Secretary-general of Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Dr Chee Soon Juan said on Monday (30 Aug) that the closure of Yale-NUS College by 2025 has made his points about the campus creation “come true”, as he recalled his speech at Yale University, New Haven in 2012.
Yale-NUS College was established in 2011 as a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore (NUS), becoming the first liberal arts institution in Singapore.
According to Yale Daily News, Yale-NUS College has been primarily funded by the Singapore government, which is known to be “authoritarian”. The collaboration, however, drew criticism as some noted that it did not clearly articulate guidelines for free expression and nondiscrimination.
It was reported on 27 Aug that Yale-NUS College will cease by 2025, as NUS plans to establish a provisionally named “New College”, which will merge Yale-NUS College with NUS’ University Scholars Programme (USP). The new college will not bear Yale’s name.
The formation of the new college was the “latest move in NUS’ efforts to transform the educational experience at Singapore’s flagship university”, which will welcome its first intake of up to 500 students in the academic year of 2022.
Following the Yale-NUS closure, Dr Chee took to his Facebook page on Monday (30 Aug) citing his speech at Yale University in 2012, saying that “the closure of the university – and after hundreds of millions of our taxpayer’s funds wasted – has made what I said come true”.
The politician included some of the excerpts of his speech in his Facebook post, in which he questioned the motivation of the Yale leadership to set up the Yale-NUS College in the first place.
“I fear – and I sincerely hope that I will be proven wrong on this – that the Yale leadership does not, like American multinational corporations that have come before it, cynically look to make that quick and easy dollar from Singaporeans while completely disregard what such actions would do to our society,” he said.
Dr Chee shared that his experience with foreign academic institutions has led him to become “very sceptical” of their claims wanting to provide Singaporeans with “the best that academia can muster”.
“I fear, despite all the assurances, and because of what I have seen of what corporate America together with the Singapore state has done to my country, that making money is the be-all and end-all of all that is collaborated.
“I hope you can see why the Yale-NUS venture leaves me suspicious of Yale’s motives – whether you are there to educate or simply to line your own pockets. I have never yearned so much to be proven wrong,” he remarked.
Dr Chee went on to claim that the Singapore government has argued that democracy will hamper economic progress.
“Asian values under the guise of Confucianism, have been used by the Singapore government to steer the people away from democracy which, it argues, will hamper economic progress.
“I argue the opposite – and data bear me out – that openness and accountability, in other words democracy, is essential for the economic advancement of a people,” he noted.
While some argued that democracy is a Western concept not suited to an Eastern culture like Singapore, Dr Chee pointed out that it was “the West that subjugated and oppressed Singapore, together with much of Asia, for much of the 19th and 20th centuries”.
“Freedom from colonialism was not given but won; the rebellion was instinctual. In short, the longing for freedom is not Asian or Western – it is primordial,” he remarked.
But none of these was the main point of his concern, rather, it was about living in peace and on the premise that “human equals human”.
“Humankind must not live in a world where the poor and the elderly live off the crumbs that fall off the rich man’s table; where Westerners, with the help of autocratic governments, exploit the locals in the countries that they invest in,” he remarked.
Dr Chee further noted: “If you care enough that education at this revered institution will prepare you for a life that not just enables you to get ahead but to also improve the lot of those around you, of humanity, then you will also care that Yale University not yield on the principles of higher education on which it is founded.”
“You will want this proud arena of intellection to care that it upholds its reputation of imparting not just knowledge but wisdom – the wisdom that invites one to enter the door of his or her conscience.
“I can only hope that as we progress into the future, as the global community becomes more intertwined and our interests become increasingly linked, that our values – the values that people come before profit, rights before riches and wisdom before wealth – will also become inextricably bound,” he asserted.
