Asian Studies Commons^™

News Media Influence On Public Trust In Bike-Sharing Operators In Singapore, Leonard Wong, Lyon Tan, Rachel Wong, Su Lin Yeo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: The overnight introduction of tens of thousands of dockless bike-share bicycles in Singapore with its indiscriminate parking drew the attention of the media, which generated extensive news reports on the activities carried out by bike-sharing operators. Given the meteoric rise and fall of the industry, this study examines the influence of agenda-setting of news reporting on the public’s perception of the industry and the impact on the firms’ corporate reputation. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing the Reputation Quotient Index, the study content analyzed 147 textual data of online reports which were crawled over two years between 2017 and 2018 from six mainstream …

Life, Liberty Or The Pursuit Of Happiness In A Post-Covid 19 Era, Aurobindo Ghosh, Amit Haldar, Kalyan Bhaumik

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A multi-generational pandemic has afflicted economies and convulsed worldwide health systems putting policymakers on prongs of an unthinkable trinity of choice: life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness? These inalienable rights guaranteed by the US Declaration of Independence seem farcical with three of largest four democracies in the world accounting for the highest infections. In this opinion piece, we re-evaluate the clichéd debate between life and livelihood. Second, we investigate the implementation hurdles faced by the frontline medical policymakers expediting testing regimes and vaccine development to avert an unfolding catastrophe. Medical professional are opting for mitigation strategies like isolating infections …

How Do Intercrisis Learning Outcomes Affect Intracrisis Learning? “Learning In The Making” In The Case Of South Korea’S Covid-19 Response, Chongmin Na, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study explores the processes of intercrisis and intracrisis learning and the link between them, drawing on South Korea’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. The crisis management literature suggests that intracrisis learning is less likely to occur than intercrisis learning due to inherent barriers that hinder learning and adaptation in the heat of crisis. Based on the conceptual framework of problem-oriented governance and crisis learning, we unpack how prominent outcomes of intercrisis learning facilitate intracrisis learning during the acute phase of an emerging crisis. We postulate that learning after 2015 MERS crisis developed the core capabilities for …

Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore jurisprudence appears to have adopted the proposition that the rebus sic stantibus principle is to be disapplied where section 2(3) of the Singapore Property Tax Act (“PTA”) (the “Statutory Formula”) is applied. This article argues that this proposition perhaps ought to be stated more precisely. The principle is only disapplied where section 2(3)(b) is applied because it would run contrary to the statutory fiction imposed by section 2(3)(b) that the land is to be valued as if it were vacant land. There should be no disapplication of the principle where section 2(3)(a) is applied due to the absence …

14th Parliament Has Weighty Duty Steering Singapore Into Post-Covid-19 Future, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In more ways than one, the five-year term of Singapore’s 14th Parliament has been and will be defined even before it begins. How this institution of the people’s representatives leads the nation amid the raging Covid-19 global pandemic and positions Singapore for the post-Covid world matters immensely.

Ge2020: No Wipeout But Another Breakthrough For The Workers’ Party, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan examined how the 2020 general election results show both the putative importance and the relative impotence of opposition politics in Singapore.

Countering Exclusivism, Promoting Inclusivism: The Way Forward For Singapore, Lily Kong, Orlando Woods, Acmal Zuheyr Iefan Abdul Wahid

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper addresses the situation in Singapore, where a state of religious harmony has prevailed over the past few decades, though evidencing skirmishes and tensions periodically. These skirmishes are a consequence of exclusivist attitudes held by those with religion and those without religion. While some of the strategies that have been in place to address such exclusivist behaviours have been largely effective, the extent to which they have been successful in addressing, more fundamentally, exclusivist attitudes and beliefs is more questionable. Three key dialectics that operate in everyday interreligious encounter are identified to be consequential in countering exclusivism and promoting …

Laden With Great Expectations: (Re)Mapping The Arts Housing Policy As Urban Cultural Policy In Singapore, Su Fern Hoe

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The arts and artists need space to thrive. However, as much of the land in Singapore is state-owned, the finiteness of space – literally and figuratively – remains a key challenge. Yet there is a rich variety of arts infrastructure in Singapore today, from exhibition spaces to performing arts venues and state-subsidised artist studios. This infrastructure comes at a cost - these arts spaces are positioned as policy interventions capable of achieving a broad confluence of cultural, urban, economic and social outcomes for Singapore.

