News
Can racial harmony in Singapore be fostered by law? On 29 August 2021, during the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act. This new law aims to tackle offenses related to racism in a targeted manner and emphasises the importance of racial harmony in Singapore. It will […]
In ‘Workplace discrimination: Greater clarity needed’ (The Straits Times, September 2021), Senior Lecturer Dr Kelvin Seah (NUS Economics) welcomes the Singapore government’s latest policy efforts to combat workplace discrimination and provide equal opportunities for employment and career progression for workers. At the same time, he points out that cases of workplace discrimination and unfair […]
Although Singapore touts English as its default lingua franca, Mandarin remains a compulsory subject for students of Chinese heritage, who make up about 75% of the Singaporean population. The majority of children of Chinese heritage receive no Mandarin exposure at home, yet are placed in the same classes and are expected to compete with children […]
In ‘Race, racism and racial privilege in Singapore’ (The Straits Times, September 2021) Professor Chua Beng Huat (NUS Sociology and Yale-NUS Urban Studies Program) discusses the conceptual development of racial privilege in Singapore, documents developments in Singapore’s history that have accorded privileges, conscious and unconscious, to specific racial groups, and evaluates the frameworks and solutions […]
Singapore has long pursued neoliberal economic policies through international trade, cementing itself as one of the most globalized nations in the world. At the same time, the nation-state remains politically and socially conservative, prioritizing economic and communal well-being over individual political rights. Therein lies a tension between these ostensibly contradictory positions. In “‘First world problems’ in […]
Bilingualism has often been touted as the cornerstone of Singapore’s language policy. The original aim of Singapore’s bilingual education was for citizens to gain access to knowledge of the West via English and to understand themselves via their mother tongue. However, the formation of bilingual policy was never properly established, causing for intense debate both […]
Eat with your Family Day started in 2003 as an attempt to increase bonding time for Singaporean families. On designated days of the year, companies are urged to grant early leave, at 5pm, for employees to return to their families and have dinner together. This effort by the Centre for Fathering (CFF) is reflective of […]
Teacher’s Day is observed on the first Friday of September and seeks to recognize the unwavering efforts of teachers and staff towards molding the next generation of Singaporeans and building a world-renowned education system that has consistently produced top performers. In the 2019 edition of Trends in International Mathematics and Science (Timss), an international […]
In ‘Singapore’s thirty-somethings are leaving home’, (The Economist, August 2021), Professor Wei-Jun Jean Yeung (NUS Department of Sociology and Centre for Family and Population Research) notes that the country’s housing policy makes it difficult for young people to move out of their family homes. Near 80% of the population live in government-subsidized flats and Singaporeans […]
‘Social Disconnection and Living Arrangements among Older Adults: The Singapore Chinese Health Study’ (Gerontology, 2021), a study by Dr. Jon Barrenetxea, Dr. Yi Yang (both from Duke-NUS Medical School), Dr. An Pan (Huazhong University School of Public Health), Associate Professor Feng Qiushi (NUS Department of Sociology and Centre for Family and Population Research), and […]