Case Studies

This case summarises the key developments surrounding former Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s ambitious long-term plan to shift his country’s capital city from Jakarta to Nusantara, East Kalimantan. The project is expected to take 20-30 years to complete, which means that current President Prabowo Subianto and his successors would have to uphold the commitment to Nusantara’s construction for it to succeed. Balancing the environmental, societal and legal or policy / administrative impacts of the shift and governing the new capital city will be among the challenges facing the new Prabowo administration and those that follow. The case lists three policy options for students to consider.

This case study identifies critical minerals and describes their uses. More importantly, it explores the geopolitics behind the control of these minerals, tracing it to the imbalance in the global market in terms of countries’ limited abilities to mine, process and refine these minerals into commercially usable forms. It discusses the country coalitions emerging around the US-China rivalry over the control of minerals. It also examines how tumultuous political developments like the Taliban’s capture of power in Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine are impacting perspectives on control of minerals. The case study concludes by identifying scenarios that may emerge, as the geopolitics of access to minerals becomes more intense and complex.

This case study explores the organisational response of St. Andrew’s Community Hospital (SACH) to changes implemented by the Ministry of Health in four policy areas, namely: expansion of means testing; clustering and re-clustering health services in search of optimal organisational sizing; changes in funding and awarding of services; and changes in domain responsibilities. In each policy area, the case study looks at how the SACH management led their organisation, as well as the sector. From a similar perspective, the case study analyses the motivations and responses of other actors, and how these affected the choices of the SACH leadership in steering their staff and the organisation as a whole.

This case study focuses on Filipino migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Hong Kong and Singapore. It examines the similarities and differences in the rules and procedures that the two destination sites implement, especially concerning rights, benefits, restrictions and regulations. Further, it illustrates the challenges faced by Filipino MDWs and assesses which destination fares better.

This case study examines regionalism within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in the context of the region’s largest free trade agreement (FTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The RCEP reveals insights on the characteristics of ASEAN-centric Asian regionalism, as opposed to the trans-Pacific approach. It also highlights the myriad challenges of negotiating a comprehensive and modern trade agreement involving members with varying levels of economic development. The case study looks at all these issues and reflects on the prospects of RCEP in addressing some of the critical challenges of modern trade.

Link to PDF: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/249667

Singapore's “30-by-30” vision aims to safeguard against food security threats and reduce dependence on food imports. Besides initiatives to support local producers to increase supply, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) convened a citizens’ workgroup on increasing demand for local produce in 2020. The workgroup aimed to generate projects and recommendations on increasing support for local produce. This case study explores how the SFA convened the workgroup amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and how the sessions were scoped. It also delves into the various channels utilised by SFA and the workgroup members to involve the general public for ideas and feedback. Lastly, the case study provides reflections from both the organising team and the workgroup participants.

Building consensus and sustaining more progressive work-life harmony practices requires a whole-of-society effort involving employers, employees and society at large. The National Population and Talent Division and the Ministry of Manpower took two different but complementary approaches to engage citizens and stakeholders in Singapore on this issue – the Citizens’ Panel and Singapore Together Alliance for Action.

The National Parks Board (NParks), Singapore’s public agency for greenery, was faced with a challenge – how could green spaces better meet the public’s needs? Extending its Friends of the Parks initiative, NParks took a new engagement approach to developing new and existing parks, and engaged a wider range of stakeholders than before. NParks also roped in the Civil Service College to advise on a more structured design and engagement approach for four parks starting in 2020. In this way, parks would be co-created by the community for the community.