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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
BY HOE JIA WEN & BRENDAN DEAN ZHI MIN Dear Readers, We’re excited to get the Singapore Policy Journal (SPJ)
Read more
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. …
Read more
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…
Read more
BY GLENN K.H. ONG “Knowing where you are going,” declared Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam in the 1970s, “is
Read more
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. …
Read more
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 …
Read more
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). …
Read more
Relooking Cultural Integration and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore BY Z.H. From the rash of online sentiments directed against foreigners during the
Read more
BY POH YONG HAN For a young city-state, Singaporeans celebrate our “cosmopolitanism” and “global outlook” as ingredients for economic success.
Read more
Privatizing SMRT in July has longer-term implications for efficiency and resilience of our public rail network
Read more
BY TERENCE TAN Our children will have to deal with a more divided world. They’re going to grow up in
Read more
BY THEOPHILUS KWEK “Until very recently Singapore’s past was a matter of supreme indifference for most Singaporeans simply because they
Read more
BY KSHITIJ BANSAL Our education system has served us well thus far. Presentation skills, deal-making skills, teamwork skills and the
Read more
BY ZACH ISAIAH CHIA It seems that globalisation has resulted the rise of nationalism and xenophobia. We see it in
Read more
BY BENJAMIN ANG The ongoing legal dispute between Apple Inc and the FBI, over accessing data on the iPhone of
Read more
BY GAURAV KEERTHI Introduction In commemoration of Total Defence Day, I thought I could try to ask four fundamental questions
Read more
BY LEE CHIN WEE Fifteen years ago, the site which now houses the Gardens by the Bay was little more
Read more
BY TAN TECK BOON As Singapore transforms itself into a Smart Nation, challenges will emerge. Instead of being decentred, the
Read more
BY SAMUEL MYAT SAN “Regardless of race, language or religion…” This phrase in Singapore’s National Pledge has been a cornerstone
Read more