Such a whirlwind of activity took my breath away each and every day of the seven day stint. To not describe all of them as fully as I can, would be doing APEC Voices of the Future (VOF) a disservice. So let me give you a quick description of all notable things we embarked on.
1) Social-Cultural Exchange
A chance to engage with youth leaders from all 21 APEC economies is surely an opportunity not to be missed. Everyone was eager to share their opinions and ideas, to unreservedly debate on even contentious issues such as tangible steps that world leaders should and could take to combat global warming, tricky timing of stimulus exit plans, and of course, whether durians are delicious, edible, or plain disgusting.
2) Useful and pertinent talks by notables
Throughout the week, youth delegates were treated to enlightening and thought-provoking talks by political analysts and business leaders such as Mr Viswa Sadasivan and Mr Ho Peng Kee, chairman of SMU and founder-owner of Banyan Tree resorts. Further illuminating speeches were delivered by several APEC leaders including our PM Lee Hsien Loong, Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama, and Malaysian PM Najib Razak. Every time we walked into a conference room, we were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of a foreign dignitary or powerful leader who had found the time to share with us youths their inspirations, trick-of-the-trades, and even to encourage us to find our voice and touch the world in some way or another, just as they had done.
3) Celebrity Sighting
The dialogue session with Jet Li was probably one of the most memorable moments for many of us. For one, he looked exactly as he did in all of his famous kung-fu movies. But also because Jet Li was humble, encouraging, and sincere. Insisting that everyone – every single individual – was a member of this planet and hence ‘brothers and sisters’ in spirit, he urged all of us to take steps in our lives to help improve the world. He placed a lot of emphasis on love and humanity – recondite concepts, for sure, but his earnestness shone through.
A friend remarked that his answers were all seemingly ‘model-answers’, but Jet Li’s candor and seeming lack of guile won him many fans that day (if they were not already ardent kungfu fans).
4) More Sight-seeing
A visit to Singapore’s welcoming shores would be incomplete without offering our foreign friends the sights of our Night Safari, Marina Barrage and HDB housing, among others. Dinner at the Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant really had to be commended. Friends from Mexico, Malaysia, and Taiwan alike praised the smorgasbord of flavours that ‘‘attacked their olfactories’’. One delegate woke up the next day and admitted to having dreamt of their curry and satay.
Indeed, it was truly a joy experiencing Singapore from the eyes of foreign friends. They raved about the curious influence of Eastern and Western cultures seen in Little India, Chinatown, and Orchard road. They were overwhelmed by the newest kid-on-the-block, ION Orchard, proudly erect in the middle of the hippest shopping district we have. Travelling by bus or taxi was fast and efficient, but taking a ride on the MRT was definitely a major highlight for our Latin American friends, who lauded our clean and bright train cabins.
5) Interviews with notables
For the VOF programme, delegates were assigned a pre-arranged interview each, with a business leader from any APEC economy. More interestingly, we were all free to conduct impromptu interviews with any leaders we encountered, accidentally or otherwise. It was certainly an invigorating feeling for us youngsters to take a deep breath and bravely approach prominent business leaders and government ministers with questions ranging from the serious (What have your meetings tangibly accomplished over the past two days?) to the food-centric (Are you enjoying your Indian curry and prata?).
I had the opportunity to interview Mr Andrey Kostin, a Russian businessman. A man of formidable presence, he was self-assured but also incredibly honest and unaffected. We touched on a variety of topics, from business strategy to Russia’s role in new global relationship patterns (taking into account the growth of Chinese and Indian economies), and even his take on youth activism. He charged youths to ‘never be satisfied’, to keep developing and learning, and to do more in bigger and better ways.
6) Late night chats
In that entire week, I clocked in a total of only 20 hours of sleep. Every night, as the VOF programme drew to a close, the youth delegates decided not to waste the precious few hours we had together. We went for drinks and talked. And talked. And talked. What commenced could be deep friendships forged over salt-less crackers, and endless flow of beer for some. With the Americans I discovered a common love for Glee, with the Mexicans a love for dancing. Love for good food, however, was universal.
After seven days of non-stop action, our foreign friends were reluctant to leave. I brought them out for a last stop of hawker fare where we feasted on meepok, hokkien mee, and tom yam before they flew back to their respective homelands for pasta, steak and tacos.
Apart from the cranial immersions on political, economic, and international relations, I spent the delightfully engaging week in mutually forged relationships with people around me. Sappy and emotional endings are unfashionable. Yet, I cannot resist ending on a more reflective note. All those interviews, meetings and report writings were not in and of themselves the only that brought me joy, because so did the people that I spent time with. So many of the friends I made were from different countries with vastly different cultures, and we made a pact to keep in touch.
This week of wonderful experiences has broadened my horizons and equipped me with useful skills and insights. And this feeling is certainly worth a lot!