Narky networking and other rants

Canberra was good.

Made some really good contacts, like former head of Contact Singapore (Sydney) Robert Tay, Singapore International Foundation Honourary Student Councillor Martin Gomes, a bunch of Queensland-based Singapore Student Association presidents, High Commission First Secretary Peter Kong, and the High Commissioner Joseph Koh himself. Gotta say, after meeting Mr Koh, I just can't bring myself to call him His Excellency. (Of course I meant that in terms of calling him Uncle instead. :P)

I didn't manage to capture much of their attention on Youth-Led Development, unfortunately - but it was a funny contrast to see them all rapt by my Singapore peak body idea. (I apologise for being unable to elaborate on the peak body at this point, as it's way too early days to disclose anything here.) I was surprised by the amount of interest they took in it - coming up to me to chat specifically about it after - although an earlier conversation with someone familiar with them alerted me to the possibility of career-vested interests being a driving impetus.

What was interesting, nonetheless, was the fact that I could potentially get something to the tune of $65, 000 from Contact Singapore in seed funding to set up the peak body, if they like the proposal. However I am being cautiously calculated on whether or not to even seek this money, because of the possible loss of autonomy - which I am not prepared to let the organisation suffer.

In the coming weeks and months, lots of changes will be happening: setting up the official steering committee for the peak body's establishment; ceasing to be Australian and pledging by oath my allegiance to Singapore; writing stuff for Oxfam UK; finding out if I will be going to Kenya, Colombia, Thailand or wherever else for 6-12 months.

Feeling somewhat annoyed about being bogged down by stupid crap like graduation paperwork, chasing up the bank and Centrelink on money issues, and finding an authorised lawyer for my oath-taking.

Bah. Irritatis maximus. (Pardon my stream-of-consciousness ranting.)

I'm so glad there's the WPAY+10 strategising to keep me going.

Actually, while I'm at it - I might as well throw this one to the floor: how do you reckon Youth-Led Development can be incorporated in a Youth Resolution of the UN urging governments to enlarge the role of youth in national development and poverty reduction strategies? How would that text look like?

Bear in mind this is not a policy document, but a resolution which basically serves to affirm commitment rather than define how to implement it. So it doesn't need to have specific recommendations like you would see in a policy document.

We have until Oct 1 to negotiate text with the Portuguese mission facilitating the resolution drafting; gmail your ideas to ipanema.garota or comment on this space.

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Off to Canberra

Will be going to the Singapore High Commission for coupla days to talk to H.E. Mr Joseph Koh amid the hubbub of the 'Singapore Community Day' festivities. Am hoping to be able to squeeze in a bit of meaningful dialogue about Youth-Led Development and the policy document.

Am driving up with Sham, current President of the UNSW Singapore Students' Association. I know she's got her own agenda too - hope she lets me get some (time of day).

Probably be MIA for next coupla days. Seize this open thread - and have a fantabulous weekend people :)

ruff muakz

Ps. Interesting comments on the sedition post! Reply when I get back.

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Sedition Elimination

Of course this one couldn't go unmentioned.

3 Singaporean bloggers have been charged with making racist remarks online, under our Sedition Act.

The 57-year-old Act was passed in colonial times - I actually mean this literally - and is being applied this month for the first time in our nation's independence.

What I found disconcerting is the way the term 'sedition' has been used in the legislation, and the way the Act itself is being wielded in this case:

i) Sedition, by definition of the English language, does not include the promotion of "feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes..." [Sec. 3(1)(e)]. It is the state, not its populous, that are targets of sedition.

ii) This extended scope in the use of the term bears implications of a correspondingly extended scope in the state's 'discretion' in applying the Act.

Thing is, isn't it interesting that the authorities used the Sedition Act instead of, say, our constitutional provisions for anti-discrimination between races? Or indeed, as Mykel argues, other instruments such as the Undesirable Publications Act and MDA content regulations such as the Internet Code of Practice, among others.

