GP_HCI_Content Package_…

By JC Starter Pack

Compiled by Ho Song Yee (HCI 2020) (for more content written by myself, see bottom of document)
The following notes are a compilation of content written on an ad-hoc basis whenever I chanced upon
something I considered noteworthy. They’re sourced from all different places including the Straits Times,
my school bulletin, and my own thoughts. Not everything is original so feel free to adapt these notes into
your own :) The examples and arguments presented here are used merely for the sake of argument in GP,
and may not represent my personal views. These notes are not to be distributed to or used by tuition
teachers.

Editor’s insert: This set of GP notes isn’t exactly the most well-organised, but it provides detailed content knowledge and insight
of current global and local events. I would recommend using this as an add-on to substantiate and enhance your own personal
notes rather than as a backbone to your GP notes.
Edited by Judith Ko (HCI 2020)

Art
● "Art for art's sake": a motto that expresses the philosophy that art has intrinsic value,
independent of any political, moral or utilitarian uses
● Art can be a conduit for activism
○ AI Wei Wei’s Life Jacket Installation

■
● Image credits: ArtNet News
● Used the life jackets of 14,000 life jackets used by refugees to Berlin’s
Konzerthaus concert hall
● Think: What message was the artist trying to convey?
● Art can disturbing but instructive
○ Kevin Carter’s “The Struggling Girl”
:
 ■
● A Pulitzer prize winning piece in 1993
● Disturbed him to the point of suicide
○ Deng Yufeng
■ Created art to prod people to question their lack of privacy (quite a big
problem in China, see Tech notes)
■ Bought personal information of 300k Chinese people from the internet and
displayed it at Wuhan Art Museum

Appeal and practicality of pursuing a career in the arts in Singapore:

● (-) Heavy censorship to protect the sensitivities of a generally conservative population
○ Strong influence of traditional Asian culture (including values of modesty) breeding
intolerance of new and more liberal ideas espoused in the arts
○ E.g. Josef Ng, a local artist whose performance art entitled “Brother Cane” was
shunned by the public after a tabloid newspaper published a small segment of it, in
which he splashed paint and shaved his pubic hair, back facing the audience. This was
intended as a protest against the anti-gay operations in Tanjong Rhu, but was not
tolerated by the public. He found himself suspended by the National Arts Council.
● (-) Small domestic market
○ Making art that mesmerises and resonates with audiences takes time and
experimentation, and without the appropriate financial support in the meantime, it is
difficult for artists to earn much and stay in the industry. May even force them to leave
Singapore in search of larger art industries abroad
○ E.g. renowned Singers like JJ Lin, Stefanie Sun were able to make it on the international
stage - due to their careers being based in Taiwan and China where there is a larger
audience and established industry to support their music.
● (+) Prevalence and accessibility of the internet
○ Allows them to earn a respectable amount
○ E.g. YouTube filmmaking group Butterworks → group of young filmmakers who make
short films that are visually stunning and have moving storylines

Singaporean art scene

● While it remains arduous for young Singaporeans to pursue a full time career in the arts, the
arts scene has improved over the last decade
○ Increase in percentage of Singaporeans who have attended at least one arts event per
year from 40 to 54% from 2013 to 2017 → rising demand
○ Government-backed National Arts Council launched SG Arts Plan which aimed to boost
arts scene and make Singapore a “Distinctive Global City for the Arts”
■ Broad and detailed plans to support different art sectors including literary,
visual and performing arts.
:
 ■ Resource centre to be established to support freelance artists to provide access
to shared resources and information

Censorship of Art
● Those who advocate for greater freedom of expression in the arts world say that art is a mirror
that reflects life, and may not always reflect beauty. We need to interrogate the ugliness of
humanity rather than shutting it out just because it unsettles us, lest we become complicit in
unjust situations or stagnate in our social progress.
● Those who advocate for more restrictions worry about the disruptive nature of art. Autocrats
fear art because it may cast into doubt the legitimacy of their authority. Some more well-
intentioned individuals are concerned some forms of art could disturb social harmony and public
order. How far should artists be allowed to go?

● Singapore:
○ Josef Ng’s performance in Brother Cane, written in protest of anti-gay raids in Tanjong
Rhu - he snipped off his pubic hair
○ Chong Tze Chian’s Charged (2010): an army drama confronting race relations in
Singapore that brought to light secret prejudices that many harbour despite multicultural
society → slapped with an R18 rating, due to, in MDA’s words, the realistic portrayal of
racial tensions and use of strong language (interesting thing is that censorship doesn’t
always come in the form of a total removal / banning of an artwork, it can come in the
form of age restrictions as well). Some felt an Advisory 16 classification would have
sufficed. This way, male teens could contemplate the play’s portrayal of race relations
before enlisting into National Service.

Originality in Arts
● [Link]

