The Blue and Gold

Issue 2 MICA (P) 149/02/2008 Bullion of Knowledge, Gears of Time March 2008

All abuzz on
Patron’s Day
Page II
Struggling to stage it
Mélange loses opening night shows

SMU
Arts Festival:
All about
senses
Page III

I am interested
in Trading
Page VI

Unbranded
column
Page VII

THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM: Stageit’s exclusive preview of Mélange attracts audience despite struggle
Shark’s fin Ephraim Loy
anyone?
It was supposed to be their
Page VIII
first performance but turned out
otherwise.
It’s Singapore Several first time actors, di-
rectors and production crew from
2010! Stageit, a theatre CCA in SMU,
who were supposed to stage Mé-
Page IX
lange, as part of the Arts Festival in
SMU were disappointed.
“It was my first experience and
Racing fever I fell in love with my role. I was dis-
appointed to hear of the cancella-
among SMU tion,” said fourth-year social science
student Chong Wan En.
students In an email, one of the mem-
Page XI bers involved wrote: “Three days
ago, the school administration de-
cided to cancel tomorrow’s opening
shows because the plays were not
up to their standards. Instead, the
club has been forced to hold a “by-
invitation-only” preview in lieu of
the performance.”
The students involved in the
production claimed they had start-
A Model’s Life ed preparing for the big night some
Page XI five weeks ago.
A special preview to a panel
comprising members from the Arts
Festival organising committee and
staff from the Office of Student
Life (OSL) was held just a week
before the actual shows.
The panel gave comments to
improve and had suggested having
more rehearsals and concluded that
Stageit did not “deserve too many
shows”. A suggestion to cancel
two opening night performances
in place of more rehearsals was
thrown up.
This did not materialise. It was
finally decided that the opening
night shows were renamed “exclu-
sive previews” and subsequently
removed from publicity posters’
schedule.
“We don’t really care what it is
called - exclusive preview or any-
thing else. We just want to perform
and carry on with the show,” said
Elvin Ong, a director for one of the
plays.
Added Leong Xinyi, a cast
member for “This Is Not a Problem”
one of the three plays supposed to
be staged: “(The school) is supposed
to support talent and I feel this is
a platform for us to do so. It’s like
taking away our rights and shows
the lack of respect for students.”
“It was my first
experience and I fell in
love with my role. I was
disappointed to hear of
the cancellation.”
Fourth-year social
science student
Chong Wan En
The students involved claimed
they have added in an additional
day of rehearsals after feedback
from the panel.
But the main concern is the
respect for the student population
in general, a taste of what it is like
in performing arts and the hope to
develop budding talent in theatre.
The entire production was made up
of first time actors, light and sound
crew - almost half of the people in-
volved were entirely new.
“I think the main point is that
we tried our very best. Juggling
CCA and studies at the same time
can be quite difficult,” explained
second-year business student Chen
Zihao.
When contacted, OSL main-
tained that they had requested for
earlier preview dates but such re-
quests were not met.
“Although the Arts Festival or-
ganising committee had committed
to putting the shows on its calendar,
it was a leap of faith by the com-
mittee. They also have the right to
exert quality controls over what was
to be staged. Stageit had the right
to deliver or risk the shows being
removed. They are equally answer-
able to the Arts Festival organising
committee,” said OSL’s Assistant
Director Lim Siauw Chong.
He added that he was the one
who suggested to put in extra re-
hearsals in lieu of the first night’s
performance to allow the crew and
cast to have pre-committed time to
rehearse intensively.
The “exclusive preview” was at-
tended by some 200 invited guests
and students who responded to the
emails that were sent out.
“I’m happy to see that every-
thing went on well. My perfor-
mance could have been better,” said
Wan En, in an interview after the
“exclusive preview”.
 Issue 2,Page II
What’s Up @ SMU
The Blue and Gold
March 2008

All abuzz on Patron’s Day

President Nathan’s annual visit to SMU gets students excited

Radhika Kanuga

28 January, 2008 was a welcome

change from the regular schedules,
a chance to get out of the library/
GSR/Seminar Room that we’re
usually stuck in and do something
different. The participating teams
made up less than a fourth of the
crowd - the rest consisted of en-
thusiastic supporters cheering their
teams on!

The SMU-KIA Car Challenge

A one-of-its-kind event, the
SMU-Kia Car Challenge brought
out the true spirit of friendly com-
petition. Most of us had been won-
dering what the two Kia Picantos
parked right outside the School of
Information Systems (SIS) were
for. Well, who’d have thought they
would be put to such fascinating
use!
The SMU-Kia Car Challenge
was essentially a game that involved
stuffing as many people as possible
into the newly face-lifted Kia Pi-
canto. Teams were supposed to fit as
many members as they could into
the car within 10 minutes, and stay
inside for three seconds with all the
doors and windows shut. The team
that managed to get the maximum
number of people in the car would
be declared the winner and would
get a cash prize of $500. Doesn’t
sound that difficult right? Well, try
fitting 20 people into a car that size,
and you have yourself quite a neck-
breaking and sweat-inducing expe-
rience! Having a first-aid booth was
a smart move on the part of the Pa-
tron’s Day Organising Committee.
The first record was set by the
team consisting of the Patron’s Day
Organising Committee themselves,
who managed to squeeze 17 people
into the car. Little did they know
their seemingly-high record was
going to be broken several times
over.
The team that called them-
selves the “Idle Seniors” consisted
of SMU’s tiniest fourth year girls.
They had chosen well – the height
and weight of all the team members
seemed almost exactly the same.
With an astounding 26 girls in one
Kia Picanto, they were a shoo-in for
the final round! The other team that
qualified for the finals had a com-
bination of members from SMUX
and SIS students. In spite of hav-
ing guys on the team (who take up
much more space on an average!),
they fit 27 people into the Kia Pi-
canto.
Of the nine teams that took
part, four qualified for the final
round. A special mention must go
to Team “Fat Divas” for including a
male ‘Fat Diva’ (who sure had a field
day being in a car with 25 girls!) in
their team in the final round. In ad-
dition to the “Fat Divas”, SMUX
and SIS, the “Idle Seniors” and the
Floorball team qualified for the fi-
nals.
Size definitely does matter in
a competition of this kind, and no
amount of squishing and shov-
ing on the part of the other teams
was able to overcome the clear-cut
advantage the Idle Seniors had.
They won the Kia Car Challenge
by getting an astonishing 29 girls
into the poor Kia Picanto! They
had their strategy down to perfec-
tion – one of the girls was slid into
the car through the window right
before their three-second count-
down began. The SMUX and SIS
team came in a close second, with
28 people in the car.
The Tug-of-War
Free donuts from Donut Fac-
tory were the highlight of the after-
noon, and the Milo Truck kept all
the participants and spectators well
fuelled.
The traditional Patron’s Day
tug-of-war ensued, and this year
with a new team in the Schools
Category - the School of Law. The
Open Category consisted of teams
from various CCA clubs, as well as
one other team who called them-
selves “MILF”. For those of you
who are raising eyebrows, “MILF”
stands for ‘Man, I Like Friend-
ship!’ The round-robin format was
followed, with the School of Infor-
mation Systems and the School of
Social Sciences dueling it out in the
finals.
The team to win the best of
three rounds in the finals would be
declared the winner. Team SIS had
the loudest cheerleading squad –
and encouragement does go a long
way! Team SIS won Round 1 and
Round 2, and emerged winners
of the Patron’s Day Tug-of-War a
third year in a row.
President Nathan’s Arrival
President Nathan arrived at
5pm, and was greeted enthusiasti-
cally by a song-and-dance show put
up by The Indian Cultural Society.
The evening’s Student Awards Cer-
emony began with SMU Chairman
Ho Kwon Ping’s address.
The reason that SMU organises
Patron’s Day each year and consid-
ers this event to be of so much im-
portance was brought forth by Mr
Ho Kwon Ping himself. Right at
the start, when SMU asked Presi-
dent Nathan to be our Patron, he
had a simple request. He wished
to be involved in student activi-
ties and to get a chance to interact
with the students. Patron’s Day,
therefore, serves the purpose of up-
dating President Nathan with the
latest developments at SMU and
also gives us students the chance
to meet him and spend some time
interacting with him.
Various scholarship recipients
were felicitated on stage. President
Howard Hunter’s address involved
appreciation of those CCA groups
that have rendered special services
to the University – such as SMU
Peer Helpers, the Student Coun-
cil of Discipline and the Students’
Association. The various Dean of
Students awardees for excellence
in CCAs were also called up on
stage. It is very commendable the
way SMU acknowledges students
for their achievements, and these
stellar students serve as inspiration
for others.
Each year, the inter-school
championship goes to the school
that wins awards in five major in-
ter-school events. Upon winning
the Tug-of-War, SIS walked away
with this year’s Inter-school Cham-
PHOTO: LIM WEI MING
pionship. A beaming Kelvin Lee,
last year’s SISS president, took the
trophy.
The winners of the Univer-
sity Student Life Awards, Caderas
Latinas, put up an entertaining
performance. President Nathan
was all smiles as he was led to the
“Dreams” exhibits, which consisted
of booths put up by various CBds
– such as SISS, SSU, SMU Law
Society, Bondue etc. All the booths
were creatively designed to express
what each CBd stood for. Here,
President Nathan spoke to the vari-
ous student leaders at the booths
and got a chance to understand all
the different things that embody
SMU’s vibrant culture.
Groove@SMU!
The party that signified the
end of the Patron’s Day Celebra-
tions was a very noisy affair! There
was free food, beer, ice cream and
the sound and DJs were courtesy of
Dbl-O. It was the first time the T-
Junction has seen such a party and
the atmosphere was no different
from a club. An array of hot per-
formances by SMU Samba Masala
and Eurythmix drove the dancing
and cheering crowd wild.

