Blowing in the Wind
1
BY KWA CHONG GUAN FOR THE STRAITS TIMES 1959-2009 CHRONICLE OF SINGAPORE: FIFTY YEARS OF HEADLINE NEWS Editor-in-Chief: Peter H. L. Lim Publisher: Editions Didier Millet, in association with the National Library Board, 2009 F IFTY years ago to the month, Yusof bin Ishak was sworn in as the first local head of state, an event that formally marked Singapore’s attainment of internal self-government. All who lived through that era may have some memory of the celebrations that followed the Dec 3 inauguration of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, but our memories would be tem- pered and reconfigured by time. Unless we had kept a diary, we would have no reminder of what exactly we may have thought on Dec 3, 1959. Newspapers are a society’s diary of its social memories. The Straits Times and Didier Millet are to be congratulated for compiling this chronicle of Singapore’s past 50 years from the pages of The Straits Times. As Mr S. Dhanabalan, chairman of the editorial advisory committee, notes in his fore- word, the extracts of the reports are “not history as recorded by historians, or recollections fondly or forlornly recounted by individuals with time soften- ing the harshness of the events. It is experience lived and felt as it happened, without any discolora- tion caused by fading memory or second thoughts”. The Chronicle attempts to capture the mood of each year from 1959 to now. The task of selecting the events that de- fined the mood of each particular year must have been difficult. For 1959, for example, the big event was obviously the Peo- ple’s Action Party’s landslide victory in the May 31 elec- tions. But what were the other events that defined 1959? Did they include the introduction of an hourly parking fee of 20 to 40 cents in Raffles Place and its surrounding carparks, an event that emptied the carparks because motorists refused to pay? This may sound quaint to us today, but it was a big issue in 1959. The book recalls an earlier compilation of news- paper reports some 80 years ago. Its author was Charles Burton Buckley, a leading member of the British community in Singapore then. In 1884, he persuaded 32 others to join him in investing money to restart the old Singapore Free Press, Singapore’s leading newspaper for more than 30 years until it closed in 1869. Buckley contributed a weekly col- umn to the Free Press based on summaries and ex- tracts from the earlier run of the newspaper. This column of anecdotal history proved popular and Buckley ran it for the next 20 years. In 1902, the col- umns were compiled as An Anecdotal History Of Old Times In Singapore: 1819-1867. Anecdotal History continues to make for fasci- nating reading, though academic historians may criticise Buckley for his selection and his focus on what were arguably minutiae. For example, he notes in his chapter on 1840 that on Jan 14, the Brit- ish Brigand called at Singapore en route to China, but a day later, off Pedra Branca, its master, Cap- tain McGill, was murdered by two of his crew mem- bers. Another example: Buckley begins his account of 1858 with a report that “at seven o’clock on the morning of 19th November, the Queen’s Proclama- tion of 1st September, by which Her Majesty took upon herself the direct government of her Indian do- minions, was read by the Governor”. He then goes on to describe the celebrations that followed, but nowhere mentions that the proclamation was a con- sequence of the dissolution of the East India Compa- ny on Sept 1. Nor does he mention the 1855 Indian Mutiny, which precipitated the company’s demise. The same comment can be made of the Chroni- cle Of Singapore. For example, it reports that in Jan- uary 1961, an ex-cabaret supervisor, charged with murdering her boyfriend, was administered a “truth drug” sodium pentothal. Administered by Professor Arthur Gordon Ransome, the leading clini- cal doctor of the day, the drug did not work in get- ting the accused to recall what happened. Prof Ran- some had to admit that it “sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t”. This focus on domestic developments gives a fla- vour of how Singapore was developing. But, as with Buckley’s Anecdotal History, this comes at the ex- pense of reporting on external events affecting Sin- gapore. Thus the parade on Oct 31, 1971 marking the end of Britain’s defence presence in Singapore is not reported, nor, more importantly, is the im- pact of the British withdrawal on Singapore’s econo- my. However, like Buckley, the Chronicle will contin- ue to be consulted may years from now. For a younger generation