DB 02

Lunch with Di at a strangely empty Raffles Place eatery.



The phone buzzes, and my heart takes a leap. My gut feel is correct -- it's the FCA. The moment of truth, when I'm least prepared!



"Hello (trying not to sound too excited)"



"Hi Clarence, it's Jim. Sorry I'm calling only now. My colleague missed calling you last night. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is..."



My heart is bursting. Get on with it Jim!!!



"Congratulations, you won second place for the competition!



Fug. My heart falls. Into the deepest pit. The voice at the other end blurts congratulations but in my head, only 'Sorry, you didn't win,' swirls instead. 'And no one remembers the second place'. The rest is a blur; Congratulations, you 'win' a two month summer internship at Bloomberg (no less).... too bad you will miss the dinner, we would have liked you there but no worries, your name would have been read out.



Di says coming in behind the winner is still 'winning second' in her eyes, and that helps. Duffy says the summer at bloomberg would't serve my purpose as someone who wants to be outside doing things with my hands and I begin to feel better. Zhengs says he's proud I went so far and the detached analysis helps. Soon I realise hey, yeah, I did this thing in one night and I can get second from out of the blue... It's quite a coup!



The Dennis Bloodworth Memorial Journalism Prize 2008


Nobody ever really owns land

A feature article exploring the urgent issue of environmental management in Singapore


Just metres from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a giant gate at Tyersall Avenue guards a mysterious leaf-strewn path leading seemingly to nowhere. Clambering over it rewards the intrepid explorer with a ten minute walk along probably the longest driveway in Singapore, and the sight of Woodneuk Palace, a derelict mansion of historic intrigue.

The palatial house, once home to the Sultan of Johor, lies between hip Tanglin Village and the iconic Botanic Gardens, but remains secret behind Napier Road’s forested wall. In its prime, it out-shined most other private residences in Singapore. Reputedly stretching 60 metres long and rising 50 metres tall, it contained 420 doors and boasted a carriage porch, grand staircase and ballroom. As the bulldozers raze it for a yet-unknown development, it stands in half its former glory – as a powerful metaphor for the country’s urgent need to balance between preserving its environment and promoting economic development.

Singapore’s natural heritage is being lost everyday to development, much like half-demolished Woodneuk Palace. Governments past and present have cut down and reclaimed the island’s forests and coasts, but in the name of remarkable economic progress.

But just as how as Woodneuk Palace hides in Tyersall’s forest, many Singaporeans today tuck nature away, preferring to cosy in air-conditioned apartments and leave land management to the government. This country risks losing its identity if it ignores the nature conservation issue, said Ms Ria Tan, an expert on Singapore ecology who co-authored The Chek Jawa Guidebook.

“Singapore is in danger of becoming a giant concrete island city with straight line contours under a bubble of air-conditioning,” she explained. “How can a citizen connect with such a Singapore? The Singapore of his childhood is gone. The new Singapore is sanitary, a Disneyquese virtual reality. No different from any other modern city in the world.”

The Singapore government – famous for making Singapore a Garden City – commands legitimacy for judiciously utilising scarce land. But this small country has long been founded on squeezing maximum dollar from every plot of land. The consequence of this is frightening: In pursuit of the highest returns, can it afford to obliterate every square inch of its green spaces?

No, said Dr Leo Tan, the 1998 – 2007 chairman of the National Parks Board (NParks), a government office commissioned to promote and help protect the country’s wildlife. The government is instead re-designating more nature areas as ‘nature reserves’, he insists.

“Yes we chop down forests when we develop. But we also preserved a whole 130 hectares of Sungei Buloh and 10.5 hectares of Labrador’s rocky shore,” the recipient of the 2007 President’s Award for the Environment explained. “140 hectares in Singapore is a lot!”

Like Woodneuk Palace’s remnant resplendence, lesser-known nature areas still teem with flora and fauna. In this shopping mall-obsessed land, spaces for the soul survive, such as the rolling green fields of the residential estate in Seletar Airbase. They play an important role building in national identity, said Ms Sue Amy, a 48 year-old freelance trainer who has lived there for over two decades.

“When I came here, I began to see Singapore as it is – Singapore Island – rather than as a city,” she said. “You’ve got community, and you’ve got nature, architecture and heritage. This makes a very interesting living space.”

Studying Singapore’s natural heritage is like unravelling its history, said Dr Tan. Woodneuk Palace told splendid pre-colonial tales; Singapore’s remaining green spaces narrate similar stories.

They start as far back as 1900, when the British had already razed most of its original forests; to 2001, when thousands of Singaporeans thronged Chek Jawa, a wildlife-rich inter-tidal beach, in a desperate plea to save it from reclamation. They succeeded. These places form Singaporeans’ identity – they describe their early struggle to carve out an economy and a home from their tiny island to the current day, when higher education and affluence has enabled them to finally be able to value biodiversity in itself.

“In the early years, it was very bad because Singapore was struggling. ‘Survival, survival, survival!’ That was the mentality,” explained Dr Tan, who now acts as a advisor to NParks. “But, by the 90s, people were beginning to value recreation, leisure and nature itself.”

As Karl Marx mused, man risks alienating his own spirit if he disconnects himself from the land he lives on. The razing of their forests and reclaiming of all their coasts would sever future generations of Singaporeans from the geography of their country. With nothing endearing them to their land except maximising money, they might leave Singapore forever, said Ms Tan, who also manages the nature website wildinsgapore.com.

“How sad if Singaporeans have to escape overseas to have a natural wild experience. The bonding happens elsewhere; the family album is filled with happy moments in Malaysia, Australia, China,” she said. “Staying in Singapore is equated with the drudgery of work and school.”

Singaporeans will need to participate more actively in deciding how their land will be used because it will determine how they and their children will live life. They will need to face up to the impact of over-urbanisation – look at stressful, congested Bangkok to know why. Yet leaving too much green space underutilised would limit economic growth, lowering the quality of life.

“This is tiny Singapore, the red dot. It will always be about balancing economic development and environmental sustainability,” said Dr Tan. “But it is never about ‘you win, I lose’, or vice versa. It is more about ‘How do we arrive at a happy compromise of both getting to live in and enjoying this little, limited space?’”

What fate awaits Woodneuk Palace? This historic gem is vulnerable to be lost. How it will be rebuilt is up to the Sultan of Johor’s family – but the fate of Singapore’s green spaces is something Singaporeans themselves can control.

It needs a breaking out of the ‘follow-the-leader’ mindset to do this, said Mr Colin Lauw, the public relations manager of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. He said Singaporeans can take heart from Chek Jawa, where the government put aside its development plans for ten years to preserve what it calls a ‘gem’ and a ‘national treasure’.

“This government made an interesting u-turn at Chek Jawa. In the old days I don’t think they would have done so,” he explains. “Don’t go and be so cynical and say, the government will never listen. If you don’t speak how do you know? Just speak! Write in! As long as you are not a violent activist, they will listen.”

What balance can this tiny country strike between conservation and urbanisation? The only clear answer is the knowledge that that each and every Singaporean will need their own ‘green awakening’ to together build a future they can be proud of.

Environmentalists and some government officials – increasingly cognisant of the importance of preserving Singapore’s green spaces – play a crucial role in trying to achieve a healthy balance between ‘environment’ and ‘economy’. In making this their labour of love, they remind Singaporeans of the ancient African saying that nobody ever owns land, but that one generation merely inherits it to pass it on to the next.

The issues extend beyond environment, health and wealth. The outcome of this green awakening will tell the world whether this country can develop sustainably. It will define their very identity.