how come?

1HOWCOME APRIL 3, 2009

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THIS LONELY PLANETLEAVING OUR FOOTPRINT ON THE WORLD FOR THE WRONG REASON

How we are contributing to the carbon count

FEATURE ARTICLEA SINGAPORE HERITAGEDiscover a resplendent, living history right behind the cloistered walls of Chijmes

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THE WORLD AND IWHAT HAS GLOBALIZATION GOT TO DO WITH ME?

Know your role and play an active part in the world today

IN A SNAPSHOTDIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Experience the sights and sounds as we bring you through the streets of Israel

HOW COME EDITORS:

CHIIANG WEI LIANGCHUANG BING HAN

A monthly magazine produced byCHIJ ST JOSEPH CONVENT

It is mailed free for all O-Level students.The magazine will feature articles on History,

Geography and Social Studies.

2 HOWCOME APRIL 3, 2009

Leaving Our Footprint on the World for the Wrong Reason?Do you notice that you leave footprints on the beach as you walk across the sand? No matter how llightly we move, we disturb the environment we exist in and leave a print. Similarly, our every day actions also leave a footprint on our environment. How big is YOUR footprint?

BY LIANTZE TAN

Some people consume more and leave a bigger footprint

than others who may consume less and produce less impact on their environment. Some countries, like Singapore, depend greatly on other countries for resources by import-ing food, water, fossil fuel, timber

and other manufactured products from our neighbors and the world.

By doing so, we leave a big foot-print on the world as we leave our mark on all the countries where our products and resources come from.

As a wealthy global city, we also consume more and demand more from the global environment in other parts of the world which pro-duces the goods and products we consume. Wonder where your iPod and Nokia phones come from?

In order to measure how big our foot-print is on the world, scientists use a tool called Ecological Footprint analysis to estimate how much pro-ductive land area we use to provide for the resource we consume and to absorb the waste we produce. A country’s footprint also depends on how big its population is and the

average footprint of its residents. In 2008, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a Living Planet Report which estimated that Sin-gaporeans need 4.2 hectares (42

000 metres) of land each! That would mean that the 4.8 million population in Singapore today would require 285 islands the size of Singapore in order to support our current rate of consumption!

This amount of land and resources we need is spread out around the

world to supply our island state to meet our demands In Singa-pore, our French beans come from Kenya, chicken from Brazil, Playstation 3 from Japan, Nutella

FOOTPRINTS: THINGS THAT WE DO CONTRIB-UTE TO THE CARBON COUNT

THIS LONELY PLANET


from Italy, ice cream from Europe, salmon from Canada and almost all our electronics from China. Even something as insignificant as toilet paper that we use can be coming to us direct from the virgin primary rainforests of Indonesia.

Compared to our other East and Southeast Asian neighbors, Singa-pore has one of the biggest eco-logical footprint in the region. How-ever, ¾ of Singapore’s footprint is from our huge carbon footprint.

In fact, Singapore was on the top five countries in the world for high-est carbon emissions per persons in the country. This is mainly due to our huge oil refinery and petro-

chemical industry (we are the 3rd largest oil refinery industry in the world) and thus the government has often protested that this is not a fair representation of the country as we do not actually consume this oil but most of it is later exported.

Should Singaporeans be made responsible for the island’s high carbon emission which they did not contribute through their daily actions but gain from its wealth and economic success? How should we justify our emissions?

In our world today, if we continue to consume at the same rate, we would need 1.3 Planet Earths to support the world’s population of 6.7 billion people. The planet can no longer catch up with our demands.

As the new President of the Unit-ed States of America, Barack Obama said, “our time for change has come”. In this era of respon-sibility, we can all make a differ-

ence in reducing our footprints. You can do even more to reduce climate change by encouraging others to follow your example.

Also, in today’s consumer-driven so-ciety, every purchasing decision you make influences the manufacturerand retailer, so buy green prod-

ucts and support businesses that are trying to reduce their car-bon footprints. ou might decide it is time to get more involvedin political campaigning. Lobby for a climate change policy at school or join a campaigning environmen-tal group.

