Asian Studies Commons^™

Sanctions And Nonproliferation Behavior: Missing On Missiles, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes political psychologies supporting United States (US) sanctions-related behavior towards the People's Republic of China's (PRC) exporting of missiles, missile components, and missile technology.

Patriarchy And Pragmatism: Ideological Contradictions In State Policies, Lily Kong, Jasmine S. Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Theories concerning the state sometimes treat it as a rational system. This paper raises questions about this assumption by examining the coherence of the ideological frameworks underlying state policies in Singapore. The contradictions are shown most clearly when state policies deal with gender issues, especially where they concern women. Through an examination of such policies, we show that, under some conditions, state patriarchy may be subverted by the state's capitalistic developmental considerations. We are aware that patriarchy does not stand or fall by state policies alone, but the following article illustrates how such policies can limit the space for negotiation …

Cultural Policy In Singapore: Negotiating Economic And Socio-Cultural Agendas, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I examine the role of cultural policy in a newly industrialised economy, which is at the same time a state with a short history and only nascent beginnings in nation-building and efforts to construct a distinctive cultural identity. Using Singapore as the site of analyses, develop an understanding of the intersection between the economic and socio-cultural agendas behind cultural development policies. I illustrate the hegemony of the economic, supported by the ideology and language of pragmatism and globalisation. At the same time, I explore the reception of and attempts to negotiate (and at times, contest) state policies …

The Need For Racial Profiling: Negative Fallout Of The Wen Ho Lee Case, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes a counterproductive theme within public discourse on racial profiling, as the Wen Ho Lee case has been resolved.

Trends. Why The United States Still Hasn't Shaken Its Vietnam Syndrome: The Case Of Iraq, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the the lingering presence of the Vietnam Syndrome - the idea that military successes seem to have little impact on the hearts and minds of large segments of a given country's population - in the United States' Operation DESERT STORM in Iraq.

The Psychology Of Rogue Nations, Missile Defense, And Self Defense, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes the construct and psychological meanings of "rogue nation."

Downsizing, Debürokratisierung Und Krisenmanagement: Neuere Entwicklungstendenzen In Malaysias Öffentlicher Verwaltung, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Der Beitrag analysiert mit Blick auf die Asienkrise Entwicklungsaspekte und ausgewählte Strukturmerkmale der öffentlichen Verwaltung in Malaysia, an die nicht zuletzt im Rahmen des derzeitigen Krisenmanagements hohe Anforderungen hinsichtlich Effizienz, Professionalität und Kundenorientiertheit gestellt werden. Besonderes Interesse gilt den vor einigen Jahren eingeleiteten Reform- und Debürokratisierungsmaßnahmen, durch die die Leistungskraft der öffentlichen Verwaltung und der in ihr Tätigen erhöht werden soll. Der Beitrag verdeutlicht die Hintergründe der anhaltenden Restrukturierungsanstrengungen, zeigt interne Schwachstellen auf und untersucht, inwieweit die öffentliche Verwaltung in der Lage ist, die an sie gestellten Erwartungen einzulösen.

Trends. Syria, Lebanon, And Israel: Is There A Psychological Difference Between The Abusive And The Abused?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the psychological difference between abusers and the abused in the context of relations between Israel and Syria as well as Indonesia and East Timor. The concept of control is also discussed.

Crisis Of One China, Two Systems: Great Leap Backward, One Step Backward, Or The Old Two Step?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores the political psychology of crisis through analysis of a political document recently released by the top leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Military Arms To Taiwan: Competing Agendas, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores competing cognitions about the advisability of the United States Government (USG) selling advanced weapons to Taiwan.

Review Of The East Asian Welfare Model: Welfare Orientalism And The State. Roger Goodman, Gordon White And Huck-Ju Kwon (Eds.). Reviewed By Kwong-Leung Tang, University Of Northern British Columbia, Kwong-Leung Tang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Roger Goodman, Gordon White and Huck-ju Kwon (Eds.), The East Asian Welfare Model: Welfare Orientalism and the State. New York: Routledge, 1998. $90.00 hardcover, $29.99 papercover.

Leadership Prescriptions And Proscriptions On Clarity: A Case From Indonesia, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes the pros and cons of clear communication by national leaders.

Ibpp Research Associates - Perspective From Ghana On Terrorism, Staff Writer – The Ghanaian Times

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article - No Peace in Isolation by a staff writer at The Ghanaian Times - discusses terrorism as an international issue.

The Many Routes To Assassination: Musings On Turkmenistan, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes some of the more common psychological routes leading to political assassination.

