Singapore’s leadership renewal continues apace but the management of the health and economic crises arising from the COVID-19 pandemic is top priority. This is the message of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Cabinet line-up announced 15 days after Singapore’s most recent General Election. Younger and newer leaders must take this time to prove their mettle […]

Singapore has just seen a watershed election, and for the first time since independence, an official Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.  All around, political, economic and international structures are unravelling and strategic choices have to be made. In her third and final lecture as IPS’ 7th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of […]

The 2020 General Election (GE2020) has focused the spotlight on younger voters. In its preliminary assessment of the election results, the People’s Action Party (PAP) acknowledged that it could have lost some support among this segment of the electorate. While it pointed out that voters in their 20s and 30s made up only a third […]

In Singapore’s 2020 General Election (GE), while voters returned the People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates in 83 out of 93 seats in Parliament, it is the opposition Workers’ Party (WP) that stole the show. Going into the election in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, WP held out the spectre of a PAP “clean sweep” unless voters could […]

By now, I’m sure many of us have either watched or heard about the political sparring between the People’s Action Party (PAP), Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), and Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on 1 July 2020, on Singapore Votes: The Political Debate. Politicians Vivian Balakrishnan (PAP), Jamus Lim (WP), Chee Soon Juan (SDP), and […]

It is no surprise that the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) scheme has been the subject of discussion again as campaigning for the 2020 General Election gets underway. Workers’ Party (WP) candidate for Hougang, Dennis Tan, has said the NCMP scheme prevents opposition parties from growing roots in a constituency. Tan Cheng Bock, founder of […]

In her second lecture as IPS’ 7th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, Professor Chan Heng Chee traced the relationship between the United States (US) and China over the years, before answering the tough question — is war between the two powers inevitable or avoidable? The lecture was moderated by Professor Joseph Liow, […]

In recent national broadcasts which addressed Singapore’s response to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam emphasised the need to strengthen solidarity amongst Singaporeans. One critical area where this is needed is in the protection of Singaporean workers, even as they continue to make a living. […]

Professor Chan Heng Chee, IPS’ 7th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, delivered a thought-provoking lecture on the state of the world, moderated by Professor Danny Quah, Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Professor Chan outlined four big challenges […]

On 8 June, the Elections Department (ELD) released details of the procedures it would institute for a general election to be held as safely as possible while the COVID-19 virus presents a threat to public health. Medical experts project that the virus will not be neutralised for another year and the rules demand that an election be held […]

SOME years ago, when I was in Washington DC, I visited the Newseum, an institution celebrating journalism and the American First Amendment which protects, among other things, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. I saw the visit as a pilgrimage of sorts. I grew up respecting the ability of words to communicate truth […]

The fourth IPS Online series titled Bouncing Back from COVID-19 was held on June 3, a day after Singapore partially lifted its circuit breaker measures. Moderated by Dr Gillian Koh, Deputy Director (Research) and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, the 90-minute forum, which saw active participation in the form of questions […]