IPS Update Issue March 2022

11th S R Nathan Fellow Mr Patrick Daniel’s wide-ranging IPS-Nathan Lectures, titled Stewardship of the Singapore Media: Staying the Course, have just concluded with his third and final lecture, “Envisioning Desired Futures for Singapore and for the Local Media” which took place on 14 March. His lecture series examined the pressing issues facing Singapore’s legacy media, as well as debates on misinformation and fake news, the prevalence of big tech platforms and social media, and Singapore’s regulatory regime since the 19th century. 

The first two lectures “The Singapore Media's Long and Winding Road: 1824 to 2022” and “Grappling with the Darker Side of the Internet: A Global Challenge” took place on 17 February and 2 March respectively. The question-and-answer sessions were moderated by Professor Chan Heng Chee, Dr Carol Soon, and Dr Shashi Jayakumar.

Video recordings of the lectures can be found here.

Commentary — Online harm is an urgent issue for women
(The Straits Times)
By Lim Sun Sun and Chew Han Ei
• 4-min read

Much work remains unfinished when it comes to women's rights and needs, despite this week's celebration of International Women's Day. In this piece for The Straits Times, SUTD's Prof Lim Sun Sun and IPS' Dr Chew Han Ei urged that more must be done to safeguard the interests of women in the online space.

Commentary — How Budget 2022, just like Budget 1986, prepares Singapore for the future
(TODAY)
By Eddie Choo and Woo Jun Jie
• 5-min read

To better understand the impacts of Budget 2022 on our future, we need to take a step back into our past. In this commentary for TODAY, IPS' Eddie Choo and Woo Jun Jie discuss the similarities of #Budget2022 and #Budget1986 and what this means for us as we chart a new path for social and economic development in Singapore.

Commentary — Ukraine, international law and the security of small states
(The Straits Times)
By Tommy Koh
• 7-min read

"Does Russia have the right, under international law, to question the legitimacy of Ukraine? The answer must be no." IPS' Special Adviser Prof Tommy Koh writes for The Straits Times on how Russia’s actions undermine the international rule of law and the efforts of the international community at maintaining peace since the founding of the United Nations in 1945.

Commentary — Rebuilding digital trust
(The Straits Times)
By Chew Han Ei and Carol Soon
• 5-min read

High-profile phishing incidents recently have dented public trust in digitalisation efforts. After news of the phishing scam targeting OCBC Bank customers broke, some seniors were reported to have cancelled their Internet banking accounts. How do we rebuild digital trust? IPS' Dr Chew Han Ei and Dr Carol Soon write for The Straits Times.

Commentary — Budget 2022: Venturing overseas and supply chain challenges 
(Business Times)
By Faizal Yahya
• 5-min read

New schemes aimed at encouraging Singapore-based companies to venture overseas and expand operations have been announced in Budget 2022. While this is promising, companies may need help to proactively mitigate possible supply chain chokepoints that may emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and future disruptions. 

In this Business Times op-ed, IPS Senior Research Fellow Dr Faizal Yahya shares more on the importance of building resilience into Singapore's supply chain.

Commentary — Budget 2022 doubles up on protecting lower wage workers but that’s only half the story
(CNA)
By Christopher Gee
• 5-min read

Recently announced in Budget 2022, government plans to improve wages and protections of Singapore's lowest-income earners are currently underway. While this move signals a positive shift in Singapore's socio-economic infrastructure, there is still more to be said about on-demand service workers or freelancers, also known as gig economy workers. 

In this CNA commentary, IPS Senior Research Fellow Christopher Gee highlights the need for more innovative and flexible schemes suited for this said group, especially as Singapore's gig economy workforce continues to grow.

IPS On Diversity Podcast — S2E9: Youth Mental Health

The pandemic has certainly shed light on the issue of youth mental health in Singapore. On the ninth and final episode of IPS On Diversity Season 2, IPS Associate Director Liang Kaixin chats with Dr Jacqueline Tilley, NIE Asst Prof of Clinical Psychology, as well as Mr Asher Low, founder of Limitless, an NGO that provides counselling for youths, to discuss the mental health struggles youths face.

Report on IPS Research Seminar: Governance Frameworks and Capacity for Crisis Management in Singapore

On 3 March 2022, IPS held an online Research Seminar titled “Governance Frameworks and Capacity for Crisis Management in Singapore”. The speakers who have published books on Singapore’ governance system or how Singapore has managed the COVID-19 crisis — IPS Senior Research Fellow Dr Woo Jun Jie; Ms Sumiko Tan, Executive Editor, The Straits Times; and, Associate Professor in Practice Terence Ho, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy — gave their assessment of the government’s performance, what could be improved on, and suggested more research is needed on citizens’ and civil society’s response to the multi-faceted challenge of the pandemic.

IPS Working Paper No. 44 — Precarity in Platform Work: A Study of Private-Hire Car Drivers and Food Delivery Riders

In this working paper, Dr Mathew Mathews, Shamil Zainuddin, Thian Wen Li, Fiona Phoa and Clara Lee examine the motivations, profiles, challenges and everyday lived experiences of platform workers through an ongoing ethnographic study of these workers and a survey with platform drivers. While platform work provides platform workers with income and flexibility, the paper also discusses the paradox behind flexibility and concerns such as workers’ financial and physical health, job protections and precarity, future job prospects and other job-related insights.

Knowledge, Attitude & Practice: An Exploratory Investigation of Parenting Challenges Facing Malay-Muslim Fathers in Singapore

Led by IPS Research Fellow Dr Shamsuri Juhari and commissioned by the Centre for Fathering, AMP Singapore, PPIS (Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura or the Singapore Muslim Women’s Association) and the Lutheran Church Community Services, this project investigated the socio-cultural challenges faced by Malay-Muslim fathers in Singapore when it comes to effective parenting. In particular, this published report outlines the parenting practices of Malay-Muslim fathers along three socio-cultural domains — knowledge, attitude and practice. The findings derived from the study provide impetus for organisations and stakeholders to design intervention initiatives to address identified obstacles faced by fathers in the Malay-Muslim community.

Full Report on IPS Spotlight on Cultural Policy Series Thirteen: Roundtable on Singapore’s Television Industry: The View Ahead

The television industry in Singapore has transformed greatly since its beginning in the 1960s. The growth of “over-the-top” (OTT) platforms like Netflix and the changing preferences of consumers have led to new modes of content delivery and distribution in the market. In the 13th Roundtable of the IPS Spotlight on Cultural Policy Series, policymakers, television producers, directors and content creators discussed the growth and future prospects of the television industry in Singapore.

IPS Study on Singaporeans and False Information Phase Two and Phase Three — Immunity and Intervention

The Institute of Policy Studies published findings from Phase 2 and Phase 3 of its study on Singaporeans and False Information. Phase 2 of the study examined the news-seeking and information verification practices of 50 respondents through self-confrontation interviews. Phase 3 examined the effects of three different modalities (i.e., the PowerPoint, infographic, video) that were used to deliver the National Library Board’s S.U.R.E. framework on more than 1,000 respondents. Together, the findings from these two phases provide insights on how to build people’s immunity against false information and improve literacy programmes.