Random Thoughts on Kindness

December 16, 2011 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, Guest Writer)

An article by guest writer Chua Swee Kiat. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

There were two days in November this year that were considered highly auspicious and much sought after by couples planning to get married. One was 11 November 2011 (11.11.11) and the other, 20 November 2011 (20.11.2011). The rare coincidence of the repeated numbers representing the day, month and year also intrigued and interested many others, not just those involved in matrimony.

Unlike these two “star” days, another day in November probably did not attract as much attention. Sunday, 13 November came and went without most people being aware of what it stood for or its significance. That it was World Kindness Day likely caused some Singaporeans, myself included, to scratch their heads and go: “Huh, what’s that?”

Well, at least one group of people knew better as they were direct beneficiaries. In an appropriate act of kindness, contract cleaners in Marine Parade were given the day off to commemorate World Kindness Day. As reported by the media, resident volunteers in the estate took over the cleaning for the day, led by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and his fellow members of parliament.

Elsewhere in Singapore, volunteers stationed at shopping malls and other public areas gave away thousands of yellow gerbera daisies as symbols of kindness. Some schools and tertiary institutions also marked the day with special programmes.

The day was perhaps marred for at least one volunteer who observed on blog that some people were hoarding flowers they were given and asking for more! World Kindness Day was also celebrated in countries around the world. In Sydney, friends and strangers exchanged hugs, in the UK people sent text messages expressing appreciation for acts of kindness and in Vancouver, a “Kindness” concert was the main event.

World Kindness Day has a relatively short history, it was officially inaugurated in 1998 and celebrated annually since. Behind it is an organisation called the World Kindness Movement whose vision is to “inspire individuals towards greater kindness and to connect nations to create a kinder world.”

The movement was in fact launched right here in Singapore which is a founding member together with countries like Thailand, Japan, UK and the US. Its local affiliate is the Singapore Kindness Movement which has none other than the Prime Minister as its Patron. The Singapore Movement has its roots in the long running National Courtesy Campaign which several generations of Singaporeans have grown up with.

Having discovered World Kindness Day and its vision belatedly, I was struck by the profound irony of the event this year. For a month earlier, exactly to the day, the world witnessed a horrific act of man’s inhumanity that had probably not been seen outside the ravages of a war zone.

A little girl in China’s Foshan city, injured by a hit-and-run driver and later ran over by another vehicle was ignored as she laid hapless and bleeding on a busy street. No fewer than 18 passers-by could have come to her aid but none did until an old lady collecting refuse chanced upon her. The toddler named Yue Yue unfortunately succumbed to her massive injuries and her tragic story grabbed world headlines.

Kindness obviously took a back seat to other considerations that day in Foshan city. Compassion, consideration and concern for others, charitable behaviour, however one chooses to define kindness, were sadly absent in those who turned a blind eye to the plight of little Yue Yue.

While the public debate raged on in China about the kind of society they have that could have nurtured such anti-social behaviour, my thoughts turned to Singapore and I could not help but wonder whether a “Foshan” would ever occur here. I would like to think not.

Even though Singaporeans will probably not score high on graciousness and courtesy, especially in public transport and on the roads, I am inclined to believe that collectively our heart and values are anchored in the right place and our sense of civic duty is intact.

By most accounts, Singaporeans are a charitable lot with a strong spirit of giving, be it time or money, to causes deserving of support. Whether it is a relief fund for victims of natural disasters in neighbouring countries or home-grown calls for help or even media stories of complete strangers in need of assistance, Singaporeans are known to respond whole-heartedly and generously.

But more can certainly be done to strengthen our social fibre and in this regard, two recent initiatives aimed at our young will hopefully prevent the possibility of a “Foshan” happening in the future.

One was the launch of a Character and Citizenship Education programme by the Ministry of Education that focuses on values driven and student-centric lessons. One of the desired outcomes of this new focus on character building is to have our students show care and concern for others.

The other is the launch of a Seed Kindness Fund by the Singapore Kindness Movement. It aims to encourage students and teachers to generate and run creative ideas that will promote values of care and consideration for others in and out of the classroom.

With such proactive programmes to instil the desired values in our young, Singapore can claim to continue to contribute positively to the World Kindness Movement’s vision to “inspire individuals towards greater kindness and to connect nations to create a kinder world.”

