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Engaging youth in nation-building
New website allows the
young to discuss, offer
ideas on govt policies
BY APRIL CHONG
REACH – the agency created to engage
citizens – launched a youth-oriented, in-
teractive website yesterday.
Designed to get young people more in-
volved in shaping government policies,
the website – Youth Vibes – is “by
youth, for youth”.
The website is an offshoot of the suc-
cessful student ambassador programme
launched by Reach – an acronym for
Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry
@ Home – last February.
Youth Vibes will include feature sto-
ries and journal articles by young peo-
‘Intelligent
nests’
for pied
hornbills
BY GRACE CHUA
ORIENTAL pied hornbills in the Singa-
pore Hornbill Project now have new
“condominium-style” homes.
The “intelligent nests”, with cameras,
sensors and scales, give researchers new
ways to monitor these once-endangered
birds.
The project, which began five years
ago to study the birds’ breeding and nest-
ing, has been a success according to the
researchers involved.
In previous years, researchers from
the National Parks Board (NParks),
Jurong BirdPark and Nanyang Technolog-
ical University (NTU) mounted artificial
nesting boxes high on trees and
equipped them with simple infrared cam-
eras to monitor each breeding pair.
The oriental pied hornbills are known
to be picky about their nesting sites,
laying their eggs in cavities in old and dis-
eased trees, high off the ground.
This breeding season, the researchers
have added two “intelligent nests”
kitted out with temperature and
humidity sensors, weighing scales to
monitor the chicks’ growth and high-
definition cameras which can zoom in
for greater detail.
“They are like condominiums, with a
security system,” quipped Mr Robert
Teo, NParks’ assistant director for Pulau
Ubin.
ple, and allow participants to blog, dis-
cuss issues and make comments.
“Through (Youth Vibes), we hope to
cultivate a participative citizenry from
young and kick-start their interest in af-
fecting changes in the community they
live in,” said Reach chairman Amy
Khor.
Kwan Jin Yao, 17, an editorial mem-
ber of the website, is part of a group of
young people who will keep the website
updated and relevant.
“We hope young people can come in
here to make constructive criticism. Un-
like other forums where a lot of discus-
sions are lost, there will be follow-ups
here,” said the Hwa Chong Institution
student.
Feedback collected from discussions
on the site will be sent regularly to the
relevant organisations, including govern-
ment departments.
The launch of the website was com-
The “intelligent nests” (left) for the pied hornbills (right) are kitted out with temperature and
humidity sensors, weighing scales and high-definition cameras. PHOTOS: MARC CREMADES
The Singapore Hornbill Project is a
collaboration between NParks, NTU, the
National University of Singapore, Wild-
life Reserves Singapore, which oversees
Jurong BirdPark, and other sponsors.
For its pioneering studies of hornbill
breeding, the project won a prestigious
international award for achievements in
avian research and conservation last
year.
Project consultant Marc Cremades, a
French researcher who initiated the
project, believes this is the only study
worldwide to monitor wild hornbills in
their nests during breeding season.
The group first placed nesting boxes
on mainland Singapore last year, and
hopes that future generations of young
hornbills will move in.
“We want to make a hotel chain for
them,” Mr Cremades said.
The nesting boxes are placed 2km to
Online forum grows
LAST year, the Reach discussion forum
had:
쐽 12,000 postings, a 30 per cent
increase from the year before.
쐽 1.5 million views, a 21 per cent
increase from the year before.
쐽 Since the Reach Facebook group was
introduced in June last year, it has
received 1,700 postings.
쐽 Hottest topics on the Reach forum
include the cost of living and transport
issues such as ERP charges.
The new Youth Vibes website can be
found at www.reach.gov.sg/youthvibes
4km apart to avoid competition for terri-
tory.
With the aid of man-made nesting
boxes, which are bigger than natural
nests, the wild hornbills’ population has
more than doubled since the study began
in 2004.
More than 50 oriental pied hornbills
now roam Pulau Ubin, Changi and other
parts of mainland Singapore, up from
about 20 in 2004.
