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Education Inequality Op-Ed Our Divided City Social Capital Uncategorized 

The Limitations of Subject-Based Banding: What About Single-Stream Schools?

Much of the debate on MOE’s recent moves to integrate schoolmates of different academic streams via Subject-Based Banding (SBB) has focused on whether SBB will be effective, or what the implementation of SBB will look like. However, one underdiscussed aspect of MOE’s policy change is its lack of impact on single-stream schools. Izzah Haziqah Haris explores why this is a problem, and potential policy options to deal with this issue.

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Education Inequality Op-Ed Social Capital 

Love, Labour, and Loss: Decoding the ‘Migrant Worker’

‘Migrant workers’ is the typical term used to describe migrants who work in Singapore. But they are far more than just workers defined by their labour. Theophilus Kwek argues that we should move beyond the simple trope of ‘migrant workers’ in our discourse on migrant issues, as a first step to seeing them as people whose lives are just as full and fraught as our own, and treating them accordingly.

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Editorial Immigration Migrants in Singapore Spotlight Multiculturalism Op-Ed Population 

Can the Migrant Speak?: Migrant Worker Poetry and the Art of Advocacy in Singapore

A humane society cares for all of its members, whether they are citizens or not. But in today’s world, rights are often tied to citizenship. Poh Yong Han explores the options for migrant worker advocacy in Singapore, focusing on the potential power of the arts in bringing about positive change.

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Singapore School
Editorial Education Inequality Op-Ed Social Capital 

“Elite” and “Neighbourhood” Schools: Exploring School Names and Social Hierarchies

Tay Hong Yi examines the psychology behind the “elite” and “neighbourhood” school labels, exploring the link between school names and the prestige associated with “elite” schools. He argues that school names play a role in entrenching educational stratification and have become an indicator of social hierarchy – and that reframing the discussion this way can facilitate more targeted education policy design.

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Editorial Government Administration Inequality Long Form Op-Ed 

Measuring with the Heart: How We See and Speak About Inequality

Amidst the ongoing debate on how Singapore’s Government responds to inequality-related issues, Theophilus Kwek points to misalignments between the policy lens of the technocratic state, and the naked human eye through which its constituents must view the same issues. He argues that we must go beyond purely data-driven perspectives of inequality, and include street-view perspectives in policy considerations too.

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National Service Op-Ed Security Solutions Toolkit 

Expanding The Value Proposition For The SAF and Home Team

Since its establishment, the National Service (NS) institution has helped Singapore to maintain its security through military and civil defense. To increase the value proposition of NS in peacetime, Ng Paul Seen explores ways to enhance the nation-building aspect of NS, through a more holistic conception of the institution that includes individual development.

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Editorial National Service Op-Ed Security 

Disrupting National Service Policy: An Alternative for Ben Davis and Singapore

Ben Davis should be allowed to disrupt or defer National Service, writes Brendan Dean. That this will not be allowed under current policy shows that the policy should be changed, to recognise the dynamics of team sports and the contributions to national spirit that having Singaporeans on the world athletic stage makes. The supposed choice between duty and talent development is a false dichotomy.

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Multiculturalism Op-Ed 

முன்னேறு வாலிபாவைத் தாண்டி… சிங்கையில் தமிழின் எதிர்காலம் குறித்து ஒரு இளையரின் பார்வை

இல்லங்களில் ஆங்கில மொழியின் புழக்கம் அதிகரிக்க, அதிகரிக்க, தமிழ்மொழியின் பயன்பாடு குறைந்துக்கொண்டே வருகின்றது. சிங்கையில் தமிழ்மொழியின் முக்கியத்துவத்தை வலுப்படுத்த சில பரிந்துரைகளை பார்கவ் ஸ்ரீகணேஷ் முன்வைக்கிறார்.

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Op-Ed Transport 

A Crisis of Communication

The recent MRT collision has once more raised eyebrows and, as PM Lee acknowledged, “hurt public confidence a lot”. Azfer A. Khan writes that a rise in public distrust is precipitated by poor communication, which has projected an image (whether true or not) of a secretive, misleading, and bureaucratic government structure.

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ASEAN Debates Immigration Op-Ed Refugee 

Safer Waters: An Asylum Policy for Singapore?

Yet again, a refugee crisis in Southeast Asia has concerned the world. In Singapore, however, the Government’s usual rejection of an asylum policy has hardly been questioned- unusual for a nation with thriving and critical online discourse of issues. Theophilus Kwek argues that other options are possible- and questions the assumptions that make us shy away from them.

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Criminal Justice Op-Ed 

The Quality of Mercy

BY THEOPHILUS KWEK On Monday, 6th March, District Judge Low Wee Ping delayed sentencing domestic helper Kusrini Caslan Arja, an Indonesian citizen, for allegedly putting the life of her employers’ child at risk. The disabled boy had been left in Kusrini’s care, and in an effort to retrieve a suction cap that had fallen into his mouth, she had inadvertently worsened the injury. Having examined the facts, Low…

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