The Blue and Gold - Issue 8 - January 2010

THE BLUE AND GOLDThe student’s voice • MICA (P) 200/03/2009 Issue 8 • January 2010

Historyin the making

ALSO: The 4.5 year SMU degree • How green can SMU get? • Brand building in a global market • Norway in a nutshell • Let’s look at the next 10 years fi rst • 2009: The year the world changed?

THE BLUE AND GOLD

THE BLUE AND GOLD is a fully student-run publication of the Singapore Management University Students’ Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication should be reproduced without the prior permission of the authors concerned and The Blue and Gold. Printed by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd.

The Blue and Gold81 Victoria StreetSingapore [email protected]

Editor’s note

As SMU celebrates its 10 years of vision and inspiration, a recent email from a faculty mem-ber made me think twice.

Dear Ephraim,

It is my research term this semester, so I am not in a position to sit down and help you on your topic.

Professors of vision and inspiration? Not yet. Should research be put first over a student’s attitude to learn? Maybe not.

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, let’s not forget our mission and reason for our existence.

In this issue, we reflect on a new chapter of the SMU Students’ Association (SMUSA). The hits and misses, success and failures, and lessons that can help us move forward. We also feature a few members of the new SA Exco and find out what their plans are for the new term.

Find out what industry personnel discussed on brand building at the APEC SME Summit and Donald Tsang’s views on an acronym familiar to us — VVIP.

Anna Belle Francis, who visited SMU during a cervical cancer outreach concert in SMU, reveals to us her journey from screen to theatre. Exciting events as part of the upcoming SMU Arts Festi-val are also revealed in a special feature.

While students spent their December holidays travelling and merry making, we were working behind the scenes to meet deadlines for this issue. Well, it was worth it!

So what’s next for The Blue and Gold? Stay tuned and have a great start to the new year.

Ephraim LoyEditor-in-Chief, The Blue and [email protected]

Have we forgotten the mission and vision of SMU? What lessons can we learn from the last

10 years of our existence?

This issue of The Blue and Gold is proudly sponsored by

COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY, SMUSA

Lee Cher Hern

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Michael Ng

ACTING MANAGING DIRECTOR

Owen Tan

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ephraim Loy

ACTING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Alexandria Neo

MANAGING EDITOR

Anthony Angela

SENIOR EDITORS

Esther YeoTalisa Kaur Dhaliwal

EDITORS

Nadim Ali KapadiaTobias Yeo Zhi QiangAnkita PrasadSheena Lee

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Chloe Sng

Viewpoint4 Facebook still the ‘in’ thing?

Aashna Nasta and Ankita Prasad give their take on Facebook

6 Rental of SMU facilities to external organisations — to stay or to go?

7 Are we running out of seats?Cover Story10 History in the making

A step up to serve, to impact

12 For the little things of student lifeA chat with some key members of the

10th SMU Student’s Association

School News16 Say Nay to Jay

Senthil Sukumar zooms in on what

a group of students are up to speed

with

17 The 4.5 year SMU degreeAnthony Angela speaks to students

and finds out why they take longer

than the usual four years

18 BSM Middle East in cross-cultural exchange with Saudi scholarsNadim Ali Kapadia and Hu Nian Bo

soak in the experience

22 Reviewing the impact of the global financial crisis on Asia PacificAnthony Angela sums up the Ho Rih

Hwa — Leadership in Asia Public

Lecture Series

January 2010 • Issue 8

Contents

THE BLUE AND GOLD

28

34

32

23 How green can SMU get?Double-sided printing to be the norm in the future reports, Elvin Ong

Higher Learning24 Brand building in a global market

Nadim Ali Kapadia attends a discussion

at the APEC SME Summit and finds out

why brand building is important

26 Let’s look at the next 10 years firstChallenges abound for “comfortable”

Singaporeans, reports Owen Tan

Worldscope27 2009: the year the world changed?

Esther Yeo sums up the important

happenings in the world in 2009

Travel28 Norway in a nutshell

Linette Lim gives an insight into a very

different world

30 A potent mixture of fun with tradition and modernityTan Zhong Ming gives his take on the

exotic Middle East

Campus Arts32 Not your usual contentDigital35 Digital collaboration made easy

Lee Jun Kit checks out applications that

make life simpler

Spotlight37 Anna Belle Francis — from screen

to theatre

January 2010 THE BLUE AND GOLD 4 4

Aashna Nasta and Ankita Prasad give their take on Facebook

FaceBooK stiLL tHe ‘iN’ tHiNG?

“Hi, I’m James Lim”, “Hi, I’m Juan Lee”; “Nice to meet you, I’ll add you on Facebook!”

Rewind your past conversations with your friends and try to recollect how of-ten you’ve had this one. Facebook, which was earlier in demand to reconnect with old friends, has now become a source of making new friends. Most people or rath-er ‘Facebookers’ think it’s the ‘in thing’ to make new friends on Facebook. Ironically, these people are your ‘friends’. But all you know about them is their Name, Birthday, Relationship Status (which is generally faked) and their current mood.

Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has become the second-largest social networking site in terms of traffic flow, second only to MySpace. A survey held in 2005 declared Facebook to be the most ‘in-thing’ after the iPod. With more than 350 million users over the world, its popular-ity cannot be questioned. In Singapore alone, one in three Singaporeans are on Facebook. But, does popularity alone nec-essarily mean that it is still the ‘in’ thing?

So, what is an ‘in’ thing? Something which is in vogue? You’ll see all girls carrying sac like Jimmy Choo or Gucci bags because they were displayed at the Milan fashion week. But are you still the fashionable one around when everyone else is carrying the same bag?

An ‘in’ thing is something which is fashionable at that time, which people in-dulge in to fit in and belong. Bell-bottoms were once the ‘in’ thing. Today, they are not and low-rise and skinny jeans are the ‘in’ thing. Owning a hand phone at the time when it was launched was consid-ered to be an ‘in’ thing. Today, when every second person owns one, there is nothing ‘in’ about using one. Similarly, three or

four years ago, Facebook may have been the ‘in’ thing. But, today, it can hardly be called a fad. Undoubtedly, it has become a way of life. Facebook, with its wide range of uses and its practicality, is here to stay.

This new way of life makes the young-sters ask... “What’s wrong with Facebook? Everyone uses it and so do I.” The vice is not about being a Facebooker. What’s going wrong is that being on Facebook takes up the best part of the user’s time. Commenting on other’s photographs, publicising your current mood and taking quizzes like ‘Which celebrity suits you?’ has become more important than recon-necting with your friends.

How many times have you put your Face-book status as, “I’m gonna stop Facebook-ing!” or “I’m dead! I have to submit this tomorrow!” Isn’t it ironic that in either situation, you should actually be doing your assignments or other work, instead of announcing to the rest of the world that Facebook is your biggest distraction? Why are you spending six to eight hours on Facebook every day? Is it to reconnect

Viewpoint

So, what is an ‘in’ thing? Something which is in vogue? You’ll see all

girls carrying sac like Jimmy Choo or Gucci bags because they were displayed at the Milan fashion week. But are you still the fashionable one around when everyone else is carrying the same bag?

with old friends — which was the initial purpose of Facebook, a social networking site? Or have you lost track of time while playing Farmville, Barn Buddy, Pet Society or trying to make the most virtual money in Poker?

Facebook appeals to social animals and can be very addictive for people who have an insatiable appetite to stay connected with friends and make new acquaintanc-es. In fact, some people rarely use email or IM tools anymore in their online social communications, relying almost entirely on Facebook for email, chat, image and video sharing. This largely explains the explosive growth Facebook continues to experience and why the company reportedly invested $200 million in data centre upgrades last year to keep up with demand.

If something that attracts large numbers is considered to be an ‘in’ thing, then yes, Facebook is most definitely still the ‘in’ thing. But, in that case, one would be forced to describe drinking Coke and Pepsi or discussing the problems of climate change as ‘in’ things as well! To describe Facebook as merely an ‘in’ thing would be to undermine its value and util-ity in the lives of people today. Facebook has become a necessary evil.

Write to us if you have something interesting about school or school life you would like to share with us. Your ar-ticle should preferably be less than 1000 words. Send us an email at [email protected].


By Elvin Ong

ReNtaL oF SMU FaciLities to eXterNaL orGaNisatioNs: to staY or to Go?

For every year since 2004, SMU set record number after record number for its intake of undergraduate

students. Today, if one includes students taking Masters and PhDs in SMU, our student numbers are well over 6,000.

With limited city campus space and the burgeoning student numbers, it should come as no surprise that SMU’s facilities have come under tremendous stress.

The huge tension over increasing demand for SMU’s carpark facilities has resulted in the Office of Facilities Management (OFM) raising carpark prices across the board in a bid to control and bring down the demand in December 2009.

The booking, use and abuse of SMU’s GSRs resulted in the introduction of the dual confirmation system in the online GSR booking system in January 2009.

Ultimately, as the university grows organically in terms of curriculum reach and the ever-increasing numbers of insti-tutes that it hosts, there is a pressing need by OFM to carefully manage not only the number, but also the kinds of people us-ing SMU’s facilities.

Thus, it is deeply puzzling, to this student at least, that Leasing Business Unit (LBU) still in charge of implementing the outdated policy of renting out SMU’s seminar rooms and classrooms to exter-nal organisations, even during term time when demand for space is high.

Previously, the primary argument for such a policy was that the rental of such facilities generates revenue for the univer-sity and maximises the utility of spare facilities.

But such a policy at this rate of univer-

sity growth runs completely opposite to actions needed to alleviate the space problem in SMU and even exacerbates it.

ReasonsFirstly, as an institution whose vision is to be “internationally recognised for its world class research and distinguished teaching”, and mission is “to create and disseminate knowledge”, OFM and LBU should be focused on reserving SMU’s facilities for its primary stakeholders – namely the faculty, staff and students.

The need for space by these stakeholders trumps the demands of all other external parties and organisations, no matter how much rental revenue might be generated.

Secondly, rental of facilities to external or-ganisations brings with it a whole host of other problems and inconveniences that the policy implementers may not expect.

(1) It is well known that in between classes, demand for the use of esca-lators and lifts are high, particular-ly at the School of Economics and School of Social Sciences, where students can only use lifts to reach seminar rooms and classrooms on Level 4 and 5. It is an architectural design flaw, which unfortunately cannot be remedied. There have been instances where participants in external seminars use the lifts and thus cause inconvenience to students resulting in some students arriving late for class.

(2) Increased public presence in areas where only SMU cardholders should have access also increases the risk of theft when students leave their belongings unattended for various reasons.

