THE DOVER CHRONICLE VOL 1.1

THE DOVER CHRONICLE - APRIL 2023 VOL. 1 

WE COULD BE HEROES 

We could be heroes, just for one day. 

IN EXHIBITION 

An art exhibition featuring student work from 

international schools across Singapore and 

Malaysia. 

IS THERE NO WAY OUT OF 

THE MIND? 

 

The silence depressed me. It wasn't the 

silence of silence. It was my own silence. - 

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar 

Trigger warning - suicide 

FOR THE FALLEN 

 

I was the only one left alive out of 400. 

Dead and dying all round me. 

TIKTOK: MENACE TO SOCIETY? 

It’s the 23rd of April, 2023 in the U.S. 

Congress. The court hearing continues 

relentlessly for five hours, the subject: TikTok.


FOR THE FALLEN 

To honour the worldwide casualties of 

more than 100 million caused by WW1, 

WW2 and other wars, in an annual event 

organised by the British High Commission, 

the combined choirs of Dulwich College, 

Tanglin Trust School, Marlborough 

College Malaysia and Dover Court 

International School gathered on 

Remembrance Sunday at Kranji War 

Memorial to honour those who lost their 

lives. The hymns sung include Abide with 

me and I vow to thee my country, which 

was followed by a recitation of the poem 

by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae In 

Flanders Fields, which was inspired by the 

poppies that would grow during the war 

and the hope that they gave the soldiers. 

The First World War caused the death of 

around 20 million and injuries of 21 

million - looking at these statistics, it's 

understood why we refer to WW1 as ‘The 

Great War’ or ‘The War to End All Wars’. 

WW1 featured a large number of 

offensives such as the Somme offensive of 

1916, Passchendaele of 1917, the Gallipoli 

offensive of 1915 and the Hundred Days 

offensive of 1918 that helped bring about 

the end of the war. The war started on 28th 

July 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared 

war on Serbia and it ended on 11th 

November 1918. It was frequently said that 

the war would be ‘over by Christmas’, 

however, no one expected the 4 years of 

horror that would follow. 

Joe Armstrong of the Loyal North 

Lancashire Regiment: 

They were laughing and singing and 

joking, all the lot of them. And in the 

twinkle of an eye, I was the only one left 

alive out of 400. I was the only one left 

alive out of 400. Dead and dying all round 

me. 

Private Maydwell of the 2nd Battalion 

Royal West Surrey Regiment: 

And we hadn’t gone many yards before 

machine-gun bullets peppered round us, 

and they came at us almost like hailstones 

dropping at the side of you. I can 

remember everybody was screaming that 

was in that charge, laying down and 

moaning and groaning and eventually 

there was silence. 

The gravestones at the Kranji war memorial where the men and 

women from the Commonwealth who died in the line of duty 

during World War II are honoured. 

Reyna Ramaswamy


The Battle of the Somme caused the 

casualties of 620000 allied, with 57470 

injured or killed on the first day. Field 

Marshall Douglas Haig (who led the 

offensive) was heavily criticised and 

described as ‘The butcher of the Somme’- 

although many men died under his 

leadership, these accusations could be 

argued against, as his tactics of attrition 

ultimately led to the Allied victory of 1918. 

On the 1st of July 1916, after a week-long 

artillery bombardment that began on the 

24th of June, the Allies were ordered to 

walk across No-Mans Land while carrying 

30kg of equipment. Haig had expected the 

German barbed wire to be completely 

destroyed and the majority of the German 

troops to be injured, however that was not 

the case, as they had retreated into their 

heavily defended 12 metre deep trenches 

and, through the use of planes, had already 

known that the British were planning an 

attack. The Germans also had the use of 

machine guns which were very effective 

and, according to a German eyewitness 

account from the 1st of July 1916, made 

‘whole sections of the line’ fall, with men 

‘throwing up their arms and collapsing, 

never to move again’. 

