™

July 2010

In Defence
of Fashion
Lisa Phua
 Arts Society

In Defence of Fashion Celebrity, Commerce, and

Oh, so you think the Church
fashion is frivolous? And why they can go together.
Lisa Phua 8 37 Wong Yong Sheng

Sport Philosophy Politics Philosophy Society Politics

Fifalisation and Puddleglum Politics and On On Sex and Globalisation of

the Global Cup A Fool’s Faith the Public Understanding Sexuality Governance

7 14 15 18 23 28
Joel Lim Cheriel Neo Zhang Yifan Yoong Ren Yan Michele Koh Rokhini Prabhu

Contents
Sean Yap | Abel Ang
58 pages in 4 sections.

Xiao Yi Fei Hou Shi hang | Crystal Ang John Choo Victoria Ting Joyce Ong | Hou Shi Hang

53 49 46 44 34 30 31

Arts Politics Proposition Opposition

Society Arts Arts
Mad with Serious power Austerity Out of the
Biodiversity The Pussification Emperors and
Malvolio (For not too is Need- Rabbit
Not in the fiction section
A Reflective Review
of Hamlet serious people) New Dresses less Pain Hole
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 Preface
™

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e are extremely proud to This journal is our response. We wanted
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Editor Yoong Ren Yan Very Fine Commentary. It is a talent in its many forms, where opinions
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Contributors
mentary written by fine writers from 4 This means that it would have to be nei-
Abel Ang Lisa Phua JCs, brimming with new ideas and opin- ther “atas” nor abstruse. We aspire toward
Cheriel Neo Michele Koh
Crystal Ang Rokhini
ion. something that people will read, learn, and
Hou Shi Hang Sean Yap go “wait I didn’t think of that” – some-
Joel Lim Victoria Ting The journal is written by and for Singa-
Join us! thing anyone could write and contribute,
John Choo Xiao Yi Fei pore’s JC (or higher) students. It is entirely
Joyce Ong Zhang Yifan
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years. And yet, for all the MOE rhetoric

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 Sport

Fifalisation
and the
Global Cup
Four years on, soccer is a very
different ball game.

The Goal that Wasn’t : Lampard sent a hard shot from outside the area off
the underside of the crossbar. The ball bounced down, and television replays
showed it had crossed the goal line.The ball then bounced back up off the
crossbar again and landed outside the goal area.
Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer collected the ball as England shouted for a
goal, but Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda motioned for play to continue. Europe’s elite Champions League. cus that globalisation has allowed partially adopted by the Span-
Metro.co.uk
for might instead cause a country ish national team. Off the field,
The World Cup is also under to fold back on itself, cutting its the vuvuzela has added a distinct
more scrutiny that before. This football team off from the world, African flavour to the normal
Joel Lim erees from across the globe. Football
scrutiny is not only extended to undermining the common lan- chants and cheers of the fanatics.
teams and referees would have been

T
he titanic quarter-final
Argentina-Germany clash was
refereed by a Uzbekistani,
alongside two assistants from neigh-
bouring countries in Central Asia,
backed by a fourth official from hosts
South Africa.
The world has definitely grown small-
er. The number of fans that now make
their way from around the world to
support their teams in Africa would
not have been imaginable two or three
decades ago, and neither would the
immense numbers that have watched
this World Cup live on television.
These changes merely point to the
undeniable fact that the World Cup is
a different ball game today.
Years ago, there probably would not
have been such a diverse range of ref-
6 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
restricted to the traditional power-
houses in Europe and South America.
Clearly, this is no longer the case.
Japan and South Korea had a good
showing, with Japan most impressive
as they comprehensively outplayed
Denmark, a nation with a compara-
tively richer heritage in football.
It is possible that this evolving of the
international football scene is really
due to globalisation. Football would
have remained alien to Asian nations
if not for it. The increased movement
of global talent has definitely allowed
for the development of players who
would have been constrained by being
denied the opportunity to play in a
more professional league. The star of
Japan’s 2010 World Cup team, Kei-
suke Honda, plies his trade for CSKA
Moscow, a club that has featured in
the teams at the World Cup, but
also FIFA itself. With globalisa-
tion of media, fans all around the
world could see every twist and
turn of France’s agonising exit.
I doubt there would have been
such a well-publicised and drastic
reaction on the part of the French
football authorities without this
scrutiny. They would not have
felt as much shame or disgust
if they had not been as exposed
as they were to football fanatics
worldwide. Without international
coverage, there would not be as
much pressure on FIFA to use
technology to prevent travesties
such as the recent unacknowl-
edged goal that England scored
when they played Germany.
On the other hand, the intense fo-
guage that is football. Nigeria’s
president Jonathan’s now rescind-
ed 2-year ban on Nigerian partic-
ipation in international football is
a warning of what could possibly
happen.
The World Cup has not mere-
ly been passively moulded glo-
balisation, but has itself been an
active agent. The ball is an iconic
symbol for the art of sport, and
the game is a common language
across different races and socie-
ties across the world. As diverse
peoples converge on South Africa
for this event, the exchange of
cultures can be seen off and on
the field. On the field, the Dutch
dream of Totaalvoetbal, where
any player can take on the role
of any other player, has been
When these thousands of fans
go back to their own stadiums,
they might bring back with them
a small part of this plurality to
share with comrades back home.
Football as a global sport defi-
nitely owes its immense com-
mercial success to globalisation
- at least in part. When we see
Germany take on Argentina on
an African pitch under the watch-
ful eye of an Asian referee, we do
not see these forces at work; we
merely celebrate the brilliant skill
of the players and the effervescent
passion of the fans.
But behind the scenes, globalisa-
tion has made this celebration
one that the entire world will
remember. ❞
7
 Arts

