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Learning from mistakes II

A few years back, I devoted a couple of blog posts to writing about ‘wicked learning environments’, a concept popularised by psychologist Robin Hogarth (see the posts here, here and here).

Some recent experiences working on various requests for proposals and tenders brought this concept back to mind. And I want us to think about it a bit more as we think about the culture that we are developing here in Singapore – in school, business and within organisations.

I ran into a situation where multiple organisations belonging to this larger mothership, who was originating various requests for proposals refused to entertain request for feedback on the proposals submitted. Basically joining the tender was a black box with rather binary outcomes; and when you fail, you couldn’t even take a lesson out of it. At times, non-constructive feedbacks were provided; such as ‘the competition was strong’, or that ‘we received many competitive proposals and decided not to go with yours’.

I was reminded of a story from a friend who had a really non-supportive reporting officer (RO). When she requested feedback on her performance, the RO said she was doing okay, but when the performance reviews came back, she was placed at either average or slightly below. The response she got from her RO about why she was placed in that performance grade was that her grade was ‘already not bad’.

Feedback is so important, but in Singapore, we are so conflict-avoidant that we refuse to think about it more thoroughly. We might even have experienced defensiveness during exit interviews when employees felt more free to voice out concerns or areas of improvement. The fear of mistakes borders on being completely irrational and the desire to run from the shame or perceived humiliation supersedes the willingness to learn from those mistakes.

This is a massive problem for our culture. And Singapore is worse for such behaviours – where juniors are expected to silent dissenting voices, sometimes to the extent of surrending their thinking ability in exchange for harmony and masquerading that as ‘respect for elders’.

How can we move faster and progress if we want to enable Singapore to make the leap towards a better future?

I wrote another post with the same topic but from a different angle 2 years back. You can find it here.

Functional Atheism

Despite being a Christian, I’d probably confess to living most of my life like an atheist, and for most of us in the modern world, that is perhaps the case. As we send our reports and deliverables to clients, we don’t start praying to God for Him to grant favour in the eyes of our clients. At the same time, before we start our meetings to make crucial decisions, it’s not like we ask the Lord to grant us wisdom to decide the right course of action in a corporate prayer. Beyond prayer, more often than not, we are petty with the way we approach our suppliers, and potentially quite transactional on many interactions.

If we had been in a more agriculture setting, surely after tilling the land and sowing the seeds, we would have prayed for good weather and for patience to arrive upon harvest time. Each day as we work the fields we’d ask the Lord to bless the work of our hands. And when if we were to be waiting in the market for someone who needs our produce to pass, we might ask for customers, and we might deal with them with greater kindness than we would when chasing a customer for bill payment.

I don’t know if it’s the environment, the (false) sense of self-sufficiency and control that leads us to act this way. But we often enjoy acting like we are in control; and we are glad for the assurance from others’ false sense of control over circumstances and happenstance. We have lost the security and comfort that we can have in the embrace of God’s grace and His provision. And each time we practice that modern day ritual of self-reliance and independence from nature and from God, we weaken our faith so much.

License to sin

One of the first things that people tend to ask or wonder when they hear about the gospel of Christ is: if all people’s sins are always forgiven, then won’t they keep sinning? In the letter to Romans, Paul actually asked that same question himself to make explicit why such thinking has no place in Christianity:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:1-4 (NKJV)

I already dissected these verses in a previous post, and so I want to address a bit more how hiding these verses in our hearts allows us to apply the verses to some of the inner conversations we might be having with ourselves.

Many churches today emphasize the grace of God without highlighting that the grace exists because of the need for justice. And so one of the challenges for many Christians today is that when reminded of their sins or continued sinning, they are quick to say ‘am I under the law?’ – essentially implying if one is to be held accountable for his sins, then Christ died in vain for him. That is an extremely convoluted understanding of the gospel.

Paul makes it clear that the incredible grace of God suggests that one who has truly accepted his/her salvation and has been saved from sins would not choose to live in sin. When we continue to live in sin, we are not identifying with the Christ who died on the cross for us. Paul doesn’t just stop there. He reminds us that identifying fully with Christ means that our sins died with Christ on the cross; but not just that, we gain a new life that is meant to be lived in this world, just as Christ was raised to live from the dead by God.