Media
● Sensationalism
○ Wall Street Journal grossly mischaracterized popular YouTube gamer PewDiePie as an
anti-Semite by taking several quotes out of context
● Citizen Journalism
○ Misuse
■ A post under Singapore’s highly popular citizen journalism website, STOMP, in
June 2019. A user who posted a photograph of a man using another seat beside
him to place his bag, ostensibly with the intention of shaming him, drew flak
from netizens who were discerning enough to realise through the reflection in
the photograph that the train was not crowded at that time, vindicating the man
in the alleged incident → also shows that netizens are not entirely gullible
● Bringing about social change
○ Enforcing and challenging stereotypes
■ Masculinity / Machismo
● Traditional adventure and fantasy films often star male protagonists
who are strong, violent, charismatic, witty or, preferably, all of the above
→ breeds a form of societal expectation for men to be “strong”,
aggrandising, and to hide their vulnerabilities → “toxic masculinity”
○ E.g. Thor
● Contrastingly, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them chose a more
empathetic, socially awkward but capable protagonist Newt Scamander
:
 that subverts genre tropes about masculinity.
○ Many critics however found it unappealing (reflects disconnect
between views of creators and views of the audience? Or
perhaps the entrenched nature of societal expectations)
■ Shaping public opinion on politics
● Abortion / Reproductive rights
○ “Choice42” used short satirical videos to illustrate their
arguments against abortion in Canada. Movement had to
rebrand itself as more relatable to the younger generation /
associations with old, out-of-touch, religious men
● LeftTube
○ Contrapoints and Philosophy Tube: creators sought to present
progressive arguments with extensive theatrics in an attempt to
de-radicalise supports of the Alt-right
● Independence, Responsibility and Corporate Influence (Media X Environment)
○ Guardian:
■ Advertisements: no longer accept fossil fuel advertising
■ Funding: shifted investment portfolio of underlying endowment fund away
from fossil fuel investments
■ Messaging: shifted to use more urgent language when speaking about climate
change.
● Censorship and freedom of speech/expression
○ China
■ Ren Zhiqiang was a member of the CCP and an influential property executive.
He went “missing” after he called Xi Jinping a clown - unannounced and
mysterious disappearances.
○ Singapore
■ Those who criticise the government or judiciary, publicly discuss race or
religion frequently find themselves facing criminal investigations and charges or
civil defamation lawsuits that impose crippling damages
■ Race and Religion
● Multiracial and religiously diverse nature of cosmopolitan Singapore →
race and religion is a sensitive topic that can elicit strong emotions. To
prevent public disorder…
○ Penal Code Section 298: criminalises expressions deliberately
meant to wound religious or racial feelings. E.g. Amos
Yee uploaded a video titled “Lee Kuan Yew is finally
dead” following the death of the nation’s founder. Lambasted the
former PM, labelling him a dictator. What got him prosecuted
however was a 30 second clip in the video in which he made a
mocking comparison between Jesus Christ and Mr Lee, calling
them both “power-hungry and malicious”. His prosecution drew
widespread criticism from Western observers but more popular
in Singapore highlighting the difference in value systems.
■ Protests
● Protests are limited to Hong Lim Park and require application to
government statutory board NParks. Probably meant to maintain public
order, fear of disruption of businesses that can affect livelihoods of
innocent locals seen in other protest movements like BLM and Hong
Kong protests in 2019-2020.
:
 ● Protest without permit warrants arrest
○ E.g. Prosecution of Jolovan Wham and 8 others who held a
silent protest on an MRT train to commemorate the 13th
anniversary of 1987 arrest of social activists
○ Think: Free speech advocates say what Wham and the others
did were not in any way disruptive to public order, but judges and
governments argued that it could have caused public distress and
confusion. Who has provided a more compelling argument?
○ E.g. Investigation of PAP MP Louis Ng for holding up a sign to
support a local hawker hard hit by Covid-19 pandemic: free
speech advocates say it demonstrates just how unnecessarily
restrictive laws can be, that a single person holding up a sign is
considered a public assembly and that the cause of supporting a
hawker is classified as causing public disorder.
● THINK: Are protests necessary for a democracy? Western liberal free
speech advocates say definitely, they’re a necessary last resort in cases
when the government refuses to listen to the people e.g. Pro-democracy
protests in Myanmar opposing a coup against democratically elected
civilian government. Others say no, there are more peaceful and
economically-friendly alternatives to express dissent + protests are far
too destructive e.g. Occupation of Hong Kong’s international airport and
riots tarnished the territory’s reputation as a safe place to conduct
business, driving away foreign investment.
■ Defamation suits
● Common tool of the ruling party
○ Oxley Road Saga: PM Lee sued The Online Citizen editor Terry
Xu for publishing allegations made by Lee’s siblings of abuse of
power
○ Series of defamation suits bankrupted Worker Party leader J.B.
Jeyaretnam
● (Argument for defamation lawsuits: someone has impugned my
integrity, and damaged my reputation without evidence, so he has to pay
damages. Argument against defamation: this is a tool for suppression of
criticism.)
○ Media X Technology
■ Use of technology to bypass censorship: Press freedom group Reporters
Without Borders created a virtual library in the popular video game Minecraft to
house censored articles from all around the world on open servers. It included
work from banned, exiled or killed journalists like Saudi Arabia and Russia.
● Role of media: merely to entertain? (just some thoughts and examples)
○ YES: the way sex is protrayed on popular TV shows: “recreational” aspect is emphasised
and the real-life messiness of real encounters are downplayed to please audience
○ NO:
■ Educational AND entertaining:
● Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Patriot Act by Hasan Minhaj: use
of medium of comedy to help audiences keep abreast with global news
→ entertainment makes otherwise mundane topics digestible to the
general public (though they’re not very funny in my opinion)
● Honest Government Ads (Youtube): use of parody and sarcasm to
educate audience about political issues → garnered millions of views
:
 ■ Thought-provoking → Black Mirror: Science-fiction anthology. Each episode is a
cautionary tale of the boons and banes of technology.
● Influencers:
:
 ● New media
○ Social media and politics
■ Mark Zuckerberg is the Most Powerful Unelected Man in America - “Facebook
is assuming a level of power at once of the state and beyond it, as a sovereign,
self-regulating, suprastate entity” that is unchecked, unregulated and
unaccountable to the public or authorities
● Control 3 integral communication platforms: Instagram, Facebook and
Whatsapp with usership in the billions → control over how information,
or disinformation, is disseminated
● Zuckerberg has majority voting share in the company
○ Configuration of algorithms that affect what news is shown to
people
○ Drawing the boundaries between unacceptable hate speech to
be censored from the merely offensive
○ Shut down a competitor by acquiring it, blocking it or copying it
(Instagram’s copying of story sharing function on Snapchat)
■ Consequences
● News
○ Growth and commanding dominance of the advertising market
together with Google accelerated the collapse of traditional
journalistic business models
○ Filled the gaps with hyperpartisan disinformation that misled
uninformed audiences as algorithms only fed that content that
would keep them engaged to maximise ad revenue → free for all
nature made it a choice tool for political manipulation
○ Supercharged conspiracy theories like those underpinning the
QAnon Movement. Some have been parroted by the President,
including one that baselessly claimed that a plane full of thugs
had been sent to disrupt the Republican National Convention

Excessive power of tech oligopolies

● Abuse of their large market power to bully competitors and customers
:
 ○ Epic Games, maker of immensely popular computer game Fortnight had to sue Google
and Apple after they removed Epic Games from their app stores, because the company
encouraged users to pay for the game directly rather than through app stores where they
would be subject to the levies → Illustrates how companies have unparalleled control
over retail markets of the online world.

Entertainment
● Rising popularity of on-demand video streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Video
Prime and HBO Go due to their greater flexibility compared to traditional cable television.
○ Statistics about popularity: Disney+ has exceeded 100 million subscribers. In
Singapore, on-demand video streaming appears to have already surpassed cable
television according to a recent survey by an NTU think-tank. 39.2% of respondents had
cable subscriptions, exceeded by the 44.5% of respondents who had video streaming
subscriptions
○ Increased popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic when many, forced to stay at home
due to lockdowns, searched for entertainment
○ Provision of popular series exclusively on video streaming platforms to entice
subscriptions: popular Marvel television series Wandavision aired exclusively on Disney+
and critically acclaimed superhero series Invincibles aired on Amazon Prime Video
○ Customisation to local tastes: Netflix’s original local content including the time-travel
odyssey Dark, written and directed by German screenwriters and directors, and popular
korean dramas like Move to Heaven
● Issue of diversity and representation in entertainment
○ Diversity/inclusivity in Netflix shows as a means of normalisation and increasing
understanding of marginalised groups (e.g. racial, sexual minorities, people with
disabilities): Move to Heaven’s protagonist is an intelligent but socially awkward teen
struggling with Asperger’s syndrome who makes contributions to the business he works
for, challenging stereotypes of people with mental disabilities as being burdens to society,
and increasing empathy for people like him. [Link]
inclusive-than-theatrical-films-study/
○ Criticisms
■ Some feel that this may be too tokenistic, unmeritocratic especially when
diversity quotas are used to achieve inclusivity [Link]
v=jDriPJYn2mY (the video contains a joke about the Pope that some might find
insensitive from 0:27-0:35. If you’d like, you can skip that)
■ There are also instances when well-meaning attempts to represent the
community fail to properly represent them, especially when creators aren’t from
that community and/or do not consult experts before production E.g. Music
(2021) by Sia. The movie casted a neurotypical actor (someone who doesn’t have
mental disabilities like autism) as an autistic girl. Her depiction of the character
was criticized as stereotypical, and the movie included scenes depicting the
dangerous use of restraints on autistic people
[Link] and
[Link]

