ABOUT 600 pre-university students had a chance to lob questions at a minister yesterday on the broad topic Global City, Home For All. And they did - via SMS.

Even the shyer ones got their queries in during the 90 minutes Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan gave them at the annual Pre-University Seminar.

The questions - typographical errors and all - were flashed on the big screens on stage. It was the first time the seminar took this format.

The questions posed covered a broad range of topics - from global issues such as the rise in food and oil prices and income inequality, to local issues like why Singlish is not 'allowed', as well as controversial ones like whether Singapore should be more tolerant of homosexuals and opposition parties.

On Singlish, Dr Balakrishnan said the decision was a pragmatic one because Singaporeans needed to communicate with the world in a language universally understood.

The students also asked whether, instead of being a melting pot, Singapore could instead be a 'salad bowl', where each individual could retain his own uniqueness.

The minister agreed with the analogy, saying that Singapore was an open society which welcomed individuals' uniqueness.

Turning to opposition politics, he said the Government was not stopping anyone from going into it, but advised those contemplating it: Go into it because it is something you believe in, not because you want change for the sake of change.

To a student who asked what the Government was doing to help citizens amid the world food crisis and the American financial meltdown, he said the answer lay not in subsidies but in everyone working hard and smart to ensure that 'our goods and services are worth more than the food we eat, so we don't starve'.

Students also shared their aspirations when the minister asked them what their dreams were and what would make them happy and fulfilled. Their aspirations included being an aesthetic surgeon, a teacher, a top drummer and an astronaut.

To give more participants a say, the traditional keynote address was dropped in favour of short presentations by student panellists. These covered topics like whether Singapore was the place to live their dreams, and whether it would continue being a home for all.

Dr Balakrishnan said it was a 'great challenge' for him to respond to the text messages and presentations without a prepared script, and added: 'But I hope it was a more spontaneous session, a session which more truly reflected the concerns, ideas and dreams of the students.'

Victoria Ong, 17, a first-year student of Meridian Junior College, said she gained insights into what youth today thought and why the Government made certain decisions.

'We all have our own personal complaints and questions about what the Government does. I see better now why it makes certain decisions, even if I don't always agree with them.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 28, 2008.