Asian Studies Commons^™

Staging Singapore’S Cultural Economy, Buck Song Koh

Asian Management Insights

Growing and cultivating soft power is the name of the game.

Nurturing Entrepreneurship And Growing Entrepreneurs, Sun Sun Lim, Abdullah Khurshid, Dexter Ye Kai Tan, Gabrielle Lay Khim Tan

Asian Management Insights

How Southeast Asia’s universities can pave the way.

Universities in Southeast Asia:

1. Can unlock the potential of changemakers in driving economic growth through entrepreneurship education.

2. Accelerate the growth of the ASEAN start-up ecosystem by facilitating technology commercialisation, leveraging regional networks for mentorship and funding, and fostering cross-border collaborations.

3. Have birthed at least five of Southeast Asia's unicorns and are set to lead the way in producing more.

Broken Kinship: Family Property Disputes And The Common Intention Constructive Trust In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There has been a proliferation of common intention constructive trust claims in Singapore. The main reason is that families have acquired real estate using their collective earning power without explicitly considering the individual entitlement of each family member. When a dispute arises, the claim is often pleaded as a common intention constructive trust. The complication with applying the law on the common intention constructive trust is that this is an English doctrine developed to deal with a different social context i.e. the breakdown of the relationship between cohabiting couples. In Singapore, the common intention constructive trust applies primarily in a …

Fine-Grained Passenger Load Prediction Inside Metro Network Via Smart Card Data, Xiancai Tian, Chen Zhang, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Metro system serves as the backbone for urban public transportation. Accurate passenger load prediction for the metro system plays a crucial role in metro service quality improvement, such as helping operators schedule train timetables and passengers plan their trips. However, existing works can only predict low-grained passenger flows of origin-destination (O-D) paths or inflows/outflows of each station but cannot predict passenger load distribution over the whole metro network. To this end, this paper proposes an end-to-end inference framework, PIPE, for passenger load prediction of every metro segment between two adjacent stations, by only utilizing smart card data. In particular, PIPE …

Of Light And Shadows: Buddhism, Cinema, And The Question Of Diffused Religion In Modern China, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

While the scholarship on premodern Chinese Buddhism has explored the tradition’s rich diffusion throughout various realms of sociocultural life, the study of modern Chinese Buddhism leans heavily towards its monastic, institutional, and overtly “religious” forms. This split mirrors the logic of modern secularization, whereby religion should be rationally differentiated from the broader social fabric, institutionalized, and delimited within its own discrete functional sphere. This article rethinks the putative rupture between Chinese Buddhism’s past and present incarnations. Through the prism of cinema, a technology that arrived on Chinese shores at the same moment as the Western concept of religion, I illuminate …

Impact Of Rainfall On Air Temperature, Humidity And Thermal Comfort In Tropical Urban Parks, Juan A. Acero, Philip Carl Kestel, Hieu T. Dang, Leslie K. Norford

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Urban areas in hot and humid tropical regions are frequently exposed to uncomfortable thermal levels. A well-developed urban heat mitigation strategy is increasing vegetation infrastructure, even though the impact differs based on regional climate. In this study we have evaluated the impact of rainfall on air temperature, humidity and thermal comfort inside a large urban park in Singapore, based on measurement campaigns. A comparison between the park and an urban site is presented. Results show that rainfall significantly reduces air temperature and improves thermal comfort levels, not only right after the rain event but also in the after-event dry period. …

Green Bond Premiums In The Asia-Pacific And European Markets, Parath Wongaree, Chiyachantana N. Chiraphol, Kuan Yong David Ding, Wasin Siwasarit

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine green bond premiums in the primary and secondary bond markets in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. In both regions, green bond yields are significantly lower than those of conventional bonds in the primary market, indicating that a green bond premium exists. Asia-Pacific investors in the secondary market are more willing to accept lower yields than European ones. We find that green bonds have a lower risk than conventional bonds. Investment grade issuers, financial sector issuers, and local currency green bonds are associated with lower yields due to their stronger reputation, higher credit ratings, and absence of foreign exchange risk.

