they can learn all these thing uh in a formally and this, discipline in a discipline manner whereby and this has been tried and tested since independence know when actually generated so many leaders and people out there, they've contributed with and make what that's make what makes singapore so successful today is our people and how the people you know be so become so successful it's actually through their knowledge through their education system otherwise how can there be knowledge workers in this kind of uh twenty first century we it all boils down to the


education they received so if this if you tell me this education is not working then how is singapore able able to succeed in this twenty first century know, without without natural resources is the people and the how the people actually uh know able to do it is through the education and how they do it in the last time there was no uh museum tours there was no learning journeys it was all through classroom settings right and students were still able to make it they still able to learn


there's still creative in their own right some they are entrepreneurs you know they are since like Sim-Wong-Hoo they sell creative and things like that there still are people who can do that, doesn't in this kind of construction classroom setting does not necessarily, make a child conformed rather it just makes a it just make a child more discipline and discipline is the keyword when it comes to learning because if the child is not discipline he is not able to do well in exams


and don't talk about uh you know how to work in life and all that this can be learned outside when he is out of the classroom to his day to day interaction with family friends and all that we don't need to learn this uh know through outside classroom the the school is meant to teach students what the school supposed to do for


final for the main exams and that's the main purpose, of course the school can make it more interesting by adding other learning journeys but I'm saying that the main important the focus should still be within classroom setting when it comes to teaching


sorry, uh, yup, prompt one three


okay not yet, okay, uh so the debate one of the topic that we are gonna be discussing is uh literature is a subject that has no practical value so with respect to what we are gonna discuss let's put the


the scene as the current situation current generation, current, society of singapore, per say so uh, in terms of our, uh economy welfare or whatsoever I feel that


literature, I agree to the to the to the the topic discussion that literature originally, has no, uh outright or practical value, that, will contribute to our society in terms of economy progression


so , things that are for example things that would actually bring uh actual or practical value to our society, could be you know , could be you know reuse


certain could be subjects in terms of mathematics in terms of uh, math, uh met in better thing in terms of english in terms of geography things that are actually you know, uh see something, tangible because literature per se is some what of a


intangible subject you're talking about, uh, uh, , inspirations there was created by, uh storytellers uh uh artist per se


so, there is for for my own understanding there is not much of a contribution, to a person scroll per se in terms of our current society planning, uh I feel that let's say for example if it's for student's progression is much more realistic to


to, to improve on other subjects such as uh mathematics english because uh, you know our current job the more uh hot rice bowl earning jobs are like engineer, uh marketing or or so and so forth we don't really actually see any uh


uh, literature uh research scientist or, the those are probably, teaching as a as a teacher in uh one of their schools so, ya that's my point


okay so do we still continue to counter, uh okay, uh so we respect to, to uh what you have uh teach out on, discuss earlier most of which are


more likely related to, to, art understand I'm not I'm not saying that literature itself is not art is a kind of, is a form of art that is in the, the, uh uh is a is in written form so basically


whatever the artist has in mind uh the creativity that dish they dish out or or or or express it in terms of uh their language, in terms of uh how, they make their story how they make poems inside their story to make it more


meaningful , per se I I do I do agree agree to a certain extent that, art is a is a, it does actually, creates the bad born to, to who we are uh the our culture and so on and so forth but the


I feel that, those are actually, up that, you know can be seen, uh like for example uh, we we in singapore we actually have uh a district itself uh, uh you know the Bugis area


uh I forgot what is really call but the uh we the government actually, for a couple of years, I think in two thousand something I'm not sure, we actually established, uh, Bugis area to


to to, to be uh art intensive so the government actually invested a lot of money, uh, if and you realize uh, some of the universities that are that that uh the art universities like Lasalle or or


Nafa they were actually actually all in, in Bugis area so the government actually put a lot of money ah and development in that area itself, tho show show that, singapore is actually going towards the artistic direction, uh they discovered that or they realize that


artistic might, actually contribute, uh towards a different direction in our economy industry, uh but for literature itself, I feel that it has uh, there is not much uh


uh what I say there is not much realization of uh literature being, good to, to do the skill or or, there is not, no evidence or per se that literature actually helps, uh in the development of our economy per se


ya that's why I feel except , I I I accept a few that literature actually you know they may actually work hand in hand with the subject history itself because, uh literature, usually were created by historian uh history uh people from an ancient past they


you know they have, not not much things to do in uh in the past, uh there's no TV or there's not much of an entertainment so, language was actually one of the things that they, that could, three-df entertainment per se, so


ya I I feel that sums up to what I say that uh, art itself, uh there's a lot of things that you know tangible art they were actually contribute to our economy progression but, uh literature itself, uh that's not much of a


I'll say, uh value, inside because right now, I don't see any physical or tangible progression due to literature, ya


okay


okay uh so, uh I understand at that point so let's move, the scene into uh, another scene that a personal experiencing so, uh if I remember correctly I I'm not sure whether singaporeans students right now in secondary school are still taking literature class or as a subject during their secondary one or two


to, less mandatory subject so, uh, if I remember quietly during my secondary one and two uh we, uh we have to take, at least nine subjects one of it is of course literature,


I'm not saying that uh I I don't really like literature or whatever but uh, it it is it was one of the subject that I I accidentally score high marks so what I'm trying to say is uh, literature during secondary school, for students unless you have actually developed strong interest in uh english


uh, or or the subject literature itself, uh it takes, a very different environment, uh the teacher has to be very expert in teaching literature to be able to


uh allow, is students to and engross because I feel that because what you mention literature is a form of art is uh, uh for what I know is it requires creativity in, uh


uh in in english or, e~somewhat you you say that, it uh it helps improve uh critical thinking skills, so yup so


ya so where was I oh so so basically it require a a teacher that is of a certain skill level in terms of ah in in teaching literature and the environment has to be set up properly for students to be and crossed into the subject, so when I was taking the subject per se


uh the system that singapore as a system uh the singapore education has put in place is , you know you during exams you have to, you answer a question so we'll have a standard like maybe one or two sentence uh question then based on that you have


to, uh answer so but, uh as a secondary school student right what we were taught was, we were taught to memorize so whatever things that we learn in class uh was just like you know brief explanation of


the poems, uh like teacher will just explain what certain phrases men and and, and so and so forth, then uh, like teacher will also you know they will give you uh a constructed answer on how to answer certain question so what you have to do is you just have to memorise certain parts of the answers or you just memorized


uh, all all of them so when it the exam comes up you spot on the question and you can just answer them, so basically, you know as a as a teenager itself, uh if you are not interested in the subject, what you are trying to do is they are just trying to ace the subject


so with that you're just putting your memorization to work, and , it formed in my opinion if you are just memorising to, to score high marks you are not actually learning, in a sense your you you you can actually memorise certain of the content into a brain and maybe develop yourself in the future


but if, usually once you memorize it you read it you you you written it everything down, high chance is that you you just forget it later on, ya so , ya so I feel that many of our many of my friends or colleagues they actually feel that oh actually literature might not mean so much of a language per se that we should be focusing on


maybe in issue not be a mandatory subject maybe it you should just be a elective subjects that students can you just take it up


prompt two slash four


okay so uh the topic now is as a society progresses there is little value in preserving it, it's heritage, so uh this topic, I feel that, right now since we are in, uh twenty first century right a lot of things uh we are evolving towards technological advances


so uh, I feel that , I agree to this statement that uh we there might be little value in preserving the heritage of course we can you know, uh invest in some portion in our development but not on majority because


for future development we actually need to invest more in uh, technological advancements uh, because now also we are into, lot of uh, data analysis uh, machine learning AI especially AI we are going towards that direction so a lot of companies bigger companies they are taking in more data


and going towards AIs to machine, national ties they are, their program their uh their, assistant so and so far so, , heritage itself is


uh something that, our maybe our ancestors or or begins in the history they left it there, it it somewhat forms the, the culture or history behind every civilization


but the thing is right now as we are in twenty first century there are things that, you need to move on so if we move on the those are the things that you know depend on a priority sound which can keep Dasar maybe you know, we can


uh maybe just take a photo or whatever you preserve it and put it inside or record our system so that, next generation will be able to know well was it like, in the past uh


because as society progresses, , I mean it's not like the earth will will will have more things to be able to us spend, like we will have more space sorry, uh like we we won't be able to go and conquer another earth so what I'm trying to say is


uh, technological advances has to happen, we will, because uh our quality of life will always keep on increasing, men will not be satisfied at, to to stop at one point, so we need to keep on


improving ourselves and uh, I feel that a priority for, preserving heritage will not be, be uh, so much higher than, uh than, in focusing more on technological advances