See how you can calculate your 1. individual carbon footprint at:http://sp.sg/greenreport2007/mov-ing_forward_channels_calculator.htmlhttp://www.myfootprint.org/

2. school’s carbon footprint at:http:/ /www.earthteam.net/ac-tion_month/images/DriveNeutral%20Total%20Emissions%20Calculator%20-%20SchoolNeutral%200.92b.xls

People sometimes say they feel powerless to do anything about climate change: how can one per-son make a difference?

Make your voice heard. You can do this simply by refus-ing to buy products or pa-

tronise businesses you know to be environmentally unfriendly!

Even though each action on its own may only have a small impact, the sum of lots of actions by lots of people can make a real differences. Let’s start today! HC


FEATURED ARTICLE


Everything Old is New Again

A SINGAPORE HERITAGE

Chijmes. A historic building complex, which began life as a Catholic convent is now a S$100 million project unmatched for its location and unique ambience.

BY CHIANG WEI LIANG

That day was in October 1852, four French nuns arrived in Pen-

ang after having travelled overland from their native country in cara-vans. Reverend Mother Mathilde Raclot, leader of this group, was to become a key personality in the early history of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus on Victoria Street.

From Penang, the nuns sailed to Singapore on a mission to build a Convent, which is now known as CHIJ Secondary Toa Payoh. At the beginning of 1854, CHIJ Secondary Toa Payoh was the first CHIJ school built. It was lo-cated at Victoria Street, but was then moved to a site in Toa Payoh.

On 5 February 1854, they reached the island’s shores and took up res-idence at the first convent quarters, the now gazetted Caldwell House. The house had been purchased for the convent by Father Jean-Marie Beurel, a French missionary, who also established Saint Joseph’s In-stitution, the former site of which is

now the Singapore Art Museum, and the Cathedral of the Good Shep-herd, where he was the parish priest.Caldwell House was designed by George Drumgoole Coleman, and is an example of his Neoclassi-cal style. The bay on the upper floor became the sisters’ lounge.The nuns began taking in pu-pils only ten days after moving in.

Reverend Mother Mathilde staffed her school with sisters from the parent Society, the Institute of the Charitable Schools of the Holy Infant Jesus of Saint Maur. She dedicated 20 years of her life turn-ing the convent into a school, an orphanage and refuge for women.

Two classes were conducted, one for fee-paying students and another for orphans and the poor. Slowly, the nuns managed to restore the house into a simple but austere residence.

Father Beurel acquired all the nine lots of land between Victoria Street and North Bridge Road, originally

EVENING GLOW: CHIJMES BASKING IN RAYS OF MARIGOLD


belonging to the Raffles Institution, that would constitute the entire convent complex. He presented them all to Reverend Mother Ma-thilde. After being granted land in 1849 for the formation of Saint Jo-seph’s Institution, Father Charles Benedict Nain, a priest at Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, tried his luck once more for the building of a school for girls.

He was refused but, undaunted and after returning re-inspired from his voyage to France in 1852, he was engaged as an architect for the construction of the chapel at the Convent of the Holy Infant Je-sus and, on behalf of the Roman Catholic community, was in charge at the same time of the construc-tion of the extension of the Saint Joseph Institution. The construc-tion of the chapel started in 1901 and it was completed by 1904.

Father Nain was highly involved in the worksite. He is the au-thor of all the fine architectur-al details found in the chapel.Much of the knowledge about the daily activities of the convent comes from seven volumes of di-aries that were meticulously kept by convent scribes. These diaries cover over a hundred years of con-vent history, from 1851 to 1971; they are handwritten in French and entitled Annales de Singapour.

From their observations, it is known that life within the convent walls was anything but sedate. Apart from daily chores, the nuns also had to organise and attend mass, grade papers, maintain the buildings and the grounds as well as raise money to support their activities.

