IPS Update Issue December 2019

For the first time in the history of IPS, it has published a major study of the Tamil community in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Sojourners to Settlers: Tamils in Southeast Asia and Singapore was launched on 7 December 2019 by the Minister for Communications and Information, Mr S Iswaran. The two-volume book provides fascinating accounts of why Tamils ventured into Southeast Asia, what they achieved and how this minority community came to be an integral part of post-independence Singapore. 

It tells the story of Tamils’ journeys from South India into Southeast Asia more than a thousand years ago and how they have left indelible footprints all over the region. While most of the early Tamils were sojourners, some stayed behind and became settlers. Singapore’s own Tamil connections precede the 200-year-old colonial settlement, which would be a surprise to many readers.
  
The book is edited by Arun Mahizhnan from IPS and Nalina Gopal from the Indian Heritage Centre. In his preface to the book, IPS Director Janadas Devan concluded thus, “It’s altogether fitting then that in the bicentennial year of the founding of modern Singapore we have here, lovingly and judiciously gathered, remarkably rich, exhausting and exhaustive, by turns delightful, instructive, diverting, endlessly fascinating and joyous, volumes on diverse aspects of becoming Tamils in Singapore.” 

Report — 32nd Singapore Economic Roundtable
By Shazly Zain
• 5-min read

IPS researcher Shazly Zain summarises issues discussed at the 32nd Singapore Economic Roundtable, chaired by IPS Adjunct Senior Research Fellow Manu Bhaskaran. Participants discussed macroeconomic developments such as slowing global growth worldwide, subdued core inflation and Singapore's monetary policy. They also discussed the risk of mild global recession and examined the phenomenon of changing global supply chains.  

Commentary — How should Singapore go about having religious discourse on social issues, especially contentious ones?
(TODAY)
By Mathew Mathews and Melvin Tay
• 5-min read

Discomfort regarding religious leaders strongly articulating their views on LGBT issues in public may be borne out of instances where some voices and endeavours were perceived as radical and confrontational. However, IPS researchers argue that religion has its rightful place in public discourse, although instead of “activist” forms of public engagement, we should focus on cordial discussions and persuasion.