New scholarship unveiled at Patron’s Day
CCA involvement counts for awardees of this scholarship
Radhika Kanuga
This year’s Patron’s Day marked
the introduction of the inaugural
SMUSA-Bizcom CCA Scholar-
ship. Set up by the students for the
students, the scholarship recogn-
ises students who have contributed
greatly to SMU student life.
Breaking the stereotype of most
scholarships that are awarded on
academic grounds, the SMUSA-
Bizcom Scholarship encourages
students who dare to venture be-
yond their academic requirements.
All about senses
A summary of non|sense, the annual SMU Arts Festival
Terri-anne Teo
It would have been difficult not
to notice this year’s Arts Festival.
From the numerous interpretive in-
stallation art pieces scattered across
campus to the tantalising buffet of
events offered, this year’s festival,
held from 18th January to 29th
February, was clearly a sight, sound
and touch to behold.
Commencing the festival was
the opening gala graced by Minis-
ter for Information, Communica-
tions and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon
Yang (below, second from left).
The opening event was “Listen to
Your S(teel)”, a multi-disciplinary
production commissioned by Dr
Joyce Koh, where a steel ensemble
was manipulated by roller-bladers
to create an astounding harmony
of visual and aural delights, encap-
sulating the explosive spirit of the
fortnight’s affair.
Curated by Dr Eugene Tan was
the festival’s extensive visual arts
exhibition, showcasing works by 13
local artists.
A mysterious expanse of black
paint interspersed by continuous
white lines, occupying the wall par-
allel to the school gym, was Joshua
Yang’s drawing installation titled
“Trying to tie up the loose ends
but leaving just enough room to
breathe”. Arousing great curiosity
in many the moment it first ap-
peared, it was not uncommon to
hear discussions among those who
walked past it en route to classes –
was it a brain, a map or something
else. Upon closer inspection, one
would notice seemingly handwrit-
ten notes amidst the white path-
ways. Inspired by the ‘snake game’,
the artist explained that these ‘notes’
The recipients this year, Teoh
Pei Ying and Wilson Lim, have a
record of inspiring achievements to
their credit.
Pei Ying has represented SMU
on a number of sports competi-
tions and has also served as an
Events Manager for both the SMU
Sports Union and the Ultimate
Frisbee Club. The experience that
she gained from previous Overseas
Community Projects has enabled
her to take up responsibility and or-
ganise future such programmes for
SMU students. Pei Ying looks for-
are observations and emotions ex-
perienced as he created a random
pattern with his paint. The arbitrary
sprinkling of stars found translates
to ‘teleportation points’ where he
‘traps’ himself within the patterns
and needs a way out. It is almost as
if the artist has created a timeline
for himself, tracing his journey in
art the same way we move through
daily life.
Another remarkable art piece
is “The Sixth Day” by Donna Ong.
Set in a painfully unfurnished
room, the dimly-lit solitary dresser
stands in beautifully contrast. Un-
like Joshua Yang’s wall, everything
here screams ‘intention’, from the
meticulously placed glass bowls of
seedlings and white egg-like balls,
to the uncannily realistic metal spi-
ders and strings of pearls that are
strewn about in a haphazard fash-
ion. A soft-spoken woman, Donna
brought to life themes of rebirth
and hope through the repetitive use
Issue 2,Page III
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
ward to contributing to SMU life in
whatever ways she can.
Wilson Lim is the man be-
hind SMU’s successful Dragonboat
Team. He took it upon himself to
set up and train the very first Drag-
onboat Team and gained valuable
friends, skills and a whole new per-
spective towards sports. He has led
the team through several national
races and an international race in
Penang. The work that he did dur-
ing his term as Event Manager for
SSU has gone a long way in pro-
moting SMU’s vibrant student life.
of spherical objects and the spiders
which represent womanhood in
Greek mythology. Along with that
are endless contrasts, such as the
barren state of the room in com-
parison to the growth the seedlings
symbolise, pronouncing hope and
optimism in the midst of negativity.
This piece reminds us of the infinite
possibilities of art, if only we stop
for a while and allow ourselves the
freedom of interpretation and ex-
pression.
To shake things up a little for
non|sense was local celebrity Hos-
san Leong in “LOL”. Fashionably
dressed in a pink shirt, jeans and
donning funky glasses, he was per-
fectly at home on stage, predictably
a hit with his classic impropriety,
comedic timing and effusiveness.
Naturally, this one-man show left
no chair empty, and there was little
standing room left by the time he
took off with an energetic rendition
of Copacabana. Throughout the
His extensive involvement in a
number of events has given him a
greater sense of belonging to SMU
and made his journey in university
very enjoyable.
Following his graduation from
SMU, he hopes to continue to con-
tribute to student life through ad-
vising and linking SMU to external
organisations. Advising all students
to be more proactive in student life
activities, he said: “Studies are no
doubt the primary reason for us to
be in SMU, but to study and yet en-
joy the vibrancy of student life will
show, the crowd was held rapturous
by one bawdy joke after another,
with his regular interjections of lo-
cal humour in the form of satirical
songs and outbursts in Hokkien. By
the time he wrapped up, the audi-
ence was lapping up his every word,
fully satiated with the night’s enter-
tainment.
Student artists were also inte-
gral in the festival, jumping out at
us through “T-Art2”, where disco-
themed toilets would burst into
song when entered, which proved
to be truly an unexpected, if star-
tling, experience.
Another exhibition by student
artists was “The Other Sight?” aptly
constructed by SMUSAIC. This
collection of photographs pushed
us to take a second look instead
of simply passing by. The showing
is set in a pitch-dark room illumi-
nated only by torches hanging from
the ceiling. In order to ‘see’ the pho-
tographs, one would have to find
What’s Up @ SMU
enable you to experience a more
fulfilling and well-rounded univer-
sity journey.”
Spearheaded by the 7th Biz-
com Director Roy Chia, Bizcom
pledged $20,000 for a period of
four years with two scholarships of
$2,500 each to be given out each
academic year.
The money for the scholarships
was generated through events and
initiatives by Bizcom.
them by using one of the torches,
hence placing greater emphasis on
our sense of sight. There is an in-
vestigative feel to it, as you search
the room with your beam of light,
and one of discovery as you stumble
upon pictures in the most unantici-
pated locations such as above you,
plastered on the ceiling. This same
theme of discovery parallels the
photographed places that are off the
beaten path, such as lonely railway
stations and empty streets waiting
to be explored. Paired with this are
the faint sounds of everyday move-
ment such as those of traffic. These
transport us to the photographed
sites, adding yet another dimension
to this sensory exhibition.
Full of surprises, innovation and
meaning, the SMU Arts Festival
has invoked, charmed and enlight-
ened. An event that sought to add a
non-sensifying twist to campus life,
it has made its mark and will be re-
membered.
PHOTO: OSL

