Private sector economists Manu Bhaskaran and Nigel Chiang argue that in both labour and total factor productivity, Singapore is under-performing relative to trading partners, peers and OECD countries, reflecting deep and systemic issues in the economy, especially in sectors where an over-reliance on labour force growth through migrant labour has affected incentives to invest. This is […]
Professor Yaacob Ibrahim, Professor of Engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), gave this speech on identity on 30 October 2020, as part of the Cendekiawan Lestari Series (CLS) organised by the Malay Heritage Foundation. I would like to share my take on the Malay community’s path in finding a place for itself in […]
Terri-Anne Teo and Yasmine Wong (Research Fellow and Senior Analyst respectively at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU) consider how recent manifestations of pandemic-era xenophobia and social collaboration in Singapore can be understood in terms of ontological security. Singapore has settled into some semblance of a new normal amid the fight against COVID-19. […]
DONALD LOW, professor of practice in public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, explains what Singapore can learn from the Swiss — the Swiss army knife, that is. The recent Parliamentary debate on whether Singapore should have a legislated minimum wage has generated more sound than light. It has also been […]
Mohan J Dutta (Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) at Massey University) discusses strategies for improving universities’ responses to sexual violence on their campuses. Between 2018 and 2020, at least five publicly circulated cases of sexual violence on university campuses in Singapore have […]
In light of Singapore’s burgeoning data collection systems, Monamie Bhadra Haines (Assistant Professor of Sociology at NTU) and Hallam Stevens (Associate Professor of History at NTU and Associate Director (Academic) of the NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity) argue that citizen technology assessments should be integrated into building the Smart Nation. On 25 […]
Donald Low, Professor of Practice in Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, reflects on inequalities pertinent to how the criminal justice system handled the case of the Liew family and Parti Liyani. The High Court acquittal of Ms Parti Liyani, an Indonesian domestic worker previously sentenced to 26 months’ jail by […]
In July and August 2020, Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of NTU hosted a series of interesting interviews with politicians over Instagram TV—in-depth and candid conversations in which individuals who have occupied various parts of the political landscape shared their thoughts about GE2020, Singapore’s electoral system, political discourse in our society and the way ahead. […]
Shannon Ang, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University, is hungry for more data — here he suggests how we can better harness it for Singapore’s collective good. How likely is it that children of poor parents in Singapore are also poor when they grow up? Is it true that companies who hire primarily […]
Koh Choon Hwee, Visiting Assistant Professor at NUS LKYSPP and a historian of the Ottoman Empire, highlights Singapore’s forgotten connections to the Middle East and shows how polarised narratives and misrepresentations about this region—some of which are deeply Islamophobic—are already present in Singapore, posing a threat to social justice and harmony. As recent explosions in […]