In Defence If you thought that fashion exists in

a vacuum devoid of rationality, wor-
Does fashion matter?:
shipped by a strange cult of deluded,
of Fashion
Is fashion frivolous and
materialistic? Or is it
more relevant than we hypnotized individuals, then you are
have given it credit for?
SXC/Wagner Novaes probably right. And wrong.
Feature
Oh, so you think fashion is frivolous?
Lisa Phua
I
f you thought that fashion exists
in a vacuum devoid of rationality,
controlled by several loopy puppet
masters and worshipped by a strange cult
of deluded, hypnotized individuals, then
you are probably right. As long as Karl
Lagerfeld keeps the Chanel 2.55s flying off
the assembly rack and Marc Jacobs starts
his New York Fashion Week showcase
on time, the fashion world is happy and
dandy. Fashion is the face of materialism
and frivolousness, and when compared
to problems such as global warming and
intensifying interstate tensions that plague
the real world, fashion is at best a sign of
hypocrisy and selfishness, and at worst a
bunch of mentally deluded patients deco-
rating themselves with markers.
But all is not lost for the fashion indus-
try. In the face of those condescending
stares and patronizing shake-of-heads
that conveniently fling fashion off the list
of “Things That Matter To Mankind”,
10
The Chanel 2.55: A blessing for
women wanting to free their hands, or
a curse for the industry?
there is still a defence to be mounted for Take popular prevailing paradigms of fashion, keep customers coming back for more. And
this misunderstood love child of creativ- for instance. The fashion industry is we see a stunning parallel in what we’d like
ity and imagination. That’s driven by a handful of very recog- to call the “real world”: with Fukayama’s
not to say that fashion is nized designers, praised at such claim of “the end of history”, democratic
in fact a very serious length that surely these creative governments and free markets claim to best
matter or a case of minds could do no wrong. Karl represent or benefit their peoples. We have
life-and-death, Lagerfeld is the chief designer certainly grown increasingly disillusioned
but neither does of Chanel, Fendi and his own with them: deregulated markets have given
it exist in a label, Karl by Karl Lager- us Lehman Brothers and irresponsible gov-
vacuum of real feld, while Marc Jacobs ernment has bequeathed Greece. Power is
world con- designs for Louis Vuitton concentrated in the wealthy firms and their
cerns. Truth and his eponymous label, wealthy individuals – and it is power used
is, beneath its Marc by Marc Jacobs. poorly.
glitzy glamor- Every fashion season,
ous exterior, major labels are show- As much as we may claim to be a fashion
the fashion cased at major fashion democracy with millions of labels and aspir-
industry is weeks in major cities, ing designers in the world, but these millions
governed by and the designers behind of labels have become followers of the major
the same rules these labels are regarded creative labels, more counterfeit rip-offs than
and restric- as the trendsetters. Oligopo- creative originals. In February 1955, Mad-
Proenza Schouler PS1 : ASOS Satchel : emoiselle Coco Chanel designed the Chanel
tions, and faces The 2010“It” Bag listic creative forces drive
The not-so-“it” bag 2.55 to free women’s hands from having to
the same dilem- Net-A-Porter.com ASOS Online Fashion Store the fashion industry; even
mas and worries mid-range street labels balance their tiny clutch bags while enjoying
$2250 $98 cocktail drinks at social parties. In 1984, the
as the real world. such as Topshop and H&M have taken
to producing Gucci, Chanel or Hermes “inspired” iconic Hermes Birkin bag was designed to
(i.e. near-carbon copies) clothes and bags in order to optimize storage compartments for women’s
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 11
Feature
Katy Perry’s Light Up Dress at the 2010 MET Ball : Stupid or creative?
Steven Lovekin/Getty Images
handbags. Unfortunately, the
consumer confidence in the crea-
tive dictatorship of Chanel, Louis
Vuitton, and associated luxury
labels has stifled this innovative
spirit.
The solution, then, lies in democ-
ratizing the industry’s creative
voice. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th
President of the United States,
believed in democracy “because
[democracy] releases the energies
of every human being”. In order
to reach its creative potential, the
fashion industry needs to reduce
its dependence on its creative
dictators and move forward with
real world democratic ideals. Af-
ter all, Karl Lagerfeld is turning
77 in September and Valentino
Garavani, aged 78, retired from
the industry in 2007; the decline
12
of the legends could be a golden
age of democracy in the fashion
industry.
Furthermore, the creative
progress in fashion certainly
seems to be leveling off (as
evidenced by the hideous ap-
pearance of Crocs on the fashion
scene), as is industrial progress in
many developed countries today.
As economies reach the limits of
human and natural resources, as
well as technological advances, it
seems that the developed world is
approaching full growth capacity.
And as much as scientific thought
encourages limitless discover-
ies- the fact remains that limits
exists. Similarly, it is possible
to argue that the fashion world
has reached its acceptable crea-
tive capacity, and has run out of
things to design without becom-
ing outrageous and tacky. The
fashion industry has gone from
jeans to rompers to jumpsuits to
maxi dresses to every seemingly
imaginable silhouette and shape
– if the next outfit were to be a
jumpsuit-maxi-dress combina-
tion, then the results could be
disastrous. Lady Gaga’s insist-
ence on not wearing pants, and
Katy Perry’s light up dress at the
recent MET Ball have divided the
house equally, with some criti-
cizing such acts as hideous and
“costume-y”, and others prais-
ing it as bold and creative. Eco-
nomics tells us that economies
producing on the production
possibilities curve have reached
full capacity – could there be a
similar progress curve for the
Alexander McQueen’s 10-inch booties:
Horse hooves or heels?
Huffington Post
fashion indus-
try? Is there a limi-
tation to what the human imagina-
tion can accept?
Viewed differently, this also
illustrates the thin line between
insanity and ingenuity that exists
in both the fashion industry and
the real world. Einstein’s extreme
intelligence made him a genius, but
Hitler’s ideological excesses made
him the face of evil. Greek poly-
math Pythagoras paved the way
for Physics by arguing that natural
phenomenon could be explained
mathematically, but he was also
irrationally terrified of beans.
This is paralleled in the fashion in-
dustry, where strokes of brilliance
can almost similarly be regarded
as bouts of insanity, and the an-
nual couture pieces designed by
the various designers demonstrate
the grey area between genius and
madness. The late Alexander Mc-
Queen, despite his theatrical and
whimsical designs that featured
models wearing entire bed frames
and never-seen-before ten-inch
exotic painted heels, was hailed as
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
one of the best couture design-
ers and remembered for his wild
imagination. On Project Run-
way, however, Chris March’s
collection featuring real hu-
man hair made into dresses
and shawls resulted in him
being ousted right before
the grand finale showcase
at New York Fashion Week.
Indeed, such levels of in-
sanity can be perceived as
unnecessary farce in the real
world; if no one world wear
such outrageous outfits in
real life, then why is the fash-
ion industry condoning, and
even encouraging such excessive
forms of expression? Is couture
insanity or art?
Perhaps the most frustrating
criticism of fashion is that it
is frivolous, materialistic and
encourages vanity and selfish-
ness – all of which work against
humanity’s progress and solidar-
ity. Critics argue that fashionable
individuals are at best shallow
and self-serving, and at worst too
busy admiring themselves in the
mirror to contribute actively to
their societies. People wrongly
equate fashion as simply an artifi-
cial exterior mask that is used to
flaunt wealth, disregarding the as-
pect of fashion that allows for the
expression of self. The real world
had corrupt dictator Mobutu
Sese Seko, but it also had Mo-
handas Gandhi; the fashion
world has its wealthy label-crazy
consumers, but it also has its cult
of teenagers searching for the
right identity. And while consum-
ers today collect Louis Vuitton
and Hermes for the sake of prov-
ing their wealth, there was also
a time when women lost their
corsets
and
wore
pants for
the first
time.
In more re-
cent times, Body
Shop made a stand against Third
World exploitation by producing
cosmetics that were “exploit-
free”, Dove made a statement
against the size zero trend by
encouraging its consumers to
embrace all body types, and Anya
Hindmarch designed the “I’m not
a plastic bag” shopping carrier
to discourage the use of dispos-
able plastic bags. People criticise
fashion for being frivolous, choos-
ing to occlude its contributions
by conveniently closing one eye.
While the real world dishes them
out in formal forums and bilateral
meetings, fashion is a massive ad-
vertising campaign. It uses visuals,
not words, and it touches hearts,
not minds.
If we can’t make people listen,
then let’s make them see what
we can do. Bless fashion and its
whimsical soul. ❞
13
 Philosophy
Puddleglum
A Fool’s Faith
Cheriel Neo
I
n C. S. Lewis’ The Silver
Chair, an evil witch-serpent
masquerading as a beauti-
ful lady abducts Rilian, prince
of Narnia, and traps him in her
dark, dank realm of Underworld
for ten years. Aslan, the great
golden lion who rules Narnia,
sends a boy and girl named Eus-
tace and Jill, and a marshwiggle
named Puddleglum to Under-
world to rescue Rilian from his
deep enchantment. In the final
chapters of the book, Eustace, Jill
and Puddleglum, along with the
dis-enchanted Rilian, confront
the witch, struggling to preserve
their grip on reality in the face of
her persuasive charms. She chal-
lenges everything that they hold
dear: sunshine, trees, Narnia, and
even Aslan himself.
Trapped in Underworld’s gloom,
our heroes try everything they
can think of to defend Narnia
and Aslan from the attacks of
skepticism, but it’s a losing bat-
tle. It’s the Matrix, way before
the Wachowski brothers; it’s
Plato’s cave; it’s Descartes’ evil
demon all over again. Their
memories
It’s the Matrix, can’t be
way before the trusted, and
Wachowski neither can
brothers; it’s their senses.
The only way
Plato’s cave; to stop the
it’s Descartes’ witch’s inces-
evil demon all sant question-
over again. ing is with a
self-justifying
14
claim, the truth of which will be
immediately apparent to all: “I
think, therefore I am.” Had Pud-
dleglum, Eustace or Jill actually
pulled the cogito ergo sum card,
however, it would have proved
fairly useless- what is the point
of knowing you exist when you
can’t know much else about said
existence?
Now, this would have gone the
Puddleglum :
Illustration by Pauline Baynes
way of a typical skeptical argu-
ment – a series of failed attempts
to answer questions like “How
do you know?” and “Can you
be sure?” and then an infinite
regress of justification- if not for
Puddleglum’s honest, desperate,
surprising answer:
“One word, Ma’am,” he said,
coming back from the fire; limp-
ing because of the pain. “One
word. All you’ve been saying is
quite right, I shouldn’t wonder…
So I won’t deny any of what you
said. But there’s one thing more
to be said, even so. Suppose we
have only dreamed, or made up,
all those things- trees and grass
and sun and moon and stars and
Aslan himself. Suppose we have.
Then all I can say is that, in that
case, the made-up things seem a
good deal more important than
the real ones…I’m on Aslan’s
side even if there isn’t any Aslan
to lead it. I’m going to live as like
a Narnian as I can even if there
isn’t any Narnia. So…we’re leav-
ing your court at once and set-
ting out in the dark to spend our
lives looking for the Overland.
Not that our lives will be very
long, I should think; but that’s a
small loss if the world’s as dull a
place as you say.”
With this speech, Puddleglum
turns the tables on the witch,
who reverts to her serpent form
and resorts to brute force to de-
feat the small company. But why
does Puddleglum’s argument in-
furiate her so? Why is the witch
unable to respond to it with her
usual charming eloquence?
Let’s examine the argument
Puddleglum’s making here-
we’ll call it the Faith Argument.
He hasn’t been convinced that
all the things they’ve believed
in aren’t real, but he’s accepted
the idea that they can’t know
for sure, he’s weighed up the
options available to him, and
he’s made a choice. Aslan and
Narnia might or might not be
real. It might or might not be
that the only reality is that of
Underworld. But even if the
witch’s version of reality is the
true one, Puddleglum’s cho-
sen to go with the things he’s
hoping for but can’t be sure of.
He’s chosen, against all doubt,
fear and logic, to hold on to his
belief. (Furthermore, it may be
that the witch’s realm is in fact
less real than Narnia; he can’t
be sure of that either.)
Puddleglum has shifted the
paradigm; rather than logic
and reasoning, it’s about faith.
His conclusion is by no means
necessarily true, but there is
far more security in his faith
than there is to be found in
their fruitless search for logi-
cal certainty. In a world where
beautiful women turn out to
be poisonous serpents and the
reassuring physical presence of
the Great Lion cannot always
be counted on, Puddleglum’s
faith is worth more than gold,
silver or precious stones. He
has chosen, and it can never be
taken away from him. ❞
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
Politics
Politics and
the Public
Sometimes a bunch of people
blabbering is really just that
Protesters at the re-
cently-concluded G-20 Zhang Yifan
summit in Toronto:
E
Should the G-20 lead- verypolitician knows public opin-
ers listen to this crowd ion is often the single most important
and do away with our
determinant of the success of his rheto-
global economy as we
know it, then? ric and policy: it is his ultimate arbitrator.
When the British public demands a govern-
ment which can manage its finances after the
worst recession since the Great Depression,
you’d better campaign on a platform of fiscal
responsibility. And unsurprisingly, the Con-
servatives, called for spending cuts to reduce
the huge 11% budget deficit, won the day.
That seems like a no-brainer. Democracy is
the power of the people. If the officials we
elect fail to listen to our will, who else is there
to safeguard and advance our interests? And
yet what one hears from the ground may not
always be the right thing to follow.
This may seem like anathema to ardent
defenders of this key political ideology. Pub-
lic opinion may well decide the future of a
nation. Look at Japan. Following a hand-
over of the premiership to former Finance
15
 Minister Naoto Kan, public support for the
ruling administration rose from the abysmal
20s to above 60 per cent, a stunning leap of
faith. However, after Kan raised the specter of
increasing the sales tax to 10 per cent, double
the current value, 10 points were instantly
shaved off public support for his Cabinet.
With public debt nearing 200 per cent of
gross domestic product, few would dispute
the need for such measures. Two-thirds of the
Japanese public agreed the raise was neces-
sary. Yet, they somehow remained skeptical of
the policy itself.
In this case, it is probably wiser for Kan to
heed his economist instincts and push ahead
with the sales tax hike, rather than be short-
sighted and save as many Upper House seats
as he can in upcoming elections. In the end,
pressing ahead may even pay off politically
for the fifth Prime Minister in four years; vot-
ers may come around to support the hike after
a tangible reduction in debt. This was exactly
what happened with healthcare reform in the
US. After a relentless campaign by the Repub-
licans to demonise the ‘socialist’ reforms, the
fate of the largest overhaul of the sector since
Medicare in 1960 was on the rocks, with
the elderly hysterical over ‘death panels’ that
would forcibly counsel them on options to
prematurely end their lives. When the “death
panels” was exposed as a dirty myth, and
a patient’s bill of rights that would guaran-
tee more transparency in insurance schemes
emerged instead, America woke up. Americans
now support health care reform 45% to 42%,
according to a recent Associated Press-GfK
poll; the figure was 39% to 46% in May. ❯❯
... few would dispute the
need for such measures.
Two-thirds of the Japanese
public agreed the raise
was necessary. Yet, they
somehow remained skep-
tical on the policy itself.
16
The wrong angle: U.S.
Republican Senate candidate
Sharron Angle speaks during
the Nevada Republican Party
2010 State Convention at the
Green Valley Ranch Station
Casino July 9, 2010 in Hen-
derson, Nevada
Getty Images/Ethan Miller
Sombre moment : Japan’s PM at a Democratic Party
news conference in Tokyo, on 12 July 2010. Voters dealt
Japan’s government a stinging blow in upper house
elections, possibly thwarting its ambitions to curb the
country’s massive public debt and threaten his job.
Reuters/Issei Kato However, due regard must still be given to
sentiment on the ground, as citizens may have
genuine concerns that warrant investigation.
Time for reflection : A man is reflected in a mirror as
So it was with Republicans and financial
he walks past posters of Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto reform. They had opposed the creation of a
Kan at the ruling Democratic Party of Japan’s election consumer financial protection agency, claim-
headquarters in Tokyo July 11, 2010. ing it would constitute excessive government
Reuters/Toru Hanai intervention in the economy, but backed
down after it became clear that reform had
the support of Americans. In Taiwan too,
the opposition Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) made a ruckus over the signing of the
Economic Cooperation Framework Agree-
ment (ECFA) with China, but they dared not
oppose the trade pact itself, as the public sup-
ported the agreement.
It is clear that politicians need to pay
attention to public opinion in their policy-
making process. But this is provided they do
It is necessary for politicians to look not get blinded by what appears to be public
beyond the poll numbers when tackling issues opinion, but is in fact a distortion of it. With
of concern, as the public might not be well- the power to decide the fate of any segment
informed on the issue at hand. Manipulation of society or the economy, politicians are
of public opinion by interest groups, such as besieged with lobbying from special interests
giant insurance companies in the healthcare and constituent groups, which often employ
drama, may also present a facade of twisted grossly exaggerated or one-sided statistics to
viewpoints that “unsuspecting” politicians make their case. This can make even the most
may well fall into. And at the end of the day, clear-headed legislator confused about what
a well-crafted piece of legislation may yet win the masses really think.
the consent of the masses even if they were
slow to grow on it.
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
A politician has to pay attention to the senti-
ment of the population as a whole, not just
the more vocal elements of it. Sharron Angle,
the Republican candidate for Senator from
Nevada, pandered to the ultra-conservative
Tea Party base to win the nomination, with
fiery anti-establishment rhetoric including
proposals to axe the education department
and abolish the 16th amendment which cre-
ated the federal tax regime. Obviously, she
does not realise that she faces an electorate
much larger than just the Tea Party in her bid
against Harry Reid, and key moderates would
never endorse a fringe candidate like her.
Representative Joe Barton from Texas made
a huge oily splash as well with his characteri-
sation of the US$20 billion escrow fund set
up by BP in wake of the Deepwater Horizon
incident as a ‘shakedown’, and defying public
opinion, made a public, scripted apology to
BP. His blind faith in Big Oil nearly cost him
his chairmanship of a House committee, saved
only by his later retraction of his statements.
Public opinion is definitely a huge part in any
policy-making calculus; the public is, after
all, the recipient of the benefits, or perhaps
consequences, of such policies. Having said
this, politicians must be cautious in navigating
through the vast minefield of false sentiments
and uninformed opinions to get to the real
concerns of the people, and address them. ❞
17
 Palestinians ride boats: In a preparation for the arrival of Israel Investigation : Prime Minister Benjamin Net-
Lebanon-Gaza flotilla at Gaza Seaport. Israel told the United anyahu announced in a weekly cabinet meeting on 13
Nations that it reserved its right to use all necessary means to June that former Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Tirkel
stop ships that it said planned to try to sail from Lebanon to will head an Israeli based investigation into the deaths
bring aid to Gaza, blockaded by the Jewish state. of nine people on the Gaza bound aid flotilla.
Reuters/Ismail Zaydah Getty / Uriel Sinai
Philosophy
On Understanding
Understanding makes us realise that we’re not so
diffferent, after all
Yoong Ren Yan
T
he condemnation came swift and
harsh. Minutes after the news that activists
aboard civilian ships off the coast of Gaza
had been killed by Israeli commandoes emerged,
the world responded.
To citizens and governments, there was no need
to wait. In Muslim countries, the reaction was
unambiguously fiery, and while foreign ministries
issued a barrage of angry statements branding the
raid a massacre, citizens poured into the streets,
outraged at this brazen attack ostensibly on un-
armed civilians (most of them Muslims). Other
nations reacted with less vehemence, but the
global backlash was palpable.
18
Keeping the fragile peace: Obama hosted Abbas at the
White House on Wednesday seeking to ensure that fallout
from Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid does not derail fragile U.S.-
led peace efforts.
Reuters / Larry Downing
But consider the response of PM Stephen
Harper: “Canada deeply regrets this action, the
loss of life and the injuries that have occurred and
obviously we’ll be looking in the days that follow
to get all the information we can get to find out
exactly what has transpired.” Canadians criticised
their government for what seemed to be a relatively
soft and less headline-grabbing stance on the raid.
Their country has a reputation for respecting and
promoting human rights, and clearly, the killing of
unarmed civilians is deplorable. But there is much
sense in Harper’s meek but measured approach.
Responses are supposed to be matched to the
actions that instigated them. But what really hap-
pened on those ships? No one denied the deaths,
but for days after Israel’s legendary foreign affairs
spokespersons repeated the same line to the media:
it was self-defence. Granted, the world had good
reason to doubt Israel, because it has a history of
(very) disproportionate force: 18 months ago, its
army invaded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for re-
peated Palestinian rocket fire, which killed less than
10 people in Israel. During the 3 week invasion,
more than 1000 Palestinians perished. However,
it has yet to be established whether the shots fired
were in response to provocation.
Despite the fact that facts surrounding the raid
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
Yet another Commission : Retired Israeli Supreme Court Jus-
tice Jacob Turkel (2nd R) leads an Israeli commission of inquiry
into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla. The opening statement
is officially observered by jurists, army officials and politicians
from Israel, Canada and North Ireland. Israel’s PM and defence
chief will be called to testify.
Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
were still fuzzy, the world went into ‘Blame Israel’
mode. Airwaves were filled with anti-Israel vitriolic
for several days. I’m no fan of Israel’s recent ac-
tions either, and without an international investiga-
tion I doubt we’ll see the truth, or that justice will
take its course. Nevertheless, this was not a simple
case of bloodthirsty Israeli soldiers massacring pro-
testers holding placards. Some states declared that
no excuse could absolve Israel of murder: that’s
easy to say when they aren’t the ones with guns or
knives pointed at them. And this is why judicial
systems around the world accept self-defence as a
legitimate reason for manslaughter.
Nor can we so quickly dismiss Israel’s invasion
of Gaza. The Israeli spokespersons, as a matter of
course, came up with a host of justifications: pos-
sibly the most striking was that the government
was obligated – as all governments are – to pro-
tect its people, and its people were under constant
threat of death from rocket fire. How else can a
state respond to a threat that is already using force,
other than by force? Perhaps the collateral was far
too high, but it is difficult to say unequivocally that
Israel’s actions were appalling. Things are not so
simple indeed.
When facing the complexities of such clash-
es, a French adage comes to mind. Tout compren-
19