This article aims to provide an understanding of how arts spaces in Singapore has been framed …

Learning From The Past: Distributed Cognition And Crisis Management Capabilities For Tackling Covid-19, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unprecedented public health crisis across the globe. Governments have developed different approaches to tackle the complex and intractable challenge, showing variations in their effectiveness and results. South Korea has achieved exceptional performance thus far: It has flattened the curve of new infections and brought the outbreak under control without imposing forceful measures such as lockdowns and travel ban. This commentary addresses the South Korean government’s response to COVID-19 and highlights distributed cognition and crisis management capabilities as critical factors. The authors discuss how the South Korean government has cultivated distributed …

The Future Of Nuclear Security In The Asia-Pacific: Expanding The Role Of Southeast Asia, Julius Cesar Trajano, Mely Caballero-Anthony

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The nature of regional cooperation on capacity building taking place in Southeast Asia certainly provides a good foundation to pursue a more robust collaborative framework for nuclear security in the wider Asia-Pacific region. A step in this regard is to have a regional action plan/roadmap for nuclear security in the Asia-Pacific that could institutionalize cooperation between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other countries in the wider region, fostering closer collaboration. The paper recommends three practical mechanisms to expand cooperation frameworks in Southeast Asia to the broader Asia-Pacific region: (1) strengthening regional capacity building in nuclear security; (2) establishing …

Preparing First Year Students For Online Learning In Digital Academia: Smu Libraries’ Peer Advisors Step Forward, Zhenyan Li, Constance Tan, Shubhangi Gupta

Research Collection Library

With the new normal being online learning or a hybrid thereof, the academic community is quickly trying to upskill themselves including librarians. But what about incoming first year students? Who and what support networks are being created to help them navigate the different facets of online learning? In this presentation, participants will learn about SMU Libraries’ Library Peer Advisors (LPA) initiative. LPAs provide peer-to-peer support by students for students in areas such as citation help, effective use of databases and introducing new students to the physical libraries through tours. Research shows that peer-assisted learning is beneficial in providing supportive social …

Attitudes, Behaviours, And The Well-Being Of Older Singaporeans In The Time Of Covid-19: Perspectives From The Singapore Life Panel, Paulin T. Straughan, William Tov, Seonghoon Kim, Terence Cheng, Stephen Hoskins, Micah Tan

ROSA Research Briefs

COVID-19 has affected all Singaporeans, regardless of age and socioeconomic status (SES). Many measures have been implemented by the government to control the spread of this disease, including restrictions on social gatherings, restrictions on overseas travel, and making it compulsory to wear a mask. Measures have also included a partial lockdown – known as the ‘circuit breaker’ – which began in April 2020. This forced Singaporeans to quickly adapt to a new normal with some doing better than others. This research brief provides an overview of how COVID-19 and its related measures have affected seniors in Singapore using data from …

How A Young University Can Launch And Grow A Digital Repository, Pin Pin Yeo

Research Collection Library

Learn how SMU, a young university under 50, launched a digital repository back in 2010 and opened their research and scholarship to discovery by the world.
Get tips on how to improve the visibility and profile of your institution’s research and scholarly publications, to provide access to full text articles (wherever possible), to organize the university’s records for research and publications and how repositories discoverability drove some great individual successes for the faculty. This case study is very useful to better understand the importance of a good repository.

Berita Summer 2020, Dominik M. Müller

Berita

Letter from the Chair ... 2

John A. Lent Prize 2020 ... 3

Article: “Pieter J. Veth on the Tabut Feast: Judaic and Persian-Shīʿī Traces of a Tradition in Java” (Majid Daneshgar) ... 4

Article:”‘The 2020 Singapore General Elections: Moving Away from a One-Party-Dominant State” (Kay Key Teo) ... 10

Book Review: 90 Years in Singapore (Irene Lim) by Margaret Sarkissian ... 15

Publications ... 20

Job Opportunities ... 21

Editorial Information ... 23

A Study Of Disaster Management Competency And Indicators In Thailand’S Local Admanistration, Kanrawee Wichaipa

Asian Review

This qualitative research study aims to investigate functional and hazard specific competencies of Thai local administrative officers in disaster prevention and mitigation. The data was collected through document research, in-depth interviews and group discussions from representatives from a central policy making agency and with staff from disaster prevention and mitigation agencies in six local administrative organizations around Thailand. The data was collected in six localities and analyzed by means of content analysis. The results showed that there are three functional competencies, namely 1) understanding of laws, regulations and authority; 2) proactive analysis and evaluation of the situation; and 3) networking …

Sac Newsletter 2020, South Asia Center

Newsletters from the South Asia Center

No abstract provided.

Bermudan Option In Singapore Savings Bonds, Kian Guan Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) is a unique investment program offered by the Singapore government whereby retail investors can earn risk-free tax-free step-up interest closely matched to Treasury bond rates for up to 10 years and can redeem on any business day prior to maturity without any early redemption penalty. This study analyses the unique design of the SSB and provides a valuation of the Bermudan option for early redemption that is embedded in the SSB. The Black-Derman-Toy model is used to build the interest rate tree, and an iterative method is employed to avoid arbitrary specification of the pre-determined …

Covid-19 And Management Education: Reflections On Challenges, Opportunities, And Potential Futures, Steve Brammer, Timothy Clark

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

COVID-19 is having profound impacts on tertiary education globally. Border closures, cuts to aviation capacity, mandatory quarantine on entering a country, restrictions on mass gatherings, and social distancing all pose challenges to higher education (HE) institutions. Business Schools (BSs) have larger and more internationally diverse cohorts of students and staff, generating particular challenges, but also often have more mature digital and remote education capabilities that enable responses to COVID-19. Therefore, exploring emergent evidence on how BSs are likely to be affected by COVID-19 over the short, medium, and long term is of significant importance to our community. In this commentary, …

Tort Law, Amirthalingam Kumaralingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This review examines the ten most significant decisions in tort law for 2020. It was an interesting year for the range of significant decisions in tort law handed down by the courts on matters including limitation period, medical negligence, the scope of duty in negligence, breach of confidence, conspiracy, and defamation.

