Asian Studies Commons^™

Jue Insight: Migration, Transportation Infrastructure, And The Spatial Transmission Of Covid-19 In China, Bingjing Li, Lin Ma

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper evaluates the impacts of migration flows and transportation infrastructure on the spatial transmission of COVID-19 in China. Prefectures with larger bilateral migration flows and shorter travel distances with Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, experienced a wider spread of COVID-19. In addition, richer prefectures with higher incomes were better able to contain the virus at the early stages of community transmission. Using a spatial general equilibrium model, we show that around 28% of the infections outside Hubei province can be explained by the rapid development in transportation infrastructure and the liberalization of migration restrictions in the recent decade.

Exploring How Online Responses Change In Response To Debunking Messages About Covid-19 On Whatsapp, Xingyu Ken Chen, Jin-Cheon Na, Luke Kien-Weng Tan, Mark Chong, Murphy Choy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a concurrent outbreak of false information online. Debunking false information about a health crisis is critical as misinformation can trigger protests or panic, which necessitates a better understanding of it. This exploratory study examined the effects of debunking messages on a COVID-19-related public chat on WhatsApp in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach: To understand the effects of debunking messages about COVID-19 on WhatsApp conversations, the following was studied. The relationship between source credibility (i.e. characteristics of a communicator that affect the receiver's acceptance of the message) of different debunking message types and their effects on the length …

Can Delaying An Execution Due To Covid-19 Amount To Unconstitutional Discrimination?, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This note discusses the case of Syed Suhail bin Syed Zin v Attorney-General [2021] 1 SLR 809 (CA); [2021] 4 SLR 698 (HC) and its implications for equality law in Singapore.

Low Acceptance Of Helmet-Use And Injuries From Motorcycle Accidents In Rawalpindi And Abbottabad, Pakistan, Maryam Siddiqa, Gulzar H. Shah, A. Munam

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

Background: Motorcycle accidents are a major cause of head injuries and the current study evaluated the beneficial impact and effectiveness of helmet usage among injured Motorcycle users. This study has been performed to observe the Motorcycle collisions within 6 months in Rawalpindi and Abbottabad cities of Pakistan

Objectives: Implications of helmet usage were assessed and the risk factors for severe injury during motorcycle accidents were identified.

Results: The multivariate analysis indicated that riders without a helmet were more likely to experience severe (AOR, 2.216; 95% CI, 2.02 to 10.5) or moderate injury (AOR, 1.215; 95% CI, 0.84 …

Economic Impact Of Targeted Government Responses To Covid-19: Evidence From The Large-Scale Cluster In Seoul, Kim, Kanghyock Koh, Jinwook Shin

Research Collection School Of Economics

We estimate the economic impact of South Korea's targeted responses to the first large-scale COVID-19 cluster in Seoul. We find that foot traffic and retail sales decreased only within a 300 meter radius of the cluster and recovered to its pre-outbreak level after four weeks. The reductions appear to be driven by temporary business closures rather than the risk avoidance behavior of the citizens. Our results imply that less intense, but more targeted COVID-19 interventions, such as pin-pointed, temporary closures of businesses, can be a low-cost alternative after lifting strict social distancing measures.

The Pandemic As Political Opportunity: Jokowi’S Indonesia In The Time Of Covid-19, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In mid-2021, the Delta strain of the Covid-19 virus caused a second wave of transmissions and deaths in Indonesia at a scale much greater than what was seen in 2020. In this paper, I examine what the Indonesian government’s handling of the Covid crisis in 2021 reveals about the priorities of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), as well as his political agenda and attitude towards the country’s democracy, as he strives to cement his legacy. I argue that, while devastating, the Covid-19 pandemic has given Jokowi the opportunity to push through long-planned economic and political reforms. Furthermore, I contend that, under …

Does Precise Case Disclosure Limit Precautionary Behavior? Evidence From Covid-19 In Singapore, Aljoscha Janssen, Matthew H. Shapiro

Research Collection School Of Economics

Limiting the spread of contagious diseases can involve both government-managed and voluntary efforts. Governments have a number of policy options beyond direct intervention that can shape individuals’ responses to a pandemic and its associated costs. During its first wave of COVID-19 cases, Singapore was among a few countries that attempted to adjust behavior through the announcement of detailed case information. Singapore's Ministry of Health maintained and shared precise, daily information detailing local travel behavior and residences of COVID-19 cases. We use this policy along with device-level cellphone data to quantify how local and national COVID-19 case announcements trigger differential behavioral …