About the Writer

The writer is a former corporate executive who is now discovering a whole new world beyond the narrow confines of an office cubicle.

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Generation Y – The Millennial Generation at Work

December 27, 2010 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, Guest Writer)

An article by guest writer Leona Lim. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

“I want to work, learn and gain solid experience. I am willing to work hard but I do not want work to be my life.  I would like to be part of a firm that can offer me the best work life balance.” I hear these words quite frequently in my workplace and they are likely to be uttered by my junior colleagues.

Three years ago, I was managing a relatively small team. I noticed some “not so subtle” differences in the manner in which my younger colleagues conducted themselves in the workplace. Perhaps the leading issue I was confronted with was what appeared to be an apparent lack of commitment on their part. I would do my best to accommodate their needs but it never seemed to be sufficient. I started to wonder if I was the only one experiencing such conduct from my younger colleagues in the workplace.

I began discussing this phenomenon with my peers. I discovered that my colleagues and counterparts in other firms were experiencing similar issues. They are “Generation Y”.

What is Generation Y? Judging from the results that emerged when conducting a url.com search on the internet, a lot has been written about this already.

Some believe Gen Y-ers were born between 1980 and 1995. Other schools of thought believe they were born between 1978 and 1989.  Yet others believe they were born between 1982 and 2000. There appears to be no consensus on the exact period within which Gen Y-ers were born. What appears to be a relatively consistent comment among those who try to define a Gen Y-er is that they are likely to be in their 20s and entering the workforce as one of the fastest growing segments.

Gen Y-ers, also known as the Millennial Generation has shown some similarities with other generations, such as Gen X-ers (likely born between 1961 and 1981) and Baby Boomers (likely born between 1943 and 1960). Gen Y-ers, like the generations that came before them, have been shaped by the developments, events as well as trends of its time. The Millennials’ have a reputation for being peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through the internet, email, texting, and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. These allow users to freely share information and keep in touch. Like icing on the cake, the transfer of information takes place in nanoseconds. It is all about instant gratification. I began to see the connection between this and their need to fast track through the ranks in the workplace.

Apparently, Gen Y-ers are perceived as pampered, high performance and high maintenance individuals. They are less likely to respond to a “command and control” type management. In fact, they are likely be aggravated by the “do as I say and do it now” style of management. In my experience, such a military style of management will arouse seeds of discontent and send sparks flying. You have been forewarned.

Unlike the generations that came before them, that is, the Gen X-ers and baby boomers, they are not likely to put a high priority on career. This does not mean that they do not care about climbing the corporate ladder. Quite the contrary, in fact. Ask a Gen Y-er how long he or she has been in their current job and the answer is likely to be: not very long. They do not believe that it pays to stay in one place and are skeptical of company loyalty. They view themselves as faster and better workers. Changing jobs is viewed as the best way to move up the corporate ladder.

Expression and acceptance is viewed and will be highly important to this generation. They have high expectations of their employers too so constant feedback is expected and mere annual reviews will not suffice. Career paths therefore need to be carefully considered and mapped clearly.

Make no mistake. Family and personal lives are of key significance to them so flexibility is the theme of the day. In order to enable them to balance a budding career with family life, flexible work arrangements ranging from the option to work from home, telecommuting and working part-time feature high on the list of perks that would attract a Gen Y-er to join a firm.

In an effort to stay ahead of the game and remain an employer of choice, my firm conducts an annual survey to determine the top three issues of concern to its employees. Not surprisingly, communication, career development and flexibility/lifestyle all feature in the top three. I am now part of a working group set up to manage the results of the survey and am tasked with identifying ways to offer our employees a better lifestyle and flexibility in the workplace.

What then, of the next generation, Generation Z? We do not know a lot about the characteristics of Generation Z yet. They are still evolving and developing in a more highly diverse environment than that which existed with the Gen Y-ers. Generation Z kids are growing up in a highly sophisticated computer environment. What is clear at the moment is that Generation Z children will be more Internet savvy and expert than their Generation X parents.

More to come on Generation Z. Watch this space…

About the Writer

The writer is a working mother and a career manager.