This is a powerful thought – because baptism in our minds tend to relate to some kind of new birth, the sense of being born again. But to be born again only works when the old self has died. Thinking of salvation as a license to sin is precisely the workings of the old self, not the new. So if the old self is not yet dead, there isn’t the born-again to speak of. As we Christian continues to struggle with sin and temptation, let the words of Paul from Romans 6:1-4 encourage us to tread forth in the newness of life.

Governing authorities

I wrote this back during the period of 2025 Elections but did not post it. I put it up at this point just as a record of my thoughts.

Having gone through the general elections in 2025, there was a bit of reflection on how our faith plays a role in the manner we approach democracy and vote, especially when it comes to a world where, in the US, faith is increasingly politicised and used often as a means to gain political support. Gratefully, in Singapore, and also in Australia, the system pushes towards the center rather than polarising towards the extremes.

Nevertheless, as a Christian, it is essential to recognise the place of authorities from a faith perspective. And considering also how, as Christian voters, we approach the whole idea of elections. We have been called to submit to authorities of our land in Paul’s letters to the Romans – this was in the backdrop of authorities that were not democratically elected. So they probably had little respect for the people they ruled over – many of whom were foreigners who were their spoils of conquest.

And so when people go through the political route seeking to express and take action on their ideals, we could give them the benefit of the doubt and determine who best represents our voice. It is perfectly acceptable for two strong and devote Christians to come to different conclusions about who represents or aligns more with their political inclinations. What is important, is that the partisanship in politics do not contaminate or affect the unity of the church.

As a model for the society then, we ought to recognise and respect the democratic process as a means for us to determine as a society who will help to govern and what would be the priorities for the next term of government. If we allow the campaigns, the political lines or partisanship to poison the entire term of government, or worse, the rest of our lives, then we are probably missing the point.

Problem-solving or answer-finding

I am a Singaporean. And one aspect about Singapore highlighted by many stories of its growth and early leaders is the notion of pragmatism. Yet I feel that this notion probably has been overplayed.

Pragmatism is used to suggest that the ends justify the means. Now within the context of school, it could mean that you can get your grades by rote memorisation as opposed to genuine learning. Or that you could simply find the right answer to copy than to solve a problem yourself on an assignment.

Same goes for the worker at work – just find the answer, don’t bother solving the problem. This may mean finding out how it was done before; or to figure out what others who had the same problem was doing. One could argue those are problem-solving heuristics. Maybe. But I call those “answer-finding”.

As a consultant, I cannot help but recall clients who are asking, “but have you done this same thing before with another client or somewhere else?” This is answer-finding, not problem-solving.

The Singapore today needs trail-blazers and problem-solvers; as it always had. But decades of overemphasizing pragmatism means we prefer to pay for answers than purchase problem-solving capacity. We desperately need to shift this culture and move towards real problem-solving than answer-finding.

Sinning in abundant grace

I’m currently doing some bible memory work of Romans 6:1-4. And sometimes, it just helps to do a close reading of the verses bit by bit and digest it so that the verses stick in my memory not just merely as words but as deep concepts and associations with the many other things I’ve learnt.

The context of Romans 6:1-4 is the preceding chapters of Romans that Paul has penned. He writes and expound on the incredible grace of God that is given to us through the gospel – that Christ died for our sins so we may gain salvation, and be reconciled with God.

Paul asks two questions:

  1. What shall we say then? – this question is more to get us to respond somehow to the implications of the grace of God that had been presented before us in the preceding chapters.
  2. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? – this question effectively spells out what would be in the minds of most disciples: is the grace of the Lord fuelled by or shown only by the fact that we have sinned greatly?

He then answers the second question himself: ‘Certainly not!’