Viewpoints
It’s just 6 Degrees of Separation
Between You, Me and the Rest of
the School
Dear Friends,
The cycle begins once more
with internship applications, pre-
sentation rehearsals, and mugging
for the finals if you’re not already
busy enough.
Whatever the case, thank you
for squeezing in this read between
your classes and project meetings.
And while I’m on the subject of
applications, the recent spate of
Business Study Missions across the
world disturbs me greatly. How do
you choose between New York and
Russia or Skandinavia and Dubai?
This leaves decision-making-chal-
lenged individuals like me sitting
on the fence. Lady Liberty over the
Bolshoi Ballet or Mermaids versus
the Burj Al Arab?
Alas, internship commitments
mean the only travelling that I’ll
be doing over the next few months
is to and fro Raffles Place. For the
Year 1’s and 2’s, this summer pres-
ents new adventures, from summer
study programmes abroad or even a
CIP to change the world. It doesn’t
matter what others say – opportu-
nities, I believe, are everywhere and
lie waiting to be exploited by those
motivated to do so.
And that is what a great many
of you have done. This issue may be
our last for the academic year, but
these pages are filled with imprints
of your involvement in school. We
Overseas community projects
present unique lessons
A response to “Voluntourism hot in SMU?”
Tan Wenduan
Are overseas community service
projects just a glorified reason for a
holiday? Should one begin commu-
nity service at home? As a person
who has been involved in commu-
nity service projects both home and
overseas I must say there are defi-
nitely unique lessons an overseas
community experience can provide.
I have had the opportunity
of going abroad to Sri Lanka and
Thailand, and helped in projects
catered for beneficiaries ranging
from orphans to elephants. While
stints in Singapore have allowed
me to work with secondary school
students to develop their leadership
skills, volunteering with orphans in
Sri Lanka addresses a much more
have memories of Patron’s Day
2008 and the deliciously enter-
taining Arts Fest. CCA heads step
down and fresh new faces move up
the chain of command, preparing
for a brand new year of leadership
and accomplishments for your re-
spective teams.
Here at The Blue and Gold,
we’ve seen our fair share of ups and
downs over the course of our term,
and our emergence from these
problems would be impossible
without the consistent support of
the Students’ Association, the Of-
fice of Student Life and fervent
supporters shouting words of en-
couragement every now and then.
To our cheerleaders, thank you for
presenting us with the platform to
launch our ideas and for setting
forth reasonable expectations for
our progress in student journal-
ism. And we’re very grateful for the
funding too, of course.
In return, The Blue and Gold
has necessitated subtle changes to
address past discrepancies. From
the beginning, we have set ourselves
out as the first campus newspaper
to feature current affairs in addi-
tion to school news. This will not
be compromised. However, in our
attempt to better distinguish be-
tween the news reporting sections
and the researched commentaries
by our writers, ‘What’s Up @ SMU’
fundamental need: that of homeless
children with an objective to have a
happy childhood.
Singaporeans take as given the
opportunity to have primary school
education. Children brought up in a
country filled with civil strife hardly
have this privilege, and peace for
them hangs delicately in the bal-
ance. I know this first hand, as a sui-
cide bomb attack happened not far
from our accommodation during
my first day in Sri Lanka. Gun-tot-
ing soldiers lined certain key streets
in Colombo, reminding us daily of
the peace we have in Singapore.
Overseas community service
provided me the opportunity to be
exposed to world issues not avail-
able in our sheltered Singaporean
lives. Nature conservation is hardly
Issue 2,Page IV
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
will report on school events, while
‘SMUdge’ features our writer’s
views exclusively. This will improve
the style of the paper and more
importantly, allow us to include as
many articles within the respective
sections.
At this point, I’d like to take
a page from Erin Brockovich and
talk about numbers.
It’s just 6 degrees of separation
between you, me and the rest of the
school.
10 is the number of weeks
you’ve been in school this term and
it’s less than 2 months till sum-
mer 2008. You probably have 3 to
5 projects due soon, but if you’re
lucky, you’ll barely have 1 exam to
sit for in April. 4.00 is the GPA
score we all secretly pine for, but
in truth, you simply need a 2.00 to
graduate. The past academic year
has seen 3 issues of The Blue and
Gold, 7 ex-co members and 1 ex-
hausted team.
But hey, it’s been worth it.
Thanks for the ride, SMU! See you
next term!
Alicia Ng
Managing Director
The Blue and Gold
a big issue in Singapore, but can-
not be ignored because it has a key
link with the well-being of future
generations globally. Seeing perma-
nently disabled elephants, caused
by poachers or irresponsible han-
dlers, made me see the extent of the
plight of the Asian elephant. This
plight is something that I will con-
tinue to learn about and share with
all interested parties.
Overseas community service is
vital for SMU to develop a globally
conscious student, aware of impor-
tant issues outside of small Sin-
gapore. In addition to that, it also
provides a unique experience for
self-discovery as well as opportuni-
ties for teamwork. Bonds created
during these trips are definitely
ones carried for life.
Youth leader loves
volunteering at home
Choose from long-term or short-term projects
Ephraim Loy
I have never been on an over-
seas community involvement proj-
ect to help the less fortunate or
build homes but I have led groups
of supporters to Manila and Doha
for the South East Asian Games
and Asian Games respectively.
However, I still enjoy volun-
teering at home.
At home I get to meet and in-
teract with youths and sometimes
I am asked to give advice on their
studies and even listen to their
problems. I look at it as a long-term
mentorship project.
This is all part and parcel of
my duties as the Chairman of the
Punggol Community Club’s Youth
Executive Committee where I take
charge of a group of 28 youths to
plan community events for the
more than 1,000 youths in the area.
Each committee has a fixed
term for about two years. And once
you start off, there’s no looking back.
It is unlike going on an overseas
community involvement project
where you plan for a few months
and implement it. Although there’s
this argument that you can go again
to continue from where you have
left off the next year.
An incident happened during
our recent trip to Thailand, where
some members of my 15-member
team fell almost three meters from
a wooden platform. This is by no
means a feature of every project
overseas, but the reaction and sup-
port shown by all team members
was crucial in a time of crisis. This
support definitely allowed the team
to bond, as well as realise the impor-
tance of each team member to the
team’s overall well-being. In carry-
ing out the physical work required
of the trip after the incident, this
understanding and shared learning
Youths who cannot commit
long-term can also choose from a
wide array of short-term projects
ranging from sports to arts.
Apart from sitting on the
Youth Advisory Panel for the na-
tionwide annual youth month festi-
val SHINE 2007 where I provided
ideas and feedback for marketing
the event, I also helped to conduct
a session to solicit feedback for
SHINE 2008. This was a short-
term project that lasted only for a
year.
Another interesting project that
I still talk about till today is one that
involves performing arts.
A total of 34 Singaporeans
from different backgrounds worked
with a Spanish arts group to per-
form stunts in the air for the open-
ing of the Singapore Arts Festival
last year. It was an awesome three-
day experience.
Such projects are only the tip
of the iceberg. If you take a look at
the website of the National Volun-
teer & Philanthropy Centre, there
are loads of projects that need vol-
unteers and are tailored to various
interests.
There’s so much more to do at
home still.
definitely provided much needed
motivation. This sort of experience
based learning in a foreign environ-
ment surely cannot be replicated in
the comforts of home.
In all, while it seems like all
fun and games, I feel that overseas
community service provides an
opportunity for SMU students to
learn about pressing global issues,
practice team working skills and
is an excellent avenue for personal
development. It is a combination of
learning with fun. After all, we are
in the company of friends - friends
that we will keep for life.