Saint Nicholas Girls’ School was established in 1933. The school first held classes in the

The last religious service was held in the chapel on 3 November 1983, After almost five and a half years of conservation and construction work, what was the Convent has been converted into a plaza of theme re-tail and food and beverage outlets interspersed with ample outdoor spaces and courtyards, cloistered walls and long, covered walkways.

Now known as CHIJMES, it is a S$100 million project unmatched for its location and unique ambiance. It won a Merit Award in the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for Cul-tural Heritage Conservation in 2002.The Convent of the Holy In-fant Jesus Chapel and Caldwell House were gazetted as a national monument on 26 October 1990.

Given its city location, rich history, unique ambience and splendid ar-chitectural style, the venue has succeeded in attracting premier F&B establishments to be a part of the Chijmes experience, offering diners and patrons an extensive selection of dining choices rang-ing from local to international fare.

Connoisseurs who can also look forward to specialty cocktails, malt whiskeys, a range of vodkas and fine wines offered by the pubs and bars at Chijmes.

Working closely with the tenants, twe are been planning the open spaces and courtyard areas as the backdrop for musicals and theatri-cal performances. Which of you will win the crown then, this year!

Be it dining or chilling out at the restaurants, cafes, wine bars and nightspots, or an intimate walk along the open courtyards and lawns - a myriad of pleasant expe-riences await you at Chijmes! HC

A STROLL BACK IN TIME: ARCHITEC-TUAL DESIGN (top), A FULL HOUSE AT CHIJMES (second from top), A STAIRWELL IN CHIJMES (bottom)

four old bungalows which formed the Hotel Van Wijk of the 1890s.

It later moved into its new premises at the town convent in 1949 when the school was incorporated in the con-vent grounds. The school has since relocated to Ang Mo Kio in 1985.


What do you know about the issues that go on between Israel and Pales-tine? Claudia Tong takes a trip down the streets of Israel to see for herself, and things are not as they seem through news reports or history books.Complications set in as she experiences the places, people and culture. Claudia recounts …

Recently, I took a trip to Israel. Setting foot in the Holy Land brought stunning revelations,

debunked preconceptions and opened my eyes to the multi-dimensional com-plexities of the crisis. After talking to disgruntled parties on all sides, it be-came clearer to me that the issue is really one of homeland – a deep yearn-ing for a place to belong, to feel secure and to raise future generations. Under-standing the basic facts involved is a challenge in itself… for a start… This is a holy land for all three mono-theistic religions. For Christians, it is the site of Jesus’ birth, his teachings and death. For Muslims, who also hon-

DifferentPerspectives

our Jesus as a prophet, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the ho-liest places in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Jerusalem is also the site of the Jewish temple, whose only remains are the Western (or Wailing) Wall. This land is sacred to so many that its vola-tility increases exponentially.

For centuries, people have lived side-by-side in a fragile peace that has been maintained through a series of negotia-tions, giving and taking, but not always working out successfully. With the newly elected Israeli government, who has made clear a hard-line approach, further explosive outbreaks seem in-

HOWCOME APRIL 3, 2009 7

In a Snapshot

BY CLAUDIA TONG


in Tel Aviv and in greater Jerusalem. Kosher food is similar to halal, but for Jews. However, there are differences. Food that is certified kosher is deemed appropriate for Jews, having passed strict laws on dietary restrictions. Such restrictions include no pork; dairy and meat cannot mix; fruit and vegetables cannot be consumed from plants until they are more than four years of age, and not to be consumed in the seventh year that the tree or plant has lived.

While there, I traveled in Israel and the West Bank, which is nominally under Palestinian Authority. Between these two regions is a ‘security wall’, which symbolizes the divisions between these people. In addition, whether in Israel or the West Bank, the Israeli military con-stantly make people go through secu-rity checks, which often seem to have little to do with security and more to do with making life difficult for Palestin-ians. In such an atmosphere, paranoia and suspicion prevail.