(3) Security guards, whose primary job focus should be on maintaining security on the campus and regu-lating the use of rooms, now have the added task of posting up signs every day to direct participants of events hosted by external organisa-tions to the correct classrooms. It is not uncommon to see walls in school plastered with clusters of directional signs in the past few months.

(4) Come exam time when students scour the campus for quiet areas to study, SMUSA has to book and reserve rooms as a form of welfare for students to study in. It is not difficult to see why seminar rooms and classrooms are not open to student access.

(5) External organisations may be a source of public demand for the carpark spaces that faculty, staff and students so desperately need. Stopping the hosting of events by external organisations may help to ease public demand for carpark spaces.

(6) Participants take time to pack up and leave. Professors need time to set up and students need time to settle down. An actual scenario was actually encountered by this student, where an external seminar that ended at 12pm clashed with a class that was supposed to start at 12pm. The professor, who was and still is, extremely particular about timing, flew into a rage. As the class started late, learning was compro-mised.

The real debate in comparisonUltimately, putting inconveniences

Vie

wpo

int

7 THE BLUE AND GOLD January 2010 7

View

point

By Elle Lim and Sheena Lee

Are We ruNNiNG out oF seats?

aside, the debate is about whether a private, educational institution like SMU should sacrifice its mission, vision and the welfare of stakeholders in order to gain economic efficiencies in its facilities capacity.

A quick check on the Internet for rental policies of university city campuses like London School of Economics, Columbia University and New York University (NYU), found that most had facilities available for rent under extremely strict conditions.

In particular, NYU, with its prime loca-tion in New York’s Greenwich Village, specifically states on its website, “Use of the facilities is limited to University faculty, students and staff and University affiliated organisations and their guests. Non-University organisations must be sponsored by a University department or school.”

In addition, NYU’s “Guidelines for the Use of University Facilities” states: “The use of University facilities shall be limited to lawful purposes consistent with the

educational purposes of the University. The assignment of space within Univer-sity facilities shall be determined within the Guidelines by the primary function of the facility, the attendant priority in its use, and the purpose for which the space is designed and for which it is suitable.“

In conclusion, for all the reasons outlined, this student forcefully argues and propos-es that the outdated and harmful policy of renting out SMU’s seminar rooms and classrooms be completely abolished.

You rush to class in a hurry, though you’re still around 15 minutes ear-ly. No, you’re not rushing because

you’re scared of being late – you’re rush-ing because you’re afraid you might run out of seats and thus look lost, confused, and embarrassed in front of the whole class. Isn’t this scenario all too familiar? Over the years, the SMU population has been increasing, and it has been more dif-ficult for its current students to deal with school’s every day share of stress.

SMU prides in being a different “U” mainly because of the strong interaction that it encourages among students and professors. If this overcrowding situ-ation continues, and SMU is forced to restructure the classes to accommodate

the growing number of students, then it will just be like any other university. In 10 years time, we would probably see SMU’s seminar rooms evolve into lecture halls, accommodating attendance from 45 to 100, then 100-200… until it eliminates the strong classroom participation model that it currently prides itself of having altogether.

On top of this, there is yet another issue worth considering: unhealthy competi-tion. The competition for grades among students is enough on its own. We don’t need yet another reason to hate each oth-er. Having to fight for the littlest things such as getting a seat in class would just create a more unhealthy and competi-tive environment. If this continues to go

on, and a competitive nature is instilled among the students of SMU, then who knows what might happen? Is a universi-ty filled with high achievers and competi-tive individuals worth it if friendships formed are weak and temporary?

Hence, with all of these issues brought to mind, we believe that SMU should really think about its continuously growing population, and the possible effects it can bring on itself as well as on its students.

Read more student viewpoints on The Blue and Gold blog at theblueandgold.wordpress.com.

Photos courtesy of SMU Red Cross Chapter

“One year, it’s not gonna be short, but neither is it gonna be long. I urge all of you to seize the different chances to serve our community with our very best, to be the voice of the students, to be the bridge that fills the gap between students and administration.”

“Yes, sometimes, circumstances and things might not go the way we hope it would, and sometimes we might not be able to accomplish everything we want to in just one year. It’s gonna get tough, we’re gonna have our fair share of hits, and misses. But at the end of the day, we must always remember why we have come thus far.”Rachel Kok, President, 9th SMUSA Exco,in an email to students in 2009

“One year, it’s not gonna be short, but neither is it gonna be long. I urge all of you to seize the different chances to serve our community with our very best, to be the voice of the students, to be the bridge that fills the gap between students and administration.”

“Yes, sometimes, circumstances and things might not go the way we hope it would, and sometimes we might not be able to accomplish everything we want to in just one year. It’s gonna get tough, we’re gonna have our fair share of hits, and misses. But at the end of the day, we must always remember why we have come thus far.”Rachel Kok, President, 9th SMUSA Exco,in an email to students in 2009

By Ephraim Loy

A step up to serve, to impact

History in the making


Rachel Kok’s term of office can be underscored by the inspiring email messages that she sends out.

Remind her about a recent email that she sent titled “the audacit of hope” and she chuckles wryly. “It was just a typo error. My keyboard’s ‘y’ key isn’t working, so in my haste, the ‘y’ didn’t come out.” Appar-ently she had dropped something on that key and broke it. She later fixed it herself.

The 9th President of SMUSA puts duty first — from fixing thorny issues in school and communicating with stake-holders that SMUSA deals with — so much so that before this eve of Christmas Eve interview, she was still doing her rounds. Just a few hours ago, Rachel was having lunch with SMU’s Deputy Presi-dent to introduce her understudy Sophia Lo and to teach the incoming SMUSA President to handle the ropes.

In between sips of green tea latte at Starbucks at The Cathay, Rachel Kok is obviously tired as she breaks out into intermittent yawns during the interview. “I’ve been up at night doing reports and preparing for an OCIP (overseas com-munity involvement project) which I am leading next year,” she apologises.

Ask her whether any student informed her that there was an error in her email and she tells you that she received ap-preciation emails instead. She remembers one vivid email: “What I said in that email resonated with the problem that a student was facing and he actually emailed me back on the MRT and he said thank you for helping to clear up some of the things that I was thinking about. I was quite glad that I could help someone,” she says smiling.

But there are times when there is miscom-munication and SMUSA has the benefit of knowing what goes behind the scenes. And she acknowledges that students can get upset because of the lack of informa-tion and because they don’t understand the situation. That is why she has been

using emails to communicate often.

Rachel says that open communication and the constant effort to gather feedback from students and the communication of feedback to the school administration was one area that the SA did well in.

She explains: “We shared a balanced perspective with the students and the senior management as well. I guess that diplomatic stance — not overly aggres-sive — showed that we understood the different stakeholders.”

Some problems like BOSS bidding were not anticipated but could have been fore-seen. Several factors contribute to BOSS bidding problems — flaws in the system, the bidding habits of students, inflation of modules and the lack of pre-assigned modules.

But all is not lost. She adds that the system of pre-assigned modules will be back. “This was one area that the SA had pushed for. We took the issue a bit further and during one of our meetings with President Hunter, we mentioned it to him and the kind of distress it causes to students. He took action on our feedback and made some changes.”

Everyone can communicateThe key to good communication lies not in a particular person but in the team ac-cording to Rachel Kok. “I think everyone should be able to communicate to the rest of the school. I mean, you don’t have to have a designated person to do the com-munication. I believe that all of us should be able to provide an answer to a question that people ask us. It is not just one person in that Exco that does that,“ says Rachel.

She reveals that there are plans to set up the SMU merchandise store that not only builds a sense of belonging to SMU but also to further communicate with students. “It will be a focal point where students can just go in and speak to SA members who are there and ask them

questions. It doesn’t have to be a formal email — you can chat casually and through these casual chats, we can let you know what is happening.”

And this feedback that the SA gathers can be used to enact more changes.

Hot on the SA’s agenda was the recent car-park fee revision issue. Rachel reveals that the demand of usage of SMU’s carpark is from students and staff (preferential park-ing and season parking). She says that the fee revision was made while also taking into consideration the fees at carparks such as those owned by Urban Redevelop-ment Authority. And that is a reasonable price to pay for the use of SMU’s carpark. There are also other measures to mitigate this change such as the sale of day passes by Motor Inc.

One would also remember a line from one of her emails — to ask students to be change agents. And a year later, she feels that the SA had walked the talk. “We have been change agents because we did help to speed up the changes. We helped make it happen more quickly. Perhaps it might have happened eventually but we helped to speed it up so it would lessen the pain,” she says proudly.

The spirit of open communication and engagement are areas Rachel hopes the incoming Exco will continue. She also reveals that the incoming Exco has plans to communicate openly.

“Decisions that we make do have a large impact on the student population. As much as possible take the initiative to do something about it even though every-thing might seem fine and happy,” says Rachel.

And while SMUSA will usher in a third fe-male President, the second female SMUSA President says she is neither a bimbo nor a beauty without brains. “I hope you find out for yourself,” she remarks. At least we know she can fix things.

A cHat WitH some KeY memBers oF tHe 10tH SMU stuDeNt’s associatioN

For the little things of student life

By Senthil SukumarAdditional interviews by Ankita Prasad, Aashna, Nasta and Fu YingliangPhotos by Chloe Sng


By her own admission, second year business student Sophia Lo Sing Hui says that she is a people person

who is sensitive to people’s feelings. It is hardly surprising then to know that the current SMUSA President was initially gunning for the role of Welfare Secretary.

“I was initially very drawn to stuff like welfare packages and doing visible things for students. But after getting into SMUSA and before the internal elections, I got to see the problems we have in school ... and I felt driven to lead the elected team to solve these problems. So I ran for Presi-dent instead.”

One reason for her successful election into SMUSA, Sophia feels, is in her cam-paign’s platform. Instead of promising sweeping changes for SMU students, she focused on smaller issues such as improv-ing communication channels between students and the school administration. Indeed, her campaign’s slogan: “For the little things of student life” reflects a ten-dency to work from the ground up.

She also suggests that her personality may have helped her win votes. “I’m a cheery person by nature, so I wanted to make SMU a more vibrant place, and I think that helped my campaign too.”

Becoming PresidentSophia is SMUSA’s third female presi-dent, and when asked if women have an advantage in dealing with the school ad-ministration, she says, “I think as a female president, I am more sensitive to people. If a problem is raised, I will go directly to the person and talk to him/her.”

