Symposiuming

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at a symposium for tertiary students, attending at the behest of my future employers and current sponsors of my university education. It was basically two days of talking about Singapore in the region, Singapore in the global economy, Singapore society, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.

Do I sound bored to you? I was, but not because I find the subject of Singapore intrinsically boring. I think it’s a fascinating study in politics, governance, development and economics that doesn’t seem to have been replicated anywhere else I can think of in modern times.

I was bored, I guess, because it just seemed like the same thing over and over again, which any Singaporean with half a brain who doesn’t live in a media vacuum would know about: the challenges facing Singapore, the need to stay competitive, the need to innovate. The same old questions from the assembled students: how free is the press, what use is political activism when nothing changes in response to it, yadda yadda yadda.

There are a couple of scattered things I want to write about, some loosely connected to the symposium, some not. But right now, I want to have lunch with Ken and go to the library. Maybe later.