Family Law, Wei Jing Tricia Ho, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Two salient trends emerge from the decisions issued by the Singapore courts in 2019. First, cases with international elements are featured increasingly, with the Court of Appeal adjudicating its first case on financial relief consequential on foreign divorces and the High Court releasing a decision on sham marriages to obtain an immigration advantage. It is evident that the law is evolving to cater to the needs of a changing community in Singapore. There is a recognition of the increase in the number of Singapore citizens working abroad and marrying non-Singaporeans, which has prompted certain legislative changes that seek to provide …

Legal Constraint In Emergencies: Reflections On Carl Schmitt, The Covid-19 Pandemic And Singapore | Symposium On Covid-19 & Public Law, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The controversial legal theorist Carl Schmitt’s challenge to the possibility of meaningful legal constraint on executive power in emergencies could not be more relevant in a world struggling to deal with Covid-19. Scrambling against time, governments around the world have declared states of emergency and exercised a swathe of broad executive powers in an effort to manage this highly infectious disease. In times like these, if Schmitt is indeed right that emergencies cannot be governed by law, we are on the cusp of (or perhaps have already entered) a post-law world – where the business of government is characterised by …

The Transnational Frontiers Of Japanese Education: Multiculturalism, Cosmopolitanism, And Global Isomorphism, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Japanese education system today faces three transnationally created challenges. The first is multiculturalism. Given an increasing number of students whose parents are either migrants or naturalized citizens, the government needs to rethink the nature of public schools, which have traditionally catered to ethnic majority students, and explore how to make them culturally more inclusive. The second is cosmopolitanism. Although cosmopolitanism is regarded as a desirable disposition and competency in a globalizing world, the government has difficulty incorporating it into the education system that continues to function as a central vehicle of nation-building. The third is global isomorphism. While world …

Globalization And Top Income Shares, Lin Ma, Dimitrije Ruzic

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper documents empirically that access to global markets is associated with a higher executive-to-worker pay ratio within the firm. It then uses China's 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization as a trade shock to show that firms that exported to China prior to 2001 subsequently exported more, grew larger, and grew more unequal in terms of executive-to-worker pay. To evaluate analytically and quantitatively the impacts of globalization on top income inequality, this paper builds a model with heterogeneous firms, occupational choice, and executive compensation. In the model, executive compensation grows with the size of the firm, while the …

Jurisdiction In Relation To Hostile Trust Litigation, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Soft Launch Of The Asian Principles For The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In January 2018, we reported on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Asia, a publication by the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI).

Ge2020 Commentary: Assessing The Voters’ Message To Pap (And Other Parties), Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Despite the “crisis of a generation”, the 2020 general election results point to a considered flight from the status quo, rather than a flight to safety. Singaporean voters, through their 2.54 million ballots cast, sent a nuanced message to all political parties and election candidates. It was a renewed, urgent expression of a vote for change, more so than in the 2011 election.

What The New Cabinet Line-Up Says About Leadership Continuity And Renewal, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed three features that stood out in the new Cabinet line-up after the July 10 General Election, and explained what this says about leadership continuity and renewal.

Busting Myths And Dispelling Doubts About Covid-19, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Centre for AI and Data Governance (CAIDG) at Singapore Management University (SMU) has embarked over past months on a programme of research designed to confront concerns about the pandemic and its control. Our interest is primarily directed to the ways in which AI-assisted technologies and mass data sharing have become a feature of pandemic control strategies. We want to know what impact these developments are having on community confidence and health safety. In developing this work, we have come across many myths that need busting.

Chinese Temple Networks In Southeast Asia: A Webgis Digital Humanities Platform For The Collaborative Study Of The Chinese Diaspora In Southeast Asia, Yingwei Yan, Kenneth Dean, Chen-Chieh Feng, Guan Thye Hue, Khee-Heong Koh, Lily Kong, Chang Woei Ong, Arthur Tay, Yi-Chen Wang, Yiran Xue

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article introduces a digital platform for collaborative research on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, focusing on networks of Chinese temples and associations extending from Southeast China to the various port cities of Southeast Asia. The Singapore Historical Geographic Information System (SHGIS) and the Singapore Biographical Database (SBDB) are expandable WebGIS platforms gathering and linking data on cultural and religious networks across Southeast Asia. This inter-connected platform can be expanded to cover not only Singapore but all of Southeast Asia. We have added layers of data that go beyond Chinese Taoist, Buddhist, and popular god temples to also display …

Introduction, Jirayudh Sinthuphan

Asian Review

No abstract provided.