International and Area Studies Commons^™

The Future Of Singapore's Civil Society, Gillian Koh, Debbie Soon

Social Space

Civil society activists are now in open disagreement with citizens and sometimes, other civil society groups. Gillian Koh and Debbie Soon explore how that horizontal relationship might develop.

Berita Spring 2012, Derek Heng

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address ...2

Editor’s Foreword...3

Members’ Updates...4

History as Controversy (Conference Report)...6

The Hickling Report on Brunei...9

Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going (Review)...13

Queenstown in Singapore and the Interstices of National History...16

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2012 - 2013, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

The report features an article written by our chairman, Mr Ho Kwon Ping. Entitled ‘The Challenges Ahead’, he shares his thoughts on the future of SMU – the transformational change it must embrace, and the serious deliberation it must undertake if it were to develop into a small and comprehensive university. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer in his State of the University Address 2013 gave a thorough update on the outstanding achievements of our students, faculty and staff, noting that the "want something, do something” culture he had encouraged a year ago is gaining strong momentum. Looking ahead, he …

Bodies For The Gods: Image Worship In Chinese Popular Religion, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Agency And Partnership Law [2011], Pearlie M. C. Koh, Stephen Noel Henry Bull

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The laws relating to the creation of an agency, implied authority, holding out and apparent authority, duties of the agent in relation to Agency law are discussed. The laws relating to partnership law and issues such as relationship of partners to third parties, relationships of partners between themselves and capacity to be a partner are highlighted.

Singapore: Transitioning To A "New Normal" In A Post-Lee Kuan Yew Era, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Politics in Singapore is generally marked by incremental change. When Singapore eventually becomes a two-party or multi-party democracy, the 2011 general election is likely to be regarded as the starting point of the epochal political transition. It was a boisterous year politically where political excitement and consciousness went up several notches due to the 7 May general elections and the 27 August presidential elections, both of which produced keenly contested hustings and outcomes. The aftermath of the general elections also saw the retirement of former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong from the Cabinet.

The Derivative Action In Asia: A Complex Reality, Dan W. Puchniak

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This Article uses the derivative action in Asia as a lens for re-evaluating the foundational theories of Asian and comparative corporate law. It begins by demonstrating that the cultural theory of “Asian non-litigiousness” provides scant explanatory or predictive value for either the evolution or function of the derivative action in Asia’s leading economies. As such, this Article suggests that the theory of Asian non-litigiousness should be relegated to the dustbin of academic history. Without the black box of Asian culture to erroneously explain away potential differences between “Asian” and “Western” derivative actions, the reality of the derivative action in Asia’s …

Singapore’S Chinatown: Nation Building And Heritage Tourism In A Multiracial City, Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper focuses on the pivotal role played by the state in refashioning the Chinatown landscape as part of both nation-building and heritage tourism projects, and the ensuing cultural politics. After a brief history of the creation of Singapore’s Chinatown, the paper discusses, first, Chinatown’s place in Singapore’s post-independence nation-building project and, second, the reconfiguration of the Chinatown landscape as a tourism asset. The final section reflects on the changing politics of place as Chinatown gains legitimacy in state discourses on heritage, tourism and multiculturalism, as well as in the popular imagination as an ethnic precinct par excellence.

Going Beyond The Multicultural Experience-Creativity Link: The Mediating Role Of Emotions, Chi-Ying Cheng, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tsung-Yu Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research examines the mediating role of emotions implicated in the multicultural experience—creativity link. We propose that when individuals are dealing with apparent cultural contradictions upon encountering two cultures simultaneously, mentally juxtaposing dissonant cultural stimuli could lower positive affect or increase negative affect, which could in turn induce a deeper level of cognitive processing of cultural discrepancies and inspire creativity. Two studies compared dual cultural exposure versus single cultural exposure among bicultural Singaporeans (Study 1) and compared self-relevant (jointly presenting local and foreign cultures) versus self-irrelevant (jointly presenting foreign cultures only) dual cultural exposure among monocultural Taiwanese (Study 2). As …

Singapore Consumer’S Inflation Expectations And Creation Of Singapore Index Of Inflation Expectations, Aurobindo Ghosh, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

The aim of this report is to highlight a broad spectrum of issues that brings about the measurement of the disagreement and the uncertainity and the formation of inflation expectations among economic agents in Singapore.

Fairness: Processes Are As Important As Outcomes, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People are sensitive to the fairness of decisions made or the treatment they receive. Research in work contexts has shown that it is important for processes like personnel selection, performance appraisal and compensation to be perceived as fair, because fairness perceptions influence how people react to situations and their leaders. This also applies to public policy implementation and public engagement efforts.