of Singaporeans who did not live through the 1959-2009 era, this will be a useful reference. An added advantage of the Chronicle is that it includes a DVD of rare film and news footage interspersed with historic photographs that make the summaries of the news reports come alive. Chronicle of Singapore is then a wonderful diary of the last 50 years of our memories of the island na- tion. It reminds us of what we lived through. The writer is attached to the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, and the History Department of the National University of Singapore. H ERE in the Philippines at a geothermal power plant on the slopes of a dormant volcano in the central is- land of Negros, the thick plume of hot vapour furiously belch- ing from a ground vent is an apt meta- phor for the country’s full-steam de- velopment of this green energy source. The Philippines already has the world’s largest installed geothermal ca- pacity after the United States, with seven plants across the archipelago ac- counting for 20 per cent of the total en- ergy mix. The government aims to in- crease that level to meet expectations of surging energy demand. In the coming months, concessions to explore and develop a further 19 geothermal sites across the archipela- go will be awarded to winning bidders, according to Mr Alejandro Oanes, head of the Department of Energy’s ge- othermal division. A landmark renewable energy law was passed last year to generate pri- vate investments in the sector through sizeable tax breaks and other financial sweeteners. “Because of the Renewable Energy Act, there is a lot of investor interest to develop geothermal power that will help us reduce oil imports further,” said Mr Oanes. Installed geothermal capacity in the Philippines is 1,900MW. Energy ex- perts reckon that can be doubled over the next decade. The government estimates that geo- thermal power has saved the country nearly US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) in precious foreign exchange reserves since the first plant began operations here in 1976. It was the crippling oil crisis of the 1970s that prompted the Philippines to search for local energy sources. The country is already developing its own oil and gas reserves, and its energy authorities are considering re- viving a mothballed nuclear energy plant, though this appears a long shot. In the field of green energy, geother- mal resources offer the biggest poten- tial. The country lies in a region of vol- canic and seismic activity in the Paci- fic Ocean called the Ring of Fire. These underground heat reservoirs can be tapped with the same drilling technology as for oil and gas. “There is still sufficient heat in inac- tive volcanoes to harness for geother- mal power,” said Mr Dwight Maxino, manager of the Southern Negros Geo- thermal Production Field (SNGPF), a unit of the privately owned Energy De- velopment Corporation, which runs five of the country’s geothermal plants. Geothermal power punches below its weight as a global energy source. The technology requires heavy initial investment. The cost of drilling an ex- ploration well alone is S$6 million. But once the power plant is up and run- ning, operating and maintenance costs are relatively low. Furthermore, “this is an inexhaustible energy resource if you don’t over-exploit extraction”, said Mr Ariel Fronda, a government re- searcher into geothermal energy. And on Negros, geothermal energy constitutes truly green power. The for- ests surrounding the SNGPF are unusu- ally lush. Decades of logging had stripped the forest cover on all but 5 per cent of this large island, famous for its sugar plantations. But forests are needed as protective cover for the steamfields feeding the SNGPF’s pow- er systems and so the forest has been regrown. [email protected] U NDER leaden skies on a frigid winter morning, Mr Soren Hermansen is hard at work – as usual. More people have made the journey to Samsoe to see for them- selves the small but stunning miracle that is the windswept Danish island. As director of the Samsoe Energy Academy, Mr Hermansen shows the visitors around. The academy receives about 5,000 visitors each year, includ- ing schoolchildren. For a world in grave danger from the overuse of fossil fuels, the island – some five hours west of Copenhagen by train and ferry – represents a sign- post to a better future. The 4,000 people living on the 114 sq km island of rolling green fields and big skies can boast of being the world’s first totally self-sufficient and carbon-neutral community, whose en- ergy needs are all met by renewable