Society, Culture and Diversity

● Objectification, sexualisation, sexual harassment
○ E.g. Online poll asking which female asatizah (religious teacher) should be collectively
raped saw 1000 upvotes sent shockwaves through local internet.
:
 ■ Analysis / elaboration (notice how the same piece of news can be spun in
different ways to prove different points depending on what your argument is)
● It has become normalised amongst some male social circles to
sexualise women, and even fantasise about sexual assault.
● The fact that the post received so many upvotes illustrates that this is
not an isolated problem with a handful of individuals
● The fact that many of the female victims were wearing their religious
covering, the hijab / tudung, but were still targeted, highlights that
modesty has little to nothing to do with sexual misconduct. Women can
be dressed most modestly but still be targets of abuse. (a common trope
amongst some commenters in society is to blame female victims for their
own assault because they weren’t dressing modestly, as if that is the
problem. This example shows otherwise)
● This incident also demonstrates that inappropriate sexual behaviour is
not condoned by authorities, at least in rhetoric. The police launched an
investigation, MUIS issued strongly worded condemnation, as well as
President Halimah Yaccob. (but whether the punishments they mete out,
and the policies they put in place in response to this will be sufficient
isn’t clear yet)
● Some of the accused are allegedly Islamic studies students. A joint
statement by a group of Malay-Muslim civil society organisations
highlighted the need for more training within religious institutions about
sexual assault. [Link]
utm_medium=copy_link
○ E.g. Ah Boys to Men 4 (2017): featured a female officer as a main character. Drew
sexist comments, many about her face and breasts.
○ E.g. Hunky Cleaning Guy Service: a viral local advertising campaign promoting a
cleaning service provided by bare-chested men with chiseled bodies conforming to the
traditional ideal male body form.
■ Well-received by most in the public; exceeded 5.8 million views with little to no
negative media coverage [Link]
handymen-in-facebook-promotion-notch-up-58-million-views
■ Double-standards: the campaign drew some derision from those concerned
that this objectified men and perpetuated unhealthy body standards. Would the
public response to the campaign have been equally positive if the models were
buxom, bikini-clad women?
○ Potential shift in male body standards?
■ E.g. Popularity of k-pop band BTS. Many fans find the a group of
androgynous[1] and relatively slender male leads attractive, even though they do
not fit into the mould of an idealised muscular male.

● LGBTQ
○ My Guardian Angels
■ The portrayal of a gay character in the prime-time Chinese-language drama
aired on Channel 8 as a paedophile who sexually assaulted boys and spread an
STD to one of them incited some pushback.
■ Some critics saw it as perpetuating stereotypes of homosexuals as paedophiles
who carry STDs
■ Hecking Unicorn, a popular Instagram account for LGBTQ advocacy, managed
to pressure the male actor who played the paedophile to apologise → power of
:
 social media?
■ MediaCorp apologised but explained that they merely intended to portray
struggles that some people do face and did not intend to cause hurt to the LGBTQ
community → intentions vs outcome?
● Race
○ Singapore
■ RI blackface

■
● A 2016 photo of a group of students from Raffles Institution (RI) in
blackface made rounds on social media in the aftermath of the George
Floyd incident in the United States.
● They were in blackface and holding up props like whitening lotion,
deodorant, fake cash and a poster of the South Asian Hollywood movie,
Slumdog Millionaire, purportedly celebrating the birthday of a classmate
of South Asian descent.
● Sparked public outrage, those responsible later apologised -
Mothership
● Influence of Black Lives Matter + death of George Floyd
● While many Singaporeans have expressed solidarity on social media
with the black community currently protesting against police brutality
against african americans, public figures have had to grapple with some
of controversies of their own
■ Local YouTuber Jianhao Tan, 26, announced via his Instagram account on June
1 that he was retiring the problematic Peter Papadum character on his channel.
He is caricature of an Indian waiter who speaks in a thick Indian accent
■ Epayment brownface:
● The "brownface" advertisement controversy earlier this year, which
had a Chinese actor-deejay Dennis Chew painting his face brown to
depict an Indian man
● Local Youtube star Preetipls and her brother were issued stern
warnings by the police after they posted a response music video, in which
expletives were used in addressing the local Chinese community.
■ Talk of ‘Chinese Privilege’ though the phrase is problematic because it imports
the concept of White Privilege from America. Historical context of slavery and
segregation behind white privilege simply isn’t true of ‘Chinese Privilege’.
■ Efforts towards racial harmony
● Ethnic Integration Policy
● Strict controls on racially insensitive speech
:
 ■ Online posts made by a Singapore Muslim religious teacher about the
coronavirus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The teacher said in a
public Facebook post on Jan 29 that the coronavirus was retribution by Allah
against the Chinese for their oppressive treatment of Muslim Uighurs in China's
Xinjiang province. Following news reports that the virus could potentially be
transmitted through faeces, he wrote in a separate post, only accessible to his
Facebook friends, that Chinese people do not wash properly after defecating
and were not as hygienic as Muslims, potentially aiding the spread of the virus.
■ Infamous “Hwa Chong lady”, who made unprovoked, racist and classist
remarks on board an MRT train to strangers, touting her elite school background
as someone who previously studied at Hwa Chong Institution, as well as her
nephews who ostensibly studied law. Stated that she could not be racist because
she also did not talk to “Chinese rank-and-file”.
○ Other countries
■ The Netherlands: Traditions vs Cultural sensitivity: Black Pete, the assistant of
St Nicholas has stirred controversy because he is a caricature of blacks, often
played by whites with their faces painted black and red lipstick, which invokes
memories of racism in the past.
■ Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau was found to have worn blackface before
● Xenophobia
○ Singapore:
■ Xenophobic backlash online to Philippinos celebrating the Independence
Day of their home country in Ngee Ann City in 2014
○ Covid-19
■ USA against Asians (xenophobia+racism)
● US President Donald Trump’s use of the term “Chinese virus”
● They have been yelled at, spit on, physically attacked and more
■ China against Africans
● In early April 2020, Chinese authorities in the southern city of
Guangzhou, Guangdong province, which has China’s largest African
community, began a campaign to forcibly test Africans for the
coronavirus, and ordered them to self-isolate or to quarantine in
designated hotels, even though there was no evident scientific basis for
the policy. Most imported cases of Covid-19 to the province were Chinese
nationals returning from abroad. Many Africans had already tested
negative for coronavirus, had no recent travel history, or had not been in
contact with known Covid-19 patients. Landlords then evicted African
residents, forcing many to sleep on the street, and hotels, shops, and
restaurants refused African customers. Other foreign groups have
generally not been subjected to similar treatment.
● Religion
○ Religious harmony is zealously guarded in Singapore, with legal provisions under the
Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and Sedition Act to prosecute those who use
religion as a cover for political activism, or wound the feelings of other religious
communities
○ Contemporary trend towards increasing religiosity, while good in that individuals are
more rooted in moral principles and the divine, can also pose added challenges to the
Government as it seeks to promote national cohesion and tolerance while preserving
religious freedom and expression
:
 ■ Increasing conservative Christian (and to some extent Muslim) activism since
the 1990s on social and moral issues
■ Donning of tudungs in public sector jobs like nursing and police work:
increasing numbers of Muslim women prefer to wear the tudung as a symbol of
piety, but raises worries that it may add to frictions with other communities and
undermine the secular, impartial image of the public service. Recent policy
change announced in National Day Rally 2021 allowed for Muslim nurses to wear
the tudung, in view of increasing societal acceptance.
● Analysis:
○ Government has to be nimble and responsive to changing
societal realities of greater religiosity and social acceptance, and
the adjustment to the nursing attire policy reflects that
○ However, contentions remain over the donning of the tudung
in schools and Home Team services (e.g. police, army etc.)
Questions: If tudungs are allowed for nurses, should they be
allowed in the other occupations as well? Are there differences
between the nature of nursing and the other contexts that justify
the differentiated measures?
○ Flashpoints overseas:
■ Controversy over Babri Mosque in India, which was constructed in medieval
times by Muslims on lands the Hindus traditionally saw as the birthplace of Lord
Rama. Led to a historic decades-long dispute. Frenzied mob of Hindu nationalists
razed down the mosque in 1992. In November 219, Supreme Court awarded site
to Hindus for construction of temple, Sunni Muslims given another plot of land
for a mosque
■ Lynching of Muslims in India for supposed cow slaughter in India by Hindus
who revere the cow.
■ Anti-Muslim movement led by Ashin Wirathu, who in a 2017 Guardian
interview pereached compassion for a passing mosquito, but when asked about
allegations that Muslim women have been raped by the military, he laughed and
said “Impossible. Their bodies are too disgusting.”
○ Religion X Politics
■ Notion of separation of church and state - strong influence of American
evangelical christian voting bloc in US elections
■ Use of evangelical Christian rhetoric bolsters support for President
Trump (though whether he is Christian himself is controversial) and the
Republican Party (search “The Moral Majority”).
■ Some attempts by Democrats to appeal to Christians (not necessarily American
evangelical Christian) values as well. Joe Biden’s background as a Catholic
emphasised to assuage Christian voters, appealing to some of Jesus’ teachings
that are argued to justify Democratic policies like greater welfare spending.
○ Religion and religious identity often capitalised on as a tool to bolster support for
political parties
■ Conversion of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum to a mosque by Turkish
President Erdogan, which increased nationalist and conservative Muslim support
amidst weaker approval ratings and economic damage to Turkish economy
caused by Covid-19
● Once the centre of Christian worship in Constantinople, but conquered
and converted to mosque by the Muslim Ottoman Empire
:
 ● Converted to a museum in the 1930s under the secular founder of
modern Turkey
● Became a symbol of Turkey’s secularism, shared by all owned by no
religion
● Converted back to a mosque in 2020 - source of controversy
■ Use of the Orthodox Christian Church in Russia to bolster the legitimacy of the
ruling party in the Kremlin under Puti

