IPS Update Issue April 2021

The Institute of Policy Studies has released two instalments of a three-part series reviewing salient findings on Singapore from the 2020 World Values Survey (WVS). The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, and time-series survey of public attitudes and values globally. Spanning 80 countries and currently in its seventh iteration, the WVS seeks to study individuals' changing values across polities and their impact on social and political life.

The first and second instalments, titled “Our Singaporean Values” and “Attitudes towards Institutions, Politics, and Policies” were released on 3 February and 23 March 2021 respectively. The third and final instalment will be released next month.

Commentary — Challenging task ahead for 4G leaders to resolve succession question, as pace of transition weighs heavy
(CNA)
By Gillian Koh
• 5-min read

While COVID-19 has delayed succession, the 4G leaders should now consider how other candidates fare domestically and internationally before making a decision, says the Institute of Policy Studies’ Dr Gillian Koh.

Commentary — Airlines have little choice but to not be airlines for a few years
(CNA)
By Faizal Yahya
• 4-min read

It may be some time before air passenger travel returns to 2019 levels. This has forced airlines to find new and creative ways to stay afloat and, as IPS' Faizal Yahya writes in CNA, not be airlines for at least the next few years.

Commentary — Understanding the ire and intricacies of immigration in Singapore
(TODAY)
By Mathew Mathews and Melvin Tay
• 4-min read

Last week, an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) report found that seven in 10 of the 2020 World Values Survey’s (WVS) 2,000-odd respondents in Singapore favoured placing strict limits on the number of foreigners entering the country for work. IPS' Mathew Mathews and Melvin Tay explore the implications of this in TODAY.

Op-ed — Rivers of peace and rivers of conflict
(The Straits Times)
By Tommy Koh
• 6-min read

IPS' Special Advisor Prof Tommy Koh and co-author Daniel Kang take us through a list of international rivers that flow through more than one country. They urge China and Myanmar to consider joining the 1995 Mekong Agreement, and for riparian states to make sure that their building of dams do not cause significant harm to other states.

Commentary — The Jigsaw Puzzle of Social Inclusion
(The AlumNUS)
By Justin Lee
• 5-min read

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Thus, efforts to create a society that promotes diversity need to be carefully thought out — or may end up doing more harm than good, argues IPS’ Dr Justin Lee.

Commentary — The environment is here and now
(IPS Commons)
By Asad Latif
• 2-min read

More than three in five Singaporean respondents polled in an IPS study released last month believed that protecting the environment should enjoy priority over economic growth. Younger, more educated and more affluent respondents were more likely to feel that way. What might stand in the way of more elderly thinking like the young? Asad Latif explores this in his latest IPS Commons piece.

Op-ed — Fare thee well: The Substation's legacy will endure
(The Straits Times)
By Tommy Koh
• 4-min read

As a long-time arts lover and patron of The Substation, IPS Special Advisor Tommy Koh writes a farewell tribute to The Substation, tracing its key events and happenings through the years.

The IPS hybrid forum on “Economic Recovery from COVID-19” featured panellists from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), ASEAN +3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC), and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME). The forum aimed to examine some of the policy measures that were implemented to sustain businesses and the work force through the pandemic. The forum also discussed recovery trends and potential impact on businesses and workers if various stimulus measures were removed prematurely.

Commonly thought to be the purview of galleries and theatres, the arts can also be a powerful tool in civic engagement. This chapter examines how the arts can help in dealing with a challenging or taboo subject matter: dying and end-of-life matters. The authors, Justin Lee, Hana Alhadad, Andrew Lim, and Ngiam Su-Lin, look at Both Sides, Now, a production by ArtsWok Collaborative and Drama Box, which combines the relational approach of community development and creative approaches unique to the arts.