oh yes and that ah okay, ah okay so we've aspect to what you have discussed basically it's about, uh, preserving and knowing our, our roots uh in


uh as a singaporean per say for example, but let's say we use uh the current situation right now as an example, uh, you wouldn't put uh much of a priority in preserving when preservation of heritage, uh as uh we respect to uh you know uh healthcare system right now


because uh you know obviously right now, uh, we have to focus more on our people uh in the society uh to citizens in singapore, uh because like the effort, that you have to put in


the presentation only start, is they are human if uh the people are there so, if you uh we I'm saying we need to focus more on, uh developing the the the welfare


of a, uh humans uh citizens in singapore for example uh, uh the, the elderly for example their healthcare to improve their their their quality of life than a living so and so forth, so because uh, it's only when, the presence of the citizens or those that actually carry the


the the heritage of those are their heritage itself, they are still alive, that they can keep on you know passing down a heritage right so right now I feel that uh the priority in terms of present heritage is not that


high as compare to, to, uh improving the welfare or or or or or improving our quality of standard of living in singapore because, uh, it it we have to you know, keep on improving ourselves keep on uh improving our situation uh with that how to do it or how how to how to achieve uh higher standard of living or quality of life is tight you know having a


uh improving technological advances, or you have better stuff better systems then maybe you will be happier so because now bringing the fact that uh you know, if you have more things that you want in your life you'll be more happy so if you are more happy uh


uh, you can stay alive longer so you can stay alive longer you can preserve your heritage longer, right, yup I I know


(mmhmm) (mmhmm), uh is I agreed but is to a certain extent uh as compare because right now we are taking the current situation as a


it's a benchmark so, as a society progresses definitely uh, we will have to improve on a lot of stuff but as the topic says uh there are little value little value means the priority is not as high as other factors per se


okay ah, so, I mean as in you you you mentioned that, , ya I I I'm not going to disagree with what you say uh as a matter of fact we do agree that


uh, it says little value in preserving, uh and uh as of now, the presentation shouldn't be so much of a focus but , we do still have to you know, focus on presenting a heritage but I feel that uh it is banned


it's on the priority level because right now as of two thousand and twenty, it's bet I mean as in not say better but it says uh it it, is more, I based on a priority wise we should focus more on development in our healthcare systems


uh uh uh, brining back our economy value, uh one example as to why that it has little value right now is you know, uh when the government, first introduced like a circuit breaker


they actually came out something like you know the essential worker thing, uh, not not not to be offensive or whatever about one of the, uh, as the non essential part they actually, put you know some of the


things that is with regards to, a heritage heritage workers of, so I'm trying to say is a, as of right now they are not essential to, uh, uh to improving our standard of living uh quality of life I do agree that uh certain level of preservation is require to preserve our


uh uh heritage uh, because it forms the backbone of who we are, uh, integrity of every races, so and so forth but , yeah I mean it depends on whether if you if you if you mention then let's say for example if is a


catastrophic or pandemic situation ya singapore has been going towards uh, uh and, uh uh artistic direction


for our future per se that I mentioned just now, the Bugis area they are actually focusing a lot of money development in, area itself and uh we are trying to preserve hard on our her natural heritage


because you know we don't really have uh solid prima of history or background to preserve also so we are trying our best to, you know, uh preserve all this heritage, , ya that uh it depends on the situation per se


uh so the last but not least a final topic of the debate session uh it


forms the I mean as in in rounds up whatever two topics have we talking about just now, uh, but it is in terms of uh the deeper one is uh, investing in arts and museums is a waste of money so


arts like what we mentioned just now as uh uh literature, and , just now the second topic we're talking about is, preserving heritage preserving heritage I feel that uh it belongs, to, uh museum because museum you know we need to display all these all the historical structure or


or or or or presence per se, so uh let's start so I I I do instead I do agree to a certain extent that uh, uh it's a waste of money but not, not not so much in a sense where by


let's take a look , based on NCCY uh the total expenditure, uh, spent on art uh art investment in singapore, I, I I have four years of figures here is a two billion estimate one point nine billion one point nine seven billion and uh two billion estimate so that's like


four years of uh, spending days about, I'll say a billion a billion in four years, so uh a billion is a lot of, money and


okay I I'm not sure I I'm not sure how much they actually put in uh the other other category per se !aiya! I research uh health care actually a lot more, but, maybe, based on the situation in singapore right now


uh as yes I'm not sure very everybody know but the mid-income, mid and above income citizens we are actually (ppc), uh progressing very fast like the rich, or the middle one will get uh


will improve definitely living and quality of life but the poor will get poorer, that's how the, the finance thing works uh because uh it as a matter of fact because the poor, poor citizens or poor


poor, poor people they they don't have the knowledge to, to, uh use the money itself they, you know in the sense, they are not able to catch up, to the mid-income or the higher-income people so


I feel maybe this portion of the money that is invested in arts and museum in uh preserving our arts and preserving our heritage can be put to better use uh maybe in providing the necessary, uh, financed uh literacy education to singaporeans doesn't matter the age it can be thirty all the way across to seventy


uh, if you know this will better improve the quality of life because I feel that at the certain extent singapore, uh by not uh, it's good that we are heading towards uh that artistic direction or progressing as a country as a nation to compete with other first


first world country, but the thing is by doing that, at the same time we are actually neglecting some of our citizens you know for example some of our lower income citizens uh some of them they actually have a smaller house apartment


and uh with, more people living in it so you can kind of imagine what's the living condition will be like, uh so that is one example that you know maybe our lower-income citizens might need more help uh may and might maybe this form of uh money that is invested in art and museum could be


could be, put to better use in uh, uh, giving them a better quality of life of standard of living because like I mentioned just now in the, in a previous topic, that , in order to preserve heritage or or or arts or whatsoever


the our citizens need to be, uh the wellbeing of our citizens need to be taken taken care of so, fit at a priority is still in uh our citizens' wellbeing itself the welfare instead of so much, in the arts and culture per se yup


, arts per se


okay so another point that uh, uh let let's move on to another point uh let's compare with , other developed country, for example US or or or Europe or or australia per se


I feel that singapore we actually spend more uh investment in our arts museum as compared with other countries because, you know we could have jolly well, uh, spend it more in uh our development even tourism per se because we have a lot of sites


uh I I I know it kind of uh contradicts the statement because you know tourism works hand in hand with museums and art per se, uh but the thing is, if you have if you if you focus more on this area tourism per se uh or or technology in in our development or even product development or trying to come up with a new natural resources other than being uh other than humans in singapore


uh, we might be able to you know catch up to other countries in terms of, uh uh purchasing power , and also one thing about purchasing power is that,


other than putting all this money, to better use we could you know, place it more onto, like what I mentioned uh education growth or whatsoever, uh we could try to


put in more effort in creating more talents in singapore, because be it we are only like five million strong we need to have more, uh voices, spread across the world, to make singapore more, uh more wide known to the world that we have more talents that we don't have to keep on


you know, uh bringing the support from other countries, ya so, aside from that may be more emphasis on uh, the growth of, uh and every individual singaporeans uh we can try to change the education uh system because uh the system is not that rigid itself


uh I feel that these are more uh, more emphasized uh more important than arts and museums because, , not a lot of people because it's it's really towards the minority that shows interest or passions towards us and museum


pass you know certain things that you need to put on more more focus on the majority because art and museum is, there are there are, there are these are actually places that makes a tourist would like to visit the most


uh locals will maybe like you know visit, once per year or twice a year the, usually, unless those are really passionate in terms of that few, but uh it's not that much uh


visited, so I'll say is more categorize in the minority per se so, uh the priority wise we should uh we maybe we we could focus more on other stuff and you know focus lesser in the development of arts and museum


yeah


okay so uh, that aside I feel that ya uh, , I also previously mentioned that uh, arts and museum actually, belongs to the minority, part of


alive only those that you know some sometimes if you wanna go on a date you actually visit them is like a form of interest or or category in terms of uh passion that one would seek like their art lovers their museum hoppers


uh there are also football lovers they are you know Anime lovers different kind of category that you know, uh we seek, uh entertainment in so, I I dare to say maybe it's like a form of entertainment for different individual


so if you branch out there are a lot of different categories uh of interest or passion in, in our life so, I'll say this uh is a is a is a is a minority kind, arts and museum doesn't actually generate a lot of


uh, figures in terms of income per se but let's say if you, if you, if you bring in football for example if you if you invest more money in, in our in our footballers in singapore, you know, who knows uh if you be a better instructor


uh from let's say for example MU you to to singapore to come in to coach and teach our team we might be able to join the world championship in, in you know, the next the next uh football championship so, by that we will be able to bring singapore more towards the