sources. Samsoe even exports its sur- plus electricity to the mainland, which brings in around $1 million in revenue a year. The Samsoe project had its seeds in the oil price shock of the 1970s, which got the Danish government thinking about how to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Plans to build nuclear power plants were dropped after they were met with widespread public apprehension. The government looked at renewable energy and the next two decades were marked by spectacular progress in re- newable technology. Environmental funds were set up, which, together with policy incentives, catalysed in- vestments. The wind energy industry alone has created 30,000 jobs in Den- mark. Samsoe was chosen in 1997 in a na- tionwide competition to become a model community for sustainable ener- gy. A non-governmental organisation was formed to run the project but resi- dents were also involved as deci- sion-makers and shareholders. In 2003 and 2004, a wind farm with 10 turbines was set up offshore. It was the biggest project of its kind in the world at the time, and its stake- holders were the residents, not big cor- porations. Another 11 land-based wind turbines were added later. Some houses now have their own turbines. Residents learnt how to improve home insulation, cutting their heating needs by 10 per cent. Four heating plants – using straw from the fields or wood chips from the forests – as well as 2,500 sq m of solar photovoltaic panels produce enough energy to meet 60 per cent of Samsoe’s needs. At one dairy plant, water warmed as it cools the milk is then used in the shower. All these renewable energy schemes have made Samsoe and its in- habitants not just carbon-neutral but carbon-negative. There has been a 140 per cent reduc- tion in carbon emissions on the island since 1998. While the Danes on aver- age have a per capita carbon footprint of around 10 tonnes, Samsoe resi- dents’ per capita carbon footprint is minus 3.7 tonnes because they pro- duce surplus energy. Mr Hermansen is something of a ce- lebrity. He makes trips abroad to tell countries from China to Morocco about the Samsoe success story. Hailed as an environmental hero, he downplays the accolade, saying: “The real heroes are the local guys.” Samsoe, he says, is not unlike communities elsewhere: It too has its share of issues that need to be grappled with. At one time, it was the survival of the island community itself. An agri- cultural community, Samsoe supplies tonnes of produce to the mainland. But its young men and women were leaving the island to study and work on the mainland. The closure of a slaughterhouse created a ripple effect, throwing 100 local people out of work – and sparking a mini depression on the island. The renewable energy project that then came along fired up the locals, es- pecially as the model promised money in the bank after the initial investment of ¤60 million (S$120 million). It also gave the people energy independence and jobs. Ironically, Samsoe is surrounded by some of the country’s biggest coal- fired plants, whose smokestacks can be seen on the far horizon. Nevertheless, the residents can take pride in the fact that the island is today an icon of renewable energy. To Mr Hermansen, the key to its success lies in the local community. “Those people at the (Copenhagen conference on climate change) don’t know local conditions,” he said. “We should stop thinking globally, and act locally.” [email protected] Full steam ahead in the Philippines BOOK REVIEW Atmospheric diary of an era, if a little insular Copenhagen North Sea DENMARK GERMANY SWEDEN Samsoe Island Stop thinking globally and start acting locally, says Mr Hermansen, director of the Samsoe Energy Academy. In the background is one of the Danish island’s wind turbines. ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH BY ALASTAIR MCINDOE PHILIPPINES CORRESPONDENT BY NIRMAL GHOSH A 192MW geothermal plant on Negros island in the central Philippines run by the privately owned Energy Development Corporation. The country is the world’s second-biggest producer of geothermal energy, and it plans to ramp up production. ST PHOTO: ALASTAIR MCINDOE Manila South China Sea Sulu Sea Philippine Sea Celebes Sea THE PHILIPPINES MALAYSIA Negros A CARBON-NEUTRAL ISLAND The answer is blowing in the wind review THE STRAITS TIMES THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 2009 PAGE A30
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Nirmal Ghosh, a participant in the Seminar on Future Energy: Sustainable Energy for a Low-carbon World in Samsø Island puts his training to work.
