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likened the state to a banyan tree - a large evergreen tree native to Asia - and spoke of the need to prune it so that civic participation could grow under its canopy.
"If we are insecure about our own identity, then we become uncomfortable with the strength of other people's identity."
If Singapore is defined by what we can't be, then it's not a very attractive Singapore
Unity, he added, is created not by how much each person has to retreat in order to create a common space - but by how each, by growing his heart and enlarging his mind, can create a greater overlap. One is a positive-sum game, while the other is a zero-sum game.
Where there is over-dependence on foreigners to make up for a shortfall of local Chinese writers, distortions may arise due to the lack of an indigenous Singapore perspective. There is also the worry that these institutions may be captured by China,...."You can't just depend on foreign talent...there's a danger that we lose our core. I don't see that core being replicated because the current SAP schools that we have, which end at Hwa Chong (Institution), don't provide a sufficient peak."
In the same vein, he suggests having an Islamic college in Singapore to reduce over-reliance on sending madrasah students overseas for their further studies, where they are exposed to different kinds of religious teaching depending on the country or institution.
"We should think about giving them that formative training in Singapore. Then they become Singaporean Islamic religious leaders. In a crisis, they will know how to shape the community because we are multi-ethnic, we are multi-religious," he said.
"If we don't (and) something happens and they’re from different traditions, we may lose coherence."
Qn: To what extent is reducing reliance on foreigners a realistic goal for your society? (JPJC Prelim 2021)
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