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My Journey in Consciousness and Reality

November 19, 2010 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, Guest Writer, History)

An article by guest writer Philip Tong. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

The Universe is about 13 billion years old according to astronomers and cosmologists. However one can say this reality was not mine until I became conscious of this piece of information. However, I believe that consciousness is not equal to reality. Thus for me, a sentient being, reality can only be ‘owned’, if one can remember the facts. So it all began with my earliest memory of a man who carried me on his shoulders, put a cap with goggles on my head and walked away from my parents’ house in Yio Chu Kang, a very rural place at that time in 1942 in Singapore. My parents filled in the details of this memory, when I was old enough to understand what it was all about. A Japanese pilot had come into our home when I was about a year and a half old, put his head-gear on my head, carried me on his shoulders and took me for a walk in the village for about half an hour. I was the fairest baby in the area according to my obviously biased parents and they were concerned that they may never see me again.

Fortunately, reality continued for me as my memory journeyed on with recollections of bombs falling in the vicinity of my home and of being herded into a very large, deep below-ground bomb shelter dug into the garden. It was closed from the top with wooden poles and branches of banana leaves.

Fast forward goes my reality about kindergarten, primary school and secondary school. My parents, siblings, kampong and school friends and teachers anchored my personality. I existed as a person. Knowledge of reality continued to accumulate in my head in those growing years of good living within Singapore’s excellent education system. The Civil War in China between the Chinese Communist army of Mao Tse Tung and the Koumintang  army of Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek raging and reported daily on the Redifussion. The latter army inexorably being pushed from west to east and finally fleeing by an armada of transport ships and boats from the mainland to the island fortress of Taiwan. Next came the Korean War, the bloody and protracted see-saw battles between the unfortunate foot-soldiers of the North Korean and Chinese Red armies on one side and the United Nations (largely US) army on the other. It ended with a cease-fire treaty at the famous 38th parallel and the division of Korea ever since. It could have ended for me and a lot of people in the world then if President Truman had acceded to General MacArthur’s request to use the atomic bomb on China. Fortunately, Truman was wiser, knowing that the threat by the then USSR on China’s side, was not a ‘bluff’. Brinkmanship with the lives of mankind as casino chips. Somehow the fact of the two atomic bombs detonated earlier on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II seemed to have entered into my consciousness later after the time of the Korean War. It should have been the other way around. Strange, but that is how I perceive it. These catastrophic events jolted my adult mind into the realization that although life was seemingly fine for me Singapore, the greater reality was a world of pain and death suffered by my fellowmen because of war, poverty, exploitation, disposable drugs for disposable people (drug trials in 3rd world countries which kills thousands of women and children there so as to benefit people in first world countries in due course. The photographs taken by an award-winning photographer who committed suicide later (presumably because of mental anguish at what he saw and photographed) included one of a huge death-smelling vulture several meters behind an emaciated child crawling to a so near but yet so far Red Cross feeding station  and one of another starving big-skull boy on twig-like legs eating the shit of a cow by putting his face in its anus. I saw these pictures on the internet and forever my reality is changed. ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’ knows no bounds. A conference on world hunger some years ago in a first world country was to reported in the press, to have started with a ‘banquet’ for participants!

Here in almost first world Singapore where there still no minimum wage even for the $600 per month Ah Peks and Ah Ums working as cleaners and crockery collectors at food-malls to eke out a living, is being justified by labor leaders trumpeting that instead of a minimum wage, we should aim for ‘minimum productivity’. Some middle and upper middle class Singaporeans agree with the latter ‘leaders’, echoing them and adding that its okay for the over 70s Singaporeans to work as cleaners and crockery collectors since its ‘honest’ work! But when posed with the question, ‘Will you let your old parents and grandparents do these types of work’, some said yes and some said no. ‘Really!’ the thought entered my head. ‘Wow!’  Next comes the hundreds of thousands of migrant male low & semi-skilled workers in Singapore. They come from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. From my calculation, for the first 2 years of their employment contract, at say $20 per day wages, one of these men send home about 20 cents a day to their families in those countries. This because they have to repay the thousands of dollars loan each which they took to pay the ‘job-finding’ fees to employment agents both in their home countries and here in Singapore. In addition, they pay about $100 per month for a double/treble sleeping bunk, medical treatment when needed and 3 meals a day. Ah! but some Singaporeans say, ‘In India etc., Singapore money is so big that with the money they send home, they can buy land and build good houses!’ I wonder how our Singaporeans will feel if they work in the US or Western Europe and they can send only 20 cents per day to their dependent parents, wives and children here in Singapore. But then, lament many Singaporeans, there is no other way our sovereign nation can progress ec  economically!. So the Singapore ‘Spirit’ must endure if we are to survive! Dr. Ravi Batra in his most interesting #1 New York Times Best Seller, ‘The Great Depression of 1990’, said that the ‘Warrior Class’ of a nation would use the ‘Laborers Class’ to successfully run its economy. This has happened in history and will most likely continue to happen in the future.

