Pre-Departure Course
Hi people, I’m really sorry that I updated my blog so slowly, but that’s because I was really busy for the past 2 weeks. So yes, it took me quite some time to finish blogging on my China trip (thanks to blogspot too, since it created plenty of problems when I attempted to upload my photos). Anyway, I was involved in the PSC pre-departure course from the 10th to 14th, and I must say it was a really busy and long, tiring week for me that time. So let me give you a brief update.
Monday
We had an interesting lesson on the history of Singapore, particularly so on the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. I admit it was interesting, as they showed us some perspectives which you don’t usually read or hear about, and even though I knew quite a bit on that era of Singapore (thanks to last year’s NDP CD), I found the new information interesting and they do provided me with new insights. Also, PSC actually got one of the fathers then, Encik Othman Wok to talk to us, so you actually get to hear a first hand account of separation from one of the person who was directly involved in the issue.
We also visited the new Supreme Court which is a good experience for me since I have never been to the new one even though I went to the old one for quite a number of times (mainly due to NDP’05). The new building is really fantastic, and it does have a very modern feeling to it. The interior of the building can be quite solemn and ‘cold’ too, partly to reflect the fact that justice is impartial? Anyway, the disc is a good place to have a good view of downtown Singapore, so for people who are interested, feel free to visit the place when you have the time as all visitors are welcomed. A pity is that they do not allow cameras at all inside the building.
Oh, at night I met up with the geppers as RJ is flying off soon, and I must say the turn up was great (around 14? That’s more than half!). We had a simple dinner at NYDC (what a mockery, RJ eating American food in Singapore), but I must say we had a lot of fun sharing our experiences and just finding more about each other’s happenings.
Tuesday
I went to the ISD heritage centre in the morning and I admit that it was indeed an eye-opener. There were detailed exhibits on the racial riots of the 1960s, the communist threats, as well as terrorist acts against Singapore. On top of that, you learn about the various ways and counter-measures which the ISD has. Hmm, it is possibly the most interesting visit for the whole week, so if you ever have a chance, please go and take a look at the place. It does broaden your horizons and give you new ideas that you would have never thought before.
I went to Changi Naval Base in the afternoon and it was enriching as well. Ok, apart from the MINDEF corporate video as well as the video on OFE (which does evoke lots of memories), I found the tour of the LSD as well as the training facilities being informative. Some of the stuff inside is truly high-tech and the simulation training is quite cool and realistic! Of course, looking at the navy, I guess I’m confident that Singapore’s seas will be safe a long time to come.
The night belonged to Mr Foo as it was his 21st birthday! Ok, I must say it was a memorable night, caused of some of the stuff that we, the audience, had to do for him. But I’m glad that he enjoyed all the things that we prepared and made for him (kudos to HJ and YC, I think the video really touched his heart!). Well, I hope we will still meet up even though we will be in the UK!
Wednesday
The morning was interesting as we had an interesting talk on Singapore’s foreign policy as well as on the responsibilities and expectations that scholars face. Hmm, I can’t comment much since most of the stuff isn’t pertinent to most of you, but I will say that as scholars, before you do anything, please remember that you are representative of an organization, and this will mean that you are under the scrutiny of others. Hence, every action of yours must careful, lest others decide to file a case against you.
Oh, we had a look around the URA centre too, and it is interesting to see how Singapore has changed over the decades, as well as to hear how it will be changed in future. Seriously speaking, I must say I was actually interested in the job of town planning because of the trip!
Later on, we went to the NEWater Visitor Centre to understand more about one of Singapore’s most limited and precious resource – water. The tour was childish in my opinion (I think it is mainly catered for children), but I must say some parts of it was interesting, particularly on how they make newater. So yes, I’m supposed to help spread the message that Newater is a good product that is safe for consumption! So please don’t think twice or thrice when using Newater!
The night was spent at MOE rehearsing for our script, since the director viewing is on Friday. Oh well, in the end got home at around 10 plus…
Thursday
The morning was pretty boring as it was talks on economic and social issues that Singapore faces. Well, the part on IR was interesting, since the questions raised really gave us some new ideas on how they planned and the rationale behind their concerns. In addition, it was also interesting to hear of the government plans and justification behind some of their social policies. I must say it gave us a better idea of Singapore’s policy-making process.
Ok, the next talk was super boring and super sensitive so I shall skip, and so we went on to tour the IRAS building and find out more about Singapore’s tax policy, the history of IRAS and some of their aims. Well, I guess it was interesting to me since I’m going to be an economist…
I thought the latter part was interesting as we toured HDB hub. Ok, I wasn’t particularly interested in the history of HDB and its founding (ok, I know I must be appreciative of its beginnings, especially so since its founding father just left us…), but I enjoyed the tour of its current show flats as well as the new homes that they are building for the future. I must say they do look pretty, but they are really small as an apartment. Hmm, sighz, those will be the homes that I will be looking at in future…
Friday
The last day saw a pretty lively morning as we had 2 really interesting speakers from the admin service to talk to us. One of them shared with us 8 ‘Dos’ and ‘Donts’ when overseas, and he shared with us some of his experiences he had working in the various ministry. The other speaker shared with us with the harsh reality of life and diplomacy in general, but he did a great job of bursting some bubbles and ideas which the younger PSC scholars had.
The afternoon saw us preparing a short presentation on what we learnt through out the course, as well as presenting it to Dr Amy Khor. During our presentation, we raised some pretty interesting questions (some that touches on politics and the civil service), and she tried to answer our queries during her presentation. However, I must say the Q&A session was far more interesting since there were even more sensitive questions raised then.