Accounting And Finance Lessons In The Time Of Covid-19: Views From The Pacific Basin: Part 2, Kuan Yong David Ding, Julie Harrison, Martien Lubberink, Chris Van Staden

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The global COVID-19 pandemic is now in its second year, and we are fast approaching the third. The year 2021 has brought some hope that vaccination will lead to the end of the pandemic. But it has also brought a more infectious variant of COVID-19 and multiple waves of surging cases that show no immediate sign of disappearing. As the pandemic continues to impact global societies and economies, it is imperative that we study its impact to try and understand how it will affect us in both the short-term and long-term. While the longer-term impacts are still unknown, there is …

Shifting Employabilities: Skilling Migrants In The Nation Of Emigration, Yasmin Y. Ortiga

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper examines how Philippine state agencies sustain its labour-exporting strategies by encouraging aspiring migrants to invest in their own training and education, taking on the responsibility of turning themselves into desirable workers for employers overseas. Based on a document analysis of newspaper articles and Philippine government reports, this paper uses the case of Philippine nursing education to show how the Philippine state alters these discourses of skill when overseas opportunities decline, channelling aspiring migrants sideways to other sectors of the labour market. Discourses of employability justified these career detours to aspiring migrants by assuring them that such experiences will …

Covid-19 One Year On: Security And Privacy Review Of Contact Tracing Mobile Apps, Wei Yang Ang, Lwin Khin Shar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused 3.8 million deaths since December 2019. At the current vaccination pace, this global pandemic could persist for several years. Throughout the world, contact tracing (CT) apps were developed, which play a significant role in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. This work examines the current state of security and privacy landscape of mobile CT apps. Our work is the first attempt, to our knowledge, which provides a comprehensive analysis of 70 CT apps used worldwide as of year Q1 2021. Among other findings, we observed that 80% of them may have handled sensitive data without adequate …

The 2021 Ipr Future Of Communications In Asia Report, Tina Mccorkindale, Sarah Crawshaw, Su Lin Yeo, Stephen Thomas, Alexis B. Fitzsimmons, Pang, A.

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The communication function within Asian-headquartered organizations is undergoing significant growth and changes that will be pivotal for its future success, according to a new Institute for Public Relations (IPR) research report. The “IPR Future of Communications in Asia” research report investigates key changes that will impact the future of the communications function. The analysis is based on interviews with 30 senior communications executives based in Asia in a variety of industries from 2019 to 2020, and three focus groups with nearly 20 senior communication leaders in late 2020.

"When They See Someone Who Is Poor, They Step On Them": The Social Determinants Of Health Among Survivors Of Sex Trafficking In Cambodia, James P. Havey, Glenn M. Miles, Lim Vanntheary, Nhanh Channtha, Hanni Stoklosa

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Social determinants of health (SDH) are defined as the non-medical yet health-affecting conditions of a person’s life. They include such considerations as working conditions, discrimination, and access to health services. The aim of this study was to explore the SDH impacting those who have survived sex trafficking in Cambodia. This study employed a mixed methods, secondary analysis, focusing on 52 survivors of sex trafficking in the Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project from 2010 through 2019. Participants described myriad social determinants of health, including: gender, age, relationship status (marriage), ethnicity, national identification documentation (statelessness), social class, formal education, vocational training, occupation, and …

When A Pandemic Disrupts The Export Of People, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Karen Anne S. Liao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Yasmin Ortiga and Karen Anne S. Liao conducted research supported by the SSRC on the dramatic disruptions that Filipino labor migrants experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the support (or lack thereof) of their plight by the Filipino state. Arguing that labor as well as commodity supply chains have been thrown in upheaval, the authors describe the limits of the Philippines’ labor export strategy. In particular, they focus on two sets of labor migrants—nurses unable to take jobs abroad, and repatriated cruise ship workers—for whom dignified work at home was unavailable. Ortiga and Liao conclude that treating …

Media In A Time Of Crisis: Newspaper Coverage Of Covid-19 In East Asia;, Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How have newspapers covered Covid-19 in Asia? To answer this question, I studied East Asian English-language newspapers published between January and July 2020. First, I measured the level of news media attention on Covid-19 among all reports. Second, I analyzed the tone and content of 330 editorials. I divided the analysis into two time periods: the initial crisis breakout period, when the number of infections was rising or high, and the crisis abatement period, when new infections declined to manageable levels. Findings show that although newspapers were slow to begin addressing the pandemic, their early editorials carried an alarming tone, …

