I was pleasantly surprised to read Dharmendra Yadav’s latest blog entry this morning. I never expected him to be reading my blog!

After reading his post, my first reaction was, “There’s another person who appreciates what we (at the Campus Observer) are doing!” It might seem a little silly to be so happy, but it’s another welcome shower to our parched hearts and spirits.

All of us at the Observer are in it voluntarily. We gain nothing from the reporting we do. There are no ECA points to be gained, and no mention in our university records. We don’t want to be linked to any organisation because we want to chase our dream of operating a press that is editorially independent.

I thought that the Observer could bring a refreshing change to NUS. My observation of many student publications in NUS is that they are mainly magazines or PR publications. A proper student paper was clearly lacking. In my idealistic mind, I dreamed of students being awakened from the slumber of apathy and ignorance because of the Observer.

However, reality proved contrary to my expectations. In fact, after so many weeks since our inception, I’ve come to realise that many undergraduates, the supposedly intellectual and cultural elite of our society, do not appreciate the value of a free press.

We experienced haranguing, denial of entry, complaint letters to university authorities, suspicions, accusations and broken friendships. These were not what I expected. I still do not understand why are some students so afraid of us. All we do is to see, observe, ask for opinions and then report them as it is. If there is anything that we wrote wrongly, write in and tell us. Why are students not mature enough to do that, choosing instead to privately complain and, I assume, to try and get the authorities to crush our existence? Is this the level of maturity that our students have?

I was just talking to my executive editor over MSN last night. He remarked to me how tired the entire team is. I couldn’t agree more. I’m tired too. Bloody tired, if I may be frank. A chinese saying probably sums up the reason why I’m so tired: 对牛弹琴 (translation: to play the zither for a cow. Meaning: to do something for someone who doesn’t appreciate it). However, somehow, when I feel really down and out, there’s always a wind of relief. It just makes my day to see a person appreciating the dreams and ideals that all of us at the Observer are chasing.

On a more realistic note, I don’t know how long this little experiment in free press will last. The pragmatic Singaporean side of me keeps reminding me that I am in Singapore, and the history of the press in Singapore is unforgiving. Well, I shall just keep doing what I have to do as a student journalist. I don’t think that anything worse can happen to me compared to the guest speaker who will be speaking to my class later. He had his press burned down and was subsequently exiled from his country. He has a home that he cannot return to, and he gave that up for his ideals.

I think young Singaporeans can do with a little more idealism.