Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Asian Studies Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Singapore Management University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 3511 - 3540 of 3601

Full-Text Articles in Asian Studies

Singapore's Experience With Car Quotas: Issues And Policy Processes, Sock-Yong Phang, Wing-Keung Wong, Ngee-Choon Chia Oct 1996

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 Sep 1996

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]


The Notion Of Place In The Construction Of History, Nostalgia And Heritage In Singapore, Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Lily Kong Jun 1996

The Notion Of Place In The Construction Of History, Nostalgia And Heritage In Singapore, Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, we investigate the links between place and time, and the intersections between the geographical imagination and the historical mind. These issues are explored in the context of Singapore by looking at the links between place and three concepts usually associated with the temporal sense - history, nostalgia and heritage. We argue that the two imaginations can be simultaneously engaged by means of a focus on the concept of place. The making of a place is closely intertwined with individual biographies and collective histories; at the same time, place does not record history in an unproblematic way. We …


Ideology, Social Commentary And Resistance In Popular Music: A Case Study Of Singapore, Phua Siew Chye, Lily Kong Jun 1996

Ideology, Social Commentary And Resistance In Popular Music: A Case Study Of Singapore, Phua Siew Chye, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Popular music as a site of struggles over meaning is focused upon, where the social and political relations between different groups in Singapore society are mirrored. How ruling elites and everyday people make use of the same cultural form--popular music--for different purposes is examined.


Trading Networks Of Chinese Entrepreneurs In Singapore, Thomas Menkhoff, Chalmers E. Labig Apr 1996

Trading Networks Of Chinese Entrepreneurs In Singapore, Thomas Menkhoff, Chalmers E. Labig

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The entrenchment of entrepreneurs in local, regional, or global business networks based on kinship, clanship, territorial, or ethnic ties has often been cited as characteristic of Chinese business communities in Southeast Asia. Qualitative interviews with Singaporean Chinese merchant-exporters were conducted in order to examine this thesis. The findings reveal that there is a strong tendency among Chinese entrepreneurs in Singapore to rely on external commercial relationships with ‘outsiders’ and ‘friends’ rather with those related by blood or marriage. It is suggested that kinship reciprocity may under some circumstances curb the autonomy and freedom of the transacting actors, thus limiting their …


Vote-Buying In The Thai Northeast: The July 1995 General Election, William A. Callahan Apr 1996

Vote-Buying In The Thai Northeast: The July 1995 General Election, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The argument that Thailand was a bureaucratic polity characterized by limited popular participation has been challenged in recent years by the manifest rise of civil society. At the same time, business interests have assumed growing political importance, challenging the traditional pre-eminence of government officials and military officers. In particular, politics in provincial areas have come to be strongly influenced by a rising business elite. One effect of this changing landscape has been growing commercialization of the electoral process, as was clearly seen in the July 2, 1995, general election. Vote-buying and other abuses were widespread, especially in provincial areas. This …


Remedies Available For Breach Of Contract Under The Un Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods, Locknie Hsu Jan 1996

Remedies Available For Breach Of Contract Under The Un Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article, which is complementary to the previous one [(1996) 8 SAcLJ 104], examines in detail the remedies available under the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, which recently came into force in Singapore. Where appropriate, brief comparisons are made with the remedies available under the Sale of Goods Act.


Medical Investigation Of Suspects By The Police, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee Jan 1996

Medical Investigation Of Suspects By The Police, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Although medical examinations and samples taken from suspects' bodies in the course of police inquiries often lead to the discovery of important evidence, Singapore criminal procedure does not appear to empower the police to carry out such medical investigations. Neither does it safeguard the interests of suspects. It is submitted that the Criminal Procedure Code and other statutes should be brought up to date with modern science.


Popular Music And A Sense Of Place In Singapore, Lily Kong Jan 1996

Popular Music And A Sense Of Place In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper illustrates how popular music written, produced, and performed by Singaporeans provides a means through which the culture and society of Singapore may be understood. Music with English language text conveys a sense of place and reflects a distinctively Singaporean spirit and identity. The paper examines four themes: the portrayal of Singapore's multiracial population which reflects a unique cultural synthesis; the Singaporeans' concept of urbanity, manifested as the simultaneous attraction and repulsion towards the city and the desire for nature and the rustic; the distinctive social engineering in Singapore; and the way in which global issues are imported into …


Tourism Growth In Singapore: An Optimal Target, Habibullah Khan, Sock-Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh Jan 1996

Tourism Growth In Singapore: An Optimal Target, Habibullah Khan, Sock-Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.


