I love dugongs

Tuesday

Tuesday was nothing short of a juxtaposition of various intellectual and emotional engagement. We went to visit the Peace Palace in the Hague, which houses the International Court of Justice, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (though it is technically neither 'permanent' nor a 'court'). Being exposed to the grandeur and symbolism of international law vis-a-vis the monuments and paintings gave me a sense of hope that despite the power struggles of nation-states in international relations, there is a plane that exists above the egotistical nature of Mankind, which could arbitrate and distribute justice for one and all. But then again, being a political science student, I know that justice and law sort of dissolve unto itself when it could be interpreted by powers and powers to be. The best example is probably America using the international law of pre-emptive defence against Iraq. So maybe the world is less than hopeful again.

Well, I thought the trip to the Hague was a serious and formal one, but in the free spirit of ASEF, the second half of the day was spent at a sun drenched beach which faces the North Sea. Imagine Surfers' Paradise in Brisbane, and then combine it with a cool temperature of about 20 degree celsius and a sun that sets at 11pm, and that would pretty much be the image of the beach at the Hague. The evening was completed with a italian dinner in a restaurant called Crazy Piano. I suppose it was not called 'crazy' for nothing, cos the pianist was really funky and cool in jazzing up the evening, with the bartenders doing some pseudo bar-top dancing on top of the piano.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a really long and tough day, cos we were presented with a case study that would be argued in a moot court competition. The purpose of the moot court was to introduce students to the technicalities and actual procedures of international law. My group was given the case of the land reclamation issue between Singapore and Malaysia which was contested under the Laws of the Seas. I was part of a 8-member Malaysian delegate to argue for provisional measures against Singapore. It was really tough for a political science student to put forth a case in the language of international laws, and strictly speaking, I felt that Malaysia did not really have a case to begin with (The case has already been resolved by an agreement of mutual cooperation). So in the end, our team's strategy was to use the enviromental issue and the human security issue as our main thrust of our legal arguments. It was really quite hilarious that we kept lambasting Singapore that the land reclamations in the straits of Johore are stressing the Malay Dugongs (or seacow, scientific name dugong dugon) and driving them to extinction, as well as depriving the fishermen of natural resources.

Thursday

Upon the completion of a really cut-and-paste 2000 word memorial, our team was finally ready to present our case to the judges, with Abram as one of the agents in the speech presentation. Somewhere along the line, the arguments went totally hilarious, as Fred - a PRC student who was defending Singapore - begin to argue for the rights of the fish instead of the rights of the fisherman. It was really funny to see Abram - a Dutch Mathematician- to plead for Malaysia and the plight of the dugongs, and Fred to plead for Singapore and fighting for the rights of fishes not to be eaten.

So that was pretty much about Thursday. I also went about checking out the modules for the next semester, and finding out from Prof Reuben if I can do his level 6000 module next sem on International Conflict and Security. I know it sounds kinda crazy to do a Phd module but I guess it is all done in the spirit of wanting to push my mental limits for the next semester, in order to minimize the many distractions in other areas of my life. Talking to so many passionate Masters students in the past 2 weeks just kinda gives you the mental edge and confidence to venture into uncharted academic boundaries. But I'm not sure if that is bordering on pride. Oh well, motives are always enmeshed and tangled up in everyday life.

So the pass three days have been pretty good. But sometimes, when days seem so perfect and nice, you could end up doing two things. First is that you wish that your friends and loved ones could experience it through your own lenses. Maybe that was how I felt when I was at the Hague, and did a 'Loren Cunningham at Taj Mahal move' (the founder of YWAM, I was reading his book Is That Really You God?) and said a little prayer.

Secondly, is that you begin to take a stand back from reality, and tell yourself that this isn't really where you belong, despite the reality of it all. You begin to take upon a strange gaze at the moment-by-moment reality of the people around you and try to ask yourself at which interstices of life do you really find a sense of identity and meaning in it. Perhaps that was how I felt while enjoying the company of really good friends in the past two weeks.

I don't know, I think 'identity' is such a powerful tool in self-determination. Despite all these talks about individualism in liberal Europe, I still find that my identity can only be defined in terms of my relationship with other people around me; i.e Asians and Singaporeans. Not that I've anything against the Europeans (I really like them), but I'm taking a more empathetic view to Singapore these days, and maybe even my government, because I've come to realize that there are many inherent structural and social problems even in social democracies such as Sweden. I guess if there is any take away lesson in this exchange, is that I'm probably coming home with a more acute sense of what it means to be a citizen, a Singaporean, a global citizen, and a global christian. Perhaps I've used to look at the West and identify their way of democracy as a powerful institution in granting citizen identity and self determination. But I realize that I've been looking at them through the lenses of a holiday traveller. So probably many of us find our sense of 'identity' and 'meaning' in migrating to these western countries, but maybe 'true' identity and meaning comes from staying in the place that we are highly critical of, and then participating in the 'change' (maybe in social injustice or other forms of obstacles to self determination) that we want to see.