Citing her participation in dragonboat as useful experience for her new role, she says, “Dragonboating is a team sport, and there are things certain individu-als are good at. That is why I will value every member of my team. I will try to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of my Exco members to see how they can complement each other.”

As an example, she highlights the same amiable personality that allowed her to win over voters as a possible weakness when “laying down law” among the Exco, and says that her vice-president will com-pensate for this by taking the disciplinar-ian role within the Exco.

Sophia adds that the previous SMUSA President had helped in her transition to office. “She’s (Rachel) been bringing me around to meet President Hunter and the Dean of Students to show me what it feels like to be interacting with the school administration, which is something the President will have to do often.”

The student“I’m not a ‘class part’ kind of person,” Sophia reveals, “and that is something I am trying to work on.” For some students, it may be reassuring to learn that even the new President has to grapple with this much loved/hated aspect of our academic system. “In terms of project work, I am always very close with my project mates. I actually value team work a lot.”

Sophia asserts that grades are not everything. She spends more energy on her passions such as dragonboating and volunteer work, which she admits, is a delicate balancing act.

“In June, instead of going for an intern-ship, I really wanted to excel in dragon-boat. People may think that it is crazy spending the summer to train; but this year, the girls won our first ever medal at

“She’s (Rachel) been bringing me around to meet President Hunter

and the Dean of Students to show me what it feels like to be interacting with the school administration...”

a competition organised by the Singapore Dragon Boat Association, and that was an achievement for me.”

Sophia acknowledges that she is not a perfect student, but she reaffirms her drive to constant improvement, especially now that she is President. “Being the President, it’s like being a role model to students; and I cannot let anything affect my classroom performance. Little things like not handing in a part well for a group project will affect how people view me as president.” But ultimately, Sophia says that, “I really enjoy SMU life a lot.”

The road aheadThe increase in the school’s parking fees is one issue that has been brought over to the new Exco’s agenda. As a student herself, Sophia personally feels that stu-dents and faculty members should have lower rates than members of the public. However, she admits that students are not the sole stakeholders in this issue, and that due consideration must be offered to the other stakeholders.

The incoming SMUSA President also re-veals plans to utilise online services such as Facebook and Twitter to enable closer communication with students. “On Face-book, students have come up with groups to complain about school issues. So we are looking into launching a Facebook group to address these issues directly.”

Ultimately, Sophia’s aspiration for the 10th SMUSA Exco is that of approach-ability. She has pledged to work hard to “allow students to really be able to find us, reach us, and talk to us.” This goal is reflected in the new Exco’s vision state-ment; and as SMU celebrates its 10th an-niversary, one wonders what milestones Sophia will undertake, and how the new SMUSA Exco will shape this hallmark year.


Tell us a little about yourselfI am an international student and I have been in Singapore since Junior College. My hobbies are reading, talking to people and sports. I seek a balance for everything in life.

What distinguishes you as a leader?I think it is my strong sense of commitment and initiative. I like to think that I probe others in possible directions and help them make the best of their abilities and resources.

What made you want to join SMUSA?As far back as primary school, I’ve always been very involved in student life (can’t imagine what school would be like with-out it), and university is really the last time you can participate in student life whilst calling yourself a full fledge student. Although I’ve never fancied the campaigning process of elec-tions, this time, I took it as a test of courage. And thanks to the support of friends, mentors, and family, here I am.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced during the elections?The attention from people around took me a while to get used to. I also had to accept that wanting to serve in SMUSA would come with all the publicity that campaigns will bring. My gratitude goes out to friends who pushed me along, by maintaining that sense of urgency and purpose to ramp up my campaign.

What would you do if you found out that one of your Exco members has not been performing up to standards (i.e. missing meetings and not carrying out his/her tasks well)? Before any judgement takes place, the matter should be com-municated across the Exco. Then when it comes to evaluation, it’ll depend on the circumstances surrounding the disparity in the person’s performance. We also have in mind preventive measures. For example, strict fines for those who are late for meetings. Also, we have in place a buddy system where we look after one another, to ensure that our buddies are going along well with their portfolios and are doing alright.

Tell us a little about yourselfI am currently a second year student at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business. I am an international student who has stayed in Singapore for more than eight years and I am staying in SMU hostel.

What are your roles and responsibilities as an Exco member?As the events secretary of the 10th SMUSA Exco, my role is to coordinate various university-wide events like Freshmen Teambuilding Camp, Vivace, SMUSA Awards Night, Open House and to make sure that the events run smoothly. I am also in charge of coordinating all the summer camp dates.

What distinguishes you as a leader?My leadership style focuses on being a role model in whatever tasks I am overseeing or in charge of. By being a committed and passionate member in the events that we are organising, I intend to set the benchmark and support the rest of the team like a servant.

What difference do you think you can make to SMUSA and SMU?The difference I think I can make or at least, I want to make is to increase the participation rate in various SMU student life activities among international students. I wish to change the perception that SMU student life is not happening enough and that international students are not active in student life.

What would you do if you found out that one of your Exco members has not been performing up to standards (i.e. missing meetings and not carrying out his/her tasks well)? From my experience, there is no point shooting the person down or confronting someone who has not been perform-ing. The very first thing that I would do is to find out the root of the problem, and act upon it. If it is due to the workload, I would encourage the other Exco members to help out or ask the person to recruit more people to help him/her. Whether the reason is valid or not, my approach towards the person would be more passive and consistent to help him/her per-form up to the standards.

Emile Law (Honorary General Secretary) Michael Joo (Events Secretary)


Jack Moy, the incoming SA Business Secretary cannot wait to serve the student population in his new position.

“SMUSA provides a wonderful platform to serve the student population, so I jumped at this chance given to me.”

He excitedly describes his past endeavours for the student population. For example, he was the man who secured the 500 Star hub Pfingo pillows and the AIA lucky exam pens for SMUSA’s exam welfare package last semester.

Students can also look forward to seeing more discounts that they are entitled to when the new Univantage magazine is out in January. The magazine would also include interesting ar-ticles and reviews, traditionally, the students’ favourites. This is one of the efforts taken to revitalise Univantage.

Another initiative would be a tie up with OCBC Bank. Plans are being made for students to flash the SMU-OCBC debit card in place of the student card to make shopping more conve-nient for everyone.

In addition, students can anticipate better bazaars in Week 10 of the coming term. It would be worth to mark that week in your calendar as Jack plans for merchants which will add value to the bazaar. Besides that, BIZCOM is also working towards “eliciting greater interest in (their) trademark event” — the Freshman Bash. Something for the freshmen and the seniors to enjoy!

“We are also planning better merchandise to help produce items which can identify students as stakeholders of the SMU community, with the profits from these merchandise funding even more scholarships and awards for peers,” Jack says.

Choosing Albert Einstein as someone he would emulate, Cher Hern respects the former’s philosophical acumen in addition to his academic excellence. “He exemplified his belief that morality and philosophy ought to temper our pursuits in life through his humility and compassion,” Cher Hern shares.

And compassion is something he would not hesitate to share when a fellow team member falls short of expectations. The communications secretary also credits the previous Exco for making substantial efforts in trying to improve communica-tions between students and the administration. He aims to work to enhance “varsity-wide communications” with the foundation laid by his predecessors.

Just like any form of communication, two way inputs are needed. Therefore, the student body has a part to play in facili-tating better communication with the SA. “We sincerely feel that as part of the student body, the only way we can proceed meaningfully is when we have a concrete picture of what the general student populace wants, and how they want it to be achieved,” Cher Hern says.

Thus, the new Exco would also concentrate on providing convenient avenues for students to provide feedback and band together to tackle issues. Transparency would also be ensured by communicating the resultant feedback openly to the stu-dent body.

When unpopular decisions are made by the school adminis-tration, dialogues are particularly important as it is crucial for the students to learn the rationale behind these decisions. Stu-dents also need to process the reasons and give their feedback.

“Students need to band together in a concerted effort to delib-erate over such issues to derive responsible feedback, and to present them as a united front. This would undoubtedly help to further our cause,” Cher Hern adds.

Jack Moy (Business Secretary)Lee Cher Hern (Communications Secretary)


Senthil Sukumar zooms in on what a group of students are up to speed with

SaY NaY to JaY

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As far as Leadership and Teambuild-ing (LTB) projects go, the ‘Say Nay to Jay’ campaign is not your run-

of-the-mill community service project. Aimed at raising public awareness about the perils of jaywalking, the project also collated feedback on the reasons and frequency that people jaywalk. Group member and first-year information systems student Muhamad Iskandar bin Ishak said: “Our project is trying to get the Traffic Police to kick-start an official Anti-Jaywalking Day by providing them with local statistics on jaywalking.” The group also hopes that through these surveys, they can provide more effective solutions to the problem of jaywalking.

Acknowledging that the initial planning phase for their project was fraught with challenges, Lin Ming Min, a first-year social science student said: ”We initially engaged a consulting firm to help us, but they pulled out at the last minute because we couldn’t get The Straits Times to publi-cise our campaign.”

But even without external assistance, the campaign was well executed. On execu-tion day, the group assembled in front of Ngee Ann City before lunch in pairs and politely approached passers-by. Apart from being asked to fill out survey forms, members of the public were also grimly informed of the mortality rates associated with jaywalking.

For added attention, three students from the team donned manga-themed cos-tumes, which the group had loaned from the Japanese Cultural Club. However, for the better part of the day it seemed that freebies such as bottles of water and note-pads were not enough to attract pedestri-ans let alone the colourful costumes. The group was initially disheartened by the low response rate, and were concerned

that they would be unable to hit their target of 700 surveys.

One willing respondent the group man-aged to snag was Liao Zhipei, a 22-year-old National Serviceman. “Singaporeans have adapted to the fast-paced lifestyle of Sin-gapore, and actually jaywalking is more convenient,” he said, when asked about jaywalking. When told about the $20 fine if one is caught for an illegal crossing, he commented that the small amount was not enough of a deterrent.

Permanent residents Andrew Gottschalk, a management consulting professional, and his wife, who declined to be named, was one couple who stood out from the multitudes of respondents. The couple was extremely critical of road manage-ment in Singapore, and claimed that jaywalking here was often a necessity.

“You look at all the major cities like New York, Paris, London, Berlin; they are increasing pedestrian walkways and re-ducing space for cars. But at the junction by Ion Orchard, they have more space for cars, and less space for pedestrians,” Mr Gottschalk said. The opinionated couple

made this and many other pro-pedestrian arguments for nearly 20 minutes.