● More radical and fundamentalist strains of religion could enable the rise of authoritarianism
○ E.g. influence of radical buddhist thinkers in Japanese politics in the 1930s. Argued that
in order to dissolve one’s egoistic attachments (a Buddhist ideal), people should
completely cut away all personal thinking and observe total loyalty to the state. Inspired
ultranationalists and hastened the rise of militaristic dictatorship in Japan.

Culture (work, life, identity)

● China’s social credit system
○ Planning to launch by end of 2020, use it to rate the trustworthiness of its over billion
citizens companies and governmental entities, using set of database and AI technology
synthesis in financial, criminal, governmental records among other sources
○ Low scorers and blacklisted citizens can be public shamed to warn others against them
→ incentivises good behaviour, accountability, deter corporate malfeasance
○ Misuse: silence dissents, make it hard for them to carry out daily activities like buying
train tickets
● Hard work
○ South Korea
■ “Pali Pali” (meaning moving quickly) encapsulates Korea’s culture of hard work
and getting things on the double
■ Burnt out and disillusionment by oppressive corporate culture → shortest job
tenure in the world of just 6.6 years → increase in search for alternative jobs and
lifestyles → Youtuber was a job more desired by elementary school students than
being a doctor or a teacher + increasing number of Koreans migrating to rural
area for farming
○ Singapore
■ Around a quarter of Singaporeans have been bullied in the workplace
■ Stress and anxiety at the workplace: 44% reporting stress and anxiety in the
workplace, higher than OECD average of 39%
■ Introduction of paternity leave in 2013 and doubling it in 2017
■ 70% of Singaporean workers responded to work calls and emails outside of
office hours.
■ Singaporean workers clock in the 2nd highest number of hours of work, a
whopping 2238 hours per year, beating even China and Japan (wow how is that
even possible), countries that are infamous for unforgivingly strenuous work
schedules. One of the reasons why Singaporeans are the most fatigued in the
world according to a survey done by UK-based manufacturer Sleepseeker
○ Japan
■ Hit TV show “I will not work overtime, Period!”
■ In it, the lead female protagonist dares to leave work at 6pm sharp. When her
team is confronted with a seemingly impossible deadline, in a moving moment
she puts aside her commitment, crying: “I will work overtime!”
:
 ■ Struck a chord with Japanese audience who infamously put in some of the
world’s longest hours
■ Reasons:
● Extra pay
● Cultural attitudes revering hard work
● Pleasing superiors to get promotions, because workplace culture prizes
putting in hours even over productivity
■ Impact:
● Exhaustion, suicide, heart attacks
■ Response:
● “Premium Fridays”: Government encouraged employers to let
employers off early every last Friday of the month
Inequality amidst Covid-19
:
 Recommended reading(s): This is What Inequality Looks Like by sociologist Teo Yeo Yenn

Economy
Enterprise in Singapore:
● Government support
○ The government of Singapore has vigorously promoted entrepreneurship via seed-
funding / grants offered by Spring Singapore such as providing office space and telephone
lines for new start-ups.
○ Foreign relations: ministers like former PM Goh Chok Tong have made regular trips to
various countries such as China and India to scout for investment opportunities for local
businessmen, build networks and sign free-trade agreements that would grant local
companies more unfettered access to foreign markets.
● Importance of entrepreneurs / SMEs
○ Key pillar of Singapore economy: almost 50% of GDP, hires 65% of workforce
○ Successful startups include George Quek’s BreadTalk / Traditional Chinese Medicine
company Eu Yan Sang / Creative Technology, which makes audio equipment for
international markets can contribute to Singapore’s economy by beginning locally before
expanding overseas, repatriating profits.
● Dependency on foreign direct investments and influx of MNCs in 1960s and 1970s to rapidly
develop economy → one of the 4 Asian Tigers → trade offs: lower corporate tax rates to attract
MNCs
○ Need for Singaporean entrepreneurs to expand internationally since rising costs in
Singapore means we are losing our competitive advantage to countries with cheaper
:
 labour such as Malaysia and Vietnam. Should these companies abandon us, we could be
left with massive unemployment.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

● Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto damaged 46,000 year old prehistoric Aborigninal
rock shelter while expanding an iron ore mine despite objections from indigenous groups
● Led to a shareholder revolt that forced the CEO to resign → signal cultural and social issues
cannot be ignored due to the growing trend of ethically minded investors

Personal Qualities / Character

Diligence in Singapore
:
 ● Real-world observations
○ People turning up for work despite exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms for fear of losing
their jobs, and concerns of having a backlog of jobs.
● Generalised trend observations
○ Workers tend to only leave the office when the boss does to show that they are
hardworking
○ Having to present Medical Certification when one is absent from work

● Illegal gambling sites that turned pandemic into a game in which punters can bet the number of
new daily Covid-19 cases in Singapore
● Owner of Varsha Engineering exploited the desperation arising from India’s deadly Covid-19
second wave in 2021 by deceptively selling repainted fire extinguisher containers as oxygen gas
containers. The fire extinguishers are ill-suited and may explode if pumped with high pressure
oxygen. Other pandemic profiteering activities include the sale of fake remdesivir, an antiviral
drug that many doctors in India are prescribing despite questions about its effectiveness. Such
behaviour is immoral as it preys about the vulnerabilities of desperate family members. Citing the
predatory sales, a top court in New Delhi said this month that “the moral fabric of the society is
dismembered.” [Link]
[Link]