Special Report On Covid-19 Vaccination Trends Among Older Adults In Singapore, Micah Tan, Paulin T. Straughan, Wensi Lim, Grace Cheong

ROSA Research Briefs

This report examines trends in vaccination among older adults in Singapore to better understand why segments of older adults continue to resist vaccination against COVID-19. We find that individuals who were most likely to still be waiting to vaccinate or to not want to be vaccinated as of June 2021; are relatively older (aged 71-75), are of lower socioeconomic status (lower education levels and living in 1-3 room HDB flats), were the least likely to rely on Newspapers and Government Sources as sources of information for COVID-19 related news in November 2020, were least trusting of all sources of information, …

Tracetogether And Safeentry Were Never Foolproof In Averting Recent Fishery Port And Ktv Clusters, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Don’t blame the technology. COVID-19 control technology depends on the cooperation of people to be fully effective, says SMU Professor Mark Findlay. Singapore has one of the best subscribed COVID-19 tracing, tracking and safe entry apps worldwide. Then how is it that we are back to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert)? It would be tempting but wrong to blame the technology as being insufficiently intrusive or robust. A look at the recent outbreak suggests we should avoid an over-reliance on tech solutions when incompatible human behaviours are at work.

Perceived Benefits Matter The Most In Covid-19 Preventive Behaviors: Empirical Evidence From Okara District, Pakistan, Gulzar H. Shah, Ansar Ali Faraz, Hina Khan, Kristie Cason Waterfield

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has affected the social determinants of health, worsening health inequities and deteriorating healthcare capacities around the globe. The objective of this study is to investigate the COVID-19 prevention behaviors within the framework of the Health Belief Model in the city of Depalpur in the Okara District of Pakistan in May 2020. Using an observational, cross-sectional, and quantitative study design, a faceto- face field survey was conducted during the epidemic of COVID-19 in district Okara, Pakistan. A sample of 500 adults was selected from the city of Depalpur the in Okara …

Divide And Conquer: A Hygienic, Efficient, And Reliable Assembly-Line For Housekeeping, Xiao Alison Chen, Rowan Wang, Jianghua Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Problem definition: This work focuses on the hotel housekeeping process. In a field study, a possible channel of disease transmission between consecutive guests in hotel rooms is revealed. In order to prevent the transmission, an innovative assembly-line housekeeping method is developed. Academic/practical relevance: The transmission of infectious diseases during hotel stays (e.g., by touching unclean towels or bed linens) has been reported globally. Under the current COVID-19 pandemic, having contact with saliva or mucus left by an infected person could cause infection. The standard housekeeping process used by the majority of hotels leaves a channel for new towels and bed …

Reiki For Recovery: Incorporating Japanese Health Practices To Increase Contemporary Resiliency In American Health, Leif Peterson

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Japanese health practice of Reiki attempts to maximize the latent ability of the human system to heal itself. The Reiki system, established over a century ago, combines multiple Asian health traditions, experimenting with practices that maximize the natural processes of the body to perform its own repairs. Reiki encourages healthy behaviors that balance the mind and body, return the human system to a lowered stress level, and allow for an optimal recovery state for the patient. This paper illustrates how this Japanese health-affirming method can be integrated and utilized within existing health and medical practices. An area that is …

Tips For Sme Transformation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, Siow-Heng Ong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The author shared that following the economic downturn in 2020, revival in 2021 can only be very gradual. SMEs in different sectors of the economy face different challenges and have different options for response. Overall, SMEs are hopeful rather than confident. SMEs are generally hoping to manage cash flow and stretch their current funds for immediate business sustainability. Inevitably, their focus is on meeting critical business needs. Turnover and profits are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels so any increase in hiring or other planning for the future will be slight. He suggested that for pragmatic managers of SMEs …

War Against Covid-19: How Is National Identification Linked With The Adoption Of Disease-Preventive Behaviors In China And The United States?, Hoi-Wing Chan, Xue Wang, Shi-Jiang Zuo, Connie Pui-Yee Chiu, Li Liu, Daphne W. Yiu, Ying-Yi Hong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Fighting the COVID‐19 pandemic requires large numbers of citizens to adopt disease‐preventive practices. We contend that national identification can mobilize and motivate people to engage in preventive behaviors to protect the collective, which in return would heighten national identification further. To test these reciprocal links, we conducted studies in two countries with diverse national tactics toward curbing the pandemic: (1) a two‐wave longitudinal survey in China (Study 1, N = 1200), where a national goal to fight COVID‐19 was clearly set, and (2) a five‐wave longitudinal survey in the United States (Study 2, N = 1001), where the national leader, …

Tackling Covid-19 In Thailand, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

How can the country balance the need to restart the economy and keeping another wave of infections at bay?

