The Singapore Government recognises and is committed to legal aid as an integral part of access to justice. Sixty years ago in 1958, Singapore was the first country in Southeast Asia to enact a legal aid scheme, which provided for the establishment of the Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) to provide civil legal aid to persons of limited means. Over the course of independent Singapore's history, legal aid as part of the overall access to justice has broadened significantly. Members of Parliament make regular calls for more people to qualify and receive government-funded legal aid. The government regards access to justice as being extremely important, and the public debate often centres on how to improve access to justice. While access to justice is often understood in terms of access to the courts and affordability of legal services, access to justice in Singapore is conceived in a broader and more nuanced context. This includes accessing and achieving justice through various means, including consensual outcomes that are acceptable to the parties in a dispute and reached within or without the court system.
Hoarding refers to an excessive acquisition of objects and inability to part with apparently valueless possessions. While it can lead to excessive clutter, distress and disability, it is important to note that not all cases of hoarding are pathological. This article aims to suggest how one can make recommendations to patients and families when they encounter someone exhibiting hoarding behaviour. It also introduces the Hoarding Task Force and relevant legislation in Singapore to address the issue of hoarding in the community.
The city-state of Singapore's roadmap for internationalization of local companies into the GCC region has, arguably, made its mark; recently crossing the milestone of 100 local companies that have, to date, found business opportunities in this foreign and exotic land. Actually taking these opportunities, however, has proven more complicated, with cultural differences and highly dynamic local business environments posing unforeseen challenges to Singapore companies – producing a test of adaptability that has returned rather mixed results. Of particular interest are government-linked companies (GLCs), among the largest and the first of Singapore's entrants into the region; perceived as more structurally rigid, and with stakeholder obligations and motivations very much beyond the profit-driven. Thus, this paper – in which we explore the experiences of GLCs in the GCC, and draw some perhaps surprising conclusions.
The branding of Singapore International Airlines with the image of a beautiful, petite and servile 'Oriental' woman dressed in figure-huggingsarong-kebaya is one of the world's longest running and most successful advertising campaigns. But this image does not simply advertise a service; it is part of a global and national regime of symbolic constructions of gender that today is seen as outdated and sexist, and bearing little relation to modern Singapore where women have good access to education and increased life choices resulting from engagement in the wage economy. The nation's economic success has been a force for their liberation. One catastrophic consequence of women's changed lives has been the plunge in fertility rates. Singapore has one of the world's lowest despite energetic government campaigns encouraging women to have more babies – and men to be more 'masculine'. The failure of these campaigns and rethinking of the Singapore Girl highlight a key premise of this book: there are limits to the power of discursive constructions of gender in the national interest.
Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country's homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land-housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market for HDB transactions. Housing subsidies in the form of housing grants were also introduced. Recent challenges include curbing speculative and investment demand, as well as coping with increasing income inequalities and an aging population. These have brought about carefully crafted macroprudential policies, targeted housing grants, and schemes to help elderly households monetize their housing equity. This paper analyzes key pillars of the housing policy, specifically land acquisition, the HDB-CPF system, the role of markets, housing market interventions, the Ethnic Integration Policy, and the Lease Buyback Scheme. It concludes with lessons learned for other countries.
Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country's homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land–housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market for HDB transactions. Housing subsidies in the form of housing grants were also introduced. Recent challenges include curbing speculative and investment demand, as well as coping with increasing income inequalities and an aging population. These have brought about carefully crafted macroprudential policies, targeted housing grants, and schemes to help elderly households monetize their housing equity. This paper analyzes key pillars of the housing policy, specifically land acquisition, the HDB-CPF system, the role of markets, housing market interventions, the Ethnic Integration Policy, and the Lease Buyback Scheme. It concludes with lessons learned for other countries.
Signing on to the Singapore Convention is only the beginning. The Convention will come into force six months after three States have ratified it into their domestic law (Article 14 of the Convention). A Bill currently before the Singapore Parliament seeks to pave the way for that – ratify the Convention in Singapore through the enactment of legislation to implement its terms. It is anticipated that the Singapore Convention on Mediation Bill (the 'Bill') will be passed into Law before the end of March 2020. It may very well be the first piece of legislation that ratifies the Convention. Other signatory States may model their ratifying legislation after the Singapore Bill. This post outlines the main provisions of the Bill and provides a comparative table of provisions as between the Bill and the Convention itself.
Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country's homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land–housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market for HDB transactions. Housing subsidies in the form of housing grants were also introduced. Recent challenges include curbing speculative and investment demand, as well as coping with increasing income inequalities and an aging population. These have brought about carefully crafted macroprudential policies, targeted housing grants, and schemes to help elderly households monetize their housing equity. This paper analyzes key pillars of the housing policy, specifically land acquisition, the HDB-CPF system, the role of markets, housing market interventions, the Ethnic Integration Policy, and the Lease Buyback Scheme. It concludes with lessons learned for other countries.
Singapore, dubbed one of Asian's economic tigers, has enjoyed much progress in less than a century. While it was recently declared the world's richest country, the voices of its citizens, to relook the future of the country has never been louder since its post-independence years. The dialogue session held in August 2012, was organised by the government's feedback unit, REACH, and SMU's student political association "Apolitical" to gather views from young Singaporeans on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech.
This paper reviews the development and implementation of congestion control policies in Singapore since the introduction of the Area Licensing Scheme in 1975. It examines the city state's experience of vehicle quotas, cordon charging and electronic road pricing. It also looks at developments in public transport and urban planning to improve accessibility and congestion control. Both public attitudes to congestion policies and their economic effects are discussed and analysed.