Healthcare and the Elderly

Healthcare in Singapore
● Health Education curriculum in schools
○ Students are taught the science behind western medicine, the ramifications of sexually
transmitted disease, undergo teen-brushing campaigns to tackle dental hygiene, tackling
public health issues like STI outbreaks and poor dental health that developing countries
still face
○ Preschool students taught how to wash their hands properly to contain Hand-Foot-
Mouth Disease / Covid-19
○ Incalculating good water sanitation habits to combat Zika and Dengue (Do the Mozzie
wipeout campaign)
● Use of public laws as tools to create hygienic environment inimical to outbreaks
:
 ○ Littering in Singapore comes at the cost of a $1000 fine → prevent unsanitary
conditions that can support the spread of dysentery, cholera etc.
○ Mandating wearing of masks in public spaces
● Ready availability of information
○ Especially digital platforms in increasingly digitised society such as Singapore
○ Ministry of Health promptly released health advisories via traditional and online media
during the MERS outbreak in 2015
○ Frequent use of press conferences with Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and National
Development Minister Lawrence Wong to disseminate critical information during Covid-
19 period including government rules, key trends and projections and advice
● Problems:
○ Needs of the elderly, many of whom live alone and unnoticed, some of whom can meet
a healthcare emergency at home and pass away, taking weeks before neighbours notice
the odour of a cadavre
■ Solution: Smart HDB Homes ensure the safety of at-risk occupants through
increased surveillance and motion detection systems which send emergency
signals to caregivers
○ Impoverished households facing rising costs of living
■ Pioneer Generation Package
■ Heavy government subsidies
○ Lengthy waiting times at polyclinics and specialist outpatient clinics in public Hospitals
limits availability
■ Government has expedited the opening Ng Teng Fong Hospital and Sengkang
General Hospital to alleviate stress on existing facilities
■ Stationed polyclinics in the heartlands to maximise accessibility
● Mental health in Singapore
○ Background:
■ Some common mental health issues include:
● Depression (persistent low mood, feelings of hopelessness, suicidal
ideation)
● Anxiety Disorders (trouble dealing with stress, panic attacks etc.)
● Schizophrenia (interpreting reality abnormally; may involve
hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and
behavior that impairs daily functioning)
■ Some individuals may have comorbidities, meaning multiple disorders
■ Treated with various approaches from talk therapy to medication
○ Prevalence: Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS) found that 1/7 of Singaporeans
will have a mental health condition within their lifetime
○ Government efforts:
■ AWARENESS: From 2021, secondary schools now weave the topic of mental
health into Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum, aimed
increasing their understanding of mental health issues, coping mechanisms and
decreasing stigmatisation
○ Discrimination / Criticism
■ Societal stigma
● A 2018 National Council of Social Service (NCSS) study found that
nearly ½ of Singaporeans would be unwilling to work with colleagues
facing mental health issues
● This may stem from common societal misconceptions of people
suffering with mental health issues. Common epithets include “crazy”,
:
 “weak” etc.
■ Workplace / Employment discrimination
■ Government designated psychological treatments “non-essential” during the
country’s Covid-19 lockdown in 2020
([Link]
disappointed-by-non-essential-status-of-psychological)
■ Lack of positive portrayals of mental health issues in local media and television
■ Further reading:
● [Link]
hiring-persons-with-mental-health-12530752
● [Link]
health-singapore
● [Link]
committed-to-provide-inclusive-and-mental-health-12389904
○ Incidents:
■ Infamous murder of a student in River Valley High School at the hands of a
schoolmate in 2021, who previous attempted suicide
● Possible lines of analysis:
○ Questions were raised as to whether the alleged perpetrator
received adequate help and treatment prior to the incident, and
whether such treatment could have prevented this
○ Robust government response in promoting help-seeking
behaviour, providing professional help and resources to affected
individuals and ramping up supply of trained counsellors in
schools

Ageing
● Loneliness and social isolation
○ Kodokushi (孤独死) or lonely death refers to a Japanese phenomenon of people dying
alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time, common phenomenon in
Singapore as well
○ According to Age UK, more than 1 million older people report that they go over a
month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member
○ Regret, rumination, suicide
:
:
:
:
:
 Environment
State of climate change
● Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 2021:
:
 ○ Unless immediate, rapid and large-scale action is taken to reduce emissions, the report
says, the average global temperature is likely to cross the 1.5 degree Celsius warming
threshold within the next 20 years.
○ A rise of more than 1.5 degree Celsius above the preindustrial average could trigger
runaway climate change with catastrophic impacts, such as heat so intense that people
die just from being outdoors.
○ If the world does not cut emissions dramatically, but continues the current trajectory,
the rise could be 2.0 degree Celsius by 2060 and 2.7 degree Celsius by the century’s end.
○ The earth has not been that warm since the Pliocene Epoch roughly 3 million years ago
● Notion of “tipping points”
○ Once warming passes certain thresholds, they trigger self-reinforcing cycles of further
warming that make climate change even harder to reverse.
○ E.g. albedo effect: Ice caps reflect more sunlight than darker ground. When they melt
away, the earth begins to absorb more energy from the sun, resulting in further warming
that melts yet more ice
● Anthropocene
○ Humans have made such a conspicuous mark on environmental conditions that
scientists have declared the dawning of the Anthropocene - an entirely new epoch in the
geological continuum

Waste in Singapore
● Problems
○ Pulau Semakau reaching capacity by 2035
● Solutions / Responses
○ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): concerted efforts by retailers such as IKEA, Sheng
Siong and NTUC to lower plastic bag usage by charging fees like 10 cents per bag +
encouraging the usage of reusable bags
○ Waste-to-energy: world’s large WTE plant in Tuas helps generate electricity sustainably
from waste and alleviate spatial constraints by reducing volume of waste
○ No straw movement: rejection of single use plastic straws in favour of reusable metal
straws or biodegradable paper straws, started by a 17 year-old Hwa Chong student
convinced establishments including management of Changi Airport to adopt straw-free
initiatives.
■ Derided as trivial, but the movement’s founder asserts that it fosters curiosity
and catalyses change

Plastic waste in Singapore (ACJC 2019 AQ)

● Role of celebrities and government officials
○ Relevant
■ Top-down plans include Zero-Waste plan in Singapore, proposals by MP Louis
Ng to ban single use plastics
○ Irrelevant
■ Change may be more bottom-up → Ang Zye Yee’s advocacy for a straw free
environment
● Throwaway culture being an issue
○ Relevant
■ Increasing awareness amongst businesses over consumer’s habits including the
use of plastics, especially take-away containers and packaging
■ Four major supermarket chains, including NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong have
teamed up with the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and DBS Bank to
:
 encourage customers to take fewer single-use bags and opt for reusable bags
instead, aiming to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic bags by 25%
over 2019, with hopes of spurring permanent change in consumers’ use of plastic
bags.
○ Irrelevant
■ Cynicism of consumers that supermarkets are selling reusable bags for the sake
of profit rather than the environment may undermine the message
■ Tactics used like charging 10c or 20c might be too nominal to dissuade
consumers, especially in our fast-paced society where we crave the convenience
of plastic bags.
● Public is increasingly aware of plastic problem
○ Relevant
■ Aware and well-educated, having grown up in a climate of
environmentalism and public education bombarding us incessantly with
concepts like 3Rs
○ Irrelevant - have we internalised this?
● Businesses hopping on the bandwagon of environmentalism to improve corporate image
○ Irrelevant
■ Singaporean consumers may not be convinced, may be corporate
greenwashing OR Impeccable waste disposal services means waste problem is
largely out of sight of Singaporeans
■ Businesses are ultimately still profit-driven, so if this raises costs and
inconvenience they might not consider joining → most supermarkets,
convenience stores(mama shops) still offer plastic bags
● Singapore actually exports / dumps plastic waste in neighbouring development countries →
42,000 tonnes of plastic waste to countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia in 2016

