in this seventieth episode of ventriloquy, i bring you a recording of a talk given by the president of the Nature Society of Singapore - Dr Geh Min - on how the littoral zone of Chek Jawa on Singapore's island of Pulau Ubin could be considered a case-study of the evolving relationship between government and civil society in Singapore.
i apologise in advance for the poor quality of recording, and Dr Geh (who is also a nominated Member of Singapore's Parliament) was speaking informally and not to a script, but i decided to share her talk with you nonetheless because, if you persevere and listen to the end of this 62-minute, 29.3 MB, episode, i feel strongly that you'll emerge with a better understanding of the various factors which shape not only the public-private partnership in Singapore, but also which have an influence on the ongoing debate between development and conservation, and thus, by extension, land-use planning.
Dr Geh was addressing a class of third-year geography undergraduate teacher-trainees at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, as part of their module on 'Resource and Environmental Management'.
Show notes:
- Opening remarks
- Discovery of Chek Jawa
- Early relations between government and civil society
- Issues of access
- Initial actions and reactions
- The role of the mass media
- Consulting the civil society organisations
- Dropping the bombshell
- The legacy of Chek Jawa
- Q & A
