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That's what Bernard calls the project. The truth be told, he played a part in convincing me that this is a project worth pursuing. But it is "new" not because it is a new version of the old "From a Singapore Angle", but because it is a new work altogether (albeit one that has its beginnings in the old site--long time readers of the old site should be able to perceive the connecting threads). And qua "new", one can be sure that various bugs (both technical and inter-personal) remain to be resolved in the days and weeks to come.
Most of the writers who (will) contribute here should need no introduction. Some have already achieved fame on their own. Our individual motivations for casting our lot in the project--I am sure--are as varied as our choice of monikers. But (if I may hazard a divination of a mood) each is drawn by the possibility of reasoned discourse and civil discussion on matters to do with Singapore.
The possibility of reasoned discourse and civil discussion does not imply a deep agreement on every substantial matter. It is in fact largely consistent with the many disagreements that we are bound to have over substantive issues. Nor, I should emphasize, does the possibility of reasoned discourse and civil discussion given the fact of deep-seated disagreements over substantial issues suggest that the matters about which people disagree must somehow be of less than the utmost seriousness. In some cases, they might well be among our most cherished values and irreducible parts of what make up our personal identities.
The question is--as fellow citizens--whether these disagreements need stand in the way of fruitful exchange and profitable debate, and whether, in our sincere desire to convince others of the cogency of our positions or persuade them to take up the attitudes so favoured by us, we respect their status as persons to whom we owe, in the first instance, reasons rather than blows.
Even if, at the end of the day, we walk away more convinced of the rightness of our own positions and the wrongness of the opponent view, the hope is that we can now say that we have seen the other side and have, after conscientious consideration, found it wanting of reason, that ours is no longer an opinion held merely for lack of an awareness of alternatives or possible objections, but a conviction that survived an encounter with those who, having given it due consideration, think otherwise.
If something of the above can be achieved ever so often, then our discussions would not have been in vain. If by our meager examples others may come to appreciate the profit from an orderly exchange of ideas, and yet others of better heart and mind may deign to come forward with superior reason and more eloquent speech, then this site would have done its modest part in contributing to the ongoing cultivation of a thoughtful democratic citizenry in Singapore.
The possibility of reasonable disagreement, discussion and debate within the context of a democratic society divided upon various weighty issues--and beyond that, the possibility of peaceful coexistence, mutual advantage and the pursuit of a common good. These are themes to which I will return. The above can only be said to be a statement of intention rather than an argument.
But let me conclude with a story that prefaced an earlier version of the earlier site since, once again, it seems apposite for the present endeavor. The reader is asked to draw his or her own conclusions:
Once upon a time, when tidings came to the city of Corinth that King Philip...was coming with an army to lay siege to the city; the Corinthians, being stricken with great fear, began busily and earnestly to look about them and to fall to work...Their labor was seen by Diogenes the philosopher, who, having no profitable work that he could help with, immediatly girded about him his philosophical cloak, and began to roll and tumble his great barrel or tub (in which he dwelled--for he would not live elsewhere) up and down upon the hillside that lies adjoining to the city...One of his friends, seeing this...came and asked him: why are you doing this?...I am tumbling my tub, Diogenes said, because there is no reason that I alone should be idle when so many are toiling...
(Modified from the preface of Ralph Robinson's 1516 English Translation of Thomas More's Utopia)