I am compelled to infer that this use of the Sedition Act is, beyond an effort to regulate harmonious race relations, a symbolic message to the broader public on the state's power to quash dissenting - or, as I like to say, politically alternative - views, "where it may disrupt public order or national security" (and the like). Xenoboy has also alluded to this.

This bit on sedition in Wikipedia caught my eye:

..in societies where sedition laws exist the acts and behaviours which qualify are highly subjective, and typically left to the whims of state agents.

In an interesting twist, forum-ers in Singapore's GLBT internet community have tossed about the idea that this very Sedition Act could be used to "stop online homophobia in its tracks". By applying it against homophobic acts or speech that could "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore", the hypothesis is that various expressions of homophobia could then be chargeable offenses.

It's a creative way (of trying) to put the police on our side, for once. The immediate question that arises, though, is the plausibility of classifying individuals of certain sexual orientation as a, well, class. Yawning Bread thinks this is possible.

I have concerns, however.

In trying to apply this Act to stop online homophobia, the implicit message of the state's omnipresent power to decide what can or cannot be said would be, by virtue, reinforced. In our well-learnt worldview of obedience to authority. This could bring about even more problems for free expression among the queer community than already need to be contended with.

Because of this, I think - in my humble, legally-uninformed opinion - it may actually be more useful to look at legislative anti-discrimination provisions rather than Acts like this one. It's not the first time I'm saying this either. (Can you believe there isn't even any anti-discrimination protection for gender! The shame.) Perhaps the law-trained among us may have more to say on all this.

[Ed: On gender discrimination protection, our accension to CEDAW¹ really needs to have bearing here. Ms Anamah Tan, are you reading this?]

***
In another case of extreme surveillance in our free and democratic police city state, Singaporean blogger Jacob George has been called - again, literally - regarding Singapore Rebel investigations. Because, apparently, individuals who have been in contact with Martyn via SMS should also become suspect - and therefore subject to investigations. Note that ASP Chan refused to disclose to Jacob George his means of obtaining his mobile number.

I close off with a beautiful summary of the state of affairs in the Singapore political climate:

Singapore's prime minister has acknowledged tensions over the country's tight controls on public speech and political activity, but defended the regulations as necessary to maintain order, a newspaper said yesterday.

- AP 20 Sept


We are an orderly, high-security society, aren't we.

CNA 16 Sept: Third person charged with sedition for racist remarks on blog site

Taipei Times 18 Sept: Singapore, Malaysia warn bloggers

CNA 21 Sept: Lawyers for two bloggers to try for reduced charges

Technorati: internet freedom, Singapore, media, sedition

¹The UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women

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Spotlight: WPAY+10

After the frenzy of the World Summit, we now turn our attention to the review of the World Program of Action for Youth (WPAY) which begins in 2 weeks in New York. This year marks the 10^th anniversary since it was adopted, and the WPAY+10 will evaluate its progress in that time.

The entire series of events linked to WPAY is going to be focused on youth - to state the obvious - and will be the perfect opportunity to put Youth-Led Development (YLD) more prominently on the international agenda for youth. And it looks like there's a good chance we just might be able to make that happen.

Our country director for Azerbaijan, who was (after much lobbying) placed as a youth delegate, has just received funding from his Youth Ministry to attend the WPAY+10 sessions. We want him to speak boldly on the policy document at the interactive roundtable discussions, for sure. What also really excites us is the possibility of him speaking at the plenary, typically reserved for official country delegations constituting people like Presidents and Foreign Ministers. We are currently working out the strategy for his position.

Another breakthrough: the youth delegates we have been corresponding with, who are in the youth caucus and will be working on the Youth Resolution, have agreed to write YLD into the Resolution. Got a copy of the advance unedited draft (in confidence - can't comment here); we are now negotiating mutually agreeable text that will fit nicely into it.

Now that the Summit has come and gone, though, I wonder if I had made a mistake focusing so much on the MDG+5 instead of the WPAY+10. Was there ever room for a truly significant impact on the General Assembly for the youth agenda, at a platform debating UN reform - one of the most dramatic since the organisation's inception - and broader MDG progress? I wonder.