Making "Music At The Margins"? A Social And Cultural Analysis Of Xinyao In Singapore, Lily Kong Jan 1996

Making "Music At The Margins"? A Social And Cultural Analysis Of Xinyao In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Formalist critics and aestheticians have argued that music does not possess any kind of "extra-musical" significance, that there is no meaning beyond the form and structural relations of the notes. For them, music exemplifies the laws of mathematical harmony and proportion rather than the social and political contexts within which it is produced, reproduced and consumed. This view has been challenged by a number of social theorists: Max Weber, Theodor Adorno and Edward Said have all argued for an understanding of music within its social, cultural, economic and political contexts. Such analysis of popular music is now unquestioned. Indeed, it …


The Commercial Face Of God: Exploring The Nexus Between The Religious And The Material, Lily Kong Jan 1996

The Commercial Face Of God: Exploring The Nexus Between The Religious And The Material, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the nexus between the cultural and the material by examining the ways in which religion and the economy are integrated in the context of economy-driven Singapore. The mutually constitutive relationships between the cultural and the material are explored through a discussion of the role of the state, capital and religious institutions in pulling together the sacred and the secular. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how the state harnesses religion ideologically in its economic development strategies; how capital harnesses the potential of religion in commercial enterprises in practical terms; and how religious institutions themselves behave as financial institutions. …


Folktales And Reality: The Social Construction Of Race In Chinese Tales, Lily Kong, Elaine Goh Sep 1995

Folktales And Reality: The Social Construction Of Race In Chinese Tales, Lily Kong, Elaine Goh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper illustrates how folktales are a repository of primary material for the geographer. Using the example of The Strange Tales of Liaozhai, we discuss how these tales are not purely fictive constructs but constitute instead fictive, historical and projected realities. As an example of the value of such analysis, we discuss Chinese constructions of race as revealed in the tales.


Non-Governmental Organizations, Non-Violent Action, And Post-Modern Politics In Thailand, William A. Callahan Apr 1995

Non-Governmental Organizations, Non-Violent Action, And Post-Modern Politics In Thailand, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

y interpretations of Thailand's May 1 992 mass movement and mili- tary crackdown dwell on middle-class democracy formulae and/or mobacracy threats to national security. The paper argues that the two most interesting aspects of the May Events - non-violent tactics and non-governmental organizations - challenged not just the soldiers, but the whole military-directed discourse of political organization in Thailand. Utilizing feminist theory's notion of oppositional consciousness, the non-governmental organization/non-violent action dynamic is framed as a motivating force behind the social movement of April-May 1 992. This challenge can be called "post-modern" because, with its multi-centred organization and centrifugal forces, it …


For Better Of For Worse: The Statutory Derivative Action In Singapore, Pearlie Koh Mar 1995

For Better Of For Worse: The Statutory Derivative Action In Singapore, Pearlie Koh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Managerial accountability (or the lack of it) to shareholders has been described as “one of the major socio-legal problems of the twentieth century”. That such a comment has come to be made seems inevitable given the fact that common law courts have consistently upheld, in the absence of fraud, the managerial authority of the Board against the shareholders in general meeting. The Directors have almost absolute authority to decide what is, in their opinion, in the commercial interests of the company. The concerns of shareholders are obvious in public companies where, for the sake of economic efficiency and as a …


The Multiplier Effect: Singapore's Hospitality Industry, Habibullah Khan, Sock-Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh Feb 1995

The Multiplier Effect: Singapore's Hospitality Industry, Habibullah Khan, Sock-Yong Phang, Rex S. Toh

Research Collection School Of Economics

Tourism's contribution to Singapore's economy has increased over time. Tourism contributed 11.9% to Singapore's GDP in 1992, about half of that from direct revenues. Indirect and induced sources contributed about equally to the other half. While the direct effect of tourist expenditures on the Singapore economy are predominant, the indirect and induced effects are also significant, indicating strong sectoral linkages within the local economy, especially with respect to the hospitality industry.


