http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,179316,00.html?
Mr Let Fly
Entrepreneur wants S'poreans to speak up more. He says:
Wake up your ideas
By Teh Jen Lee
October 08, 2008
WITH PASSION: Mr Chee with a New Paper report on the recent Paralympics. TNP PICTURE: KELVIN CHNG
MOST Singaporeans are just too lazy to think in order to solve problems. This is what Mr Jonathan Chee, 53, thinks.
He said: 'They don't feel it's necessary to think. Thinking is hard work. Unless they have good reason to think, they can't be bothered.'
He feels the root issue lies with the education system, which does not encourage students to question their teachers. The young grow up to be adults who do not question the way things are and will simply accept the status quo.
'People are over-reliant on the Government.
'They think 'Government is so smart, they have scholars from Oxford, Cambridge to solve problems - why should we think? We're not paid to think,' said Mr Chee, who runs a business management and consultancy firm.
He likened the process of problem-solving with that of a group of blind men trying to identify an elephant by feeling its different parts.
The scholars may touch most of the elephant's body, meaning they get 90 per cent of the solution, but a layman may touch the elephant's trunk or tail, which may be the key to solving the problem.
'The point is to build on each other's ideas. But people here share only in anonymous blogs, and even then, they write mostly about personal issues. It's not ideas to solve their neighbourhood's or the country's problems,' said Mr Chee.
He is grateful for one place where he can park his ideas, the website www.wakeupyourideas.com.sg, set up by a group of youths who want to provide locals with a platform to share ideas and solutions to issues and problems they face.
Two years ago, when Joo Chiat residents were pushing to clean up their neighbourhood from vice activities, he initiated a petition in his Toa Payoh neighbourhood to support it.
He went door-to-door, talking to more than 200residents about the seriousness of the situation. But he got only 30 signatures.
'Most of my neighbours said they'd just leave Singapore if crime becomes a problem,' he said.
He faxed the petition to the relevant government agencies, but did not get a reply.
Although that experience was dismal, he continued to speak out and writes at least one letter to the press each day. Out of 1,000 written in the past few years, 20 of them have been published.
Mr Chee, who has a son, 15, and daughter, 7, was not always so pro-active with his ideas.
'Awakening'
His 'awakening' happened about 10years ago, when a friend told him that he shares the same Chinese surname as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who started life as a poor orphan.
When Mr Chee was young, he was ridiculed because his Chinese surname, Zhu, sounds like the word pig in Chinese.
'I was quite frustrated. It was only when I was 40-something that I found out about Zhu Yuanzhang, who was idolised by Mao Zedong,' said Mr Chee, who wrote a book Entrepreneurship Made Simple?
He also credits the readers of his book and friends for his prolific ideas, adding: 'Ideas can come from anywhere and at anytime. When it comes to creativity, there is only one rule, which is 'No rule'.
'The most important thing about ideas is to reflect on them and relate it to an existing problem. Knowledge is only power when it is applied.'
Mr Let Fly
Entrepreneur wants S'poreans to speak up more. He says:
Wake up your ideas
By Teh Jen Lee
October 08, 2008
WITH PASSION: Mr Chee with a New Paper report on the recent Paralympics. TNP PICTURE: KELVIN CHNG
MOST Singaporeans are just too lazy to think in order to solve problems. This is what Mr Jonathan Chee, 53, thinks.
He said: 'They don't feel it's necessary to think. Thinking is hard work. Unless they have good reason to think, they can't be bothered.'
He feels the root issue lies with the education system, which does not encourage students to question their teachers. The young grow up to be adults who do not question the way things are and will simply accept the status quo.
'People are over-reliant on the Government.
'They think 'Government is so smart, they have scholars from Oxford, Cambridge to solve problems - why should we think? We're not paid to think,' said Mr Chee, who runs a business management and consultancy firm.
He likened the process of problem-solving with that of a group of blind men trying to identify an elephant by feeling its different parts.
The scholars may touch most of the elephant's body, meaning they get 90 per cent of the solution, but a layman may touch the elephant's trunk or tail, which may be the key to solving the problem.
'The point is to build on each other's ideas. But people here share only in anonymous blogs, and even then, they write mostly about personal issues. It's not ideas to solve their neighbourhood's or the country's problems,' said Mr Chee.
He is grateful for one place where he can park his ideas, the website www.wakeupyourideas.com.sg, set up by a group of youths who want to provide locals with a platform to share ideas and solutions to issues and problems they face.
Two years ago, when Joo Chiat residents were pushing to clean up their neighbourhood from vice activities, he initiated a petition in his Toa Payoh neighbourhood to support it.
He went door-to-door, talking to more than 200residents about the seriousness of the situation. But he got only 30 signatures.
'Most of my neighbours said they'd just leave Singapore if crime becomes a problem,' he said.
He faxed the petition to the relevant government agencies, but did not get a reply.
Although that experience was dismal, he continued to speak out and writes at least one letter to the press each day. Out of 1,000 written in the past few years, 20 of them have been published.
Mr Chee, who has a son, 15, and daughter, 7, was not always so pro-active with his ideas.
'Awakening'
His 'awakening' happened about 10years ago, when a friend told him that he shares the same Chinese surname as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who started life as a poor orphan.
When Mr Chee was young, he was ridiculed because his Chinese surname, Zhu, sounds like the word pig in Chinese.
'I was quite frustrated. It was only when I was 40-something that I found out about Zhu Yuanzhang, who was idolised by Mao Zedong,' said Mr Chee, who wrote a book Entrepreneurship Made Simple?
He also credits the readers of his book and friends for his prolific ideas, adding: 'Ideas can come from anywhere and at anytime. When it comes to creativity, there is only one rule, which is 'No rule'.
'The most important thing about ideas is to reflect on them and relate it to an existing problem. Knowledge is only power when it is applied.'