Gaza’s food supply: A Palestinian man stands near trucks loaded
with fruits and vegetables parked at the Kerem Shalom border
crossing after their arrival in the southern Gaza Strip.
Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
dre c’est tout pardonner;
to understand all is to
forgive all. If you try to
understand why people
act in a certain way given
certain circumstances,
you can place yourself
in a similar position
and consider how you
might act. If there is the
slightest possibility of
the same action, you can
understand the action,
and in the process they
are relieved of blame,
because you could have
done it too. As far as the
ancient grudges of the
Middle East go, this is an
unlikely proposition.
The proverb goes two
ways. It could be a good
thing or a bad thing that
everything is understood
and forgiven. The con-
cept of understanding
could be easier to swal-
low with the typical
20
example of the crime of
desperation: a parent
must choose between
stealing a life-saving drug
and watching his or her
child die. Our imagined
choices may differ, but
because it’s such a well-
established moral dilem-
ma, we can understand
both choices. We find
ourselves instead sympa-
thising with the circum-
stance the parent was
put in, and the choice
becomes immaterial.
But beyond the realm of
what we perceive as dif-
ficult choices, we begin
to not understand, and
the proverb starts to get
controversial. Can we
understand and forgive
genocide? Most people
can’t imagine themselves
ever choosing to kill, so
the choice is taken for
granted, but we limit
Persistent protest. :
Thousands of Gilad
Shalit support-
ers calling for his
release march into
Jerusalem during
the last day of a
200-kilometre, 12-
day protest march
from his family
hometown to the
PM Netanyahu’s
residence. The
march marks four
years since Gilad
Shalit was cap-
tured by Palestinian
militants in Gaza in
June 2006.
Getty/ Uriel Sinai
our make-believe with The German Resistance
reality. Extrapolate this had a few brave souls,
Israel and Hamas, an Islamic resistance movement, who now run the Gaza
to war, and killing be- but the majority went Strip have failed to agree terms of a prisoner swap in which around 1,000 of the
comes self-defence, even with the irresistible flow 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would be released in exchange for
if you don’t know your of society. I don’t believe Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since 2006.
victim. As deranged as we are any more or less
we may dismiss them to moral, or human, than
be, genocidaires from those societies. We’re just
Germany to Rwanda not in the circumstance
used self-defence in their they were in.
propaganda to justify
mass murder. I tread on sensitive On the other side... :
ground. I am not con- Palestinian women
This feeling of being doning genocide. It is hold photos of rela-
threatened is one with an possibly the single most tives who are jailed
extraordinary amount of morally reprehensible in Israel , during
a protest in Gaza
power – enough to over- act one can commit. My
City calling for the
turn the most basic of contention is with this
release of Palestin-
moral codes in hundreds attitude that some things ian prisoners from
of thousands. Yet it is are above questioning, Israeli jails.
one all of us have expe- too evil to fathom in our UPI/Ismael Mo-
rienced, however small. too pure minds. Sticking hamad. Photo via
Newscom
If we were Germans in our fingers in our ears in
1939 or Rwandan Hutus response to any discus-
in 1994, can we honestly sion seeking reasons for
stand up and proclaim genocide is a plain case
that the sway of an entire of double standards.
society would not slant By relegating genocide
us from our morality? and other crimes to the
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 21
 By relegating genocide and other Society

crimes to the “they’re just mad”

bin, we will never comprehend
why they occur, and more vitally, On Sex and Sexuality
Right choices and wrong premises
we erase any chance of stopping
them in the future.

“
“they’re just mad” bin, all. If we can’t under- I suspect that, after Michele Koh
we will never compre- stand an action, we’re reading this title,
hend why they occur, effectively declaring the
and more vitally, we perpetrator as some- Blame is a dichotomous some of you might Sexuality is a vital
concept: it distinguishes be- wonder what I’ve part of human
erase any chance of thing less than human. been getting up to in existence. Our no-
stopping them in the I know I’m no comfort tween the innocent victim- my spare time, think- tions of closeness,
future. to the distraught Uzbek self and the guilty perpetra- ing too much about desire, intimacy
or Palestinian who’s just
There is a distinction tor-other. The reality is rarely sex. I can’t claim and pleasure are
lost a spouse, child, par- that I have any real
to be made between so simple. very much bound
ent or friend to Kyrgyz experience, or that
seeing how something up in it. Because
hooligans or Israeli I’m anything of an
might be justified, and of this, sexuality
soldiers, and I don’t expert.
judging that as justifi- shapes our identi-
ask them to seek un-
able. It’s a problem of ty, the way we see
derstanding while they is what the modern Blame is a dichotomous But I’ve been writ-
semantics. If we attempt our relationships,
grieve. I’d rather con- justice system assumes, concept: it distinguishes ing this in my head
to give reasons or jus- and the way that
sole them, because while and therefore individu- between the innocent for quite some time.
tifications for morally we think other
I’ve never experienced als remain culpable for victim-self and the Maybe these are
reprehensible acts, we people should be-
this kind of loss, I can their actions, because guilty perpetrator-other. pointless questions Lock and Key: Perhaps sex isn’t quite as simple as turning the
are accused of making have. This is true
imagine the pain they they are judged on how The reality is rarely so to ask about sex and pins right, to gain access to the right places.
the act reasonable or even if one wants
feel, a shadow of what they chose to respond simple. Considering relationships and Free Digital Photos/Suat Eman
justifiable. But we need to remain celibate,
they might feel. That’s to circumstances. We circumstance is essential life – experience may
to go through the pro- or isn’t interested
an attempt at under- ought to do the same. in moderating this crude teach me far more. means more to us. ability to under- are able to de-
cess of suggesting causes in having sex.
standing. comparison of self- Yet maybe I will Our society tends stand what sex cide whether it is
before we can decide I don’t advocate do- One’s sexuality
worth of who is right or never find a satisfying to embrace sexu- means to us. right to have sex.
that we don’t agree. If And that’s precisely ing away with punish- still spills over
wrong, moral or im- answer to them. But I ality, in a naively In other words,
we say that to embark the understanding that ments. The Israelis into one’s daily
moral. must ask, and I must eyes-wide-shut humans make
on the process is to im- should be extended to shouldn’t get away with life, and view of
try to understand.
plicitly agree, then we’re all, both victim and a self-run investigation We are, of course, aim- the world. fashion.
Instinct and more meaning
in dangerous territory. If perpetrator. Perhaps the with a foregone conclu- ing for the impossible So maybe what out of sex than
Sexuality in From the surface, human will just reproduction,
the result of reasoning is proverb went too far in sion. Nor do I accept here. Understanding you’re beginning it would appear
to make things that we ask- that is an ideal because no on is just a tall tale: human life that we are ac- As human beings, copulation or
feel are unreasonable ing for geno- one can experience the “told by an idiot, full It is not hard to cepting as a cul- we are separated release.
forgive-
If we can’t understand cidaires exact same thing. But understand why other animals
reasonable, why reason? of sound and fury, ture. We recognise So it gets messier.
No further analysis, ness, an action, we’re ef- live with reflecting on the hor- signifying nothing”. we have come to by our free will:
people’s needs, Many animals
or thought, is required but I’d fectively declaring the impu- rible things we do to I cannot say. But I do seeing sexuality even if they’re that is, we are can mate, and
before we consign peo- rec- perpetrator as some- nity like each other, trying to invite you to hear my as just “natural” straight or gay. able to make just wander off
ple dissimilar to us to oncile thing less than human. Pol Pot. understand takes us musings, on the mat- – something that But as a result, we decision based on without a second
‘beyond reason’. it by But we back to the realisation ter of what sexuality should be enjoyed tend to judge oth- rational thought. thought, and
giving sure that we’re not so differ- means. and indulged in, er people by their Thus sexuality bear the next
Understanding is a basic in to both camps. We could do with more ent after all. Once we’ve whenever the is infinitely more generation of
recognition of common sexual preference.
are as much victims of understanding. Too realised how similar we mood strikes. It Hence, the space complex for us life. No problem
humanity: faults, self- circumstance as sov- much trouble is are, it’s much harder to is natural. It does than for animals. there. We, on the
defensive feelings, and that our culture
ereign in choice. This caused by blind blame. be horrible.❞ feel good. But gives to indulging We are able to other hand, have
because we are in sex, limits our choose when to it – and then the
human beings, sex have sex, and we thinking kicks in.
22 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 23

(Now, if the act was with
a stranger, the closeness
that it brings might be
unsettling. As a matter
of fact, we may have had
no really good reason
to enter their body, or
let them enter our body.
We’d both just hoped
to get lucky, and have a
good time. And chances
are that it wasn’t quite as
satisfying as we’d both
thought it would be.
Then pragmatism kicks
in. We cannot help
but wonder what it all
means. If it was good,
then we’d want more.
But might the other per-
son feel the same way?
If we have been careless,
then what will we do
if children come out of
this? What will happen
to the rest of my life?)
Wanting to have sex can
be a very good – and
often satisfying – thing,
if acted on in the right
way. But our biologi-
cal mechanisms do not
have to have the final
say on everything in our
lives. Because we give it
such a wide berth, we
let our instincts control
us. When we hand over
our will to our pleasure
centres, it warps the way
we understand any kind
of relationship.
In fact, I think that, be-
cause of this, some peo-
ple may confuse sexual
desire with something far
deeper, far greater and
far more fundamental
– the desire to be close
to other people, to have
24
Consider Boston mar- from. But there is another and triumphantly hetero- You can’t match your
close and intimate hu- there for a little love. them. By doing so, we
riages , for instance: two effect that is more damag- sexual are convinced that sexuality so well with
man relationships. We’re all a little lost, and fail to recognise that they
grown straight women ing. the most masculine of all your affections, or even
uncertain of ourselves, are merely human. They
Pigeon-holing, making a family unit and activities is not tending to the affections you intend
what we want. We want are uncertain, trying to By pigeonholing, we make the sexual needs of wom-
sticking together in life. yourself to have, or even
society and hu- a special someone to be make sense of who they
They are content, the ourselves uncomfort- en but watching other what society wants your
man nature ours, to call our own. We are and what they want. able with any grey area,
situation works for them, men play games.’ affections to be.
want that someone to They keep making mis- where there may or may
it is a stable foundation
Though it sounds trite, be there through all the takes. not be sex, or unresolved Pigeonholing other people Conclusion
let me call to mind sev- lonely nights, to sexual tension - where by their sexual preferenc-
eral assumptions about never leave us. there is only ambiguity. es simply ignores all this Our society accepts our
the way human nature We want some- And life is most often ambiguity. We’re out to sexual desire, but this ac-
and human society work: one to under- changing, and ambigu- get what we want. What ceptance simply doesn’t
stand, to simply ous. People constantly we want has overridden recognise that sexuality
First, we human beings is more complicated than
love and accept reinvent and redefine most rational thought.
have a tendency to make we often give it credit for.
us for who we themselves in response. Therefore, instead of see-
snap judgements. We Sexuality spills over into
are. ing their humanity, we
think we know enough, The straight-gay begin to people as means emotion, into relation-
we think we understand Alright, we’re ships, into being close to
the way human nature rarely certain
binary to our ends.
other people.
works. And it comes out about how that Sometimes people need We then begin to sort
of the simple need to special someone to explore and become people in our heads by Being obsessed with sex
make sense of the world would look like. comfortable with their their attractiveness and (and confusing it with
in its staggering com- (Even if we think sexuality. Sometimes whether they are a poten- the need for closeness)
plexity. So we judge. we’ve met them, they may not even tial partner (that is, if you has left us with judging
we rarely know want to have sex, or be both swing the same way, people by their sexual
On the other hand, this preferences. The tendency
what to do.) attached, because it is or if the other person’s
means we are also under fails to ac-
On the other too complicated. attached). You can’t match
their weight of other knowledge
hand, if faced That leaves
people’s judgement. We Many of us may not your sexuality so that some-
with someone the rest of
don’t want to say or do even be aware of what well with your af- times rela-
else’s bad habits, the human
the wrong thing. If we’ve
idiosyncrasies we may “truly want”. race as (1) fections, or even tionships
made mistakes, the guilt Most often, getting this just have
and emotional competi- the affections you
and the shame haunt right takes time and no labels
baggage, who’d tion in the intend yourself to
us. We hate being made patience both from us on them.
want to stay running
vulnerable.
with the self- The question is, what do we see in them? and from other people, for the (2)
have, or even what It doesn’t
(For instance, even if this same person all for the rest of their lives through all our mistakes potential society wants your recognise
and failures.
claim was false, it would day? Surely there’s some- But when we can’t re- to rest on. But people’s mates, or affections to be. that society
thing better out there. ally accept them for tongues still start wag- doesn’t need
be very difficult and Our society may also dic- else (3)
We are all a little bit what they are as people, ging. I mean, these lovely to be bifurcated, to be un-
traumatic to deal with tate that we should want frustratingly unattainable
messed up, and a little we look instead to all ladies, still together like derstood in such oversim-
this kind of gossip: He to be a certain way to be eye candy, or finally (4)
bit hopeful. We are all a the things they do, and college roommates? Sure- plified black and white.
made out with that guy “normal”, as idiosyncratic the revolting losers, the
little bit fragile. what those things mean. ly they are together – you
on the sly, all through as its definitions can be. suckers who can’t ever get
know, in that way. You’ve At the end of it, one thing
first term? Didn’t know We judge them because it right. But sex simply
We often got to be kidding me that remains clear. It’s simply
he was a flaming poofter. we think I was amused recently by isn’t everything.
see others We are all a little we know they’re ‘just friends’. a quote from the Ameri-
better to accept people
That other guy isn’t even
making bit messed up, and too much can essayist, Gore Vidal: It’s simply not true, that for what they are, instead
hot!) Judging based on sexu- of judging them without
messes a little bit hopeful. about the quote from the American it’s as simple as “he’s a
This brings me to my of their ality, therefore, tends guy; I’m not into guys; I fully understanding.❞
We are all a little bit way peo- to make us pigeonhole
essayist, Gore Vidal:
second point, which is lives, of- will never consider him”
ten over
fragile. ple work,
people. And that brings ‘A peculiarity of American or conversely, “I’m a girl,
this: we are all human they’re ‘just
other us further from under- sexual mores is that those
beings. Someone once going at it’, I liked her that time and
people. We call them standing who they are, men who like to think of
called us ‘noble ruins’. ‘doing what’s natural’. she’s a girl, therefore I am
and where they’re coming themselves as exclusively
It seems apt. We are out suckers, and laugh at into girls and I am gay!”
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 25
 Adapted from WNYC’s Radiolab podcast