But it's lucky - to understate - that we saw the opportunity in targeting the youth delegates, and started talking to them early, and got them warm to the whole idea of YLD. It was lucky that the policy document of the World Youth Congress gave us impetus to approach the youth delegates, with some measure of credibility. It was also lucky that the timing of the WPAY+10 gives us a window of opportunity to get potentially really concrete outcomes with the Resolution. At a forum that can actually give us time of day. I hope they do.

I'm amazed at how circumstantial so much of this work is. (And how tiring!)

But damn - I love this shit.


Technorati: UN, United Nations, youth, MDG

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Yay

After (for too long) feeling torn about a forced choice between practical benefits and "allegiance", and then frustrated by the anal single-citizenship-only policy of a particular small red dot, I finally spoke to DIMIA - and found out that renunciation of an Australian citizenship gives way to automatic permanent residency! Wooooot!!

Now. I just need to do it all by the September 30^th deadline that Singapore Immigration has given me.

Must. Stop. Procrastinating.

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Howard's Democracy

An email I received today on an issue I hadn't gotten around to earlier, that demands attention regardless.

[Ed: Scott Parkin has since been deported.]

If you've seen the media recently you have probably heard about the US Peace Activist that has been arrested in Melbourne by ASIO and is awaiting deportation.

His name is Scott Parkin. A lady on an e-list I belong to is friends with him and attended one of his workshops on the Peace Movement and says he is an advocate of non-violent forms of protest. He comes from Texas, where he is a history teacher and is known for peacefully protesting against the companies that are profiteering from the invasion of Iraq, such as Halliburton.

Scott came to Australia in May and since he's been here has held workshops teaching non-violence and has done some street theatre protests in Sydney. On his way to a non-violence workshop last Saturday, Scott was arrested by the Federal Police and ASIO and taken into custody. He has been detained for several days now, has had his Visa revoked and is currently awaiting deportation. The 'reason' for arresting Scott was that he's "a risk to the national security."
(Who knew that dressing up in fluffy tiger suits would be so threatening...)

It's so important that people know this has happened because Scott is the first person to feel the brunt of the new 'anti terror'
legislation that's been passed, giving ASIO the power to arrest and deport anyone they believe to be a "risk". Scott did not breech any conditions of his Visa. He is a political prisoner, detained for no other reason than exercising his right to free speech. This is Howard's Democracy.

I just think it is important for Australians, and all other citizens to consider our rights as human beings. If all the information I am lead to believe is true, there should be mass outcry... This is Australia, we're not meant to be locking people up for saying what they think! Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has questioned the Government's actions and Bob Brown has done the same. Other prominent figures from the Democrats, NGOs and political bodies have condemned Scott's ordeal as an act of gross injustice.

If you are interested in reading Julian Burnside's (Scott's lawyer's) summary of the situation, go to
http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/2005?09/julian_burnside.html

Please talk about this with people and tell others what's going on.

Above all don't let ASIO and whoever else scare us into thinking that we should stop standing up for our beliefs and saying what we feel. This baffling and inexcusable offense should encourage us more than ever to speak out against injustice and protect our human rights.

See also:

ABC 15 Sept: Parkin escorted to airport ahead of deportation

SMH 15 Sept: Parkin deported to US: FBI says he's 'welcome'

Crikey 13 Sept: The Scott Parkin case: did ASIO act alone?

ABC Radio [transcript] 15 Sept: Detained US peace activist deported

Greens [media release] 11 Sept: Greens question US environmentalist’s arrest

Greens [media release] 15 Sept: Brown refused ASIO briefing

Technorati: Australia, civil liberties, civil rights

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Positions of interest

The country position statements of the UN 2005 World Summit are out.

2 that were of particular interest to me - no surprises here: Azerbaijan and Singapore.

The specificity of Azerbaijan's reference to youth - squarely in the Millennium Development Goals - was just fantastic. The excerpt from para 2 of Mammadyarov's speech:

Azerbaijan considers the development as a central goal and, to this end, reiterates its commitment to fully implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We believe that more active involvement of all segments of society, particularly of the youth, is crucial in the process of implementation of the national development agendas and the achievement of MDGs.