As the campaign approached evening, the number of pedestrians had increased substantially. The campaigners had put up with high temperatures, limited rest and multiple rejections; but the final tally of more than 900 completed survey forms made it clear that the ‘Say Nay to Jay’ campaign was a success.

While they are unsure if the Traffic Police will actually do anything with the survey results, the group members are simply content with having been able to educate the public about the hazards of jaywalk-ing.

When asked what the most important take away from this project was after the campaign, first-year business student Sean Wong Yin Kwang said: “I think plan-ning is very important for any project, and it depends on what you want to achieve. You need to begin with the end in mind.”

Good advice for any project under the sun.


Anthony Angela speaks to students and fi nds out why they take longer than the usual four years

THe 4.5 Year SMU DeGree

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For many SMU students, the spell of undergraduate education comes to an end as they approach year 4 but not so for Cheong Qing Quan, Melissa Kay Soh or Tay Huiling. These students are challeng-ing the convention by taking a 4.5 year route and bringing university education to another level.

“I cannot finish in four years!” Melissa laughed when asked on the duration cho-sen. She has just finished her current term as vice-president of the SMU Sports Union and the Captain of the SMU Dragonboat Girls team. This national dragon boater also contributes extensively to student life through organising events like MR 500 whilst juggling schoolwork. Majoring in accountancy and marketing, Melissa does not feel like she will be left behind at all: “Though grades are important some-times employers really need to see what you can do,” she explained.

Such sentiments are also shared by Qing Quan, a final term double degree accountancy-business student who took a six-month leave from studying to start a financial training and trading firm. Though the venture did not turn out as anticipated, Qing Quan does not regret his actions. He said: “There isn’t much to regret. It definitely changed my life. The initiative that it instilled in me, that when you want to do things you have to be proactive. It’s different when you practice it out there.”

And practicing classroom materials are what some SMU students are taking advantage of through the internships provided on OnTrac. Huiling, a third-year business student majoring in wealth management, who is considering taking up a six month internship programme, revealed that quite a fair number of her friends are also doing the same.

“Some have already done their six-month internship and some are applying for next semester.”

However, as she is doing a 4.5 year study program, she does have fears of her own but is still optimistic.

“I might miss the hiring cycle for those really big banks and start work half a year later but I think it’s a small price to pay for greater clarity in my career,” she added.

Office of Career Services Assistant Direc-tor Lesley Tay commented that there has been an increase in the demand of intern-ships on a whole. Such would mean that there is an increase in demand not only in summer internships but those offered during the semester curriculum periods. These usually would require students to take a semester off to work full time.

“Someone that takes time off to work or intern shows he is serious about going into the particular line,” she said when asked about the impact of a six-month long internship on career prospects. The problem however could come when you are considering taking a longer period to complete school.

The Office of the Registrar said in a state-ment that it is in the students’ own inter-est to complete their studies and graduate within four years. This is because some employers have fixed dates in the year for salary increments. Delayed graduation means that the graduands may miss out on these salary increment dates. Also, some potential employers may not view too favourably on those students who took much longer to graduate compared to others in the same cohort/programme.

Apart from the possible problems one will

face when taking a longer study period, there could be other considerations facing students like friends. Melissa shared that it is a common reaction to be compared to her peers who are completing their stud-ies in three or 3.5 years.

Qing Quan also commented that when friends see him in school, they are shocked to see him because they thought that he had graduated. Such reactions are something that students may need to pre-pare themselves for if they want to pursue a longer study journey.

Considering these challenges, some will stick by their choices. For Qing Quan, he feels that there is no better time to be an entrepreneur. “If your family can handle it in terms of finances (that you will be graduating and earning income later) and if you feel that you don’t mind, then it’s a good idea.” He also explained that the pressure of getting a job and focusing on a business venture may be more difficult after graduation.

As for Melissa, she would usually tell her friends that it’s only half a semester more. “I can really make use of my whole university life. I take part in events. I run events. I feel you won’t have that chance at the undergraduate level to try out things that you always wanted to. Thus, if you feel that you have not accomplished much, there’s still time to make up for it,” she said.


Nadim Ali Kapadia and Hu Nian Bo soak in the experience

BSM MiDDLe East iN cross-cuLturaL eXcHaNGe WitH SauDi scHoLars

Last term, a group of students from the 6th and 7th Business Study Mis-sion (BSM) Middle East organised

an event to celebrate friendship with the people of the Middle East. Entitled “Cel-ebrate Mawaddah” — meaning “friend-ship” in Arabic — the BSM students hosted a group of Middle East students currently studying in Singapore as well as their families.

Said 31-year-old Alaa Khalid Sabban, whose wife and daughter are in Singapore with him: “I like Singapore because it is a safe city, especially for my wife and daughter. I did not face much difficulties settling into life in Singapore. I love Satay in Singapore. I have not had the chance to try much of the Chinese food as it is not halal.”

Like many other students from the Middle East who attended the friendship night, Khalid is a student studying Eng-lish at the British Council in Singapore.

The city’s racial mix also struck a chord with the guests.

“When I first came to Singapore, I expected that it would be something like Malaysia. However, I realised it was quite different. The unique quality of Singapore is its multi-racial society, where everyone lives in harmony. I have found the people friendly, especially the taxi drivers. I hope to study in SMU’s School of Information Systems,” said Faris Adel Barashi, 21.

The BSM course is now in its third year and five batches of students have since gone to the Middle East so far. This is the second time for SMU to host the Scholars from Saudi Arabia as part of the pro-gramme. Over 60 SMU students including 10 international students from Malaysia, Indonesia, and China, and 35 King Abdul-

lah Scholars with their families from Saudi Arabia were present. Celebrate Mawaddah provided participants with a chance to “talk to people who they usually didn’t have a chance to talk to”, commented Andrew Chia, a fourth-year accountancy student.

According to the events director, Cel-ebrate Mawaddah’s purposes were to cultivate friendship between the local students and the Middle East interna-tional students, as well as provide a time

for cultural exchange, bonding, and performance. The organisers attempted to achieve these goals through provid-ing a plethora of items. The opening video, “Uniquely Singapore”, treated the guests with a spectacular tour of the local cuisine and scenery. Next, a few SMU students from China and Saudi scholars studying locally shared their experience about Singapore. While the Chinese students appeared soft-spoken, the Saudi scholars showed a keen sense of humour, arousing waves of laughter. Prof Caroline Yeoh, the instructor of BSM Middle East, then gave a brief speech, expressing her

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“I like Singapore because it is a safe city, especially for my wife

and daughter. I did not face much difficulties settling into life in Singapore. I love Satay in Singapore. I have not had the chance to try much of the Chinese food as it is not halal.”

appreciation for the organisers and the guests, and her best wishes for the event.

In colourful aplomb, Chinese students and local students came on the stage with an array of performances. The local students recited four Saudi poems about friendship. While not many people in the audience understood the poem, most ap-preciated the enthusiasm with which the poems were recited, as well as the “exotic” tones and pitches of Saudi language. The audience also applauded to the tune of the song “Mo Li Hua” performed by the Chinese students.

The students present were struck by the differences between the local and Middle Eastern cultures. For instance, the Saudi ladies did not join the rest of the partici-pants in the dining area, but were ushered into a special dining room. Even within the East Asian region, there are visible dif-ferences between the different cultures. Luckily, Celebrate Mawaddah provided participants with an opportunity to experience these differences and broaden their horizons.

Added Mohammad Adzfar Alami, a law and business student who will be going to the Middle East in April 2010: “The religi-on we share is universal and I feel a strong attachment to them based on the common faith we share. However, culture is often influenced by the background of the society one comes from and by under-standing that, we are better able to relate and understand the Saudis.”


Recreating the wall: Final-year social science students Gan Mei-Xi and Jasmine Por pose with a section of the “Berlin Wall” that students created as part of the School of Social Science Capstone Seminar. Both Mei-Xi and Jasmine had gone on the recent Business Study Mission to Germany and shared insights on the remaining buildings that are present today after fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Apart from that modern section, the cardboard wall also featured the research questions of some 40 final-year students.Photo by Timothy Xie

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PRU0901_001_AD10_406x254FA.indd 2 12/11/09 4:47 PM


Anthony Angela sums up the Ho Rih Hwa — Leadership in Asia Public Lecture Series

RevieWiNG tHe impact oF tHe GLoBaL FiNaNciaL crsis oN Asia PaciFic

At the Ho Rih Hwa — Leadership in Asia Public Lecture Series, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald

Tsang highlighted the possible changes and challenges that Asia is facing now and in the future. Drawing compari-sons between the currency and current financial crisis, Mr Tsang pointed out the huge capital flows are once again flowing toward emerging markets. Such flows create asset bubbles that may burst and destabilise the markets as it did during the crisis of 1997.

Mr Tsang pointed out that Hong Kong had been able to maintain financial stability due to the experiences learnt in the 1997 financial ordeal. He said: “We dug deep to look at ourselves, to examine what went wrong, and to make sure we didn’t make the same mistakes again. That’s what has protected us from systemic failure during this current maelstrom.” To date, there have not been any banks that have needed bailout from the Hong Kong administration and unemployment remains manageable.

However, the challenges facing Hong Kong and other economies in Asia cannot be ignored. Climate change, the rise of the Internet and socio-political concerns such as fundamentalism, terrorism and corruption are concerns of the population and need to be addressed as much as the weaknesses in Asia’s financial architecture.

To achieve greater growth and stability, Mr Tsang highlighted four issues that needed to be addressed using the acronym VVIP — Vision, Values, Integration and Partnership.

VisionTo enhance and maintain greater prosperity and stability to meet the needs

of the population, Mr Tsang emphasised the importance of trade, jobs and the environment. “Asia will have to shift from export-led growth towards greater domestic consumption,” said Mr Tsang. As trading with western nations slow, it is likely that there would be major restructuring including changes in employment patterns which would develop in response to changes in the economy’s focus. To lead the structural changes, Mr Tsang pointed out

that private sector entrepreneurs would play a key role in increasing more climate friendly and energy efficient processes.

ValuesMr Tsang praised the practice of Asian values like putting others ahead of oneself and made clear that financial services cannot be sustained by greed and that integrity is an important value that financial markets need to adhere to. With the financial crisis, western financial markets are now beginning to be regulated and experiencing the consequence of non-transparent foreign exchange markets.