A man
named Stu
I’d like to end with a story about anything like it in his life. It was a town. Had it been any stranger
a man named Stu, who grew up in seminal moment, in his words. new in town, many rednecks

“
a small old-fashioned town named would likely have rebelled, and
Silverton, in Oregon, USA.
Very gradually, he tried manicur-
forced him out of the town. But And people simply
ing his nails – first clear lacquer,
Stu grew up a mostly normal then with polish. After some years,
Stu was a rarity. He was a native did not think he had
son. Everyone knew him as the changed, as a person.
lad, though he was quiet and shy he became the owner of the movie
cable guy, the computer geek, the
around girls, and did not date in theatre, and gamely tried to bring
man collecting tickets at the thea- Yes, he was running
his teens. He helped out at the lo- in some new releases. Slowly, he
cal gild-age movie theatre his dad decided to promote that week’s
tre every Sunday. around in stilettos
owned, as the projectionist, and movie by dressing up in character And people simply did not think now, with breasts.
eventually owned it. He grew up - and often, the character he had he had changed, as a person. Yes,
avid metalworker, woodworker, chosen would be female. he was running around in stilet-
But he was – just Stu.
and electrician. Everyone in the tos now, with breasts. But he was
People did not put it together with
town knew Stu, and knew him to – just Stu. They had known him
transsexuality, at first. They just
be a normal, sweet, helpful guy. all their lives. They knew him to
thought he was just getting into
be too complicated a person, to
Then one day in 1975, when he the spirit of things. But ‘when Stu
be able to make snap judgements
was 27, Stu was in the projection- looked in the mirror, he felt that
about him. They accepted him,
ists’ booth as The Rocky Horror he liked himself better when he
gender confusion and all. Finally,
Picture Show was playing. And the was in female clothes’. Eventually,
they elected him their mayor.
song Sweet Transvestite came on. he underwent surgery at 40, to get
Here was a movie, and was a guy artificial breasts. Stu Rasmussen became America’s
on the screen, who was in women’s first openly transsexual mayor on
Now, Silverton was a small tradi-
clothing. Stu played it over and January 5th, 2007.
tional, conservative, Republican
over again. He had never seen

26 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 Stu Rasmussen : Running for mayor 27

From Stu’s Mayor website
Feature

Despite ‘globalisation’, nothing
The posters say it has been done to increase regu-
best : Our failure to lation to pursue justice for the
globalise governance victims of such disasters, and to
is our failure to solve prevent them from happening
the most urgent issues again. In fact, the exploitation
of our time.
that comes with globalisation
Reuters/ Raj Patidar
and the subsequent lack of in-
ternational regulation and strict
enforcement has left thousands
exposed and vulnerable.
In the recently concluded Copen- place, responses are lacklustre as
hagen Climate Change Confer-
ence, we displayed our absolute
complacency in choosing not to
Politics take a bold step towards reducing the lack of international support
carbon emissions. Even though
to earthquakes or tsunamis. When
humanitarian disasters occur, as
in the recent Haitian earthquake,
countries rush to provide aid,
with even African nations lending
a hand. A clear structure of aid
relief has been established and the
international community plays a
clear role in contributing to and
regulating the recovery of the af-
fected region. By contrast, when
environmental disasters take
countries place it far lower on
their lists of priorities, and there-
fore do little, as demonstrated by
to contain the oil spill in the Gulf
driven corporations. With this, the
welfare of the entire globe is com-
promised for the vested interests
of these few companies.
This is in stark contrast to hu-
manitarian disasters where there
is a ticking time bomb of fa-
talities, which we perceive as far
more urgent. However, this is not
an ideal attitude to have if we
want to push for change to help
ourselves and our planet.
The solution
In order to address this issue, we
need to break the vicious cy-
cle of passivity that plagues the

Globalisation of
global warming is a matter of of Mexico. global community. The lack of
international concern, we lack
international regulation leads to
the courage and urgency to come Perhaps this stems from a mindset
the nonchalance of governments
forward and help ourselves, in- issue: since human lives were not
in the face of crises, especially
stead citing excuses such as biased taken and are not immediately at

Governance
environmental disasters, and this
regulations and the need to bal- risk, an environmental disaster is
passivity in turn leads to a lack
ance economic and environmental not of great concern. Why does
of regulation. To change this, we
issues. The contradiction between such a barrier exist? This might
need to pave the way for globali-
our words that declare boil down
sation of governance, which will
Beyond economic integration the urgency of the prob- While waiting for the
lem and our mediocre G8 countries to reach a distinct
to the
cultivate a far more ideal outlook
on the imperative to deal with
actions only serves to between
further illustrate our
consensus, the rest of what is
environmental disasters with the
same resolve as we do with hu-
Rokhini Prabhu evidence depicts the globalisa- mostly poor, who were affected. hypocrisy. While wait- the world has taken a important
tion of the industry. However, The first ever domestic judge- manitarian crises.
ing for the G8 countries backseat, casually ob- and what

W
henever the issue globalisation has not made us ment on this incident came 26
of globalization as “global citizens” in a “global years after the accident took
to reach a consensus, serving the situation as is urgent. The global community thus far
the rest of the world if watching a pee-wee With the has done close to nothing to
arises as a topic of village”: we have yet to achieve place and only imprisoned the has taken a backseat, recent fo- address this problem of passiv-
discussion, most of us automat- globalisation of governance – charged officials (which ex- casually observing the cricket match in sub- cus on the ity. However, the solution is not
ically jump on the bandwagon essential in addressing and aid- cluded then-president of Union situation as if watching urban New Delhi. Copenha- just to break the vicious cycle,
to claim with great surety that ing the recovery of what Barack Carbide, Warren Anderson) a pee-wee cricket match gen Con- but to also integrate policy with
the world has become more in- Obama calls a “planet in peril”. for a mere 2 years. While this in sub-urban New Delhi. Cohe- ference, many are aware of the enforcement, and is not so much
tegrated, interdependent and in- incident may be considered a sive governance on an interna- crisis of climate change we face, so as about breaking the circular
terconnected. We cite examples A globalisation of gov- domestic affair, it is of global tional level is clearly absent. but choose to remain passive. The reasoning stated earlier but more
of how companies in the US ernance? concern. It involved a US com- general view of environmental about integrating the solutions
have production units in China Take the Bhopal Union Carbide pany, killed millions of Indian Long-term disaster disasters is that they are impor- and enforcements into it so as to
and call centres in India; how industrial disaster in 1984 for citizens and was an echo of failures tant, but not urgent. This could achieve desirable results. Instead
mechanical and technical work instance. Despite the global a highly similar Italian acci- The utter complacency with be because environmentally- of addressing the problem on the
is outsourced to parts of Asia; community’s knowledge of the dent in Seveso. Yet the global which we handle environmental friendly measures result in short surface level, this would target the
how the wonders of the World scale of the catastrophe, it has community failed to interfere, disasters is most evident when term economic losses which are root causation and lead to a long
Wide Web bring information failed to push for a quick and hoping that time would slowly juxtaposed against our response undesirable especially for profit term solution. ❞
from around the world to our just judgment for the people, erase the anguished memories.
doorstep. The aforementioned It has not.
28 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 29
 Debate Debate
Joyce Ong include years of pain. Fiscal auster-
ity is not a short term pose by gov-

E
verybody seems to fear Shhhhh.... : ernments to calm jittery markets,
becoming the next Greece. Protestors hold Heart at- but a genuine commitment to cor-
David Cameron promised up improvied tack : British
recting unsustainable debt positions
masks of the PM, PM Cameron
“painful” spending cuts for the gestures in his
which have led to imbalanced trade
DPM,Treasurer
UK, Republicans proposed $1.3 and Communities warning of the patterns, with China and Germany
trillion worth of spending cuts Secretary outside UK economic having abnormally strong surpluses
for the US, and even the Japanese Westminster situation. in goods, and the US with a large
Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said Palace. Getty/Peter surplus in capital.
Getty/Andrew Macdiarmid
that fiscal reforms are necessary
Winning The US and much of the world
to prevent a “Greek-style fiscal
collapse”. currently face the twin problems
of an unsustainable fiscal position
The arguments for spend- and a weak real economy at the
ing cuts can be distilled Proposition Opposition same time. The primary argument
into one word: markets. against fiscal austerity is that an
People are afraid that in- imposed contraction in govern-

Austerity is Clambering
vestors will suddenly turn ment spending stagnates growth
on every country with a in the real economy. Furthermore,
significant fiscal deficit, Krugman claims that markets’
leaving governments un- fundamental concern is not debt,

Needless Pain Out of the

able to service their debt. but growth: a position vindicated
The G20 has shifted their by consistently low US bond yield
stance from encouraging rates. It has been an argument
fiscal support to recom- made by many prominent econo-
mending fiscal consolida- mists, not least of all Lawrence
The most worrying thing about fiscal

Rabbit-Hole
tion: Summers, that in the short term,
“The recent events austerity is how it’s all coming at the we should focus on addressing the
real economy before addressing
highlight the impor-
imbalances in the world economy.
tance of sustainable
Many have pointed out, however, that the US’ eco- Paul Krugman has gone as far as to
public finances… Those countries with serious
nomic recovery is shaky at best, and signs of a UK Perhaps a little fiscal austerity is accuse a push for fiscal austerity as
fiscal challenges need to accelerate the pace of
consolidation.”
recovery are hardly in sight. With headlines like
“U.S. first-time jobless claims unexpectedly rise, up
not so crazy after all. a fundamentally masochistic en-
terprise, based on a psychological
But should fiscal consolidation be pursued 12,000 to 472,000 in latest week”, it is difficult to Hou Shi Hang belief that pain is good for us.
when real economies are still suffering? Yes, mar- see how these two economies can absorb the effects