Does globalisation disenfranchise the pariah state?
Cheong En Min
The notion that the world is
metamorphosing into a single
global milieu of interconnected and
mutually-dependent constituents is
as popular as it is biased.
Taken from the perspective of
benefactors of globalisation, the
theory’s premise clearly favours af-
fluent entities and nations, implic-
itly emphasising the advantages of
joining the international country
club of established and emerging
markets, and partaking in techno-
logical transfer and cultural fusion.
The propensity to believe that
globalisation engenders a shared
sense of stability is true; insofar
as developed hegemons and their
weaker but willing national part-
ners are concerned.
Unfortunately, globalisation
has elicited a far less favourable
response from countries that have
already been politically disenfran-
chised, resulting in pariah govern-
ments that respond by attempting
to shield their citizens from a force
perceived to embody the nefarious
ideologies of a world hostile towards
the sovereignty of these states. The
apprehension and unease that is as-
sociated with globalisation is based
History repeats itself in financial scandal
Alicia Ng
A slow recovery was in store
for financial institutions when cri-
sis struck in January this year for
French Bank Société Générale.
The actions of trader Jérome
Kerviel cost the French bank up-
wards of USD 7 billion, and was
reminiscent of the scandal a decade
Lying Low David Lau
on the premise that distinctive cul-
tural nuances would be transposed
by universal norms and values.
Within the borders of these
nations, isolationism is extremely
prevalent. In order to limit the ef-
fects of globalisation on society,
governments ultimately have to put
in place censorship mechanisms
which prevent information from
freely crossing borders and infiltrat-
ing the lives of citizens, resulting in
an impediment to the existence of
social debate essential in fuelling
progress vis-a-vis the exchange of
ideas both internally and multilat-
erally.
However, all this does not nec-
essarily translate into instability for
these states. It is precisely because of
the meticulous rejection of external
influences from sovereign agendas
that countries such as North Korea
and Cuba manage to sustain their
domestic institutions.
Collective stability in these
countries is maintained by the ad-
herence to status quo. As those
with a protectionist stance start to
allow foreign exposure to infiltrate
society, volatility intensifies. For ex-
ample, implementing fair elections
and voting within China would see
ago that brought down Britain’s old-
est bank, Barings.
The rogue trader behind the
fraud, Nick Leeson, spent four years
in prison in the 90’s and is now in-
volved in regular speaking engage-
ments. He is also the CEO of Gal-
way United FC. However, his losses,
which exceeded USD 1 billion
dollars, is a far cry from Kerviel’s
Issue 2,Page V
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
the entire state ideology challenged
because of this shift in policy.
This explains why the ruling
elite of these countries are fight-
ing so valiantly to buffer society
from globalisation, which arguably
encompasses all the evils of imperi-
alism, modernisation and pressured
progress – advancing in a direction
states lose control over dictating to
a significant extent.
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has articulated the
fact that his government tightly
regulates news and entertainment
programmes originating from oth-
er countries in favour of promoting
propaganda propagated by state-
managed media outlets to preserve
its national identity and power over
the socio-political arena within
Iran.
Nevertheless, globalisation is
penetrating the armour of nation-
alism cloaking the societies and
government practices of many such
countries that regard the former
with suspicion. North Korean citi-
zens are discovering ways to exploit
signals generated from cellular re-
lay facilities constructed along the
Chinese border to contact family
and communicate with the media.
This is sending waves of panic into
record-breaking trading loss in his-
tory.
It is widely reported that Kerviel
was able to avoid detection largely
due to his in depth knowledge of
Société Générale’s controls and
operational processes. He worked
within the Operations Division for
a few years before advancing to the
trading floor in 2005. His ascent
within the company and subsequent
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il,
who subscribes to a neo-Stalinist
political doctrine and is well-aware
of the chaos which could result
from North Koreans finding out
the truth about their plight.
It would seem reasonable, given
this development, for western na-
tions – which have received the
most perks from globalisation and
are also considered bastions of free-
dom – to ride on this bandwagon by
engaging these pariah states.
Contrary to that, the govern-
ments of these developed coun-
tries instead have applied punitive
measures on these nations, such as
economic sanctions, to combat the
perpetration of non-compliance of
internationally accepted standards
and norms of operation. This an-
tagonistic approach had the effect
of disenfranchising the latter, pro-
viding their governments with in-
creased impetus to shut the rest of
the world out.
Many believe that just as sanc-
tions aided Saddam Hussein’s auto-
cratic control of the inflow of cash
to Iraq, and the US embargo on
Cuba fuelled domestic support for
Fidel Castro, attempts to further se-
quester Iran and North Korea aug-
actions cast light on the adequacy
of corporate practices today, which
include intra-company movement.
Regulations in place are not suf-
ficient in preventing a minor loss
from burgeoning into a headliner
almost overnight, and are inter-de-
partmental transfers proving to be
more risky than advantageous?
Not many companies get a hap-
py ending in moments like these,
Bulletin Board
ment their totalitarian leaders’ juris-
diction on power and legitimacy.
Iran’s government educes sup-
port from the mandate it obtains by
venerating nationalistic sentiment,
propelled by fervent opposition to
the detriments of the core-periph-
ery model of globalisation.
The younger, more educated
strata of Iranian society gener-
ally dissents against governmen-
tal efforts to segregate them from
the international community and
global development, and out of fear,
the state has responded by imple-
menting additional apparatus to
repress the potential social move-
ment towards the embracement of
globalisation.
Essentially, globalisation can
only destabilise pariah states to
the extent that the governments of
those nations allow it to influence
socio-politics within its borders.
However, because of this realisation
as a reaction to globalisation, rogue
states are likely to cultivate extrem-
ist policies out of a rational inter-
est to protect sovereign autonomy
and domestic ideologies, which
only exacerbates the ease of their
assimilation into the international
community.
and in the past decade we have
witnessed management meltdowns
and the collapse of conglomerates
across many industries. For Société
Générale, support remains strong
from the French government, cou-
pled with the recent finalisation of
their majority stake in Russian retail
bank, Rosbank suggests a slow but
steady recovery.

School News
Learning about how Singapore can I am interested in Trading
compete in Asia-Pacific
ELVIN ONG
Led by Practice Associate Pro-
fessor Caroline Yeoh, 32 students
from the Asia Pacific Business
(APB) went on a field trip to Macau
on 25 February.
The field trip was a culmination
of lessons on international business,
class presentations on integrated
resorts and potential new entrants
in the region, and guest speaker
seminars on the development of in-
tegration resorts and the Meetings,
Incentive Travel, Conventions, and
Exhibitions (MICE) industry. It
was also an opportunity for the stu-
dents to have first-hand experience
on recent developments in Macau
over the past few years and its fu-
ture plans, with the development of
various integrated resorts along and
near the Cotai Strip. The knowledge
and experience gathered in this
module and field trip will put the
students in good stead when Singa-
pore’s integrated resorts in Marina
Bay and Sentosa open in 2010.
We visited and studied a total of
four integrated resorts/casinos dur-
ing our 3-day 2-night stay in Macau
– Galaxy StarWorld Hotel, Crown
Macau, MGM Grand Macau and
The Venetian Macau. The site vis-
its were important for our project
presentation, report as well as the
learning journals that have to be
submitted at the end of the APB
module.
At Galaxy StarWorld, Mr Paul
Temple (Principal, Training and
Development) and his team warmly
welcomed the class and gave an in-
depth presentation on the business
model of the Galaxy Entertainment
Group and the upcoming Galaxy
Mega Resort near the Cotai Strip.
He emphasised that Galaxy’s focus
was on the Asian customer and that
they were proud of their unparal-
leled service quality in the industry.
The next stop was Crown
Macau. A site tour of the luxuri-
ous premium suite and overall inte-
rior design of the six-star hotel left
many students in awe. At the end of
the tour, three senior staff from vari-
ous hotel departments – human re-
source, concierge, and food and bev-
erage – answered questions about
Crown and its upcoming develop-
ment near the Cotai Strip – The
City of Dreams. We were interested
to know how Crown was planning
to compete effectively against the
other properties, and how Crown,
being an Australian company, man-
aged to overcome various operating
and cultural challenges in Macau.
Issue 2,Page VI
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
Students were given time to ex-
plore MGM Grand Macau, a new
resort which opened in December
last year, on their own.
The following day was spent in
The Venetian, Macau, which hap-
pened to be the residing hotel for
the class. There were three presen-
tations from senior executives from
Las Vegas Sands and The Venetian,
Macau, which covered Sands’ over-
arching vision for the Cotai Strip,
Venetian’s hotel operations, and how
Sands generates MICE business in
Venetian itself. In the afternoon, we
were led by staff from Venetian for a
tour of its spectacular facilities, from
its 1 million square feet of MICE
space, to the 15,000 Venetian Arena,
which recently hosted Celine Dion’s
Taking Chances World Tour 2008.
After having experienced the
integrated resorts in Macau and
with information of Macau’s future
development plans, the question at
the back of our minds was - how is
Singapore going to compete with
this strong competitor in the Asia-
Pacific Region? That is the question
we will have to answer when we re-
turn and complete the second half
of the APB course.
Uday Rao
Here I go in trying to com-
municate what a trader does in an
alternate and clearer manner as op-
posed to the one I got from some-
one I asked, which was “trader is a
trader who trades in commodities”.
Sounds correct but lacks the sexi-
ness of the job that normally is at-
tached to it.
Essentially a trader is a profes-
sional who understands the com-
plete nuances of a certain com-
modity and is involved in taking
positions on them. This could be
in the form of hedging, deriva-
tives, futures, spot trading, physical
trading and being involved within
each process from the production/
refinement of a commodity to the
transportation of the commodity
(import/export as well as supply
chain). Traders could be also setting
up trade routes for the flow of com-
modities.
There is a wide range of com-
modities one could trade in. From
the common - agriculture (i.e. cof-
fee, cocoa, orange juice), energy,
livestock, metals, minerals - to the
obscure: weather.
Major players in this industry,
pure players in commodity trad-
ing and value add services, would
be companies like Archer Daniels,
Bunge, Olam, Noble and Li Fung.
Four of these companies contribute
to a total market cap of close to $40
billion.
The Blue and Gold
congratulates Singapore
on winning the bid
to host the first
Youth Olympic Games
Commodities markets are al-
ways going to be of interests due to
its knock on impact on other areas.
This is truly an interesting area that
is fascinating and at times rather
complicated. It seems to involve
everything that our studies encom-
pass. Each subject contributing to
a perspective never viewed before.
And by no means can an article of
this space constraint be able to ex-
plain it all. With demand growing
and supply being scare and limited,
commodity trading is an exciting
and dynamic place to be.
I would probably recommend
you to read Jim Roger’s book on
Commodities as a start. But to
quench your thirst further why not
get involved in the school’s own ITI
(International Trading Institute)
and the ITT (International Trading
Track) a specialisation under the
Finance major. The ITT educates in
the general fundamentals of trading
such as Trade Finance to the more
specific such as the recently an-
nounced course on oil. Managed,
taught and mentored by profes-
sionals from the field, it ensures
that students are equipped with
the right knowledge. The hands-on
interactive program beats reading a
book. Non-ITT majors can too bid
for a couple of courses of interest
subject to availability. In my opin-
ion it provides a nice rounding to
our education.

