Singapore Youth Summit 2005

In the afternoon, the participants split into smaller workshops, hosted by NGO’s and local academics, to learn more about issues they were interested in. Actually they put themselves in the shoes of different actors in development through role-play and debate.

“The workshop I attended role-played the negotiations over the building of a natural gas pipeline. During the conversations between the simulated people, government and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), it was all too easy to become polarized over differences in opinion. The people wanted stability and preservation of their way of life as fishermen; the government wanted economic growth; the NGOs wanted Human Rights, Animal Rights, and more. One wrong move by the government and the people would riot. An unkind word to the ‘Prime Minister’ and the government would stop listening. What it took was dialogue, and a genuine respect for each other as human beings to bring the negotiations to a close. Co-operation, not blind zeal was the order of the day,” recalled Chia.