Fortunately for me, I am an optimist and will not be utterly depressed and driven insane like the above-mentioned photographer. My reality also is filled with memories of beautiful events. My lovely wife and our 5 years of courtship in London and a year and a half in Singapore. Our two baby sons and our car travels through Malaysia with milk-bottles in tow. Finally for this article, my reality includes what I read and especially what I saw at the National Geographic shop at Vivo City mall. There was some months ago a picture of our Universe. It showed our Milky Way Galaxy as an almost invisible dot at the bottom right of the Universe picture, the size of a large oval dining table. Our invisible planet Earth revolves round a sun that is amongst the hundreds of billions of suns that exist in the disc-like rotating Milky Way. And remember the Milky Way is also one of the hundreds of billions of galaxies (some much larger than the Milky Way) in our Universe. It has no edge and what is beyond is even outside the imagination of sci-fi writers. But then I am not talking of sci-fi. This is part of the total reality although I own perhaps an infinitesimal part of it as one human being. So I am optimistic that mankind is destined for the stars. But will pain and suffering continue to be part of our future in the stars?. Will ‘Man’s inhumanity to man?’ be part of the continuing story of the human race? Will the ‘Warrior Class’ exploit the ‘Laborers Class’ to enjoy the good life? Finally, will there be retribution for those who cause pain and suffering to their fellowmen? Karma in Buddhism is one attempt to answer that eternal question. On the other hand, Christianity advocates redemption for the ‘wrongs’ mankind has done to each other  through the ages in the excruciating torture and death of man’s very own Creator God who by giving man free will wrote His unconditional Love for his creature who could have been made a robot but was not. Tell others about your share of the total reality. Who is in possession of the latter?

About the Writer

The writer was for half his career a senior human resource executive in several public corporations. The latter half of his career was that of senior lecturer in human resource management at one of the five Singapore polytechnics.

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A Bag of Bones – A National Heritage and a Lesson for Humanity?

October 5, 2010 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, Guest Writer, Science & Technology)

An article by guest writer Leo W H Tan. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

Introduction

A former colleague was the inspiration for the title  “A Bag of Bones”. We met for dinner and as soon as our greetings were exchanged, she exclaimed” 46 million dollars for a bag of bones? I am impressed you can collect so much for that”! She was referring to the total sum raised in a very tight timeline, that would enable the building of a new home for the 160 year old Raffles Zoological Collection, presently housed in the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) at the Science/Medical Library, National University of Singapore. So what was the big deal in saving (metaphorically speaking), a bag of bones? A little history is called for.

The Raffles Library and Museum

In 1823, the founder of modern Singapore Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, proposed the setting up of a museum and library in Singapore as a repository for specimens deemed relevant to the flora, fauna and peoples of the region. It was not till 1849 that  this institution was established by the committee of the Singapore Institution (Raffles Institution) and only in 1887 (some 64 years after Raffles mooted the idea) did the Raffles Library and Museum finally find a home at Stamford Road.

Premier Zoological Institution for South East Asia

The Raffles Museum was an icon in the heyday of colonial Singapore and Malaya, not only because it housed an excellent collection of South East Asian flora and fauna, particularly animals, but because it earned a reputation for first-rate systematics and taxonomic research. The quality of this collection and the numerous scientific publications arising from the sustained research on the materials made the Museum the premier zoological institution for South East Asia.

Whither Humankind Without Plants and Animals?

