SINGAPORE: Opposition leader Chee Soon Juan is in New York this week, having held speaking engagements at two universities on Tuesday (Sep 22).
Dr Chee will be back in Singapore later this week and, in a video posted on social media on Wednesday afternoon, invited Singaporeans to a talk he’ll be giving on Sep 26.
Before issuing the invite, however, he took the time to greet listeners in the Little Red Dot from The Big Apple, set to Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind to complete the effect.
He called New York the “home of Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” adding, “now that’s a real Mayor.”
This is likely to be a commentary on local governance, given Dr Chee’s stance on mayors in Singapore. During the campaign period for last year’s general election, the SDP again called for the role of mayors to be abolished.
The Singapore Democratic Party chief also said, “New York is just as crazy as I imagined it would be. It’s not as new, it’s not as shiny, but it’s full of life, full of energy. And I think this place has got what it really takes to go forward in the future.”
More importantly, he added, “it’s got that human spirit and resilience,” which Dr Chee said is what is needed in the era of artificial intelligence.
Resilience appears to be one of the SDP chief’s favourite themes, and his latest book is titled Unbroken: The Power of Resilience.
He went on to invite the public to a talk called “Indispensable: Building The Human Skills That AI Can’t Replace” this Saturday from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at ACC Edu Hub, 51 Cuppage Road.
Yesterday, Dr Chee spoke at two prestigious institutions, New York University and Columbia University. Over the past year, he has been travelling to other countries to speak. In November, he was at the London School of Economics, King’s College London, and Oxford University, and in March, he was in the Philippines, speaking at Ateneo de Manila, at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, as well as at the headquarters of the Liberal Party of the Philippines for a discussion with young people.
As he often does while travelling, the SDP chief spent time with Singaporeans in New York. He said in his Sept 23 video that he had asked them if they planned to return to the city-state. Some were hesitant to answer, he added.
When he asked them why, Dr CXhee said that they told him, “Here they have the freedom to be able to think, to be able to develop themselves. This is where, I think, we will lose out, if we don’t open up and allow Singaporeans to thrive, to develop that human spirit.” /TISG
Follow Google News
Join us on WhatsApp
Follow us on Telegram