Author: Raffles Press

Commentary, Enrichment Programme Previews, Please Mind the Platform Gap

Enrichment Programme Preview: GCEP
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Tan Fong Han (15A01B)
Photos courtesy of Nicole Chan (15A01B) and Ng Way (15S03A)

Photo 1
View of Guryong Slum Settlement visited by GCEP students in December 2014

‘Our researchers into Public Opinion are content

That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.

He was married and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his

   generation.

And our teachers report that he never interfered with their

   education.

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.’

–The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden

The notion of governance being split into two segments, that of governing and that of engaging the people in its process, is a very desirable and romantic notion. This forms the foundation of GCEP, and yet it doesn’t at the same time.

Convening once a week on early Monday mornings (as with all other enrichment programmes), the Governance and Civic Engagement Programme (GCEP) is a programme that hands you the tools and opportunities to learn about various systems of governance and to observe how they manifest in society. You’ll learn to evaluate for yourselves what you gather from each system of governance and civic engagement, with the understanding that in every democratic, authoritarian, liberal, semi-democratic state, there is value in its portrayal of the nature of human societies. Hence, while its name suggests the two-pronged approach of governance and active citizenry in all working societies, what students learn through GCEP are the skills they need to evaluate systems and understand the dynamics between the government and the citizens in the different societies today. We may be keen to compartmentalise and deduce but we are taught that every system has its positives and its negatives.

The programme consists of three components: Monday morning sessions, weekly Meet-the-People Sessions and a cross-cultural overseas trip at the end of the year.

Classroom Sessions

These morning sessions last around one and a half hours, when you’ll attend guided lessons on political theories and concepts such as nationalism and identity by Benedict Anderson, and the public sphere by Jürgen Habermas. You’ll also touch on matters concerning a state’s stake in International Relations and how this affects their domestic policies. Woven into these conceptual theories are discussions on current affairs, both in the local and the global context. You’ll receive readings and are at times required to make their own presentations based on their assigned readings to the class.  For many of my batchmates, these lessons were breeding grounds for the germs of their political understanding and allowed them to analyse news events happening throughout the year.

Meet-the-People Sessions

To add on to the morning discussions, students involved in this programme are also attached to a ward to attend 10 sessions of the Meet-the-People (MPS) session. The experience for this segment of the programme varies for everyone as it is dependent on the varying context and demographics of the ward one is assigned to. Typically, students attend the Meet-the-People session once a week on a weekday evening, and are tasked to type letters on the residents’ request. Through these sessions, the students are able to gain a better understanding of the needs and concerns of the residents in their assigned constituency, as well as the MPS system and its role in Singapore’s governance system. The students are challenged to evaluate what they experience at these MPS sessions and will return to share about them during their sessions on Monday morning.

Overseas Immersion Trip to South Korea

GCEP 2014 visited South Korea at the end of the year to learn about the cultures and ideas behind the South Korean system in the most autochthonous way.  Places visited include the demilitarised zone or the Panmunjeon, Songdo Industrial Estate, Gyeongbok Palace, and the Seoul City Hall amongst many others.

Photo 2
Outside the Japanese embassy with a statue representing the Comfort Women’s movement.

The immersive 10-day trip provided an overview into South Korea’s national identity and history, as well as it political processes, lending a novel take into the rudimentary of South Korean life beyond what its media tells us. Visiting the Singapore Embassy also allowed us a look into diplomatic ties with Korea, understanding the principles and history underlying Singapore-Korean relations.

GCEPers at the Singapore Embassy in South Korea
GCEPers at the Singapore Embassy in South Korea

The idea of governance and civic engagement is an ever changing one, and in the period of a year, GCEP provides an adequate amount of exposure and skills-set for one to continue viewing and understanding this ever-changing enigma of how society functions. Led by open-minded and engaging tutors, and provided with the opportunity to meet and work with many of the grassroots leaders, the programme is most enriching in its given opportunity for students to listen to the stories of the many people they get to meet (be it at the MPS sessions, or on the overseas trip). Every GCEP journey is a unique bildungsroman for every individual, whose greatest takeaway may very well be the realisation of the complexities involved in every concept; that for every form of civic engagement there exists a struggle between the theory and the truth.

The Unknown Citizen stings when one thinks of the possibility that we may all be little unknown citizens stuck in our own paradigm. Yet it is in embracing this thought that GCEPers learn to understand a little of this system we exist in. ‘Was he free? Was he happy?’ –  There is definitely nothing absurd about these questions, for while these are the very questions GCEPers enter hoping to answer, these are the very questions they learn to keep asking no matter how many answers they get.

Photo 4
Ribbons tied at the Panmunjeon commemorating the youths lost during the struggle between North and South Korea

 

Nationally Speaking, Op-Eds, Student Issues

Partly This, Partly That
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By William Hoo (15A01E)

“In the moment that you are waiting for your food, do you not become the waiter?”

Beyond this pun, I doubt many Rafflesians actually know what it’s like to be the guy at the other end of the table who’s responsible for your café experience. As a way to kill time and to expose myself to some life experience, I chose to become that guy, right after Common Test 1 last year, at Sunday Folks, a quaint little ice cream shop situated in Holland V.