IntegrationThe current financial crisis also points

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Who would have thought that the securitised

mortgage of an over-stretched home owner in Miami would have such a huge impact on an exporter of integrated circuit boards in Singapore, or photocopiers in Japan, or lorry drivers in Hong Kong?

to a developing Asia. He said: “Asia is becoming more and more important as a region, while at the same time more integrated within itself and with the rest of the world. Who would have thought that the securitised mortgage of an over-stretched home owner in Miami would have such a huge impact on an exporter of integrated circuit boards in Singapore, or photocopiers in Japan, or lorry drivers in Hong Kong?” Mr Tsang also suggested the need for Asia to first invest its capital in itself and looked to a more financially integrated East Asia for better absorption of volatility that would reduce over-reliance of capital markets on banks and western markets. This could be initiated by first acknowledging the work of APEC and ASEAN especially efforts that made cross border trade and investment easier.

PartnershipMr Tsang also emphasised the need for strong partnerships. He also said that Hong Kong and Singapore, the region‘s two leading financial centres, should collaborate and push for more open markets and a “greater realignment of rules and regulations”.

The numbers indicate that only 9% of Asian capital stays in Asia. Thus to increase the figure, Singapore and Hong Kong can began by supporting the development of a regional infrastructure funding market or restructuring financial regulation by decreasing disparity in regulation and thus benefitting the entire region. By doing this, the effect would be that of reaping the benefits of free trade. Looking at specific examples, Mr Tsang also pointed out the partnerships between academic, research governmental and financial institutions as a way to further the integration agenda.


Double-sided printing to be the norm in the future, reports Elvin Ong

HoW GreeN caN smu Get?

Come January 2010, double-sided printing will be the default setting for all black and white printing in

SMU when students send their print jobs to the school printers. This is a change to the status quo, where students make a conscious effort to opt in for double-sided printing.

With the implementation of such a default setting, students who wish to print single-sided documents can still do so by changing the setting with the mere click of a button.

Since the start of Academic Year 2009-2010, a small group of students has been quietly working with the school administration to lobby for the implementation of such an initiative.

The informal group of six students came together as a result of the TICE ECO Camp last year which SMU students organised. SMU was the rotating chair of TICE (Tertiary Institute Council for the Environment) in 2008.

When asked why he was leading such an initiative to be implemented, Edward Lim, one of the two students that The Blue and Gold managed to speak to replied, “It just seemed like such a small thing that was right to do, yet it was not being done. Students should be pushing for it.”

Garnering supportYet for such a small initiative, the group had to go to great lengths to garner evidence and support from various stakeholders such as faculty members, SMUSA, students and the school administration.

As a first step to gauge public and student support an online petition, which garnered a total of around 400 signatures,

was even created said third-year social science student Phoebe Luo. The petition was also signed by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, when it was introduced to her during Green Week 2009, a week-long event organised by SMU Verts.

For the second step, the group sent out a faculty survey to all faculty members in SMU, polling them with a range of questions on their receptivity to the idea of double-sided printing as the default setting for SMU. 72 faculty members replied, with an overwhelming majority of 68 faculty members expressing support and four faculty members expressing reservations about the feasibility of the initiative.

Finally, the group approached the Office of Student Life (OSL), which managed to rope in the rest of the school administration to support the initiative, such as Office of Facilities Managment (OFM) and Integrated Information Technology Services. Everyone expressed support and pledged to work with Seng City to make double-sided printing the default setting.

When asked about the long and arduous journey of gathering support from various stakeholders, Phoebe replied, “We are very glad that everyone supports it. It shows that we are doing the right thing. Now we just need to market and publicise it properly to the students.”

The future?Whilst they are glad to have gotten their initiative on track, both Edward and Phoebe expressed reservations about future green initiatives in SMU.

Edward said, “Both NUS and NTU have environmental clubs with passionate

and enthusiastic students pushing for many radical initiatives such as lobbying shops to charge for giving out plastic bags on campus. NUS also has an Office of Environmental Sustainability to set goals for sustainable development for the campus. In contrast, most SMU students are seemingly not interested in issues about the environment.”

However, Alvin Wee, a fourth-year business student and President of SMU Verts, offered a different perspective.

He said, “Basically, we have lots of support from the school such as OSL who gives us adequate and extra funding, and OFM who is also actively involved in school green initiatives. Also, SMU students in general are becoming more aware and interested in environmental issues, though it doesn’t mean that they will be more actively involved. I have seen students who know lots about environmental issues, but are not involved in any environmental works on campus.”

So perhaps at the end of the day, the scenario in SMU can probably be described as this: Students know. Students understand. Students appreciate. But students do not act.

Who will be willing to step out of their comfort zone, take the mantle, rally people and make SMU a greener and better place?

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Nadim Ali Kapadia attends a discussion at the APEC SME Summit and fi nds out why brand building is important

BraND BuiLDiNG iN a GLoBaL marKet

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The voice of the consumers has steadily increased in recent years through interest groups and online

blogs. And this customer-centric mindset has to be adopted to stay ahead of the game the according to Mr See Chin Teik, Senior Vice President of Hewlett Packard Asia Pacific and Japan.

This is more so as the reminder of the effects of the current global recession looms in the minds of consumers. This, together with the stealthy change in consumption patterns and consumer taste, has jolted many companies. And only some have successfully made pre-emptive moves to higher ground.

Against the backdrop of the current unprecedented global economic crisis, building a unique brand has proven an uphill task for many small and medium sized enterprises in today’s competitive global market. The ability to cultivate a unique brand would provide organisations with a vital competitive edge over others.

How to differentiate in today’s global market? While the argument for low and effective pricing remains a strong one, Mr See mentioned that more so than before, conditions today suggest that companies need to start looking into offering an enticing customer experience to sprout ahead. The voice of consumers has steadily increased in recent years through interest groups and online blogs. Differentiating as such, must certainly involve a compelling change to a more customer-centric product. With this, companies would have to also have to rethink the way they manage the trust of their consumers in building lasting customer loyalty, especially in a society where consumers are often spoilt for choice.

“Teenagers today decide what is cool and we need to listen to them,” said Mr See. He cited the example of the HP’s “Com-puter is Personal Again” campaign that was successfully launched to target the young generation of 18-34. In designing a consumer-centric marketing commu-nication campaign, HP focused on the personal relationships individuals could have with their computers and aimed to harness the viral effect of social media in diffusing its message.

Engaging the Consumer When asked on the frequency at which companies should engage their custom-ers, Mr Rajendra Srivastava, Provost and Deputy President for Academic Affairs, Singapore Management University

emphasised the need for doing so all the time. He also mentioned that companies are beginning to realise the compelling need to revisit their supply chains. While 5% of total product volume is customis-able today, he believes this number could very well increase to 50% in the short span of the next 20 years.

Brand Building As this was one of the discussions at the APEC SME Summit held over the 11 and 12 of November, one question that sparked much discussion was how small and medium sized enterprises (with a capital ‘S’) could build a lasting brand?

The common assumption made here is that brand building requires large capital,


BraND BuiLDiNG iN a GLoBaL marKet

a luxury only large organisations could leverage upon. Mr Rajendra stressed the need for companies to first understand, somewhat intimately, the value their product holds for the customer. Develop-ing a unique value proposition is never a simple task, but if companies could spend more resources designing an inimitable proposition, brand building becomes a much easier job, and of course, a more economical one.

Viral marketing, where people act as the key medium for message transmission, has come to acquire a new and unchal-lenged position in today’s marketing communications strategy. Especially so in a more technologically-savvy global society, many companies have begun to

leverage on social networking sites to get the message out.

“Marketing is too important for the mar-keter” was a central echo Mr See made at the discussion, where he suggested that all departments in the company should play a role in brand building. He men-tioned that alliances and partnerships also play a forging role in stretching the dollar and gaining brand credibility.

First Mover or Second Fast? Another point of discussion was whether a ‘second fast’ rather than a first mover withstand the heat of competition and remain sustainable.

The panelists were unanimous in con-

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cluding that remaining a ‘second fast’ was not a sustainable move a company should consider making. Mr Christophe Bezu, Senior Vice President of Adidas Group, Hong Kong was quick to point out that first movers often had several advantages that ‘second fast’ did not. He explained that first movers hold strong leverage in transforming the game. In an environ-ment that is increasingly compressed, time value is of the essence and first mov-ers have that market advantage of moving and correcting faster that their other competitors.

Brand building does prove an important yet challenging task many enterprises are going to have to grapple in forging. Contrary to the common adage — “the more things change, the more they stay the same” — enterprises today are being urged to rethink their businesses more so than before or face the threat of having their customers meander off to greener pastures.


Challenges abound for “comfortable” Singaporeans, reports Owen TanAdditional reporting by Elvin Ong

Let’s LooK at tHe NeXt 10 Years First

What are the qualities for Singa-porean youths to succeed in the next 50 years? The answer

to that question lies in the spirit of our forefathers, according to Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

The Minister Mentor said that he believed that the youths of today would have to be “just like their grandparents” to succeed today. Most of our grandparents, he said, arrived in Singapore hoping to escape from poverty, and like migrants today, they had an unstoppable “do-or-die spirit”.

This is the spirit that we need to succeed. Today, there is “no discomfort from a HDB flat — when you leave the house, you walk all the way from the covered walkway to the bus stop”, he added. He believes that the hardworking spirit of our grandparents must live on in our youths to succeed in the future.

MM Lee gave this take in response to one of the nine questions that were selected and posed on 19 October 2009 at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum 2009. The NUS Political Association, the organisers of the forum adopted a sieving process for questions to be selected and to be posed to the Minister Mentor. As part of the online registration form, participants had to submit a question to ask. The initial pool was narrowed down to about 20 questions by the organisers, after which the moderator, Professor Tommy Koh the current Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, further chose the remaining nine questions. In the end, the questions ranged from political — the rise of India and China, to the personal — a question about his personal historical legacy.

The new world order and climate changeThe first few questions were about issues

that have been commonly cited in the media recently. Post-financial crisis, has there been a shift in financial power? Is there now a “new world order” in which the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — now ruled? Even without the crisis, MM Lee said, the world would still change. “By 2020,” MM Lee quoted a well-cited statistical projection of China’s growth, “China’s GDP will be equal to America’s.”

Back on Singapore’s stance on climate change, MM Lee noted that Singapore should be given a “fair” status and not be categorised as an Annex I country, which meant that Singapore would have an added responsibility in cutting its abso-lute carbon emissions.

“Emissions per capita is one of the highest in the world, in Singapore,” MM Lee said. “But three-quarters of our manufactur-ing are for exports.” This implied that Singapore is not really “consuming” the final product of the manufacturing process, and hence should not be unfairly adjudged to be “producing” carbon emis-sions.