The Psychosocial Well-Being Of Older Adults In Covid-19 And The 'New Normal', Micah Tan, Paulin T. Straughan, William Tov, Grace Cheong, Wensi Lim

ROSA Research Briefs

Early research into COVID-19 has focused predominantly on the immediate and direct physical health effects of the pandemic, as compared to the wider, indirect effects of the pandemic on general well-being brought about by the various measures put in place to contain the virus. In terms of policies, focus has also been placed largely on containment and broad based policies for the entire population. As experts increasingly recognize that the pandemic will be a protracted event (The Straits Times, 2021), however, there is a need for stakeholders to place greater emphasis on the indirect effects of COVID-19 that will likely …

S’Poreans Are Feeling Betrayed Because Of Tracetogether. The Government Needs To Restore Trust, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The authorities previously assured citizens that the TT data "will only be used for contact tracing", but subsequently indicated that the data may be used for criminal investigations. TT is the vital tool in our fight against the pandemic as it helps with contact tracing. It is in the government's interest to ensure optimal usage of TT. Some are now feeling that the government has "betrayed" their trust, so public confidence in using TraceTogether must be restored.

Understanding International Immobility Through Internal Migration: ‘Left Behind’ Nurses In The Philippines, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Romeo Luis A. Macabasag

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Migration scholars have tended to portray internal mobility as a step toward broader cross-border movement, reinforcing the notion of ongoing progress toward international migration. This article argues for a need to recognize how internal mobility can also explain international immobility, or why people do not move across national borders. Using the case of Filipino nurses, we argue that while internal migration does allow aspiring migrants to build the potential ability to emigrate, individual trajectories are much more diverse and multi-directional, often prolonging or reinforcing their international immobility. As a result, and in our case study, the costs and burdens of …

Lessons From Our Living Rooms: Illuminating Lockdowns With Technology Domestication Insights, Sun Sun Lim, Yang Wang

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

With at least half of humanity under lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID-19 (Sandford, 2020), adults have been working from home and children engaging in home schooling for months on end. Competing for scarce resources such as digital devices, bandwidth, as well as physical and personal space, families have had to contend with rising tensions around the quality of digital engagement, children’s learning abilities, parent-child relationships and overall familial wellbeing. This fraught situation shone the spotlight on the household context of technology use but also enabled us to marshal academic insights to advance advocacy and public education. The pandemic …

Rapid Transition Of A Technical Course From Face-To-Face To Online, Swapna Gottipatti, Venky Shankaraman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Just like most universities around the world, the senior management at Singapore Management University decided to move all courses to a virtual, online, synchronous mode, giving instructors a very short notice period—one week—to make this transition. In this paper, we describe the challenges, practical solutions adopted, and the lessons learnt in rapidly transitioning a face-to-face Master’s degree course in Text Analytics and Applications into a virtual, online, course format that could deliver a quality learning experience.

Learning Before And During The Covid-19 Outbreak: A Comparative Analysis Of Crisis Learning In South Korea And The Us, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Learning is imperative in government responses to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the South Korean and United States governments’ responses to COVID-19 from a comparative perspective. The analysis focuses on crisis learning conducted before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, using the conceptual categories of intercrisis/intracrisis learning and single-/double-loop learning. The findings suggest that double-loop, intercrisis learning allows for more effective crisis management by (re)developing a common operating framework. The efficacy of learning is enhanced when double-loop learning is followed by single-loop learning that embeds new structures and operational procedures. The findings also suggest that intercrisis learning facilitates …

Staying Connected: The Importance Of Social Integration On The Well-Being Of Older Adults, Paulin T. Straughan, Vincent Chua, Stephen Hoskins, Frosch Quek

ROSA Research Briefs

It has been about a year since COVID-19 first emerged and reshaped the daily lives of people around the globe, including Singaporeans. Since moving past the circuit breaker in June, Singapore has gradually re-opened and relaxed its restrictions in different phases. As Singapore prepares for Phase 3- the final and least restrictive phase, it is important to examine how Singaporeans have coped and responded with the circuit breaker (7 April 2020) and its gradual easing of restriction in Phase 1 (2nd June 2020) and Phase 2 (19 June 2020), and identify the groups which have fallen through the gaps in …

How Shall We ‘Hammer’ And ‘Dance’?, Wee Kiat Lim

Asian Management Insights

On the promises and perils of domestic tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.