T
he mindless Republican insistence of Krugman observes that bond rates are not
kets are worried about Greek debt. But as Martin of fiscal contraction. Much of global recovery has
instant austerity may smack of partisan rising and scathingly concludes that “Austerians”
Wolf points out, huge private sector surpluses must been based on businesses’ restocking of inventories,
stupidity, but beneath the politicking, they are being lead astray by a fictional “confidence
go somewhere. Investors are moving their money instead of job creation. This inventory restocking is
have a point. People have highlighted the unsus- fairy”. But bond markets in the US are relatively
to the US and UK in a bid for safety, not because only a one-time boost, and will run out eventually.
tainability of debt positions from before the 2008 stable not because the government has resisted
of these governments’ promises to inflict “pain” Consumer sentiment and domestic demand, on the
financial meltdown. In 2008, the problem of gov- calls for austerity but because of the USA’s relative-
on their economies. Markets are not demanding other hand, remain weak.
ernment debt was brought into public conscious- ly low bond yield rates are anchored by its geopo-
austerity. In fact, the reduced growth from spend-
Where then will growth come from? Mon- ness by the documentary film litical importance, and thus, the rates are likely to
ing cuts should be what rational investors are
etary policy is unlikely to be able to sustain an eco- I.O.U.S.A, which highlighted be undervalued. Given the US’s
concerned about. Krugman notes that:
nomic recovery, in view of near-zero interest rates Governments with unsus- geopolitical❯❯ ❮❮significance as
the unsustainability of the US
“Markets continue to treat Ireland, which has and a lack of consumer and business sentiment. debt position. In October 2009,
tainable deficits and little a major world power and its
accepted savage austerity with Some, like Raghu Rajan, have even George Osborne, then shadow geopolitical clout to as- economic prominence as the
little resistance, as being some- The wrong lessons argued that interest❯ Chancellor of the Exchequer, sure markets of their sol- reserve currency of the world,
what riskier than Spain, which are being drawn ❮rates are too low, and encourage told Britain that the UK was investors are sceptical about an
excess risk. But if interest rates are
vency are being hurt by US default. Conversely, smaller
has accepted austerity slowly from Greece. currently sinking into a “sea of
and reluctantly.” raised, public spending is cut, and their budgetary position. countries in the Eurozone with
debt” and that the solution will
30 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 31
 Debate
external demand reduced, economic theory sug-
gests that growth will fall, and unemployment will
rise. Deflation is no longer an exclusively Japanese
notion; Germany and the US’s core inflation is less
than 1%, precariously tipping the scales into defla-
tion.
So why do people want to
experience such pain? The
main reason is fear that public
debt will undermine market
confidence, seen in the recent
panics in the Eurozone. But it
seems that the wrong lessons
are being drawn from Greece.
The Greek crisis is essentially
part of a larger balance of
payments crisis in the Euro-
zone. It is admittedly a struc-
tural problem of the Euro that
the smaller Mediterranean
countries were encouraged
It hurts! : Greece can’t go to school now.
by Euro’s low interest rates Mum!
Newscom
to borrow excessively; but
even if a child has overspent
his allowance, we should not necessarily punish
him by making him starve at recess.
We take this analogy further. A small child (Greece)
makes friends with a big boy (Germany), and
receives toy cars from him in exchange for fruit
and olives. Other children assume that Greece has
Germany’s backing, and agree to lend to Greece at
low interest rates. Encouraged thus, Greece bor-
rows heavily and spends the money on more toy
cars (and other items), while producing the same
amount of fruit and olives. When the other chil-
dren finally realise that Greece might not be able
to pay his debt, some become unwilling to lend
to Greece, and the remain-
Clearly, austerity ing lenders demand higher
not only causes
interest rates to compensate ment spending) threatens to take away the fragile
pain for the in- for the additional risk they
dividual, but for are taking. This creates a
problem for Greece, who
his neighbours.
cannot meet growing inter-
est payments, and Greece considers quitting school eration. Otherwise, market confidence may fall, not
altogether and defaulting on all his debts.
what can Greece do? He could cut back on
his borrowing (reduce government spending), sell
32
more fruit and olives and buy fewer toys. But this
would simply mean that the other kids receive less
money for their toys, and they in turn cut back on
spending as well.
Clearly, austerity not only causes pain for the in-
dividual, but for his neighbours.
Krugman also noted that reduc-
tions in government spending
would also lead to a fall in inter-
est rates, which would further
weaken a country’s exchange rate.
In such a situation, the possibility
of backlash is extremely high; the
EU should not exacerbate existing
trade tensions with Eurozone-wide
austerity.
Furthermore, to expect surplus
countries like China, Germany and
Canada to readily increase domes-
tic demand is naïve. Western aus-
terity measures will only damage
their own domestic demand, while
their exports to each other fall.
McKinsey’s latest survey of corpo-
rate executives showed that many large businesses
still depend on American and European markets,
while only two-fifths of businesses expected even
25% of profits to come from emerging markets.
A contraction in Western demand may encourage
surplus countries to reorient their economies from
exports towards domestic demand, but this should
be done via consensus, or it might provoke backlash
from surplus countries if they are not given suffi-
cient time to work on increasing domestic demand.
The problem of these imbalances needs to be cor-
rected, but not through unilateral decisions.
Private sector deleveraging is not over; businesses
are still reducing debt supplies and accumulating
savings. Public sector deleveraging (cutting govern-
recovery we are experiencing and plunge the world
back into a recession. With tensions rising between
America, Europe and Asia, the external consequenc-
es of government policies must be taken into consid-
because of government debt, but because of the very
pain demanded in premature fiscal tightening. ❞
Debate
unstable debts are being washed
away by a regional crisis of confi-
dence. Governments with unsus-
tainable deficits and little geopo-
litical clout to assure markets of
their solvency are being hurt by
their budgetary position.
Opponents can argue that the US
anchoring its bond yields by its
geopolitical significance does not
discount the fundamental point
that there is no urgent need to
deal with budget deficits. Admit-
tedly, they are right, but yield rates
can jump quickly when markets
Unemployment? Pah! : Senator Ben Nelson of Nebrasksa.
finally react to the deficit. Alan Greenspan recently Getty/Chip Somodevilla
argued that “perceptions of a large U.S. borrowing
capacity are misleading” and that “long-term rate
increases can emerge with unexpected suddenness”,
pointing to a period in late 1979 when the yield
jumped 4 points in four months. Given the serious- ment spending to correct.
ness of this issue, at-
The solution to It is easy to overstate the case for fiscal
tempts should be made
high unemploy- austerity. It is true that austerity should not come
to address the deficit
at the cost of a stifled growth rate and unsustain-
ment is not an in- and the government is
able unemployment. However, it is also not simply
jection of liquidity justified in taking the a direct response to fears of a “Greek-style fiscal
first steps in doing so.
into the economy collapse”, which will lead to a Japanese style lost
across the board. Also, it is unpolished decade for America, as Paul Krugman gloomily
to view to see the dual predicts, but a commitment to the start of much
objectives of low unemployment and fiscal sustain- needed corrections to the crippling budgetary im-
ability as completely incompatible. Examining the balances in the world. Fiscal austerity should not
economic landscape more discerningly and we can be compared to Japan’s lost decade, when govern-
see that it is overly hasty to proclaim that all parts ment delay in restoring confidence in the markets
of our economy are wrecked beyond repair. China’s led to stagflation with structural weaknesses in the
growth in the real economy is still robust and economy left unaddressed. A better comparison is
many countries in Asia have tided over the finan- to Britain’s purging of inflation, when the macro-
cial crisis. Even within the USA, the situation is not economic target of unemployment was sacrificed in
uniform across states. Senator Ben Nelson of Ne- the short run to return others to normalcy. Simi-
braska recently rejected an unemployment bill in larly, austerity measures are needed to return us to
the Senate, arguing that employment in Nebraska sustainable levels of debt, even if there may be a
is a viable 4.9% and still, not all stimulus money short term effect on growth. ❞
has been put into the economy. Thus, to argue
against fiscal management in Nebraska claiming
the weakness of the economy will be a crude over-
simplification. The solution to high unemployment
is not an injection of liquidity into the economy
across the board. It is very possible that unemploy-
ment in the US has become structural in nature and
requires more sophisticated allocations of govern-
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 33
Arts
Emperors
and New
Dresses
Even the Emperor refused to admit
he was naked.
Victoria Ting
L
ately, I’ve increas-
ingly come to the con-
clusion that there exists
an inherent value in being
indie. It arose first from my
Firefox’s spontaneous jump
from Cordell Hull’s Wikipe-
dia page to Style.com: purely
coincidental and had cer-
tainly nothing to do my lack
of pre-exam discipline. This
all began when I – entirely by
chance, I swear – came across
a picture of Mia Wasikowska
(Alice in Alice in Wonder-
land, for the uninitiated) in a
frock that looked something
like this. (See picture)
While I may belong to a
minority that actually know
how to spell her name (okay,
I cheated, I Googled it), I
doubt my reaction to this
picture is in any way unusual
– something along the face-
34
palming lines of “Oh honey,
no.” Polka dots? Translu-
cency? More polka dots? A
granny bra and loafers to the
red carpet? God forbid! And
this picture was ranked third
in Style.com’s daily ‘Look of
the day’ list.
I could barely believe it. I
don’t care what Bazaar tells
me; I don’t care how wildly
Vogue swoons over this
ensemble; I can just hear it
now: “O divine! The feminin-
ity! The delightful pixie-chic!
The oh-so-abstruse refer-
ences to modish androgyneity
tragically absent since the
days of Saint Laurent un-
der Alber Elbaz!” I for one
think this outfit is full-on
ridiculous. What troubles me,
then, is how a (conceivably)
sane, sighted and supposedly
qualified team of profession-
als presumes to convince me
otherwise. Is this some inner-
circle conspiracy to see how
many of the trend-following
masses they can make dress
equally preposterously? Is
this an elaborate agreement
between Wintour, Wu and
80s curtain manufacturers to
clear three-decade-old mate-
rial? Or perhaps this is some
heartbreaking folie à plus-
ieurs: do they all genuinely
believe this looks good?
What I believe, dare I say,
is that this is nothing more
than a classic case of acute vi-
ral let’s-pretend-we-don’t-all-
look-retarded-ivitis… more
commonly understood as the
‘Emperor’s new clothes’ syn-
drome, but always exalted as
‘acquired tastes’. I believe it’s
the industry insiders clam-
ouring to fete a look – any
look! – that hasn’t been feted
before, and the designers cor-
respondingly clambering to
design that look, ludicrously
outlandish though it may be.
If you look closely, further-
more, you’ll find that this
disease is not merely confined
to Mia Wasikooky-what’s-
her-name (who I sincerely
grieve for, as an unfortunate
casualty): Michelle Williams,
Chloe Sevigny, Maggie Gyl-
lenhaal, Diana Kruger, (Ko-
rean actress) Kim Ha Neul,
and that chick who’s appar-
ently dating Shia Labeouf all
seem to be afflicted with the
same condition. It’s not just
the fashion industry, either
– ever seen one of the emo-
type boys in a shirt that reads
‘I listen to bands that don’t
even exist yet’? That’s merely
the music industry’s version,
i.e. acute viral this-band-
would-suck-except-they’re-
indie-ialis. (Think about it:
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
Carine Roitfeld : dsquared2 or dstupid?
Getty/Bryan Bedder
the benchmark of good music
is whether people want to
listen to your stuff, but the
minute you get popular – I’m
sorry, mainstream – you are
automatically no longer any
good.)
And if you think about it
further, all sorts of uncanny
and altogether disquieting
parallels to the real world –
that is, the world that actu-
ally matters – start to emerge.
All that sustains this, you see,
much like Japan in the late
1980s or even the sub-prime
mortgage crisis, is the perfect
closure of this system. Can
you imagine it? Just one lion-
hearted, unpretentious intern
who dares to tell Carine
Roitfeld her Dsquared2 was
nothing short of Dstupid, and
all their ‘acquired’ opinions,
assured by mutual compli-
ments and contingent upon
mutual fears of appearing
unsophisticated, would come
crumbling down like a house
of cards.
How, then, does any of this
make any difference to us
commonfolk? In reality, very
little. Sometimes, however,
it can be a point of useful
self-reflection to observe from
far the heights of affecta-
tion of the inhabitants of the
ivory towers, just so we never
slip into them ourselves. No
matter how puerile or je-
june Vogue might insinuate
your taste to be for finding a
simple dress pretty, it is im-
mensely comforting to know
that, hey, the Emperor him-
self refused to admit that he
was naked. ❞
35
 This is Kong Hee,
a pastor. He is her husband.

Society

Celebrity,
Commerce,
and the
Church
And why they can go together.