While MM Lee did not believe that a binding target will be set in Copenhagen, he kept some optimism that the key players of carbon emissions — the United States, India and China — will be more aware of the urgency and seriousness of the issue. The Obama administration, he said, believes that this is a “very critical issue”, unlike his predecessors.

Inequality, conformity and spiritAnother question was about the growing income gap in Singapore. Short of having a minimum wage, what was the best way to curb this income inequality?

MM Lee responded that in every country

that has had a minimum wage imposed in the economy, employment levels have gone down. “Never mind your Gini coef-ficient (a common measure of income inequality),” he said. “If you don’t have a job, you get zero against those with jobs. So our first priority is jobs for everybody.”

A minimum wage, he further expounded, would promote inefficiency and is a method that could “hobble the entrepre-neurs” who wanted to hire workers at a lower cost. He ended by reminding the student who posed this question to read up on his economics to better understand the shortfalls of a minimum wage.

Asked if there might be additional mea-sures for recycling, including segmented waste disposal methods now used in countries like Japan, MM Lee stated that such measures might be impractical in Singapore. “I don’t think we can ever equal the Japanese,” he said. He believed that the Japanese conform more strictly to recycling instructions than the Singapor-eans do.

“Unless we can install a detector to see who throws the rubbish down the chute...,” MM Lee joked, to laughter from the audience.

50 years? What about 10?While the theme of the Ministerial Forum was about the “next 50 years”, it seemed as though the talk merely covered the short-term future of Singapore, and a lot more about current affairs than about the state itself. This demonstrates, perhaps, that Singapore is a hub that is subject to the volatility of the world, and the future, even for the visionary Minister Mentor, is not for anyone to precisely predict.

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Worldscope

Esther Yeo sums up the important happenings in the world in 2009

2009: tHe Year tHe WorLD cHaNGeD?

An initial straw poll (over a round of drinks at some Christmas party) found that the year 2009 sucked

for most people. But did it suck for the entire world?

The Great Depression? Nah. 2008 saw the world trying desperately to crawl out of the panic that almost led to a collapse of the global economy with the fall of Lehman Brothers. The collapse led to the demise of investment banking, with the Federal Reserve scrambling to put more reg-ulatory mechanisms in place to soothe ner-vous and panicky investors. Everywhere else, countries were pulled into recession (Singapore was pulled into its first reces-sion since the 1990s) and unemployment rates started to climb as global demand, no-tably from the US, started to plummet.

2009 however, was a different story. It saw a world where central banks were now worshipped, albeit with reluctance, and governments took up the duty of pumping money into the economy where private credit facilities had now practically dried up overnight. The layman was now the man in charge, bailing out beleaguered banks with the taxes they paid. As such, what was supposedly the Great Depression turned out to be ‘the Great Stabilisation’ as coined by the Economist. Countries around the world reported expansions in the second and third quarter of the year.

What had dramatically altered the finan-cial landscape was that governments now had a say in how banks were run — it paved the way for stricter government regulation over exotic financial instruments which had previously been difficult to handle as banks did not cooperate much in furnish-ing information on these instruments.

The Rise of Obama-nomicsObama’s inauguration in January was an

important historical milestone for the US. More importantly, it was one of the worst times to be made a president. He inherited an economy falling apart after Lehman and two wars which US did not seem to be able to pull out from among many other problems.

The massive US$787 billion federal stimu-lus package was a package that was by no means easy to cobble together, with the ill feelings from both parties in Congress. Obama successfully pushed through a healthcare reform bill earlier this Decem-ber despite very stiff opposition from the Republicans. Healthcare reform had been an issue plaguing nearly every President who came into office since Ted Roosevelt (some hundred years ago). The fact that Obama managed to get something togeth-er despite much shouting from both par-ties before Christmas is absolutely stun-ning.

While there is much dissent over the suc-cess of the stimulus package given how the US jobless rate has not seen much im-provement and that the healthcare reform bill is very much pared down from what Obama had originally set out with, at least he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Yes, Barack Obama is indeed here to stay, for next year at leastSome things still go sour: Bai Bai, Dubai.Dubai’s rapidly expanding city landscape could only mean one thing — Dubai had the money to be building a lovely billion-dollar structures or that it was borrowing a lot of money. Technically, it was Dubai World that was borrowing the money but Dubai World is wholly owned by the emirate, which by very little logic reasoning needed shows, that the emirate was the one borrowing the money.

And the world’s global heartbeat nearly

came to a standstill when Dubai World requested for a standstill on its debt repayments which amounted to about US$26 billion. Markets feared another Icelandic repeat where another economy was about to sink.

While markets panicked, there was still some assurance that Dubai might not sink after all, given how rich its neighbouring emirates were. In the end, Abu Dhabi stepped in the eleventh hour and provided a US$10 billion bailout, capping a year of expensive bailouts.

B is for BailoutIf anything, 2009 can possibly be remembered in one word — bailout. The US government had to step in to bail out several banks and more (in)famously, the auto industry which had practically gone bust (General Motors and Chrysler).

While Asian companies had yet to reach a stage requiring bailouts, the situation in the US was a grim reminder of the need to ensure that no company becomes “too big to fail”. Asian governments will do well to take heed of such advice in regulating companies, especially when most Asian countries’ law on corporate governance are still sorely lacking to ensure that the Asian version of an industry meltdown requiring billions of dollars to save it does not happen.

So did 2009 suck? The straw poll mentioned at the beginning of this article found that while most agreed the year sucked, life did not suck. It is surprising how tenacious the human spirit can be, and after this recap of the year 2009, it can be said that Man will still find a way to survive somehow. Here’s to a less sucky 2010!


Linette Lim gives an insight into a very diff erent world

NorWaY iN a NutsHeLL

Travel

Norway is best known for being the world’s most expensive place to live in, as well as being the

country in the world with the highest Hu-man Development Index. Like Singapore, Norway has a population of five million, a good transport, education and healthcare system and a high quality of life. How-ever, peel off this cloak of superficial simi-larities, and one will realise that Norway

is the polar opposite of Singapore.

There are no kaypohs hereNorwegians take the Kantian view of autonomy so seriously that they refrain from helping when someone is visibly distressed. Richard Sassoon, a Brazilian living in Trondheim, confirms this. “I was juggling three pieces of luggage at the (Oslo) airport and I fell downbut no one

stopped to help me. In Sao Paulo, passers-by would have stopped to helped,” he says. I asked Tina Moen, my Norwegian flatmate, to enlighten me. She explained, “Norwegians are fiercely independent, and do not expect help from others. Simi-larly, they do not want to assume that others need help, so they do not respond unless they are directly asked for help.” OKay, I am beginning to get it. People do not help because it is deemed inappropri-ate and intrusive. Now this is something I am unused to, coming from a country where unsolicited help is dished out all-too-often, from kaypoh (but occasionally well meaning) people.

Dude, where’s my (luxury) car?Andre Peretz, who teaches my Marketing Communications module at the Norwe-gian School of Management, talked about how social fear plays a part in affecting purchase decisions. The example he cited was how in Norway, especially in social democratic neighbourhoods, there are no luxury cars. This is because people are highly conscious of preserving social equality and nobody wants to be per-ceived as superior in any possible way. What strange creatures these Norwegians are! I have to admit though; it is a wel-come change from the materialist world I come from.

A different set of challengesRiding on trains (the Oslo-Bergen rail

What strange creatures these Norwegians are!

I have to admit though; it is a welcome change from the materialist world I come from.


Travel

route is highly recommended for those in-tending to come to this part of the world) and hiking through Norway’s forests, I felt solitude I had never experienced before. Unsurprisingly, Norway is five million people spread over 385.3 km2 of land, compared to Singapore’s mere 710.2 km2. My initial thought of Norway was: So little people to so much land and natu-ral resources (oil, fish, and timber, just to name a few) — no wonder it is so wealthy. I was mistaken. It would be more accurate to say: So little people to so much unten-able land and non-renewable natural resources — no wonder Norwegians have to be good stewards of this wealth. And they have done well thus far. While the Atlantic Ocean is overfished close to depletion, Norway has kept the fish popu-lations in the North Sea at healthy levels. Reflecting on their mindfulness of future sustainability, Jackie Jouret, writing for CityBike, says “Norway exists on a plane of rationality that’s hard to imagine in the profit obsessed US, where no consider-ation is greater than that for a quick buck, and the future be damned.”

A 23 SGD Big Mac mealThe cost of living and income tax in Norway is high, but that is compensated for by the high salaries, heavily subsidised education, and comprehensive social security system. Aileen Yang, a Norwe-gian of Chinese descent, tells me that the system works. “I am taxed at 35%. I don’t think that is too much at all. My university education was free, and there were many other benefits from the social welfare model. Now that I am earning money, it is my turn to support society.” I find the altruistic prioritisation of society over self too good to believe, having been brought up in a dog-eat-dog society where it is every man for himself.

Don’t scoff at the fishermenMost of the issues in Norway revolve around the rural-urban divide. The social democrats and the socialist left (which forms the majority of the population) consider themselves rural, even if they live in Oslo, and they align themselves with the fishermen and farmers. As a result, the fishermen and farmers yield

considerable political power. The Norwe-gian government’s attempts at European Union (EU) membership have been blocked twice by the people so far, by way of two referenda. Reasons for rejecting EU membership, though varied and complex, have much to do with Norway’s fisheries in the North Sea. “EU membership means that we will have to relinquish control over fishing in the North Sea. We saw what happened to Ireland and we are not prepared to go the same path as them”, says Runar Framnes, a professor at the Norwegian School of Management. More-over, EU membership will run counter to the Norwegian psyche of self-determin-ism and autonomy.

And there you have it. That’s Norway in a nutshell.

A poteNt miXture oF FuN WitH traDitioN aND moDerNitYTan Zhong Ming gives his take on the exotic Middle East

The exotic Middle East, with its artful blend of tradition and modernity, holds many attractions

that are enough to pip the curiosity of even the most seasoned of travelers let alone a first-time visitor like me.

As part of the Business Study Mission (BSM) Middle East programme, 41 students visited Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from 6 to 16 December 2009. We had fun visiting the various countries, savoring the diverse culture and generous Arabian hospitality wherever we went. Our travel itinerary also included activities to unwind after days packed with corporate visits.

Travellers to Doha should pay a visit to the Souk Waqif, one of the more traditional and bigger souks (or night market) in Qatar where you can find the best bargains in town. The traditional authenticity of the Souk has largely been preserved with its narrow pathways lined with traders smoking shisha on both aisles. Walking down the pathways, one also encounters a huge range of shops offering hand-woven silk products, traditional Qatari wear, antiques, handicrafts, and even hunted game like falcons! There is also the constant aromatic scent of dried herbs and spices which permeates the air throughout the area, providing a scintillating bazaar shopping experience.