The battle has been described as a 

‘monstrous waste of life’ and was one of 

the most costly battles of the First World 

War. 

Private Maurice Symes of Somerset Light 

Infantry about the Somme offensive: 

It felt just like somebody had kicked me in 

the stomach; a funny sort of feeling but I 

knew couldn’t go any further. I just 

dumped everything except my water bottle 

and crawled into a shell hole and stayed 

there for a bit. I had a bullet straight 

through, then I got into a shell hole for a 

bit of shelter and got another shrapnel 

wound there. 

Royal Engineer Thomas Dewing about the 

Somme offensive: 

Frankly the Battle of the Somme was a 

ghastly mistake. We didn’t realise that at 

the time but at the first church parade after 

that we’d an idea what a shambles it had 

been. We fell in as usual for the church 

parade and then the infantry came in – a 

mere handful. In each battalion, a mere 

handful of people. And the colonels sat in 

front of what was left of their battalions, 

sat there sobbing. 

And we were completely taken aback, 

didn’t realise it was anything like that. 

Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian 

Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Pashley 

Attending the service on Remembrance 

Sunday was Australian Colonel Doug 

Pashley. He has been a part of the military 

for 25 years and is currently serving as a 

combat officer and the commander of the 

landing forces on board the HMS Adelaide. 

He has a background in the Infantry Corp, 

and describes being in service as ‘putting 

the service of your nation ahead of 

individual needs and wants’ while 

‘working together as part of a team’ and 

‘creating teams’ of people ‘who will do 

whatever is needed to do to defend their 

way of life’. He’s worked with New 

Zealanders, British and American troops, 

and his grandfather served during World 

War Two by fighting in the jungles of 

Papua New Guinea. 

As the Remembrance Day service had been 

halted for 3 years during the pandemic, this 

years service was especially crowded - 

Colonel Pashley described it as being ‘very 

unique’ and as being a ‘wonderful service’, 

due to it being ‘very rare that you get to 

commemorate the sacrifice of others in the 

very location in which they fought and 

died’. 

The Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 was one 

of the most significant battles of which 

Anzac troops were involved, and it was 

considered a huge loss for the Allied 

Reyna Ramaswamy


with around 115000 casualties on their 

side. It is a prominent part of Australian 

culture; Pashley mentioned how ‘for most 

Australians Gallipoli is very well known’ 

and that they’re ‘all very familiar with the 

story and the sacrifice’. He’s ‘very proud’ 

of their service at Gallipoli, and takes 

Remembrance Day as an opportunity to 

honour those who made the ultimate 

sacrifice. 

We honour those who gave up their lives 

for their country in the First and Second 

World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam 

War, the Syrian Civil War and many more. 

We shall not break faith with those who 

died, and, as said in For the Fallen by 

Laurence Binyon, ‘at the going down of the 

sun and in the morning, we will remember 

them.’ 

On the 25th of April 1915, Anzac Day, the 

Allies evacuated on Helles Beach (now 

known as Anzac Cove). They were met 

with heavy shelling from the Turkish, and 

were unable to evacuate effectively on the 

sand due to not having up to date maps of 

the area. The fighting conditions were 

impossible for the Allies, and during 

December 1915 and January 1916 had to 

evacuate with the evacuation being the 

most successful part of the entire 

Campaign as barely any lives were lost. 

Non-commissioned Officer Fred Haig 

about the Gallipoli Campaign: 

It was absolute schmozzle it was really a 

nightmare – fellows being killed all round, 

wounded all round; not enough ambulance 

people and not enough ambulance transport 

to get the fellows from shore. It was an 

absolute nightmare. I know that night I was 

drinking from a little creek and I thought to 

myself, ‘This water tastes funny.’ Then I 

went up a few yards and here was two dead 

bodies and the blood was coming down the 

creek, with the water in the creek. 

