Through the Highways of Globalization
The issue with the sustainability space, is too many climate weeks and conferences where the same set of actors land up. We need white papers and panels, but we need more science which gets translate into impact. Sustainability conferences themselves need decarbonising and is the only profitable part of the services industry with clients cutting sustainability spends. May be a panel on that.
After 15 years of graduating with a masters in environmental engineering at the National University of Singapore, and a number of years of ESIA consultant life, it was a privilege to share in a guest lecture via zoom to a masters class on Pollution Control to students in the Geography Department. After working in twelve countries in Asia and Africa, I realise the true value of bringing science from the seminar room/lab to the realpolitik of environmental planning decisions, whether regulatory or IFI led.
The question on the value of a PhD in consulting is interesting, as after a PhD a consultant is a peer reviewer and is made to do the work of presenting in front of regulators. And as it is a Science based business, the value of papers as scientific evidence is solid.
Thank you so much Professor Li for your generosity of spirit.
The last twenty odd years has been a slow process of creating the thesis of climate action as an upgrade from public health safeguards. It has led to a new regime of compliance, and ESG is the new umbrella without the teeth of legal redressal. The entire alphabet soup is an attempt to create a new market for doing good. Carbon offsets is one, where the intentions are good but the real value is the data for the risk calculus. It is all risk management.
Philanthropy through core funding creates more value than carbon credits. Carbon credits akin to TNFD and TISFD, are good at infrastructure creation. The data helps, but should we focus on impact first? Then do MEL?
The maze of standards and guidance is to foster a moral pressure on the investment community to do well and create a business case for it, while being all voluntary. ESG was a post Paris creation whose expiry was the second DJT era and the Ukraine- Gaza wars. ESG needs an upgrade, where S is Security and E is the EV. The AI dimension has a real energy security dimension, and governments need voters and not bots despite the enthusiasm of valley tech bros.
The best form of art is the one that moves deeply. The Secret Drawer is archive building through the Chinese family archives cutting through Kajang, Singapore and Penang and the role transnationalism plays through the Cold War.
Captivating performance by Ling and Tong Hui. Instant Cafe Theatre has a masterclass on its hands. A must for historians of SEA.
The best way to know a region is to walk it. Can’t know everything through the Internet. The chatter in Lucky Plaza in Tagalog is different to the atas/posh Takashimaya across the street in Singapore. That is just Orchard road in Singapore.
Nuance matters. Singapore is rich in texture.
Southeast Asia Matters.
So many stories of migration from Azamgarh to Mumbra to Johor Bahru; a barber shop next to Masjid India in Johor Bahru.
Happy Azaadi Day from the Diaspora; the diaspora banters, eats and discusses the in accuracy of Bollywood representations of SWAT Valley and Layaari. This Pakistani Naan Shop off Mersing Jetty in Johore, was a trip down memory lane as the Cheese Naan was the same one i have eaten in my Chacha Bakery in Al Khuwair, Masqat or anywhere in Dubai.
The cook-server from SWAT Valley wished me back Happy Independence Day, as i wished him Happy Azaadi Day. South Asia converges in the labour diaspora.
A special workshop on Indian Ocean History ended with a special panel with intense dialogue on what counts as a manuscript, or as the Persianate World or what constitutes an Indian Ocean Library?
Seeing Fahad Bishara, Eng Seng Ho, Mana Kia and Mahmood Kooria with Teren Sevea dialogue made for a heart and mind satiated with questions and further directions.
Was lovely to meet fellow peers and mentors in person.
Migration networks are opportunity networks, they are sources of sustenance when the well at home dry out. For states such as Punjab and Kerala it is a way of life, yet wealthier states like Gujarat also are sending states, as i have met many Gujaratis working in Indian Restaurants all over Singapore including this week. Ultimately it is a need based business, and countries like the Philippines and Bangladesh have mastered the many corridors.
The pic below at Lucky Plaza at Orchard Road, Singapore exemplifies ‘Migration Infrastructure’ in the words of (Xiao and Lindquist, 2013) as ones which support the life worlds of Migration, which support productivity and opportunity across migration corridors. It is not poverty porn as many an activist or scholar might have portrayed in literature. Many of these FDWs have college degrees. And might not fit the fundraising pitch of deprivation. And they are middle class at home.
It’s more textured than it meets the eye, let’s get a nuanced view of the human lens of the migration supply chains.
Weekend Musings from a Singapore Kopitiam
There are several reasons global start ups love Singapore, things work seamlessly, great infrastructure (just look at the DE or the TEL Line of the MRT) and the sheer availability of options. It is a substantial vantage point into the region, and has a significant density of talent as well. It is a place also where cost cutting does not work, as talent demands it’s fair share. Companies have moved across the border with cost considerations and the Johor-Singapore SEZ.
It needs a certain kind of appetite for start ups to find their feet in Singapore and the region. Not every start up has the stomach for Singapore, as the demands for innovation in line with the best along with the cost are unprecedented. Other countries in the region have affirmative action embedded in procurement, or need a local company partner for everything. Understand the local politics and language, read a book- i can send you a reading list. This is region of the Wayang Kulit, a lot of it is unsaid over Kopio.
As they say, Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast.
Change Thinker 