that the way they think of humanity is different is firstly conor Mcgregor you know the UFC fighter he's a , indeed everybody knows him as a very cocky person you know but the end of the day, his famous line is that he is always, humbling defeat so in my opinion I do feel that there's no uh proper view in people looking at how humility is being shaped so in my point of view


if I was to go against an opposing school, alright and everybody starts to look down on republic polytechnic saying that you know the players are not very good you know the players don't really have a name for themselves and stuff like negative ah comments like this, and if I was to go into the game, still being humble still being the fact that I'm still stuck in a bubble that I I don't want uh you know


portray myself in a way that these players are still looking down on me so I in the way that I have to portray myself to showcase my teammates that guys confidence is something that you know we need we can't be going to the game or going to a match in which we going to our opposing team was looking down on us, just going into like looking like a nice person at end of the day we got to back up what we feel we got to backup how what comments there made on us so I do feel that humility is something that does bring down our confidence as it it it it it starts to


okay so basically the topic of


of, discussion right now is my life and my choice and how far can people expect to live this way, so basically what I do feel is that, you being your own person in this life you are the only person that can decide the choices that you are going to make


so from certain example to my life is that from when I was in young age you know you are not really mature you don't know certain decisions that you have to make but as the years go by and then the older you get you start to realise that being independent and realizing that, at the end of the day it's your life


and the choices that you make are going to be affecting your life and not anyone else's, so firstly, let's start with the point that, , how far can people expect to live this way in my opinion I do feel that is not how far can people can people expect live this way but to the point that they should be keeping this this this mentality


throughout the point in which they know they live this world, so my life my choice it's a it's a very strong statement which I totally do agree with, at the end of the day the choices that you make you are the one that is going to be living your life you know nobody is going to be living this life for your except for yourself yes you do have family members you do have loved ones there are going to be there that you know uh give you advice and and and pinpoint certain thing to tell you that you should be doing this you should be doing that


you know certain advisors that you should be following to maybe a different point of view the other people might be stating by the end of the day the person that is going to be, there are going through life is yourself you're going be there for yourself when no one else is so I do feel that for example a personal experience


for myself would be the school like when I finished my o levels you know that I had a lot of friends and a lot of family members telling me that, I think you should be going to singapore polytechnic and taking out a business course, but me myself knowing that my strengths and my my


my my goals that I want to achieve in future is that I want to be a coach I want to be a related in the sports scene so I do feel that, whatever the advice that my parents gave me yes they were, I could say that maybe they were not useful or they were useful by the end of the day the fact that, I was confident in myself and I chose the fact that republic polytechnic is the better school for me and the choice that I made and I disregarded what they said actually helped me so far task far in my three years in polytechnics that I already have certain scholarships in


certain clubs certain associations for example scholar basketball academy in which I have already , gotten a a full time job requests there so these are the things that I feel that at the end of the day I was confident enough to make the choice, that at the end of the day it's going to be my life and the choices I make are going to be regarded that either choices that I'm confident of so I do feel that


my life my choice is something that peoples will keep, in you know keep this this mentality with them to a day that you know they leave this earth, and yup I'll just like to conclude with that so the inside you can carry on from your


yup so basically the points that we have said you know stating about like the legal facts and the government stuff like that at the end of the day we are living in a country where the government and you know there're and a legal rights there already things and certain laws that have already been made


do you know yes shape the country make sure that everybody is you know being a good citizen in a sense by the end of the day or good singaporean you know people that live in singapore with following the rule by the end of the day we are talking about things like regarding the law all these have already like this rule this laws you know they've already been made


so the the code say my life my choice is basically just telling you that, , the decisions that you make are basically going to be affecting you in your life, so no matter if example you can get law to have rules and stuff like that but yes they already rules in which are helping singapore to shape citizens to become you know a good country make sure that the crime rates are low you know everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing there's nothing negative going on in the society


yes all that's one part of the story but, at the end of the day that's already been shaped so ensuring that you as a citizen of singaporean you will you living your own life, knowing that certain decisions that are going to make a wrong so for example like you said living is doing the circuit breaker


obviously knowing that there's a coronavirus going on there is a something that actually can cause live or dead situations you know, it's something that you should obviously be smart about like for example if you are someone that's you know very opposing towards the certain rules or there's someone that likes to get into trouble at the end of the day it is your choice and the life that and the choice that you have made you know get going out


during a circuit breaker circuit breaker meeting your friends in secret you know doing stuff that that's against the law at that point of life is your choice that you have made, and the thing that's going to be affecting you in your life is that yes you may get caught or even worse you may even get the coronavirus so at the end of the day the choice that you make you can still go on with the choice that you have made it's just whether or not that you feel


whether or not that you feel , uh at that point of time, do you think that the choice was a good choice or not cause at the end of the day like what you said the laws and and and the rules that have already been made are already there, so those are the things that you have no choice but to follow but the things that in life like example you having school decisions to made work you know even some stuff in society friendships and your social circles


the choices that you make having bad influences for example if I was to mix around with people who I you know taking drugs or in gangs and stuff like that you know at the end of the day, the choices that you make might even be influenced by them so being a confident person you know ensuring that you know that is your life nobody else is going to be making these choices for you knowing that


you are the one that's going to be living this life and making the correct choices are totally up to you, so even like having gangs and and and start from under the table kind of community in singapore these are things that the government technically we can see that do not know so these are stuff like that that you can actually backup in which we are able to say that


this is your life and whether or not you want to join this kind of bad society is up to you, and yup so I'll conclude with that and Dinsai you can take it away


alright so basically from the points that you have said again you know regarding like the government the legal rights and there's certain rules and already been made here in singapore is they these rules and and decisions like you know based on the government have already been made, therefore the decisions that we make and the choices that we are going to be choosing to you know make is that if you have to surround around the things that the rules and the government has already made so for example like you said national service


everyone has to attend every you know every male singaporeans has to attend it, so yes at the end of the day what happens during national service that are certain rules you know like you have to follow national service for example, you can't be smoking every few minutes doing your your break and stuff like you can only be doing that after so for example talking about that I can't be there's a choice that I'm going to make is that if I was going to smoking I want to take break some rules in national service right at the end of day is my life that I'm going to be doing I I'm the one that's going to be serving the punishments


so there's no point that in you're going to say that ah, the government like there's no point on bringing the government when they shaped the rules and already been made


ah no basically what I'm trying to say is the end of the day the the rules that are given to you is basically something that you is whether or not you want to follow or not at the end of the day there are reasons why they're criminals in singapore is because they choose to live their life based on the bad decisions that they have made knowing they're they're going to be


, punishments is knowing there're going to be rules that they have they have to serve you know sentences than to serve at the end of the day if you are a criminal, yup, ya basically going back to the point of my life


yup so basically like example like what you said the drug traffickers alright so saying now, for example if I was from a broken family and the choice that I've made knowing that I'm literally and at the rock bottom of my life you know I don't have any money and like basically hitting rock bottom from very bad family right the choice that you can make it's either findings financial assistance


or secondly like what you said doing drugs you have a choice there's other choices that you can take in which you can help to support your life so I do feel that at the end of the day if you you know going to bring the government into the uh like to the topic pretty sure that these should all these drug trafficker stuff like that all this negative things should already been sorted out


but the fact that there's still options like that is basically showing that it's your life and your choice if you are bracing from a broken family there's definitely other choices that you can make


yup so basically would the world be a better place if there's more you know political, leaders that are women, and basically what I feel about this topic this, conversation is that I personally do feel that, uh I don't think women ah you know suited out to be better political


leaders basically just stating all facts that I do feel that, you know women are not as confident as men and there's a reason why in the world there're there's actually more, men who are actually there are more men political leaders and just men in general but basically just you know hovering of what the fact that there's more males taking over all these political leader rolls and and and and stuff like that so the reason why I feel that is because firstly


sitting out like it's scientifically proven facts that you know women, obviously men have more testosterone than women and that's one of the main reasons why men are slight actually more confident than women in making decisions and, and and coming up with the fact that you know they're able to lead they have the confidence and the and and you know the idea that they have they're able to lead they're able to have the confidence to to showcase the fact that they're able to lead a country lead lead a government you know stuff like that actually very reasons in which what I feel that


women are not suited up for this is because I do feel that, firstly, women may not be able to be taking more risks due to the confidence gap that they show, and also women may also perceive themselves as less capable and as most women you know think that