Continue reading “Partly This, Partly That” →

CCA Events, Commentary, School Life

Lumière 2015 Preview: Part 2
Reading Time: 3 minutes

By the Orientation Committee
Additional reporting by Ching Ann Hui (15S03A), Yeo Jia Qi (15S03H) and Tan Yi Chern (15S03N)

With just one day to go till Orientation, Raffles Press is proud to bring you the second edition of our behind-the-scenes overview of what to expect in the biggest event of the school calendar. After seven months of planning and preparation, including weekends and the year-end holidays, on behalf of the 34th Students’ Council’s Orientation Committee, here is a sneak peek of what went into the making of Orientation, and what you as a J1 can expect! Today we feature Decor, OG Hours, and PLogs.

Continue reading “Lumière 2015 Preview: Part 2” →

CCA Events, Commentary, School Life

Lumière 2015 Preview: Part 1
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By the Orientation Committee
Additional reporting by Ching Ann Hui (15S03A), Yeo Jia Qi (15S03H) and Tan Yi Chern (15S03N)

With 6 days remaining to Orientation 2015, Raffles Press is proud to bring you a behind-the-scenes overview of what to expect in the biggest event of the school calendar. After seven months of planning and preparation, including weekends and the year-end holidays, on behalf of the 34th Students’ Council’s Orientation Committee, here is a sneak peek of what Lumière 2015 will be all about. Today we feature Storyline, Song & Dance, War Games and Station Games.

Continue reading “Lumière 2015 Preview: Part 1” →

Commentary, Sports

Kiwi Cup 2015
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Christopher Liew (15S06E)
Photos courtesy of Abdul Musawwir (15S03Q) and Ernest Low (15S06O)

There’s a saying that rugby is the game they play in heaven, a seemingly ironic moniker given the intimidating physicality involved in the sport. The origin of this nickname is nebulous, but the 22nd annual Kiwi Cup held last Friday made manifest the sport’s allure. The Kiwi Cup is the first sporting event of the year for our school’s athletes, who traditionally go head to head with our long-standing rugby rival, the Saints of St Andrew’s Junior College. This year’s match saw Raffles go down to the Saints, although they came out of it nothing if not hungrier for victory than ever.

kiwi1

This 22nd meeting of our very own Rafflesians and the Saints opened to rapturous applause from supporters on both sides, each armed with an arsenal of paraphernalia to hype the crowd and spur on their teams. The event was graced by Mrs Bernadette Cavanagh, the High Commisioner of the land of the Maori ‘All Blacks’. Hailing from the home of the world champions, the presence of Mrs Cavanagh at the 22nd Kiwi Cup likely spurred both teams on just a little as they played to impress. The impetus to win for the injury-laden Raffles Rugby team stemmed from their eight-year drought at this event, with this chip on their shoulder driving the stakes of this match up a notch.

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The afternoon began with a C Division matchup between both sides. The young Rafflesian C Division team’s defensive grit was tested early on, but the team showed not even a foible in their defense through their decisive stops. However, the Saints seemed unflappable  even with a wall of resolve in their faces, eventually muscling their way through to score their first try. At half time, Raffles was on the losing end. Although the Saints looked to seal the deal there and then, they met with strong resistance in the second half as our Rafflesians battled it out with all they had, culminating in a try which set us on course to making a comeback. Unfortunately, the Saints proved too strong an opponent, playing lockdown defense for most of the second half, and the C Division’s team suffered a 10 to 17 loss in full time, ending nearly 80 minutes of battle under the blazing afternoon sun.

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The intensity of the first match was merely the overture to the ensuing exhilarating A Division matchup. A narrow loss to the Saints just a year earlier had only stoked our home team’s desire to claim the Kiwi title, although our prospects were dampened by the unfortunate injuries of three key players prior to the match’s commencement. Offense was a focal point of the match, as both sides did not rest on their laurels when it came to gaining ground on their opponents’ half of the field. However, the highlight of the match was the Saints’ stellar run right around the Rafflesian defense, which put them up by five points early in the game. History seemed about to repeat itself as our team was trailing ten to three before half time. Having said that, all was not lost as Raffles began to gain momentum and closed in on the Saints after Raffles’ Park Chang Kyu converted a couple of penalties. As time trickled on, Raffles was still searching for their first try which eventually came from Keith Tay after a series of scrums, giving Raffles only a three point deficit to catch up on. The second half proved to be an agonisingly slow one with as the stakes grew with each minute. Eventually, the Saints began gaining ground, with a penalty to bolster their morale, leaving the home team without any points in the second half. The match ultimately ended with a final score of 10 to 16, in favour of the Saints.

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The match ended in defeat for the short-handed home side and tears were shed, but only greater experience was gained, as the Rafflesian rugby team stood strong and fought hard throughout the course of the Kiwi Cup. Despite this loss, captain Shant Sin (15S03K) remains optimistic about the upcoming season. As he told us, “I am confident in my team making it all the way. No matter how tired we are, we do not stop fighting and give it all until the last whistle blow.” These words encapsulate the spirit of Raffles Rugby, and together with the players’ sturdy resolve and the passion they have for the game, exemplify rugby’s title as the sport of heaven.

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As Raffles Rugby heads into another season of intense matchups, Shant believes that his team will only grow and develop with every match they play, with camaraderie being the center of all things. With our rugby team’s unparalleled commitment to the sport and their chemistry as a unit, let us all wish them the best; may this year truly be a great year for rugby!