A section of the Souk has also recently been revamped by the government to include more international offerings. Here, one can find wider walkways lined with restaurants from all over the world offering different types of cuisine, adding a cosmopolitan flavor to the Souk. In fact, we were hosted by the Red-Dotters - a group of Singaporeans based in Qatar

— at a restaurant serving Malaysian and Singaporean dishes such as satay.

Another memorable site visit was to the Atlantis Hotel, located at the opulent Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The luxury hotel, which is named after the fabled, lost city of Atlantis, contains 1,539 guest rooms. The unique feature is the fish and water decorations that can be found in the hotel. In the main lobby alone, there is a crystal tower made entirely of Swarovski crystals that mimics the birth of “Wa-ter” which alone cost US$2 million to construct. There is also the biggest man-made aquarium in the East Tower which houses 65,000 fish consisting of schools

of clown fish, eels, stingrays, piranhas and even a whale shark! Unsurprisingly, the aquarium has attracted more than its fair share of trigger-happy photographers. They can only watch in awe at the scenic display of underwater flora and fauna.

If you have US$10,000 to spare, you can check into one of the famed Poseidon Suites, a three-storey suite which was built around the aquarium so that guests can enjoy the breath-taking underwater sight while enjoying the luxury of living in extreme comfort. The suite features a

Trav

el

Due to the rain, we were unable to do the trademark SMU

jump shots in the desert and by the time the drivers had brought us to the desert campsite for dinner, many of us were already drenched.

spa, a spiral stairway, a separate room for shisha, and even an elevator if you feel lazy to take the stairs.

Another exciting attraction is the Desert Safari in Dubai where groups of us were taken on a 4x4 wheel drive in the desert. The journey was certainly bumpy and thrilling as we cruised through the vast desert and did some swirls, tight turns, drifting, gliding and long drops along the way. The trip also proved to be an entertaining experience coupled with music blasting from the hi-fi sets. This is certainly not for the faint-hearted or those with weak-stomachs!

It is said that the desert only rains four times a year, and “fortunately” for us, it rained on the evening of our Safari. Due to the rain, we were unable to do the trademark SMU jump shots in the desert and by the time the drivers had brought us to the desert campsite for dinner, many of us were already drenched.

However, the weather did not deter stop us from having fun. As part of the Desert Safari package, we went on an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) ride on a small race course in the desert. This is somewhat like go-carting except that it is greater challenge to navigate the steep and uneven sand dunes. We were pampered with a vast array of Arab food consisting of an assort-ment of aromatic meats and rice for din-ner which was served in traditional tents, with a performance by a belly dancer that topped the night’s activities.

This trip was certainly a memorable ex-perience because of the fun that peppered the various site visits and attractions, laced with the potent mixture of tradition and modernity that the Middle East has to offer.


31 THE BLUE AND GOLD January 2009

Desert Safari: The thrilling and bumpy Desert Safari is certainly not for the

faint-hearted or the weak-stomached.Photo courtesy of Alvin Koh


CampusArtsNot Your usuaL coNteNtBy Sumedha Jalote

When Sebastian Tan directed last year’s SMU Arts Festival’s musical Honk! he hoped to

have further collaborations with the university.

This year, the SMU Arts Festival 2010 will open yet again with another musical directed by the man himself. Just So, a theatre collaboration between SMU undergraduates is based on the short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The musical will take audiences on a journey of questions, as the animals in the play find out who they really are, inside and out. Lest you think it is another Animal Farm, the playing field hits a higher level.

“Just So will have a live band and it is more elaborate. And it is not all about animals anymore,” said Joshua Lim Jonathan (right), who plays the eldest magician.

“It (the musical) is a comedy and about finding one’s individuality as compared to Animal Farm which is a political play.”

Final-year social science student Ann Lek (far right) revealed that the cast had been rehearsing for almost eight hours on a daily basis since December. She played one of the leading characters last year and will take on the role of the kolokolo bird this time.

“The kolokolo bird is the clever guide for the elephant’s child who’s the other main and of course there’s the eldest magician, the creator of all the animals. The character is shrewd, cynical, while also uncertain about herself at the same time,” said Ann, who feels that the character is fun to play.

Throughout the play, the kolokolo bird goes on the journey of discovery with the

elephant’s child and finds herself in the process.

While the musical returns familiar faces such as Elaine Chan and Filomar Tariao who were the Music Director and Chore-ographer of Honk! respectively, the team gets a boost from the Office of Student Life’s Jimmy Ye who joins the team as Vocal Director.

In addition to Just So, which will fea-ture on January 22 and 23, the festi-val programme promises to deliver 20 action-packed, fun-filled, eventful days with excitement.

“This season is also longer than its predecessors — it is unprecedented for SMU’s Arts Fest to stretch over three weeks but we’ve done this to include the many clubs that wished to showcase themselves during this significant year. We do hope that the SMU community will also turn up in unprecedented num-bers to celebrate together with us the diversity and excellence of arts practices found here on SMU soil,” according to OSL Assistant Director Jimmy Ye.

The theme chosen for the upcoming festival is Content: Content. The theme is, in fact, wordplay, but based on the two different meanings of the word “con-tent”: the noun, meaning that which is contained, and the adjective, meaning satisfied with what one has or is. It sets out to “explore the concept of duality and the balance between having and happiness, substance and satisfaction, as well as engage in the soul-searching that complements our celebratory coming-of-age at ten”.


The SMU Arts Festival 2010 will focus on the differing meanings people can derive from the same word and different perceptions of the same phenomenon. This theme is reflected throughout the different events and in Gaya 2010: the Story of Sitti Nurbaya, the next theatrical event on the Festival programme. The play follows the story of a young girl as

she faces a dilemma between love and filial piety.

The musical programme of the festi-val promises to satisfy with no less

than five different musical events lined up. Tens10n, by SMU

Obligato, questions the content of lives that brings tension and seeks to find out if the absence of tension brings contentment. SMU Music Interactive Club (MIC) brings . Through songs of love and contentment through the passage of time, the story of a young couple will emerge. Next on the programme is Dis-conTENt, by SMU Guitarrisimo, which presents a continuous cycle of restless longing that we all face in life that swings us between the search for complex ideals, and disillusionment and simplicity. The cycle has been translated smoothly into music, sometimes melodic, sometimes discordant, and will reflect the restless-ness faced in life.

Dance groups mark their own milestones in this festival which celebrates the uni-versity’s 10th anniversary. SMU Caderas Latinas will present Bailamos sin Limites, which means “we dance without limits”. Their dance will represent the fact that contentment is a state of mind: many are content with living their lives within clearly demarcated boundaries while others constantly probe the edges of their limits. InDanCity’s Beyond 2010 cel-ebrates SMU’s growth and maturity with choreographies revolving around the vari-

ous pronunciations and thus interpreta-tions of “shi”, meaning “ten”. Eurhythmix, which turns 10 this year, examines their past achievements and future goals and dreams in their unique hip-hop interpretation of various music and dance forms in Intersect10n.

A variety of other events are also in the lineup. Literati is col-laborating with local literary organisation Wordforward to host this year’s Poetry Slam! Transit10n. Participants will present original poetry based on interpre-tations of the words “content” and “transi-tion”. SMU Japanese Culture Club brings to audiences KonKonTenTen, a Japanese variety show which plays on contrasting images incorporated into the programme. There are, of course, several smaller events, termed “Lunchbox Events”, which will take place in front of Koufu promis-ing presentations by dancers, musicians, acrobats, puppets and larger-than-life characters from this world and beyond! The SMU Film Fest, titled PSYCH!, fea-tures a unique documentary competition specifically catered to tertiary students, and will showcase several acclaimed films such as 18 Grams of Love, Action Boys and Afghan Stars.

SMU Arts Festival 2010 will create thought on various interpretations that artists present and it perfectly celebrates the 10th anniversary of SMU.

“This season is also longer

than its predecessors — it is

unprecedented for SMU’s Arts Fest to stretch over

three weeks but we’ve done this to include the many

clubs that wished to showcase themselves during this significant

year. We do hope that the SMU community will also turn up in unprecedented

numbers to celebrate together with us the

diversity and excellence of arts practices found here on SMU soil.” Jimmy Ye,

Assistant Director, Office of Student Life

A twist in a classic: Modern hits and a Singaporean twist was what audiences were treated to during a remake of George Orwell’s Animal Farm by SMU’ StageIt. The play, about the fate of a group of animals trying to take over a farm, received mixed reviews from the audience although ticket sales were favourable.Photos courtesy of Joan Lim


DiGitaL coLLaBoratioN maDe easYLee Jun Kit checks out applications that make life simpler

Digital

It’s the time of the school term where everyone starts getting actual work done on their projects. You start

sending drafts of reports and slides to your group mates through email, and soon after that, this annoying problem will start rearing its ugly head: “Report v1.2.doc, Slides v.1.52 - edited by Johnny.ppt” and you throw up your arms in frustration wondering which one amongst the ten other different versions on your desktop is the latest one.

Google, in an attempt to solve this problem, has created a web-based collaborative office suite named Google Docs. While it may not boast all of that rich and extensive functionality found in Microsoft Office, they have attempted to rethink what a modern office suite can accomplish with the power of the Internet. Google Docs can change your (project) life by dramatically increasing productivity and you will never have to worry about saving files ever again.

Say goodbye to “version 1.635 9:45pm”-esque file namesWith Google Docs, you do not save your files into your own computer. Instead, from the moment you create a new docu-ment and start typing away in the Docs web interface, your document is automag-ically saved on Google’s servers. You can forget about saving, because Google does it for you behind-the-scenes. If your laptop decides to stop working that day, you can simply go to another computer with an Internet connection, log back in to Google Docs, open your document and continue where you left off. When the submission deadline approaches, you can easily export it out of Google Docs as an ordinary Microsoft Office document, ready for your Professor to grade.

The killer feature of Google Docs, how-

ever, is collaboration. As your work is saved online, Google Docs allows you to add fellow collaborators — other people to edit the same document you are work-ing on, simultaneously. There is a big blue “Share” button on the upper right side of the interface where you can invite people as viewers or collaborators. Once that is done, you can watch as other people start editing the document in (barring a few seconds of lag) real-time.