In Flanders Field, by John Mccrae 

Reyna Ramaswamy


IN EXHIBITION 2022 

The IN exhibition is an art exhibition 

featuring student work from 

international schools across Singapore 

and Malaysia for over a decade. The 

exhibition has patronage from the 

Australian High Commission and 

exhibits various forms of media such as 

paintings, sculptures, video art, etc. 

Carla Mouchel La Fosse - Surveillance: Watercolour 

and ink on cardboard 

This year the exhibition was once again 

held live after two years online, and is 

taking place in the Australian High 

Commission Auditorium. 

Since it first began, IN has aimed to have the 

art departments of various international 

schools in Singapore to collaborate and share 

practices. The exhibition was initially formed 

from a collaboration between Tanglin Trust 

School, Australian International School, 

United World College (Dover) and Joseph’s 

Institution International. 

The first exhibition was held in the space of 

an established gallery provided by One East 

Asia, and the exhibition was titled Four-Into- 

One. It featured work from approximately 80 

students in November 2011. The original 

form was a commercial exhibition, in which 

student’s work was placed on sale. The 

success of the exhibition maintained a lasting 

collaboration between the schools involved. 

The first exhibition was held in the space of 

an established gallery provided by One East 

Asia, and the exhibition was titled Four-Into- 

One. It featured work from approximately 80 

students in November 2011. The original 

form was a commercial exhibition, in which 

student’s work was placed on sale. The 

success of the exhibition maintained a lasting 

collaboration between the schools involved. 

Through having a collaboration between 

schools with a myriad of curriculums and 

nationalities, the exhibition benefitted from 

having a diverse and inclusive range of art 

and artists. By 2017, the IN exhibition 

expanded to 15 schools, and Dover Court 

joined in 2018. 

Reyna Ramaswamy - Riverbed: Watercolour 

and textiles 

IN is an opportunity for students from 

international schools to showcase their 

work, as well as to take in and learn 

from the work of others. It contains a 

wide range of art in all different forms 

of media, and formed from the minds of 

many unique individuals. Art needs 

galleries, and galleries need art. 

Ines Oliveira


Schools participating in the 2022 IN exhibition: 

Australian International School 

Chatsworth International School 

Canadian International School 

Dulwich College Singapore 

Dover Court International School 

Marlborough College Malaysia 

Nexus International School 

Overseas Family School 

St Joseph’s Institution International 

Stamford American International School 

Singapore American School 

Tanglin Trust School 

UWCSEA Dover 

XCL World Academy 

Lucie-Mae Pearce - Pulau Dewata: Batiq, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas 

To see other artwork, view the IN 

exhibition website 

All images are from the IN exhibition 

website 

All included images are of artworks from 

Dover Court 

Ines Lui Siciliani De Oliveira - Flowers: Mixed 

media and textiles on canvas 

Ines Oliveira


WE COULD BE HEROES 

On the 10th of January 2016, we lost one 

of the most influential musicians of our 

time; David Robert Jones, known 

professionally as David Bowie. Through 

the works of Lady Gaga, Nirvana, Red Hot 

Chilli Peppers and Arctic Monkeys, we 

realise Bowie's enormous impact, and can 

understand how his characters of Aladdin 

Sane, Major Tom and Ziggy Stardust have 

helped forge him an ever-expanding and 

everlasting legacy. 

The album and persona ‘Aladdin Sane’ is 

Bowie’s most recognised; the red and blue 

lightning bolt across his face and red hair. 

Inspiration for the name of this album was 

from Bowie’s schizophrenic brother Terry 

Burns, and was a play on the words ‘A Lad 

Insane’. Burns also inspired the songs ‘All 

the madmen’, and ‘Jump they say’. Bowie 

mentions how ‘Aladdin Sane was [his] idea 

of rock’n’roll America’. He reflects ‘Here I 

was on this great tour circuit, not enjoying 

it very much. So inevitably my writing 

reflected that – this kind of schizophrenia 

that I was going through. Wanting to be up 

on stage performing my songs, but on the 

other hand not really wanting to be on 

those buses with all those strange people. 

