the2ndrule Issue 10
The 2ndRule
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Oct 2000 email edition
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Web edition: http://here.is/the2ndrule
Contents
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0. Editorial
1. "Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign in Full Swing [Judith H]
2. A Vision of Wealth in the New Economy [Alvin Pang]
3. Hand, foot and mouth [Koh Beng Liang]
4. The Walls Are Finished [Goliath Yoshimoto]
5. Enough about the New Economy already! [Ong Ee-ing]
6. Glide [Shannon Low]
Editorial
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Control is an illusion. Why would Kidman be kidding? No need for you to feed on the stomach juices of giant killer hornets so as to run Japanese marathon style. No need for you to hedge on the price of light sweet crude to fight the market's down plunge. No need for you to try so hard.
Someday a preacher's son may look into your eyes while on a walk behind the backyard. Someday you may get interrogated by the porn police for an innocent cross-armed upper-body internet self-portrait. Someday you might realise that God happens to be a master of sit-com scriptwriting.
So take those numbers off your handphone quick-dial. Remove that recurring item from your palmtop to do list. Stop making yourself visualise three dimensional space. Being very good at what you do does not make it any more significant. Smell the roses, and while you're at it, the hibiscuses, the orchids, and the fried tofu. There is a sunset you do not see at the end of each day, and a rainbow you do not notice at the end of each storm.
They are not unsightly.
*
We like to think of this magazine as a symbiotic organism. Hello friendly hosts. Please let us feed off your comments and writings, by sending them to us at the2ndrule@hotmail.com (our email address). Sign up on our mailing list through our website at http://here.is/the2ndrule (it's a little ugly, but so are baby marsupials). And please, help spread the word. Peace.
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2ndRule team : Koh Beng Liang, Shannon Low, Benety Goh, Russell Chan, Alfian Bin Sa'at, Ong Ee-ing, Sim Pern Yiau
Contributors : Judith H, Alvin Pang, Goliath Yoshimoto
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"Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign In Full Swing
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SINGAPORE - The "Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign, launched 4 minutes ago, is already "in full swing", said a smiling Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in a statement to the press.
For those who have not yet heard of the island-wide movement, it has been described as "a campaign to combat the modern Singaporean's materialistic, afraid-to-lose mindset, widely known as 'kiasuism'". It aims to correct this mindset and create a better, more caring, less stressed, and more tourist-friendly Singaporean. It sprung from a comment made by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew pertaining to his having been honked at - possibly by accident, by an impudent driver when traffic was being cleared for his passage. "Singaporeans need to be less afraid-to-lose," he was quoted as saying.
Being afraid to lose, or 'kiasu', has been commonly associated with the young nation's population since rapid industrialisation has resulted in a materialistic, fast-adapting generation. The quality, seen by some until the launch of the campaign as a strength, has long been embedded in the national identity. This, stressed the PM, must be rectified, and as soon as possible.
"To remain competitive in an increasingly globalized world, we have to learn to relax sometimes, sit back and smell the air fresheners," said the PM, "and of course, refrain from using the car horn insofar as it is possible."
Measures taken by the government to relay its message to the local population have taken numerous creative guises. They include plastering public area walls with stickers and banners bearing the campaign slogan, "Do Not Fear Losing, Or You Will Lose". Flyers will also be handed out to visitors to the Central Business District, and all toilets are required to display at least one such poster in a prominent place.
Cartoons depicting the disadvantages of being afraid to lose will be aired on Saturday mornings on TCS 5 and 8, as well as in schools, to edify the nation's young. The death and funeral of 'Mr. Kiasu', a comic character and epitome of 'kiasuism', from high blood pressure will feature prominently in these cartoons. The government hopes that such images will help drive home the disadvantages of 'kiasuism' at a grassroots level.
"It also reflects our attitude towards such mentalities," said PM Goh on the depiction of 'Mr. Kiasu's' death. "We only aim to help our citizens, and what better way is there to do this than to show them just what might happen to them if they continue in their materialistic ways?"
In addition to these numerous measures, a line, "and I will not be afraid to lose" will be added to the National Pledge, a first for Singapore. It is hoped that this will serve as a reminder to the thousands of school children who recite the Pledge daily not to become materialistic.
Asked about the rumored beginnings of the "Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign, PM Goh, however, denied vehemently that it had been entirely sparked off by SM Lee's statement. "That a certain neighbour of ours published their own comic books on the antics of a 'Mr. Miasu', and the widespread publicity given to 'Miasuism', a supposed answer to 'Kiasuism', was also an important factor," he stressed, declining to name the "neighbour".
It is hoped that by tomorrow morning, the "Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign will significantly change the Singaporean's mindsets and behaviour, "to make Singapore our Best Home in the twenty-first century."
- Judith H
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Gambling against your conscience.