Many generations of Singaporeans will remember some of the landmark exhibits in the Raffles Museum viz  the suspended 12.8 metre skeleton of the baleen whale that was beached at Malacca in 1892, the butterfly and bird displays and the imposing skeleton of the elephant that was shot by the Sultan of Johor in 1909. My school was just across the canal and field from the Raffles Museum. My classmates and I made frequent visits to admire the stuffed animals and/or their skeletons. What I did not realise then, was that the animals which I viewed in the museum, would not be around forever in the wild. I took for granted that the living counterparts of the majority of museum specimens could always be found in some forest, stream, field, reservoir or sea. In the short span of one generation, the cream-coloured giant squirrel that could be found in Singapore has probably gone extinct. The last sighting was in 1995. A similar fate befell several of the species represented in the Raffles Museum. I did not think of loss of biodiversity, climate change or global warming then but I did wonder why species like the Bali tiger or dinosaurs disappeared into oblivion. The museum thus was not only for studying natural history but was a most relevant institution to make us ponder about our own fate as a human species. If animal and plant species could go extinct, what about us? Aren’t we dependent on them for our survival?

A National Heritage “Lost and Rescued”

It was through the relentless and conscientious efforts of the Raffles Museum Directors and curators that the museum collections grew in educational, heritage, scientific, social and cultural value for our society. The museum exhibited and researched the natural history of Southeast Asia and I believed it would continue to thrive when Singapore obtained its independence in 1965. Amidst the upheavals of having to struggle for survival as a miniscule island state with no resources other than people, it was unfortunate some endeavours which appeared not to be of economic, social or cultural value were relegated to the lowest priorities. The Raffles Museum was renamed the National Museum in 1969. It was given a new mandate to emphasize national identity and in 1971, the entire natural history collection was almost given away in its entirety as it was considered to be of no cultural or economic benefit and worse, it was probably viewed as a relic of a colonial era. The Science Centre was to have acquired the collection but it could not find any use for the unmounted specimens and the wet materials which numbered some half a million specimens. We lost the familiar whale skeleton which greeted visitors as they came through the Rotunda entrance of the museum and the elephant too, plus a host of other specimens, before the rest of the collection was “rescued” by dedicated Zoologists at the University of Singapore, who did everything they could for the next 15 years to house and guard the collection without a permanent home, facilities and with little support for maintenance.

The Zoological Collection Survived Despite the Odds

Despite its tumultuous history and hostile tropical clime, the collection miraculously survived. It was only in 1987 that the Zoological Collection was given a permanent home by sentient university leaders at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 1998, arising from the 1996 merger of the Departments of Zoology and Botany to form the Department of Biological Sciences, the Zoological Collection and the Botany Department’s Herbarium were renamed the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR). Until 2000, the RMBR and its treasure trove of irreplaceable and priceless zoological specimens were accessible only to researchers and specialists from across the globe. The public for whom the collection was originally intended, could not visit the museum as there was no exhibition gallery. Being an institute of higher learning, NUS correctly emphasized the research and undergraduate/graduate teaching roles of the RMBR which the Museum embraced wholeheartedly. That enabled it to become a leading natural history/biodiversity research centre in the Asia Pacific region. RMBR also produces the leading scientific journal on animal diversity in South East Asia “The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology”. It is one of the few biological journals in the region that are listed in the Science Citation Index and Current Contents. The missing element is the public exhibition role. NUS recognised this but did not have the funds to build a respectably-sized exhibition gallery. It compromised by offering a 200 sq m permanent exhibition space (the size of two HDB four-room apartments) which became extremely popular with visitors but they fed back the gallery was too small, difficult to locate, had no parking lots, was not open on weekends and there was no access via public transport. In fact the gallery can only display 0.1 % of its collection.

Homecoming Dream

I had a keen interest in following all the above developments as I was a graduate student in the Zoology Department at the time of the impending “demise of” the Zoological Collection in the National Museum. I left NUS as an academic in 1986, before the announcement of the permanent home at the new Science/Medical Library of NUS. I followed the evolution and development of the RMBR and took pride as its research/university teaching reputation and international standing continued to flourish over time but was sad its third role of public education and restoration of the national heritage was not adequately fulfilled. Could this dream be fulfilled? I had thus a very compelling reason to accept an invitation to return to the NUS Faculty of Science towards the end of 2008 and I started to explore the possibility of building a new museum as the RMBR was facing the dilemma of acute space constraint and other major concerns.