Book Review: The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion Of Confucian Humanism In East Asia By Tu Weiming, Milan Hejtmanek, And Alan Wachman, Alan Kam Leung Chan Jan 1995

Book Review: The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion Of Confucian Humanism In East Asia By Tu Weiming, Milan Hejtmanek, And Alan Wachman, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

ucian Humanism" in 1989, the objective of which was "to explore Confucian ethics as a common intellectual discourse in East Asia from a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective" (p. vii), this volume offers a summary of the three-day event. If one were looking for "essays" on Confucian ethics, one would not find them here. With one exception where a participant sent in a written clarification, the report is based on recordings of the wide-ranging discussions that transpired at the workshop. What one will find are serious and often provocative reflections on a complex phenomenon by a group of eminent scholars from …


Frustration Of Contracts For The Sale Of Land In Singapore, Andrew B.L. Phang Jan 1995

Frustration Of Contracts For The Sale Of Land In Singapore, Andrew B.L. Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The recent Singapore Court of Appeal decision of Lim Kim Som v. Sheriffa bah bte Abdul Rahman' is significant for at least two specific (and related) rea in the context of the doctrine of frustration: first, because it pertains to the m particular issue as to whether a contract for the sale of land can be frustrated; second, because it also raises certain significant questions with regard to m general aspects of the doctrine itself.


Vertrauen Und Chinesisches Wirtschaftshandeln In Singapur: Zur Kulturellen Und Sozialstrukturellen Bedingtheit Von Vertrauensbildung Und Kooperation In Chinesischen Geschäftsbeziehungen, Thomas Menkhoff Jan 1995

Vertrauen Und Chinesisches Wirtschaftshandeln In Singapur: Zur Kulturellen Und Sozialstrukturellen Bedingtheit Von Vertrauensbildung Und Kooperation In Chinesischen Geschäftsbeziehungen, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Based on in-depth interviews with Chinese merchant exporters in Singapore, the article explores why personal forms of trust (the Chinese translation is xinyong) are key elements in the complex web of business and associated social relationships.


Towards An Understanding Of Chinese Business Networks In Asia-Pacific: The Singapore Case, Thomas Menkhoff, Chalmers Labig Jan 1995

Towards An Understanding Of Chinese Business Networks In Asia-Pacific: The Singapore Case, Thomas Menkhoff, Chalmers Labig

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The embeddedness of entrepreneurs in local, regional or global business networks based on kinship, clanship, territorial or ethnic ties and solidarities has often been cited as characteristic of the Chinese business community in Southeast Asia. Qualitative interviews with Singaporean Chinese merchant-exporters were conducted in order to examine this thesis and shed light on the various "guanxi bases" of their international trading networks. The findings suggest that there is a strong tendency among these Singaporean entrepreneurs towards external commercial transactions with "outsiders" and "friends" rather than with "kin" whether by blood, marriage, or ascription. Kinship reciprocity may curb the autonomy and …


Music And Cultural Politics: Ideology And Resistance In Singapore, Lily Kong Jan 1995

Music And Cultural Politics: Ideology And Resistance In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper focuses on popular music written and produced by Singaporeans to illustrate the nature of social relationships based on ideological hegemony and resistance. Analysis is based on two groups of music: 'national' songs supported by the government in the 'Sing Singapore' programme; and songs brought together in Not the Singapore song book. Interviews with local lyricists and analysis of video productions provide supplementary information. Music is used by the ruling elite to perpetuate certain ideologies aimed at political socialization and to inculcate a civil religion that directs favour and fervour towards the nation. Music is also a form of …


Port Multipliers For Singapore: Impact On Income, Output, And Employment, Rex S. Toh, Sock-Yong Phang, Habibullah Khan Jan 1995

Port Multipliers For Singapore: Impact On Income, Output, And Employment, Rex S. Toh, Sock-Yong Phang, Habibullah Khan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article examines the contribution of the activities of the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), a government-owned statutory board which operates almost all of the port related activities in Singapore, to the prosperity of the entire country, by way of multiplier analysis. Input-output analysis is used to compute the income, output, and employment multipliers of port activities, broken down into direct, indirect, and induced effects. The policy implications on port investment and maritime policy follow.


Equal Protection And Sexual Orientation, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee Jan 1995

Equal Protection And Sexual Orientation, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Equality is the thread running through the fundamental liberties enshrined in our Constitution. ... Equality, expressed in Art 12 of the [Singapore] Constitution, is also a specific right enforceable by the court. The difficulty comes in applying this deceptively simple concept to real-life situations. ... In considering the validity of legislation, Singapore and Malaysian courts have generally favored rational review, a modest conception of equal protection, unlike their American counterparts which have adopted a more expansive reading in the form of strict and intermediate review. This article examines how these three levels of equal protection review operate, and argues that …


Rediscovering The Constitution, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee Jan 1995