Unbranded column*
Why are you here? Why am I here?
Far too often, after interactions
with students, parents, fellow fac-
ulty members, University adminis-
trators, employers of our graduates,
and alumni, it appears that the pur-
pose of a tertiary education system
is to serve as a sort of human re-
sources consultant for the corporate
world.
And this is how it is done. We
select a fraction of the students
graduating from junior colleges
and polytechnics. This selection is
based primarily on our best guess of
who would be liked best by the best
(i.e. highest paying) employers four
years from now. We then put these
students through a set of courses,
somewhere between 35 and 45 de-
pending on how hard they are will-
ing to work, and for how long. The
primary purpose of each course is
to contribute one course grade per
student. Students slog it out, main-
ly trying to figure out exactly what
they need to do to get the maximum
grade in each course component
and in each course. Faculty slog it
out to assign grades in such a way
that (1) minimises their work load,
(2) reduces grade review requests,
while (3) keeping to highly secre-
tive grade distribution guidelines,
and, (3) produces at least a minimal
course evaluation score for them-
selves. That minimum standard on
course evaluations itself of course,
depends on rank, tenure and status
of the faculty.
Passing the
baton from the
7th to the 8th
Few can testify to the efforts of
the 7th SA Exco – the late nights,
the reforms, the subtle influences
on the student body. Still, that
doesn’t stop them from doing all
of the above and more. At the 2007
AGM and SA Investiture, outgo-
ing SA President Ahmad Firdaus
Daud and his team shared some of
the many accomplishments made
during their tenure and extended
a tearful farewell to his term in the
highest-ranked student body on
campus. Peppered with light-heart-
ed moments and interaction from
the audience during the AGM,
those present caught a glimpse of
collegiality attained by this small
group of individuals who had, just
months earlier, selflessly placed the
needs of SMU above theirs.
“Is that it? Is that what
you are here for? Is that
what faculty are here
for? To put our brains
and brawn, and blood,
sweat and tears, togeth-
er, to find out what is
the best starting salary
you can get when you
leave school – by striv-
ing to get the highest
GPA you can get while
at school?”
At the end of four years, we
neatly arrange these students in or-
der of GPA from 4.00 down to 2.00.
Of course, we have already, carefully,
if not always gently, got rid of those
students who could not make it
past 2.00. For those employers who
cannot process numbers easily, we
helpfully categorise students into
bunches with various honorifics
for easy recognition. Sometimes, in
the process unfortunately, we have
also got rid of faculty members who
could not make it past X on a five-
point course evaluation scale (unless
they were particularly productive
researchers). This magical number
X cannot be revealed in public ei-
ther, for it might give the odd, un-
ethical student some odd, unethical
thoughts. Not you, dear reader, of
course, but who knows about that
kid sitting next to you surfing away
Issue 2,Page VII
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
while a professor is trying hard to
explain how to score an A for the
possible quiz question on “sustain-
able competitive advantage?”
We then present such a list to
potential employers who have also
lined themselves up according to
starting pay. And we start match-
ing them up, one for one, highest
GPA student to highest salary of-
fering employer. When the entire
list is matched up, we release sta-
tistics about what percentage of our
students got jobs (not careers, not
lives, not romance, not knowledge)
within so many months of having
finished the 45th credit at SMU.
We all wear funny hats and gowns,
and march around SUNTEC City
for an afternoon, with the highest
GPA (typically School of Accoun-
tancy) student getting five minutes
to tell the rest of us a suspicious-
ly-fictitious-sounding-but-heart-
warming-nonetheless story about
what s/he really, really learnt at
school. And then the students all
take photos with their brand new
graduation-present latest camera
models, to enhance, overnight, a
thousand Facebook profiles. And to
give their parents and grandparents
bragging rights over Mama Wang,
Uncle Padmanabhan and Granny
Fatimah next door. And then the
students all return home, and next
Monday, to their bright, new, shiny
jobs (not careers, not lives). And
the faculty all return to school the
next Monday too, pleased with yet
another successful execution of the
grand plan.
Is that it? Is that what you are
here for? Is that what faculty are
here for? To put our brains and
brawn, and blood, sweat and tears,
together, to find out what is the best
starting salary you can get when
you leave school – by striving to get
the highest GPA you can get while
at school?
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Not for you at least. You are not av-
erage. You are not a nobody defined
only by your NRIC and GPA and
starting salary. You too. And you.
And that girl over there. And that
guy who is obviously way too inter-
ested in that girl he is pretending to
be cool to (or cool towards?). And
that girl there who seems to have
mistaken the concourse for the
Milan fashion ramp. And that guy
there who would do well to pump
some other less built internal mus-
cle to the level of his clearly well
developed external muscles.
So, no, none of you is average.
Nothing wrong with being aver-
age of course. It’s just that you are
not. Just by definition, the prob-
ability of being exactly average,
when you are picked out of a con-
tinuous distribution is exactly zero.
But more importantly, in your own
mind, too, you are not exactly like
everyone else around you. You are
someone. You are special. You have
special qualities and weaknesses
and strengths and a family back-
Higher Learning
ground and a unique combination
of looks, brains, and personality.
For you, college life does not have
to be about, and should not have
to be about just pursuing what the
average of the students around you
want to pursue i.e. the highest GPA
so as to pursue the highest salary,
so as to pursue the highest condo-
minium floor in the highest priced
neighbourhood.
Well, what else could it be
about? What else should it be
about? More, in the next!
*This article is the first in what
might become a regular faculty
column in The Blue and Gold. The
main objective of this column is
to convey an independent faculty
perspective on academic matters
that seem of great importance
to SMU students – on grades,
class participation, group projects,
examinations, grade reviews, etc.
The author does not claim to
represent the official SMU view,
but s/he might be influenced by
it. Guess who this faculty member
might be – three lucky winners
chosen among the first 25 correct
guessers (within the first 15 days
of this article being published)
will get some sort of prize. A good
suggestion for a name for this
column might also get you a prize,
(or at least a letter of reference for
a copywriting job). Comments,
critiques, ideas for future columns,
questions are welcome – email me
at unbrandedcolumn@gmail.com

