族群共处向来带来的挑战，不是一件当成是理所当然的事情，更不能轻视。需要的是出同理心、宽容和中肯前提下，让民众进行公开对话，才更能充分体会彼此的痛处和理想，而找到初步共识。就因如此，强调一片和谐无事，或一直坚持闭门作业，往往容易使人忘记在建立族群关系上，需要下的努力。多数族裔因为在人数上的差异，往往更容易忽视少数的劣势和经验，面对地问题较小，所以有一定的责任跨出第一步。笔者以为，积极的对话与磨合，或许比穿异族服装、品尝异族食物，更符合推动新加坡现阶段的族群关系，更有利于迈向新加坡公民誓约里，以“不分种族、言语、宗教”为基础，“建设公正平等的民主社会”。
Faizah Zakaria, Assistant Professor at the NTU School of Humanities with a focus on environmental and religious histories, considers Singaporean discourse on the recent Israel-Palestine crisis, and questions the notion of ‘objective’ and pragmatic ‘views from nowhere’. Views expressed here are her own. Singaporeans tend to pride ourselves on pragmatism, including in our relationships with […]
Priscilla Chia, a lawyer at Peter Low & Choo LLC, argues that it is time to reconsider whether the GRC system is meeting its stated aim of achieving minority representation. This is an excerpt from Voting in a Time of Change, edited by Kevin YL Tan and Terence Lee (Ethos Books, 2021). One issue that remained in […]
Constitutional law professor Kevin YL Tan delves into history to show how once-honoured principles for delineating constituency boundaries have been compromised since the 1990s. To ensure that executive discretion does not exceed legal bounds, Singapore should revisit the all-party boundaries committee’s recommendation ahead of the 1959 general election: Singapore should create an independent and permanent […]
Professional journalism in Singapore is beset by financial pressures and excessive state control. Reform is needed so that it can play its critical role in the nation’s information ecosystem, says Cherian George, professor of media studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. This is an excerpt from the volume he co-authored with Donald Low, PAP v […]
Assistant Professor Rebecca Ye (a sociologist of education and work at Stockholm University and former visiting fellow in Sociology at the Nanyang Technological University) discusses how ‘luck’ is understood in trajectories of academic success in Singapore and what this reveals about meritocracy. Debates on the relationship between luck, success, merit and inequality have intensified in […]
Following the announced closure of arts and cultural institution the Substation, independent Transnational Cultural Studies scholar Liew Kai Khiun recalls his own memories of the premise and its connections to research. The author has also been actively involved in Singapore’s civil society for the past two decades, in areas such as conservation, animal welfare, and […]
Belicia Teo, a PhD student at NYU’s Department of Sociology whose research focuses on climate change and social movements, argues that climate policy requires more than “listening to the science” — it also requires broader deliberation to address differences in norms and values. The rhetoric of “listening to the science” has gained prominence recently, thanks […]
Professor Cherian George explains why he welcomes establishment voices’ complaints about social justice activists’ attempts to boycott offensive speech. I have been glancing occasionally at Singapore’s debate on “cancel culture” with a mix of bemusement and satisfaction at how some conservatives have been rising to the defence of open discussion. For the uninitiated (lucky you), […]
Associate Professor Teo You Yenn discusses how children’s education becomes parental care labour, with differing impacts on parents across class and gender lines. Contemporary Singapore appears to be a great place to raise children—safe, clean, with good care infrastructure and a world-class education system. Singaporean adults also appear to be exactly the right people to […]