Transcript of Blowing in the Wind
BY KWA CHONG GUANFOR THE STRAITS TIMES
1959-2009 CHRONICLE OF SINGAPORE: FIFTYYEARS OF HEADLINE NEWSEditor-in-Chief: Peter H. L. LimPublisher: Editions Didier Millet, in associationwith the National Library Board, 2009
FIFTY years ago to the month, Yusof binIshak was sworn in as the first local headof state, an event that formally markedSingapore’s attainment of internalself-government. All who lived through
that era may have some memory of the celebrationsthat followed the Dec 3 inauguration of the Yangdi-Pertuan Negara, but our memories would be tem-pered and reconfigured by time. Unless we had kepta diary, we would have no reminder of what exactlywe may have thought on Dec 3, 1959.
Newspapers are a society’s diary of its socialmemories. The Straits Times and Didier Millet areto be congratulated for compiling this chronicle ofSingapore’s past 50 years from the pages of TheStraits Times. As Mr S. Dhanabalan, chairman ofthe editorial advisory committee, notes in his fore-word, the extracts of the reports are “not history asrecorded by historians, or recollections fondly orforlornly recounted by individuals with time soften-ing the harshness of the events. It is experiencelived and felt as it happened, without any discolora-tion caused by fading memory or second thoughts”.
The Chronicle attempts to capture the mood ofeach year from 1959 to now. The task of selectingthe events that de-fined the mood ofeach particularyear must havebeen difficult. For1959, for example,the big event wasobviously the Peo-ple’s Action Party’slandslide victory inthe May 31 elec-tions. But whatwere the otherevents that defined1959?
Did they include the introduction of an hourlyparking fee of 20 to 40 cents in Raffles Place and itssurrounding carparks, an event that emptied thecarparks because motorists refused to pay? Thismay sound quaint to us today, but it was a big issuein 1959.
The book recalls an earlier compilation of news-paper reports some 80 years ago. Its author wasCharles Burton Buckley, a leading member of theBritish community in Singapore then. In 1884, hepersuaded 32 others to join him in investing moneyto restart the old Singapore Free Press, Singapore’sleading newspaper for more than 30 years until itclosed in 1869. Buckley contributed a weekly col-umn to the Free Press based on summaries and ex-tracts from the earlier run of the newspaper. Thiscolumn of anecdotal history proved popular andBuckley ran it for the next 20 years. In 1902, the col-umns were compiled as An Anecdotal History OfOld Times In Singapore: 1819-1867.
Anecdotal History continues to make for fasci-nating reading, though academic historians maycriticise Buckley for his selection and his focus onwhat were arguably minutiae. For example, henotes in his chapter on 1840 that on Jan 14, the Brit-ish Brigand called at Singapore en route to China,but a day later, off Pedra Branca, its master, Cap-tain McGill, was murdered by two of his crew mem-bers.
Another example: Buckley begins his account of1858 with a report that “at seven o’clock on themorning of 19th November, the Queen’s Proclama-tion of 1st September, by which Her Majesty tookupon herself the direct government of her Indian do-minions, was read by the Governor”. He then goeson to describe the celebrations that followed, butnowhere mentions that the proclamation was a con-sequence of the dissolution of the East India Compa-ny on Sept 1. Nor does he mention the 1855 IndianMutiny, which precipitated the company’s demise.
The same comment can be made of the Chroni-cle Of Singapore. For example, it reports that in Jan-uary 1961, an ex-cabaret supervisor, charged withmurdering her boyfriend, was administered a“truth drug” sodium pentothal. Administered byProfessor Arthur Gordon Ransome, the leading clini-cal doctor of the day, the drug did not work in get-ting the accused to recall what happened. Prof Ran-some had to admit that it “sometimes works andsometimes doesn’t”.
This focus on domestic developments gives a fla-vour of how Singapore was developing. But, as withBuckley’s Anecdotal History, this comes at the ex-pense of reporting on external events affecting Sin-gapore. Thus the parade on Oct 31, 1971 markingthe end of Britain’s defence presence in Singaporeis not reported, nor, more importantly, is the im-pact of the British withdrawal on Singapore’s econo-my.
