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Op-Ed 

Looking Beyond POFMA to Combat Fake News and Misinformation in Singapore

Ryan Chua argues that Singapore cannot rely solely on hard regulations like the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) to address the proliferation of fake news. He assesses how information is being consumed and disseminated in this new age of heightened populism, before evaluating alternative approaches that could be taken in Singapore. He advocates for softer but more experimental approaches that may not necessarily yield immediate results in the short-term but bode well towards building institutions and technology we can trust in the long-term.

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Digital Technology Op-Ed Our Future Smart Nation 

The Possibility of an Inclusive Smart City: Designing for Foreign Domestic Workers

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Joshua Tan argues that Singapore must consider the “Other” in the design and conceptualization of its smart districts and masterplans. He surveys smart city initiatives like Smart Nation Singapore and the Punggol Digital District, observing that there is hardly any mention of the foreign domestic workers (FDWs) that contribute to the domestic labor vital for our nation’s development. He outlines strategies to include FDWs into the discourse and technologies of “smartness” in Singapore, benefiting not only FDWs, but also the households they serve and regions from which they came.

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Covid Op-Ed 

Rethinking What We Owe Each Other

Jane Loo and Yasmine Wong examine our moral obligations to one another during COVID-19. They discuss the importance of social responsibility and how it maps onto the provisions and shortcomings of existing tracking technologies used to curb the spread of the virus. From the angle of beneficence—acting for the benefit of others and the common good—they explore possibilities for our control strategies and the community going forward.

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Data Digital Technology Government Administration Op-Ed 

In TraceTogether We Trust: Singapore’s Challenge with Data Governance and Ethics

Sarah Anderson and Lionel Oh highlight existing gaps in Singapore’s current legislative and bureaucratic structures for managing data and digital technology. They argue that these concerns extend past any single product or incident; because of the importance of building public trust in the government’s use of digital technology, transparency, privacy, and other ethical considerations should be a fixture of technology policy. The authors also provide recommendations on how these data ethics concerns might be addressed through augmented workstreams which introduce procedures and safeguards for government technology.

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International Relations Op-Ed Security 

The Bifurcation of International Cyber Norms: Navigating the Space In-Between

In this article, Lionel Oh discusses the concerning trend of bifurcation in the development of international norms governing the cyber domain, driven by tensions between major powers and competing visions of cyberspace. He outlines the diplomatic challenges that Singapore faces in light of such divergence, and explores how Singapore might continue to further her foreign policy interests amidst this splintering global landscape.

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Government Administration Op-Ed Our Future 

A Growing Government-Ground Divide

Kwan Jin Yao analyzes the perceived deficiencies in the government’s engagement with youth. In this piece, he provides an overview of the trends that have facilitated youth civic and political engagement in Singapore, and the ideological bases that underlie this government-ground divide. He ends off on a hopeful note — with concrete ways that this divide can be bridged.

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