Singapore And Re-Engineering Economic Space: Observations From The Middle East, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The hallmark of the Singapore state-led, market-driven interventions, and their efficacy, have often been a matter of academic contention. This paper, as part of our series on this topic, revisits Singapore’s state-enterprise strategy in the context of the city-state’s determined efforts at internationalization through a series of state-engineered projects, orchestrated to encapsulate economic space for Singapore-based firms to expand into the region and beyond. This internationalization stratagem remains controversial; premised, as they are, on the exportability of Singapore’s state credibility, systemic and operational efficiencies as well as technological competencies of Singaporean companies, government-linked or otherwise, to locations where these attributes …

Measuring An Organisation’S Innovation Climate: A Case Study From Singapore, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Purpose: The article aims to discuss the six key factors that were proposed and included in the design of a customized innovation climate questionnaire. Design/methodology/approach: The implementation case study of an innovation climate survey for a Singapore‐based real estate group is presented. In particular, the design of the questionnaire and selection of key factors to be measured are discussed. Findings: While not a “rigorous” instrument in the academic sense, the article can guide managers and organization development professionals to better gauge an organization's innovation climate and deepen the understanding of innovation culture. Originality/value: This article contributes to the existing innovation …

Unmet Social Needs In Singapore: Singapore's Social Structures And Policies, And Their Impact On Six Vulnerable Communities, Braema Mathi, Sharifah Mohamed

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

In line with Lien Centre’s vision to catalyse positive social change, this research was carried out to understand social gaps in Singapore and how our society’s ability to meet social needs can be enhanced. Despite basic social needs in Singapore being essentially met through direct government interventions and the contributions of non-governmental social service activities, there are today some vulnerable groups that remain or have become more prominent. This research project aims to identify some of these needs and the possible approaches to addressing them.

It is hoped that some of the recommendations of this report will be helpful for …

On Modeling Virality Of Twitter Content, Tuan Anh Hoang, Ee Peng Lim, Palakorn Achananuparp, Jing Jiang, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Twitter is a popular microblogging site where users can easily use mobile phones or desktop machines to generate short messages to be shared with others in realtime. Twitter has seen heavy usage in many recent international events including Japan earthquake, Iran election, etc. In such events, many tweets may become viral for different reasons. In this paper, we study the virality of socio-political tweet content in the Singapore’s 2011 general election (GE2011). We collected tweet data generated by about 20K Singapore users from 1 April 2011 till 12 May 2011, and the follow relationships among them. We introduce several quantitative …

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2011: Q2 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) computes customer satisfaction scores at the nation, sector, sub-sector, and company levels. Currently in its fifth year of measurement, the CSISG serves as a quantitative benchmark of the quality of goods and services produced by the Singapore economy both over time and across countries.

Explaining Contractual Remoteness In Singapore, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore Court of Appeal (the Court of Appeal) has in MFM Restaurants Pte Ltd v Fish & Co Restaurants Pte Ltd rejected Lord Hoffinann's assumption of responsibility test (articulated in The Achilleas) to determine whether damages are too remote in a contractual claim. The Court of Appeal, however, retained assumption of responsibility as a concept to explain the orthodox test for remoteness as embodied in Hadley v Baxendale. To that extent, it expressly accepted Lord Hoffmann's approach in The Achilleas in so far as the concept of assumption of responsibility is already incorporated or embodied in both limbs of …

The Incompatibility Of Materialism And The Desire For Children: Psychological Insights Into The Fertility Discrepancy Among Modern Countries, Norman P. Li, Lily Patel, Daniel Balliet, William Tov, Christie N. Scollon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis indicated this model"We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis …

Tort Law, Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Court of Appeal decision in Chan Cheng Wah v Koh Sin Chong Freddie and another appeal [2012] 1 SLR 506 ("Chan Cheng Wah (CA)") concerned the nature of defamatory meaning and the defences of justification and qualified privilege. The dispute arose from two allegedly defamatory statements published in the minutes of meeting of a management committee of a club ("current MC") concerning the actions of the previous management committee ("previous MC"). Four members of the previous MC sued the defendant, the president of the current MC, in respect of the statements.

