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From The Editor’s Desk: Our Plans for the Year

From the Editor's Desk 

BY HOE JIA WEN & BRENDAN DEAN ZHI MIN

Dear Readers,

We’re excited to get the Singapore Policy Journal (SPJ) up and running again after a summer hiatus. We re-enter the political conversation at an interesting time, coming off the back of controversies surrounding 38 Oxley Road and the 2017 Presidential Election. As always, the Journal aims to be at the frontlines of the debate on Singapore’s present and future, as a platform for nuanced and constructive policy discussions on how to drive our country forward.

Who are we and what do we do?

SPJ has come a long way since it was founded in 2014 as the first student-run, country-specific journal at the Harvard Kennedy School. We have evolved from primarily publishing academic papers and reports on Singapore policy to include opinion pieces that offer succinct and timely policy analyses.

Since 2015, we have also worked with the Singapore and South-east Asia Forum (SSEAF, formerly the Stakeholders and Changemakers Panel Series), hosting distinguished commentators on Singapore issues at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These panel discussions are often livestreamed for our audiences at home. We also organize small Discussions for people in the Boston-area to discuss issues as diverse as the implications of President Trump in America on Singapore, Budget 2017, and Singapore’s economic growth.

Plans for the Year

Our goal is to be a stage for dialogue on all Singapore-related policy issues. This year, we’re looking to continue expanding our output, outreach, and audience. In addition to publishing more op-eds, as well as any long-form research papers on Singapore policy people have written, we’re launching three new pages:

  • Debates – In our new Debates section, a debate piece will feature two or more commentators with different viewpoints engaging in a dialogue on a particularly thorny policy issue. This is a chance to properly tease out and consider opposing arguments.
  • Explainers – Explainer pieces, designed after The Economist Explains, will take apart a policy, explain it in simple terms, and examine its rationales, implications, and trade-offs.
  • Solution Toolkit – The solution toolkit is our repository of best practices around the world, or in Singapore, that address a specific problem. Found an innovative example of a policy solution that could be applied to Singapore, or an interesting project that addresses a social or policy problem in Singapore? Write a case study about it – what it is and why it works.

This year, we’ll also be looking for submissions of bilingual pieces in Chinese, Malay, or Tamil, to make our content more accessible (English translations will also be provided).

As usual, we welcome writers with a viewpoint- if you want to comment on or critique a policy or policy issue, propose a policy recommendation, or compare Singapore and other countries, please submit your piece to our email so we can review and edit it!

How do I get involved?

If you’re interested in our content or events, check out the links below so you can get updates for upcoming events and publications:

Image Credit: Image by Jon S, used under Creative Commons 2.0 Licensing without adaptation or modification.