Environmentalism in Singapore
● Balance between economic gains and environmental goals
○ Government
■ Cross Island Line route → conducted and published extensive Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA). The fact that it took so long to come to a compromise
decision to tunnel much deeper beneath the reserve to minimise impact reflects
its desire to balance the needs of both the environment and the economy.
○ Civil society
■ Campaigns like “Bring Your Own Bag Day” campaign aggressively rolled out by
the SEC in 2007 saw supermarkets across Singapore offering a 10 cents discount
for every $10 spent every Wednesday if they brought their own reusable tote
bags instead of plastic ones given by supermarkets, paired with public awareness
messages expounding the harmful effects of plastic bags on the environment.
■ Programme was discontinued in 2010 but consumption of plastic bags
continued to decrease (9 million plastic bags estimated by NTUC to have been
saved in 2014)
○ Corporations
■ Demands of economy and env do not always conflict
■ Use of more energy-efficient but expensive air conditioning that provides same
comfort for mall goers in 313 Somerset and use of collected rainwater to water
plants in City Square Mall’s premises
■ Though initial cost is expensive, long term utility bills are trimmed
○ Individuals and small-scale business
:
 ■ Vegetable sellers
● Cosmetic filtering: discarding edible but aesthetically unappealing
vegetables that customers are unlikely to buy due to the perception that
they are less fresh or tasty
● ⅓ or 30,000 kg of all fresh produce in Pasir Panjang market are
disposed of every day
● Wasteful: valuable resources like water and nutrients + exacerbates
climate change as they emit methane and CO2 when they decompose
● Use of science and tech to develop innovative solutions for climate change adaptation and
mitigation
○ Development of Temasek Rice in 2018, a locally developed and grown strain of bacteria
and climate resilient crop, to increase food security
○ Establishment of climate research centre in 2020 to better understand inform climate
policies
○ Enzymatic process that the Nanyang Technological University is working on to turn
food waste into high-grade organic fertiliser in 8 hours, a fraction of the usual 24-hour
period needed.
● Push towards a circular economy, one where resources are continually used and recycled
rather than disposed to avoid resource depletion and unnecessary emissions
○ The Resource Sustainability Act passed in Parliament will help provide regulatory teeth
to compel large firms to reuse and recycle various types of food waste, electronic waste
and packaging waste.
○ Turning trash to treasure will not only ensure a ready supply of resources for
Singapore, buffering the country against global supply shocks, but it will also create new
economic and job opportunities.
● Imposition of carbon tax in 2020 of $5 per tonne, with plans to review this in 2023 for possible
raises to between $10 and $15 by 2030. Economically incentivises firms to be more energy
efficient → illustrates to some extent willingness / boldness of government to act despite the
possibility of displeasing foreign investors

Singapore’s reliance on oil and post-oil economy

● While Singapore attempts to tackle climate change, a lot of its emissions come from its oil
refining industry.
● Difficulting in letting go
○ Oil-refining industry is high value added
○ Jobs and lives of Singaporeans depend on it (classic tradeoff between economic gains
and environmental considerations)
● Difficulty with alternative energy
○ Renewables said to be presently uncompetitive (disputable)
○ Problem of intermittency
■ Could compromise Singapore’s international competitiveness

Environmentalism and business

● As the world's largest wealth manager, UBS recently made headlines by announcing that it
would be the first major financial institution to recommend sustainable over traditional
solutions for private clients investing globally. This sends a powerful signal to firms that a
sustainable-minded approach to operations will increasingly be a necessary condition to attract
capital.
:
 ● Despite the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, as of June 2020, more than US$1
trillion was invested in sustainable investment funds, a significant increase in just 18 months
from around US$600 billion at the end of 2018.
● Increasing environmental consciousness of investors imposing pressures on the world’s largest
oil companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. E.g. Shareholders of ExxonMobil
defiantly voted in at least 2 nominees from an activist investment firm into the company’s board
in an effort to push the company to further slash emissions in 2021. E.g. around 60% of
shareholders at Chevron backed a proposal to reduce emissions from the company’s customers in
2021 → source of hope? Notice that these efforts were initiated with direct government
intervention but still yielded success
● Use of legal proceedings in courts by activists to pressure companies to slash emissions have
been bearing some fruit E.g. landmark ruling in 2021 in the Netherlands ordering Royal Dutch
Shell to further slash emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 level to align the company
with the Paris Agreement, in a case brought forward by environmental group Friends of the
Earth. Court found that the company’s existing plans were not sufficiently concrete. → source of
hope? [Link]
cut-carbon-emissions-by-45-by-2030

Environmentalism and government

● Rising political will?
○ Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wants to spend US$2 trillion decarbonising
the economy.
○ The European Union has earmarked 30% of its €880 billion Covid-19 recovery fund for
climate measures.
○ China has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 - a target so
ambitious that, given China's current emission trajectory, it would require a green
revolution to achieve.
○ Singapore's Budget 2020 directed a large portion to climate-related initiatives in order
to build a low-carbon economy. Billions of dollars in funding are being directed into
research for "Urban Solutions and Sustainability", building electric vehicle charging
points, rebates and incentives for clean vehicles and appliances, and long-term climate
change adaptation.
○ Singapore Green Plan 2030: This whole-of-government plan was announced in 2021,
laying out key green goals and priorities including...
■ Halve its 2030 peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
■ Expansion of electric vehicle charging points to 60,000 by 2030 to encourage
adoption
■ Reduction of electricity consumption in HDB flats by 15% by 2030
■ At least 20% of schools to be carbon neutral[2] by 2030
■ Further reading for more of the plan’s goals:
[Link]
targets-10-years-14161356
■ Think: Did the Green Plan go far enough? What goals are particularly impactful,
and which are not sufficiently substantial? Also think of the broader historical
context e.g. electric vehicles have been commercially viable for many years now,
but authorities are only now beginning to promote them.
○ Launch of Singapore Sustainability Scholarship (SSS) to develop and channel talent
into the sustainability sector
● Trade-offs
:
 ○ As the government, they have to consider and balance the needs of many stakeholders
and interests, and between economic, environmental and social considerations.
■ E.g. Singapore: Cross Island Line route: Originally, CIL would cut directly
through nature reserve. Disruptive to wildlife → Nature Society opposed it and
suggested that the route skirt around the reserve, which would protect local flora
and fauna but result in higher costs, engineering challenges and longer travel
time. Residents opposed skirting around reserve due to concerns about
construction noise
■ It took 6 years of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and consultations
before compromising with a direct route but drilling deeper into the ground to
minimise disruption to wildlife.
■ Concerns that measures such as carbon taxes and winding down of fossil fuel
industry can raise cost of production and therefore reduce economic output. This
would undermine the livelihoods of the many workers depending on such sectors
for income. Environmental policies may also hit the poor the hardest because
they are least able to cope with increases in cost of living arising from green
measures like carbon tax (economists call this a regressive tax)
● (Evaluation/counterargument) EMPLOYMENT: While such concerns are
valid, the temporary negative socioeconomic impact of these measures
can be managed, through staggered coal mine closures and progressive
raising of carbon taxes, to given industries time to adapt and for workers
to reskill themselves
● E.g. Rhine Valley, Germany: Mines were progressively decommissioned
as part of Germany’s push to fulfill its carbon emission reduction targets
under the Paris Accords, and workers were retrained. As a result,
unemployment was minimised.
● (Evaluation/counterargument) COST OF LIVING: Carbon tax rebate
vouchers can be distributed to help low-income households cope with
costs

Difficulties in reducing carbon emissions in an urban context

● Read: [Link]
change-environment-costs-14850452

Environment and International Relations

● Trump’s environmental policy is a foreign policy disaster
○ Actions:
■ Rolled back Obama-era environmental regulations, including a ban on oil
extraction in the American Arctic which would wreck ecosystems in the event of
an oil spill
■ Nominated a climate change denier to head the Environment Protection
Agency (EPA)
■ Pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords
(His successor Joe Biden returned US to this international agreement hours after
resuming office: [Link]
climate-accord-joe-biden-returns-us)
○ Undermined US’s credibility as a serious actor and hamper ability to lead world towards
cooperative approaches to addressing global challenges