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A Vision of Wealth in the New Economy
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"Wealth... is the means by which we fulfill our desires."
- Interview with Stan Davis & Chris Meyers,
Harvard Business School Publishing
Hence the cat's languid stretch, its bullet spring, and the puppy
eyes of the one you love, asking undue favours you know
you will resent, yet relent to. The mercenary burst
of bougainvillea, machine-gun clatter of rubber-seeds falling
to hard ground as December comes, bearing fistfuls of rain.
Consider the lilies of the field, how like your pale hunger,
the hollow in the gut that pulls you forward, the lust
to work, earn, mate, the same gravity that binds
water to sky, impels birds to song and blood, both.
Remember the electric twitch of a nerve
as skin kissed skin for the first time ever?
Every word you've wasted in trade for the half-truths
you need to get by, turning the volume down on guilt
as you come home past midnight, head bowed, rehearsing
lies, as you knock on the door. Every lapse in your wellness
diet, stolen Oreos, the prophylactic silences, each step you take
away from the home of your childhood, thirsting for road:
Nothing but riches, between the leafy congregation of trees
and the echo of a single prayer down the empty aisles, as
the legless woman outside jiggles a mug full of silver wishes,
as cars slam in unison and grumble one by one into gear. A
child's gurgle and squeal, the kind that brings parents running
for a glimpse of joy, reward, and willing to pay for it with
love. In which case we have always known this bounty, the means
to open a window and let the morning in for all it's worth.
You hoard a little every time you put aside, in sleep,
your daily dying. The doubling, and doubling again of years
of weight, of sorrow, that longing, for the one thing
you know you can never have, which keeps you alive.
In your dreams of being free, everything you've always wanted
to be, you walk smiling and whole, away
from the infinite riches of the world.
- Alvin Pang
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It's getting late
and we're still looking great
and the beat is strong...
- Girlthing
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Hand, foot and mouth
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We speak to Dr Bert Hum, a child psychologist working at a local hospital.
the2ndrule: So tell us what your daily schedule is.
Dr Hum: Well I usually start work in the morning with counselling sessions. It used to be one-on-one sessions with the parents in attendance, but the couch has given way to group sessions whereby the children interact through playing games. We also get them to do some role-play and empathy exercises. The parents aren't around when we do the group sessions, and I get to interact more closely and physically with the children.
t2r: How old are these children?
H: About 6 to 12 years old. I don't really like to have anyone older than that.
t2r: That seems really quite young to be needing psychological help.
H: You must understand that it is quite stressful to be a kid these days. Some of my cases are Ritalin kids who suffer attention deficit disorder, which may be attributed to excessive video game playing or television watching. Some of our cases are kids with strong violent tendencies, who harbour violent fantasies involving shotguns and chainsaws. We also have cases of children suffering from exam trauma, and these are mostly intelligent kids with lateral brains, forced to suppress their creativity and demoralised by excessively difficult exam questions.
t2r: Do you think society is to blame for these problems?
H: Well just take a look at the way children are portrayed in the media these days. Young actresses are extremely good at playing characters mature beyond their age. We have so many confident adolescent pop stars devoid of childish innocence, as over-sexed role models for our kids. Children preen and prance with full makeup in talent shows and beauty contests. And then there are the teenage twin leaders of God's Army... I try my best to restore some innocence to the children.
t2r: So what do you enjoy most about your job?
H: Getting to be intimate with children on a day-to-day basis. I don't treat them as children of my own, but rather playing with these kids I sometimes touch my own inner childish streak. Not that I would let them get out of control, because they usually are obedient and do what you want, with sufficient coaxing.
t2r: What problems do you face?
H: Children can make you sick in so many ways. Recently I've had to undergo treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease, having caught it from one of my clients. Both him and I are okay now, but it was hard for me during my quarantine away from the rest. Another disease I caught from them, three months ago, I was down with a severe bout of chicken pox, having not caught it myself before. I guess I'm just too intimate with children. (laughs) Well, another issue is that some parents are suspicious of the programs I run here, but it's part of the same narrow-minded mindset of society. The children love me tremendously, I touch their hearts, and that's my greatest satisfaction.
t2r: And so you would call yourself a child-lover?
H: Of course, of course.
- Koh Beng Liang
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"Waive school fees for needy kids."
- Straits Times Forum, 5/10/2000
"Nobody is entitled to free service."
- S. Dhanabalan, Chairman, Development Bank of Singapore
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The Walls Are Finished
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(inspired by the architecture of Tadao Ando)
The walls are finished.
Still, cold seeps in from everywhere.
It must come from inside of tree stems,
Automobiles and young girls' hearts.
Bare.
Like a new work, they carry only the identity
Left them by old tools.
Today this gray monument is kneeling.
When you arrive, I will be standing out front.