whether need for example like a PHD of law degree to run our office but actually that is not the case, you know you want to record political leaders I just do feel that as women they don't seem to have that confidence that man like us you know that men like us do, as that's maybe one of the biggest factor that I feel is affecting the the reason why I feel that women should not be making decisions in a political parties that I do feel that they lacked that confidence that that assures the country assures the government that you know the decisions that the women are going to make of are are proper I don't feel that men are slightly more confident and more


ready to step up to the to the plate when things go wrong when when when things are not going right you know I feel that men are actually able to step up to the plate due to the confidence factor that's separating women and men, so know many people might disagree think that are definitely some women that are more confident you know that that are not all women are like that


yes maybe that is true but I mean there's a reason why there are more uh male political leaders in the world and I feel that that basically just answered the question if not why that be sure that there will be definitely more women by now if you want to talk about the current generation you know believing in gender equality yes you can say that


but its facts in which there why is it that there're basically more political leaders who are males right now and not as many female and I do feel that personally from from concluding from what I say is that, it's all based on that confident factor that separates the women and the man yup so Dinsum I'm done with my point so you can take it away from here


yup so basically , you know bringing back to the point in which , you talking about you know why, would the world be a better place if there's more political leaders that are women, and the main reason why now I would like to disagree is firstly because, as you can see all around in the world not just in singapore there's a reason why there are more male political leaders or just male in general lah


basically just overpowering the fact that, mostly males are the one that is dominating the world in in this case yes and it's true you know women do matter you know like you said you know every kid looks up to their mom stuff like that but at the end of the day, there's always that that male dominance that exist over females and sadly there's just the truth


you know that there's no way that, throughout all the decisions that are made in the past you know being out history and stuff like that there's a reason why to this day, there is still more men political leaders than women so firstly bring back to the point in which


women you know basically, often you know we'd be asked or in that sense political leaders need to actively recruit women candidates, instead of pulling up from their networks which actually tend to be male dominated, and also bring back to the point of confidence


there's a reason why in which I'm supporting the fact that, there are more male uh uh political leaders who are just male in general who are more dominant is because of the confidence factor that women lack and even from personal experiences I can say from school and stuff like that when it comes to choosing a leader for the group you rarely see a girl that put up hand or even if that its probably just one in like a thousand and one in like a hundred you know you rarely see a women


whose daring enough to step up to the plate when things go wrong, and this is the reason why I feel that man obviously showcased the fact that men have more confidence, more more there are there are there's more readiness in which they're able to step up to the plate at any point which is why there's more male political leaders in the world


so basically stating the fact that yes in singapore you know first of all the presidents as you can see most of them are males but until Taskma you know #halimah yacob# so all respect to the fact that yes she is female by end of the day they're all, task by to the political leader they are they were all been famed uh all been meals and I do feel that at the end of the day


no matter how you look at it how what want you look at it there's a reason why they're obviously more male leaders and I'm still going to be confident to the fact that I feel that the main reason why is because due to the confident gap that women lack, and there's also other reason staff such as you know


women may also be more risk averse in the electoral politics, maybe that's the reason why in reach you know still this day the government and stuff like that they're always more maybe it's not even the fact that it just meet they're definitely more people in the world or even in the country that feel that, males are the one that's reason why I voting for the males you know maybe not there's not even the reason why there're lesser female uh leaders whoever running or even trying to run for like for the politics you know trying be government uh based


so ya now that I'm done with that ah Dinsum you can take it away


alright so basically from what you just say right answering your point there's a reason why it's compulsory, for us males to be attending national service there's a reason why it's compulsory for male there are certain things that males you know there are rules and stuff that males can do that that separates the women and the male this obviously just shows that if not why would singapore firstly national service is one of the main things that


you know that goes on in in in in singapore when you reach that certain age so why is it the fact that is not compulsory for females to you know attend national service why is it the fact that only males are supposed to doing that if you do feel that you know there's gender equality you know women are supposed to be stepping up singapore is you know very eager their agenda stuff like that


yes I am aware but at the end of the day like you said it is an option is not an compulsory thing that you know women have to attend it whereas for male it is so therefore I would like to say that it is, reason why that is more dominance that the there's more male dominant than female


yup you may continue Dinsum, yup yup yup of course of course


okay if you want to put it in in in that sense you know that we shouldn't be saying pregnancy in that case because, if you want to make these things equal like gender equality right you shouldn't be saying that pregnancy is something that also showcased the dominance that you know women go through I I mean I personally feel that there's you know nothing to do with this case because pregnancy I mean obviously if you want to start a family you obviously have to get you know the women pregnant and stuff like that but I do feel that at the end of the day if you want to talk about dominant track then


I feel the the point you just made about you know NS national service and and and and pregnancy you know that I don't really see the link there so lisa could you please uh explain further


is humility still desirable today ah yes the reason why I feel so is because okay another word humility means being humble


in the society we are today in singapore basically you know there are plenty of people in uh you know like one millionaires and uh personally I I I live in, the landed property and uh it's evident that the place whereby where I live in


people like actually not being humble you know they just when it it it keep comes out to simple things for example like you know like while parking their car they don't on their hazard lights they expect people to wait for them in all these simple things actually add up


to be honest in my views I feel that you know these is not is not good being ah you know not humble basically because we might be you know earning earning a lot of money and you might be you know at a top of the hierarchy but if you're not humble


you are not portraying yourself that uh I would say a responsible human being and to me being a responsible human being is actually a big step in saving humanity, let me further explain on what I've seen and and and give you an example


I've I've I've I've done so many charity work and uh and you know there are there are two groups of people some of them you know uh not earning as much but still donating the charity and some of them earning a lot and donating the charity and in my views despite the circumstance both parties still donate the same amount of money


and to me this is just ridiculous, ah ah ah ah eh I'm I'm about to end my my my, speech so I would just like to conclude myself by seeing that being humble it's is a key term which uh I say everybody should actually have it in their heart


you know if you're not humble you will not excel you will not be climbing up the hierarchy and you will not get any business context whatsoever, and also uh you know you will not ever be one of our leaders and what do I mean by leaders is is member of parliament ah you know all those ministers in the cabinet you will not be one of the leaders because looking at them


the key attribute which all of them have is actually being humble and so this is the reasons why I feel that being humble, is a key attribute and I and I feel that it is indeed desirable today


I I still feel that humility is still desirable today ah basically ah Harun ah you have spoken several uh you know things which ah you know your views on why you support the opposition to be honest, I I I I still do not uh like you know I'm not I'm not


I uh I <mandarin>突然:tu ran</mandarin> changed my mind towards towards this topic I still feel it's ah I'm supporting proportion let me just tell you why so basically being humble, Zhu if as a leader if you're not humble if when you're representing eh, I would say organisation again and and and you are actually a leader okay you're a captain


and so you're a leader so you are a role example to people okay and if you're not humble okay to be honest let me just put you let me just uh put yourself in uh okay for example let's look at our PM okay he's a leader and I want to be like him okay he's my aspirations


okay ah want I want to be like him and and you know ah in the future so if let's just say he doesn't portray quality of being humble I would not aim high you uh you understand because in this world the leaders earned very very well


and they have recognitions all from all over the world okay they have contacts and all but if they do not portray the quality of being humbled I will not aim high, and this is bad for me as an individual because if I do in high to be one of the leaders I will just be off track


and I would not study hard okay I would probably just go out and just spend time and I would just would not know the importance of studying hard and and even becoming a leader and why wouldn't become a leader, we have all learned history in secondary schools or even now and what we learned in history is that you know we we actually learned about several heroes I would say like Lee-Kuan-Yew


and uh you know SR nathan and stuff like that so let me just tell you once again being humble is indeed a key attribute, for you to cool when you are holding a leadership position like being a captain if you don't this is going to be very very hard especially when you want your teammates to listen to you


and follow your instructions during a competitive match, so this are the reasons why I feel, eh uh humidity is indeed desirable today


okay so let me just ask you again hor what do you understand, from the word humility because to me basically I don't think you understand a word the word humidity okay because you are telling me you are a captain and all


and then you saying and then you know becoming a captain let me just tell you one thing being a captain is a leader and that is in my books and many of peoples of books I do not know what's what's captain in your books okay let me just tell you one thing okay


a captain in other words okay is a leader, okay you don't portray humble being humble like what's what's what's wrong with that because let me just tell you one thing, let me give you an example you're a captain you're playing against school B okay and you beat them okay


after winning which you go and celebrate and made celebrate in the way whereby you made your opposition feel very very bad and very demotivated would you do that okay let me just ask you would you do that and please explain do you what uh what what I what humility means in your words thank you