Higher Learning
Shark’s fin anyone?
Counting down to the last shark
Ngeow Shang Lin
The shark is caught alive and
whole. Within minutes, it is severed
of its fins and thrown back into the
ocean. Unable to swim, the shark
sinks towards the bottom and is
left to bleed to death or fall prey to
other fishes. This method is known
as finning. A highly calculated act
to maximise profits no doubt but it
is also a practice that is highly in-
humane.
We seldom spare a thought for
sharks and when we do, what comes
to mind is Steven Spielberg’s vi-
sion of a shark terrorising a coastal
town, looking for its next meal. In
reality, however, the reverse is true.
The situation is dire for sharks as
they are being emptied out of our
oceans and into bowls of soup at an
alarming rate. Sharks have roamed
the oceans for the past 450 million
years since the dinosaurs, and now
there is a strong possibility that
they might completely disappear in
the near future.
It is not uncommon to find
shark’s fin soup on the menu in
restaurants across Asia. A dish
guaranteed to bring in the profits;
a dish that will continue to stay on
the menu as long as there is a de-
mand for it. As China’s economy
surges, this demand is set to grow
exponentially as the level of dispos-
al income for the average Chinese
increase. Given the sharks’ low re-
production rate and their slow ma-
turity rate, the extinction of sharks
is a very real possibility.
The problem of overfishing
presents itself as one of most press-
ing issues today and while modern
technology has allowed for bigger
fishing vessels and better nets, the
expected bigger returns are not rea-
lised. In 2006, The BBC reported
that the total amount of fish caught
globally has decreased by 13% from
1994 to 2003 and put forth a bold
prediction that seafood would be
off the menus within the next 50
years.
While many governments over
the world are working to set up
regulations against overfishing for
commercial fishes such as tuna and
salmon, there are no catch limits
being put forth towards protecting
sharks. As the supply for these com-
mercial fishes dwindle, fisheries and
consumers have taken to targeting
sharks as an alternative source.
Current regulations state that
sharks should not be just killed for
their fins and but should be fully
Issue 2,Page VIII
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
utilised and a number of individual
countries have gone further to ban
the act of finning. However, it is
the enforcement of such regula-
tions that prove to be extremely
tricky out in the ocean that seem-
ingly presents itself as a free-for-all
game. Institutions such as Green-
peace and the Sea Shepherds may
have tried to stop these rogue fish-
ing expeditions, but the only clear
way to end such fishing practices lie
in the hands of the consumers.
Consumers today have little un-
derstanding of where their bowl of
shark’s fin soup originates and are
generally unaware if the sharks are
being caught through illegally or
unsustainable means. What is more
surprising however, is what shark’s
fin is used for. The fins itself have no
taste in themselves are used merely
to add texture to the soup. While
it is the fin that lends the soup its
name, it is a very possible that it can
be removed altogether.
In Hong Kong, after fierce
criticism from conservationists, the
Walt Disney Company, creator of
the film “Finding Nemo” with the
tagline: “fish are friends, not food”
bowed to pressure and removed
shark’s fin soup from the menu in
the Hong Kong Disneyland theme
The Blue and Gold
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Alicia Ng Sue Yee
park. On the local front, there is an EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
increasing number of newlyweds Ephraim Loy Suan Je
who have decided not to serve
shark’s fin soup as part of their EDITORS
traditional wedding dinner. These Anirban Datta Gupta
actions towards the preservation Uday Rao
of sharks though rudimentary, are
vital and present a small glimmer of MARKETING DIRECTOR
hope that change is imminent. Cheong En Min
It is more than just preventing
the extinction of sharks. The sur- ART DIRECTOR
vival of sharks is key to maintain- Michael Ng Wai Ting
ing the marine ecosystem. A system
that is highly volatile, a rapid deci- LOGISTICS DIRECTOR
mation of sharks will destabilise the Lee Cher Han
fragile balance. It is unsurprising
that reports are beginning to reveal CONTRIBUTING
that scallops are declining, as fishes WRITERS
that prey on these shellfish are un- Radhika Kanuga
checked. Sharks also provide an im- Tan Wenduan
portant revenue source for the dive Elvin Ong
tourism industry around the world. Terri-anne Teo
In the 2007 Wild Aid Report Ngeow Shang Lin
for sharks, sharks were identified Oh Jin Rui
as “likely to be in the first round of
marine extinctions caused by hu- CONTRIBUTING
man activity.” 50 years on, as hard as CARTOONIST
it may be to predict what the world David Lau
would be like then, it is definitely
without a doubt that should the Want to write us a letter?
demand for sharks increase, sharks We want to hear from you!
will join their prehistoric counter- Write to us at:
parts, the dinosaurs. pubcomm@sa.smu.edu.sg
Real life
experience
with HIV/AIDS
Visitors pen their support for
affected victims of HIV/AIDS at
the One Life Experience – an ex-
hibition to experience walking in
the footsteps of people living with
HIV/AIDS. The exhibition traces
the journey of affected individuals
from Singapore, Africa and Cam-
bodia through photo exhibits. The
individuals share their thoughts and
experiences on life with HIV/AIDS
via recorded messages provided on
headsets. Designed to provoke the
senses, the exhibition allows greater
understanding of how people get in-
fected and how HIV/AIDS affects
others. It goes beyond the realm of
increasing public understanding of
the disease. Rather, it aims to cul-
tivate empathy, sensitivity and seeks
to dispel the stigma and discrimina-
tion attached to HIV/AIDS. The
exhibition was held from January 5
to February 3 on Campus Green.

5 Minutes with Jan Bogtstra
Cricket in action
Alicia Ng
What are some of the achievements
of the SMU Cricket Team?
Well, the team started of with
guys playing for fun and we came
in third in our first ever IVP back
in 2003. Shortly afterwards Cricket
was removed from the IVPs and
the SUNIG (Singapore University
Games) were started. We have been
second runner-up in that over the
last two years. 2007 was probably
our proudest year as the Cricket
team entered the Singapore Cricket
League as the ‘SMU Lions’ where
we competed against 20 other cor-
porate and clubs in the 4th Division.
We ended up being placed fourth in
the league and were promoted to
Division 3 in the 2008 league. 2007
also saw the team being taken under
the wings of the Sports Excellence
program and now the club follows
two intense training session of three
hours each, per week.
Who’s your coach and how often
do you get on his nerves?
We have had many coaches over
the years and got on a lot of their
nerves! Last season we had an un-
der-23 prodigy from India coach us
but this season we don’t have one
as the Singapore Cricket Associa-
tion has no coaches available at the
moment. So senior members of the
team make it their duty to impart
knowledge, correct techniques, etc.
SUPPORTING THE BID: SMU students rally behind Singapore’s bid for the Youth Olympic Games in 2010
Once in a while a few of my senior
friends and coaches from domestic
clubs help us by supervising some of
our training sessions.
Why can’t Singaporean guys play
cricket as well as Sri Lankans can?
Well they can’t seem to get their
mind round the rules can they!
No seriously. Cricket is way more
popular back in Sri Lanka than it
is in Singapore. Kids are practically
born with a bat in their hand! Hav-
ing constant exposure to cricket at
home and on TV develops interest
and knowledge of the game. This is
developed in schools at a very early
age with strict training regimes.
With such a vast pool of heav-
ily trained kids, you’re bound to see
high standard for the sport. When
you play with people of high stan-
dard, you improve! Simple as that.
Having said that, Singapore Cricket
is developing very fast and there are
a couple of great young kids playing
for Singapore now.
What’s the best/worst game you’ve
ever played?
My most memorable moment
would be back in Sri Lanka when
I was a junior in the under-17 team
playing our tournament semi-finals.
We needed 10 runs in the last four
balls of the match and I had just come
into bat. I somehow managed to get
them off the first three balls and we
Issue 2,Page IX
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
were into the finals! Don’t know how
I did it but it was memorable!
The most painful experience
as a player is when the team loses
games that you know you should
have won. In December 2005 the
SMU cricket team toured Perth
for the IRAUG (Indian Rim Asian
University Games) and lost a couple
of matches which we really had ‘in
the bag’. Had we won those games,
we would have come in fourth in
the tournament which would have
been a huge achievement. They were
probably the most painful cricketing
losses of my life.
What are some of the biggest chal-
lenges that an SMU athlete faces?
I never use studies as an excuse
because studies can always be bal-
anced given good time management
(there are a few national athletes
who prove that). But I guess the fact
that some clubs do not have enough
funds to train properly is a huge hin-
drance. Also, unlike other univer-
sities, SMU does not have its own
fields for sports like cricket, soccer,
rugby. So it’s difficult for players to
train as-and-when they want to (like
NUS and NTU). Last but not least
I think SMU has lacked a ‘Sporting
Culture’. However there are pro-
grams in place to ensure that this
changes so I don’t think that would
be a persistent problem.
It’s Singapore 2010!
SMU students literally painted
the town red. At 4pm, the 400 red
T-shirts specially printed in sup-
port of Singapore’s bid for the
Youth Olympic Games in 2010
were snapped up by a long queue of
supporters on Campus Green.
Supporters then proceeded
to the Lee Kong Chian School of
Business to assemble for the big
operation. Leading the contingent,
comprising students from vari-
ous schools in Singapore, was Dr
Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for
Community Development, Youth
and Sports and Parliamentary Sec-
retary Teo Ser Luck.
The contingent with various
school flags made their way to the
Padang while the SMU contin-
gent followed hot on their heels,
in red. Together with 5,000 other
Singaporeans, the SMU support-
ers joined in to witness the perfor-
mances lined up including one by
SMU Samba Masala.
SMUdge
Any secret ritual you perform be-
fore each game?
We do our version of the
Hakka. Trust me when the clothes
start flying off that’s a very intimi-
dating sight!
Tell us about your ambitions for the
SMU Cricket Team in 2008.
Having lost more than half our
team last year we are in the process
of rebuilding the SMU Cricket team.
So far things are going great and we
hope to carry on our good form in
the 2008 League - ranking amongst
the top five, if not winning it.
By 7pm, Singapore’s Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong and
Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean
arrived amid cheers. Anticipating
the results, Singaporeans from all
walks of life kept their eyes glued
to the big screens on both sides of
City Hall. Videos of youth speak-
ing about the games were flashed
one by one on the big screens.
In a matter of seconds In-
ternational Olympic Committee
President Jacques Rogge appeared
on screen. Heartbeats raced and
screams erupted but all too soon for
the announcement. The result was
only to be announced after bid vid-
eos for both candidate cities were
screened (Moscow first, then Sin-
gapore). Seconds later, the bid en-
velope was opened and Singapore
emerged winner.
It’s indeed an exciting moment
for Singapore.

