The government’s ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the 377A repeal debate is problematic and a lazy excuse for inaction, writes Yong Han Poh. Singaporeans in favour of repeal should act now to support it, rather than keeping quiet because they assume a silent majority wants to keep the law.
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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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As we put more of our lives and data online, personal data and its management has become a much more controversial issue. What are Singapore’s laws on the issue, and how do we balance technological progress with personal privacy? Jarret Huang explains.
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இல்லங்களில் ஆங்கில மொழியின் புழக்கம் அதிகரிக்க, அதிகரிக்க, தமிழ்மொழியின் பயன்பாடு குறைந்துக்கொண்டே வருகின்றது. சிங்கையில் தமிழ்மொழியின் முக்கியத்துவத்தை வலுப்படுத்த சில பரிந்துரைகளை பார்கவ் ஸ்ரீகணேஷ் முன்வைக்கிறார்.
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In an increasingly anti-globalist era, what role might cities play in strengthening global governance? Jorel Chan examines three ways cities increase global connectivity, showing through the example of Singapore how cities are well-positioned to advance innovative solutions in the face of complex global governance challenges.
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The rise of English usage at home and proliferation of non-Tamil Indian languages have raised questions about Tamil’s relevance in today’s Singapore. Bhargav Sri Ganesh reminds us of the importance of the language, and makes a number of recommendations to strengthen Tamil’s position in Singapore.
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Extreme weather events made worse by climate change are wreaking havoc on cities worldwide. Al Lim evaluates Singapore’s climate resilience through the lens of the recent MRT flooding incidents, and explores how Singapore can strengthen social resilience as a community.
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To secure Singapore’s economic future, look to Southeast Asia. In the past fifty years, Singapore has been the economic success story of the region. The tables are now starting to turn. ASEAN countries are now some of the fastest growing countries in the world, and Brendan Chia argues that Southeast Asia holds the key to Singapore’s own economic growth.
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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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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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BY HOE JIA WEN & BRENDAN DEAN ZHI MIN Dear Readers, We’re excited to get the Singapore Policy Journal (SPJ)
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BY JOCELYN LANG What, or who, really is the Smart Nation? In the era of the #SmartNation Singapore, discussions of “smartness” abound in the news space, but corresponding discussions of nationhood are few and far in between. …
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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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BY GLENN K.H. ONG “Knowing where you are going,” declared Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam in the 1970s, “is
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Asset values may plateau, and we have to begin rethinking the investment value of HDB flats. BY MUI PONG GOH 80% of Singaporeans live in the HDB they own, so it’s unsurprising that there was public uncertainty when the Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong warned that HDB flats were technically worthless at the end of their leasehold. …
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We’ve been extraordinary in economic development. We can be as good at defeating xenophobia. BY ROYCE QUEK Rome wasn’t built in a day: and it also wasn’t built by the people and riches of its own lands. Instead, its armies conquered Greece, North Africa and Asia Minor through the manpower of not just Romans, but the many Roman allies: fellow Italian cities which had been subjugated by Rome and were forced to give soldiers to the Roman war machine. With this strategy of co-opting other cities into its growing dominion, Rome swept all before it. But the Italians weren’t happy …
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BY HOE JIA WEN Climate change has arrived.
It is no longer simply a threat for the hypothetical future generations, but a problem for our generation, and particularly, our children’s generation. For the first time, 2015 saw the global average temperature hit 1°C above than the pre-industrial era, moving perilously closer to the 1.5°C limit that countries committed to Paris only the year before. Singapore’s own annual mean temperature has risen by 1.7°C since 1972, from 26.6°C to 28.3°C in 2015 (NCCS). …
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Relooking Cultural Integration and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore BY Z.H. From the rash of online sentiments directed against foreigners during the
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BY POH YONG HAN For a young city-state, Singaporeans celebrate our “cosmopolitanism” and “global outlook” as ingredients for economic success.
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Privatizing SMRT in July has longer-term implications for efficiency and resilience of our public rail network
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BY TERENCE TAN Our children will have to deal with a more divided world. They’re going to grow up in
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BY THEOPHILUS KWEK “Until very recently Singapore’s past was a matter of supreme indifference for most Singaporeans simply because they
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BY KSHITIJ BANSAL Our education system has served us well thus far. Presentation skills, deal-making skills, teamwork skills and the
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BY ZACH ISAIAH CHIA It seems that globalisation has resulted the rise of nationalism and xenophobia. We see it in
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BY BENJAMIN ANG The ongoing legal dispute between Apple Inc and the FBI, over accessing data on the iPhone of
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