Changi Compost

It may be difficult to envisage compost heaps at a future Changi airport but the notion is not as far fetched as some make think.

No content with wrapping their sushi in nori, the Japanese are now working on plans with Europeans to use the green stuff to save more 'green stuff' - money.

According to those who follow developments in aviation, a seaweed-powered space-liner will be able to fly from London to Tokyo in two-and-a-half hours, at a cruising altitude of 20 miles and generating no significant pollution.  The time frame is by 2050.

The Zehst - or "Zero emission hypersonic transportation" pictured left will fly twice as fast and twice as high as Concorde if all goes to plan. The technology remains largely secret as one might expect with such a radical development but the two large blue tanks in the illustration suggest a bio-gas component.

I am not sure that this is so reassuring, given that the current gas tanks of the on board toilets always seem to fail or block on a long flight.

Meanwhile in a small apartment in Tanjong Pagar a Singaporean enthusiast is tackling history at the opposite end of the time continuum.

Calvin Chu collects fossils and has an abiding passion for dinosaurs.  According to the media article, Calvin also has a degree of secrecy around his pet project:

"Just like actual dinosaur remains, the study in Chu’s apartment where the fossils are kept is not easily found. It is hidden behind three large bookcases, and revealed only by pulling out the middle one, which acts like a door to the study"

Hopefully the 2014 opening of the new Natural History Museum at NUS will allow him to indulge in his passion more openly.

And, as most of the 335 kinds of dinosaurs ate plants its a sure fire bet that at least some were partial to seaweed. Given the gas that apparently produces maybe global warming isn't such a recent phenomenon after all.

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The Ides of..May?

Image via Wikipedia

Tanjong Pagar

So May 7th it is.

Finally the date for the Singapore election has been announced, not that we would have got excited if still living in Queenstown, as the Ang Mo Kio, Tanjong Pagar and Sembawang GRCs are unlikely to be contested by the opposition.

Tanjong Pagar was our electorate and one of the more effective MP's was Indranee Rajah,  whom I note is standing again.

MM Lee Kuan Yew is the senior man in the electorate so it would not be surprising if there is no contest.

Despite turning 88 in September M.M. has said : "I'm happy to be still representing Tanjong Pagar."

Elsewhere though this election promises to be far more interesting, with a lot more professional people being attracted to opposition parties than in previous years.

East Coast, Aljunied, Moulmein-Kallang, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Tampines are reportedly amongst those electorates that will be tightly contested.

After Nomination Day on Wednesday April 27th candidates and parties will commence their duelling  and this will continue for the following nine days, the minimum period allowed by law.

While there won't be much time for fancy rhetoric on the hustings I predict that social media will be playing a big part in swaying public opinion.

The sanctioned mainstream media are already sounding a note of caution (should that be a warning?) that parties "must not descend into character assassination, mud-slinging, falsehoods and scare tactics".

One would hope that such statement in the Today newspaper is not a prelude to a string of litigation designed to intimidate.  Politics by its very nature must be robust and challenging.  Who determines what is a "scare tactic" and what is not?

My hope is that Singaporeans don't adopt the approach of change for changes sake.  An effective opposition with more representation in the Parliament would probably be a good thing to maintain a certain level of dynamic 'tension' and focus. 

Just so long as this is achieved without derailing the real and sustained progress that the country has made these past decades.  I wish them well in their decision making.

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Thinking Strategically

Yesterday the Singaporean PM and his Malaysian counterpart signed an important agreement.
 

Since the separation from Malaysia more than forty years ago that country has retained a sovereign presence in the heart of Singapore.  They own the Railway station and track that snakes its way through Singapore.  It is still gazetted as the Johor Bahru station in Malaysia

When Mathatir was in power his jaundiced view of Singapore and the world meant that this was never going to be resolved.  I am anticipating he will snipe away from the sidelines about this agreement and try to stir up trouble.

What was demonstrated yesterday was political maturity and  willingness to compromise for the benefit of all parties.

There will be a new railway terminus at Woodlands and the equally good news is that the rather charming (if somewhat dilapidated) railway station at Tanjong Pagar will be retained and conserved as a heritage building.  A new rapid transit system will link Singapore and Johor Bahru by 2018.

On the same day it was announced by Lee Hsien Loong that the water treatment station at Sungei in JB will be returned to the Malaysians when its lease runs out next year.

In the 1960's Singapore lived under constant threats of having their water supply cut off but latter developments such as the Marina Bay barrage and technologies such as NeWater treatment have largely negated this threat of such political blackmail.  The reliance on Sungei is not what it once was.

Singapore plans strategically for its longevity as a nation.  Having no natural resources of its own, other than people, it is reliant on others for the basics of life such as food and water.  Having largely addressed the water issue it also looks to broaden the supply chain for its food supply.

It has plans to invest heavily in a large faming and food processing food zone in North East China and if this comes to pass much of its meat and vegetables will come from this source in the future.

This development is only in the study phase but if it comes to pass fifteen years from now Singapore will no longer be beholden to volatile countries such as Indonesia for its meat supply.