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During the Public Free Clinic Society’s 50th anniversary fundraising dinner on 27 October 2024, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced plans to integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into public healthcare under the expanded Healthier SG programme. This move reflects Singapore’s long-standing support for Chinese medicine, dating back to the colonial period when the colonial government …
A brief history of Chinese medicine in Singapore Read More »
As Singapore positions itself as a leader in sustainability and innovation, understanding how business cycles influence Research and Development (R&D) decisions is essential for shaping future growth. Aligned with the Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2025 Plan (RIE2025), Singapore continues to build a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy with steady and sustained investment in R&D as a key pillar …
Medium-term Business Cycles, Green Innovations, and Sustainable Growth Read More »
‘Is this scalable?’ This question has become central to contemporary industries, where the pursuit of scalability drives decisions about growth, efficiency, and innovation. While often associated with Big Tech, the phenomenon of scaling is deeply rooted in older industries such as electricity service and maritime logistics. These sectors have long pursued scalability as a foundational …
Chasing scale: the pasts and futures of mobility in electricity and logistics Read More »
According to the Centre for Climate Research Singapore, Singapore could face increasingly extreme weather conditions, with more frequent scorching days, prolonged dry spells, and temperatures potentially rising by up to 5 degrees Celsius by 2100. These changes, driven by global climate change, will heighten the risks of heat stress, a condition where excessive heat overwhelms …
Living alone in later life is often treated as a signal of social risk. The one-person household is easy to identify in administrative data and, as a result, frequently used as a proxy for loneliness in policy and service delivery. However, this assumption can be misleading. In the opinion piece ‘When seniors live alone, it …
When seniors live alone, it doesn’t mean they are lonely Read More »
Located nearby each other, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore share many historical trends and demographic similarities that contribute to the complexity of the politics of race and ethnicity within their ethnically diverse populations. This has given rise to ‘racial culture wars’, which Associate Professor Daniel Goh (NUS Sociology and Anthropology) describes as complex, intersecting conflicts over …
Racial Culture Wars in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore Read More »
With one in four Singaporeans aged 65 and above, Singapore is now classified as a ‘super-aged’ nation, joining countries like Japan, Germany, and Italy. The Singapore government has taken deliberate steps to address and prepare for changing demographics. For example, the Action Plan for Successful Ageing introduced in 2015 by the Ministerial Committee on Ageing …
More Than Aging in Place: ‘Aging in Networks’ in Singapore Read More »
Did you know that Singapore boasts up to 54 surrounding islands, many of which were established through land reclamation post-independence? While most of these islands remain untouched, some play crucial roles in the city-state’s development. Given their relative obscurity and historical significance to most Singaporeans, ‘Urbanising Islands: A Critical History of Singapore’s Offshore Islands’, a …
Urbanising islands: A critical history of Singapore’s offshore islands Read More »
What does it mean to age well in a city where living alone is increasingly common? In ‘Ageing in Networks: Living Alone but Connected’ (Ageing & Society, 2025), Associate Professor Vincent Chua (NUS Sociology and Anthropology & NUS Centre for Family and Population Research), Associate Professor Chen-Chieh Feng (NUS Geography), and Professor Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho (NUS Geography & …
Section 377A, a colonial-era law that criminalised sex between consenting adult males in Singapore, was officially repealed on 3 January 2023. This came after the emergence of a global wave of “backlash politics” in the 21st century, marked by conservative and culturally retrogressive sentiments, particularly in response to the recognition of LGBT rights. Despite Singapore’s …