the entertainment light and uh, definitely our economy welfare will, will grow, if we actually have more voices represented in the world itself, so that's uh that's that's one thing that you know minority


err uh interest I mean if we we we with you can choose not to focus so much on it we focus on other minority stuff that can actually bring us a better profit, awareness or better, uh standing in in our future economic growth


from one slash for part one debate topic one


okay so I would


whatever that hon dan has its cars ah I think is when you mentioned about the points that literature is uh, not really ah turn is a intangible uh material, to be honest I always feels that literature is a part of our own culture and uh by definition without arts without sort this sort of this kind of uh literature or uh arts or music or whatever it sort of


demerit uh the our own character our own uh personality or whatever basically literature or arts defines who we are and, there's actually recently uh especially when you talk about singapore's context right uh recently one of the uh I believe on a step bot they actually implemented uh something call the intangible heritage uh research


so it's not true that you are saying that there is no research for the literature uh currently in you know in the current society or whatever, if let's say the government doesn't really feels that this is something that has no practical value and we and and let's say I give a very good example as something as a intangible uh cultural heritage like for example our hawker stores you know


or let's say I give you a more classic example like maybe the , the the okay we are chinese right so we talk about maybe the journey to the west where the monkey king or whatever, those are really like thousands of years of history that without this is sort of you know who exactly are we as a you know as as part of a chinese person or you know we talk about shakespeare's or whatever all these are actually being brought down from thousands of millions of years and


when you mentioned about the the next point you mention about there's no practical value or you talk about no economic uh progression, so we say that I'm earlier in my one of my points I mention that literature or arts defined someone's culture so for example japan japan has a very strong heritage or culture so people actually visit japan because they want to see a different


okay people want to go to japan is because they want to experience that kind of culture that kind of heritage and of course the kind of literature is also involved in that kind of uh growth, so what does this mean this means that actually took it brought in a people through tourism international to uh people coming in so to say that literature itself a subject that has no practical value based on what you mention of points I don't think that is I do not agree with that


okay so I mean I disagree that you are, I disagree that you are trying to segment out art and literature out of the whole uh whole art spectrum because literature sort of also belongs to the arts and humanity


portion of the you know when we talk about this sort this sort of topic so definitely there is some contribution to it and, there's a lot of other practical uh use let's say if you really want to just basically talk about literature itself is like number one literature helps us to build our critical thinking skills so because when we talk about literature is more about expressions is all about languages it's about how you


okay I think I type already uh I was saying that literature, helps to build on our critical thinking skills because it's it's it's part of like it uh it helps you to express your languages


to improve on your language when you read when you read between the lines the kind of words has being used you are able to find out deeper meaning on certain things or even you are even able to generate uh a more uh a more a a different kind of perspective


to to another person or the reader when they're reading your tax or even when you're saying out, so so this uh so number one is able to build up your uh critical thinking skills and number two is able to build up your language skills which these two itself are already a very important skill set or is a soft skill set for one to actually uh equipped themselves


to be better at you know doing whatever you you what you need to do like you said that uh nowadays, the the jobs that is really important lah engineers are like marketeers or whatever which language if you do not have that kind of language skills to express yourself or express your points express your project express your you know the product they are selling


you are not going to get your things done at the end of the day right so so this is this is definitely something that, you know I want to put it out on debate and , you also say that you yourself you have said that maybe perhaps literature has some linkage to history right so definitely literature is part of history as well and history generates how a country or culture progress


to be itself today and without that, kind of element of support you know how are we going to find ourselves again no you mentioned about no practical value I already mentioned languages already mentioned the art of expression of all I also want to add on another point is there's a lot of literature research


right now like you know if you go and search for china history about how the you know there's a lot of, uh poets for example , I really suddenly I cannot really think about uh some names but they thought


they talk about life for example filial piety, they taught about how a courtesy of passion towards it so all these skills actually helps one person to actually build up your mentality your upbringing so it made it sort of shapes you into a better person


uh you know to be to be around other people for yourself to for other people so then again these are some of the evidence that our literature does have uh a practical value in its own ways to contribute to the society to the economy etcetera


okay because I think we only left two minutes so I'm just going to quickly uh say my point, so what you mentioned about what you what you were to summarize what you mentioned about it's actually at the at the kind of education system that singapore has adapted for uh you know for the growth of the population there are definitely good uh pros and cons towards how one people one


one uh design your education system to be like, if you are currently in the singapore system is more like what you mention memorisation, right so but however I have mentioned earlier that literature is more than that like for example uh jack ma the the chief of Alibaba I think uh one or two years ago he set up a school


to primary to uh focus on cultivating students compassion independence social ransoms responsibility and lifelong learning these are the key traits of the school and they focused strongly on the heritage on the literature on the history of the of the you know the china history


so that is a kind of another form of uh focus that jack uh mister Ma has uh cultivated for you know of or to or to sort of inspired for the school to grow and I'm not going to go into whether you know what kind of education system is the best for a humanity to actually


succeed in life because definitely singapore's education system has its pro, definitely there's also another approach you know nothing that its cast in stone there is always effective, but of course if you are saying that the in in your in your own uh experience that in the past literature to you is just a memorising kind of work definitely this is then I will have to say that why didn't the teachers then


go through uh a deeper kind of uh value added teaching to the students why are they just asking you to memorize why didn't they decipher, the phases of whatever and only wait until university or people that is interested to really go through the literature right this is something that you know maybe we have to ask ourselves for you know maybe we have to ask a bigger the bigger the bigger people on top of us that you know challenge challenge the norm


so at the end of the day literature has its own value as really dependent on, the person's perspective to prove the value of this subject


uh prompt two slash four


okay so uh I


I do agree uh what the proper bit proposition has mentioned earlier that as a society progresses there are certain priorities that you need to uh focus on there are certain things that you need to uh uh uphold there are certain things you need to give up upon


however we let's talk about what exactly is heritage right so heritage sort is something that is intangible it's sort of like I mentioned uh previously heritage the intangible asset that defines uh person's


it basically it's like a name card, like you you you you want like you look at a chinese person and you look at a english person, they are different are we going to progress into a maybe uh next uh ten or twenty years basically all humanity are the same but everyone is just cold blooded I don't say cloak cold blooded but basically what is it that really defines your culture


what exactly that defines your heritage which is very important is basically how are you how are you as your individual, and it's very interesting because uh this morning I just had a very brief conversation with one of uh I think it's ah


lecturer in one of the polytechnic in singapore that he she she told me that she went to the uh hawker center and she feels, a bit a dejected because a lot of elder uh those immun in in her time those


people that is cooking all those very you know uh very very nice food you know like mee-goreng or like Nasi-Lemak or chicken rice all these elderly people are no longer there cooking you know the favourite food of singapore singaporeans' favorite food or even if there's food that are similar


it just taste different it just doesn't taste the same as how this old uncle old aunties used to used to cook like, so then again I throwback throwback the question to you as our society progresses if we are not going to preserve this kind of heritage let's say recipe let's say we talk about uh


nurturing the next generation to groom the next generation and just focus on, the cohort data the economy, the technology of course I'm not going to deny that these are also it equally important but I'm just going to pitch that heritage itself is also or even more important than technology advancement is really up to


us as the next generation or the current generation or even the next generation to see, to see the importance of this so that all this heritage will not, will not disappear, and I have mentioned earlier that one of the stat board in singapore I I maybe is MCCY they recently uh put up this intangible heritage uh award


right if it if this is something that is missing why why why why is our government government throwing out this kind of uh recognition to the various intangible uh you know uh organisations in singapore


so, yup, uh I I have ended


okay okay so so basically what you are saying is at is actually you also agreeing to the statement that heritage is something that you want have to preserve as society progresses basically that's what you that's what I have


it's a have actually said earlier that you know health care no doubt is important to to preserve it to to to sort of provide uh a better quality of life, uh to provide better standard of living for the people so that with that then we can actually uh preserve preserve our heritage


correct that's that's basically what you what you have, uh you you basically have agreed to me that you are saying heritage is only heritage is also something that is important that we need preserve


okay, okay so exactly what is uh we talked about intangible cultural heritage right it if it is defined as, the means of practices the representations the expressions the knowledge the skills it can be used it it can be as simple as how you use a certain unique instruments the artifacts the cultural spaces the communities or the groups or in some cases


individuals or whatever that kept that could be defined as part of one's cultural heritage so basically basically you mentioned earlier that bike the priority right now


is to focus more on health care is will that heritage is the least priorities the least prioritized uh subject for society to progresses, however if we are going to just focus on