Being basically a quiet person, it was hard 

to come to terms. So Aladdin Sane was split 

down the middle.’ This album was released 

on the 13th of April 1973, debuted at no.1 

on the charts in the UK, and no.17 in 

America. 

Ziggy Stardust is Bowie’s most famous 

alter ego; he was based on the countrywestern 

cult figure The Legendary Stardust 

Cowboy, Vince Taylor, Joe Strummer of 

The Clash and Iggy Pop. Bowie mentions 

how Ziggy became a messiah and 

messenger for extraterrestrial beings, and 

describes his story. 

‘Ziggy is advised in a dream by the 

infinites to write the coming of a starman, 

so he writes “Starman,” which is the first 

news of hope that the people have heard. 

So they latch onto it immediately. The 

starmen that he is talking about are called 

the infinites, and they are black-hole 

jumpers. Ziggy has been talking about this 

amazing spaceman who will be coming 

down to save the earth. They arrive 

somewhere in Greenwich Village. They 

don’t have a care in the world and are of no 

possible use to us. They just happened to 

stumble into our universe by black-hole 

jumping. Their whole life is travelling from 

universe to universe. In the stage show, one 

of them resembles Brando, another one is a 

black New Yorker. I even have one called 

Queenie the Infinite Fox.’ Ziggy Stardust 

was the alter ego that made Bowie question 

his sanity the most as he ‘got hopelessly 

lost in the fantasy.’ 

Bowie's first hit in the UK was ‘Space 

Oddity’, which features the persona Major 

Tom. We see Major Tom reappear in 

‘Ashes to ashes’ (ashes to ashes, funk to 

funky, we know major toms a junkie), and 

it’s believed that Major Tom was actually a 

reference to drugs. 

Reyna Ramaswamy


Throughout the years 1960-80, Bowie 

suffered from a crippling drug addiction, 

which is why, in 1976, he moved to Berlin 

to try to escape his drug addiction. During 

his years in Berlin, Bowie completed his 

three albums ‘Low’, ‘Lodger’, and 

‘Heroes’, which are referred to as his 

‘Berlin Trilogy’. His album ‘Heroes’ was 

one of his most popular albums, with his 

song ‘Heroes’ being the most famous; the 

track tells the story of two lovers on 

opposite sides of the Berlin Wall. In 1987, 

Bowie held a concert in West Berlin, which 

he mentioned was ‘one of the most 

emotional performances [he’d] ever done’. 

Whilst the East viewed rock music as a 

threat to communism, they were still able 

to hear the concert via the radio. On the 

second night of the performance, Bowie 

began by saying ‘We send our wishes to all 

our friends who are on the other side of the 

wall.’, sang ‘Heroes’, and gathered huge 

crowds of civilians in East Berlin, listening 

on from the other side of the wall. 

Although his performance had nothing to 

do with the destruction of the wall, he is 

regarded as a catalyst for bringing down 

the Berlin Wall, and his role was 

recognised by the German Foreign Office 

who thanked him after he passed away. 

David Bowie was a remarkable icon of the 

1900’s with his music, and to this day, we 

celebrate his songs and the influence he’s 

had on others. Space Oddity, Life on Mars, 

the Man who Sold the World, Heroes, 

Under Pressure with Queen, Ashes to 

Ashes and of course, Heroes. 

‍Click here to listen to Bowie’s first song: The Laughing Gnome 

Click here to listen to ‘Heroes’: Heroes 

Reyna Ramaswamy


IS THERE NO WAY OUT OF THE MIND? 

Content Warning: Suicide/mental illness 

On February 11th 1963, Sylvia Plath was 

found dead. Cause of death: suicide. 