However, like Buckley, the Chronicle will contin-ue to be consulted may years from now. For ayounger generation of Singaporeans who did notlive through the 1959-2009 era, this will be a usefulreference. An added advantage of the Chronicle isthat it includes a DVD of rare film and news footageinterspersed with historic photographs that makethe summaries of the news reports come alive.
Chronicle of Singapore is then a wonderful diaryof the last 50 years of our memories of the island na-tion. It reminds us of what we lived through.
The writer is attached to the S. Rajaratnam School ofInternational Studies, NTU, and the History Department of theNational University of Singapore.
HERE in the Philippines at ageothermal power planton the slopes of a dormantvolcano in the central is-land of Negros, the thick
plume of hot vapour furiously belch-ing from a ground vent is an apt meta-phor for the country’s full-steam de-velopment of this green energysource.
The Philippines already has theworld’s largest installed geothermal ca-pacity after the United States, withseven plants across the archipelago ac-counting for 20 per cent of the total en-ergy mix. The government aims to in-crease that level to meet expectationsof surging energy demand.
In the coming months, concessionsto explore and develop a further 19geothermal sites across the archipela-go will be awarded to winning bidders,according to Mr Alejandro Oanes,head of the Department of Energy’s ge-othermal division.
A landmark renewable energy lawwas passed last year to generate pri-vate investments in the sector throughsizeable tax breaks and other financialsweeteners.
“Because of the Renewable EnergyAct, there is a lot of investor interestto develop geothermal power that willhelp us reduce oil imports further,”said Mr Oanes.
Installed geothermal capacity in thePhilippines is 1,900MW. Energy ex-perts reckon that can be doubled overthe next decade.
The government estimates that geo-thermal power has saved the countrynearly US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) inprecious foreign exchange reservessince the first plant began operationshere in 1976.
It was the crippling oil crisis of the
1970s that prompted the Philippinesto search for local energy sources.
The country is already developingits own oil and gas reserves, and itsenergy authorities are considering re-viving a mothballed nuclear energyplant, though this appears a long shot.In the field of green energy, geother-mal resources offer the biggest poten-tial.
The country lies in a region of vol-canic and seismic activity in the Paci-fic Ocean called the Ring of Fire.These underground heat reservoirscan be tapped with the same drillingtechnology as for oil and gas.
“There is still sufficient heat in inac-tive volcanoes to harness for geother-mal power,” said Mr Dwight Maxino,manager of the Southern Negros Geo-thermal Production Field (SNGPF), aunit of the privately owned Energy De-velopment Corporation, which runsfive of the country’s geothermalplants.
Geothermal power punches belowits weight as a global energy source.The technology requires heavy initialinvestment. The cost of drilling an ex-ploration well alone is S$6 million. Butonce the power plant is up and run-ning, operating and maintenance costsare relatively low. Furthermore, “thisis an inexhaustible energy resource ifyou don’t over-exploit extraction”,said Mr Ariel Fronda, a government re-searcher into geothermal energy.
And on Negros, geothermal energyconstitutes truly green power. The for-ests surrounding the SNGPF are unusu-ally lush. Decades of logging hadstripped the forest cover on all but 5per cent of this large island, famousfor its sugar plantations. But forestsare needed as protective cover for thesteamfields feeding the SNGPF’s pow-er systems and so the forest has [email protected]
UNDER leaden skies on afrigid winter morning, MrSoren Hermansen is hardat work – as usual.
More people have madethe journey to Samsoe to see for them-selves the small but stunning miraclethat is the windswept Danish island.As director of the Samsoe EnergyAcademy, Mr Hermansen shows thevisitors around. The academy receivesabout 5,000 visitors each year, includ-ing schoolchildren.
For a world in grave danger fromthe overuse of fossil fuels, the island –some five hours west of Copenhagenby train and ferry – represents a sign-post to a better future.
The 4,000 people living on the 114sq km island of rolling green fields andbig skies can boast of being theworld’s first totally self-sufficient andcarbon-neutral community, whose en-ergy needs are all met by renewablesources. Samsoe even exports its sur-plus electricity to the mainland, whichbrings in around $1 million in revenuea year.