one one one one element that you know this is not important this is okay maybe I put in my pocket first I need to focus more on health care so that my my older population will be able to uh not die off so easily so because we need their knowledge we need their skills or whatever but I see this as


a hand in hand kind of thing, and also add on that earlier you mentioned about to be happy right to be happy to be held to be alive uh to be able to stay alive to able to combat certain uh illnesses


definitely you you're happy but then again are you really really happy, so that's the question if you just going to leave uh let's say if if your let's say just a old old uncle or old old aunty they they they just beat cancer and they woke up in a world without heritage in a world without something that's familiar to them


and they are just lying on the bed can you really say that they are happy I mean for me, no, so that so that's why I'm not I'm not, uh pushing my way to say that technology is not important for society to progress I agree to the statement that so as society progresses there are certain err aspect to look at to improve


on our uh standard of living our quality of life however we should not we should not uh, left leave out our heritage because then again I always come back to this point heritage heritage it defines


our bloodline it defines our people, as well as it takes a lot of time to actually cultivate the kind of, uh heritage expression again it takes a lot of time and if you are just going to leave it leave it alone whether you're going to keep it again whether you want to put it to the archive again is no longer going to be the same


like I mentioned earlier the my example like uh ten years ago this very like what like my lad the bilateral friend really liked this chicken rice right then ten years later or the the couple no longer sells the chicken rice there is another new store younger


couple that during the chicken rice it just doesn't taste the same although the recipe or the food is the same but it just doesn't taste you know that that kind of taste that kind of smell that you having is no longer the same so are we really happy about that


okay yes it's definitely depending dependent of the situation that what is the the the sort of, think that aspect all the element that you needed right now let's say you talk about COVID you talk about this pandemic definitely health care or essential workers are very important and it's really very sad when our government you know released or straits time released their kind that article saying that


a certain job scope is the least essential workers so it really broughts down the whole population really broughts down the morale of everyone however as as I mentioned this is a intangible asset, heritage is an intangible asset and you you have earlier mentioned that quality of life happiness and you yourself you have also been saying that the government has been focusing on the artistic direction of growth


so this all all of this as all of this is a saying that there there are a lot of value in helping us to preserve our heritage and also you have mentioned singapore has already, very very uh vague or I say very very limited kind of heritage that defines singapore itself so if you're not going to save things as missing save the disappearing heritage


that sort of you know fifty sixty years ago our ancestors uh come down from from china to Nanyang to how do they built up from a fishing port to the current uh financial uh financial estate you are seeing right now at the


uh prominent area all these are very, important preservations our heritage defines us and you guys you could if if you were just saying that you are going to let go everything will just focus on health care no like what you what you have earlier mention


you agree to me that heritage is something important, and it's really and I do agree by time to time by situation to situation we need to focus on our our vote uh maybe our money or our uh focus on certain aspect like pandemic health care is very important but it's but at the same time we are talking about long term


long term heritage a long term identity heritage defines our identity so I think it's still something that is very important valuable that we need to preserve uh our heritage even though society is going to progress


prompt three four


okay , so you have mentioned that that singapore budget in the past four years you didn't really give a specific year but you mention that uh singapore budget to focus on museum is quite a substantial amount you say four billion right


as per se okay so , I have I have actually if you if you look at singapore budget twenty nineteen or look at the this year's singapore budget twenty twenty for arts generally is art in is part of the culture and community and youth uh budget actually


and to be honest even if you look into the MCCY budget arts development is actually one of the lowest priority compare to the rest of the uh sectors education health care environment national development etcetera etcetera etcetera so to say so so so your your point about saying that this amount


is if you want to take up all this amount and focus it on another sector there's already been given so much focus in terms of budget this actually not a very good planning, I mean or this is actually not right based on what you have uh your point that has been given arts development or I would say that the MCCY budget is already one of the lowest or I say not the highest


focus that the the the singapore budget uh twenty until twenty twenty is focusing already and you say and your point saying that that a lot of other household uh like the lower income should be given more focus or whatever


this really is a another different topic altogether is nothing to do with, investing in arts and music is a waste of time, right it really depends on how this budget there's big already been given to the healthcare sector how are they going to use it


and we've already mentioned earlier I already said my point that uh arts uh at I say museum or heritage is is a definition of one's identity singapore has over fifty uh museums all around the


the island and each of these museum plays a part a very unique part in terms of the identity of singapore so your point it it it it is really import, important number one that


our budget is given to the arts and museum is already the lowest priority already is there's a there's not a lot of budget that's being relocated to the arts, number two with that kind of budget the arts sector or the arts and museum have to try our best to uh make use of this amount that's given to us on top of that we need to fundraise ourselves or I would say that arts it sector they have to consistently do fundraising


to uh to get enough money to operate their their their museums their big organisations and if let's say I'm going to go into fundraising if let's say you go into uh the the the giving dotSG uh


website developed by a the the step box, arts or museum fund raising the amount of money that's been uh donated to them compared to the social services are also like one are also like one mile apart


people are really giving more focused for the social services rather than donating to the arts sector, so all my points are are beings stating is that, the arts and museum or the arts centre is already being it is already working in a very very very low budget our efforts of fund raising (ppc) is already (ppc) so much challenge compare to the social sectors like what you mentioned earlier the lower-income people


those are already very being very much taken care of, so why are we why are we going to say still going to say that investing arts and museum is a waste of money while we are already are the lowest priority that the or and uh the government is focusing on already so this definitely something that I really disagree on


okay so uh some of your points you have mentioned earlier is about priorities of the you know the budget allocations that more budget should be put into education for example rather than to invest in arts and museum


but let's take a look at uh in budget twenty twenty there's this article that's uh by straits-time I'm just gonna break it down very simple for you that uh investing or as say art and museum is part of the MCCY budget which is the culture community and youth budget


which is actually in the art uh budget twenty twenty is being is being allocated a two point three billion for example I mean this is the factories the figures I'm seeing right now, so for a budget twenty twenty culture community and youth were give were allocated uh two point three billion however education were education is given thirteen point three billion


so one is only two point three one is thirteen point three so I mean this is the facts and figures I I'm not going to too is already presented to you that the importance of education it substantial the amount of budget been allocated to education is substantial already


and arts a museum is part of culture community and youth right culture community in youth they shared the two point three billion that means that arts itself is given or even, lesser amount of the pie of the size of pie of two point three uh of the amount budget


so let's take some time to think about this you know that means the facts let's do some mathematics about this, that means is art give been given I'm not going to say that whether it's arts being given a fair chance to, to develop right but however you are you are saying that investing in arts and museum is a total waste of money it's already been like I come get to my point again it's really been given the list priority in terms of budget so


if you gonna gonna take that small amount of money and put it into something that is a bigger focus where the government is already for being focusing, are we is it is this a kind of kind of right kind of planning for a society to to progress no right lets you if let's say we go go to look


look at the budget twenty twenty health care education is already been given a lot of budget to focus right budget uh arts is already a little so extend my point, the next point that I mention about the next one that you mentioned about it's about tourism you have said yourself investment is about a long term uh returns


especially tourism singapore basically is port a fishing port that surrounded by a lot of countries we depends on we depend very heavily in terms of tourism so so, we we cannot say that uh you are just going to take out of this amount and put it into some something else as a higher priority where where the emphasis for the government's already been focusing there it's not right these are not right kind of planning


to invest on arts and music is very important to be one of the attractions or to sort to for the tourism to grow to sort of uh improve our economy improve from our state of leaving improved on the money capital, uh of the uh of the country's currency


so by uh so these two are my points that says that I disagree that investing in arts and music is a waste of money is a totally I'm still saying that we cannot say that investment in other museum is a waste of money based on uh your your points


okay


yup, !aiya!, the cross island line should be built under our nature reserve, the


cross island line singapore's eighth MRT line is fifty kilometre and will stretch from Jurong to Changi connecting key employment areas such as Changi logistic park and Jurong industrial estate, to residential areas including Pasir-Ris Ang-Mo-Kio and Clementi it is expected to save commuters up to thirty minutes


uh, up to thirty minutes to forty five minutes of travel time and projected to have an initial daily ridership of six hundred thousand before increasing to a million in the future, the line interchange with all almost all the other MRT lines and hence raised the network resilience


part, part of the cross island line, will be built under our central catchment nature reserve, environment, the impact assessment shows the environmental impact of direct alignment can be mitigated significantly


made the decision to build a, direct line a small straightforward one, the direct line built under our nature reserve will be about, two will be a two kilometer, tunnel, about seventy meter deep as opposed to the typical twenty meter to thirty meter


with no surface work sites in the nature reserve to ensure that, the, flora and fauna will not be affected, the work will be fully carried out through hard granite rock far away from the surface, the area A one W one which is known to have sighted animals of conservation significance and connects the southern and northern parts of nature reserve