The recent investigations into City Harvest Church’s (CHC)

finances couldn’t have been more damaging to the reputa-
tions of mega-churches in Singapore. The spectacular rise
This is Sun Ho, in membership has been treated with as much concern as
the exponential growth of the church’s business operations
a singer. – the latter is often met with disdain. And their
As if the bad press was not adequate, media attention shift- church owns
ed toward the activities of celebrity Sun Ho (Ho Yeow Sun),
the Senior Pastor’s wife and a co-founder of the church. A this building.
surge of comments with unrelentingly negative criticism
exploded instantaneously on ST, CNA and Yahoo! News.
The nation was talking.
Sun Ho/ Ho Yeow Sun: Getty/Bryan Bedder
Kong Hee: Anna Yap
Suntec City: Conference Bay
Feature

A Yahoo! News’ FTP article on Sun Ho collected some

10,117 comments by a spontaneous jury of individuals
ruling overwhelmingly – almost unanimously – Solomon had a
that their enterprise was a “fraud”. 1000-strong harem
Wong Yong Sheng The first response: VFC reproduces some comments on 20 June best repre-
of healing evange- of very high main- their calling,
turning to religion lism: “May your which should
sentative of the verdict: tenance women,

I
money perish with not be a mis-
n May 2010, a single Fo-
In-fighting Christians have been you, because you and silver was dirt sion of money. 1
rum post “A nation of spoilt around for as long as the per- “Did she use the church “Very easily, you Fools of thought you could in his kingdom. Timothy warns
princesses?” received tremen- son of Christ himself. Similarly, buy the gift of God that “Some peo-
dous feedback and was enough funds to live in such a luxu- CHC have been duped!”
in the 10 000-strong forum, with money!” (Acts 8) ple, eager for money, have wan-
to spur discussion of gender- many invoked the Christian rious place in LA?” – Jesus Baby dered from the faith and pierced
based expectations. Similarly, God, whom they believed would – Wondering “Oh my god.” – Seriously The most famous biblical fig- themselves with many griefs”.
the mere investigation – and not ures, from Abraham to Solo-
allegation – of City Harvest, its
condemn these “lavish lifestyles”. “Stop misusing Jesus’ name “Are we reading the same Bi- And in 1 Peter, a commandment
The Yahoo! News commentators mon, were the Bill Gates and directed at churches and reli-
pastor and his wife provided the to preach for money!” ble? Which Version is yours? Warren Buffets of their day.
screamed till their voices were gious leaders, “Be shepherds of
perfect condition for society to virtually hoarse (pun intended). – LOL CHC house brand?” – Truth Abraham had “sheep and cat- God’s flock that is under your
air its strong unhappiness. Take for instance FATsss: “Stop tle, silver and gold, menservants care… not greedy for money,

$ $ $
lavish lifestyles Con Hee and and maidservants, and camels but eager to serve…”
The messages left online and in
Sunho!!! [sic.]” Can Christians, and donkeys.” Solomon had a 1
the Forum showed a citizen base
or people of any religious faith, 000-strong harem of very high I find no possible religious case
both fiery and fierce. At the same
be exceptionally wealthy? maintenance women, and silver against a luxury life for charity
time, their opinions betrayed
was dirt in his kingdom. leaders. The National Council
confusion about the religious The Bible says Yes. While it of Churches (NCCS), the local
foundations of the Christian discourages dishonesty, it in fact The Christian God, notably, umbrella body for Protestant
church and the social ramifica- encourages wealth. It is a myth expresses no disgust at wealth churches, says the Bible teaches
tions of moral institutions doing born of preconditioned miscon- – in fact, very often we find him Christians to exercise “good
business. ceptions that religion is uniform- (Him) to be the reason attrib- stewardship”. The two caveats,
ly against wealth. uted for these men’s immense of course, are that the money
An investigation of wealth. Jesus often used money should be legally
moral investigation Firstly, it strongly condemns in his parables as means earned and that the
financial dishonesty, especially of illustrating certain church should “not
This article examines the re- in declaring assets. Ananias and spiritual principles,
sponses of Singaporeans, who allow itself to
his wife, a couple who under- from faith to be distracted
tore the happy veneer of “regard- declared profits from selling their evangelism, to
less of race, language or religion” from its
house, were struck dead immedi- the people of his mission
in two to reveal festering stereo- ately: not for earning supernor- day. They remain
types. It also attempts to bridge mal profits in real estate, but for relevant for the
two diverging understandings: a taking the money for personal modern man.
religious one from the Christian gain and not declaring the actual
Singaporean and a secular one circumstances. Another instance The secular under-
from our society’s common man. was Simon Peter, the apostle, standing of this is that
Big Religion and Big Finance who roundly rebuked a sorcerer charities and their stewards,
seem so incompatible. Put simply, for trying to pay him for the gift including churches and their
how could a pastor’s wife live in pastors, should not detract from
Hollywood Hill in L.A.? Does it really matter?
We take a look at the Sun Ho’s L.A. mansion.

Monthly rental: $28 000 Servant quarters: Butler;

Sale price: $7m Nanny; Maid
Money: God was never against this stuff.
Area: 29 000 sqft Amenities: Swimming pool, sun- Newscom
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.
deck, 2-car garage, 9-car driveway

38 Image: Sun Ho Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 39

Stats: The New Paper
Feature
Fountain of Wealth : Suntec
City is partially owned by
City Harvest Church
Flickr/William Cho
of preaching the gospel by being
too deeply involved in business”.
These should apply to local char-
ities operating in all domains
and denominations. Naturally,
religious leaders whose religions
reject earthly wealth should act
accordingly.
Next: Understanding
society’s response
Yet this will not convince the
man-in-the-MRT, for two rea-
sons: first, Christian Singapore-
ans occupy less than a sixth of
the population (Census 2000),
and the remaining population is
unlikely to be swayed by biblical
arguments.
Another reason is supported by
a recent sociological study by
Duke University, concluding that
that religion had a “direct effect”
on perceptions of wealth (Keister
2008). To the extent that religion
does influence Singaporeans (less
than a sixth identify themselves
as non-believers), attitudes to-
wards wealth will continue to be
inescapably entrenched in reli-
gious teachings.
What might a satisfactory re-
sponse then be to a population
highly sensitive religion? Singa-
pore has accumulated distrust
for Big Charity – New Creation
Church’s (NCC) retail megacom-
plex, NKF’s Durai administra-
tion, Ren Ci’s Ming Yi, and now
City Harvest’s Pastor Kong. Each
has simmered slowly and silently
40
in social
imagi-
nation,
confined
within
neatly
fenced
OB mark-
ers, which
enforce
toler-
ance even
when our sensibilities are ruffled.
The most odious are showy
displays of wealth: NCC’s multi-
billion dollar complex provoked
strong criticism within both
Christian circles and secular
society. How can a church spend
billions building a facility only
partially dedicated to its core
religious purposes? CHC’s recent
acquisition of space in Suntec
was said to have prompted this
investigation. Shouldn’t church
be about frugal deacons, spon-
soring meals, supporting or-
phanages and daycares?
The opulence on an individual
level was bound to create a
similarly huge fuss from the
start. Descriptions
of Sun Ho’s multi- Let’s be quite
million mansion in unapologetic
L.A., complete with about this: there
“swimming pool,
is nothing wrong
a sundeck and a
two-car garage; its with the size or
driveway still has budget of a
space for another 9 mega-church.
cars”, awakened a
hurricane of disgust. The image of
“pastor’s wife” and “L.A. man-
sion” seem jarring at best, and
profane at worst.
Why “church” and
“commerce” go together
Are they wrong because they defy
social conventions? Let’s be quite
unapologetic about this: there is
nothing wrong with the size or
budget of a mega-church. Nor is
there anything sacrilegious about
a church’s business ventures, or a
pastor’s wife celebrity status – it
may be shocking, but it is not
wrong. It may be occasionally
indecent – Sun Ho’s acts are de-
scribed as racy – but it is neither
unholy nor dishonourable.
Then why do church-
es spend so much
money on real estate,
when they should be
above all the financial
“transience”? The an-
swer is simple: certain
Christian congrega-
tions are expanding,
and therefore those
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
churches simply need more
space. Donations (“offering”)
are typically fast and forth-
coming with larger popula-
tions, yet persistently rising
land prices make new loca-
tions big an expensive choice
that cannot solely be funded
by member generosity.
It is precisely because it wants
to continue its religious mis-
sion in the long run that a
church, of any size, must con-
sider its long-term financial
viability returns on investment.
Blindly insisting that churches
must not deal with seemingly
large dollar-figures is a sure path
not to religious piety or moral
righteousness, but long-term
insolvency: this would handicap
religious operations – includ-
ing paying deacons and mis-
sionaries, sponsoring meals,
and supporting orphanages and
daycares.
But huge offerings are not a
license for charities to misman-
age their finances: social con-
sensus is that accountability
should be greatest where moral
ground is highest. The NCCS
puts it wisely: investments must
receive “clear mandate” from
the senior board, be transparent,
and the final recipient should be
the church alone (or, in fact, any
charity). Abusing secular au-
thority for financial gain is legal
fraud: abuse in a church is not
just that, but religious as well.
be denied the right to religious
assembly just because of its
size? The answer is a certain
“No”: we are a secular soci-
ety, and our law rightly has no
prohibitions against the size of
a religious organisation. If the
purposes are genuinely to fit an
ever-expanding congregation,
then I say, let the churches have
it. Not doing so puts Singapore
Pastor Kong Hee: Founder of City in the serious danger of repress-
Harvest Church ing religious freedoms.
Anna Yap
What of Sun Ho, then? Her
A dishonest pastor (or any re- gyrations in her latest “Fancy
ligious leader) should be pros- Free” will continue to attract
ecuted under the full force of ridicule – she herself dislikes the
the law – but not Christ, Chris-
“pastor’s wife” association. In a
tianity, or Christians. Yet this 2002 LianHe ZaoBao interview,
is no justification for sentiment she said that her fans should see
such as those expressed by user her first and foremost as a sing-
“mr&mrs smith”: who, with er, not a “pastor, cook or CEO”.
a touch of irony, commented Local press is hardly positive,
“The Lord is really shaking this despite her still unequalled feat
church. He will of penetrating the
put an END to Should a religious Western music mar-
those who do evil ket – and the dance
in his holy place.”
organisation be
charts to boot.
The statement denied the right to That represents an
implies doom religious assembly achievement that
to a congrega- just because of its should be lauded
tion innocent size? nationwide – not
of wrongdoing. condemned, sim-
Conclusions of ply because she’s
the investigation are uncertain, a “pastor’s wife”, or ignored,
even to those privy to the intri- because we are a “conservative
cacies of the case.
Asian society”.
Religious freedoms for How a person in any capac-
a secular society ity wants to live is entirely his
or her choice. If it violates no
Should a religious organisation constitutional law or religious
41
 Feature

obligation, then there should be
neither guilt nor punishment.
Simply put, a businessman of
morality has the same right to
enjoy his or her life as a moral
businessman. Instead, the Singa-
pore we saw in discussion ex-
posed highly stereotyped mind-
sets from a nation steeped not in
sin, but age-old prejudices.
Regaining our trust
Therefore Singapore’s anger
rises entirely from an unresolved morality must continue to ensure
confusion between business and
charity. The media is partly to
dals left by some in the past have
certainly left Singaporeans with
poor taste for excessive finan-
cial splurges. A hundred-fold
increase in accountability from
charities may only result in less
than a one-fold improvement in
trust.
The Commissioner of Charities
may be empowered with greater
authority, but it is at best a ret-
roactive body, reacting to crimes
like fraud. The business of
the morality of business; other-
wise, in our social vernacular,
may only force rents up and
literally price smaller and less
financially endowed churches
out of the land market. On a
more philosophical level, it may
also impinge on the freedom of
expression. Above all, the principle
Another would be separate
business arms managing church
funding, necessitating public
that any individual or
accountability. NCC has already
done this with its Rock Produc-
tions, and placed senior church
institution is fully en-
titled to spending his/
members as its directors. This is
a step in the right direction.
Above all, the principle that

her own legally-earned

be blamed for this “celebrity” and
matter: its finger- any individual or institution in
A businessman of “commerce”,
society is fully entitled to spend-
pointing often un- will always be
morality has the ing his/her own legally-earned

money must stand.

helpfully exagger- the antonyms
ates sensitive issues. same right to enjoy of “church”. money must stand. Also, the
Yet society inde- his or her life as a What is left, freedom to religious expression,
pendently derived even if it entails churches acquir-
moral businessman. therefore, is the
its own collection modest ascen- ing and commercialising tracts of
of understandings: sion towards gaining public trust land, must be upheld in a secular
what we want to make of these and credibility. society. ❞
instances is often the prevailing
Perhaps one solution to allevi-

Also, the freedom

influence on popular opinion.
ate this matter is the URA easing
But changes in social paradigms space for religious use. Not
are organic – and can be pain- providing social organisations
fully slow. The frauds and scan- like a church space to expand
to religious expres-
sion, even if it entails
churches acquiring and
commercialising land,
must be upheld in a
Integrated CCRC megacomplex : Rock productions, the Largest of its kind : The highest floor in CCRC is the host-
secular society.
business arm of NCC, has a gross floor area of 54 000 sqm. ing venue for NCC’s weekly services. It has 5000 seats.
AEDAS Architecture AEDAS Architecture

