Whether you are aware of it or not, I am presently studying for a Masters in Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. It is indeed a fine school named after the present Minister Mentor who was Prime Minister of Singapore for over a quarter of a century, and whose influence extended long before and after that. The school itself is one of the most preeminent public policy schools in the world - it has been modelled on Harvard's Kennedy School of Governance and is the only Asian member of the GPPN, the Global Public Policy Network. Its present dean is Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean Ambassador to the United Nations and author of the books Can Asians Think? and A New Asian Hemisphere. Other notable academics at the school include Ann Florini, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and author of The Coming Democracy and also Charles Adams, who has worked on Asia Pacific Issues for the IMF for over 30 years.
Singapore has it peculiarities and as such has the school. In an effort to inspire students and portray the campus as a seat of learning, the school has decided during the summer months to erect large quotes on the walls of the Li Ka Shing Building. These quotes are by famous people from numerous backgrounds and each is attempting to inspire, remind and soothe the student of public policy in reaching their goal.
What I will attempt in the following Blog posts is to examine each quotes individually and appraise what consequences it has for public policy and whether it is an appropiate quote to erect and why. Of course this is and always will be my personal opinion but it may allow for some illuminating and humourous discussions on Public Policy. In so doing it is hoped I can tease out the reasons for each quote being used, but alas I fear I will ultimately fail in understanding the perplexing colour scheme that the school has used.
Never declaring myself an expert in Interior Design, I will leave you with words of a famous one, Albert Hadley, 'Interiors would be more successful if the designers were a little less intent on having a good time. Just because a scheme's wacky and off-the-wall some of the young designers think it is FUN, in big letters, when in fact their very determination to be zany renders the result lifeless. What's missing is restraint and knowledge. What's missing is the Zen of seeing'.
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