This will be a home to watch life in.
Its doors breathe sunlight, breathe twilight.
In its rooms we will hold each other close.
Its spaces incubate
The dream of construction --
Humanity's great outreaching for something
Concrete. I can feel the hum
Inside take me through the bends
And out to the same still air. A flight
Of stairs appears as holy ascension.
O House, sacred ground!
- Goliath Yoshimoto
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The School Pocket Money Fund will help families with financial problems to keep their children in school.
- Straits Times, 2/10/2000
"Nobody is entitled to free service."
- S. Dhanabalan, Chairman, Development Bank of Singapore
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Enough about the New Economy already!
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Everywhere I turn around, there's a headline about the New Economy. There's always someone spouting off about embracing the New Economy, espousing New Economy values, gearing up for the New Economy. We have to revamp the educational system to prepare our young for the New Economy. Our company is changing its practices to pave the way for ushering in the New Economy.
ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
Do these people even know what the NE is about? Do they have a clue?? It doesn't sound like it. Because the NE is not (just) about computers or IT or the Internet. It's not a bunch of kitschy phrases about dynamic thinking and the change to a knowledge-based economy (and c'mon, any economy which isn't knowledge-based isn't going to last very long). It's not a workplace with shorts and slippers and no ties. It's not a movement that will completely revolutionize the way we do things today (ok, that last one does have some merit).
It is not, God forbid, a new mission statement.
Not that I claim to have the definition for the NE. Far from it. Although I do like computers. But I'm betting that most of the people out there using the NE word to death don't actually understand it. This includes the media, who are trotting out the phrase like one of the Ten Commandments.
Frankly, most of the stuff being talked about as part of the NE is old stuff given a new face. Good ol' rebellion against the stuffed shirts, the soul-draining bureaucracies: the old guard impeding the way forward. It's a way to fight the good fight, to express ourselves, to show those old fogies -- who have absolutely no clue -- just what we're capable of. (I'm thinking the Sixties here now, but feel free to substitute any bohemian-style anti-establishment movement, up to and including the Norman invasion of Anglo-Saxon England. Yes, those Normans felt they kicked some barbarian butt. And showed those bloody Burgundians just what they could do when really inspired.) Of course, the rebels all turn into the establishment, but that's beside the point.
So all right, maybe the so-called Internet revolution is a little different from those others, because it has created this totally new economic arena in which a lot of the older segment of society just sort of flounder around in helplessly, but which these young Turks gleefully storm and conquer, and not so incidentally make tons and tons of money from.
Hey wait a second, wasn't that the Industrial Revolution?
That's my take on it anyway. Feel free to disagree with me. Go on, believe in the New Economy. Be an adoring neophyte of the Glorious Revolution of the Internet/IT/New Economy. Go ahead. And when the next wave comes, when Gen, I guess it'd be Z by then, comes up with their own bright new ideas that will really truly revolutionize the world, you can convert to that cult too. And the next. And the next. And the next.
Meantime, I'm gonna sit here and throw away the next paper that uses the phrase "New Economy". I guess that means I won't be reading the papers for a while. Oh well, there's always Entertainment Weekly and its issue on Gay Hollywood. And of course, the Internet.
- Ong Ee-ing
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"For this little girl to understand the plight of her mother and deprive herself by putting aside her pocket money to supplement the family budget puts most of us to shame."
- Ralph S. Lesslar, on 10-year old Farah, featured in the Straits Times' fundraising drive
"Nobody is entitled to free service."
- S. Dhanabalan, Chairman, Development Bank of Singapore
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Glide
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Jack is back. And he's learning how to glide.
Not much to it. Just step on, get up to speed, lean your body over the board, and glide. The rhythm finds itself and you realise that you don't need anything directly under you to stay upright. In fact, you're not upright. In most senses.
His best friend tells him he has no sense of danger. That sounds about right. Jack would quite happily throw himself off a cliff if there was a chance he'd survive the thrill.
It's like letting time pass over you as the ground passes under you. The world goes by faster than your state of mind, and you can see into each second just before it disappears. As if you're moving more slowly than you actually are. With that kind of time on your hands, you can just watch as everything passes you by.
Jack is still learning. He's getting better, but always learning. That's what he loves, and he hopes he doesn't have to get off anytime soon.
- Shannon Low
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At least I have the decency to be disgusted at my behaviour.
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"Do Not Be Afraid To Lose" Campaign in Full Swing (c) 2000 Judith H
A Vision of Wealth in the New Economy (c) 2000 Alvin Pang
Hand, foot and mouth (c) 2000 Koh Beng Liang
The Walls Are Finished (c) 2000 Goliath Yoshimoto
Enough about the New Economy already! (c) 2000 Ong Ee-ing
Glide (c) 2000 Shannon Low