okay let me just let me just let me just stop you there okay Haren okay let me just see let me just see this okay, you are I okay in my in my point of view I think you are actually confusing between both terms confidence and humility okay but you know you know that's that's that's ah that's perfectly fine but I'll we just want you to just


agree with me and you know it's not ah you know, being okay you being confident for a match is is different from you being humble in a match okay let me just tell you one thing Haren you are a basketball player for RP you are an icon in the sport in RP and I presume you play for externel clubs as well but


let me just tell you at in now in this age if you are not humble your teammates will never ever listen to you, okay the reason behind that it is because let me okay lets say I'm in I'm playing for your basketball team okay and then you're not humbled to me and you tell me to like you know ah you know to do a certain tactic but to way you you know you


you tell me in all it's it's eh ah out it's not in a very I would say uh in a very like you know proper etiquette you know you understand I would say that you do not have social etiquette at all, and I would not listen to you I would have not I would have nothing to do with you and to be honest I will drag myself in it


every single day you know when we are training so let me just conclude my sentence and tell you that you know if you still think they're being humility is not desirable today, let me be straightforward with you you will not be a captain in the


coming years okay it is a gamble okay and let me ended off here thank you


(ppc)


yeah


okay so basically I would say that


if you say that you know my life it's my choice it doesn't really make sense because if let say say I live my life freely by doing anything and everything I could


what's the point of the law, girl is that means that you know I could just go out let's just put this pandemic as an example okay so in this pandemic uh you know we were in closed doors okay and uh we


uh at we you know we could not go out at a certain time without your masking as well as no you couldn't meet people and all so if let's say I live by the quote my life my choice


I'll have continued going out during the circuit breaker if I've met several of my friends and we would have done things which were not supposed to do you know you're not supposed to do during, the circuit breaker so let me just ask you again


do you think that you could live your own life with your own choice this is actually a very vague sentence okay, because in my in my point of view I don't think it's yeah it is your life but you do not have the choice


you do everything and anything okay you can't for to a certain aspects ya you you you can maybe you know you can my your is your choice when it comes to you know taking up courses and in your studying as wise like a but in the majority of the time you cannot


say that it's your live and you cannot live the way you want to live know it's is not that let me just give you another example lets just say you, you know commit the crime and then you go to a court and apparently you living by, let just say if the world is live by my life my choice what's the point of having even at duty street okay so they would just take the whole idea of having a a legal law system out of the picture


so basically I feel that you know you having a you know having a proper law system having a proper judiciary, would actually you know uh give give people a better way of living rather than you just living freely with your own choices and and and you know you would just be you would I mean you might think at the start you would are on track of doing what what you prefer


but as days go by as years go by you would definitely get off track because you would feel and you could do anything and everything you you you can do and what's the point of religion because as you can see muslim uh you know there are some religions whereby they can't do certain stuff and


you know you would just do it and you would be a you know against your own religion so uh Haren I will leave it to you


ya I so I'm, I'm going to talk in uh okay I understand your views and I'm going to talk in that opposition points of views and I would like to uh you know scrutinise some of the point uh views which you actually brought up, especially the last few because I found it really really uh surprising okay ah I would say that the our government is trying their very best who actual


stop things like you know gangs and uh illegal gatherings and and and and things like that so, I feel that uh you know you having your own choice and and and ah I I feel that your kind your you actually supporting the negative side of uh singapore's youngsters


and you are actually encouraging youths to join gangs for some reason and I that I don't think that's uh very much of uh being like a singaporean I I I don't think you're you know you're being very uh like you know straightforward about that because uh our government has done so much and I


okay and and uh let me just okay I'm going offtrack here talking about the government now but let me just let me just uh you know tell you straightforward you know, someone lives his life with his own choices okay, that means okay there are plenty of restricted areas in singapore and as you know youngsters we of very very very very


you're persons who loved to lets just say there is a construction site over there and then some people and some some guys be like oh ya let's go and do some park tour, okay so what happens if they have that mentality what do you think would happen to the youngsters of singapore they might be just swinging cringe and all having their good time there but is risking their life


this is the main reason why mister #praim haren# you are not allowed to do things with your own choice, and there's a reason why restrictions you know restrictions and and law is actually stated clearly in every single country everywhere you go


because we do not want the country to just be a head off on its own because if a if a country or or state or whatever it it doesn't have, uh its own rules it's a ticking time bomb let me tell you that it's a ticking time bomb


okay so having rules in place and and and you know people should know that it it's living living their life with their own choice is just a myth okay it's just like all those mythical stories that will never ever happen because there's no need for a government that happens


and and and then and then we straightforward we are having something called national service in singapore and and you know ah hong kong and and stuff like that, influences you you people live by their own choice, our national service will be struggling because not much people will be part of that and singapore is a very small country you know


and if people do not take part in the national service we are going to struggle in terms of defence do you understand okay now it's a open debate lets bate to open debate I would let you to tell me why do you think you are allowed to live your life with your own choice


okay let me just stop you there Haren okay let me just stop you there ah to be honest I really think that you do not know how society works basically because you are feeling that you know


if if uh everybody has their own choice everybody gets to live the way they want to without following the the the you know a system uh in a systematic way, I I I mean I I I feel that the country would just flop and singapore would never has gain its independents if we if we ever live like that in the past okay let me just let me just put straight it put that straight to you


another thing is uh mister Haren , you saying that you know it it's to fine to break rules and you know you know you know you, you you are trying to say that you know if you have your own choice to live life what I mean from wrong you would you know you would have your own choice and so you'll be you'll be having more self control is that right


okay okay let me stop you there so what about drug traffickers, is it no no no no no you know no is it Haren you don't actually understand my my my view but I'm talking about drug traffickers these people would like to make a quick buck in a short period of time


and what do they do they influence our singaporeans especially the low income families they influence them, in taking these drugs despite the circumstance you know these low income families they have very very low income and they are from broken families and and what else do they have they don't have food so they result in taking drugs because it's cheap


it's uh you know you can get it anywhere if if if let's just say in your own life but you are destroying families and you're destroying our younger generation in singapore, are you able if let's just say you are part of the government and then you put this route out are you able to take that burden


of you destroying families if you are that's that's really really sad, because I don't think you know the meaning of humanity and uh and I think you are you are you are actually going to meet the reason why humanity extinct in the in the next hundred years also uh you you uh I'm done uh as it my point you can take it over Haren


okay okay I totally understand where you're coming from and I still feel do you do not know the the reason why let me just end off in eh uh let me just end of of my point okay I would like to let you know that, you cannot live live your life in your own choices because none of the experience you gave me actually supported the view I I I I I felt that it was blatantly you know uh supporting


negative path okay let me just tell you one thing you cannot live your life with your own choice because you will be put in a very very wrong path thank you


the world would be a better place if more political leaders were women, proposition let me start off my proposition argument with a quote if you judge people you have no time to love them this is by


mother teresa okay let me tell you why to be honest okay let's look at the quote first if you judge people you have no time to love them, this quote is very very important especially for the era that we live in currently I mean you would see plenty of people judging us by the way we look it will especially when you go to youtube you can see plenty of like judgmental experiments


and can see that you know plenty of people judge the way you look uh nowadays by skin color race religion and so these beautiful women leaders, it if these kind of quotes and they actually helped us a lot okay let's now get into the main topic


