IPS Update Issue May 2020

We started our IPS Online series with the IPS Online Forum on Migrant Workers: Policy Responses and Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our panellists and guests spoke about the issue of welfare of Singapore’s migrant workers amidst the rising number of COVID-19 infections in the community, the public health response, economics around foreign versus local labour, government and public will, and the place of ethical values, and individual and collective responsibility. Watch the Online Forum here.

We also held our second virtual seminar, IPS Online: Private Data, Public Good? This session looked at barriers to Singaporeans’ willingness to contribute their personal data, user concerns regarding breaches or misuse of data, what public good might constitute, and the experience of South Korea in dealing with private data and COVID-19. Watch the session here.

Commentary — “The pandemic, moral panic and 'folk devils'”
(The Straits Times)
By Mathew Mathews and Shamil Zainuddin
• 5-min read

Our researchers write about the need to guard against certain groups being demonised as a threat to societal values and interests. There may be ‘moral entrepreneurs’ seeking to undermine social harmony, and minorities have been stigmatised during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to examine the facts and any underlying anxieties, and act cautiously, to prevent the spread of moral panic.

Event Summary — IPS Online Forum on Migrant Workers: Policy Responses and Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
(IPS Commons)
By Liang Kaixin
• 3-min read

This summary provides key points of our inaugural IPS Online event. A key takeaway is that all Singaporeans – government, business as well as citizens – need to do some soul-searching about the kind of values we want to embrace as a society, and see migrant workers as a part of our community, deserving a minimum standard of care.

Event Summary — IPS Online Forum on Private Data, Public Good? 
(IPS Commons) 
By Nadzirah Samsudin
• 3-min read

This piece summarises key points from our latest IPS Online event, which discussed the use of personal data for public good during the current health crisis and its implications beyond COVID-19. The panellists were cautiously optimistic about improvements in measures collecting personal information and emerging new ideas, while acknowledging barriers such as fears over data security. 

Commentary — “Helping Singapore's Malay-Muslim community beyond the pandemic”
(TODAY)
By Mohamad Shamsuri Juhari
• 5-min read

Mohamad Shamsuri Juhari of IPS writes about the challenge of seeing members of the Malay-Muslim community at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder through the COVID-19 crisis. The implementation of targeted and accessible assistance schemes could be a long term opportunity to improve their economic situations. 

Commentary — “How coronavirus has opened our eyes to the power of the invisible”
(South China Morning Post)
By Ong Soh Chin
• 5-min read

People who previously lived on the fringes of society, as well as our consciousness, now occupy centre-stage. COVID-19, a virus that cannot be seen, has managed to bring the world to its knees, and forced the previously invisible into the open. However, amidst this crisis, Ong Soh Chin argues that there is hope in the unseen. 

Essay — “Pulau Penyengat, The lesser-known island of the Malay World”
(IPS Commons)
By Amanina Hidayah
• 5-min read

Amanina Hidayah of IPS writes about her personal discovery of Pulau Penyengat, off the coast of Bintan Island. She recounts elements of the island’s history, key personalities, as well as her experience of the island and encounters with its inhabitants during her trip there.