And then he poses another question to introduce another concept: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?” He is presenting the argument that as we submit ourselves to be baptised in the name of Christ, we are entering His death (we allow our old selves to be dead)

Finally, having presented that concept, Paul then concludes his point here with a long statement of the implications of this baptism into Christ’ death:

  • We were buried with him through baptism into death
  • Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father
  • We also should walk in newness of life

In other words, just as Christ was raised up, we are likewise raised, living a different life from the one we lived before when we identify with Christ and accept Him as our saviour, receiving our salvation from Him.

I reproduce again the full text of the verses I’m trying to memorise:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:1-4 (NKJV)

Loving thy neighbour

I’m thinking of putting together some learnings from the bible (yes the Christian Holy Bible, word of God) as part of my posting every Sunday. These are not necessarily lessons learnt on the Sunday itself but it is a dedication of the day to the Lord. And an opportunity to share my learnings with readers (if at all).

In Matthew 22:36, a lawyer (religious legal scholar) asked Jesus what is the greatest command. While he did so to test Jesus, it was still a teaching moment for Jesus and he responded:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matt 22:37-40 (NKJV)

The reason these commandment hangs all the Law and the Prophets is because they in essence summarised the Ten Commandments, from which all the other Laws that the Jews had develop were derived from. In Romans 13, Paul further notes that:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. – Romans 13:8-10 (NKJV)

All of the laws involving the various ‘don’t’s in our interaction with one another ultimately culminate in loving one’s neighbour. Paul explains further that this is because love does no harm to a neighbour.

But isn’t that hard, even impossible? In the modern secular world and also our laws of the land, we have likewise developed categorical prohibition against most of those deeds that Paul mentioned. But it is not just because that those deeds in and of themselves are wrong; nor the fact that they harm another person (utilitarianism); but that they come from a place other than love (in terms of spirit and intentionality). What does the Christian gospel give us then, that allows Paul to say that to the Roman church even though we as humans know we can’t live up to that?

The gospel gives us the basis that as we were still sinners, Christ died for us, what we can have eternal life and be reconciled to God. Personally, when I read those verses from Paul, I think about what kind of neighbour I would be if God was a neighbour to me – I won’t be a very good one but yet He would love me. In fact, He sent Christ to die for me – in effect fulfilling the law of loving me through the ultimate sacrifice for my sins. As a Christian, that is the basis from which God gives us the command. There is a certain degree of circularity about it: God gives us the commandments through Moses to help us recognise that we fall short of it, but at the same time it gives us an ability to appreciate God’s perfection – at the same time, it provides the foundation for us to understand, and appreciate Jesus Christ’s ministry and the reason for His coming to die on the cross, and hence the offer of salvation for us. The very laws that prescribe the sacrifice of the lamb is fulfilled by the sacrifice of Christ, as the ultimate sacrificial lamb for our sins.

The laws command, but also prophesy and are fulfilled by God alone. Thus, having been saved and adopted, we are freed to love, no longer being enslaved to the self or to sin.

Duty to vote

So it’s general elections season. It’s really interesting how this general election gives a great sense of a maturing democracy where more capable candidates are stepping forward, and emphasising the need to provide diversity of voices in the parliament. Peers of mine are stepping forward as candidates. I’m seeing even young independent candidates like Darryl Lo stepping forward.

The features of the Westminster Parliamentary system that Singapore inherited create a strong government because of the ‘first-past-the-post’ approach to voting. While the governing party can somehow gerrymander to optimise their support across constituencies, there is a natural limit to that as their vote share decreases.

The other feature is that the system calls non-ruling parties the ‘opposition’. It is perhaps a result of the typical debate terminology where they talk about proposition and opposition. As our democracy matures, we begin to see what it means more and more to be a loyal opposition, and not be misled by this somewhat ‘confrontational’ sense of the term.

Even as the country faces uncertainty from the global situation, this general election thus far fills me with a sense that Singapore is really ‘coming to age’ as a country that is learning to deal with challenges. Looking at the MPs coming from different walks of life and at a broader range of socio-economic backgrounds (at least from my perception), there is more a sense of ordinary people trying to make a difference in the society they live in, recognising it is no longer enough to slog for their own personal lives and expect the society to develop desirably.