I feel that woman, has accomplish more things or even equal to, things equals to is as compared to us men


the reason why I said that is because uh let's look at singapore itself we've got like ministers such as grace Fu in stuff like that you know in in in years to come we would want more women in in the parliament, because this will just uh you know ah let us have a diversity or flying you know uh parliamentary talks as well as ideas all around the world


so, let me let me just end of by by by giving you my my uh was what my view you know it would the place would be better if there were more political leaders because in a parliamentary, okay and and okay let me just say that in this particular topic I'm going to uh give an example of uh female political leaders in the parliamentary


okay so I would want more diversity of people and what do I mean by diversity okay I'm talking about he's, religion especially the gender I would want males as well as females


okay and this is the reason why I feel, that having a diversity in the parliament would encourage more open minded decisions and more decisions to help the other gender because I do not want it to be a scenario whereby you know the community with like women and men


say its that oh in a majority of the parliament is made up of men so you know they're not targeting me I don't want it to be like that so that's why I would I want it to be equal or even ya you get it okay Haren I'm I'm I'm done with my point would you like to take over


okay so basically I, I've heard what you said and you did bring up uh you know a few points which were really really I would say it's disgusting and is supporting the view of being a entire families


okay let me tell you why okay let me just seek an example of uh myself okay my mom she's a PHD holder and my dad his highest qualification is having a masters but if you look, at both of them as a whole you said that woman which the PHD can't go find I I think that is a false statement and you are bringing up a false statement


okay so first of all do not ever say that I I feel, women have more self control and I do not know if you agree to that or or or whatsoever and you said that you know men has more control


and able to lead the country I do not know what your own about here I mean I mean I'm curious if you have read your history books me I'm Haren I'm curious you've read your history books, in ah let me just let me just let me just put it in layman terms for you you could not say that


woman is not equally as good or men or even better I'm not say anything I mean at at at this world living I would say equality equality is very very important look at our patch, base or justice equality and progress for the nation


when we start the open debate debate in like uh you know uh in like you know what when it become five minutes I would like you to tell me the uh the you know what you what your exceed, uh you know acknowledged from that particular statement because that's our pledge and and let me just tell you one thing if you feel you you you you you came up to me with facts you saying that you know it's facts apparently


you use the term facts when you compared women to men, and you said that you know uh these the reason why they they're they're not many uh female leaders in in the world we we live in today so let me just tell you why do you do you this pledge singapore's pledge was written very very very very very very long time back ago


and you are telling me that to now nothing has changed I would say that this is just forceful and I would say that if you do have any facts please back it up, and don't just say it for the sick of seeing that okay and another thing I would like to say that there are plenty and plenty of leaders female leaders who has actually brought a huge impact to the world


okay my mother is a leader herself uh every every child will look up to the mum, because they have gone through so much of hardwork just to give birth to us so I'm telling you you please support your evidence and tell me what you


mean so I'm I I I I've raised my point and Haren you may continue


okay okay I've heard your points and uh okay as this is a open debate so I would like to give you a give you have a point and explain it and would like you to give me your view as well so basically have you seen the recent general elections we had in singapore


okay as you could see, I I do not know if you are already into politics or what but you know I am and uh eh and I don't uh need to be into politics to watch it okay I am a singaporean, and based on what happen happens in the general election it affects me because I'm part of the society okay so let me just tell you what I observed from the elections there are more female candidates


who are standing for elections and this could be in the in the particular GRC or the SMC, so the world is indeed inclining to a fair and equal community


and you spoke about Halimah and let me ask you was there any president in singapore who was a female before Halimah nope there wasn't so this then tells okay let tells me and you okay


that uh our country is more inclined to having female political leaders okay so, okay so let okay now what I would like to ask you mister Haren is that ah why do you think you use the word dominance okay let me just uh ask you why do give me a scenario whereby you feel man is more dominant than a than a than a woman


okay Haren I I I'm sorry but this ya I'm sorry Haren by this point is too big for me to finish uh to let you finish talking but okay let me just tell you one thing you do uh okay you are singaporean I presume are you a singaporean okay you are okay so basically let me just ask you are you aware that uh national service is given an option to woman


you are


I would say no no uh no no no why let me just tell you one thing uh females uh have a stage in their life called pregnancy have you uh are you aware of that mister Haren, ya okay so basically what I'm going to say is that, you know these uh the the females have uh pregnancy to go through and uh and you know I I I feel that they have so much more in their plate as compared to we boys okay let me just tell you another thing okay doesn't mean that if you are serving national service that means you are more


capable than me eh if the I the world doesn't work like that mister Haren the world doesn't work like that at all okay so okay Haren uh what what what are your views on on what I said


okay okay okay uh first of all I don't know how you didn't ah you know ah, ah understand my terms okay what a man was that I I I know was he uh you know you could you could actually prospect the record I know what to say that women are more dominant than males there wasn't my point


okay I'm seeking for equality among both genders okay and and that's and that's what I would like you to understand that I'm seeking equality for both genders, and uh another thing is I I I feel that you know you stating uh you know that uh you know just because men's doing NS you know they're they're more dominant that doesn't make any sense whatsoever that doesn't make any sense whatsoever because


uh you know doesn't mean that if you are serving national service you're more dominant, okay so uh let me just conclude by saying that you know world would be a better place if there are more political leaders who are women because that is diversity, thank you


part one debate topic one , yes there is a saying failure is the mother of success failure tell us what went wrong


which lays the groundwork for success it makes us aware of, where we need to correct and or improve upon, only to experiencing the mistake does one come to realization of the mistake consequently it conditions want to never repeat the same mistake again


failure serve as the simplest greatest lesson that teaches us what to not do again this in itself the correction of failure might be a form of success secondly without knowing what is wrong how would we know what is right


failure, reveals that which, do not work and allowed us to adjust accordingly this can be done in various way to work on what is lacking or eliminate it entirely and move on either way failure are ankles


learning from them hints towards what could be done differently and may possibly shave light onto further these directions to move into it, in this way to draw an arrow slowly but surely one move towards success a keen to amaze beyond all the death ends and exit will always exit


when meet with a date and even if it does not contribute any information as to the location of the exit at the very least it is the indications that the exit is not here, when no other information are available failures are the invaluable start points that generate information and praised the way for essential success thus it is an essential part of success


like many of us you have tried times and times again to lose weight and get fit, you have joined the gym bought and eaten healthily food and yes you managed to lose some pounce and improve your fitness level well done only these didn't last long soon enough you'll find yourself skipping the gym and regaining the pounce lost pounce did you fail


does these constitute a failure in your awareness journey do you feel defeated and angry with yourself, you'll certainly be sad successful and happiness happiness and success people have the tendency to confuse the two mixing them out until they can't distinguish between the very different but similarly unified terms but


it is important to start seeing failure as an essential part of success just don't let, failing distract you from your goals remember that successful people do not let failures kill their dreams


failure forced us to do something about it which physics the mentality for success failures forced one to work hard and put in effort for the success the more energy and effort invested into something inevitably created creates a possible feedback loop


where the desire for pay off intensifies these desire translate into fixations on a goal and the tendencies to not stop until it is achieved without failure this hungry for success may not be incited


also the more effort asserted as a result of failure the sweeter to reward ribs, in fact to succeed effortlessly without averse silly can that kind of easy victory victory even be counted as success due to their contracting natures failure makes the idea of succeeding all the more worthwhile


it unpleasantness drive to one towards success and enable success to feel, truly like success these factors combined complain compliments each other to greatly enhance one's desire of success and subsequently persistence to succeed


even it success does not come immediately effort and persistence naturally pushed one that much closer to, eventual success as seen it is failure that can ironically best drawn on these enact mentalities and feedback into success


hence it can be considered to be the most essential part of success


people fears failure but the truth is that failure can open up a world of exciting opportunities for you how is this done by learning from your mistakes, instead of seeing failure as something detrimental you should see it as a tool for success a tool that will help you improve your journey in life have you heard of this example of failure before


for example, in the manufacturing of modesty the first ford model after repeated few attempts he finally managed to reduce assembly time from fourteen hours to about nineteen minutes


dramatically cutting costs and increasing the variability of his business J K rowling the author of the harry potter series face a catalogs of failures after graduating from college she was unemployed


divorce and twelve publisher rejected her book and informed her that it would never be a commercial success, twelve publisher said no however she went on to send the manuscript to the thirteen publisher and the rest is history similarly for michael jordan who was told he was not good enough for the school's team


failure was overcome by seeing it as a potential for improvement he trained harder, improved where his coach thought he lacked, in and became one of the world's best basketball players, providing his coach initial judgment wrong proving his coach initial judgment wrong


fourth example is also linked to how true success is often based on going where no one has gone before whether it is innovating a new technology or trying out a new business model , thomas light bulb is a classic example of how failure is essential for success if one is merely repeating what others have done before then failure can be avoided but then true success will never be attained failure it does almost to be expected


going to the moon took several failure as well with three astronauts dying in a fire when the rocket failed to launch in the first attempt each failure contributed to a change in the way the entire


his landing was not a one of success but rather an accumulation of experiences trial and error


and of course failures it can does be seen that anything innovative in these world must have taken several failures before they can fully materialize and be successful, the examples are but a few of the number that show us how failure is often the path


to future and greater success the question is are you ready to embrace your failures to succeed, how to overcome identify the reason set


clear goals in your journey set clear goal for all that you want to achieve the plan ways you can do it, always remember that it is, about the journey and not the destination


success is going the distance happiness is enjoying the destination think positive replacing not negative thoughts with positive thoughts and create a new way of thinking that were protect you from negativities developed a grown mindset