42 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 43


Politics
Serious power
(For not too serious people)
John Choo
T
here is a fundamental assumption
in our society that during elections of
any kind, voters as a whole are less
likely to make decisions that would be det-
rimental to them in the future. Yet, there are
times when this supposition is challenged.
In the United States, an unemployed thirty-
two year old political newcomer, involuntar-
ily (but honourably) discharged from the
military last year, has been elected to be the
Democratic candidate for a South Carolina
seat in the U.S. Senate. He still lives with his
father, and is under legal action for showing
pornography to a university student. With
virtually no campaign whatsoever (no speech-
es, no rallies, no staff, no website), this man
managed to secure the nomination with a
surprising 59% of the vote, beating his rival,
former four-term state legislator Vic Rawl.
Please welcome Alvin Greene, who, as Wash-
ington Post blogger David Weigel describes,
is “the kind of opponent candidates dream
about”.
This piece of news shocked both the elector-
ate and party leaders in South Carolina. No
one expected this man to win, but more than
100,000 people voted for him to do so. So,
why did these people put the tick beside his
name? According to several residents, they
voted for him because his name was the first
on the ballot. Yes, they gave him the position
purely because of his alphabetical advantage.
This is not the only incident in South Caro-
lina where the process of democracy seem-
ingly fails to surface good representatives of
the people. Last year, South Carolina’s gover-
44
Nick Griffin : The BNP Leader No One Wanted
Getty/Ian Gavan
Mark Sanford : The Senator No One Respected
Getty/ Davis Turner
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10
Alvin Greene: The Democratic
Candidate No One Expected
Washington Post
nor Mark Sanford disappeared for six whole
days, scaring the entire state, before suddenly
turning up and confessing an affair with an
Argentine woman.
Does South Carolina prove, then, that democ-
racy does not work? No, I think not. What it
does prove, however, is that democracy must
have certain conditions for it to operate suc-
cessfully. One of them is a voter population
which is engaged, not apathetic. Only serious
voting can get serious results. Voting based on
superficial whims and fancies, as South Caro-
linians clearly showed, would not do anyone
any favours.
It must be said, though, that serious
voting cannot include protest voting. The
United Kingdom demonstrated this in 2009
when they gave the extreme right-wing Nazi-
reminiscent British National Party two seats
in the European Parliament. According to
BBC News, a voter claimed: “I wanted to use
my vote as a protest against the mainstream
parties... It was a tactic to raise awareness
about what is happening in this country.” The
problem with this line of argument is that
if everyone thought like he did during this
year’s general election, Britain would have
gone Orwellian. And if Hitler was anything
to go by, the Brits could forget about getting
their voices heard ever again.
Fortunately, in South Carolina’s case, vot-
ers have a chance to redeem themselves: two
chances, in fact. In November, the guberna-
torial elections will take place, where a new
governor will be installed by the people.
Concurrently, the Senate elections will also be
held, in which South Carolinians will hope-
fully ignore Alvin Greene, and dismiss him as
an anomaly in history and in democracy. ❞
45
 Arts

not credit”, justifying the Enlightenment man

The Pussification his actions.

Hamlet, on the other
hand, is the ‘sweet
– rational, logical, and
above all, humane – and
the primal, ‘primitive’

of Hamlet
desires tearing at Ham-
prince’, whose ‘gentle let: despair at a father’s
virtue’ was infinitely death, virulent hatred
more suited, as Henry of his usurper, and his
Hamlet and its Literary Forebears Mackenzie says, to reactionary, unreasoning
‘a life of felicity’. He anger at Ophelia and his
is a hero tasked with mother.
revenge, but is as
Goethe says, “a soul We see this in his
unfit”: a prince bur- moral disgust at his
dened with the most mother’s remarriage to
exquisite moral delica- his father’s murderer.
Crystal Ang Grammaticus. Amleth ing the stinking mire revenger, remorseless,
cies but without the Interestingly, there is
Hou Shi Hang is undoubtedly the with his hapless limbs”. brutal and capable of a
revenge hero’s hardness a close parallel in the
purer embodiment of Both finally succeed in single-minded fixation

H
and cruelty. Even as words Hamlet and Am-
amlet is litera- Bacon’s characterization exacting revenge, but upon the utter defeat
Amleth embraces his leth hurl against their
ture’s greatest of revenge as a “kind while Hamlet does so of his enemies. He is a
duty of revenge with a mothers. Amleth says of
coward to kill a of wild justice”. He is by turning Claudius’s typical hero in the Hel-
ferocious joy, Hamlet his mother: “for brute
man. His overwrought cruder in almost every own treachery against lenic mold, a successor
sinks beneath a burden beasts are naturally in-
moral scrupulousness aspect. The son of a him, Amleth’s revenge to Telemachus and Or-
which he cannot bear, cited to pair indiscrimi-
overcomes his impetus treacherously murdered mission culminates in a estes possessed of both
but cannot cast away. nately; and it would
for revenge, causing king (Horwendil) and a devastating fire which, boldness and a cruel,
He is torn between the seem that thou, like
vacillation and irreso- whoring mother, Am- as a metaphor for his sly wit, as we see from
Hellenic and the Chris- them, hast clean forgot
lution. Ironically, his leth vows to avenge his hatred and vengeance, his assiduous fashion-
tian tradition: imbued thy first husband”, and
greatness lies precisely father’s unjust slaughter, burns the castle to the ing and sharpening of
with the Christian Hamlet rages that “O
in his failure: even with Horwendil, by his uncle, ground. In a final grisly his stakes with which
injunction to “turn the God, a beast that wants
the motive and cue for Feng. Deprived of his stroke, he leaves Feng’s he will murder his
Hamlet comes upon King Claudius at prayer: Hamlet other cheek”, yet keenly discourse of reason
action, Hamlet waits, birthright to rule, he is “speared body” for the uncle and butcher the doesn’t killing his uncle because he hesitates. Act 3. desirous to emulate the would have mourned
ponders, and agonizes. forced to assume a guise townsfolk to burn and treacherous court. He Eugene Delacroix (1843)
sable cruelty of Pyrrhus, longer.” The vital differ-
Unable to carry through of idiocy to protect savage with their owns fixates on his revenge as
and to fulfill his filial ence is that Hamlet is
his vengeance, he turns, himself from his spying hands, so that they may a birthright, a just and
duty by being unaccept- trammelled by his moth-
as he always does, to uncle. Hamlet, upon dis- at least “at least wreak even necessary means
ably blood- er’s infidelity. He cannot
“[unpacking his] heart covering the eavesdrop- all [their] longing for a by which he must regain Even as Amleth embraces thirsty and sav- prevent himself from
with words”. Hamlet’s ping Polonius, merely righteous vengeance” his status and kingdom, his duty of revenge with age: to “drink thinking, and rancid
inaction makes it “a spears him through and a means to pun-
delaying play… a play Shakespeare un- a ferocious joy, Hamlet hot blood, and images of his mother’s
the arras; Feng’s spying ish the faithless and
doubtedly borrows sinks beneath a burden do such bit- ‘eruption of coarse sen-
about waiting”. advisor meets a far more disloyal: the fire which
suality’ (A C Bradley),
grisly end: “cut… into
narrative elements from
razes the castle, for which he cannot bear, but ter business
Hamlet, however, is not Amleth, but despite and the day “in the rank sweat of an
entirely original, and,
morsels, …seethed it in
these superficial similar-
example, punishes the cannot cast away. would quake enseamed bed, stewed
boiling water, and flung places where “fools are
in fact, has a literary ities, Hamlet could not to look upon”. in corruption, honeying,
through the mouth of sometimes favored and
ancestor: Amleth, the be more different from In Hamlet, and making love over
an open sewer for the backbiters preferred,
Scandinavian revenge- his literary forebear. we see the tensions the nasty sty”
swine to eat, bestrew- [and where] a lie lacks
tale chronicled by Saxo Amleth is a far better between the notion of
46 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 47
 English actor Edmund Kean Black comedy for
as Hamlet : c. 1814 children, eh?
Public Domain
Guardian.co.uk

For Amleth, his mother cal histrionics and self- tion, and devoid of the
is a side concern impor- interrogation hint at a solemn, kingly inevita-
tant only insofar as she fundamental inability to bility which we see in
represented a rebellion accept the divine right- Amleth. Characters
against the aristocratic ness of revenge, which in Hamlet yield
order by betraying the makes him “three parts to fate and
patriarch and king (DH coward” and unable to metaphysi-
Lawrence). That dealt do the deed. This, cal forces
Shakespeare and Crouch : The
with, and her repent- however, only to guide Arts
writer and a group of 10 Theatre
ance assured, he moves serves to elevate their Studies and Drama students

Mad with
on to his sole concern: him from an ar- from RI, ACJC and TJC spent
his duty to demand chetypical revenge- the 2009 March holidays with
blood-vengeance. Am- hero to a human being, British theatre-maker Tim
leth’s worldview is one uncertain and afraid. Crouch exploring the character
bounded by Nietzsche’s ac- of Malvolio, the puritanical

Malvolio
Amleth’s moral uni- steward from Shakespeare’s
aristocratic principles tions,
verse, unlike Hamleth’s, comedy, Twelfth Night.
and the chivalric code: but the sheer
has a cast of moral
morality, therefore, is randomness of the
laxity, an overtone of
seen in relation to an ensuing “casual
paganism which puts
unbending adherence to
honour and duty. He is
Amleth’s actions outside
slaughter” present
overwhelming
A Reflective Review
the realm of Christian
unconvinced by Chris- evidence for the
morality. Amleth, as the
tian slave-morality, the prevalent sense of
undisputed hero and
belief that the meek will nihilism. Hamlet
moral pillar of the play, Xiao Yi Fei the rather meagre audience. world, and we the audience,
inherit the earth; thus, seems to be a
has the singular, unques- “You think it’s funny, don’t never stopped laughing. As

