Singapore, 6 December, 2010 -- What does one get when young Asian thinkers are dared to think big and suggest fresh ideas to tackle the key challenges of Asia’s growth and prosperity? Simple, one gets a team of winners and a plethora of refreshing ideas for a future-smart Asia. And winners are exactly what the Asia Challenge 2020 essay competition produced.


Mr S. Iswaran, Singapore’s Senior Minister
of State for Trade and Industry and
Education, and the Guest-of-Honour Sponsored by the Asia Business Council, TIME magazine and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the competition received more than 400 entries from essayists aged 32 and under. The essays addressed the questions: “What is the most important challenge facing Asia over the next decade? Why? What should be done about it?”

The winner, Singapore-based Indian national, Sarabjit Singh, emphasised economic inequality as Asia’s key challenge and inclusive development as the response. Runners-up Gemlyn George, Rohit Pathak, and Su Hsing Loh, wrote about deficiencies in Asia’s healthcare system, the challenges of governance in Asia, and Asia’s decoupling from the West, respectively.


The essay competition winners with the
organizers Speaking at the awards ceremony on December 6, Assistant Dean and Director of Research at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Astrid S. Tuminez, said that she was heartened to see the range of innovative thinking in the essays received. She also noted, “We were honored to co-sponsor this contest because we believe that it is the role of a school of public policy to deepen and broaden the critical discourse on Asia’s challenges. The quality of thought and insight among the essayists indicates that Asians have the ideas to address creatively and effectively the challenges ahead.”

Mr S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education, and the Guest-of-Honour for the event, said it was imperative for a growing Asia to get its basics right and that good governance was key to Asia’s future.

In closing the celebrations Professor Tommy Koh, Singapore’s Ambassador-At-Large and Chairman of the Centre for International Law (CIL) at NUS, advocated that the essay competition become an annual event.

Judges for the contest included Zoher Abdoolcarim and Michael Elliott from TIME magazine; Nobuyuki Idei from Quantum Leaps Corp., Japan; Lubna Olayan from Olayan Financing Company, Saudi Arabia; and Kishore Mahbubani, Stavros Yiannouka and Astrid Tuminez from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.