The 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has created fear and anxiety in the world. The fear is understandable, because the virus has killed more than 1,100 people and infected more than 44,000 others in China. In Singapore, 50 people have become infected. The virus originated in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province. The scientists believe […]

Much has been said about the impact of Industry 4.0 and rapid technological changes and how robots and Artificial intelligence (AI) would affect work. What is clear is the way we work in the future will be drastically different. How can workers better prepare themselves? And what can the Government and employers do to help […]

Age, race and gender workplace biases are just as critical an issue as foreigners displacing locals unfairly Workplace discrimination has come to the fore, with the Government announcing tougher penalties against it. Independent research data by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) indicates the range and scale of the issue, and that more effort is […]

As this is my first op-ed in the new solar and lunar year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the readers of The Straits Times a peaceful, healthy and successful new year. I have a new year present for Singapore. The present is in the form of a new book I […]

To whom does our Central Provident Fund (CPF) money belong? This question comes up regularly in Singapore, and two recent cases attracted wide public attention and deep sympathies among Singaporeans. In one case, a husband wanted to draw out his CPF monies to pay for his wife’s treatment at a private hospital.  She had reportedly […]

In a recent Parliamentary speech, Senior Minister of State for Law Edwin Tong warned of the dangers of foreign interference in local politics and elections. He noted the “curious spike” in anonymous online comments critical of Singapore during the disputes with Malaysia late last year, and referred to the SingHealth hacking incident which experts commonly […]

In all its earlier incarnations, Singapore had functioned as a city of sorts. It was an emporium, a cosmopolis, a colonial port city, a crown colony and then a city within a larger Malaysian Federation. But it was a most unnatural nation. It did not have any of the ingredients needed to build national identity […]

We are witnessing a fractured world order due to fractious domestic politics, caused by digital disruption. The signs are obvious – strategic tension between the superpowers, political polarisation, anxiety over the future of jobs and anger over sharpening inequality. There is a clear chain of causation. Technology drives human progress. Early masters of technology accumulate […]

Singapore’s place in the world depends so much on its place in the region. It’s a region that is gaining in importance, in part because there has been a general shift and recognition that it is in the heart of a new dynamic economic region called the Indo-Pacific region. This is of course nothing new. […]

The announcement on November 23 by the ruling People’s Action Party that there is consensus among its fourth-generation (4G) leaders for Finance Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat to be the first among equals has been met with a chorus of approval online. Those around the world with interests in Singapore will recognise the party’s effort […]

Singaporeans have come to associate property en bloc exercises with windfall gains, where property owners get prices higher than what they would ordinarily achieve if selling on a stand-alone basis. Whether in the private property market or via the Housing & Development Board’s Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) for public housing flats, the redevelopment […]

The egalitarian ideal of being a fair and just society remains strong in Singapore. Indeed, this was a central theme in President Halimah Yacob’s address in Parliament on Monday, when she said the Government would tackle inequality “vigorously”. After all, the country’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew set up as an article of faith […]