T
he pursues his revenge response to the
tioned goal of revenge he man was a sight you?” A couple more cack- he so often reminded us, we
with amoral conviction. hubristic popular-
and murderous justice. to behold. With horns les. “There you are, laugh- were exactly like Sir Toby
His unthinking adher- ity of humanism
Hamlet’s moral uni- and flies spiralling ing at me, ” he continues to Belch, the profligate uncle of
ence to the old revenge upon during the Renais-
verse, on the other hand, out of his head, a turkey’s mutter under his breath, set- his beloved Countess: find-
code makes him little Hamlet, sance period, a
is underpinned by a carbuncle sprouting from ting the routine for the next ing too many perfectly seri-
more than an instru- which stark reminder
trenchant Christian his chin and decked in rag- hour or so: doing something ous things funny, breaking
ment of that justice we causes him to of how pain-
understanding of the ged, bloodied long-johns, deliberately ridiculous – too many rules and worst
wish to overtake the bemoan cruel fate even fully limited
world; metaphysical and he looked like a Teletubby making the audience laugh – of all – drinking too much.
murders of Horwendil, as he submits himself human power
supernatural forces are who had just stepped out of chiding them again – laugh- And at this point he would
while Hamlet’s emo- to the responsibility: and control is and how
real, and sometimes lit- a dungeon from the Dark scold, until he moves on to a point a condemning finger
tional instability makes “Time is out of joint, O we are ultimately pawns
erally alive. Shakespeare Ages. And oh, the ugly new subject of complaint. at a particular madam or sir
him an exquisitely cruel spite, that ever I of flippant whims of
emphasizes this in the scowl on his face couldn’t in the crowd, rousing guilty
delineated character: a chance and fate. “Let
way he introduces the was born to set it right” have said it better: I hate A play about its au- giggles from the accused. But
noble mind o’erthrown, be”, says Hamlet, “we
his “noble and most
revenge quest in Ham- The last act of Hamlet, defy augury, there is a the world; and that includes dience instead of laughing at the
let: the ghost is “a voice however, is a testament you. It was amazing how a play sanctimonious Malvolio, it
sovereign reason like special providence in
from another world, to the indiscriminate could be so positive and seemed that we were laugh-
sweet bells jangled, out the fall of a sparrow”, “That’s the kind of thing
commissioned it would brutality of revenge, a negative at the same time. ing at each other, at our very
of time and harsh”. He as he acknowledges the you like. Coming late to
appear, by heaven, messy chaos in which Malvolio never stopped own foibles and flaws, which
aspires towards the Hel- inevitability of death the theatre.” He sneered at
which demands venge- the guilty and innocent making the slightest offence were suddenly as exposed as
lenic ideal embodied by and the impotence of the late-comers scurrying
ance for a monstrous are equally caught up or misdemeanour sound like Malvolio’s buttocks in the
Telemachus and even mankind with a weary into the NAFA’s black box,
enormity”. Thus, re- in the common destruc- the most grievous sin in the privacy of the black box.
Amleth, but his rhetori- resignation. ❞ only eliciting laughs from
venge is a burden thrust
48 Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 49
Indeed, the first thing that struck
me about the play was how
much Malvolio resembled the
stereotypical law-abiding Singa-
porean. Malvolio, just like us,
lived a world defined by rules.
No littering, no spitting in public,
and definitely, no chewing gum.
What differentiated him from
the others was that he chose to
live by these rules. There has to
be someone to keep
order – a role Malvolio
had so self-sacrificially
assumed. “Pleasure
is not free; actions
have consequences”
sounded uncannily like
the no-nonsense adage
of our excellent and
pragmatic government.
Later, when asked if
he consciously infused
the not-so-subtle lo-
cal allusions into his
play, Crouch affirmed,
“Illyria, to me, is Sin-
gapore.” True enough,
bubbling beneath the
safe and clean streets
is the ever-present fear
that something would
one day go wrong (if
it hadn’t already), like
the garbage left in
the tropical heat that
would simply rot away
if not for the army of
foreign road sweepers.
Reverse stripping
In the traditional interpretations
of the play, the deterioration of
Malvolio’s physical appearance
usually corresponds to his down-
fall. Crouch cleverly inverted this
by making himself look like a
Teletubby from hell at the start,
and then gradually restoring
Malvolio’s standard costume as
he recounts his tragic tale. By the
50
end of the play, Malvolio was
dressed impeccably in his but-
ler’s suit, complete with wig, face
paint and a Hitler-esque mous-
tache. Yet his outward respect-
ability was unable to command
any strand of our respect. We
had already witnessed how that
inner beast was always threaten-
ing to burst out, literally, like
the leopard-skin underpants
The Fifth Teletubby, fresh out of hell
SingArts Festival
inside his long-johns. To play
up this internal-external strug-
gle, Crouch took especial care to
part the hole in his jumpsuit so
as to expose the raunchy lingerie
whenever his back was facing us.
Controlling the topsy-turvy ex-
ternal world seemed like an easy
task compared with controlling
his internal anarchy.
Playing with the audi-
ence
“I am not mad”, he insisted, implying that we were.
Throughout the play, Crouch
was also playing a game of
control with the audience. Some-
times, the more he tried to gain
control, the more he lost it –
slipped in and out of character so teacher had also said “no” very into a sort of non-conformism
telling us not to laugh being a
smoothly when asking for vol- loudly. My “no,” unfortunately, not just in the riotous world of
point in case. But when
unteers that you just felt you had was only audible to the people Twelfth Night, but in the real
he sternly reminded
to help the man, even if he was sitting right next to me. It was world where many contradicted
us to sit up straight
the most annoying fifty-year old a moral moment. Perhaps the their high and mighty moral
in our chairs, almost
virgin in the world. Volunteering audience played along with it principles.
everyone obeyed like
seemed like such a nice and fun precisely because they knew he
good schoolchildren. Of course, after all that abuse, it
thing to do that it didn’t matter was trying to invoke feelings of
Crouch was a clearly was only natural that Malvolio
even when Malvolio pulled out a guilt, but all the same, that kind
laying a bait when he wanted to be vindicated. That,
huge noose and asked us to assist of sadistic pleasure that one takes
told us that he was for Crouch, was the most chal-
him in his suicide. It was obvi- in mistreating a fellow human
going to retire to his lenging aspect of the play. How
ous what Crouch was driving being, that ugly side of us, shone
“private” and expected does an actor effectively pun-
at. How far would an educated, right through.
that nothing would ish the people who had paid to
civilised group of people go to
be changed when he An adequate revenge? watch him? Well, Crouch simply
torment one of their own? The
got back. Tempting as left the stage towards the end
audience’s raucous cheer and the
the empty stage was, Malvolio typified those poor without giving us a sense of
excited grins on the volunteers’
it seemed that no one souls whom the world rejected whether the play had ended or
faces as they got ready for the
had the guts to rise up and found difficult to pity, de- not, hoping to unseat us with the
kill reminded me chillingly of the
to his challenge. So it spite knowing full lack of closure. But really, I felt it
boys who celebrated
was almost revolution- well that he hadn’t wasn’t sufficient to recompense
Piggy’s execution in
ary when a young man
Lord of the Flies. Be- How far would done anything par- for all our crimes against him,
(who just happened to an educated, ticularly wrong ex- as most of the audience felt the
fore putting his head
be one of the students cept to try to do his play was thoroughly worth their
who had attended the
through the noose, civilised group job properly. Even
Malvolio asked the money.
workshop) ran on stage of people go to if we understood
audience wistfully a Although some of the audience
and started messing
few times, “Is everyone
torment one of where he was com-
up Malvolio’s neatly- ing from, we would felt that walking out straight
okay with this?” A their own? of the exit door without any
arranged clothes rack, rather compound
resounding “yes” was explanation would constitute
effectively breaking the the atrocities he
the reply. Everyone wanted to see a more climatic ending instead
invisible line that separated actor had suffered with more ruthless
Malvolio dead. of stalking backstage only af-
and audience. The character Mal- bullying than empathise or even
volio was helplessly fuming, but Well, everyone except for me. sympathise with him. In a world ter belabouring upon the effect
the actor-Malvolio, on the other “We can’t do this! Even if we where order was upside down, he wanted to achieve with his
“revenge, the relatively weak
hand, was secretly pleased – this know he’s never going to do it, to be on the right side, as Mal-
ending didn’t take away any of
was the first time someone had we shouldn’t help him or goad volio was, amounted to pasting
the inventiveness and provoca-
heeded his invitation to act out him on to it! It’s just not right!” “kick me” on one’s back – which
tive prowess from the rest from
the antithesis of his command. the silly little moral voice in me was what Crouch really did,
I, Malvolio – a light-hearted yet
protested. I later learnt that one even asking an audience member
As in all of Crouch’s work, audi- incredibly dark; a minimalist yet
of his volunteers in a previous to deliver the blow. Malvolio’s
ence interaction was key; every so intellectually saturated; and as
show actually refused outright staunch conformism – “I am
run of Malvolio was unique the first solo play I’ve watched, a
to help him commit suicide. A not mad”, he insisted, implying
because of audience reaction. He great start. ❞
that we were – became perverted
Very Fine Commentary™ July 10 51
 Society

Biodiversity: Not in the fiction section

It is ironic that while the need for environmental awareness has only been increasing in recent
years, it is the lack of just that which now plagues our society.
“Huh, you want to do biodi-
versity arh, like animals that
kind? Singapore got meh?”

ity as an entity separate ignored the former, and

Sean Yap crous, but in fact ut- from our natural envi- foregone the latter, and
Abel Ang terly impossible to claim ronment. Why then, we it is no longer just tree-
independence from our ask, is the reality of our hugging hippies who

I
t is ironic that natural environment. society so different? The push for conservation.
while the need for Our environment serves average student’s un-
environmental aware- as a natural carbon sink, The media has noticed
derstanding of our own
ness has only been in- a climate stabilizer and this too. “Conservation is
environment is cursory at
creasing in recent years, air and water purifier. in.” And perhaps that is
best, and while a genuine
it is the lack of just that Environmental degrada- another great irony. The
concern for the environ-
which now plagues our tion leads to a decrease sheer volume of media
ment may not be absent
society. in quality of life, and the attention regarding the
altogether, most lack any
economic costs involved issue is certainly stagger-
sort of real conviction
In an age of increasing ing, and in recent times,
in making up for these regarding its necessity.
urbanization and con- “environmentally friend-
shortfalls are significant
nectivity, it has become This finely tuned equi- ly” is without exaggera-
to say the least.
not only easy, but for librium was the one tion, probably the best
many, preferable, to A London-based con- thing that stood be- way to label a product,
remain cloistered within sultancy, Trucost, tween us and ecological short of “dirt cheap”.
our artificially synthe- launched an investiga- disaster, and thanks to But as with all trends,
sized comfort zones. tion into the activities of biodiversity, our environ- much of this “societal
Where man’s survival 3000 of largest public ment remains relatively change” is little more
once depended on his companies in the world, intact, even while species than a jumping onto the
These beautiful Knobbly Sea-stars (Protoreaster nodo-
attunement to nature, we and estimated that ap- Seeing our urban jungle in a different light sus) are increasingly threatened by the ripple+++ effect continue to die out at an shiny, new bandwagon
have instead fine-tuned proximately US$2.2 of industrialization alarming rate. Yet biodi- of conservation. How
our environment to suit trillion worth of envi- Projected economic if no other, our earth is of how little we truly this healthy and func- versity can only serve as many people truly feel
our modern lifestyles. We ronmental damages were losses aside, it would worth conserving. understand about the tional ecosystem that can a temporary buffer, al- a responsibility towards
have abandoned nature, incurred by these compa- be naïve to for a single intricacies of the natural allow for the provision lowing our environment their environment? How
losing our sensitivity to nies in the year of 2008 Our world is an envi-
moment assume that the world. Nature is a care- of the environmental ser- to be compromised to a many truly care?
its subtle tugs and nudg- alone. That’s almost 13 ronment more finely point, and unfortunately,
value of our environ- fully calibrated system, vices that in turn allow Genuine concern is both
es that warn and remind times Singapore’s GDP, tuned than any artificial
ment can be so easily kept balanced and func- for the continued growth we already have long developed and enhanced
us of our ultimate con- and the United King- one we could attempt to passed such a point.
quantified. Planet Earth tional by the unimagi- of the global economy, by knowledge of the sub-
nection to the great web dom’s GDP (ranked 6th create. The difficulty ex-
remains to this day, as nable complexity of the and more importantly, The crisis is happening ject, and perhaps a good
of life. in the world) would fall perienced by many zoos
far as we know, the only interactions amongst a for the very existence of now. We are long past question to ask would
just short of paying off and aquaria in recreating
In recent years it has place in the universe that myriad of living species. life itself. the age of dire warnings then be: “How well do
this debt to the environ- natural habitats, particu-
become eminently clear ment. supports living organ- people know the envi-
isms. It is the only home
larly ones conducive for And this is the case It is clear that we can no and vague long-term
that it is not only ludi- breeding, is a reflection for biodiversity. It is only longer think of human- commitments. We have ronment they live in?” A
we have. For this reason,
All images courtesy of the authors.
 Bug crossing:
A less glamorous Abbey Road

Tropical Singapore:
Trees surrounding a HDB estate

Knobbly sea stars: Protoreaster nodosus


Darwin would have been proud :
Singapore hosts a surprisingly wide
range of species.
(The Origin of Species)
Biology lecturer and na-
ture enthusiast once told
his group: “Bukit Timah
Nature Reserve has more
species of plants than the
whole of North Ameri-
ca.”
This immediately drew
an almost singular reac-
tion of shocked incre-
dulity around the room,
with only a select few
glancing at each other in
slack-jawed amazement
for an entirely different
reason.
Even if it is understand-
able that this fact may
not be particularly well
known (in spite of it
being one of the most
commonly quoted epi-
thets regarding our local
biodiversity), it is surely
indicative of just how
underappreciated our
considerable biodiversity
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: There are more
plant species found here than the entire conti-
nent of North America.
Pentaceraster mammillatus: Sean recorded the first local in-
stance of a juvenile of this species discovered on our shores
only two years ago, indicating a breeding population.
is. only 35% of our live mammals, 25 species of upon our local ecosys- complexity of our lo- empathy for its applica- portant. The passion of a
coral cover (due in no amphibians, 200 spe- tems, any further loss in cal ecosystems is far tion. The problem we friend or family member
While we have lost
small part to reclama- cies of coral covering 55 species could prove fatal in excess of the norm; face is one of the heart, will likely be the greatest
95% of our original for-
tion works and heavy sea genera and 111 reef fish to its ecological health. rainforests and coral and it is necessary for us agents of change for the
est cover, there are still
traffic), our reefs, 10 000 species in 30 families.” Furthermore, overall reefs are renowned to to not only integrate the foreseeable future.
over 840 flowering spe-
times smaller than the stability of the ecosystem be the richest habitats message of conservation
cies in the 163 hectares But it is not just num- Our current state is
famed Australian Great aside, each extinct spe- in terms of biodiversity, into our syllabus, but
of the Bukit Timah Na- bers that we have on our not entirely without jus-
Barrier Reef, still possess cies is the eradication and Singapore, due to its to instill a love for our
ture Reserve, and in fact, side. Scientists regularly tification; the age-old cry
half as many species. of millions of years of world that can only be
discover new, rare species of land scarcity continues
painstaking trial and achieved through real
within our borders, and to appear in any local
not a trifling amount of
error, an irreplaceable We stand now at a experiences and first-
environmental debate.
How many people truly them either. Within just a
artifact of natural his- great crossroads, hand discoveries.
It is an argument we use
feel a responsibility tory, some of which we
year, a Belgian entomolo-
may never be known and the stakes are School or interest-based with relish; after all, no
towards their environment? gist described 150 new
to science. Finally, for significant. public groups have tried other country of similar
How many truly care? species of forest flies in bringing interested stu- size is similarly forced
the more pragmatic,
Singapore. dents out into the field, to contend with both
their loss represents the
introducing them to our rainforests and coral
While the sheer quantity potential loss of chemi- fortuitous geography, is
natural gems, and car- reefs impeding urbaniza-
(and quality) of species cal blueprints for the home to both.
more plant species are According to Professor rying along with them a tion. “Something’s got to
is striking, perhaps it is pharmaceutical industry,
found in this one nature Tommy Koh, Chairman give” we say, and move
the lamentable state of and a reduction in water We stand now at a great message of conservation.
reserve than in the whole of the National Heritage on, living our forest-cut-
our environment, and the quality from the beloved crossroads, and the Guided walks like these
of North America, home Board , “to date, we have ting, coral-snuffing lives
devil-may-care attitude reservoirs of water-scarce stakes are significant. are a heartening first
to world-famous na- more than 2900 species The Information Age step; however, societal in relative peace. Yet
of many, that is far more Singapore.
tional parks like Yellow- of plants, 360 species may have blessed society change is a slow and ar- should we really contin-
stone, Yosemite, Sequoia so. Certainly then, we ue in our reliance on this
of birds, 270 species of with much knowledge, duous process. For now,
and Redwood. butterflies, 120 species cannot afford to allow but it has failed bring it may be the personal “Uniquely Singapore”
Due to the immense
of reptiles, 75 species of strain already placed this to continue. The with it the requisite battles that are most im- crutch? We think not. ❞
And while we retain
 ™

Chief Editor Wong Yong Sheng

Editor Yoong Ren Yan
Editor Huang Jiahui

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1st Edition
July 2010