Britain's Warwick dropped its Singapore plan in 2005. America's Johns Hopkins pulled out in 2006. and the fiasco has gone Down Under to the UNSW this year. However, the blame on the EDB seems to be out of proportion. Millions of tax money has been misspent, yes. But all in the good spirit of driving the Singapore hub-of-hubs aspiration, which in this case is the regional education powerhouse. Just a note, who has ever succeeded without any failure? We tend to be over critical under the circumstances. And the fear of failures is the one thing that would really bring Singapore down under, not the EDB's one-off miscalculation.

if there's one bad thing about Singapore, i think this should be it. the fear of failures. atychiphobia. the stress on success (often masqueraded as the importance of hard work) has been both a boon and a bane. it's the key to Singapore's From Third World to First laurels. and seems like it's also a reason why the Singapore life might not be as fulfilling as the Costa Rica or the Vietnam life on the Happy Planet Index. this shade of blue is ugly. from the economic czar Philip Yeo to the man on the street, people talk success, work success and breathe success, without much tolerance for failures. we're in luck failure's not outlawed here.

well whatever it is, there's still much more to be in love with Singapore for.