(Originally published as a column piece on Dec. 13, 2006)
SINGAPORE reminds me a lot of Terminus and the Foundation, I told one of my fellow delegates at X|Media|Lab Singapore during the cocktails to celebrate the last day of the digital workshop. He was a professor who had moved from the United Kingdom over a decade ago to find greener pastures in the Lion City, and he smiled at the geeky reference to Isaac Asimov’s classic science fiction masterpiece.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a space ship land here,” he quipped, pointing out how futuristic the National Library was. The party was being held at The Pod, which is on the top floor of the 16-storey new National Library building that opened last year to replace the old one in Stamford Road. You can’t access The Pod, which is not open to the public but rather used for special functions and events, via the regular elevators. Instead, you need to make your way to the special elevator, where you will be greeted by someone with an access card that will allow you to board and be transported to the top floor, where a breathtaking panoramic view of Singapore and even nearby countries like Malaysia and Indonesia awaits you.
How geeky and even “Mission Impossible”-like is that?
Spend even a few hours in Singapore, and you will be struck by how much this tiny yet First World country is years ahead of our own and, in fact many other countries, neighboring or otherwise. I spent a week there, to cover X|Media|Lab Singapore and the Asian Game Developers Summit. Setting aside homesickness and the fact that staying a week there left me broke, I have to say that this was a very rewarding experience. Sometimes traveling doesn’t just take you to a different place, but to a different time.
I don’t mean to knock our own country, but it’s no exaggeration to say that Singapore is light years ahead of us in many ways. The Lion City is living in the future now, even as it embraces its past. It has embraced technology and digital media wholeheartedly. Its government aligns its policies to business and technology needs. It wants to be the world’s tech test bed, making sure that the whole island is both wired and wireless, with initiatives such as free wi-fi throughout the Lion City. It has made game development and digital media part of its national plan, investing, for example, a billion Singapore dollars to game development courtesy of the Economic Development Board, and another five billion Singapore dollars earmarked by the National Research Foundation for research and development in two key areas, including interactive and digital media.
What’s remarkable is that Singapore, as they freely admit, is a tiny red dot, a rock that is home to just 4.48 million people. They don’t have a lot of natural resources, including manpower, which again brings resource-poor Terminus from Asimov’s novels to mind. Against all odds, the Foundation was supposed to bring about a second Galactic Empire, with Terminus achieving this destiny in part because of its advanced technology. Because they lacked resources, they were forced to be resourceful. Once, I would have automatically seen the similarity with Japan, because of electronics and their genius with miniaturization, but in the digital age it’s Singapore that comes to mind.
The topics that we discussed at X|Media|Lab and AGDS all had to do with the future, from games to digital movies to gadgets galore. It’s a future that is becoming a norm for those of us who are fortunate to be one of the digital haves, though even here some have more than others. Think about the things we experience in everyday life. Who would have thought that one day you could take photos and make movies with your mobile phone? I have an N90, and I was also lent an N93 for X|Media|Lab Singapore, and you’ll soon see those video interviews at hackenslash.net. Who would have imagined a world where broadband connections can be available for the home? Who would have thought we could work and play on the go in cafés and other public places thanks to wi-fi? Who would have imagined games with virtual actors bordering on human, and games with a serious purpose being used in schools, hospitals, government offices and even armies?
I lived in the future while I was in Singapore, but I also realized that it’s up to us to bring the future wherever we go. As Jacqueline Tan Yi-Ping, deputy director for the Infocomms & Media Cluster of Singapore’s Economic Development Board pointed out during her presentation at X|Media|Lab, success did not come to Singapore overnight.
They knew they didn’t have many resources, but they made the most of their geographical location and became the world’s busiest port. They didn’t have a lot of people, but they made sure that as many of them as possible would be equipped with the best skills by strengthening the educational system, while encouraging the best and brightest from different countries to study and work in Singapore. As she pointed out, Singapore has tried to make its immigration and investment policies as friendly to foreigners as possible. In a post-9/11 world where students are finding it hard to secure visas in other countries, Singapore is opening its doors to them, once more investing in the future. Since Singapore has a small population and low birth rate, it also encourages expats to bring their skills to the country. No wonder many Filipinos, including my friend since college, former Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter Elena Torrijos, have chosen to move to Singapore.
It was in 1975 when Singapore embarked on its journey to develop its IT skills and build the country’s IT infrastructure. Yup, while our leaders were busy plundering our country’s coffers and plunging us into the dark ages of martial law, Singapore was putting its plan to action. I keep hearing some Filipinos, particularly among the older generation, saying that once upon a time, we were richer than our neighbors. But that was then. It’s no use living in the past, wishing that things were the same and regretting what-might-have-beens.
The future is already here, and we can’t rely on someone else to take us there. Let’s come up with our own Seldon Plan. Let’s build our own Foundation. Let’s do it now.
It won’t happen in a day.