SMUdge
5 minutes with Koh Su Jun
They dared to dream
in India with hearing
impaired youths
Anirban Datta Gupta
Singapore Management Uni-
versity’s Dare to Dream Project has
always served to provide participants
with the opportunity to achieve
what many may deem to be ambi-
tious. Past projects include a Kaya-
king expedition from Singapore to
Penang and a trekking expedition to
Mount Kilimanjaro.
In addition to the adventure ele-
ment, Dare to Dream 2007 has in-
cluded the service-learning compo-
nent. Instead of just adopting a ben-
eficiary for this project, the Dare to
Dream team comprised of five hear-
ing impaired youths who partnered
12 SMU participants to work with
Khangchendzonga Conservation
Committee (KCC) on eco-tourism
and conservation at Yuksam, Sik-
kim, India.
The partnership between SMU
students and hearing impaired (HI)
youths provided a rare opportunity
for both parties to learn from each
other through their partnership and
service to a third community, Sik-
kimese. SMU students learnt to un-
derstand the challenges faced by the
HI youths and the Sikkimese com-
munity in their daily lives. Similarly,
HI youths were challenged beyond
their handicap to serve the Sik-
kimese community.
How was the experience of spend-
ing your December holidays serv-
ing and interacting with the Yuksam
community?
First of all, the passion and the
hospitality of the community totally
overwhelmed me. The amount of
care, sensitivity and the effort they
put in to make us feel at home is
certainly very touching. Some of
them are like our parents, con-
stantly reminding us to wear warm
clothing, to put on our beanies in
the night and making sure we have
proper food.
The love they show for the
nature, for the environment, for
their neighbours and even aban-
doned children is simply amazing.
Though they do not have much,
they adopt abandoned children so
that these children can have a home.
Though they hardly have income,
the community pays to have non-
biodegradable waste transported to
Gangtok (the nearest city which is
80km away) where it will be prop-
erly treated. Their aim is simple: to
not pollute the environment (there
weren’t any government regulations
that require them to do that). Com-
munity-based home stay programs
that would benefit the villagers are
greatly supported even though some
of these promoters themselves are
inn/hotel owners. It is hard not to
be touched by their love and respect
for every living thing. It is also hard
to not start reflecting on the things
that we have taken for granted.
What have you learnt by work-
ing with the hearing-impaired (HI)
youths?
Before this project, I never fully
understood what it meant to have
taken our ability to hear for granted.
I didn’t know and neither could I
have imagined how even the most
insignificant actions that we do dai-
ly is being facilitated when we can
hear. It is as simple as laughing. One
can never imagine not knowing
how to laugh and that’s exactly what
some of the profound deaf don’t
know. They have never heard laugh-
ter their whole life and consequently,
they learnt the facial expression for
laughter but not laughter itself.
Now start thinking of the daily
tasks that require hearing. It in-
cludes crossing the road near a bend
(you can’t see the car but you can
hear it approaching), knowing that
Issue 2,Page X
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
“Interacting with these
hearing-impaired youths
made me realise that
there is a constant
struggle for the hearing
impaired because
deafness is an invisible
handicap.”
someone is behind you and wants
to overtake you, calling out to your
friends across the room, getting the
attention of someone who is not
within touching distance, chatting
with your peers and more. There are
so many actions we don’t give a sec-
ond thought to, but these were the
exact actions that we couldn’t ex-
pect the hearing impaired to do and
we ourselves couldn’t do any more
when communicating with them. It
may seem easy not to do these ac-
tions but it took us great amounts of
sensitivity to realise we have taken
these actions for granted and to re-
member not to do them in front of
our deaf peers. Sensitivity is one les-
son learnt.
Interacting with these hearing-
impaired youths also made me rea-
lise that there is a constant struggle
for the hearing impaired because
deafness is an invisible handicap.
They are expected to perform the
duties of fully able people because
they look just like anyone of us, yet
in reality they are limited by that in-
visible hurdle.
Being mindful of one’s body
language couldn’t have been learnt
better elsewhere. Without hearing,
seeing is everything to them. Body
language truly speaks more than
words in such communication.
The HI youths must have faced
some challenges in Sikkim. How did
they overcome these?
The challenges that they faced
in Sikkim are very similar to what
they would face in Singapore. Most
of them are communication-based
challenges which were easily solved
with the buddy system and team-
work. In addition, the local commu-
nity was very helpful and sensitive,
thus reducing many of the possible
challenges.
How did the skills you have
picked up in SMU assist you in
implementing marketing strat-
egies for eco-tourism and the
home stay program?
The very important soft skills
that have facilitated this project are
the ability to interact and ask the
PHOTO: KOH SU JUN
right questions. The training that
SMU has given us by making us
speak up and ask questions during
seminars has probably helped us ask
the right questions and shed some
of the shyness.
Skills picked up during mar-
keting and advertising classes have
really helped in brochure designing
and planning. For example, it helps
to know what appeals to tourists
(consumers), which layout and lan-
guage style suits the information
best.
Many of the skills that we have
developed since young are enhanced
in SMU through projects, seminars,
interaction and exposure has al-
lowed us to contribute to the web-
sites, map designs, interior layouts
etc. Example would be analytical
skills, research skills, report writing
and presentation skills.
What’s next for the “Dare to
Dream” project? Are there any
events lined up for the near future?
Each year’s Dare to Dream has
a unique project scope. If you have
something challenging, unique
and viable, pitch it to the Office of
Student Life and who knows, your
project may be the next Dare to
Dream!

A model’s life
SMU student gets his brush with fame
Oh Jin Rui
“I believe there’s more to life
than being really, really - really
good-looking.” That is definitely
the most ridiculously interesting
comment I had ever come across.
Still, you would have to give credit
for Ben Stiller’s performance in
Zoolander. From the constant bick-
ering and bitching to the moments
of vanity and self-obsession, you ac-
tually wonder if this is for real.
Honestly, I don’t know how
much it matters to be good-looking
but I know for sure that it’s easier
for a person to fit into society if he
or she isn’t ugly. As unfortunate as
it is, those that produce the movies
we watch or the magazines we buy
Racing fever
among SMU
students
The organisers had planned for
a three-day sign-up but had hit full
capacity just on the first day. That
was the response for a trip to the
Premas Karting Circuit track in Jo-
hor Bahru, Malaysia organised by
SMU Motor Inc. The 29 students
who went on the trip were rewarded
with adrenaline pumping fun. Apart
from some spinning in the go karts,
the first-timers also managed their
machines to negotiate tight turns at
high speeds. Plans for more of such
go kart events are in the pipeline, say
the organisers.
PHOTO: TEH HONG YUE
have set this norm. And we subcon-
sciously allowed those images to
seep in and slept on it, dreamt about
it or even fantasised about it.
Why did this happen? So many
reasons, who would know. Can
anyone do something to change it?
No. And that’s in your face, cold-
straight no. You’ve been listening
to Eric Clapton too often and no,
you can’t change the world. Even
the President of the United States
couldn’t do it, what more anyone of
us?
So, what shall we have today? I’d
like the porcelain skin with brood-
ing eyes. How about a little pout
and some angle for the camera?
Issue 2,Page XI
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
Not a problem at all. If one
could, at any point in time, summon
the looks of one’s liking and con-
stantly be the most-adored creature
to walk the face of this earth, then
who would you be? I would get a
thousand different answers from
whomever, if even any at all, that
bothers reading this article. End of
the day, if you could be as kind to
agree with me, it is a matter of per-
ception. Like how some would say
the glass is half full and the other
half from across the room would
rather think that the glass is half
empty. But either way, there’s still
a glass.
My point in case – everyone’s
just a glass and you determine
whether that glass is full or emp-
ty. It’s your choice. Alternatively,
there’s always Dr Plastic.
Speaking of Dr Plastic, who
attends to our need of wanting to
look good, I think certain govern-
ments could provide this form of
public service to their people. Prob-
ably like a plastic surgery depart-
ment under the National Health
Service and there could be subsidies
for those in need.
Maybe even in Singapore, we
could tap into our Medisave for
such purposes since I hear that it’s
common for parents to pay for their
kids’ look-good operations. And in
time to come, with the success of all
the human gene projects and the
possibility of parents customising
their babies, Dr Plastic would only
be reserved for all the failed proj-
ects. Thus, we should all embrace
the notion of looking good but it
would be illegal to look exactly like
another person, just like a form of
copyright or patent.
In the past few months, I’ve ac-
tually had a chance to witness some
of the happenings in a model’s life
by participating in CLEO’S 50
Most Eligible Bachelors, the ‘Hey
Gorgeous!’ competition and fash-
ion shows for Flesh Imp, as well as
Newurbanmale.
All these experiences were real-
ly enjoyable and honestly, it’s a mo-
ment to savour when one is onstage.
Cameras flash and snap. Crowd
goes wild. You get the feeling like
everyone’s watching and wanting
to be you. I know it’s really shal-
low but I’m just sharing the feelings
that were running through at that
moment. And with each passing
second, you just get more and more
confident, and I’ve got no idea if it’s
the adrenalin rush or the attempt to
be professional, but the poses just
gets increasingly ‘modellish’ for a
first-timer like myself.
My friends had a good laugh
and were pleasantly shocked, as I
would rather believe, with my new-
found fame. So that’s community
SMUdge
service in a deviated form - proba-
bly less than a standard deviation at
99% confidence level. Whoever said
that models are empty up there?
I remember vividly how the
tabloids hammered the contestants
in the ‘Hey Gorgeous!’ competition
for not being able to answer ques-
tions on general knowledge. Funny
how those people have nothing bet-
ter to write about and they make a
living on someone else’s misery.
Maybe they should catch “Are You
Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” and
come to terms with their inabilities
as well.
These are the stuff that get you
down and it doesn’t help that most
of us are still stereotypical of mod-
els. Worse still, we form extreme
images of male models as ‘un-
straight’ and female models that
sleep their way through so as to
come out tops. That’s probably the
reason why our society still remains
divided on Section 377A and the
public can’t decide on the level of
media censorship.
Point aside; I do believe there
are exemplary individuals that still
bring honour to the Models’ Creed
– “I believe there’s more to life than
being really, really - really good-
looking.”
Thank you Zoolander.
PHOTO: SMU MOTOR INC.

