Singaporean Chinese or Chinese Singaporean? Recent events have yanked the distinction back into public consciousness. Today, that question is no longer idle. A rising China with its expanding soft power, Singapore’s falling birth rates, and the naturalisation of immigrants that the Republic relies on to sustain its numbers have together unsettled what separates a Chinese […]

SINGAPORE: Singapore will celebrate its 60th birthday tomorrow. While SG60 is a time of celebration, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has also called it “an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to Singapore.” Singapore has made important strides in partnering citizens. Recent policy shifts echo S Rajaratnam’s vision of a “democracy of deeds”, where citizens […]

For those who have or aspire to have three or more children, the new Large Families Scheme will be welcome news. In his Budget 2025 speech on Tuesday (Feb 18), Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong announced up to S$16,000 (US$11,900) in extra support for each third or subsequent child. Parents will see […]

Questions surrounding the removal of Singapore’s Chinese-Malay-Indian-Other (CMIO) framework appear from time to time. On Feb 5, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai raised a question in the House about the government’s plans to review this administrative tool which it uses to manage policies concerning race. This was partly in response to a comment […]

The theme of Singapore Perspectives 2020, exactly five years ago today (January 20), was “Politics”. We landed on that theme because 2020 was bound to be an election year – like 2025 now. Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat gave the opening address and Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing did the concluding […]

The IPS-MHA Forum on Non-Violent Ethnic Hostilities, held on July 1, brought together some 200 thought leaders, policymakers, and community representatives to discuss the spectrum of non-violent ethnic hostilities, specifically in the Asia Pacific region. Organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the forum is part of […]

On 2 July 2024, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong embarked on his first youth-centric dialogue since his inauguration as Prime Minister. Jointly organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Varsity Voices (VV) and the Singapore Management University (SMU), the event was attended by close to 900 students from various Institutes of […]

SINGAPORE: Diversity is both our heritage and strength in multicultural Singapore. Yet, while we pride ourselves on our ability to foster harmony amid adversity, instances of discrimination and racial insensitivity are bound to surface. Earlier this month, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam delivered a statement in parliament in relation to the late Sergeant […]

After about 10 hours of debate over two days, Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 29) passed legislation to decriminalise gay sex and protect the definition of marriage from legal challenges. The repeal of Section 377A has been lauded as a milestone both to democracy and to inclusion in Singapore. The uneasy compromise made in 2007 for […]

At the 2022 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that one, the Government will repeal the colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men and two, amend the Constitution so that the heterosexual definition of marriage as stipulated in the Women’s Charter and Interpretation Act cannot be challenged in a court of law. […]

As a multiracial society, racial harmony is a crucial aspect we need to work on. However, according to findings from the recent CNA-IPS Survey on Race Relations, many Chinese Singaporeans do not seem very enthusiastic about the issue. The 2021 survey found that Chinese respondents were more optimistic compared to minority race respondents about the […]

Technology has threaded its way through all spheres of life today, transforming the way we live, work and play. The advent of social media has influenced activism in the 21st century, creating meaningful change by lending a voice to the voiceless. Whilst terms like “performative activism” and “slacktivism” have also emerged to describe such digital […]