Maundy Thursday 2025

Today is the night before Good Friday when we commemorate the last supper that Jesus had with His disciples. And interestingly the Chinese name for this day refers more to the washing of the disciple’s feet.

In the church I attend, the message preached focused on Jesus’ warning to Peter in Luke 22:31-34. Peter had imagined his faith in God to be much more than he eventually was able show with his actions. But the comforting words from Jesus was:

“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Peter’s faith faltered but eventually did not fail. He returned to the Lord and was restored. I thought deeply about what Peter went through that night.

He said he was ready to go to prison and even to death with Jesus in verse 33, so what went wrong? Peter was not short of courage, he trusted in Jesus’ power and might. He was ready to fight that night at Garden of Gethsemane so much so the gospel of John recorded that Peter took arms and struck the ear of the servant of the high priest.

But what was probably shocking to Peter was that Jesus called out his violent response. In John 18, it was recorded after Peter injured the servant.

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
‭‭John‬ ‭18‬:‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

And in Luke 22, Jesus reportedly said “Permit even this.”

Yes, the same Man whom the disciples marveled at when the storm was calmed at sea, now effectively says “let them have me” without putting up any fight at all. It is exactly another moment when the disciples would be thinking “Who is this? Who would respond to the treachery with such calmness? Who would respond to such corruption with love and grace? Whom have we chose to follow and what are we bringing upon ourselves?”

Peter’s thoughts about his faith in Jesus probably just vanished before him. Can he go to prison with Jesus and even death without putting up a fight? Will he submit himself to the enemies the way Jesus did?

Unlike most disciples who fled, Peter followed Jesus and his captors. Peter tried to figure out what they were doing to him and find chance to be of use or help. He actually was braver than any of them. But when confronted about being a disciple of Jesus, he denied. There was fear for sure, and he must have been so overwhelmed by the night’s event. But more significantly, he probably wasn’t so sure if he was a follower of Jesus anymore. The denial of Jesus perhaps wasn’t about a moment of weakness but a sense of loss. But it was needed for Peter to discover what he actually had been placing his faith on instead of the Lord he had thought he was following.

So when the rooster crowed and reminded Peter of what Jesus had said, he was probably jolted back to his senses but not before being filled with shame, despair and utter helplessness. He wept bitterly.

Peter would eventually return to Jesus. In John 21 when John told him Jesus was the one at the shore, Peter immediately jumped into the water to swim towards the shore. And sure enough Jesus restores him and calls him to encourage the brethren (“feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep”).

Our faith will be tested again and again; what is the basis of what we believe and how far are we going to lead our lives premised on God’s word and promises? Only time and our lives will tell; but it is more for us to know and respond and to learn to return to God each time.

My artist self

There seems to be some conventional or prevailing wisdom about people having to keep to their lanes in different ways. So there are so-called norms for being a worker, being a father, a brother, a son and so on. Overlay that with the dimension of culture, including heritage and religion, you get a different set of different norms that as an individual, you are expected to display.

And so all my life I’ve somehow been defying classifications. One of the big divisions in school I had was between a ‘science’ student and an ‘art’ student. In high school, I defied that classification by doing arts (not just humanities but even fine arts, digital arts, and film) alongside all of the sciences (biology, physics, chemistry). When I entered junior college, I took two science subjects and two arts subjects as my main subjects.

And when it came to college, I just had to go to a school that offered a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics when in most places, Economics was considered a Bachelor of Arts (BA). And then in my masters of economics, despite joining the advanced mathematics course, I also did a module in Economic & Business history.

I often recognise the value and importance of arts despite being an economist and finding it difficult to quantify the value that arts generate. Life in Singapore has become so draining and taxing on the human spirit often because we don’t know how arts play a role in helping us recover and restoring dimensions of our lives that we fail to see or identify. In recent times, as I caught plays from Checkpoint theatre and various films or shorts produced by Singaporeans about life in Singapore, even poetry that is written about life (eg. Government Haikus), I begin to see more and more that we all need arts more than we know. It could well be what will keep us alive.