"Home is Where the Heart is?"

1 March 2009

Went for the PAYM Policy Forum @ Aljunied GRC & Hougang SMC at The Art House @ The Old Parliament.

As we were walking towards the Art House, we bumped into MediaCorp Artiste Tay Ping Hui. The rest were so shy so Hock Rong and I just proceeded to have a picture with him. He is friendly and approachable.

The forum was held at the Blue Room, a very conducive setting for discussion.

The Guest-of-Honour is Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport. The topic was about the meaning of National Identity and Family Bonds in the age of globalisation. Mrs Lim started the session by her speech and then the participants discussed among ourselves on various scopes, such as Arts & Culture, National Icons, Connectivity and Foreign Workers.

I acted as the facilitator for my group which was discussing on Connectivity. Singapore's connectivity with the rest of the world has its advantages and disadvantages. How do we achieve such a balance?

My group went round a loop, starting from how we thought Singapore was too competitive and stressful, then understanding that we are proud of the Singapore Brand, and then realised without the competitiveness and the continual strive to succeed, there could be no Singapore Brand.

Eunos Youths with Mrs Lim Hwee Hua:

It rained heavily after the forum. With just 3 umbrellas (1 would later be destroyed by the strong wind), we shuttled one another to various shelters until we reached the bus stop. All of us enjoyed dinner with our Youth Staff, Edmund.