All that damned lobbying actually counted for something.

So, it was subsequently a bit of a schizophrenic flip to then read Singapore's speech, containing no mention of stakeholder inclusion whatsoever in the development agenda. Not that I didn't already know - but looking at the actual copy of the speech... was a little heartbreaking.

In all fairness, the overall speech was not too bad, particularly in the way H.E. Jayakumar educed three core issues in the Outcome Document - management, human rights, and peacebuliding - and made rather valid points on them.

There was this bit, though, which jumped out at me:

The empowerment of our peoples with economic, social as well as political and civil rights must be both the end and the means of development.

Huh. This should make for interesting future reference.

Also:

The manner in which internal developments in one state have wider ramifications is only one illustration of how narrow notions of sovereignty no longer hold.

I think this one would have particular significance in the context of Singapore's current lack of commitment to specific international covenants on human rights, and of the typical sovereignty arguments that are used as shields against the perceived spears of "those western ideas of justice".


Technorati: United Nations, Singapore, Azerbaijan, youth

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Spirit

Last night I had a great conversation with Muratha, a comrade who was recently in South Africa to adress their President along with other hot shots and CEOs, about youth and the current major push towards ICT. The guy's just brilliant - following his presentation, there was much focus on youth throughout the rest of the (very) high-level meeting. And he has placed youth 'squarely in the lead of their [African Peer Review Mechanism] process'. Amazing.

He also said some things about past failures of development efforts by well-meaning developed countries, that got me thinking more about African development and the politics of aid, which had been triggered earlier when I came across a review of Matthew Lockwood's new book The State They're In (via Singapore Angle).

The same author, in another article, says that we need to scrap standard remedies on debt and aid: that breeding African equivalents of the Asian tigers yonder east, instead, is the way forward. I find that interesting because African politics, which he talks about as the 'missing jigsaw' in the puzzle of African development, is so different from that of Southeast Asia - yet those distinctions are being cut across by this overriding approach to economic development. I am looking forward to reading up more on all this.

On a more wistful note, Muratha commented that he 'liked [my] spirit'. He misses the spirit that he had 3 years ago, and says he sees it fresh in me. He had an analogy that made me feel encouraged, yet cautious at the same time:

[the spirit's] not really lost....it's like joining the UN...U start so enthusiastic...but the system gets you sooner or later

Certainly a soundbite to chew on.


Technorati: youth, Africa, ICT

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Awe-inspiring support

(Not.)

Finally saw Chi Chiew Sum's (of the Singapore UN affairs office) long-anticipated reply in my inbox - only to face the following words staring back at me:

We acknowledge your keen interest in UN issues. Thank you for your two suggestions which we will bear in mind for future UN conferences.

Of course, the next General Assembly won't be hosting the MDG+5 - no there isn't going to be an MDG+6 - and won't be having such a high-level plenary discuss progress of the Millennium Development Goals quite so pointedly, but hey.

What can a small circus act flailing her arms about do in a big top circus tent such as this. (Maybe wear a big red nose, one that's got 5 little white stars and a crescent across.)

Just gotta keep pushing, dammit.

***
So. Some hours ago the first day of the Summit concluded. Allow me to draw your attention to this bit of comic relief from the day's proceedings:



Reuters 14 Sept: U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war.


Technorati: youth, United Nations, Bush

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4 Years On

I was in Zellini's cafe in Randwick, when it happened - almost exactly 4 years ago.

Everyone was intently fixated on the TV hung high in the corner, many gaping at the wanton destruction that seemed too surreal to be actually happening before their eyes.

I could barely understand the gravity of the reality of what I was witnessing on the screen.

***

2 words to described my mixed state of emotions: Tragedy. And injustice.
(Yes, drama queen. Whatever.)

Taking a brief glance through the myriad of memorial sites, it is difficult to ignore the grief that surrounds the people who survived to bear the grief of the ones they lost - in an act they had no control over or responsibility for.