that dictate progress and frames failure as opportunities for learning


interestingly failure is also an essential part of success even after one has succeeded , as alert proceed it is failure that give you the proper perspective on success someone who has never failed before will take success for granted as if it is a given


these are the people who will not be able to maintain success for long a keen to wealthy hail heir who never knew how difficult it is to earn money and thus squatters all their inheritance away


the example of steve jobs can help to illustrate this , jobs was pretty successful until he got ousted from his company , by the other stakeholders making him questions making him questions if he was a good leader before that luckily for jobs this was not the end for him


and he quickly bounced back and ultimately regained control of his company again taking it to greatest height after this failure jobs would never take his success for granted again for he knows it


priority this understanding of his priority also make success taste sweeter and that much more, precious illustrating how we experience of past failures can contribute to a richer sense of success in future


these appreciation of once past failure also make those who are successful more forgiving forgiving coming back to the example of j k rowling due to her own experiences being in poverty she gave, back


to charity tremendously when she became the world first billionaire author specifically contribute to anti poverty and children's welfare costs, getting back to the example of losing weight and getting fit so what if you are not perfectly fit already you have learnt so much about it you have experience method that aren't working for you but brought you closer to the


method that, that will work for you you realize it is about setting the right goal and realizing that fitness is above all a lifestyle choice a way of life with its ups and downs a process of learning and improving your ways


choose to pursue your dream and goals and don't let the fears of failure stop you failure is not a step, backwards, it is an excellent stepping stone to success we never learned to move out of our comfort zone if we don't overcome our fear of failure


the most progressive company deliberately seek employee with track records reflecting both failure and success there's because someone who survive failure has gained irreplaceable knowledge and the unstoppable perseverance born from overcoming hardship


in summary failure is in-doubtingly an essential part of success considering how it is not only inevitable but can be constructive for one success, being afraid of or avoiding failure can ironically prevent one from accessing true success


it is then of no wonder that people who have fail then succeeded do not mind sharing about their past failure because the truly believe that ultimately it is their failures who have helped them get to where they are today


so what do you think sue


well I I think besides that importantly identified the reason because with reflect and look inside to find the underline cause of the fears then try to understand where the fear is coming from so the moment we understand our fear the power is lost so we also set goal


part two debate topic two


experience are more valuable than material possession do you agree, yes I agree because wealth is not his that has it but his that enjoys it quoted by benjamin franklin I came across an articles on experiences versus possessions let's look at the paradox of possession


thomas Gilovich a psychology professor at the cornell university conducted a twenty years study and arrive at a firm and direct conclusions which is not to spend your money on things why because the happiness that things provide


fade quickly, one a possession is a potential pleasure but an experience is an active enjoyment experiences offers involve us actively doing something canoeing up a mountain hiking a trail swimming


in a lake taking pictures of the scenery around us we are forced to be active to create the experience for ourselves we find more joys and happiness in being active participant rather than passive bystanders


number two possessions are predictable but experience are full of surprises, research has shown that people adapt to processions much more quickly than experiences part of the reason for this is because experiences offer offer more variety and unpredictability


as humans we tend to take much longer to adapt to situations when fate face with variety, when we buy a new painting to hang on the wall we don't even notice it after two weeks we adapt to it and it's simply becomes another thing to surround ourselves with on the other hand experiences


offer more potential surprises when we plan a picnic at a park nearby we have no idea who will we see there or what type of wildlife we will encounter, this provides a greater opportunity for surprises and when we are surprised we tend to remember the experience for much longer


number three possession breaks but memories keep getting better possession are


prawn to crack break malfunction and eventually stopped working it is merely a matter of time until they became become an useless to us and we are forced to buy a re~replacement oh


all our possession will eventually find


number four possession cost money but many experiences are free the best part about most experiences is that they are free it doesn't cost a dime to spend time in nature


five possession do not satisfied our deepest needs but the right experiences do


we have a tendency to think that next material purchase will finally be the purchase that makes us happy, and brings us lasting joys but this is never be the case we will seek fulfillment in life and the most common in misconception on how to obtain these fulfillment is through material possessions


buyer's remorse some form of regret after purchasing something it might feel great at the moment you receive it but over time you will soon ask yourself whether was it worth the amount you spend


we don't do that with experiences the very fact that they last for only short time is part of what makes us value them so much and that value tends to increase as time passes


six products invite comparisons and drive envy but experiences then apart, this is far my favorite reserve wide experiences are better than possessions with possessions we have a tendency to compare what we have with what others have


this comparison gain never make us happy, when all your hopes a dream revolve around possessing certain things a big house an expensive car the latest gadgets you're almost certain to feel


to fall within of one of the seven deadly sins envy, as you began to move in circles of equally materialistic people your dream will have to complete with the realistic of others and no matter how rich you are there will always someone richer than you


inevitably you will look upon this individual with the green eyes of envy and this only spark on your materialistic drive, similarly to the moving goal post you will always be able to compare yourself to someone with greatest wealth and a more lifestyle meaning you'll never be content


but experiences are much less likely to be compared the tendency of keeping up with the journalism tends to be more pronounced for material goods than for asparagus purchases, say professor this is because according to research from


ryan Holwell and garment hill it is easier to feature compare material goods than experiences it certainly bothers us if we are on vacation and see people staying in a better hotel or flying first class but it doesn't produce as much envy


as when we are out guns on material goods in other words spending money on experiences can decrease these and various behaviour which means that we will be healthier and happier in the end


seven we are some of our experiences not our possessions our possession do not define us since possessions are material in nature they are prone to breaking being lost or simply being forgotten


they're often temporarily, when, and all become and gone and you will pass from this world to whatever comes after it won't be your material wealth that people mention when speaking about your life experiences prevail more of who we really are they are closer to our inner selves all


experiences especially difficult ones shape us and mode us as people it will be the type of people, you were the fun they had with you the memorable moment you shared it will be the example you set to those around you and the good that you did with your time on this planet


well a materialism devalues relationship and costs us loneliness this is the nature of piracy things with others because we enjoy time together around a common purpose and activities of an extended period of time we are afforded


numerous opportunity to talk and connect with one another, my son enjoys the game on the field so did I but I also enjoy the opportunity to simply talk and connect about school and sport and friendships


but we only have so much mental capacity and when that is being taken out by a fixation on the material world it caused us to reduce the value replace on personal relationships one study have even suggest that


there is a cylinder link between materialism and loneliness where each feels the other in other words as you focus more on gaining material wealth you are more likely to experience loneliness


you'll becomes less yes go ahead


well, in summary I still think the experiences counts


part three debate topic three, yes


country experiencing conflict should be left to sort out their own problems how far do you agree I would like to define the key terms of the questions experiencing conflict, having issues dealing with domestic problems such as human rights civil war poverty protests or social unrest and mentioned that problem include political instability


economic meltdown, and, humanitarians crisis left to sort they should be left on their own terms to deal with and resolve their own problems there is no need for foreign intervention yes they should be left to sort their own problems


intervention by foreign powers could be for their own self interest and they could end up exploiting the local people given their intervention, very often these foreign powers have an agenda for inter intervening in the country and due to past heretical packages they could possibly take revenge on the locals


the ongoing yemen crisis which started out as a civil war couple years ago and has grown to have multiple stakeholders using yemen as grounds for a proxy war to gain to grow political


sway over, the other side leading to the one of the largest humanitarian crisis in the hundred years these implication for foreign powers USA, the saudi arabian let's


call a nation iran, each with their own agenda prolong the fighting, kill countless more individuals and lengthen the peace process, these could be seen also in the syrian civil war and the ukrainians conflict such introductions of foreign agenda not only prolong the conflict they also infringe on the


sovereignty of the country at times


conflict, conflict might escalate and lead to non productive result or it can be basically resolve and lead to quality final products


different countries have different culture and people if we can't study their diversity of culture well even saying one word wrongly it can be a very serious method to them who are not of the same culture as us


in addition to prolonging the conflict by introducing their own agenda into the fray , foreign intervention has also been prone to leaving power vacuums after the conflict as was in the case of this done


and and iran after prolonged conflict with the assistance of international of foreign powers conflict regions may end up lacking local leadership


without proper state building after the invention the state may end up falling after foreign powers leave


countries don't want foreign present because they may plays a political leverage against them and countries want to show that they can solve their own problems independence


examples such as when the united arab emirates was reluctant to ask for help when iran invaded kuwait


intervention by foreign powers could bring about more problems than it solved intervention could possibly backfire especially if the peace keeper troops choose to take sides in the conflict or try to impose their


resolutions on the people also it is very difficult for an external power to understand the local situation and context of, the place especially if the conflict is religious and racial in origin