Every year, we lose 700,000 people to 

suicide, and for every loss, there’s another 

attempt. Suicide is currently the fourth 

leading cause of death amongst those aged 

15-29. From Virginia Woolf to Sarah Kane to 

Anne Sexton, and of course, Sylvia Plath, we 

see the tragic loss when someone loses the 

battle in their own minds. 

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist 

and short story writer, who during her time, 

wrote more than 400 poems, and published 

one novel: ‘The Bell Jar’. ‘The Bell Jar’ is a 

semi-autobiographical novel about being a 

young woman in 1950’s America; it focuses 

on the stigmatised topics of the time, such as 

depression, suicide, and dislike/disrespect 

towards your mother. It features the persona 

Esther Greenwood, and is filled with the 

contempt and self-loathing that flourishes 

under oppression. 

Stigmatised against then, and even now, is 

mental health. Mental health is something 

that is viewed as taboo, and although it has 

become better in recent years, we have 

significant amends to make. Through the use 

of harmful stereotypes and stigmas towards 

mental health and different mental health 

disabilities, people are now scared to speak 

out for themselves and against their battles 

with mental health. Those who are bipolar are 

viewed as being ‘crazy’ and as having 

unpredictable and possibly dangerous mood 

swings. Those with depression and anxiety 

are invalidated and told that their illnesses 

‘aren’t real’. 

Those with eating disorders are viewed as 

being vain or self-obsessed. Those who 

self-harm are viewed as being ‘attention 

seeking’. Those who are suicidal and have 

been brave enough to reach out are brushed 

off and told that they’re ‘making a big deal 

out of things’; the list goes on, but it 

doesn’t need to for one to realise how 

harmful and invalidating these shortsighted 

views are. Mental health does matter and it 

is a very serious issue. 

Plath was diagnosed with depression after 

her first suicide attempt, at age 20. Critics 

have argued that it was her time under 

psychiatric care that greatly influenced her 

writing in ‘The Bell Jar’. 

An excerpt of her poem ‘Lady Lazarus’, 

which was written during one of her 

depressive episodes, and focused on an 

affair that her husband had: 

'Dying 

Is an art, like everything else. 

I do it exceptionally well. 

I do it so it feels like hell. 

I do it so it feels real. 

I guess you could say I’ve a call.' 

Approximately 9.5% of Americans above 

the age of 18 will suffer from a depressive 

disorder, such as major depression, bipolar 

disorder, cyclothymia or dysthymia, and 

the lifetime risk of suicide in those who 

have an untreated depressive disorder is 

20%. 

Reyna Ramaswamy

Reyna Ramaswamy 


66% of those who commit suicide are 

depressed at the time of their death, and in 

2006, suicide was the 11th leading cause of 

death worldwide. Those who have engaged 

in self-harm behaviours are 3.5 times more 

likely to attempt suicide than those who 

don’t, 11% of are likely to have a 

depressive disorder, 20% likely to have a 

personality disorder, and 55% are likely to 

have an eating disorder. 

March 1st marks Self Injury Awareness 

month, March 5th marks the end of 

National Eating Disorder Awareness week 

and Dissociative Identity Disorder day, and 

March 30th is World Bipolar day. Mental 

health issues are too often brushed off and 

invalidated, and it’s time for that to change. 

Rates of mental health disabilities are 

skyrocketing, and people are hesitant to 

reach out because of stigma, stereotypes, 

and fear. 

Mental health matters, and we are making 

it seem like it doesn’t. It is a serious and 

ever-growing problem that keeps getting 

shunned, when it needs to be accepted and 

addressed. Things need to change. 

Sylvia Plath is one amongst many female 

poets defined by her suicide and her 

struggles with mental health. She 

channelled her inner turmoils and thoughts 

in her poetry, which is slowly but surely 

becoming a symbol of normalising the 

taboos around mental health issues. Her 

fervent and passionate works before her 

death all write her down as a significant 

voice for generations to come. 