Obviously, this feature goes a long way towards eliminating the ad-hoc version-ing of documents while working in teams. There will no longer be a need for someone to take disparate bits of a report or slides and compile them together. Ev-eryone will edit the same document and see what others are doing to it at the same time. Meeting notes and minutes can be taken and reviewed on the spot while the meeting is going on.

For the paranoid, Google also has thoughtfully built in the ability to look at previous revisions of a document. A couple of clicks is all it takes to revert a document back to its earlier version if someone messes it up.

Get into formWe are all familiar with this scenario. You’re in a small CCA and the members want to go for a nice outing (or bonding session, as most would call it). The person with the most initiative starts the email thread, asking everyone when they would prefer it, where they should go, and what should be the activity (flying kites at Marina Barrage is the hot favourite nowadays, I gather). Replies start flowing in, people start voting in the email thread, some Mac user messes up the Outlook-style reply indentation format, and very soon you get the annoying “your mailbox is over its size limit” message from the

friendly CIT folks.

There is a better solution to this - and it’s called Google Forms. Part of Google Spreadsheets (which itself is part of Google Docs), it allows you to create your own form and automatically fill up a spreadsheet from whatever your users enter into the form. You can use it for event registration, surveys, or the afore-mentioned CCA outing planning. You get a nice spreadsheet with the results just perfect for analysis, and your users don’t have to battle email spam.

OffisyncIt goes without saying that for some uses, Office is simply better. There’s a reason why they charge an arm and leg for the software suite. There’s no cause for con-cern, because you can now get the best of both worlds with an Office plug-in called OffiSync. Currently in active beta status, OffiSync installs itself as a tab in the Office Ribbon interface and allows you to save and open documents in Google Docs. Of course, for the Google Docs-only features like collaboration, you have to do it in the Docs interface itself. Think of this as a backup of all your Office documents onto Google Docs, and the ability to edit them in Docs whenever you need to.

Try Google Docs at http://docs.google.com (Google or Gmail account required)Try Offi Sync at http://offi sync.com

{ ask the fi nancial experts }1. I heard a lot of young people going bankrupt these days, how do I stay debt free? Budgeting?

Credit card debtStaying debt-free is quite simply a matter of lifestyle. The solution isn’t all that difficult but as with most habits, it takes effort to build. Here are some simple tips you might like to keep in mind:

BudgetThis may make me sound like your mother, but budgeting is an impor-tant life habit to build and continue throughout your life. It doesn’t matter how much money you make. You could be earning a million bucks but as long as your “budget” allows you to spend a million and one dollars, you’ll simply be in debt. Gain a good per-spective of your finances by creating a budget worksheet and more impor-tantly, stick to it.

Avoid Credit Card Debt at All CostWhat most young people don’t realize is that credit card debt is very much like a disease; the longer you ignore it, the faster it spreads and the more difficult it is to deal with. For young people in university who are on their way to getting (or have already gotten) their first credit card, it is important to start building good credit card habits today. A credit card isn’t there to give you money that you don’t have. Remember that. Spend only what you have. To me, it boils down to one simple rule — don’t buy anything on plastic that you can’t pay off at the end of the month. That applies to that latest phone you’ve been eyeing and even groceries at Carrefour.

Save, Save and then Save Some MoreGet into the habit of saving some of your money. Not all of it, just some. This might be really difficult to do at

Angeline Ng (Financial Services Manager)

Andrew Goh (Financial Services Director)

ADVERTORIAL

first but it is important to have at least three to six months’ worth of income in savings, in the event hard times hit. Most young people I meet tell me that it is impossible to save that much money, especially while they are still in school. I tell them to start some-where — even if it is just fifty dollars a month. Keep that money aside and don’t touch it! Before you know it, you’ll have three months of income stashed in your bank account.Getting good financial habits is an absolutely crucial life lesson to learn. Learn it well and you’ll be saving your-self a lot of financial worries later.

2. I currently have $10,000 in my sav-ings. Is there another way to make this $10,000 grow?

A: There are many ways to make your money grow instead of putting it in the bank to earn a measly interest, which cannot match the inflation rate. Example: investing in stocks and unit trusts. Many choose potential high returns without understanding the risks involved. Firstly, you need to ascertain the amount of risk you can take. Secondly, decide what is a reasonable return to you. Lastly, is the investment you make higher than the bank’s interest rate? Many people are tempted by the greed of doubling their investment, but often than not, they end up losing their investment if they are not careful. Therefore, to grow your $10,000, the above questions should be thought through seriously. Armed with some investment knowl-edge and sound financial advice, you are better equipped to make your $10,000 grow.

Stand to win attractive prizes. Ask your question on finance today! Email us at [email protected]

Certifi ed fi nancial advisers from Prudential answer your questions on money matters

37 THE BLUE AND GOLD January 2009

Spotlight

By Shobana Nadaraja

ANNa BeLLe FraNcis — From screeN to tHeatre

Anna Belle Francis has been a successful entertainer in many aspects of the media industry.

Not only has she been a successful career woman, she is also considered one of the coolest mothers around. Throughout this interview in a cafe at Esplanade I felt a knot in my stomach. However, Anna Belle’s friendly and bubbly nature made the interview a memorable experience for me as the formalities being broken down almost immediately. As the interview progressed, it became more of a conversa-tion between two friends having a hearty talk with coffee.

You started your career in the entertainment industry since you were seven years old. Who has been your inspirational figure?Mr R. Chandran, the founder of Act 3 Theatrics. He is like my Appa (meaning father in Tamil), Thatha (grandfather) and my mentor. He has taught me the magic of theatres in which acting has to be done instinctively. Acting is not something technical. It has to be truly felt from the heart. A person has to be passionate and sincere while acting with a mixture of fun. ‘Plays’ are meant to be fun. That’s why it is called ‘plays’. As such when things get little serious during the ‘plays’ we jokingly ask the question if ‘plays’ are meant to be serious or fun?

Do you see anyone within the media industry as you role model or mentor?Mr Sheikh Haikel, my dear husband. He is a great performer and someone who is bigger than life onstage. When he shines on stage, the letters R.E.A.L spells out. He is very genuine to his career and is dedicated into entertaining his audience. To make people laugh, he gives his 120%. Najip Ali is my godfather of funk. He has created many alternatives to being funky which is truly amazing. I like Chris Ho’s attitude to his entertainment in the music


industry. Recently I worked with Nora Samosir and Neo Swee Lin in the play ‘Bedrooms’. I learnt from them. Ivan Heng is my favourite too!

You have played several roles in leading serials and movies such as “Triple 9”, “Under One Roof”, “Growing Up” and many more. Which one has had a special place in your heart?Forever Fever! It was a local movie that I was casted in when I was 18 years old. It was an introduction to many colourful things such as the dancers, learning things both onscreen and behind the scenes. It was a film by Glen Goei. He is one of the pioneers who started the theatre industry. It was also exciting in having to dance with Adrian Pang. With a practice of two months, I had to portray myself as a great dancer in the film. Jeffrey Tan of Dance Theatre was very patient with us.

There was this scene in the movie where Adrian had to do this dance movement called the “bird’s eye”. He had to be really strong to twirl me up and hold me there. The movie was amazing with all the dance movements, long hours and the hard work that the team had put together and the 70s music. Though it may have seen cheesy, I love the 70s. That was the period where I was born.

As for serials, I love “Triple 9”. I was the new girl on the last season of the show. It was nice as I was having the attention as the girl of the force during the series. I did many exciting things like holding the gun and shooting. I was quite boyish when I was younger but in that series I had to be that girl doing these things. It was funny how I was to drive these fast cars without a driving licence for that show.

Which role do you enjoy the most in the media industry: actress, producer, dancer, singer or host? Acting is my biggest joy. It is how I entered into the industry. I get to tell stories to the audience. As we age, acting

becomes deeper through art, music and visuals. Producing is my next best.

What was your experience in being the ambassador of the recent cervical cancer movement?Cervical cancer is the only curable disease. One has to know about it early to prevent it. People have to understand that if they are sexually active when they are young, they are at greater risk in getting it. As such, they have to be very cautious of their well being. Males should also understand that their responsibilities lie beyond just making a woman pregnant. It feels good to be able to spread the word and when students message me to raise their questions regarding this.

Could you tell us more about your two chil-dren and your husband? Will your children be entering the media industry?My two children are noisy. I have a daugh-ter who is six years old and son who is five. My eldest baby is my husband who is 34 years old. My daughter has started breakdancing since the age of four! My children attend hip hop classes. Occasion-ally, my daughter becomes my co-pro-ducer where she gives me her opinions. Recently my daughter has been into fash-ion designing. My son is an exact replica of his father. He is into hip-hop. I think he has been brainwashed by his father.

Recently you were casted in the play “Bed-rooms”. Tell us about your character. How much did you relate to your character and how did you get into character? This play made me got in touch with my Peranakan roots. My grandmother was Peranakan. During ‘Eurasiana’ with Dick Lee, I represented the Eurasian Associa-tion. In this play, I got in touch with my Peranakan side. It has been a year of me learning more about my ancestry roots.

This play is one about empowering wom-en. The Peranakan culture has always been matriarchal. This play showcases the traditions and of not having men step upon women.

I got into character with the backstage help and the people around me. The Per-anakan Association were with us.

Also, I was in fact nervous. There were so many stacks of lines to memorise as the play was centred on this Peranakan girl. The first thing I did was to conquer the lines. After which I started to build my character.

How is it different from acting onscreen and in a theatre play?The development process in a theatre play is deeper during the character build-ing. There is more in depth to the work. I love acting both onscreen and in a theatre play. Acting on stage sharpens your skills and tools as an actor. You have to dedicate yourself into finding your character. Plays are three-dimensional. We have a team where it is a combination of interacting with the audience, yourself and your team.

What has been your personal motto in life that has kept you going throughout the years?My motto has been to inspire and to be inspired back as much as one can in their own little ways. I have learnt about careers and love. When you inspire someone, you get inspired right back. I have audiences that I love. They started watching me since I was young and grew up with me. When they tell me that they have been watching me since young to now when they are married with kids, I feel so happy that I have made an impres-sion on their lives. I want to touch people in small ways that I can.

What are your upcoming projects?Haikel and I and planning a fun show around October. It is like the old versus new competition of all forms of dance. For example, if Haikel is challenged to a ballet showdown, he has to do it. I might be producing a woman’s play. It will be dedicated to the beautiful roles of women with Amy Cheng.

Spo

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The Blue and Gold - Issue 8 - January 2010

Documents

vision of smu

noteas smu

smu students association

goldthe blue

group of students

year smu degreeanthony

new year

upcoming smu arts festival