In the early 1900s, the oriental pied
hornbills had completely disappeared
from Singapore.
However, since 1994, when a pair
was spotted on Pulau Ubin, they have
been making a comeback.
Singapore’s mainland areas can sus-
tain up to 200 oriental pied hornbills, Mr
Cremades believes.
A video clip of hornbills’ breeding
behaviour can be seen online at
www.youtube.com/user/NParksSingapore
THE STRAITS TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 8 2009 PAGE B8
bined with an appreciation lunch for
Reach contributors. Among them was
19-year-old national serviceman Soh Yi
Da.
He has been giving feedback to Reach
and its predecessor, the Feedback Unit,
for the last five years.
He also started his own school feed-
back symposium. “I believe that by mak-
ing ourselves heard, we can shape a bet-
ter Singapore where we belong,” he
said.
Some of his views have been adapted
for use. One example is the implementa-
tion of internships for students at gov-
ernment agencies, an idea he came up
with during his school days.
Reach has also appointed five grass-
roots feedback facilitators from differ-
ent constituencies. They will help get
the message out to the heartland and en-
gage residents in giving feedback to the
Government.
S’poreans No. 2 in
gadget-owning survey
BY CHUA HIAN HOU
GADGET-MAD Singaporeans have pro-
pelled the Republic to second place in a
global survey on entertainment technolo-
gy ownership.
According to a survey published yester-
day by research firm The Nielsen Compa-
ny, 97 per cent of households own com-
puters, 87 per cent have DVD players and
64 per cent have MP3 players.
Singapore also has the “highest rate of
mobile phone ownership in the world” –
a mobile phone penetration rate of almost
130 per cent.
The survey ranks markets according to
the ownership and usage levels of 11 enter-
tainment devices, including television
sets, CD players and high-definition
Blu-ray players.
Singapore came in behind Ireland and
ahead of Australia, the United Kingdom
and New Zealand, followed by Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong and the
United States.
These were the top 10 markets in
terms of ownership of entertainment
products. Nielsen polled 26,000 users in
52 markets worldwide, including 500
here, last year.
Mr Mark Teo, for instance, owns nine
of the 11 devices listed in the survey – he
does not have a portable video player or
Blu-ray player.
But the 36-year-old, who works in the
financial industry, does intend to get a
Blu-ray player “some time this year”.
The survey also found that one in four
Singapore Internet users downloads mov-
Minister for Community Develop-
ment, Youth and Sports Vivian
Balakrishnan, who co-hosted the lunch
with Dr Khor, stressed the need for the
“three Is” in better citizen engagement:
쐽 The need for the Government to re-
veal as much “information” as possible,
accurately and credibly, so the people
can participate in solution generation;
쐽 The need to respond quickly to feed-
back and to have more resources to man
the various “interaction” channels; and
쐽 The need for more people to feel “in-
volved” in nation-building, problem-
solving and creating the future.
He made an analogy between getting
feedback and the Singapore Flyer,
where the lunch was held: “This cannot
be a process where things are just going
round and round and occasionally get-
ting stuck, with no output, with no ef-
fect on the ground and no changes.”
aprilc@sph.com.sg
DEVICE OWNERSHIP
TV
% of respondents
98%
Desktop or notebook computer 97%
DVD player 87%
CD player 83%
Mobile phone without
video playback and 66%
Internet capabilities
Portable music player 64%
Video or Internet-capable
mobile phone 50%
Handheld game system 38%
Console game system 35%
Portable music and video player 27%
Blu-ray player 6%
Source: THE NIELSEN COMPANY
ies, and one in three downloads songs
from the Internet, putting Singapore in
34th position globally in this area.
Playing videos and music straight from
a Web page, known as streaming media,
is even more popular among Singapore-
ans, with six in 10 enjoying streaming mu-
sic and over half catching television
shows this way.
According to the survey, 21 per cent of
Singaporeans download television shows
and 18 per cent download video games
every month.
For now though, Singaporeans lag be-
hind China’s netizens, who topped the
survey in this area: 84 per cent download
movies and 85 per cent download music
every month.