“I desire the things that will destroy me in 

the end.” - Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged 

Journals of Sylvia Plath


TIKTOK: MENACE TO SOCIETY? 

It’s the 23rd of April, 2023 in the U.S. 

Congress. The court hearing continues 

relentlessly for five hours, the subject: 

TikTok. 

Represented by CEO Shou Zi CHEW 

(Singaporean based in TikTok’s Singapore 

headquarters), TikTok had to answer to the 

concerns of the American Congress - the 

online safety of youth, and national 

security threats. It is brought to attention 

that the plethora of dangerous online 

challenges, self harm content, sale of 

illegal substances and glorification of 

mental illness such as eating disorders are 

just a few of many harmful types of content 

that are being produced and promoted on 

the platform, having a sizeable impact on 

the younger demographic using the app. In 

addition to this, the addictive nature of the 

algorithm and extreme content/propaganda 

that is shared and promoted on the app can 

have a negative impact on the mental 

health of users. 

Another concern is that the parent company 

of TikTok - ByteDance, is a mainland 

Chinese company whose executives are 

alleged to have ties with Chinese 

Communist Party (CCP). The U.S. voiced 

concerns over the potential access that the 

CCP may have over the personal data of 

American users, including but not limited 

to: geographical locations, 

keystrokes and other apps installed on their 

devices. Project Texas is a project that 

TikTok has spent over USD $1.5 billion on, 

partnering with U.S. company Oracle to aim 

to store U.S. user data on American soil 

(Texas), overseen by American personnel in 

hopes to relieve pressures over data security 

concerns. 

Yet, some of the top ranked apps in the App 

Store are Chinese-owned, including Temu, 

CapCut (also owned by ByteDance) and 

Shein. Other American-owned social media 

apps including Facebook and Instagram are 

also known to collect an extensive amount 

of user data, with the Facebook-Cambridge 

Analytica Scandal in the 2010’s revealing 

how the user data of millions was collected 

without their consent by the British 

consulting firm. 

It is known that other social media apps and 

platforms, not only TikTok, have also led to 

severe online addiction, declining mental 

health, the promotion of unsafe behaviour 

and shortening attention spans, so one has to 

question - why TikTok? Why not ban social 

media as a whole? 

All that the news ever spouts is of all the 

woes and negativity brought from being 

online. We have all heard about the rising 

amounts of insecurities and poor body 

Ines Oliveira

Ines Oliveira 


images being perpetuated due to online 

content. 

Addiction to social media and instant 

gratification has led to short concentration, 

impacting the academic performance and 

social lives of young people. Companies 

collect and track data that so many users 

may not even be aware of; yet we continue 

to use these apps anyway. 

We continue to message our friends, be that 

those who we haven’t seen in years or those 

who live fifteen minutes away. We share 

photos and videos and like to stay updated 

on the lives of others. We call our families. 

Social media has connected the world in a 

way that was never possible in the past. It 

has broken past physical boundaries and 

allowed us to truly be interconnected in an 

international world. As much as it can maim 

and harm and drown people in echo 

chambers of their own beliefs, it can also 

inspire and connect and educate. It can give 

a voice to someone on the other side of the 

world whom you otherwise would never 

have heard of. 

Social media is a double edged sword. It 

can bring good and light; it could bring 

irreparable harm. So what does that mean? 

Do we ban it? Do we have to be more 

cautious over how much data we are freely 

allowing third parties to collect? Should 

every social media company be given a five 

hour hearing over these same concerns - 

concerns which not only surround TikTok, 

but most companies of this nature? There is 

no real solution to solve all of these 

problems, but we can choose which apps to 

keep and delete. We can place goals and ask 

friends to help reduce the amount of time 

we spend online. We can do our best to 

limit the power social media has over our 

lives. 

Florida representative - Kat Cammack

THE DOVER CHRONICLE VOL 1.1

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