US involvement in afghanistan, and iran US and russia's intervention in syria war were examples the kyoto protocol as example and argue that slow growth resulted in social unrest and hand


and hence US decided to delay ratifying the treaty with some of are some of the examples


my proposing view was because it is the responsibility of the countries in conflict to solve their own problems and foreign aids incurred huge costs on the foreign aid side example the iraq kuwait war when US intervened


a new report from the brown university cost of war project estimates that US tax payers have paid an average of eight thousand each and over two trillion total of for the iraq war alone


unlike most wars in history the war is finance part of borrowing money which leads to huge interest payments not to mention increased pay to retain soldiers and medical and disability care


aside from the staggering cost of the iraq war the, group, estimate the US has spent over six point four trillion total on all it of its war on terror, efforts


inefficiency of international organisations due to structural rigidities that often make any effort to intercede looked worn and tokenistic example asean policy of non interference in rohingya conflict


every country have unique problems which they are the most confusions, of thus should be left to themselves example irish republic republicans army and the tamil tigers due to lack of platform to address their concerns followed by how much conflict of resolved


while foreign aid is crucial in situations mentioned above, it is also important not to forge a two reliance relationship between countries as countries ought to be self sufficient to a certain extent and aids are influence given in excess or too overwhelming respectively might in turn be detrimental


ghana that have accepted much foreign aid as example since it is a country that is highly reliant on such aids provider, where it owns problems are not entirely resolve entirely or effectively by its own government


in conclusion I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this but I am very much in favor of and nor interventionist policy in most instances


the exceptions are if the conflict is directly impacting on any other countries adjacent or not or if the conflict is jeopardizing vital supplies or services to other countries which can't be obtained elsewhere at short notice


certainly humanitarians aids either government or charitable should still be offer where needed but only on a voluntary basis and where it can be a safely delivered


interventions by other countries in internal conflicts elsewhere has so often been shown to create as many , if not more problems than it solves


quite frankly, if the people in a country can't solve their own issues whether they are tribal, territorial over resources because of incompetent or corrupt government et cetera they shouldn't either rely on or expect other people to became to become involve put your own house in order first should be the motto


part one debate topic one


but sadly like you have mentioned most of us are programmed from childhood to see failure as a bad thing


failing distract us from our goals and kill our dreams for majority of us, parents often criticized their children and set rules that are based on fear unfortunately this lead to adult who grow up to avoid failure at all costs sometime at the expense of their progress


all psychologists tell us that confident people know that they are not always able to succeed and they are okay with that on the other hand , people with insecurity avoid facing challenges they prefer to stay in the comfort zone rather than try something new and risk feeling at it therefore failure is not essential part of success


indeed the idea is that failure exit a positive effects that makes one put in more effort and persist after each feel attempt, but it might not always be true unlike what was described by you failure does not so simply and easily guaranteed success respond to failure is a much more complex unpredictable process that depend on various factor and


yes, the individuals and corresponding conditions particularly because failure is never pleasant the reverse might also happen anyone without question would be affected by it in different ways, how many would be able to take that amount of mental setback before eventually breaking in any case with every failure comes and increased risks to just gave up instead causing it to backfire on itself


so in this case it pushes a person further away from success failure that still occur after one has expanded substantial amount of effort and hard work for instance such, made greatly changed once mortality someone in that position might start to think that there is no point to working hard even harder for success


since it would only end up in failure anyway as seen the failure efforts feedback can result drastically differently and cause someone to spiral down the rapid hole feeling of defeat and worthlessness might quickly take over, hence failure are not always essential to success


to reach success without failure means to get it in one try which is often not the case most successes as we know it only come after a series of failures as such failure is undoubtedly a part of success but how essential


does it actually push one closer to success or further away from it there are many people, sorry there are many possible ways to look at this some may say that the way to success is only through failure however it is prudent to keep in mind that failure comes at its own cost


that is failure also come with external cost for any of its benefit that comes a consequence as well, there is a price to pay something is lost to them everyone is limited in time and money realistically even if you are prepared to most do not have the ledger to failed over and over again in an attempt to success


failure is certainly the long and winded, way work path to success that do not come for free, such a path is just simply not accessible to majority of us, as such failure may actually be something undesirable a drain that hidden us from succeeding any form of failure come at a price big or small certain failure may be so drastic or prohibitive that one cannot even afford to fail


even fail again figuratively or literally much less with success, for instance in furious result in losing something or someone in replaceable particularly in this age where once failure are captured and recorded down past failures never truly go away and they will haunt us even in the future preventing us to succeed


naturally we cannot hope for a route to succeed without failure but one where failure and losses are minimize is realistically almost always more guaranteed to success


so that failures bring in valuable lessons they are important but only when necessary only a fool learns from his own mistake the wise man learns from the mistake of others foresight is better than hindsight prevention is better than cure


so failure can also be prevented with the right kind of foresight it is an highly discussed and much believe notion that a person success occurs in direct proportion to their ability to see how everything, every decision that is being made right now in fact their life down the road people who are prone to failure leave mostly for the day and then the next few days and they neglect to consider the future even the distant future


this is probably one of the strongest indicator of whether a person will fail or succeed in life, in conclusion any failure that can be prevented should be prevented, by itself as it's not the essential part of success


to plan carefully avoid the predictables and choose our failure wisely, such that their benefits are worth the cause which is ultimately the essence to success


I am still uh of the view that failure is not a essential part of success because there is no one uh is born to want to fail so all of us actually want to success in everything that we do, so to me err my stand is still the same that actually failure is still not essential part it it may be a a part of the journey to success but it is not essential


so like I have stated in my points the the important thing is to cut down on a failure by learning from others mistake so we can uh shorten our learning curves, so this will improve our rate of success I think that is more important planning uh prepare yourself uh set the objective things like this


I think is more essential part of success what's your take, (mmhmm)


spending money on material possession would increase happiness because procession last longer than an experience investing in something we can see hear and touch on a permanent basis delivers the best value than experience that could also be forgotten or


do not want to be remembered if it's a bad experience new things always create excitement the happiness we get from buying something will last as long as the thing itself on top of that certain possessions like property go et cetera may appreciate in economic


value over time but surprise experiences definitely have no monetary value at all


valuing material possession is a learned respond based on culture in part society values possession because they're tangible, as might suggests and they are immune or represent experience in our minds assignment brown suggests I'd add that processions are not simply tangible nor are they the experience rather they serve as proved to others of our experiences and as a key to jot our memory


they provide a sense of identity and connections as prove the best example I can provide is that off war medal kept by an old soldier they are tangible proof of his heroism, as a key considered to charm bracelet of her grandmother where kept sorry where each


charm represent a child or a grandchild by touching each charm she can connect with that child in her memory


experiences may be more fulfilling but they are generally cost more in terms of time energy and planning whereas possessions are easy to acquire if you have a certain amount of wealth and give a quick fits


think buying a guitar versus learning to play one the second will ultimately provide a huge pay off but it will take much time and energy to get to that stage the first might make you, the buyer feel like a cool rock star for first half an hour when that high wears off he can regain it by buying some sexy jeans then some sunglasses then a leather jacket et cetera if I decided to go to europe I have to take time off work buy plane tickets


find a place to stay and expand the time that vacation itself takes the reward would be for phenomenal but not instantaneous it takes way less time afford for me to buy now with one click on the amazon dot com


and when the package comes I get a little rush of pleasure, that rush may not last long, but so what I can just click buy now with one click again because like many people on the I have disposable income


we like buying things at least we think we do that's why the term retail therapy comes about it breeds into us life in the twenty first century is a fast pace consumer oriented experience when media surround us at all time enforcing the idea that happiness is a matter of buying a perfect house


driving the best car wearing the trendiest skirt and posting status update on the latest high tech devices, I believe this is a result of capitalism capitalism is contingent on spending thus our media outlet


inundate us with material goods rarely do we see advertisement for vacationing destinations what would happen to the economy if there was a shift from app selling us material goods to selling us memorable experiences


could capitalism exist under those circumstances I don't know the answer to those questions but I tend to believe that it will have an adverse effect on our economy, this idea is reinforced when we are old enough to go to school and everyone around


that is cool has the latest thing it start at a young age I remember in my secondary school days you won't cool unless you had a walkman nowadays it probably is an ipad or iphone time has changed but ideology hasn't