Let’s have a Natural History Museum

It was not until International Museum Day (IMD) on 24th May 2009, that I got an insight into the deep public interest in the museum. More than 3000 visitors found their way to the small RMBR that memorable Sunday. The print and TV media covered the event. Letters of support from the public (both Singaporeans and foreigners) followed in the local press. The Sunday Times on 14th June 2009, published an article entitled “Let’s have a Natural History Museum”. A week after, an unnamed benefactor offered to be the catalyst by offering at first one million dollars and subsequently $10m if we went ahead  to build a new museum. This had to be the sign I was waiting for to go all out to champion the museum project together with the Director of RMBR, Professor Peter Ng. It could not have been just coincidence that there was overwhelming support by the public on IMD, the outpouring of letters to the media, the inviting title coined by the Sunday Times and the generous offer from the benevolent benefactor. I could not help feeling there was a mandate from above to go ahead with the first step – fund raising.

The Impossible Challenge

We needed the University leadership’s blessing as the NUS was the custodian of the Zoological Collection. Peter and I got the authorities’ approval to go ahead with the project on one condition. We had to raise a minimum sum of $35 million in six months from end December 2009, to secure a prime plot of land on the very land-scarce campus. The NUS had its hands full in developing the new Dover Campus and so we had to raise the funds entirely from external, non-governmental sources. It was a daunting if not impossible challenge but we felt it was worth doing for the next generations of citizens who have to understand the critical importance of biodiversity to their survival and well-being.

The Arduous Fund-Raising Journey

The arduous journey was embarked upon by the fund raising team comprising just five individuals … Peter Ng, Dr Tan Swee Hee, Sum Foong Yee (all from RMBR), myself and a miracle worker, my personal assistant and administrator Belinda Teo who opened many doors to potential donors and facilitated strong media coverage over the six months we were tasked to raise the minimum sum. I will not bore readers with the sleepless nights and nightmares encountered on the journey to beat the deadline. To cut a long story short, we secured the main funding from charitable foundations and organisations and the unnamed donor. The Lee Foundation alone pledged $25m to restore the natural history museum for Singapore.

Is This What the Public Wants?

One nagging question in my mind was, if the main sums were collected from major donors, would the general public also show tangible support for the project? In other words, how do I know if the museum is what the public wants and not what the project team considers as its priority? We started a public donation drive in April 2010 very amateurishly but with much love and belief in the cause via unsolicited slow and e-mails, word of mouth, FUN raising events and personal contacts. Even family members were roped in to help. The outpouring of generosity  from people of all walks, was heart-warming. It wasn’t the quantum but the participation that mattered. They gave whatever they wished from little to much. One donor gave half a month’s salary while another her entire month’s. Another had retired for seven years from the NUS and gave twenty thousand dollars. She told the media “This is not charity. If it’s the last thing I can do, I would like to do something for it (the museum)”. We have only to look at the success of natural history museums in London, Paris, New York, Washington DC, Taichung etc to see their popularity with and value to the public. School groups, tourists and locals alike, visit in droves, often in three-generation family outings. Perhaps our Tourism Board should take note of this world-wide trend. We are convinced the Singapore public want their natural history heritage restored. I have mentioned heritage several times in this piece but have not put its meaning in context. It is ironical that while we all look forward to better tomorrows, we often forget it is only by examining and learning from the past that we can understand our present and enable us to know where we are going i.e. to plan for the future. This is what heritage is about.

The “Bag of Bones” Journey Continues

And that is why a “bag of bones” attracted $46m in donations to date. We may have satisfied the requirement of the minimum sum to guarantee the museum site and the building infrastructure, but to create a world class museum that will educate, enthrall and empower countless generations to come (on the need to protect and conserve their biodiversity), we still need substantial donations to build the relevant exhibitions on themes ranging from the biodiversity of Singapore & South East Asia to Environment & Conservation and History & Heritage. Exhibitions are development or capital costs and do not draw government or university funding. However, the NUS will obtain matching grants from the government for an endowment fund from which the earned interest may go towards the operating costs for the public education role of the museum. I am optimistic that this natural heritage will be a lasting legacy for humankind in Southeast Asia and beyond. The new museum is expected to be completed in 2013/14.

The journey continues…

About the Writer

Leo W H Tan is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and concurrently Director (Special Projects Unit), Faculty of Science, NUS. He is President of the Singapore National Academy of Science. He served as Director & CEO of the Singapore Science Centre (1982 – 1991), Foundation Dean, School of Science, National Institute of Education, NTU (1991 – 2000), the Director of the National Institute of Education (1994 – 2006) and Chairman of the National Parks Board (1998 – 2007). He was a recipient of the President’s Award for the Environment in 2007.

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