the LTA has agreed to minimise the working area they will relocate non site dependent equipment and facilities to two work sites outside the nature reserve, one along club road and another on the western edge of the reserve across the pan island expressway


extra studies were taken to ascertain that vibration from the tunnel work is localised and transient in nature LTA has said that they will be vigilant and monitor vibration closely and constantly, the LTA is fully committed to implementing all practicable environmental mitigation measures recommended by the environment access


uh impact assessment, hence the concern of environment, environmentalists can be put to rest,


okay , as I have said uh before that uh most of the work will be done away from the, nature reserve itself the worksite will be out of the nature reserve, and now I will share more on the benefits of a direct alignment


for the direct alignment there will be no structures on the surface level of the central catchment nature reserve, for the skirting alignment the underground MRT tunnels may go through homes businesses and buildings and hence acquisition may be needed


engagement sessions have been held with stakeholders including nature and heritage groups grassroot leaders and affected residents to ensure that their concerns are being addressed, in longer term the direct alignment is a more environmentally friendly option at its as it has a lower energy consumption


it will shorten travelling time by about six minutes per commuter per trip and lower public transport fares by about fifteen cents per commuter, building under the nature reserve, could cost


taxpayer two billion less, compared with the alternative skirting options which will post more engineering challenges compared with the, direct alignment, of, fare adjustment component which takes into account the capacity of a transport


service versus actual usage, because it goes through nearly four kilometer of unpopulated area under the nature reserve will also be in place, in summary the building of the cross island line will benefit singaporeans significantly


and the direct alignment under our central catchment nature reserve is the most, practical and efficient way to go with, given that the environmental effects, can be effectively mitigated


so I am for building the, central, island x err, line under the, directly under the nature reserve


in longer term is actually more environmentally friendly with the direct alignment as it has a lower energy consumption, by shortening travelling time as I said as well as lowering transport fare


and it actually cost taxpayer less, if the, environmental impact, is a major concern, then


you can be assured that, , actions are actually being taken to make sure that, , vibration from the tunnelling work will be localised and transient so they will be is critical to be vigilant to monitor all these vibration constantly and worksites will be minimalised


and you mention about serving more people but it will also, affect people stakeholders, with, houses and, uh that is, going to be affected so they may need to be uh the there may be acquisition


of all this , places that will be affected, where else the direct line, it will just be you know, through unpopulated area so the impact will not be so big on stakeholders


I do agree with you but since you said that their engineers are so good, and you know can build all the sophisticated highways and tunnels then you should be confident that they will be able to build , below the nature reserve without the tremendous environmental impact


and if did, costs have to be a major concern because , taxpayers are paying for it, if you can save two billion dollars why not because this cost have to come from somewhere somewhere which is


us, taxpayer and it actually help commuters save money as well, every trip, and there will be six hundred thousand commuters


(ppc)


man is helpless in the face of climate change let's look at when the conversation of climate change has started


the first, united nations diplomatic conference to tackle climate change was in #rio de janeiro# in nineteen, ninety two that's twenty eight years ago here's what happened to the earth's since then


, the carbon dioxide level in the air, has jumped about three hundred and fifty eight parts per million to nearly four hundred and twelve, according to the US national oceanic and atmospheric administration


that, that's a fifteen percent rise in twenty seven years, the global average temperature rose a tad more than a Fahrenheit which is zero point five seven degree celsius according to NOAA


emissions of heat trapping carbon dioxide from fossil fuel and industry jump from six point zero six billion metric tons of carbon in nineteen ninety two to nine point eight seven billion metric tons in


twenty seventeen according to the global carbon project there's a sixty three percent increase in twenty five years, the number of acres burned by wildfires in the united united states, had, more than doubled


from a five year average of three point three million acres, in nineteen ninety two to seven point six million acres in twenty eighteen, the annual average extent of arctic sea ice has shrunk from twelve point one million square


meters kilometres, in nineteen ninety two to ten point one, million square, kilometers in twenty nineteen according to the national snow and ice data collection sent


there's a seventy percent decrease, in arctic ice, the global sea level has risen, an average of, two point nine millimetres a year since nineteen ninety two that's a total of seventy eight point three millimeters


or three point one interest according to NOAA for more than two decades since leaders first started talking about tackling the problem of climate change the world has built more heat trapping gases gotten hotter and suffered x hundreds of extreme weather disasters


fire happened ice has melted and seas have grown, hence most, agreement consists of promises or aim, and not firm commitments no concrete measures such as carbon emission tax were imposed


we are now grasping at straws, with climate change and doing too little too late


okay , to say that individual have an impact you have to see how to measure the impact is it insignificant enough to help climate change so let's look at the Paris climate agreement of twenty sixteen


that set humanity on a bold challenge to limit global warming to well below two degrees celsius relative to, temperatures before the industrial revolution acknowledging that even the two degree limit could have severe impact on the world the agreement make a further challenge made efforts to limit the temperature


rise to one point five degrees celsius it has been four years since, the limit of global, warming to well below two degree ideally, to one point five but, right now already average temperatures have increased by about one degree celsius leaving little room for more ambitious target to be met


the world's largest emitters are not pulling their weight and without them our global goal is unreachable, according to the united nations environment programme if we rely only on the current climate commitments of the Paris agreement temperatures will likely rise to three point two degrees celsius this century


to limit global temperature rise emissions must be well below twenty five gigatons by twenty thirty, with current commitments emissions will be fifty six, gigatons, by twenty thirty twice the environmental targets


the top four emitters which are china USA europe, and india, are contributing fifty five percent of the total emissions over the last decade, it doesn't help that in june twenty seventeen


US president donald trump announced that they will cease all participation in, Paris, agreement on climate change and the former notice was given in twenty nineteen november, humans, have caused major climate change since the industrial revolution and the warming has already happened over the past four decades


even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today global warming will continue to happen for at least several more decades, and the earth's surface area at surface temperatures does not react instantaneous to the energy imbalance created by rising carbon dioxide level


this, delayed reaction occurs because a great deal of excess energy is stored in the ocean which has a uh which has a tremendous heat capacity, because of the thermal initial inertia, even the zero point six to


zero point nine degree of global warming we have observed in the past century past century is not the full amount of warming we can expect from the, greenhouse gases that we have already emitted even if all the emissions were to stop today the earth's average surface temperature will still climb another zero point six degrees or over the next several


decades before the temperature start stop rising, so in the absence of major change, to reduce emissions, global temperatures is on track to rise by an average of six degrees celsius according to the latest


estimates, in december U uh twenty nineteen UN secretary general antonio, said that, the world's effort to stop climate change have been, utterly inadequate


so far there's a danger of global warming, that could pass the point of no return, the impact of rising temperatures including more extreme weathers is already being felt around the world, with dramatic consequences for humans and other species


I hate to paint a picture of doom and gloom but we are indeed helpless at this point


but most of the, but most of the climate, change, and warming has already happened in the past four decades so you are saying that now by individuals travelling less and all yes it can help a bit but, it's already onset that


you know even with we stop all emission now, the temperature will still go up because of the inertia, so


to have a, prayer of one point five degrees celsius, global you know warming, we would need to leave most of the remaining coal oil and underground gas, untouched and all these are revenues for major oil manufacturers


ah about thirty three trillion over the twenty five years, so all this, major players and just now as I said the top four uh major countries that are emitting carbon dioxide they're basically not doing enough even with individual efforts


that's, it may not be enough


going green makes good business sense


what does going green mean, going green means embracing a way of life that helps preserve the environment by reducing reusing and recycling items, going green concept is learning and practising on environmentally mindful lifestyle that contributes towards protecting the environment and preservation and conservation of the natural resources habitats and biodiversity


the aim of going green is to reduce pollution reduce resources consumption and eliminate wastes, conserve, natural resources and forests, maintain the, natural ecological balance on earth so that all living things can survive and thrive in their natural habitat


going green is a change many companies will have to make sooner or later for long term business sustainability, going green has great benefits for companies who have began to realise and start to advocate for green practices in their businesses


by adopting green practices your products or services help your consumers to be eco friendly while your operations will help support and save the earth, more, companies in singapore are climbing onto the green bandwagon with initiative


like reducing plastic bag use or doing away with packaging altogether, a move that marketing experts says makes good business sense as there is growing consumer support for each such strategies


many people are becoming more environmentally aware especially younger consumers who place an emphasis on a brands sustainability practices in their purchasing decisions, NTUC Fairprice which has


over two hundred outlets launched a plastic bag management framework to reduce the use of plastic bags at Fairprice demand, for environmentally friendly kitchenware and picnic picnicware, has, increased by about fifty percent over the past three years


