Asian Studies Commons^™

The Covid-19 Pandemic And Human Rights Limitation: The Role Of Trust And Communication In Vietnam, Van Thanh Vu

Asian Review

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis in modern history, causing disruption and chaos to the usual way of life, and requiring radical measures. This study investigates how willingly Vietnamese people cooperate with their government’s anti-pandemic measures, which limit their right to assembly, privacy and freedom of movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show that the region of residence of the respondents influences their cooperation with government’s measures. It has also been found that the more the respondents have trust in the government as an important agency in pandemic management, the more they cooperate with the government’s measures.

Engaged Buddhist Community As A Human Right Response: A Case Of Buddhist Participatory Communication, Palphol Rodloytuk

Asian Review

Religions have played very important roles in resolving conflicts and problems for mankind in addition to providing the paths to happiness and salvations based on their uniquely defined traditions and frameworks. In the past several decades, where world problems have become more complex, including peace and conflict resolution, requiring more complex international standards and frameworks, the declaration of human rights was announced, promulgated, and implemented into governance and development policies adopted by many countries worldwide, in order to facilitate the ways that problems, conflicts, and various causes of suffering could be solved, with clear international standards and guidelines. Religions, Buddhism …

Authoritarianism And People-Centric Development In Asian Context, Jayasri Priyalal Maggonage

Asian Review

What are the successes and failures of the Asian authoritarian political systems, and how they have evolved over the centuries? Thus, Chinese history became a chapter of human civilization. The famous saying reminds us that; those who cannot cope with changes will never initiate changes. What are those changes, and how did the rulers, emperors, and party leaders in China adjust to the change is worth exploring academically from a historical point of view, The salient features of the code of conduct the rulers adopted presumably gave the numerous emperors a sense of direction to apply autocratic rule yet maintained …

Introduction: Human Rights As A Development Right, Kalinga Seneviratne

Asian Review

No abstract provided.

Migrant Workers Rights From A Human Rights Perspective, Padma Rani

Asian Review

Migrant workers constitute 59% of the migrant population. Migrants contribute to growth and development in their place of destination, while the place of origin benefits from their remittances and the skills acquired. Migration is here to stay, it has multiple benefits, and it is a fundamental human right to work and move in freedom. The two main approaches to deal with migration-the migration management and the human rights approach. The human rights approach is based on international human rights law. Under international human rights law, all migrants are entitled to respect, protection, and full enjoyment of their human rights, regardless …

Chinese-Invested Smart City Development In Southeast Asia - How Resilient Are Urban Megaprojects In The Age Of Covid-19?, Yujia He, Angela Tritto

Diplomacy and International Commerce Reports

Smart cities are emerging as major engines for deploying intelligent systems to enhance urban development and contribute to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). In developing economies facing rapid urbanization and technological change, new cities are being built with smart technologies and ideals, complete with business districts and residential, retail, entertainment, medical, education facilities to entice businesses and talents to relocate. Governments tout the potential of such “greenfield” smart cities for innovation and sustainability. Yet such urban megaprojects are often extremely expensive, prompting governments to partner with private players such as property developers, investors, and tech firms to …

Students’ Evaluation Of Teaching In The Project-Based Learning Programme: An Instrument And A Development Process, Gary Pan, Venky Shankararaman, Kevin Koh, Sandy Gan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Students' evaluation of teaching (SET) is widely adopted in most universities. Besides allowing teachers to improve their teaching, SET offers an important input for university administrators' consideration in faculty promotion, contract renewal, salary increase and teaching award. While the practice of using SET instrument is well established, it remains ambiguous in the SET literature whether a dedicated SET instrument is used for alternative teaching pedagogy. Our paper argues that SET instrument may need to be re-designed to reflect the idiosyncrasy of another teaching pedagogy. Accordingly, this paper presents the development process of a SET instrument used to measure an alternative …

Sac Newsletter 2021, South Asia Center

Newsletters from the South Asia Center

No abstract provided.

