With the intense dissemination of all kinds of information, especially with the advent of recent information technologies, there seems to be a lot of 'crossed' messages and information, which I would like to call 'migrations of ideas'. I am interested in exploring how these crossed messages, these migrations of ideas, impact a multicultural society like Singapore.

Migrations of ideas and thoughts: Misjudgement & Misinterpretation

Humans, with our different individual experiences and capacities, each react uniquely to the world; we have our own unique interpretations and judgements of the world.

Many of us live in societies dominated not only by mass media like television, radio, public advertising and newspaper and magazine publishing, but all forms of information technology media-from the internet to mobile phones to personal digital assistants. So how does the fact that we live in these intensely mediatized societies affect our own personal and collective interpretation and judgement processes?

Consider, for example, the effect of the media on how humans perceive "difference". Contemporary mediatized societies tend to celebrate cultural hybrids and pluralism. But do these mediatized celebrations actually create a deep sense of understanding of difference, or do they merely promote tolerance? What about the belief that underlying the differences in different cultures is something integral to each culture, and that this forms the grounds for a larger human unity?

Migrations of culture and tradition: Placement & Misplacement

The Singapore government introduced multiracial harmony day into the schools with the hope that students would be able to learn from one another about their different cultures. But what about the autonomous Chinese schools and the Islamic institutions? Being relatively homogenous institutions, how does this affect their understanding about being part of a "multiracial" country? But multiculturalism has become a integral part of our life in Singapore. The media, however, seems to represent a situation of cultural anxiety, since it seems constant in reminding us about how we must live harmoniously. Are these efforts to re-educate and re-mind us about our multiculturalism actually counter-productive?

Migrations of information & technology: Manipulation & Distortion

With the advent of IT, information can be shared worldwide; but at the same time, misinformation can also take advantage of these technologies. Some of our fears thus may not even be based on reality. Through the seductive powers of IT, we come to believe what the media represent to us. These high-tech media can just as easily distort and manipulate information given to us. We digest secondhand information and this somehow influences our way of thinking about and rationalising the world. Humans get to witness greed, cruelty, domination, manipulation, and so on, through these technologies. It is hard to imagine that these messages do not affect our minds and our judgements.

Migrations of people: Past & Present

Back in the early days, a lot of people migrated to Singapore in search of a better life. My grandfather was one of them. He came here empty-handed, equipped only with faith and determination, like a thousand other migrants. If we compare the whole idea of migration of the past with that of the present, we can see huge differences. Without security and stability, a lot of migration of the present day (especially to Singapore) would be impossible. What are the factors that cause these differences? What are the differences in the social system, the mentalities of the migrants and of the host country, in global economics, and in power?

Migrations of trade: Import & Export

As we all know that Singapore does not have her own natural resources. Most of the resources are imported from neighboring countries. One would wonder what will happen if one day all the resources will be cut off due to economic or political reason. Will we be able to withstand this recession? Will what we consume before affect our daily lives?