The Samsoe project had its seeds inthe oil price shock of the 1970s, whichgot the Danish government thinkingabout how to reduce its dependenceon fossil fuels.
Plans to build nuclear power plantswere dropped after they were metwith widespread public apprehension.The government looked at renewableenergy and the next two decades weremarked by spectacular progress in re-newable technology. Environmentalfunds were set up, which, togetherwith policy incentives, catalysed in-vestments. The wind energy industryalone has created 30,000 jobs in Den-mark.
Samsoe was chosen in 1997 in a na-tionwide competition to become amodel community for sustainable ener-gy. A non-governmental organisationwas formed to run the project but resi-dents were also involved as deci-
sion-makers and shareholders.In 2003 and 2004, a wind farm
with 10 turbines was set up offshore.It was the biggest project of its kind inthe world at the time, and its stake-holders were the residents, not big cor-porations. Another 11 land-basedwind turbines were added later. Somehouses now have their own turbines.
Residents learnt how to improvehome insulation, cutting their heatingneeds by 10 per cent. Four heatingplants – using straw from the fields orwood chips from the forests – as wellas 2,500 sq m of solar photovoltaicpanels produce enough energy to meet60 per cent of Samsoe’s needs.
At one dairy plant, water warmedas it cools the milk is then used in theshower.
All these renewable energyschemes have made Samsoe and its in-habitants not just carbon-neutral butcarbon-negative.
There has been a 140 per cent reduc-tion in carbon emissions on the islandsince 1998. While the Danes on aver-age have a per capita carbon footprintof around 10 tonnes, Samsoe resi-dents’ per capita carbon footprint isminus 3.7 tonnes because they pro-duce surplus energy.
Mr Hermansen is something of a ce-lebrity. He makes trips abroad to tellcountries from China to Moroccoabout the Samsoe success story.
Hailed as an environmental hero,he downplays the accolade, saying:
“The real heroes are the local guys.”Samsoe, he says, is not unlike
communities elsewhere: It too has itsshare of issues that need to begrappled with.
At one time, it was the survival ofthe island community itself. An agri-cultural community, Samsoe suppliestonnes of produce to the mainland.But its young men and women wereleaving the island to study and workon the mainland. The closure of aslaughterhouse created a ripple effect,throwing 100 local people out of work– and sparking a mini depression onthe island.
The renewable energy project thatthen came along fired up the locals, es-pecially as the model promised money
in the bank after the initial investmentof ¤60 million (S$120 million). It alsogave the people energy independenceand jobs.
Ironically, Samsoe is surrounded bysome of the country’s biggest coal-fired plants, whose smokestacks canbe seen on the far horizon.
Nevertheless, the residents cantake pride in the fact that the island istoday an icon of renewable energy.
To Mr Hermansen, the key to itssuccess lies in the local community.
“Those people at the (Copenhagenconference on climate change) don’tknow local conditions,” he said.
“We should stop thinking globally,and act locally.”[email protected]
Full steam ahead in the Philippines
B O O K R E V I E W
Atmosphericdiary of anera, if alittle insular
Copenhagen
North
Sea
DENMARK
GERMANY
SWEDEN
Samsoe
Island
Stop thinking globally and start acting locally, says Mr Hermansen, director of the SamsoeEnergy Academy. In the background is one of the Danish island’s wind turbines.
ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH
BY ALASTAIR MCINDOEPHILIPPINESCORRESPONDENT
BY NIRMAL GHOSH
A 192MW geothermal plant on Negros island in the central Philippines run by the privately owned Energy Development Corporation. Thecountry is the world’s second-biggest producer of geothermal energy, and it plans to ramp up production. ST PHOTO: ALASTAIR MCINDOE
Manila
South
China
Sea
Sulu
Sea
Philippine
Sea
Celebes
Sea
THE
PHILIPPINES
MALAYSIA
Negros
A C A R B O N - N E U T R A L I S L A N D
The answeris blowingin the wind
review�
THE STRAITS TIMES THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 2009 PAGE A30