I saw many divisions within both Israel and Palestine. Among the Palestinians, there are the moderate Sunni Muslims; the more conservative Wahhabis; sup-porters of the militant extremist Pales-tinian government in Gaza – HAMAS;

evitable. The ultra-rightwing Jews seem bent on establishing the Third Temple, on the original foundations of the First and Second Temple in Jeru-salem. This almost spells Armageddon as the revered Dome of the Rock sits on the same grounds today. The con-sequence is unimaginable as we also recall the fairly influential and united Arab brotherhood – The Arab League, and their Muslim brothers worldwide, who would certainly rise in arms in the defence of one of their holiest sites.

The Middle East is a mosaic of groups, each with its own concerns. The place is complex – Arab Muslims, Arab Chris-tians, European Jews, Black Jews, and so many other people I lost count. This variety threw my preconceived notions of only Israeli Jews and Muslim Arabs out the window. In Nazareth, I even at-tended Catholic mass in Arabic!

One thing that did unite people was the excellent food. Almost everyone loved to eat hummus – which is ground up chickpeas with olive oil and garlic mixed in – and falafels – which is fried hummus. Combined with excellent meat kebabs, the food was amazing. Amidst all this food were also kosher restaurants that dot Jewish quarters

HOWCOME APRIL 3, 20098

ISRAEL ON FILM: (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)THE WAILING WALL; ONE OF THE HOLI-EST SITES OF ISLAM, THE DOME OF THE ROCK; KOSHER FOOD; THE SECURITY WALL


and even supporters of Fatah – a mod-erate Palestinian group who rule the West Bank. Among the Israelis I met, there were migrants from all over the world, ranging from Europe, Russia, and Argentina. Many of these people were moderate, but there were also ultra-Orthodox Jews (one of whom as-sassinated former Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin in 1995) who insisted on developing more Jewish settlements in Islamic communities in the West Bank. In other words, there were many peo-ple, and many different perspectives.

I saw vigilantly patrolled security bor-ders between Palestinian Territories and Israel. Along these borders, I ob-served Palestinians stranded at bor-ders (mothers with babies included) be-cause they did not possess the correct identity card, and even Israeli Arabs were forbidden to travel in other parts of the country where they are citizens. These borders, and the limited number of roads Palestinians are allowed to travel on, create huge inconveniences in the West Bank. I met a man who was traveling to visit relatives in Gaza from the West Bank. He had to take a roundabout route crossing Jordan and Egypt, which would take days, when a direct route would take only about four

hours! On the other side of the border, my experience with Israelis was one of constant alert to possible Palestin-ian rocket attacks, and the possibility of military confrontation with Gaza… of which one occurred the day after I left Israel.

My venture into Israel was with an open mind, but with sympathies to the Jew-ish cause, especially after extensive exposure to the Holocaust accounts and centuries of persecution that Jews the world over have faced, in the course of my studies in History, visits to concentration camps in Auschwitz and Dachau, and via media influence in epic World War Two movies like Life is Beautiful, Schindler’s List and Defi-ance.

I recall a conversation with a Nass-er (*not his real name), a Palestinian Christian in Bethlehem, whose family had lived in the Holy Land for genera-tions, but since the creation of Israel in 1948, has been split due to redrawn borders, and travel restrictions. His sister-in-law had to choose whether to remain with his brother in Bethlehem, or to be with her family in Ramallah, because the recently erected secu-rity wall cut off communication links.

Nasser was one of just a few thousand who, since 1948, had been granted special travel documents, but most are not so fortunate. His uncle had lost the family home and cultivated farmland that was forcibly seized by the Israeli soldiers when the government decid-ed that a Jewish settlement was to be built. The poor man soon died, more of heartbreak than anything else.

My suggestion seems so child-like and silly in hindsight – why not leave for greener pastures, to a place where they can start afresh? Anyway, many countries did offer asylum and citizen-ship to displaced Palestinians. “This is home, if we don’t stay to de-fend our home, who will?” The asser-tion was firm and resolute, a defining moment for me.