Religion And Modernity: Ritual Transformations And The Reconstruction Of Space And Time, Chee Kiong Tong, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, we use the case of Chinese religion in Singapore to examine the relationships between religion and modernity, and between social processes, on the one hand, and spatial conceptions, forms and structures and temporal practices, on the other. Specifically, we look at how traditional Chinese rituals are being modified, reinterpreted and invented to fit with modern living. Such ritual transformations entail reconstructed notions of space and time. Through such transformations, modernity does not simply lead to the demise of religious beliefs and practices but allows for a continued role for religion in providing a meaning system for Chinese …

Ibpp Research Associates: East Timor, Anonymous

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article is a rushed letter from an anonymous individual involved in East Timor in late August or early September 1999 when Indonesian troops were present in the area. The letter was sent to the International Peace Practitioners Network (IPPN). For reference, IPPN is a project of the Peace Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association and of Psychologists for Social Responsibility

The letter itself was subsequently forwarded to IBPP by IPPN, and the content of the letter was not verified by IBPP.

IBPP commentary includes a discussion of the role of political psychologists, and other interested parties, in the …

Globalisation And Singaporean Transmigration: Re-Imagining And Negotiating National Identity, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Within the context of globalisation that confronts the world today, I aim in this paper to illustrate one particular state's attempts at constructing a 'nation' amidst efforts to encourage its citizens to globalise, actions which are ostensibly, or at least, potentially, contradictory; and to analyse how these citizens who became transmigrants construct and negotiate their sense of 'nation' and national identity. Specifically, my empirical questions centre on Singaporean transmigrants working in China. I ask the following questions. What happens to the sense of national identity among Singaporeans and their relationship with the 'nation' when confronted with transnational conditions? What are …

The First Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Legislative Council Elections, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Legislative Council (Legco) Elections in Hong Kong on May 24, 1998, isthe first open multiparty electoral competition in the People's Republic of China(PRC). Since Chinese leaders have repeatedly rejected Western-style democracyor multiparty competition for China, the extent to which the Hong Kong experiencewould serve as a model for political developments on the mainland isclearly limited. Nonetheless, political changes in Hong Kong has to be seen aspart of China's experience following their reunion. Under the "one country, twosystems" formula, Hong Kong is given the freedom to conduct its own internalaffairs as a Special Administrative Region (SAR), but the formation of …

Cemetaries And Columbaria, Memorials And Mausoleums: Narrative And Interpretation In The Study Of Deathscapes In Geography, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper reviews research on deathscapes, particularly by geographers in the last decade, and argues that many of the issues addressed reflect the concerns that have engaged cultural geographers during the same period. In particular, necrogeographical research reveals the relevance of deathscapes to theoretical arguments about the social constructedness of race, class, gender, nation and nature; the ideological underpinnings of landscapes, the contestation of space, the centrality of place and the multiplicity of meanings. This paper therefore highlights how the focus on one particular form of landscape reveals macro-cultural geographical research interests and trends.

The Construction And Experience Of Nature: Perspectives Of Urban Youths, Lily Kong, Belinda Yuen, Navjot S. Sodhi, Clive Briffett

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, we explore the ways in which young people in a highly urbanised setting experience and develop constructions of nature. We do so by using Singapore as our case study, an Asian context in which urbanisation is total (Singapore's population is totally urbanised), Based on focus group discussions, we conclude that young Singaporeans have little interest in and affinity for nature. This stems from a few factors: growing up in a highly urban environment in which contact with nature is limited; over-protective parents of two-children families who worry about the 'dangers' their children are exposed to when playing …

Domestic Bargaining In Taiwan's International Agricultural Negotiations, Chien-Pin Li

Faculty Articles

Development literature often depicts development as a transitional process in which agriculture is marginalized while resources are transferred to growing nonfarm sectors, through either voluntary exchange or involuntary coercion. The conventional analysis of Taiwan's agriculture and its role in economic development generally attests to this model.-1 Prior to the 1970s, as the backbone of Taiwan's economy and the major earner of foreign currencies, agriculture accounted for more than 40% of the total employment and over 20% of the net domestic product (NDP). But a series of programs unfavorable to farmers were put in place so that the government could channel …