while demand for environmentally clean, friendly household cleaning personal care and baby care products has grown about twenty percent, director of non food products missus Ooi, called, #kar y sit#


at Redmart same thing eco friendly products under their, companies label are more affordable than those better known brands, Redmart reported similar growth is, FSC certified toilet paper sales for example


have more than doubled in twenty seventeen compared to twenty sixteen, through increased awareness and demands for such products we can see that customers are getting more environmentally conscious, as more consumers are willing to spend more on green products the boom


to an organisation's profitability, can be substantial as such companies know that taking the plunge into green business practices is necessary to add to their companies' overall branding and value


the immediate payoff for businesses to go green is gaining competitive advantage and staying ahead of competitors, it helps to attract new green customers and open up new markets ultimately enhancing the perception of the company


customers suppliers vendors and other stakeholders may have, more consumers especially those who are green advocates will prefer to buy from companies that share, the same value as they do it generates goodwill which is especially important for SMEs that rely heavily heavily on positive word of mouth


such, practices can be seen and recognised by the consumers, and it encourages community engagement consumers' trust and loyalty in the long run companies will save cost by adopting green practices


companies can reduce energy and other resources usage, recycle and minimise waste optimize the supply chain adopt new technologies for productivity etcetera with reduced costs profitability will increase helping businesses to stay sustainable and relevant according to


miss #fang eu lin# PWC singapore's sustainability and climate change leader the key shift was observed a few years ago when companies recognize the concept of materiality, and enhance, focus towards issues where they had the greatest impact and which were important to their stakeholders


there are many factors, driving environmental stewardship across corporations, these range from operational efficiencies to alignment with national and global priorities, there's


increasing evidence of cost saving and product innovation through adoption of green practices and many companies have started to realize this various policy actions such as the paris agreement task force on climate change related


financial disclosure SGX sustainably, sustainability reporting requirements and sustainable development goals are agenda that businesses want to align with and these are helping to drive the green movement


in fact organisations have, even stood out for their actions emphasising that, their social responsibility is undertaking these efforts, cost saving is also a source of motivations for organisations to go green


considerable savings have been made, capital land managed to reduce energy and water intensity per square meter by twenty three point four percent and twenty four point one percent respectively for their operational properties and reduce carbon emissions intensity by twenty nine point four percent


compared to the base year of twenty, O eight, this amounted to utilities cost avoidance in excess of over hundred and forty, million for capital land since twenty nine ah twenty O nine


DBS energy saving initiatives have helped bank reduce electricity consumption by nine point six gigawatts, and achieve cost savings of three point eight, million in twenty seventeen compared to twenty sixteen


city singapore also reported significant, cost savings through their initiatives according to the bank they reduce seven hundred, hundred, thousand seven hundred twenty five thousand five hundred and seventy kilowatts of


and kilohertz of energy usage in twenty seventeen compared to twenty sixteen which translated to cost savings of one hundred and fifty thousand in twenty seventeen, going green also benefits businesses in the long run with its economic benefits it is increasingly accepted that embracing environmental sustainability


and, green practices would have economic benefits for winning support from right minded investors, and customers and hence, increasing profitability, meeting regulatory requirements to opportunities to tap into new markets and innovation


we're talking about going green makes good business sense, you're talking about , it being a higher costs for consumers yes it require resource investment and benefits may only be seen medium to long term, but, it is a trend that's ongoing


uh once trust is built only when, organisations are consistent in what they say and do so with heightened public, attention and on responsible business practices, organizers, organisations need to be accountable for their climate response or risk being called up once an organisation credibility is destroyed it loses its licence to operate


(ppc)


K my turn, the cross island line should not be built under our nature reserve cross island line should be built around the nature reserve nature society singapore the local environmental group proposed an alternative route


for the CRL that would go around the central catchment nature reserve reason to avoid crossing the reserve LTA transport engineers indicated that due to the


variability of below surface geology, it will be necessary to undertake soil investigation that involved drillings of core bore samples at regular intervals along the proposed CRL alignment


nature reserve should be considered off limit for all developments activities considering that the facts that nature reserve is the remaining zero point two percent of primary forest in singapore while the CRL is intended as an underground corridor


degradation of the forest habitats due to soil investigations and other related engineering works are required on the surface the surface works are as, expected to result in clearing of forests compactions of soil along the length of CRL alignment toxic materials spillage erosion and siltations due to excavations resulting in serious


damage if not lost to our ecosystem within the nature reserve hence the nature society recommend an alternative route that passes around the nature reserve to the south


via Lornie road which would only add an extra four minutes of travel time, the diversion of transport system to avoid nature reserve, is not without precedents


in fact soil investigation is the biggest concern the placement and operations of borings machines within the forest will be highly disruptive for the following reason, each bored hole site needs a clearing working platform approximately two meter square to be cleared and level where gradual of lands required it the platform next to accommodate the machines diesel hydro hydraulic power plant


freshwater and slurring tanks, grinding slot bore pipes and working space for the operators each of the machine need to be serviced with freshwater and removal of grinding slug on a regular basis while drilling in


an operation resulting in vehiculars access this will require a road to be constructed linking the drilling site along the alignment or from existing access point to the drilling sites


access road will result in clearing and compaction of topsoil and will also lead to erosion risk due to the disturb, to soil


okay is building an MRT line under singapore largest nature reserve necessary, to me I think it is not not only that it is actually counterproductive to have a mass rapid transit line transversing an unpopulated forest area


the basic tenet of transport infrastructure like an MRT line must be for it to serve the masses going by this principle alone the proposed alignment of the cross island line is flawed


by going through a tract of primary and secondary, forest, the LTA would not only do, irreparable damage to a pristine, habitat nestling around our reservoirs but it will also be rendering up to four kilometres of the fifty kilometer rail project void of patronage and revenue


the nature society's suggestions of an alternative route is sound even if its primary consideration is to prevent the distractions of , indigenous flora and fauna the route calls for the line to loop around the southern edges of the nature reserve this actually will allow it to serve residents in thomson


Lornie and adams roads not to mention the massive developments planned for Bukit brown allowing a bit further south it can even serve Balestier a bustling hub that does not have any MRT plan as yet


the LTA says the alternative route will entail longer travelling time long higher costs and more land acquisitions and possibly bigger engineering challenges


associated with going through a more built up area this reason hold little merit when compared with the benefit of serving a larger community and if, travelling time was such a big concern surely we should look to things such as


speedier trains better synchronicity between trains and platform doors and a more sophisticated signalling system, admittedly a diversion will cost more than going straight through the forest


then again think of the larger benefits the higher ridership and revenue that comes with a line that serves populated area instead of an uninhabited nature reserve will pay for a higher cost over


the lifetime of the line so let's not be penny wise and pound foolish


okay like I say acquisition has already started, uh regardless they like, okay uh or not right now quite a few of the residentials has already been


acquisited and, let's just talk about our land acquisition that is something which is unavoidable whenever we build a new rail line , singapore government has never been afraid to acquire lands for the larger good and since it is now paying market price for properties the pain of those affected is much less than before


the same rationale goes for any noise dust and inconvenience that arise from a major infrastructural project you cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs lastly engineering challenges


the LTA has never shield from engineering challenges in fact from some of the task it has undertaken it would seem that LTA engineers love challenges, they have diverted canals moved rivers excavated below viaducts


built tunnels that are just seventy, CM away from an existing operating tunnels diverted a stretch of road more than twenty times and build retaining walls that goes seven meter seventy metres into the road uh into the ground


they have even build a ten lanes highway under the sea and for the thomson east coast line, they are, freezing the earth to prevent water seepage while constructing the marina bay station


so the proposal to have an MRT line by setting our nature reserve has little to do with lack of engineering confidence it has even less to do with saving time or risking more land acquisitions


it may have something to do with keeping construction costs down but that would be tragic if it's true but for the LTA to even suggest an alignment, that goes straight past a population centre seems to suggest a failure to the part of planners to see the forest for the tree


okay like I've mentioned earlier about the CRL is intent


I disagree that man is helpless in the face of climate change multiple studies published in peer reviewed scientific journals show that ninety seven percent or more of activity actively publishing climate


scientists agree that climate warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities based on NASA global climate change


observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring a rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver which means


climate change is reversible and preventative and hence we're not as helpless as it seems on an individual level several scientific studies have shown that when people especially those living in developed


country but are generally including all countries wish to reduce their carbon footprint, there are a few key high impact actions they can take such as having a f~one fewer child