In Nazareth, I stayed in a guesthouse, which was hosting a youth friendship exchange between Israelis and Pales-tinians. Amidst the merriment, a 20-year-old Jamal (*not real name) shared with me his skepticism over a better life. He was an Israeli Muslim, one of a small handful of Muslims still living in Israeli territory. He was determined to carve a life for himself in America, never to return to Israel. He hated it

HOWCOME APRIL 3, 2009 9


- he hated the constant fear of an at-tack, of losing someone or something he cherished. He was conscientiously trying to learn the English Language, and pick up useful trades like hair-dressing and guiding tourists, to help him find gainful employment when he left his home. He even spoke some basic Mandarin with me.

This was in contrast to the seeming-ly flippant attitude of a free-spirited young lady, who casually mentioned that despite living less than an hour away, she had never set foot into Bethlehem, simply because it was a hassle. This struck me as bizarre, as Bethlehem is one of the top sites to visit. However, I understood when I attempted the journey there – having to search for a special Arab-operated bus, which could bring us into Bethle-hem – Palestinian territory. No Jew-ish bus service operated the route. As such, the bus only contained Arabs. This experience was mirrored in my excursion to Jericho, which had so many refugee camps which have be-come almost permanent, given the in-ability of the United Nations to reach a reasonable settlement for these dis-placed Palestinians.

Many people call the land on which Israel stands, home. It is a beauti-ful, historical and spiritual land by all accounts. This land is considered the birthright of the Jewish people – whereby all Jews from anywhere in the world, can claim their rightful stake in this Holy Land, simply by applying for it, with a possible interview. Jewish settlements are springing up rapidly

talism and recourse to violence. 2007 saw the HAMAS party, which is an extremist terrorist organization which wants to see the annihilation of Israel, voted into government in the Gaza. Early February 2009 saw the new hard-line Israeli government coming into power. This combined news implies harsher measures and tougher times for all, auguring gloom in the future.

Is a solution possible in such a trou-bled region that will satisfy everyone? In such a region, it seems impossible. As outsiders, the different opinions and perspectives can be confusing. But, it can also allow us to see both sides. Perhaps, the solution should be-gin with a respect for diversity, one that allows every colour and creed to travel freely in the area, sans walls and travel restrictions, which serve to divide not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. HC

and all over the land, to the extent of encroachment on Palestinian territory.

This has incurred the wrath of the Pal-estinians, who have already had to deal with being unceremoniously oust-ed from their homeland since Israel was created, and pushed into the West Bank and Gaza strip, which constitute only 20% of their original land. I have heard accounts of some of these new settlers being fiercely protective and defensive of their new home, albeit taken at the expense of a Palestinian family. They would fight to the death to keep the land, even if the Israeli author-ity orders their evacuation, threatening them with bull-dozers. When does the tit for tat end? Who has the right to call this ‘home’ anyway?

Unfortunately, the events of the last 2 years seem to set back the peace pro-cess, with steps back into fundamen-

HOWCOME APRIL 3, 200910

RADICALLY DIFFERENT:(CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT)

HAMAS;THE SHEPHERD’S FIELD;

A FREE-SPRITED YOUNG LADY


What Has Globalization Got To Do with Me?By Madeline Dzalgen

Globalization seems to be ev-erywhere these days. Global economic crunch. Obama as

the hippest U.S president. Iceland bankrupted. Singaporeans increas-ingly ‘globalized’ and wanting to go overseas. But what has globalization got to do with me if I am just staying in Singapore? Sometimes in my wild-est imagination, I expect someone to shove my passport into my face and say “You Singaporean, go out there and make your international-friendly passport useful! Get some ‘chops’!”

Globalization is a complicated on-go-ing process. It encompasses events as well as processes that affect the socio-economic, cultural and environ-mental aspects of countries that are trading and exchanging ideas. Some

globalizing countries also experience some form of migration of its peoples to other parts of the world and their migration traffic is getting higher and higher. China and India are currently facing their own ‘brain-drain’ as their talented citizens go for greener pas-tures elsewhere.

Back to my passport fantasy. Singa-pore is actually pretty well-known for its passport. That is perhaps one of the motivating reasons for Gong Li to become Singaporean after mar-rying Singaporean Ooi Hoe Soeng. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) passport still faces more constraints than the Singapore passport in terms of international travels. Perhaps this signals Singapore’s higher ‘global po-sition’ with about 9,500 PRCs becom-

ing Singaporean citizens in the last few years.