On the whole, I will say the whole course was pretty interesting and beneficial to us, I mean we learnt far more about the civil service and the government than what we read and heard about. It is indeed an experience which I think future batches of scholars should go through as well.
Monday
We had an interesting lesson on the history of Singapore, particularly so on the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. I admit it was interesting, as they showed us some perspectives which you don’t usually read or hear about, and even though I knew quite a bit on that era of Singapore (thanks to last year’s NDP CD), I found the new information interesting and they do provided me with new insights. Also, PSC actually got one of the fathers then, Encik Othman Wok to talk to us, so you actually get to hear a first hand account of separation from one of the person who was directly involved in the issue.
We also visited the new Supreme Court which is a good experience for me since I have never been to the new one even though I went to the old one for quite a number of times (mainly due to NDP’05). The new building is really fantastic, and it does have a very modern feeling to it. The interior of the building can be quite solemn and ‘cold’ too, partly to reflect the fact that justice is impartial? Anyway, the disc is a good place to have a good view of downtown Singapore, so for people who are interested, feel free to visit the place when you have the time as all visitors are welcomed. A pity is that they do not allow cameras at all inside the building.
Oh, at night I met up with the geppers as RJ is flying off soon, and I must say the turn up was great (around 14? That’s more than half!). We had a simple dinner at NYDC (what a mockery, RJ eating American food in Singapore), but I must say we had a lot of fun sharing our experiences and just finding more about each other’s happenings.
Tuesday
I went to the ISD heritage centre in the morning and I admit that it was indeed an eye-opener. There were detailed exhibits on the racial riots of the 1960s, the communist threats, as well as terrorist acts against Singapore. On top of that, you learn about the various ways and counter-measures which the ISD has. Hmm, it is possibly the most interesting visit for the whole week, so if you ever have a chance, please go and take a look at the place. It does broaden your horizons and give you new ideas that you would have never thought before.
I went to Changi Naval Base in the afternoon and it was enriching as well. Ok, apart from the MINDEF corporate video as well as the video on OFE (which does evoke lots of memories), I found the tour of the LSD as well as the training facilities being informative. Some of the stuff inside is truly high-tech and the simulation training is quite cool and realistic! Of course, looking at the navy, I guess I’m confident that Singapore’s seas will be safe a long time to come.
The night belonged to Mr Foo as it was his 21st birthday! Ok, I must say it was a memorable night, caused of some of the stuff that we, the audience, had to do for him. But I’m glad that he enjoyed all the things that we prepared and made for him (kudos to HJ and YC, I think the video really touched his heart!). Well, I hope we will still meet up even though we will be in the UK!
Wednesday
The morning was interesting as we had an interesting talk on Singapore’s foreign policy as well as on the responsibilities and expectations that scholars face. Hmm, I can’t comment much since most of the stuff isn’t pertinent to most of you, but I will say that as scholars, before you do anything, please remember that you are representative of an organization, and this will mean that you are under the scrutiny of others. Hence, every action of yours must careful, lest others decide to file a case against you.
Oh, we had a look around the URA centre too, and it is interesting to see how Singapore has changed over the decades, as well as to hear how it will be changed in future. Seriously speaking, I must say I was actually interested in the job of town planning because of the trip!
Later on, we went to the NEWater Visitor Centre to understand more about one of Singapore’s most limited and precious resource – water. The tour was childish in my opinion (I think it is mainly catered for children), but I must say some parts of it was interesting, particularly on how they make newater. So yes, I’m supposed to help spread the message that Newater is a good product that is safe for consumption! So please don’t think twice or thrice when using Newater!
The night was spent at MOE rehearsing for our script, since the director viewing is on Friday. Oh well, in the end got home at around 10 plus…
Thursday
The morning was pretty boring as it was talks on economic and social issues that Singapore faces. Well, the part on IR was interesting, since the questions raised really gave us some new ideas on how they planned and the rationale behind their concerns. In addition, it was also interesting to hear of the government plans and justification behind some of their social policies. I must say it gave us a better idea of Singapore’s policy-making process.
Ok, the next talk was super boring and super sensitive so I shall skip, and so we went on to tour the IRAS building and find out more about Singapore’s tax policy, the history of IRAS and some of their aims. Well, I guess it was interesting to me since I’m going to be an economist…
I thought the latter part was interesting as we toured HDB hub. Ok, I wasn’t particularly interested in the history of HDB and its founding (ok, I know I must be appreciative of its beginnings, especially so since its founding father just left us…), but I enjoyed the tour of its current show flats as well as the new homes that they are building for the future. I must say they do look pretty, but they are really small as an apartment. Hmm, sighz, those will be the homes that I will be looking at in future…
Friday
The last day saw a pretty lively morning as we had 2 really interesting speakers from the admin service to talk to us. One of them shared with us 8 ‘Dos’ and ‘Donts’ when overseas, and he shared with us some of his experiences he had working in the various ministry. The other speaker shared with us with the harsh reality of life and diplomacy in general, but he did a great job of bursting some bubbles and ideas which the younger PSC scholars had.
The afternoon saw us preparing a short presentation on what we learnt through out the course, as well as presenting it to Dr Amy Khor. During our presentation, we raised some pretty interesting questions (some that touches on politics and the civil service), and she tried to answer our queries during her presentation. However, I must say the Q&A session was far more interesting since there were even more sensitive questions raised then.
On the whole, I will say the whole course was pretty interesting and beneficial to us, I mean we learnt far more about the civil service and the government than what we read and heard about. It is indeed an experience which I think future batches of scholars should go through as well.
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