by the time we are in our adulthood we'll seeking status through possession such as car and condominium landed properties et cetera


in today's world people are having more stress and long working hours compared to the previous generation everybody wants to be rich and live luxuries life because this give them a high status in society


and respect from people people believe what they see and that makes the show off trend more in demand for example if a person drives an expensive car on the road and pass by you while you were walking on the footpath by seeing him it definitely gives


his rich impression same as seeing big villas or houses it obviously convince us to think that people living in this house are more valuable


unfortunately we live in a society that is so competitive and envious a society that tell us via advertising and family and friends and neighbors that we are valued according to what


we have more than what we do having say that we're value by what we do as well whether it be it travel or family or our job et cetera but it does seem they these are secondary to what we have in material sense


when you meet a person you judge them by the clothes on their back their jewelry the car they got out of et cetera not until you get to know them better can you consider their life experience so people for their own comfort as well as appearance strive for more and better with processions


with every new purchase believing themselves to be newer and better possessions not only enhance a person comfort in life in a practical and assumed way but they also projects success, the ego love bliss it's strive for recognition and success at entwined itself with possessions they are me and me they


experience is also entwined in this way but it isn't tangible is often more uncomfortable and less safe to acquired and it cannot be display to the world like the peacock spreading its climate, people who are high in a high profile also make us believe that they are more important


their outfit their job status their public appearance also schedule their worthiness for example CEO of a company will have more respect compared to the experience manager of the same organization people attracts by social status of the person


but one of the five love language is gift, giving tangible gifts to our loved one is also a gesture of valuing relationship gaining material wealth and maintaining relationships are not exclusive to each other but it is a matter of work life balancing so in my opinion


sorry so in summary it is true that nowadays people worth is measured by their social status and material possession people are actually worthy by their values and by their assets


hence to me material possessions is more valuable than experience as experience not all experiences are good there could be experiences that are bad that once doesn't even want to remember let's talk about lasting happiness


would you allow genocide or exterminations done by one group to another in certain countries, would you have allowed po port to simply continue torturing and killing cambodian children in cambodia , or the genocide rape by serbians against bosnia woman as a form of ethnic cleansing or the complete annihilations of the jews in germany and its territory by the nazis


or the genocide of armenia ethnic groups in turkey by the ottoman would you have allowed, starling to continue starving millions of ukrainians during the holodomor, as the people of the world are realizing how we are one after all how we're all connected how we are all human after all we grow with the realization that my house is not the only people I should care for and who I need to defend


we need to consider the situations in which it is all right for the international community to come in to settle problems and even conflicts for the country so my, then is no country experiencing complete should not be left to sort their own problems they should not especially if the state is committing human rights issue genocide on the local people and this would require the intervention of the international community


in fact one of the state commits acts of terror against its own citizens they could be seen to be violating the season's trust and rights as a legitimate government, as such they should be taken to test by the international community for instance the united state sorry united nation has been criticized for intervening late in the rwanda and cambodia crisis resulting in massive death


therefore patent infringement of human rights by oppressive governments given that it is the government that plays the role of, and the and the organizer the masses can only rely on the foreign power example gaddafi gaddafi case


my supporting view was that some conflicts threaten global security because of the severity of conflicts north korea and south korea and how the north is conducting the nuclear weapons to provoke other countries hence international


organizations has to intervene to condemn another reason why should other countries step in early to help countries experiencing conflict is in order to contain the conflict and to prevent spill over, the collapse of one country can destabilise the neighboring countries in the middle east civil wars in iraq libya and yemen effect egypt and saudi arabia


the longer the war the more problems mutate there is a need to prevent such unpredictable side effects for impacting distance country as well, this is best amplify by the middle east refugee crisis that has now become europe's problem


syrian make up forty percent of islam seeker in europe the other comes from afghanistan, iraq iran pakistan and nigeria there are about ten point five million refugee around the world from the poorer unstable countries to the richer more stable countries


richer countries burdened by the influx of refugee now have to choose housing the refugee or intervene in the conflicts that are driving the huge exodus of people


countries experiencing conflicts should not be left alone because they often have limited economy capabilities and negotiation power thus making it difficult for them to end a vicious cycle without the help of the international community for example russia versus ukraine


some conflicts have gone on for too long and the consequences are undesirable I've thought about how conflicts dragged through generations and people no longer knew what they were fighting for for example the kashmir conflicts the two countries cannot move on so foreign aid might seem useful here


foreign intervention allow other countries to break an agreement between disputing countries allowing them to resolve the conflicts in a peaceful way via diplomacy


in terms of humanitarian crisis and disaster that could potentially snowball into conflicts it is only right that the international community comes in to help them especially after they have made a formal request


this is to ensure that they do not violate the sovereignty of another nations in the process, the countries should not be left to settle their own in terms of natural disaster especially foreign presence in terms of direct aid is crucial in recovering a country to its normal states and gave the tsunami and earthquake experience by


japan in two zero one one as example showing how foreign aid help speed up recovering process, also the international community should offer help for a country in conflict as they often have more experience and resources in handling similar situations example humanitarian aid during haiti earthquake


nevertheless despite the high costs there is still a moral imperative, for the strong to help the weak it is humane to help innocent caught in the crossfire between warren group or they are targeted by their own government in their own country to turn away from them is a grievous of shame on the international communities


for example in nineteen ninety four almost a million people were slaughter in hundred days that is the rwanda, genocide case the united nations on the ground was understaffed and underarm as most nation concluded that the cost of invention is too high and the potential gains are too low


the same unhappy story play out in the light of international help given to genocide in bosnia kosovo cambodia and sudan when this genocide went unchecked


foreign aid should be given to victims of the conflict as it is a moral obligations to reduce negative impacts of the conflict not providing aids will cost more people to die instead as the country itself is focused in fighting the war


when political instability result in social unrest, or human rights or livelihood of people being compromised foreign presence is appropriate and crucial the controversy of one MDB as example


shows how the transfer of six hundred eighty two million into the prime minster najib's personal bank account created tensions and social unrest, since his reason were poorly justify it then resulted in seven countries investigating this issue and this made the prime minister more answerable to his people


thus in times like these countries should not be left to deal with their own problems


another reason why other countries should intervene when the country is experiencing conflicts is that some problems need third party to step in because it deals with countries different ideological differences, so no consensus can be reached between countries in conflicts example is international court of justice used to deal with the problem of and spratly islands conflict where till today countries are still fighting over it


okay so what I am actually proposing is that the arts are a waste of time now when, the thesis of such a statement requires one to first define what are the arts for the purposes of this debate what we can do is we can define arts as creative


pursuits and such creative pursuits can be across a variety of mediums such as visual in the form of paintings uh drawings uh, it can be in the form of literary works such as poetry writing stories and it can also be performance arts such as dramas plays uh orchestras now


I would say that for the majority of people arts is a waste of, time, such a a statement has also gain certain notoriety in recent times because, a key survey that was done


during the COVID pandemic was a thousand respondents were uh surveyed to identify what they would consider as a non-essential occupation out of the thousand respondents


uh the most common answer was artists, that was uh the job that they they picked that is because the the reason is it's not surprising uh when we actually


say whether something is a waste of time we can also rephrase that as whether something is essential when it comes down to it, arts would be non-essential and such a view is indeed supported the question is such


uh views actually a a reflection of the sort of society that we are the reason why an arts is a waste of time particularly in singaporean society is, we are a materialistic society now such a statement is not without any support since two thousand and twelve there has been a survey


it is the barrett values centre which has been taking surveys of two thousand singaporeans age, fifteen and above across a variety of, age groups gender and occupations


what they have done is is to assess what are the values that we deem most desirable in society, and over the years what has been established as a common thread is we value things such as economic security stability a a sense of well-being


now what this reflects is society or rather singaporean society and the majority of people in singaporean society, tend to prioritise the importance of financial security that means they like to determine what is good what is bad in terms of monetary values


that is for a reason the the the whole thesis can would would actually be a statement that any parent singaporean parent would state to their child as they're probably embarking on choosing a a a university degree


uh or rather a choice of subjects to study in school, you they would tend to it's how we perceive uh what is the value so arts is a waste of time because, we do not see it as a means to gain uh economic value that's why if you tell your parent that you would like to study humanities because you want to be an artist in future a parent will say it's a waste of time you should study the sciences so you can be a doctor


you should study maths so that you can be an engineer because it is perceived that this would then lead you, to, uh economic well-being the the COVID nineteen example is perfect because it actually shows you