Interesting impacts of Global Warming

:
 ● Poverty
○ Increased frequency of extreme droughts → causes plants to wither and livestock to be
dehydrated, decreasing agricultural productivity → threatens food security and
livelihoods, especially for poorer individuals E.g. droughts in Kenya in 2019 led to hunger
and starvation, as well as loss of education as poor farming families pulled their kids out
of school due to the reduction in their income
● International conflict
○ Climate change can increase the scarcity of vital resources such as water. With lesser
resources available, countries are more likely to fight amongst themselves for what
remains.
○ E.g. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan Water shortages due to climate change have
exacerbated conflict between local Uzbek and Kyrgyz farmers in Central Asia, including
the capturing of each other’s citizens, resulting in transboundary water conflict.
● Undermines urban liveability
○ Urban liveability refers to the extent to which a city can satisfy the physical and
psychological needs and demands of its residents. Essentially, quality of life
○ Increased frequency of extreme weather events that inflict casualties, damage
infrastructure and disrupt economic activity will undermine the liveability of cities

Everyday consumer preferences and their environmental impacts

● Increasing popularity of avocados in China due to a fitness craze led to water shortages for
Chile, an avocado exporter. Avocados are water-intensive, so avocado plantations extracted more
water than authorised, depriving local communities of access to water.

Climate Change Denial

● Fossil Fuel Companies
○ Many of such companies, including ExxonMobil have internally acknowledged climate
change since 1977, through publications of its scientists.
○ Yet they continually used monetary resources to buy out influence
■ Politicians
■ Think Tanks
● E.g. American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation: peddled
climate denial through publications, news interviews and events
Psychology of climate change and Covid
● In the book PAP v. PAP, public policy professor Donald Low makes an interesting contrast
between societies’ responses to Covid-19 pandemic and climate change: While Covid-19 can be
fatal, the death rate is relatively low. Nevertheless, governments and societies have generally
shown a greater willingness to accept harsh, economically detrimental measures like safe
distancing, limits on social gatherings and even lockdowns (especially when the virus first struck)
as compared to climate change, which has risks far greater impacts in terms of loss of lives and
the survival of the human species. The fact that the neglected climate crisis increases the
likelihood of feared pandemics further accentuates this irony. Why?
○ Probability neglect
■ Humans tend to evaluate threats based on how easily they come to mind
(saliency bias) and our emotive reactions
■ Covid-19 is very salient as we are inundated with daily updates on the latest
outbreaks, rising death tolls etc. Climate change by contrast is less salient, often
thought of as a future threat. Therefore, we are more willing to trade away
economic growth, freedoms in exchange for safety from Covid.
○ Present-biased preference
:
 ■ Refers to the tendency of people to overvalue present risks and benefits and
undervalue future risks and benefits. With respect to Covid-19, people are willing
to make immediate sacrifices for the short term benefit of being safe from Covid-
19. On the other hand, governments and societies tend to be less willing to incur
even small costs in exchange for heavily discounted benefits (preservation of the
human species, integrity of natural environment)

Youth
Extent of impacts of youths on the world
● Lobbying for changes in public policy
○ Global climate strike led by youth activist Greta Thunberg gained momentum and
global media coverage, drawing over 1.5 million students from 125 countries to protest
against climate change and calling out the failure of adults to address environmental
issues
○ In response to her efforts, in February 2019, European Union unveiled a proposal to
spend hundreds of billions of dollars on mitigating climate change, starting 2021
● Beliefs don’t always translate into action (e.g. empathy)
○ A World Vision Singapore survey in 2015 found that while an overwhelming majority
(over 90%) of youths empathise with the less fortunate, over half failed to turn this into
tangible action due to the lack of time and resources

Childhood in Singapore
● Mandatory education
○ Singapore’s recent amendment of the Compulsory Education Act to include special
needs children attests to our society’s continuing effort to be a more inclusive nation for
children
● High competitiveness and stress
○ While Singaporean education is notorious for is high stress nature, there have been
recent efforts by the government, which has recognised the unhealthy effects of the
culture of competitiveness and has taken steps to ameliorate this:
■ Modifying PSLE system to blunt academic differentiation, thus reducing stress
■ Refining the DSA system to de-emphasise the importance of grades
■ Removal of examinations completely for Primary 1-2 students, and mid-year
examinations for P3,P5,S1,S3 students → which are transition years when
students are adjusting to new subjects and content rigour. This also frees up 3
weeks of curriculum time every two years.
■ Scraping streaming in secondary school which artificially divides students based
on their average grades instead of their abilities in the various subjects. System
was replaced with Subject-based banding.
○ Pitfalls
■ Even well-intentioned DSA policy (which allows children to select the school of
their choice through their non-academic talents) has be twisted into an
engineered move by highly competitive parents to secure coveted seats in good
schools → portfolio coaches and enrichment classes to build up child’s abilities in
a niche field
■ This move is unlikely to have a significant impact as competition and kiasuism is
deeply entrenched in Singaporean psyche. In fact, some parents expressed
concerns over the removal of exams because they see them as key checkpoints in
their children’s learning. Some of them may choose to enrol their children in
:
 private tuition classes that provide internal assessments so their children are
supposedly not left behind.
● Helicopter parenting
○ “Tiger Mums”: keeping their children’s noses to the grindstone in both academic and
non-academic domains to attain stellar achievements.
● Lacking passion and independence in education
○ Reliance on tried-and-tested routes / well-trodden paths by adults => which CCA to
join, subject combination in secondary school and junior college (in JC, PCME and BCME
are the standard combinations that most choose even though their interests may not lie
there
○ Increasing emphasis on student-centred learning, learning through experiential play in
pre-schools
● Excessive use of digital devices
○ Recent study by DQ and Singtel found Singaporean children spend 35 hours a week
online, more than the global average of 32 hours
○ Increasing rates of digital addiction
○ Associated with poor sleep quality, which affects mood and mental capacity and
weakens academic performance
■ But in response, NLB and MOE have initiated media literacy campaigns, though
the extent of success of not known
● Cyber risks
○ According to DQ Institute: 43% of Singaporean children experienced cyber bullying,
16% were involved in online sexual activities, and 12% have chatted with strangers online
and met them

Singapore rated best country to grow up in by Global Childhood Report from Save the Children
● Metrics include
○ Under-five mortality rate
○ Out-of-school children and youth
○ Child labour
○ Child marriage
○ Teenage pregnancy
○ Population displaced by conflict
● Attributed to investment to create robust access to education and healthcare, lack of armed
conflict etc → Good governance?
● Criticism
○ Some netizens questioned whether Singapore really was the best place to live in
because…
■ Decrease in communal interaction (e.g. soccer games), especially with other
races / loss of “kampong” spirit
■ High-stress / pressure cooker education system
○ Perhaps reflects the distinction between material and non-material aspects of one’s
standard of living
○ Think: Do you agree with netizens who say that decreased communal cohesion
enjoyed by previous generations of children as well as today’s intensive education
system necessarily mean that Singapore isn’t the best place to grow up in as a child?
○ Side note, it’s also interesting to see the stark contrast between the way the Straits
Times (seen as leaning to PAP) and The Online Citizen (seen as anti-PAP) reported this.
Really shows you the significance of media bias
[Link]
grow-up-in
○ [Link]
ranks-singapore-as-the-best-country-for-children/
:
 Science and Tech
Different types of Artificial Intelligence
● Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI)
○ “Weak” as it can only perform narrow range of tasks - can increase labour productivity
by without making them entirely redundant
○ Presently available
● Artificial general intelligence (AGI)
○ Does not require explicit instructions similar to or outperforming the human mind
■ Chess, Go
○ Poses the greatest threat to human employability
○ Not presently available