With this kind of ease in traveling, Singaporeans are increasing travel-ling overseas for work and play. Such travels often allow us to look at places and people from a fresh new angle. It also gets us to look at Singapore dif-ferently.

Most people I know love to compare the rich cultures from China and Eu-rope, which had histories dating from hundreds if not thousands of years to the middle-aged forty-three year-old Singapore. Others will see the won-ders of a strong environmental-friendly culture in Japan and Korea and lament the lack of recycling efforts in Singa-pore. Some will simply state that Bukit

The World and I


Though globalization seems like a dis-tant thing, it has influences in many countries today due to the increasing dependencies countries have with one another at the economic and even so-cial level. Many middle class Singapor-ean families with an elderly parent or dependents like babies and toddlers will probably have a foreign helper aka the maid in tow whenever they pack themselves out for a family outing. Given work demands on parents with growing families, it is not unusual to have a foreign helper staying in to as-sist in housework.

Many times, these foreigners become like an extended part of the family they work for. They represent how labour moves between countries. Filipinas in particular would have gone to Hong Kong or even Canada before with each of their contracts. They would like to watch American sitcoms and baby-sit children via Western methods yet know how to cook Chinese tonic soup for their employers when the occasion calls for. Something we do not actively think about is these maids’ families. Some villages in the Philippines have birth rates of less than 1.4 because many of their women are working overseas. What helps boost birth rate in Singapore is causing it to fall else-where.

On a final note, the amazing processes in globalization tend to link seemingly unrelated events together. Obama’s presidential win could just be an Ameri-ca thing but it has made a sixteen year-old student I know feel he can speak better to crowds because he draws inspiration from Obama’s speeches off American news websites. HC

“GLOBALIZATION?

An English PRINCESS DianaWith an Egyptian BoyfriendCrashes in French TunnelDrivin in a German CarWith a Dutch EngineDriven by a dead drunk BelgianOn Scottish WhiskeyFollowed closely by an Italian pa-parazzi,ON Japanese motobikeTreated by an Americano DOCTORUSING Brazilian MedicinesYou receive this informationfrom an Indian AmericanReading on your computer that uses Taiwanese Chips,And a Korean MonitorIn a Chinese plant in SingpaoreTransported by Indian truck driversHijacked by Sicilian LongshremenAnd trucked to you by Mexican bor-der crossers

Thanks Globalisationyour time has come to stay

SINGAPORE & GLOBALISATION(LEFT TO RIGHT):BUKIT TIMAH HILL; YA KUN TOAST

”

Timah Hill is a dirt hill compared to the Mount Everest Base Camp. Such com-parisons would not have been possible if these Singaporeans had not travelled and map out the comparisons between Singapore and these places.

The other unavoidable thing about glo-balization in Singapore is that our very existence is tied up in the processes that go across the globe. Let’s start with our breakfast. In fact, let’s look at Ya Kun’s kaya toast set. Two soft-boiled eggs, a cup of coffee, two nicely toasted stacks of brown-colored bread with kaya spread and thin slices of but-ter.

This breakfast set will not be possible without its Malaysian ingredients. This Singaporean dish is actually a mas-querading Malaysian. Singaporeans generate demand for food products like eggs and vegetables from Malay-sia, frozen chicken from Brazil, fragrant rice from Thailand and Vietnam, red dates and seasonal fruits and vegeta-bles from China, Australia and abalo-nes from New Zealand. Even persim-mons from Israel and fresh blueberries from the United States reach our su-permarket shelves.

Singaporeans’ existence as consum-ers with relatively high disposable in-comes basically set into motion trading across countries that are increasingly becoming more reliant on selling their products to countries like Singapore. This supports foreign trade and brings in revenue for the exporting country. Some of these food-producing indus-tries probably took up loans from vari-ous international banks to fund their production and their marketing is done at a global level. Think Nestle.

how come?

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