As a matter of full disclosure: I, too, will not be able to vote in Marine Parade GRC.
However, I would be offended if the writer is implying that most Singaporeans are unthinking when it comes to assessing the suitability of political candidates to represent them.
From my observations, the support that Ms Nicole Seah has received thus far has been mainly on her own merit.
Ms Seah has been successful in demonstrating her honesty and reliability in offline interactions with friends, colleagues and ordinary Singaporeans prior to her foray into politics. This is evident from the high regard which people hold Ms Seah in when they narrate anecdotes about her principled personal beliefs and professional work ethos.
Furthermore, recent videos of Ms Seah speaking in interviews have been circulating on social media networks. Her intelligence, clarity and persuasion in these videos have been critical in convincing Singaporeans that Ms Seah is a credible candidate.
In light of these two key factors, there is no logical reason why Ms Seah should not receive the support she has garnered. Likewise, there is no evidence to the contrary as to why Singaporeans should not look to Ms Seah for future political representation and leadership.
(Just to clarify that I’m neither a military nut nor a fanboy of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). I just have a keen interest in SAF-related issues for reasons I will not mention in public.)
I think the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has produced a good advertisement that makes use of the principles of literary technique to effectively communicate its message to the viewer.
The voiceover text, if you want to read it while the video is being played:
I am the wind.
On land, no blade of grass moves without me.
At sea, every rising wave is touched by me.
Wherever you are, I am high enough to see you
and strong enough to reach out to you
5
and place strength in your hand.
You may not always see me
but you will always feel me
for I am here
for a higher purpose.
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I won’t discuss the visual semiotics because that isn’t the point of my post.
However, I’ll carry out a bit of literary analysis on the first ‘two’ lines of the text to demonstrate some sense of its literary merit as well as articulate some of the ideas that the advertisement aims to convey to the viewer.
As the “I” in the text represents the entity that is the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), the “wind” is used as a symbol of the RSAF’s ‘invisibility’ (i.e. how it can operate without being detected by the enemy), its speed, its power, and its versatility at being able to be both strong yet gentle in different times of need.
On one level, the line “no blade of grass moves without me” is an image which evokes ideas of the RSAF’s power – the RSAF has the ability to influence “move[ment]”, especially in inanimate objects that would otherwise not move on their own.
However, if we also imagine the “blade of grass” to be a metaphor for the infantry soldier, which is a symbol of the Army, then the line is also meant to convey an idea of the superiority of the RSAF in the SAF’s war-fighting capabilities: it is at the forefront of military operations in terms of intelligence gathering efforts and attack manoeuvers, to say the least. {This is reinforced in the “sea” imagery used in line 3, which I will not discuss now for want of time/space.) At the same time, the combined image of objects “on land” and “at sea” moving with the assistance of the “wind” also conveys ideas of the interconnectedness of the three arms in war-fighting operations.
Okay, I know this is somewhat wankerish and some people might think I am stretching the limits of plausibility with my analysis, but do me a favour: assume that I am right for the time being.
Now that we’re all on the same page i.e. my analysis is right, what’s the significance of this advertisement in the larger scheme of things?
A well-wrought out advertisement like this can achieve many aims. Besides its primary aim of enticing people to sign on with the RSAF, the advertisement:
Instils a sense of national pride in the SAF, from the point of view of the citizenry, thereby increasing national confidence etc., and
Acts as one form of deterrence (among other deterrence strategies that the SAF uses) to ward off would-be aggressors, from an external point of view.
So one doesn’t need to know literary devices or techniques in order to consciously or unconsciously receive the implied messages that are sent to the recipient i.e. the person watching the advertisement.
But one would need to have some sense of literary technique in order to be able to create an advertisement as good as this one to achieve said aims I mentioned earlier.
And that, my friends, is another reason why there’s a point in learning literature as a point of departure toward doing other things in life.
P.S. I know I said I wouldn’t discuss the visual semiotics of the ad. But seriously – jogging girl is pretty cute.
WHILE it is gratifying to read that the Housing Board is reviewing the rule governing co-sharing of flats by siblings (‘HDB to review rule on siblings’; Jan 18), the HDB should also lower the age for flat ownership by single citizens by a decade to 25 years of age.
As Singaporeans adopt a more urbanised Western attitude, it would make sense to accommodate their obvious desire to live on their own.
Such a move should not be seen as a lack of filial concern for their parents. My two children do not live with me, yet we have healthy relationships.
Staying out enables young people to grow up and be more independent. It prepares them to be better partners and parents in the future.
Many parents in our Asian culture still mother their adult children and make decisions for them. Many even impose curfew hours for their single adult children when the latter are well into their early 30s.
We can encourage these young single people to get married by providing generous incentives when they upgrade their flats to get married.
Young adult citizens at an early stage of their careers form a large proportion of the group of Singaporeans who face the middle-income squeeze and they would certainly welcome assistance, given the stiff property prices.