which cause fifty eight point six tonnes living car free two point four tonnes avoiding one round trip flight, one point four one point six tonnes and eating a plant based diet zero point eight tonnes this differed significantly from much popular advice for greening one lifestyles which seem to fall mostly into the low


impact category some commentators have, argued that individual actions as consumers and greening personal life are insignificant in ~rison to collective action


especially actions that hold the fossil fuel corporations accountable for producing seventy one percent of carbon emissions since nineteen eighty eight, others say that individual actions lead to collective action


suggest an emphasis, ~size that research on social behaviour suggests that lifestyle change can build monuments for systemic, change there one o one ways to fight climate change and here are some of the examples


we can reduce emissions by using the car less whenever possible instead of , instead you should use sustainable transportation such as bicycling or use public transportation more often


in the case of long distance travel trains are more sustainable than airplanes which cause a great deal of the COtwo emitted into the atmosphere if you are into cars remember that every kilometers that you increase your speed


will considerably increase COtwo emissions and expenses, according to the CE, each liter of fuel that your car uses equals to two point five kilometer two point five kilogram of COtwo emitted into the atmosphere we can also save energy by taking a look at the label on your appliances


and never leave them on standby always adjust the thermal state for heating and air conditioning by being careful how we use home appliances we can save energy and of course money at the end of the month


put the three R s of sustainability into practice reduce, by consuming less and more efficiently reuse take advantage of second hand markets to give new life to items that you don't need anymore or find something someone else


have gotten rid that you need, you'll be saving, sorry , !oi!


and so that's why we should press the government to take more action we should make


demands from the government demands that they take measures towards a more sustainable life anyway that you can promote renewable energy regulatory measures such as properly labelling products


promote more sustainable public transportation promote the use of bicycles and other nonpolluting transportation methods in the city correctly manage waste through recycling reuse etcetera


the population has more power than it realise to demand measures from governments to raise global awareness of the global warming problem, a single person contribution is basically irrelevant but based on research by steve westlake PHD researcher in environmental leadership


doing something bold by doing giving up flying can have a wider knock on effect by influencing others and shifting what's viewed as normal, in a survey conducted half of the respondents who knew someone who has given up flying because of climate change said they fly less because of this example that alone seems pretty impressive


furthermore around three quarters said it has changed their attitudes towards flying and climate change in some ways, these effects will increase if a high profile person , had given up flying such as an academic or someone in the public eye in this case around two thirds say they will fly less because of this person and only seven percent said it has not affected their attitude


psychologists researchers had spent decades amassing evidence about the powerful effects of social social influence, now this is the main focus did you know that the wealthier ten percent of the global


populations are responsible for fifty percent of emissions and plenty of that will be due to flying in the UK around fifty percent of people take seventy percents of the flights while half of the population don't fly at all


as emissions from aviation become an increasingly slice of the total, of the total emissions this


inequality will become harder for everyone to ignore the research the research support, the argument that individual action is part of the collection so while you won't save the world on your own you might be part of the solution in addition most of the leading scientific organization worldwide has issued public statement endorsing these positions here are some of sorry


but, this effect is reversible


and hence we should push the government to do more than just


going green doesn't make good business sense some companies have made an effort to become more environmentally friendly, also known as going green, reasons for going green include achieving better public relations


tapping into the growing green market or even because the company might simply feel that it is the right thing to do to help protect the environment greening a company can involve changes to lessen greenhouse gas emissions


use safer non toxic chemicals in products protect ecosystem or all of the above however they can be a number of disadvantages to going green for the corporations


groundbreaking advancement in technology over the past two decades have introduced greener renewable energy sources into the mainstream marketplace for consumer engine energies


be it the exponential growth of global wind power capacities or the adoption of electric hybrid vehicles the beginning of the twenty first century has been marred by revolutionals


innovative in the energy section however as of now, this environmentally friendly sources of energy are often more expensive and less reliable, for consumers than traditional sources such as coal and other fossil fuels


in a free marketplace cost conscious customers will often overlook the potential long term benefits of clean energy and instead opt to buy a cheaper but less sustainable appliance


the cost reductions in energy savings gained by going green, are not always enough to offset the initial upfront conversion cost even switching energy suppliers


purchasing wind powered electricity save rather than conventional electricity from a petrochemicals fuel power plant can mean paying a premium price for the green energy source


it can be costly for a corporation to go green initially, here are some of the reason going green doesn't make good business sense it pushes up the price of products in some cases the switch to using green materials can lead to higher cost of your production process or elsewhere in your facilities


a furniture manufacturer who switches suppliers to buy only sustainably harvest woods would likely have to pay a premium price for his lumber the larger costs, either have to be passed along to customers in terms of higher


prices or have to come to the company expense in terms of a smaller profit margin on its products, going paperless means data risks for some companies a common method of going green is to minimise or even eliminate the use of paper this can


post some disadvantages for example, if employees lost or experience theft of laptop computers sensitive information that would normally be kept in a locked paper file could fall into the wrong hands if companies


don't properly back up their computer files a system crash would prove disastrous paper records however, nineteenth century they may seem still serve as a valuable backup to the electronic documents that dominate record keeping in the modern era


in the business world going green can be an attractive goal to gain goodwill, and consumer support but unless green improvements are economically viable it can put a business at


a competitive disadvantage for instance if one company decides to adhere to strict self imposed pollution standard which require the installation of new technology and workers


while another sets loose, standards the second company will be at an advantage since they will have lower production costs, even if national standards were imposed to force businesses to go green this could put them at a competitive disadvantage with respect to foreign companies


so let's ask ourselves is going green worth it, sometimes being green can be easy and worthwhile business pursuit a concern for social responsibility can increase the bottom line as consumers search for more sustainable food and household products


and prepare to part with larger sums of money to support personal beliefs, in additions to increase revenue the reputations of a corporation can increase as buyers research purchases and share information regarding best practices of preferred brands with peers


a large consumer cooperative, dramatically cut prices so people were willing to experience with it and consumption went up, so retailers do have a central role but most of the part they're not willing to sell product at a huge loss


the people interviewed running the cooperative say that today they probably could not have made the decision to lower prices because they're now under greater pressure to earn profits, but when they took their decisions in the late eighties they were driven by wider concerns for the environment and they are willing to take a hit to short term profitability


for consumer wanting to buy green the choices these days appeared endless unless that is you are on a budget, eco friendly straws sneakers garments and packaging, are often pricier than their conventional counterparts leaving poor and middle middle class people with not much of a choice there's a lot of innovations going on with sustainability right now but it's just not affordable


it's hard to scale when you're paying more for a green product, for some products such as organic food the highest sticker price is reflective of the higher cost of creating that type of food but others charge more simply because they can


eco friendly or sustainable branding is increasingly used as a marketing strategy to distinguish products as premier or elite, making them almost certain to appeal to wealthier shoppers while consumers are forced to make trade offs between product attributes or helping the environment the environment almost never wins


that's why for some companies green marketing is more of a synergy, signaling signaling strategy that anything else consider, wild spread plastic straw bends this tactic addresses just a fraction of one percent of the plastic waste human dump into the earth


okay so, but like there should still be academic factors so that is what like most people think that it's the basic knowledge, like doesn't mean that without such academic subjects refers to no knowledge but it's what a lot of people already think like oh we must go school for such subjective


uh academic uh, to, study so it's like it's already the basic that people need, although like personality or talents people to see it then what about the need that they always want degree to get into a job nowadays like all these academics I think this due to pick into factor so is still important


that's true but I guess it also maybe it can work the other way around so like those non active like maybe the non academic factors are those who don't want to join any CCA so, they also won't look at their talents so they maybe want to go to school because of such academic factors like maybe oh I can learn english today I can improve my english and they might avoid the CCA all those non academic ones


like if they can go home I just go school for the academic academic subjects then I just go back


that's quite true also but maybe we say in terms of like interview although people say like the personality and it's like talent like you say but


like maybe let's say the interview I might have a very nice personality and I have talent in getting the job or related , but if the their basic knowledge of having their english like maybe they speak broken english or something so if we have customers around like the job requires us to speak to people and to communicate with them then maybe it's another factor that


they need they still do need the academic


that's agreeable also I think, like the previous point it still works both way


like they can be competitive and stuff so like in their CCA it motivates them to oh because I got this CCA so I can go to school and then it'll help my academic, right, so maybe we can say that the other way when I go for such academic factors then when I go for the CCA if I'm really interested


then we can also work from there, like they can build their relationships and work on their non academic factors over there so they got


yes , yes that's true uh so like having such non academic factors you mean like they can relax so they'll will be more motivated to go for both CCA and also for the school not facing the four walls


right yeah but there's some, people for instance like those who want to avoid going for PE those who don't want to get active, then I guess that