This paper studies the modern swimming environments of twentieth century Singapore, tracing the historical developments of its public swimming infrastructure, with specific focus drawn to the events of the 1960s and the 1970s, which was an early period of Singapore's republican independence and New Town planning schemes. The paper suggests the political involvements of swimming and its aquatic infrastructure.
Social entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon in Singapore. Unlike the US, where there are entrepreneurship programs offered at various ACCSB accredited universities such programs do not as yet exist in Asia. The motivations for social entrepreneurship in Asia differ from those in developed countries. While as social entrepreneurship often stem from the social agenda of successful entrepreneurs who are motivated to repay society, the recent trend of social entrepreneurship in Asia may stem from initiatives directed at political liberalisation and the development of civil society on the part of existing governments. The Singapore government in 1997 introduced a series of initiatives to promote active citizenry and involvement in community development, thereby encouraging greater opportunity for social entrepreneurship.
Singapore is a modern city state and the smallest nation (land area of 699 km(2)) in South East Asia. Its population of over 4 million is multiracial, with the Chinese (76.8%) constituting the majority of the population, followed by the Malays (13.9%) and the Indians (7.9%). The present health system is one that stresses individual responsibility, based on a system of compulsory medical saving accounts and on market mechanisms for the allocation of scarce healthcare resources. There are both public and private healthcare sectors. Since 1985, every public sector hospital has been 'restructured' – to grant some degree of autonomy in operational matters, with the intention of creating competition and financial discipline, although the government still retains 100% ownership of the hospitals.
Literature in Singapore is written in the country's four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay, and Tamil. The various literatures flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the rise of print culture in the British colony, but after independence in 1965, English became emphasized in both the education system and society at large as part of the new government's attempts to modernize the country. Chinese, Malay, and Tamil were seen as mother tongue languages to provide Singaporeans with cultural ballast while English was regarded as a language for administration, business, and scientific and technological development. Correspondingly, literatures in other languages than English reached a plateau in terms of writerly output and readership during the 1970s and 1980s. However, since 1999, with the state's implementation of the Renaissance City Plan to revitalize arts and culture in Singapore, there have been various initiatives to increase the visibility of contemporary Singaporean writing both within the country itself and on an international scale. Translation plays a key role in bridging the linguistic and literary divides wrought by the state's mother tongue policies, with several works by Cultural Medallion winners in different languages translated into English, which remains at present the shared language in Singapore. Literary anthologies are also invaluable forms through which the concepts of a national literature and national identity are expressed and negotiated. A number of anthologies involving Singaporean authors and those from other countries also highlight the growing international presence of and interest in Singaporean literature. Several anthologies also focus on the topic of urban space, city life, and the rapid transformation of Singapore's physical environment. Writings about gender and sexuality have also become more prominent in single-author collections or edited anthologies, with writers exploring various inventive and experimental narrative forms. A number of poets and writers are also established playwrights, and theater has historically been and continues to be an extremely vital form of creative expression and cultural production. Graphic novels, crime and noir fiction, and speculative and science fiction publications are also on the rise, with the awarding of the Singapore Literature Prize to Sonny Liew's The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye signaling that these genres merit serious literary consideration. A number of literary publications and materials related to Singaporean literature can be found on the Internet, such as the journal Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, the website Singapore Poetry, and the database Poetry.sg. Various nonprofit organizations are also working toward increasing public awareness about literature through events such as Singapore Poetry Writing Month, the Migrant Worker Poetry Competition, the Singapore Writers Festival and National Poetry Festival, and also through projects that exhibit poetry in train stations and on public thoroughfares.
Since the late twentieth century, ethnic minorities have agitated against the homogenised nation-state in what is commonly referred to as their push for multiculturalism. Although this term adapts according to context, in Singapore and Australia multiculturalism embraces the cultural identity of ethnic groups and simultaneous aims to achieve social cohesion. To determine the success of each country in achieving the goals of their multicultural policies, this paper focuses on four key areas of analysis: official recognition of different nations within the state, political representation of ethnic groups, social and economic inclusion and promotion of ethnic culture Since independence, the Singaporean government has had to confront the lack of collective identity or social cohesion and social injustices within Singaporean society that were a legacy of colonialism. Multiracialism became the official policy to manage ethnic diversity. Singapore classified the population into four groups (Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other) and recognised them as equal under Constitutional Law, introduced Group Representation Constituencies to ensure ethnic political participation, introduced the Ethnic Integration Policy to enhance social inclusion and successfully promotes ethnic culture through celebrations such as Racial Harmony day. Although these measures have had limitations, Singapore has made significant progress in the realisation of multiculturalism. In Australia, the problems of social injustice and lack of social cohesion that multiculturalism had to confront derived from the Anglo centric history of the country prior to the 1970s. Australia has made progress in the four key areas by removing discriminatory clauses against Aboriginals, introducing extra-parliamentary political representation, improving educational access for disadvantaged ethnic groups and promoting ethnic culture through the funding of local government events and initiatives. Like Singapore, Australia has made significant progress in achieving its multiculturalism ideals. The two key areas of where Australia would benefit from improvement are: official recognition of different nations within the state and political representation. There is currently no explicit recognition in the Constitution of the integral role ethnic groups play in Australian society. Acknowledgement in the Preamble of this document would symbolise the movement away from historical conceptions of the purely 'Anglofragment' society, and may assist in social cohesion and social justice for ethnic groups. Australia is also ethnically under-represented in Parliament. Introducing measures to ensure or promote such representation are necessary are an important means to enhance equality and social cohesion.