Balancing Sustainable Development And Cultural Heritage Preservation: Luxury Burial Legacies In Singapore, David Ocon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore tops multiple global rankings for the consumption of luxury products. In this land-scarce and densely-populated city-state, to purchase a high-end car, landed property, or to have a fine dining experience, ranks amongst the most expensive in all Asian cities. That luxurious approach in life, however, does not find a parallel in death. As this paper indicates, a life of luxuries in Singapore does not necessarily mean deluxe burials, graves, mausoleums, or shrines. In fact, due to scarcity of land and the tight control on its usage, there are limited options for the well-off to display the same sense of …

A Design Thinking Odyssey: Measuring And Documenting Graduate Learning Outcomes In The Co-Curricular Space, Alvin Sim, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Co-curricular experiences should be warranted a fair amount of attention in higher education, particularly for their ability to help students develop real-world employability skills and a platform for them to critically reflect upon and expand their perspectives. These are crucial in developing the future-ready graduate – the type of graduate the Singapore Management University (SMU) strives to nurture. Yet, the authors have discovered that many students go from one activity to another without understanding what they can actually be getting out of these activities and how each activity connects to life after university. This has led the authors to seek …

The Diminishing Power And Democracy Of Hong Kong: An Analysis Of Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement And The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, Xiao Lin Kuang

University Honors Theses

The future of Hong Kong -- one of the most valuable economic port cities in the world -- has been a key political issue since the Opium Wars (1839-1860). After eighty five years of being a British colony, Hong Kong was returned to mainland China in 1997 under a special arrangement that was intended to preserve Hong Kong’s special political and administrative status until 2047. As Hong Kong is a special administered zone, it utilizes a democratic governing system and enjoys freedoms that mainlander citizens of China do not experience. Many scholars have warned Hong Kong of its dire position …

The Unmeritorious ‘Legality’/‘Merits’ Distinction In Singapore Administrative Law, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore courts often state that judicial review of executive decision-making ought only to involve an inquiry into the ‘legality’ of a decision or the ‘decision-making process’, and not the ‘decision itself’ or its ‘merits’ – let us call this the ‘Distinction’. This paper argues that the Distinction should be expunged from Singapore law. The Distinction has its roots in English case law which aimed to prevent the courts from arbitrarily substituting their decision for the executive’s by reason of mere disagreement. But Singapore case law has gone further and treated the Distinction as a general principle applicable to all …

One Year On Since Ge2020: Thinking Afresh For The Post-Covid Era, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined that even as political competition in Singapore sharpens, a deeper understanding and broader consensus must develop on critical issues. He believes that remaking Singapore to be a fairer, more just, and compassionate society in a post-Covid world is a key responsibility for Parliament.

The Personality Profile And Leadership Style Of China’S President Xi Jinping, Aubrey Immelman, Yunyiyi Chen

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality and leadership style of China’s president, Xi Jinping, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Xi were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Xi’s primary …

Citizenship On The Move: The Deprivation And Restoration Of Emigrants' Hukou In China, Jiaqi M. Liu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholars have long debated whether international migration impinges on states’ control over transborder populations. In this article, I lay bare how states consolidate control through the calculated manipulation of emigrant citizenship. Based on a genealogical interrogation of China’s emigrant citizenship policies from the 1950s to present and three months of fieldwork in an emigrant community in China, I illustrate that the state first revokes emigrants’ citizenship and then imposes selective conditions on its restoration upon their return. China’s otherwise domestically oriented citizenship regime, namely, the household registration (hukou) system, works similarly as an international immigration regime by selecting and documenting …

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, …

Connectedness Of Asia Pacific Forex Markets: China's Growing Influence, Hwee Kwan Chow

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the degree of connectedness of Asia Pacific forex markets post global financial crisis and relates it to developments in the renminbi markets. The connectedness measure developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2014) reveal the strength of linkages across the US dollar currency pairs of twelve currencies, namely offshore renminbi, onshore renminbi, euro, yen, Australian dollar, Indian rupee, Korean won, Malaysian ringgit, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, Thai baht and Taiwan dollar. With the gradual liberalization of China’s exchange rate system, shocks from the renminbi markets contribute more to fluctuations in almost all individual Asia Pacific currency markets vis-a-vis …

Tort Law, Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, 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.

Institutional Investors In China: Corporate Governance And Policy Channeling In The Market Within The State, Lin Lin, Dan W. Puchniak

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The extraordinary rise of China’s economy has made understanding Chinese corporate governance an issue of global importance. A rich literature has developed analyzing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) role as China’s largest controlling shareholder and the impact that this has on Chinese corporate governance. However, the CCP’s role as the architect —and direct and indirect controller—of institutional investors in China has been largely overlooked in the legal literature.

The Belt And Road Initiative Agreements: Characteristics, Rationale, And Challenges, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has brought with it an unprecedented number of agreements. BRI agreements consist of primary agreements (particularly MOUs) and secondary agreements (like performance agreements). They are a distinct, landmark feature of the BRI. Focusing on primary agreements and their close link with secondary agreements, this paper explores the following questions: What are the legal status and characteristics of primary agreements? Why are they adopted by China? What challenges do they face? BRI primary agreements can be regarded as a form of soft law, but that repurposes soft law characteristics for project development rather than rule …