Legal Governance Of Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare Devices And Services In Singapore, Warren B. Chik, Haran Sugumaran

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare applies across a spectrum of goods and services that support the industry. The main benefits of developing and applying AI to healthcare are: (a) the potential for it to perform functions beyond what can be done manually by the natural person; (b) the greater efficiency and accuracy that it can give to detection, diagnosis and medication/recovery; (c) the minimisation of risk and the possible lowering of cost (in the long term); and (d) in appropriate cases, minimal human intervention or involvement, especially in situations or conditions that may present a risk of …

Insourcing The Smart City: Assembling An Ideo-Technical Ecosystem Of Talent, Skills, And Civic-Mindedness In Singapore, Orlando Woods, Tim Bunnell, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article examines an alternative model of smart city formation, one based on the principle of insourcing technical competencies and capabilities to those responsible for city governance. This model counters the logic of technological outsourcing upon which many assumptions and critiques of the smart city rest, and thus reveals ways in which a more generative discourse can be forged. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from public and private sector organizations, we develop a case study of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Through coordinated efforts to reorganize the public sector’s technological functions, develop nation-wide skills upgrading programs, …

Building Responsible And Sustainable Supply Chain Frameworks: Limits Of International Investment Law And The Csr Initiatives Taken By The Eu And China, Stefanie Schacherer

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Supply chains play a pivotal role in global economic relations, fostering growth, employment, and poverty alleviation. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are central actors in these chains, bearing responsibilities towards workers and the environment. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards guide MNEs in assessing the societal and environmental impacts of their activities, though these standards remain largely voluntary. Recent investment treaty practice shows a trend to incorporate CSR provisions in international investment agreements (IIAs), but such clauses fail to impose direct human rights, labour and environmental obligations on investors. Amidst this landscape, the EU and China, major players in global trade and investment, …

Gamified Bodies And The Illusory Meaning Of Muscle, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper foregrounds the agency of the body to explore how it is “gamified” in the pursuit of a desired self-image. Gamified bodies are those that are tricked into metabolising in ways that suit the representational aspirations of the self. The aspirations that I consider in this paper are those of muscle, and how individuals trying to build muscle pursue various metabolic tricks to try and overcome, or otherwise suppress, the in-built agency of the body. Exploring and understanding these tricks contributes to feminist understandings of the body generally, and of muscle specifically, and its unruly nonconformity to the gendered …

Bridging The Nature-Cultural Heritage Gap: Evaluating Sustainable Entanglements Through Cemeteries In Urban Asia, David Ocon, Wei Ping Young

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The expanding footprint of urban Asian settlements and increasing living standards have put pressure on cemetery sites. Public health narratives and the sanctity associated with death matters in Asian urban landscapes have fed into the rhetoric of cemeteries as undesirable heritage spaces. Often lacking protection, many cemeteries have been exhumed, cleared, and relocated to allow room for new developments and infrastructure, risking the survival of this quiet element of the urban cultural patrimony. Within an Asian context, synergies between nature and cultural heritage preservation are not prevalent in major cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok. …

The New China Model: Combating Economic And Political Order, Jack R. Swords

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Contemporary world politics centers around the actions of the two largest powers on Earth, the United States and China. They are both each other’s greatest adversary yet at the same time are each other’s largest trading partners. This thesis explores the nature of China’s economic climate that has seen it grow to one of the world’s foremost powers. However, the East Asian Nation faces economic challenges centered around the three D’s: Debt, Deflation, and Demographics. This thesis analyses what the nature of these challenges are and how China is responding to them within the ever-advancing world of economic and political …

A Phenomenology Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Chinese International Students In The Us During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Linlin Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study investigates the lived experiences of Chinese international students during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to delve into how these individuals articulate their experiences during the pandemic, with a particular focus on how their geographical location influenced their experiences. To achieve this, the study employs an innovative approach, integrating a phenomenological method with comparative analysis to elucidate the similarities and differences between students who remained in the US and those who returned to China.