school they still just want to go there for the academic factors and like oh any activities I'm out out of it I don't want to be there so maybe it works for them that way to


that's quite true that we need both in order to balance so


yes they can it can help, them to search up to their history and stuff for their dialects but I guess it can be a third language option but not a mother tongue


like is there any well established written script for the dialects like maybe let's say the how do we spell some certain words there are no clear well established script for them


then they can't really get the exact spelling of it then how are they going to learn like all through speech and the pronunciation


it's agreeable that such chinese dialects to help us to like communicate with the older people like many many young people


young people are not able to communicate because their grandparents can't really speak like maybe english now or like even simple what they call the mother tongue which is chinese now they only able to speak like their Hokkien Teochew and stuff but


apart from that in the modern city or with their friends, okay if they all learn the same dialect they might be able to speak to each other but what if in a class they have different dialects let's say three for now like cantonese Hokkien Teochew so I I will the person will only be able to speak with


like so they learned Hokkien they only can speak with those Hokkien people and teochew with teochew people and cantonese with cantonese people so they don't have the common language which is like the chinese mother tongue now, to speak with all of them so maybe it saying oh I either choose speaking to my grandparents and get the history


of it or to be able to speak to my friends now


yes that can be a way like to have like chinese and also the other chinese dialect just like the tamil and, the other what they called dialects but so


you mention that say we can have the written one as chinese and the maybe, oral and stuff as the dialects right but do the tamil one also happened like that so like they have the written tamil exam but then their oral is the the rest of the dialects that you mention so maybe that's another


another thing for the school then also like if the, situation like current mother tongue language of chinese people already cannot really master it


and already didn't like they always say that if we are living in this country we need to have like at least, what they call this the mother tongue because based on like history and stuff right so without learning without the proper script and stuff how should they be offered as their their chinese language in school


I think is the background advertisement, okay sorry sorry yes


yes that can also be the option of like at least they know how to pass down and it's true that a lot of the kids now don't know their, dialect anymore like they were like oh what's that they don't even know or they don't even know what their dialect is and don't know how to differentiate and stuff but so if having both of the chinese dialect and uh the normal chinese


then which one should they actually focus on like because they have both written as chinese and the dialect as the oral and stuff so which one should they master more or is an additional language that they need to learn so instead of four language we have five language now


having the extra knowledge is good is knowledgeable , but I guess like, maybe say if they really have this, few let's say two basic language that they need to master and to have one more to add on to it they might be confused that which one must they really focus on and


maybe they will get more blur like so do I focus on speaking more, mother tongue or more I mean like more chinese or more dialects, and


maybe they will just get more confused about it so having the, the dialects will be knowledgeable that's agreeable


debate topic three


(hmm) yes that err, learning can be best outside the classroom but I think the classroom setting is still needed for keeping the students stimulated so like the physical presence of being in the classroom and having the teacher


keeps students stimulated through the interactive and interesting activities so maybe not say only when I'm outside the class then I will get interactions or interesting


communications with my friends these can be done inside the classroom also , and also this enables students to retain more from what they have learnt during a session and to get the idea of a classroom setting, or else like they have the classroom behaviour there's a there's the particular behavior that catches the student attention to keep them in the so called learning mood so maybe the


attention of being faced in place inside a classroom having to face four walls nothing else, and only the teacher so that they can like focus I need to focus on the teacher so that they get their learning from there it can be


done better outside or better, inside the classroom but, it will be based on personal preference also I feel but to say learning inside the classroom it will just allow


the students to know that oh I'm inside the class now all I can do is to focus and not think of other things , because let's say if I'm outside there's a the most basic thing like the grass I can get distracted by the grass and then not focus on what the teacher is saying then also


I would maybe they just want to do anything else rather than focus on what's happening so like in class is focusing on one thing only but when I'm outside then I got so many things that I can do


they might get distracted easily yeah


having the exposure is nice but like to keep them focus ya maybe there's more exposure outside and they can learn more on other problem solving skills like mentioned


but inside class they'll also have like the different environment that is better for them so like when I go when they stepped out they'll feel like oh I can go !wow! there's so many things I can do so maybe it's like a more


more options thing like I can choose to do this do that rather than just to focus yes so they do have the the opportunity to have more problems solving uh get to know more situations that might really happen in real life


but, maybe inside the classroom they are so used to facing the four walls like we're saying the four walls that constrain us, from thinking maybe constrains them thinking out of the box like they don't see a lot of thing they don't see a lot of things in what's happening outside


but let's say for their future like also studying for the future how would they get used to being in like the office job eight to five also facing walls and not stepping out so like they will still be constrained maybe by then oh since young I


have been running outside I have been learning outside I solved problem with the outside environment they don't know what's happening inside a close space so they might not be so used to


the situation which I think defeats the purpose of like a classroom to learn


having both options does sound nice to have outside and inside but yeah having the balance is good so outside they might, like mention the the clouds like look like elephant and stuff so maybe indoors they can have it the same way also they can have like maybe craft like a molding some clays


like outside they will still how how do we mold some clays then they will still be attending some classes which is also inside the class, so it's all blocked again blocked with the walls to learn unless maybe say like they get their class being placed outside in the open field molding some clays


so inside a classroom having the tables chairs then they sit there being focused to like okay I I need to mold some clays, rather than rather than having them molding some clays then after that I get distracted by the birds flying around


and and like, the attention spend of the kids I mean depending on individual but I think it's quite common that when some other destruction passed by like maybe another kid starts screaming outside because they saw like an aeroplane or bird


let's say in a open field because outside the classroom so I think it's also, like it will still be best inside lah


part one debate topic one


okay so like , should schools should consider subjective and non academic factors for admission , uh yes they should because like it will create like a fair opportunity for all like based on like academic and non-academic so like


some, for non academic right some people like they are , like they have a talent, but like because of their because they have bad grades they're not able to like kind of get into a good schools to continue


get into a good schools which like have, to, to grow their talent so, like actually , does it like singapore education is they already have like a lot of programmes whereby like


it motivates students to have higher academic like ability but like as for the aspects of like their talents and like as in those non academic factors, is very limited so it will it will actually like cause the students to feel that to feel


not motivated to like, work hard for school and they will not like actually they won't even feel like going to school but if they are interested in the if they get into their school they want through their talent then they will be they will like treasure the opportunity more and like be more motivated for school


so like in a good way it actually like, kind of, motivate them, for their education, and then like in a way since


they already like, have a, they're already good in something then it will actually like help them like to


okay so okay I agree that like academic is important however if, they do not have an interest to go to school like they are not motivated to go to school in the first place how are they going to, like


if they are not going to school like for their interest they like, they'll, they won't even want to like, go to the school to to like study, so for example right if


like this child is interested in basketball he and then he's already in like he's in our school which has very good uh basketball uh CCA so, like the basketball CCA will be the one that like motivates him to go to school to even attend the school hence attending the classes for his academic factors


so in a way like it actually like motivates, them to, to even appear in school other than like just thinking about like !aiya! okay ah there's nothing for me to like be interested in go to schools also like, very


like, it it will cause them not like to feel that like, they will just feel very very tired about the thought of schools


so I feel that like, introducing like this kind of like non academic factors for admission right like it will also, it other than like motivating the kids to go to school


it will also like reduce stress for the students because it's already of their interest, so they do not have to like really like study, for the academic, subjects which is like, going to affect their future


okay so like okay I, I agree that like , schools should have like , should cater to both academic and, subjective, however I feel that currently does the education system is


not very, a, they don't really approve of like accepting student, accepting admissions through subjective and non-academic factors they will still take


like they tend to look at grades more, than their achievement in non academic


so imagine like because like the student is, not very very uh, he didn't grow up in a very good like well-to-do family so like he doesn't attend tuition and


and stuff, so his academic will tend to be like, lower as compared, to those , kids who who are born in a rich and supportive family, so, because of that factor he's not able to get into a schools


like, into a good school, to help, him to develop, the interest of studying and, for he like, to benefit his future, so I feel that like is actually a waste because like


we can't control like which family we want born in we want to like, be born in like like, supportive or like not very well-to-do so they like, they cannot choose like


they may be interested like, because of the money factor issue they are not able to like maybe, they're not, like very, they are not able to like improve their grades


to get into the school they want, for their, non academic


I agree that grades matter but however like, , they still have a, kind of like, a long way to go into, the society the working society so like


I feel that schools are very important for is a very important platform to change their mind of the importance of , academic so like, if he if this boy is able to like get into the school because of his


non academic factors it may actually like motivate him to like be like kind of like be peer pressure by his classmates to, study well to like improve the kind of competitive competitiveness