If there were any lessons the world could have learnt from 9/11, what would they be?

That the communication among US Intelligence needs to be more centralised? That making false connections between Iraq and 9/11 as a justification to launch the Iraq war makes you a popular American president? That the violence and suffering in Iraq is worth it, and vital to the future security of America? That a democratic paradise can emerge from placing troops indefinitely and enforcing the construction of a run-of-the-mill western conception of representative democracy?

***

America did in Afghanistan, what had to be done and did it well. The bad news, however, is that these successes have not won new friends for the United States outside Afghanistan. In fact, the effectiveness of the American campaign may have made some parts of the world hate America more than they did before.

- Salman Rushdie, in a New York Times article February 4, 2002

***
Rest in peace.


Technorati: 9/11, Iraq, Al-Qaeda

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We're on a roll

We have results, my friends.

Montenegro: Inclusion of a para on Youth-Led Development (YLD) in country position, which will be delivered by Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahović at the UN Millennium Review Summit. Also, plans to send my country director as a youth delegate to the Summit, as well as future relevant UN meets.

Azerbaijan: Also inclusion of a para on YLD in Azerbaijan's position. My country director has just been included on the country delegation list.

Kenya: Foreign Ministry has asked my country director for a para on YLD. Currently negotiating its incorporation into Kenya's position.

Indonesia: Touched base with Erna Witoelar, UN Special Ambassador on MDGs for Asia Pacific. Erna is enthused and on side, and looks like she will (probably) help our lobby efforts with the Indo government.

Samoa: Touched base with UN resident coordinator in Samoa who has direct contact with Samoan PM who has big influence in Pacific Islands.

Liberia: Touched base with Deputy Minister for Youth Services, who is currently in negotiation on sending a youth delegate to the Summit.

Tanzania: Negotiation with Foreign Ministry on YLD text incorporation in country position. They have agreed to send 2 Tanzanian youth to UN meets from the next General Assembly onwards.

Canada: Touched base with Canadian Commission for UNESCO Youth Sector, and enlisting help from Canadian Youth Board of the Commission in our lobby efforts.

UK: Meeting with International Director of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Stephen Pattison to negotiate text for UK's position - which would've been a few hours ago actually - attended by ardent supporter David Woollcombe of Peace Child International, as well as 2 of my fellow international coordinating committee members (of the policy document implementation working group). (What a mouthful.)


Rock - and roll!!

A challenge, though: Funding to send Azaerbaijani and Montenegrin guys to the Summit. Considering they would be going as part of the country delegation though, the lack of funding to see this through perplexes me. We're looking into sources.

Also, am still waiting for Mr Chi at Sg UN affairs to get back to me. May the chi be with me. (Sorry - couldn't resist.)

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Ego-tripping For Poverty

- is one thing Bob Geldof has done for Africa and the world's poor. The amazing power of the media to simultaneously bear the duality of strategic instrument and vain distraction.

Also - Bolton is a fucking joke. His 750-odd amendments to the draft document to be signed at the upcoming Summit basically eliminate the key provisions of the MDGs. I actually recall reading somewhere that Bolton was quoted saying something along the lines of, the MDGs are irrelevant. Dude, you are irrelevant. If the Congress and a big chunk of the American public are anything to go by.

Kofi Annan has called for the document to be salvaged.

I am so angry.

See also -

Reuters UK 5 Sept: Annan says US should support UN development goals

Monsters & Critics 2 Sept: Analysis: Bolton challenges U.N. proposals

Technorati: MDG, United Nations, G8

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Show me the money

In preparation for drafting the policy document at the WYC, I had emailed the aseanist seeking input on the topic of youth & development, from a developing ASEAN perspective.

The aseanist's latest post, in response to that, has given me some serious food for thought. Specifically, it's made me think a lot harder about the whole field of development economics, and the role it plays in international development. And, conversely, about the relevance of lofty, idealistic notions of youth empowerment and whatnot - held by naïve, privileged young punks who enjoy the opportunity to attend international youth confabs (yes, I'm also looking more critically at the events in which I invest of myself) - like me - who are hardly representative of ASEAN youth.

