IPS Update Issue October 2022

The Young Singaporeans Conference (YSC) is a marquee biennial event of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) that gathers young Singaporeans who have demonstrated leadership or excellence in their respective fields to discuss issues of national interest and public policy. The two-day conference was held on 5 and 7 September 2022, taking on a hybrid format with the first day being fully online and the second being fully in-person.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Uncharted”, reflecting the uncertain path that lies ahead for today’s youths, which may bring both turbulence and a wealth of new opportunities. Held in support of the Forward Singapore movement, YSC 2022 served as a platform for youths to convey their concerns and aspirations about the broader society and collectively commit to building the Singapore they envision. Click to watch the highlights video and the dialogue session with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary. Read the report here to find out more about the ideas that were generated during the Conference.

Asean and India at 30: The Way Forward
(The Straits Times)
By Tommy Koh, Hernaikh Singh and Moe Thuzar
• 6-min read

2022 has been designated Asean-India Friendship Year, where the region is celebrating 30 years of dialogue relations with India.

In this piece for The Straits Times, Tommy Koh, Special Adviser to IPS, Hernaikh Singh, Deputy Director at Institute of South Asian Studies, and Moe Thuzar, Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, look back on the history of Asean-India relations, and analyse the present relationship which has developed over the years.

They also make suggestions for a new agenda for cooperation between the regional bloc and India, such as linking the two economies more closely together and narrowing the gap between the Asean-China relationship and the Asean-Indian relationship.

Nimbleness Needed to Engage Citizens
(The Straits Times)
By Carol Soon, Nandhini Bala Krishnan and Beverly Tan
• 6-min read

Public engagement that involves citizens as solutioning partners is confronted with two perennial questions. Can citizens be effectively engaged on complex issues, especially technical ones?

Given the increasing prevalence of technology adoption in public engagement, how can we exploit the benefits of technology while minimising its pitfalls?

In this piece for The Straits Times, IPS' Carol Soon, Nandhini Balakrishnan and Beverly Tan cited some examples from Japan and Australia, and also shared their experiences convening The Ngee-Ann Kongsi-IPS Citizens' Panel on Mental Health.

Levelling the Playing Field for the Malay-Muslim Community
(IPS Commons)
By Shamsuri Juhari and Jeanne Tan
• 5-min read

The sixth Mendaki Symposium held earlier this year highlighted the correlation between socio-economic status and early academic performance in Singapore's Malay-Muslim community. Namely, students who were less well-off were also more likely to perform more poorly at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). These students were also found to remain weak academically as they moved forward in their schooling.

In this op-ed, Shamsuri Juhari and Jeanne Tan suggest ways to provide a more equitable distribution of opportunities for students from humbler backgrounds.

Online Safety and Social Media Liability: Has the Tide Turned?
(The Straits Times)
By Lim Sun Sun and Chew Han Ei
• 4-min read

The Singapore government recently proposed several measures to enhance online safety, including one which will give the Infocomm Media Development Authority the power to issue orders to block or take down harmful content.

In this piece for The Straits Times, Lim Sun Sun, professor of communication and technology at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and IPS’ Chew Han Ei argue that besides government intervention, technology companies must do more to create a safer online space. Such measures include ensuring transparency in targeted advertising tactics, and engaging more heavily in public education.

梁凯欣：霸道总裁治国论 (Translation: Domineering CEO's Governance Model)
(Lianhe Zaobao)
By Liang Kaixin
• 4-min read

Singapore's first generation of leaders was able to successfully govern the country with an iron fist. However, can our 4G leaders today lead in the same way?

In this op-ed for Lianhe Zaobao, IPS' Liang Kaixin discusses the challenges of governance in the midst of an increasingly complex social environment, and especially with the current setting out of the new social compact in Singapore.

How Can Singapore Lessen the Impact of SES on Educational Achievements?
(CNA)
By Shamsuri Juhari and Jeanne Tan
• 5-min read

Socioeconomic status has often been linked to educational achievement, where advantaged students gain an edge over their less well-off peers.

IPS' Shamsuri Juhari and Jeanne Tan analyse the situation in Singapore, and suggest ways in which this gap can be lessened, to provide greater opportunities for disadvantaged students in the country. For example, they recommend recognising all skills apart from academic achievements, as well as enhancing parents’ social networks in schools.

Singapore Youth: In Defence of 'Strawberries'
(The Straits Times)
By Chew Han Ei and Vincent Chua
• 5-min read

Youths in Singapore have emerged from the pandemic more resilient, and with greater national affiliation, according to preliminary data from Youth STEPS, a six-year longitudinal study by IPS Social lab and the National Youth Council Singapore on youth transitions and pathways.

In this piece for The Straits Times, IPS’ Chew Han Ei and Vincent Chua, associate professor at the department of sociology and anthropology in NUS, argue that trust between youths and the government must be strengthened in order to encourage youths to contribute to the Forward Singapore exercise and play an active role in shaping the country's future.

Report on the IPS-NAC Arts & Culture Research Symposium 2022

On 25 August, IPS and the National Arts Council (NAC) organised the IPS-NAC Arts & Culture Research Symposium 2022: The Role of Arts in Well-being and Social Inclusion. Over 250 participants ranging from arts practitioners, academics, policymakers to mental health professionals attended the symposium either in-person or virtually.

The symposium featured an overview of NAC’s upcoming Our SG Arts Plan (2023–2027) that maps Singapore’s trajectory for the arts sector over the next five years, as well as presentations by three academic speakers who spoke on the role of music and technology interventions for health, ways to do disability-led work in the arts, and the types of research methods to access the impact of art and design in society.  

Journal Article — Uncoupling Conceptual Understandings and Political Preferences: A Study of Democratic Attitudes among Singapore’s Highly Educated Young

To what extent will the conceptualisation of democracy by citizens in a country like Singapore resemble theoretical definitions, and how suitable do they consider democracy to be for Singapore? What are their expectations for a good government or regime? 

Dr Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann and Dr Teo Kay Key find that for highly educated Singaporeans in their 20s to 40s, they see democracy very similarly to what is usually discussed as electoral democracy in established literature. When evaluating the performance of a government or a regime, however, respondents did not prioritise democratic practices as much as other aspects of governance like efficiency.