I'm glad there's an ST commentary today (1 Sept) on the water issue. It amplifies points I made yesterday. Here are excerpts from the article "Once an albatross, now soft power" by NUS academic Heng Yee Kuang (ST, page A38):
As The Straits Times' editor Han Fook Kwang and his team wrote in the book Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going: "Singapore's dependence on Malaysia for its water was for decades the most tangible symbol of the island's vulnerability."
The development of Newater was a turning point that former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew mentioned with satisfaction in interviews for the book. As Mr Lee put it: "I lived with the stress of water from day one until Newater."...
... Former foreign minister S. Jayakumar recounted how Mr Lee viewed water as an existential challenge, that "if these chaps (the Malaysians) do not observe the agreements, it will be a very serious matter for us... it is a matter of life and death... it can lead to war... You will have to bring it up at the United Nations Security Council..."
... [Mr Lee] pointedly noted that Singapore was compelled to confront this veritable albatross around its neck: "Why do you think we spent all this effort to solve our water problem until we became specialists in water?"
Unwittingly or not, however, the country has, in the process of becoming water specialists, turned adversity into latent "soft" power opportunities. Harvard professor Joseph Nye observed that countries can play a leading role using "soft" power to address global problems such as climate change and ageing.
... By playing its cards right, Singapore can play a similar role, turning its water expertise into attractive soft power assets in a water-scarce world.
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I think the writer's use of the "albatross around the neck" analogy is intriguing. He was obviously referring to a difficult to grasp but eventually favourite epic poem from my school days: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Many of us are familiar with this oft-quoted portion from Part Two (there are seven parts in this very long poem):
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
A link to the poem is here:
http://www.online-literature.com/coleridge/646/
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Last but not least, here's good news, sort of, for chocolate munchers.
A large-scale study has deemed that chocolate may be good for the heart! It does not even have to be dark chocs; the white and milk varieties will do too. But here's the catch: Just two squares a week!
The study -- a review of seven studies involving more than 100,000 people -- is published online by the prestigious British Medical Journal. The study's team concluded that the "highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37 per cent reduction in stroke compared with lowest levels".
The authors were, however, cautious about the results. They added the caveat that the possible benefits should be further explored (I volunteer!), including ways to reduce the fat and sugar content of chocolate. Here's the Independent Online's piece on it:
http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/take-two-squares-of-chocolate-a-week-1.1128946
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