I have mixed thoughts about this. On one hand, I recognise that economics is often a huge - if not the largest - influencing factor in decisions on various issues on all levels, within ASEAN (without excluding that this fact applies to several other nations as well). While certain commitments may be made by various ASEAN politicians or governments with regards to youth, community, or even human rights, these socially or democratically significant issues would almost certainly not take precedence over economic concerns.

On the other hand, I also feel that economic growth as a measure of development cannot be truly meaningful, even on a human development level, if it does not follow through to serve as a means to a broader end - a just, equitable and sustainable society.

I agree that, seeing as most of the delegates who attended the WYC were privileged relative to the youths from their respective backgrounds, perhaps the balance of emphasis lay too much on empowerment, at the expense of market reform strategy. At the same time, I feel that the logical shift towards building economic structure and opportunity need not occlude the 'loftier' aspects of human development, a topic that seems to impassion (or distract, depending on which way you look at it) me more.

Which is why I come from the perspective that efforts to drive economic growth, and in the case of Youth-Led Development - young entrepreneurship, must also not lose sight of the fact that young people are more than just economic units, whose value is measured - not just by the government and society, but also by themselves - in GDP per capita.

[Added para]
Because to me, speaking as a young person (ok - it's all relative), the perception of one's citizenry; value; worth on this planet - especially for a young person - comes not just from their economic productivity, but also (among others) from their deployable human agency.

A question that naturally arises, for me, is the reality or application of the stage theory of development: Are countries that are poor today really poor because they are simply "taking off" later? What about the consideration of the changes in socio-political climate of the last several decades? What about the existing trade relationships between the north and the south, that often seem only to exacerbate the poverty gap and keep the rich where they are - precisely by (intentional or otherwise) economic exploitation?
[Ed: Yes, I know these questions have been already beaten to death, but it doesn't stop my begging them.]

Other than my (extremely crude) understanding of this, apart from the chronologically linear hypothesis of industrialisation, I've come across, albeit anecdotally, another version of "stage theory", which is somewhat allegorical to Maslow's hierarchy of needs - fill your stomach (economic growth) before you achieve self-actualisation (greater choice, empowerment and whatnot).

This is rather contentious in my mind, because after all - don't you also need the social aspects of industrialisation such as health and education - in order to drive industrialisation itself? In this view according to Theodore Schultz, industrialization - if it came at the cost of social development - could never be self-sustaining.

Reading the aseanist's post again, I see that there wasn't any indication that economic growth was the be all and end all. So it could very well be that I was mistakenly grabbing on to the economic prerogative in detriment of the social. Hopefully. Then again I'm coming from an extremely uninformed, inexperienced perspective on this whole 'development' thing, so I'm also looking to be challenged and slapped around a bit with a trout, if only to see a little more than what my blinker of ignorance currently offers me.

The aseanist's forthright comments have injected me with anewed buzz in finding out more about this funny thing we call development. I'm anticipating that my current understanding - and perhaps even position, too - on development will undergo a fair bit of metamorphosis.

Final thoughts: exactly how could (ASEAN) governments facilitate the building of a culturally, educationally and politically supportive environment for young entrepreneurship? What kind of policy changes might that involve? And, if these measures have already been thought of, then what's stopping governments from implementing them?

What are people's thoughts on this?


Technorati: human development, economic development, ASEAN

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Cracks in the brick wall

Finally - some headway in the labyrinth that is the Singapore Public Service.

Got something in my inbox a few minutes ago that gives me a bit of relief from the brick-wall head-hitting of the last 2 weeks.

So the Asst Director/UN at the Foreign Ministry's International Orgs Directorate is going to be 'contacting me shortly'.

Sometimes, you just gotta keep pecking away.

(Of course, this is by no means a breakthrough of any measure, and I'm not holding my breath - as Chest Freezer would agree - there is still a long way yet. But nonetheless.)

Well, I'd better get cracking on a super kick-ass pitch.

Can't wait.

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