debate topic three


okay so, I I opposed to your statement because I feel that , even women and men uh, equal you know we're although


there is no better or there is no worse when it comes to a political leaders because let's face it if you're competent, the the country that you are ruling would be would still will be progressive or they would still be good at where they are


they can still be the first world they can still be the second or whatever, stops or or places that they're at and there is no such thing where , woman is a doing well in spite of this or woman is doing will despite of it but because there is always a despite


that, we tend to see the weaknesses we tend to see that women are not actually ideal for the political chairs that they are sitting on because let's face it the greatest people of all time the less the first