China's Reunification And International Security In Northeast Asia: After Hong Kong What?, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper examines the implications of Hong Kong's reunification with China oncross-strait relationship between mainland China and Taiwan. It begins with adiscussion of the international security situation in the region and the increasingimportance of the People's Republic of China on regional security. The paper thenaddresses the political and economic consequences of the sovereignty change overHong Kong on regional security, identifying the added strength to China on the onehand, and the Special Administrative Region's moderating influences on the other.Finally, it evaluates possible changes of the Beijing government's Taiwan policy. Inconclusion, the paper argues that China's reunion with Hong Kong may have …

Curbing Urban Traffic Congestion In Singapore: A Comprehensive Review, Rex S. Toh, Sock-Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

One of the most pervasive and frustrating of modern transportation problems is urban traffic congestion. Since 1975, Singapore has introduced a relentless series of traditional and experimental measures to slow down the growth of the motor vehicle population and to control its usage. While some of the measures have been somewhat successful, some of the problems were shifted or were substituted. The Area Licensing Scheme led to a shifting of the problem in time and place while the quota system has substituted uncertainty in quantity with uncertainty in price. Furthermore, the Preferential Additional Registration Fee system and the Quota System …

From Manual To Electronic Road Congestion Pricing: The Singapore Experience And Experiment, Sock-Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh

Research Collection School Of Economics

This study reviews the efforts of Singapore to curb road congestion through restraints on motor vehicle ownership as well as user fees. In particular, it traces the history of the famous Area Licensing Scheme (ALS), and then discusses its shortcomings, also the need for Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), its advantages and disadvantages and the technology involved in this state of the art system. This paper identifies important research questions to be addressed in connection with the first full-scale adoption of ERP.

Public Housing In Singapore: Interpreting 'Quality' In The 1990s, Siew Eng Teo, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While writings exist on various aspects of public housing in Singapore, recent developments in the 1990s have not yet been given any serious academic attention, Our intention in this paper is to focus on such developments, paying particular attention to the government's policy of providing quality housing, After setting the context of efforts at providing quality in the first three decades of public housing by the Housing and Development Board, we turn our attention specifically to the 1990s, focusing on three areas in which attempts are being made to improve quality, namely, the physical upgrading of older estates, the privatisation …

Distant Asian Neighbors: Japan And South Asia: Edited By Purnendra C Jain, New Delhi: Starling Publishers, 1996., Chiranjib Sen

IIMB Management Review

No abstract provided.

Culture And Capital In Urban Change: The Constitutive Relationship Between Development Imperatives And Symbolic Values In Singapore's Built Environment, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Over the last three decades, Singapore has undergone tremendous urban change. These changes have been premised on the logic and rationality of economic planning, in which development goals have taken precedence over other symbolic values, be they historic, cultural, sacred, personal, social or aesthetic. In recent years, however, there has been tangible evidence that parts of the urban fabric are being retained, a reflection perhaps of increasing appreciation of the cultural and historical values of these built forms. Given this scenario, my intention in this paper is to explore the interconnections between symbolic values in the urban landscape, on the …

Nature And Nurture, Danger And Delight: Urban Women's Experiences Of The Natural World, Lily Kong, Belinda Yuen, Clive Briffett, Navjot S. Sodhi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, we address a research lacuna in the area of human experience of, and interaction with, nature. We focus on women in an urbanized setting, exploring their actual and desired experiences of the natural world, using Singapore as a case study. Our intention is to contribute to both the evolving theoretical and empirical discussions on this subject. Based on data collected from focus group discussions and household questionnaires, we conclude that women's relationships with nature in Singapore are underscored by a strong inclination towards nurturing: teaching, tending and caring, in a way that is not as apparent in …

Singapore's Experience With Car Quotas: Issues And Policy Processes, Sock-Yong Phang, Wing-Keung Wong, Ngee-Choon Chia

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper examines the policy processes behind Singapore's car quotas. The policy, when filtered through the market mechanism, had a number of unintended consequences. The public's unhappiness with certain features and [`]loopholes' of the system resulted in many changes to the rules. The effects of recent measures to curb speculation on quota premiums are evaluated. Problems with Singapore's Weekend Car Scheme are also discussed. The lesson for transport policy makers elsewhere is that in attempting to deal with the road congestion problem through car ownership policies, an asset market for vehicles should be taken into account.

Social Constructions Of Nature In Urban Singapore, Lily Kong, Brenda S. A. Yeoh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Wilderness was increasingly evaluated either as a resource to be exploited or a resource to be protected. Those who urged the protection of wilderness viewed it as a place for outdoor recreation and safe enough for the family; others saw it as a museum of natural curiosities, a tourist attraction; while the high minded revered it as nature's cathedral. [Yi-Fu Tuan 1971: 38]