Rediscovering The Constitution, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The fundamental liberties in our Constitution involve a study of tensions: between an individual's rights and the community's interests, between the role of the judiciary on the one hand and the executive and legislature on the other. How we should interpret them depends on where we think equilibrium should be established. This depends on two main factors. The first is the proper function of the judiciary as laid down by our Constitution, which is discussed in Part I of this article. The second is the nature of our fundamental liberties, for they are worded with varying degrees of generality. ... …


Beyond Pepper V. Hart: The Legislative Reform Of Statutory Interpretation In Singapore, Robert C. Beckman, Andrew B.L. Phang Dec 1994

Beyond Pepper V. Hart: The Legislative Reform Of Statutory Interpretation In Singapore, Robert C. Beckman, Andrew B.L. Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

One of the major controversies in the area of statutory interpretation has centred on the use of parliamentary materials as extrinsic aids by courts in interpreting legislation. The English courts long prohibited any reference to parliamentary materials.' Legislation was passed in Australia in the 1980s to allow liberal reference to parliamentary materials in the courts. More recently, a seminal decision of the House of Lords in 1992 in Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v. Hart' introduced significant flexibility into the hitherto rigid proscription followed in the English courts, although it did not go as far as the legislative reforms in Australia. …


Strategic Types And Performances Of Small Firms In Korea, Youngbae Kim, Young Rok Choi Oct 1994

Strategic Types And Performances Of Small Firms In Korea, Youngbae Kim, Young Rok Choi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Youngbae Kim is an assistant professor of management and policy in the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Taejon, South Korea and Youngrok Choi is a researcher in the nuclear policy division of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon, Korea. This study attempts to identify the patterns of strategic behaviour of small firms in Korea in conjunction with their performance. Based on the data from 79 small firms across four industries, the results reveal that there appear to be four common strategic attributes cost efficiency, innovative differentiation, marketing differentiation, and asset parsimony and five strategic types of firms …


Imagining The Demos In The Demos: Mob Discourse In Thai Politics, William A. Callahan Jul 1994

Imagining The Demos In The Demos: Mob Discourse In Thai Politics, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

eryone believes to some degree that wolves howl at the moon, or weigh two hundred pounds, or travel in packs of fifty, or are driven crazy by the smell of blood. None of this is true. The truth is we know little about the wolf. What we know a great deal about is what we imagine the wolf t


Managing Risk In Information Technology Project: A Case Study Of Tradenet, Boon Siong Neo, Kwong Sin Leong Jun 1994

Managing Risk In Information Technology Project: A Case Study Of Tradenet, Boon Siong Neo, Kwong Sin Leong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The development and implementation of IT (Information Technology) projects are plagued with problems of cost and time overruns, technical inadequacy, inability to meet user requirements, lack of utilization and failure to achieve anticipated benefits. These problems occur to some projects and not to others because 1) IT projects have different profiles of risk, and 2) IT projects risks have been managed more or less effectively. This paper synthesizes the literature into four classes of risks and applies it to evaluate TradeNet, an EDI-based trading system implemented in Singapore in 1989. Through a case study of TradeNet, we derived a typology …


An Examination Of The Antecedents Of Subjective Career Success Among A Managerial Sample In Singapore, Samuel Aryee, Yue Wah Chay, Hwee Hoon Tan May 1994

An Examination Of The Antecedents Of Subjective Career Success Among A Managerial Sample In Singapore, Samuel Aryee, Yue Wah Chay, Hwee Hoon Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Antecedents of subjective career success are examined using data obtained with a questionnaire instrument from managerial employees in Singapore. The choice of antecedents was informed by recent calls to place research on career issues in the context of an individual's life roles. Confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL VII) was used to examine the one-factor and three-factor models hypothesized to underlie the subjective career success data. The results revealed a 3-factor model to have adequate fit statistics - financial and hierarchical success, and career satisfaction. The antecedent sets of human capital, work values, family and structural or work variables accounted for over …


From Empire Defence To Imperial Retreat: Britain's Postwar China Policy And The Decolonization Of Hong Kong, James T. H. Tang May 1994

From Empire Defence To Imperial Retreat: Britain's Postwar China Policy And The Decolonization Of Hong Kong, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Attempts to examine Hong Kong as an issue in British postwar colonialpolicy often emphasize the unique nature of the colony, andtherefore a special case in British decolonization. Hong Kong hasbeen regarded as an unconventional colonial entity, an anachronismin the modern world. But others argue that the word colony is not anappropriate term to describe it, except in the most severely technicallegal sense, because of its spectacular industrial and economicdevelopment since the end of the Second World War.' Nonetheless,Hong Kong has existed as a British crown colony since I842, and itscolonial political structures have remained more or less the same untilthe …