SA Page
Tiffany Tay
Vice President
Initially, it was courage and passion
to serve that impelled my choice to
run for the Students’ Association.
Fortunately, by the faith and trust
of those who voted, I was elected as
a member of the 8th Students’ As-
sociation Executive Committee. I
was both thrilled and delighted. Yet
little did I know, a wide array of op-
portunities awaited, and fresh set of
challenges laid ahead.
My greatest hope for the new term
is to do my part to serve the stu-
dents and enhance the vibrancy of
student life in SMU. Also, I hope to
bring about more opportunities and
initiatives for students to come to-
gether and bond, and build a more
cohesive SMU community.
Nathaniel Koh
Honorary Financial Secretary
During the elections in 2007, I cam-
paigned on the basis of the “5-star
plan”, which are (i) Appreciating
students, (ii) Enhancing identity,
(iii) Promoting culture of values, (iv)
Developing skills for success, and
(v) Enabling financial autonomy for
CCAs.
Having been elected, it is my re-
sponsibility to follow through with
this plan. That said, I am no super-
human. Implementing such a plan
requires the effort and endurance of
a team of motivated individuals. As
such, I am excited and exhilarated to
work with my fellow elected mem-
bers of the Executive Committee,
and I look forward to the goals and
actions that we have put in place
that will enhance the vibrancy and
inclusiveness of our student life.
Thoughts from the SMUSA Executive Committee
Febrianto
Honorary General Secretary
I am really excited at the prospect
of serving my second term in the
SMU Students’ Association. The
challenges and opportunities of-
fered by SMUSA to improve the
life of students in SMU is endless
and exciting.
What I hope to achieve in the com-
ing year are two major goals. First
is definitely to improve the welfare
of students in SMU be it about
the wellbeing of the students, un-
forgettable student life experiences
during their stay in SMU or even
the satisfaction of the learning pro-
cess in SMU. My second goal is to
bring SMUSA closer to the hearts
of SMU community as an Associa-
tion that will always be there for all
of you. After all every matriculated
SMU student is part of the SMU
Students’ Association.
Lim Yih Huat
Assets Secretary
Ever since I became an SMU stu-
dent, I felt that I would never have
the time to be involved much in
CCA or school activities. This was
because I believed that the school
workload was too heavy and that
school activities were not important.
That all changed when I was part of
the organizing committee Freshmen
Team Building (FTB) Camp 2007.
As the SA assets secretary, I hope
that I would be able to serve the
school and student body, and to
improve the student experience in
SMU. I also hope to influence stu-
dents who are not involved in school
activities to become more active, so
that their experience in SMU would
be even more enriching
The Blue and Gold is a publication by the Singapore Management University Students’ Association
Printed by KHL Printing 57 Loyang Drive Singapore 508968
Issue 2,Page XII
The Blue and Gold
March 2008
Tey Bi Qin Student Initiative Sec-
retary
It has been an exciting and amazing
journey from the moment i decided
to run for SA. I am thankful to be
given the opportunity to serve the
school population and make a dif-
ference (or at least try to). At the
same time, I realise that one year
is really a short time for me to do
whatever I want to do, it will really
be a test for my time management
skill and commitment. To be honest,
I get cold feet at times when I look
at our visions. However, I strongly
believe that we can move “moun-
tains”. Therefore, I am really looking
forward for my term of office!
Chang Chia Joo
Events Secretary
Many of you do not know me, and
probably do not care what I have to
say. I don’t blame you.
What you do care about are:
That the kopitiam food sucks.
That we have too few GSRs.
That we have too many exams.
That everybody mugs so hard you
feel like you need to mug too.
That we have no school spirit. That
there is no sense of belonging to the
student community. The list goes
on…
We are a young school. There are
many things that need fixing. I want
to fix them. But I can’t do it alone.
The SA Exco can’t do it alone. We
need your help. We need everybody
in on this.
Christina Tay
Welfare Secretary
Being in the SAC is a whole new
experience to me. I look forward to
the challenges that I’ll be facing and
I’m extremely thankful to the stu-
dents for giving me this opportunity
to serve them. I will give my best to
ensure the rights and welfare of the
students.
In my term in office, I hope to es-
tablish a strong feedback channel
where students can provide sugges-
tions to the council easily, and also,
to have their feedback responded
to quickly. Ultimately, what I hope
to achieve is to have students un-
derstand that their welfare is of the
utmost priority to the SAC. And by
the end of the year, they will be able
acknowledge the various enhance-
ments attributed to student life,
here in SMU.
Vincent Bei
Business Secretary
I am very excited to be co-opted
as the business secretary of the SA
and to be working with the new
team for the upcoming year. I can
see the passion and desire in each
of us to serve and there are many
exciting and bold plans we have
set out for the year. What we need
now, is you, as our target audience,
to support us, take part in our activ-
ities and give us constant feedback
for us to serve you better. I am sure
this will be a great year ahead.
Ng Seok Imm
Asst. Honorary Financial Secretary
Having been co-opted into the SA
Exco, I was given an opportunity to
serve and a multitude of learning av-
enues which I was unaware of. In all
honesty, the task ahead did seem a
little overwhelming and intimidat-
ing initially. However, with the exco
members working closely together,
and having guidance from outgoing
exco, it helped to provide a strong
foothold to start on. With such a
foundation, I am confident of our
team’s ability to achieve our targets,
and also look forward to having fun
learning in the process.
Lynette Chua
Communications Secretary
I never knew what was SMUSA
about when I first entered Uni-
versity. And when I knew about it
through my training in FTB, people
weren’t too optimistic about SA.
Me being me, I never would have
want to bother about such school-
related activities. I guess my turning
point came as I sat down one day,
wondering what would it be like if
I had done something for the school
- for myself. Then I realized that I
was going to graduate before I even
know it. So ta-dah I decided to run
for elections.
I am really glad to have the support
of my friends. And I hope that I will
not ever have to disappoint them.
Nasir Hibatun
IT Solutions Secretary
I never expected to find myself to
be part of the Students’ Association
in SMU. Nonetheless, the journey
so far has been an enlightening one
for me as I start to gain insights into
how student matters are handled at
higher levels of administration and
the complexities involved in bring-
ing initiatives from the drawing
board to reality. With the portfolio
of IT Secretary being a new addi-
tion to the SA this year, I look for-
ward to embarking on projects that
will help grow the IT capabilities
of the SA slowly and steadily, while
also addressing IT related issues
along the way. No points for guess-
ing that I come from the small but
strong family of the School of In-
formation Systems!