From Precarious Labor To Precarious Economy? Planning For Precarity In Singapore's Creative Economy, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The important place of the oftentimes "hidden" independent worker, or freelancer, has been acknowledged in developed countries where the creative economy has grown. These creative workers do not belong to the traditional employment set-up organized around firms. Instead, they move from portfolio to portfolio, assignment to assignment, interspersing corporation-based jobs with periods of self employment. Their work offers freedom, independence and creative space, but has also been characterized as precarious, because the securities of old working patterns no longer hold. While governments in many countries and cities have become attracted to the potential of the creative economy, those that have …

A Presence Of The Past: The Legal Protection Of Singapore’S Archaeological Heritage, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore is not well known for its archaeological heritage. In fact, chance finds in the early 20th century and systematic archaeological excavations since the 1980s conducted at sites around the Singapore River have unearthed artefacts shedding light on the island’s early history. In addition, the value of archaeology for a deeper knowledge of Singapore’s British colonial past is increasingly being recognized. Nonetheless, Singapore law provides only a rudimentary framework to facilitate archaeological investigations and protect cultural artefacts. This article considers how the National Heritage Board Act (Cap 196A, 1994 Rev Ed), the Planning Act (Cap 232, 1998 Rev Ed), and …

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2011: Q1 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG), currently in its fifth year of measurement, is an indicator of the quality of goods and services produced in the Singapore economy. CSISG complements production-based measures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by providing an assessment from the buyers’ point of view. Both types of measures are necessary as economic growth hinges not only on producing more, but producing better products and services.

Key Issues That Have Not Been Addressed, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The last nine days of hustings period have provided for a most engaging electoral campaign in recent memory. There seems to be a nascent but growing political consciousness and Singaporeans are not shy to express their political inclinations and loyalties.

The Mandatory Death Penalty And A Sparsely Worded Constitution, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It was not unexpected that the Singapore Court of Appeal would reaffirm the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty for certain forms of drug trafficking in Yong Vui Kong v Public Prosecutor [2010] 3 S.L.R 489. ... The appellant made submissions based on Articles 9(1) and 12(1) of the Constitution, which respectively guarantee rights to life and personal liberty, and to equality before the law and equal protection of the law. This note examines aspects of the Article 9(1) arguments.

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2010: Full Year Overview, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) has completed its fourth consecutive year of measurement since 2007. Under a quarterly measure and release system with two out of eight sectors measured per quarter, CSISG 2010 scores of companies for the Retail and Info-Communications sectors were released in the first quarter of 2010, Transportation & Logistics and Education sectors released in the second quarter, Food & Beverage and Tourism sectors released in the third quarter, and finally the current release of Finance & Insurance and Healthcare sectors, marking the end of measurement for 2010. The CSISG 2010 national score is computed …

Berita Spring 2011, Derek Heng

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address .…...2

Editor’s Foreword...3

Members’ Updates...4

Announcements ...6

The State of Malaysian Studies in Germany...7

Whither Identity Politics: The Rise of Multi-Ethnic Opposition in Malaysia...9

Singapore Revs up for Elections...13

Methodology and Fieldwork: A Guide to Research Fieldwork in Kelantan …..16

Microhistory, Legal Records and Minorities in Singapore and Malaysia .…..21

Berita Autumn 2011, Derek Heng

Berita

Chair’s Address... 2

Editor’s Foreword...3

Members’ Updates...4

Announcements...5

John A. Lent Prize...6

Islam, Corporatization and Economy in Southeast Asia...8

Singapore’s Democratic Opening? 2011 Elections...12

What is National Education in Singapore?...15

Researching the Colonial Ethnology of British Malaya & the Netherlands Indies...20

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2011 - 2012, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

“Student Life” offers exciting updates on undergraduates’ achievements; “Academic Review” shares key news about our faculty and programmes; “Global Profile” surveys how SMU is raising its international profile; and “Horizons” reviews how the University is building strong, lasting relationships with our partners. Each story is a single tile and together they form a mosaic which portrays the creativity, colour and dynamism of SMU today. Three feature articles offer in-depth analysis of the ways SMU is striding towards meeting its strategic goals. The proactive, collaborative efforts of the SMU community are explored in “SMU President’s ‘Want Something, Do Something’ Culture”. A …

Agency And Partnership Law [2010], Pearlie Koh, Stephen Bull

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Singapore's Foreign Exchange Market Microstructure, Chee Wai Wan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper analyses the Singapore foreign exchange market from a microstructure approach. Specifically, by applying and modifying the empirical methodology designed by Bollerslev and Melvin (1994), we examine the relationship between bid-ask spreads and the underlying volatility of the USD/SGD. Our data set comprises high-frequency USD/SGD tick data of three separate years (April-June 1989, April-May 2006, April-May 2009). We found that for the USD/SGD: i) the size of bid-ask spreads are positively related to the underlying exchange rate volatility; ii) the magnitude of the dependence on underlying volatility increases as tick volume increases; and iii) the size of the bid-ask …