that when, we look at what is really the most important we are very clear to point out that arts is not important because we will never prioritise an artist over a nurse or a doctor so we have been we have been maintaining this value


uh and, there's also another reason why arts is a waste of time because, there are a lot of theories any society to be determined there's there's a theoretical position called the maslow's hierarchy of needs now arts are the sort of


uh arts would solve or rather provide an individual or society with what we call the higher order ideals because art is often linked to uh intellectual pursuits


uh arts in the form of poetry always talks about love passion sincerity truth these are all considered higher higher ideals, but if we look at maslow's hierarchy of needs what is actually the base of fundamental to society is actually economic pursuit shelter well-being


food and these are things that while people can and I'm, sure the opposition would say that art nourishes the soul the same cannot be said when it cannot put food on the table maybe my uh opposition would have something to say against such a statement


maybe I can respond to what you have said so there in lies the problem when you argue that DSA, uh if you participate and you are talented or successful in such artistic pursuit you have a route to a better school for example unfortunately that is the reason why people


actually pursue it if not for such incentives they they may not, (ppc) it may be a fair point that of course when the government in terms of how they would like to uh so called blast out information or convey information to the masses


uh they rely on certain mediums of art I I don't think that that is a controversial point no one the argument isn't art isn't interesting uh it it can be conveyed but the question is


when we actually uh deal with a statement whether it's a waste of time we actually focus on whether it is an unworthy cause now during the COVID nineteen it were true in fact, you could also use this as a argument to support your stance that there was an increase in digital consumption of maybe plays shows videos


the question here is because of the COVID nineteen restrictions such as the circuit breaker a lot of artistic platforms including had made, the their their place their shows and all uh certain museums around the world had implemented so called e-museum visits where you could access such media and artworks from the comfort of your home


but what doesn't change is all this was done for, free if it comes down to it if there is no price to it we are willing to engage in it, but if we had to pay for it it may not have been the same that actually shows I mean in any society particularly in economic societies we show what we value by a price


we would pay top dollar for a good education in fact we would work longer hours for a job uh that you feel it's very lucrative but the question is how much would you sacrifice for art would you sacrifice


uh salary would you sacrifice, for pursuing the ideal of arts as a worthy pursuit as it would you be poor and intellectually nourished, or would you be rich and clinical pursuing something like aeronautical engineering because planes


are cool, so I think when we say whether it's a waste of time we have to see how much we're willing to sacrifice for it or where is there a price to it in society is there something that we can show that we can we can value


maybe you have something to say on that


I mean we can even look at it as a situation such as artworks let's go to very traditional art like paintings why is there such as interest in such paintings could it


could it possibly be that such paintings can be sold for millions of dollars are we, actually pursuing art in the sense that it is an artistic pursuit that nourishes our soul or is it just now become another form of business because the people who are most interested in art


or rather the art collectors are usually very wealthy uh businessmen or wealthy individuals, who build up vast collections, and then these then can be marketed at even higher prices between fellow avid but the question is


if not for the economic value of this pursuit it would still be, uh a, waste of time it is the value the monetary value society place on that piece of art that is worthy rather than


part two debate topic two


okay so I'll be proposing that art is only meant to be enjoyed, rather than to be instructive or influence certain behaviors now in such a situation once again it's useful to define what is art we can take art to reflect a diverse range of human activity to create


visual auditory or performance works creative works okay now, the fact is such pursuits okay are an expression of a particular artist's imaginative and technical skills we are supposed to appreciate


the, uh beauty or emotional power of such works so for example an artist, who, paints a very beautiful painting now, we start we we can for the purposes of this debate we can start with more traditional and oldest documented sort of visual arts such as paintings


sculptures uh as a starting point now what was the emphasis of such paintings they were very vivid, or pretty scenes we can think of people like leonardo da vinci and the starry night what is the purpose of such a a painting because what it's is meaning the meaning of such an art


can be equated to beauty what is the purpose of the artist in making this visual expression it is for you to appreciate the beauty of the scene now in such a position, it is therefore only meant to be enjoyed what else can we say the purpose uh of of such an artistic


then this is further supported by how do we then perceive art now when we look at art and, if we can take uh paintings for example if we break it down into further constituent points we can talk about things like texture colour


the use of space, the use of uh lines, we can talk about balance proportion patterns and this goes across the different sort of artistic styles


uh throughout time and at the end of the day what is the artist trying to do he is trying to convey to you a medium for you to appreciate the beauty, uh of such a piece of art that is the primary purpose we cannot have ugly art maybe you have something to say about that


I would think such a point actually supports uh the proposition because it goes back to the argument that for example when you use an uh explanation of children who find uh


learning and conveying more so called boring or neutral element such as teaching let's say, you can teach mathematics in, in in art through colours through, uh numbers and but then again isn't that what it is being said because art is only meant to be enjoyed and through art meant to be enjoyed means art makes things enjoyable the fact that the moment you have a instructive purpose


people turn to art because art is meant to be enjoyable, this links back to certain arguments that can be made that when the government wants to implement something as a boring or neutral as wearing a mask or being aware of a virus they turn to a song because it's catchy and people would enjoy it


if they gave you the same, uh, message in an instructive way uh the it it can come in a piece of paper and written but then again you do not enjoy it you see so the purpose of art is meant to be enjoyed anybody who tries to impute


uh instructive purpose or a a mean, it's just riding on the art itself rather than it's it's like sneaking vegetables in, to a chicken nugget so that a child can consume it better it's it's you are actually covering its actual purpose art is meant to be enjoyed if it can benefit you in another way or rather people try to make it benefit you


in another way then so be it, but then again I believe that art is art at the end of the day is it an, artistic pursuit therefore there is a certain underpinning cultural context or societal context particularly in a singaporean context art is definitely meant to be enjoyed


uh we cannot argue that art uh, is in other societies may be but , I think the cultural context would would put it in an asian societies poetry


and stories including paintings meant to tell you of, uh, mythical stories and beautiful times and beautiful scenes and I think the purpose of this is is for you to to enjoy it any artistic pursuit or a piece of art


there is a key focus on aesthetic, art art cannot be ugly, uh the the painting has to be as aesthetically pleasing the and the reason why it is aesthetically pleasing because it then generates a a strong human emotion of pleasure and therefore you actually enjoy it


but what is the the true meaning of art that, , if if there's if it was meant to instruct or influence then we can have, art in


many other forms, what is the link between artistic, pursuits being artistic pleasing why is there a need for symmetry, why is there a need for balance why is there a need for colour what is the the purpose of having a ballet performance where everybody is in sync with each other


where everybody is uh dressed the same and there's harmony and balance the purpose is if it was any other way it would not be enjoyable, if you could just imagine a disjointed ballet performance where each of the ballet uh artists are doing different things and not in harmony and there's no synchronization I think it will be quite jarring on your senses


why is there a need to to to focus all artistic elements so that they're aesthetically pleasing or or or they're beautiful anybody who does it otherwise are they then trying to be the antithesis of art


uh a very good example which I expected, uh the, opposition to raise is there are different periods of of time and history where, where people use art as a medium to revolt or rebel it society but if you think about it were they actually doing that


uh, as as a way of reaching out to the masses or was it actually a guise because while people were very interested in for example picking up rebels or dissidents were they actually paying attention to the people who were visiting the playhouse so was this more of a sort of


uh political strategy that people in history at time have resorted to, because it was convenient the fact is art is enjoyable that drew people to come there because they thought it would be a enjoyable uh relaxing pleasing way to spend entertaining way to spend their evening


that's how everybody pursues art but through that process they can then impart something that, uh they thought would go under the radar, so what we're actually seeing is is how mankind has sort of strategically utilised something for their benefit but it doesn't detract away from the fact that art is meant to be uh meant to be enjoyed


art has no meaning if it is not aesthetic and not visually pleasing you you can apply that to any any statue for example, just think of a sculpture that is not proportional


and it can be anything what if you have a a sculpture where one hand was longer than the other, , or if you had a I think when we think of sculptures we can always think of the the italian sculptures how what what if it would be so uh jarring to you that you couldn't even bear to look at it


it can convey any meaning to you, it can show that man is not meant to be perfect man there are deformities in all of us you can think of any instructive purpose for making your art that way but that art will not


compel or rather feed to the human emotion in the way that you are expecting it to be if it's, if it's not aesthetically pleasing, and the moment you give in to making art for its intended purpose because you have to accept that art is meant to