The analysis identified four principal themes among students in the US: 1) Online Learning Challenges, (2) Social Life Adaptation, (3) …

Lawfare As A Policy Tool In Sino-American Relations: The Case Of Huawei Cfo Meng Wanzhou, Zachary S. Souders

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Competition between the United States and China is at an all-time high. Despite decades of diplomacy between the East and West, recent trends suggest the two powers are drifting further apart. To understand US-China relations, it is critical to understand major developments as they occur. This paper examines the geopolitical significance of United States v. Meng (2020), an extradition case in which US authorities requested the transfer of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou to American jurisdiction. Despite US policymakers declaring Meng and Huawei to be threats to national security, the eventual dismissal of all charges Meng faced presents a puzzle …

Korean Newspapers And The “Irish Problem”: Japanese Censorship In Colonial Korea, 1920-1930, Jaehyun Kim

Student Work

Jaehyun Kim’s thesis, “Korean Newspapers and the ‘Irish Problem’: Japanese Censorship in Colonial Korea, 1920-1930,” touches upon a subject that scholars of colonial Korea have given insufficient attention to. Kim asks why there featured so many colonial Korean run newspaper articles on the Irish Independent movement in the 1920s and 1930s when the Japanese colonial government actively censored Korean newspapers. Indeed, in the wake of the March First Independent Movement, the colonial authorities shifted its harsh military rule to a more conciliatory cultural policy, allowing Koreans to vent their nationalistic sentiments within the confines of state control. However, the level …

The One-And-A-Half Chinas’ Problem: Taiwan And The Origins Of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988, Lucas Miner

Student Work

Lucas Miner’s thesis, “The One-and-a-Half Chinas’ Problem, Taiwan and the Origins of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988,” deals with attempts by the Chinese Communist Party and the Guomindang to achieve unification between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan during the early phase of China’s reform era. The thesis seeks to update our interpretation of Cross-Strait relations by exploring the origins of peaceful reunification, tracing its early evolution from 1978 to 1985. Primary sources from both sides of the strait—especially from the rich repository at the Academia Historica in Taipei—allows Miner to construct a nuanced and significant narrative that uniquely incorporates …

The Contested Domain Of Political Space In Southeast Asia, Meredith Weiss, Eva Hansson

Political Science Faculty Scholarship

Understanding political norms in Southeast Asia requires conceptualising the domain in which politicians, activists, and ordinary citizens exercise and challenge them: political space. We focus here on domestic political space, particularly that in which individuals and organisations champion alternatives to prevailing norms of state and market. This terrain is highly, perennially mutable. In it, we find an array of non-state organisations, from trade unions to non-governmental organisations, as well as media (including online and social media), and a range of structures and associations not inherently political, but potentially so, such as religious bodies. In this chapter, we consider, first, the …

The Importance Of Theory And History In Understanding And Developing The Common Law Of Contract – Some Further Preliminary Reflections, Hon. Andrew Phang

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

In a previous essay, an attempt was made to demonstrate the important role that both theory and history play in helping us to understand and develop the common law of contract. As pointed out in that essay, a comprehensive treatment of the subject would require lengthy discourse in a book or even several books. This essay follows-up on that previous essay, again by way of preliminary reflections only, to correct the dominant perception that the development of the common law in general and contract law in particular is premised mainly on doctrinal development based on logic and analogy with the …

Veil Piercing In Singapore: A Proposed Approach, Ivan Wu Hwan Tang

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Since 2013, the English courts have departed from the Singapore courts in their approach towards the doctrine of veil piercing. Notwithstanding this departure, as well as the general increase, over the years, in the number of cases in Singapore where veil piercing has been argued, the English approach has yet to be considered definitively by Singapore’s Court of Appeal. The other Singapore courts have thus generally also been unwilling and unable to decide on the applicability of the English approach in Singapore. Against this context, this article aims to consolidate and analyse the law on veil piercing in Singapore and …