EDB Dialogue and Roundtable Session 2007 was held on 21st July, from 8.30 to 11.30 at the Intercontinental Hotel Singapore ballroom. The session is organised by the EDB (Economic Development Board), a government organisation that is responsible for making Singapore attractive to business investments. Mr. Lim Siong Guan, chairman of EDB, gave a talk on career and scholarship choices and also participated in the discussion. Students from various top junior colleges were also present, and the entire ballroom of around 30-40 tables were occupied.
8.10am
Upon arriving early at around 8.10am, I scouted the area around Intercontinental Hotel Singapore in an attempt to determine the shortest route to Bugis MRT station, which was the closest train station nearby. I discovered something interesting on the way: a table filled with donation tin cans, which I infer means that there would be some donation drive where people would be carrying tin cans around to ask for money. I also went exploring around the hotel to see if Bugis Junction and the hotel were connected; unfortunately, I was unable to find any connection.
8.20am
After exploring the hotel, I decided to head to the ballroom which was at level 2. To my surprise, there were already a crowd of at least 30-40 people scattered all around the waiting area outside the ballroom. I registered immediately and was given a postcard of which I was instructed to place in a glass bowl in a table opposite the reception table which would be used for a lucky draw. I was a bit lost on what to put on the postcard (which now acts as a lucky draw coupon) but decided that the logical thing to do was to put my name and my school.
I scanned the area, desperately looking for familiar faces, and the only one that I could find was Mr Chan Poh Meng, our school’s principle. When I first arrived, he was chatting with some girl which identity I was unable to ascertain. But after registration, I saw that he was all by himself at the balcony looking down at the restaurant on level 1. Being a social person, I decided to be polite and wish Mr Chan a good morning. We talked about quite a bit of things, but there was one point that I wish to specially bring up. Mr Chan mentioned that it was not easy a task having to balance the responsibility of a principle against the popularity with the students. Critics of Mr Chan may say that this a lame excuse for his unwillingness to reward us with half/full days and that it is nothing more then a pretext for his lack of generosity. But I disagree. I believe that a principle or a teacher, even the government, basically anyone with any authority, should get their priorities right, and fulfil their responsibilities even if certain actions are undesirable to the populace. Moreover, I can feel Mr Chan’s sincerity when he was talking me about it; some may say that I am ignorant and was fooled, but I strongly believe that I have at least a minimal level of discernment to differentiate hypocrisy and sincerity. By the way, I decided to self-censor some of my opinions that I have with the previous principle, Mrs Chan, regarding this topic.
8.40am
I parted ways with Mr Chan after he suggested that we should start to make a move since the ballroom was opened. I walked into the ballroom and settled at a table with a group of VJC students. I was wondering about the type of activities that would happen latter after seeing 1) many colourful pieces of paper, 2) writable stickers and 3) many colour pencils and markers. Fortunately, I was to know later that the stickers was just to write your name so that others in your table know who you are and that he paper and pencil was for you to write down questions for the Q&A session later.
The early bird activity was just a 10 question MCQ + 3 free response questions (though one was skipped) on some statistics on EDB. Looks like the participants from others school were well-prepared, as they were able to tell the answers of questions like: the number of employee EDB has, the percentage of GDP that EDB contributed to Singapore and what the TKCL (Trust, Knowledge, Connected, Life) in the World•Singapore plan stands for.
9.00am+
I didn’t check my watch so I ma not that sure on the timing. There was a talk by Mr Lim, chairman of EDB. It started of quite lively then got a tad boring, but I think he sensed it and continued with the rest of the speech in a more light-hearted tone. After the talk was the dialogue session, where one representative from each of the six participating junior college was invited up on stage to ask one question each to the group of 4 EDB officers including Mr Lim. Interesting questions like the failure of the UNSW Asia campus was asked. After the dialogue session was a roundtable session where we got the chance to talk with the EDB officer that was posted to our table. Meanwhile, we got refreshments that were served by Intercontinental Hotel. I had high expectations about the food that were served (since it comes from a hotel after all), and despite being well satisfied, I thought that it could be better. After refreshments and the roundtable session was another round of Q&A, but this time the questions can come from anyone that is present. There was only time for three questions (if I had not remember incorrectly) but there was an interesting question about the Iskandar Development Region (IKR) in Malaysia, that is commonly thought was created to compete with Singapore’s tourism industry, particularly the newly developed Marina Bay area. Mr Lim has a unique interpretation on the topic and stated that we should not always play the game the same way but should recreate the game so as to play well in it. The session ended with a lucky draw. Probability was against me and I failed to get any of the four lucky draw prizes (as usual), especially not the iPOD Nano which some lucky guy from Hwa Chong Institution got it.
11.30am+
Packed all the remaining freebies left on the table and headed home after the session. On the way to the MRT we spotted some students holding donation tin cans, which reconfirm my suspicion of a donation activity going on. Trip home was smooth and I returned home at around 1.00pm.
