Cherian George, professor of media studies at Hong Kong Baptist University, gave the keynote speech at The Substation’s “Space, Spaces and Spacing 2020” Conference on 21 March 2020. The Substation, an independent arts centre, turns 30 this year. George’s keynote launched his book, Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited, an anthology that marks 30 years of his writing […]
Chong Ja Ian, Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, discusses the risks—from both public health and other perspectives—of holding a General Election when COVID-19 remains at large. Without a doubt, Singapore is in an extraordinary situation. It faces an ongoing pandemic, as does much of the world. Beyond disease control, there will be the challenges of responding […]
Chong Ja Ian, Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, discusses claims that authoritarian political systems are better able to handle the COVID-19 crisis than are more open ones. Currently making mainstream and social media rounds are claims that authoritarian systems or places with supposed “Confucian values” are better than more open political systems at handling public […]
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University, discusses the politics of the 2020 Singapore Budget. ‘Will this year’s budget be a General Election Budget?’ Janadas Devan, Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), posed this question to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Heng Swee […]
Linda Lim, Professor Emerita at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, questions whether the latest annual Budget adequately addresses the need for long-term economic transformation in Singapore. There is much to approve of in DPM Heng Swee Keat’s 2020 Budget. First, running a budget deficit (revenues less than expenditures) is appropriate to prop up […]