[laughs] I save you, but how would you say they've done?

You know, I think one of the, the criticisms that's leveled against the government is it's not listening, right? But I, I'm not entirely sure that's, that's completely fair to say that Singapore's not the, the Singapore government is not listening.

I think there have been indications that the government is listening, but I think what Singaporeans are quite unhappy about maybe is, is the when and the how in terms of the engagement, right? I think Singaporeans have an expectation of being involved a lot more upstream rather than for a government to go to them when a policy's already been cooked, right, and present the policy as a fait accompli, because then the consultation feels quite performative, right? I think Singaporeans are now expecting that, um, they are explained to about how decisions are made, what trade-offs were considered, what alternatives were considered, right? And they also wanna feel like they are, their, their voices matter, right? And, and the things that they say have a genuine opportunity to actually shape the outcome, as, as George was mentioning earlier, you know? Um, I think the government is trying to shift in that direction, but maybe not as much.

Maybe the, the government hasn't shown people how the proverbial sausage is, is being made, right? It's, it's almost like there's been a black box after the initial consultation with the, the stakeholders and, and experts.

There's a black box, and then we present it to people.

to listen, who to listen to, rather

Yeah.

I, I think increasingly simply because there are so many competing interests on any one issue, right? I think anytime a, a ministry or a department is tasked with looking to an issue, they need to understand that their ministry isn't the only one that, that has a mega say on this, right? So I think this whole, whole government mindset, which the public service has been trying to inculcate in its public servants for a while, is something that we need to continue to, to, to cherish and to encourage, right? So when, say, one ministry is, like MND, is looking into this module for us issue, they need to appreciate, look, the, the sustainability becomes an issue as well.

... well, maybe we'll start with you first.

Right.

So I think what makes it really very interesting about these two cases is, um, the fact that you have a lot of different people coming up to say, um, you know, "This is what we want to see," right, "in the development," and it really, I think, broadens the view of what sustainability, you know, can look like, right? So we have people who are talking about conservation, they're looking at, you know, saving animals, you know, the flora, the fauna.

But at the same time, also residents coming up to talk about, you know, things like livability, right? Um, there are concern about the developments affecting, you know, like, you know, the pollution in the area and all that, which is a great way, I think, to, you know, I think, kickstart this conversation around what, you know, do people actually really want, right? So it's a broad range that we see here, and we do see, I think, activists and residents coming together to find different ways to also articulate their voice.

So in, in a way, it's a very refreshing, you know, sort of, um, uh, sort of progression, I would, I would say, right, in, in Singapore society, where we do see residents feeling like they have a say and they can say, right, about these things, and then thinking that this could also, in some ways, you know, uh, mold, right, policy making along the way as well.

But how would you say they've done?

You know, I think one of the, the criticisms that's leveled against the government is it's not listening, right? But I, I'm not entirely sure that's, that's completely fair to say that Singapore's not the, the Singapore government is not listening.

I think there have been indications that the government is listening, but I think what Singaporeans are quite unhappy about maybe is, is the when and the how in terms of the engagement, right? I think Singaporeans have an expectation of being involved a lot more upstream rather than for the government to go to them when the policy's already been cooked, right, and present the policy as a fait accompli, because then the consultation feels quite performative, right? I think Singaporeans are now expecting that, um, they are explained to about how decisions are made, what trade-offs were considered, what alternatives were considered, right? And they also wanna feel like they are, their, their, their voices matter, right? And, and the things that they say have a genuine opportunity to actually shape the outcome, as, as George was mentioning earlier, you know? Um, I think the government is trying to shift in that direction, but maybe not as much.

For Jonathan, it was exactly that, and it was a very important part of his childhood.

So Beyblading is a competition between two players where they launch spinning tops into a dish, and the goal is to either knock the other person out or spin longer than the opponent.

It started as a manga and then an anime back in 1999 before launching as a toy line.

And currently it's in its fourth generation geared towards adults and it's become more of a competitive quote unquote gear sport.

Hi, my name's John.

I'm 35 years old and I'm heavily involved in the Beyblade X scene here in Melbourne, Victoria.

And I was the first 2003 Victorian plastics generation Beyblade champion.

So what we would do is we would try to launch