Tech and Covid-19 (in Singapore)

● Public and private institutions in Singapore were forced to engineer new ways to continue
operations amidst tightened safe distancing measures that forbade eating out and mandated
shutdowns for non-essential business → digital alternatives
○ Cashless payments
■ Physical cash seen as viral risk → nearly 35 million new Paynow transactions
■ Fall in bank cash withdrawals
○ Working from home
■ Once the preserve of a privileged few → vast majority telecommunicated
■ Raised productivity due to no travel time → 90% of respondents to survey
wanted telecommuting to continue in some form
○ Student Home-Based Learning (HBL)
○ SMEs using digital platforms
■ Massive uptake in food delivery applications for food outlets to continue sales
→ Deliveroo, Food Panda, Grab Food
■ Hawkers set up Facebook pages to promote and sell food online to bypass,
online food delivery platforms that take a huge commission
■ [Link] developed by a software engineer at FB help hawkers organise order,
communicate with customers via Whatsapp, distance calculator to help stall
owners quote delivery prices
○ Digitalised services
■ Telemedicine e.g. MaNaDr. Online consultations from comfort of home + e-cert
+ medicines delivered to doorstep
■ Digitalised marriage solemnisation + court hearings
○ Robots
■ Spot robot dog deployed in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park as safe distancing
ambassador + some used deliver medicine in Covid care centre

Fake News
● While falsified information predated the Information Revolution, today social media platforms
have amplified the virality of fake news, making it easier than ever to conduct misinformation
campaigns.
● Motives of manufacturing and spreading misinformation:
○ Employed by domestic actors to cause a commotion
■ Trolling
● E.g. Kentucky Governorship race in 2019 (USA)
:
 ● Seeing a close race between Democrat and Republican rivals and
emotions running high, a troll with just 19 followers decided to make a
fake tweet purportedly from someone who shredded mail-in ballots for
the Republican candidate, because he thought it would be “funny”.
● Despite being removed by Twitter, screenshots of it spread like wildfire
in Republican media, resulting in distrust in election results - include this
bit of information if you are trying to illustrate the limitations of current
measures to curb fake news
● The effectiveness of the tweet exceeded even the expectations of the
troll - use this if you want to illustrate just how potent and easily
accessible fake news is
● Despite making a spelling mistake on his stated location Loiusville,
Kentucky, many voters still bought this tweet as legitimate - use this if
you want to illustrate that voters can often be undiscerning with respect
to to fake new
○ Employed by domestic political actors to delegitimize opponents and/or enhance their
own appeal
■ E.g. Donald Trump retweeting false information about his opponents
○ Employed by foreign actors as a means to weaken other countries by undermining their
societal cohesion and/or influence the outcome of elections in their favour
■ E.g. Russian interference in 2016 US Presidential Elections. Released
Democratic National Convention (DNC) emails showing Democratic party officials
conspiring to undermine radical Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders in
favour of Hillary Clinton, in order to stir up anger amongst Bernie supporters and
undermine support for the eventual nominee Clinton. Use of Russian trolls and
bots to peddle misinformation against Clinton, drumming up her email scandal to
tilt the election in favour of her Republican rival Donald Trump.
● Why are people particularly vulnerable to fake news?
○ Confirmation bias / echo chambers
○ Limitations of the human brain: reliance on mental shortcuts (heuristics) to complete
tasks without expending too much mental effort. While helpful in many settings, this
creates a gaping vulnerability towards fake news. Columbia University found that most
links shared and commented on were never clicked in the first place, suggesting that
many who spread the news do not bother to read and critically evaluate its veracity.
○ Falsehoods spread faster than real news: MIT study found that fake news was 70%
more likely to be retweeted (presumably on Twitter). Why? Perhaps because falsehoods
tend to elicit stronger emotions, like anger and surprise, thus inducing greater
engagement
● Singapore and Fake News
○ Covid-19
■ Research from the National Centre of Infectious Diseases (NCID) found that
6/10 Singaporeans received false information about the Covid-19, through word
of mouth and more prominently through social media and messaging apps
■ There was a link between people who shared information frequently and
behaviour like panic buying.
■ Use of controversial Protection from Online Manipulation Act (POFMA) during
Covid-19 to quash falsified information that may have otherwise caused public
disorder and confusion or undermine efforts to contain the pandemic e.g.
Hardwarezone forum post erroneously claiming Singapore saw its first Covid-19
death during the early stages of the pandemic removed by POFMA
:
 ○ 2017 study by IPSOS found that 8/10 participants were confident of sifting fact from
fiction but 90% believed at least 1 out of 5 lies presented to them
○ E.g. Green Delights: a halal certified yong tau foo stall fell victim to fake news. A picture
insinuating that GD had promoted a pork belly dish made rounds in WhatsApp and social
networking sites. Was actually a sign displayed by a neighbouring stall. Even after Islamic
Religious Council of Singapore found GD followed halal food preparation procedures,
their sales still suffered
● Intersection with AI: Use of AI to make “Deep-fakes” that make falsehoods increasingly
believable
○ Machine learning algorithms used to fabricate highly realistic deprivations of
individuals saying things or doing particular actions that they never said or did
○ Open-source nature means easy availability
○ Implications on privacy (porn) and politics
■ Pornography (unrelated to fake news but interesting)
● Deepnudes, used to make fake photos or videos of celebrities
performing sexual acts that they never did, using their image to do things
they never consented to → dire implications esp for women
● Kristen Bell, American actress, was a victim of fabricated pornography
of her
■ Politics
● Used to mislead voters and manipulate the outcome of elections
● Doctored video of Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi making
rounds of social media in 2019, in which her voice was slowed down and
the pitch altered to portray her as drunk or stammering. Gained millions
of viewers and her Republican adversary Donald Trump capitalised on it
by retweeting it

● Data privacy and security

○
:
 ○ Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal
○ Privacy VS Transparency amidst Covid-19

Technology and Governance

● Advances in digital technologies and Big Data can potentially amplify the power of
authoritarian states to surveil and control populations aka techno-authoritarianism
○ China’s experience:
■ Data centralisation and control: Introduced laws that grant the state access to
data gathered by multinational corporations operating in China like Apple and
Microsoft, and restrict flows of Chinese data overseas (notion of digital
sovereignty). This allows the state to better monopolise data for its own uses,
and prevent foreign actors from using Chinese data.
■ Networks of surveillance cameras
■ Development of upcoming digital renminbi (renminbi / RMB is China’s
currency), which allows the state to trace all economic transactions in real time,
granting them unprecedented surveillance capabilities compared to what they
have presently with a mix of cash payments and digital payments like Alipay and
WeChat Pay
:
 ■ Data is so important to the Chinese that officials designated data the “fifth
factor of production” (link to H1/2 Economics: factors of production are materials
and resources that come together to make a product. The traditional four are
land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship)
● That said, the same innovations that may entrench authoritarianism simultaneously improve
the material lives of citizens by providing data for more informed policymaking, and increase
convenience of economic transactions. (smart cities)

Politics and International Relations

Threat to democracy
● Algorithms and echo chamber effect
○ To maximise user engagement, algorithms are programmed to personal the content the
users want based on what they already watch, which feeds confirmation biases and
creates echo-chambers in which individuals are not confronted with dissimilar views and
information → feeds political polarisation
○ Search Engine Manipulation Effect: Google could influence the outcome of elections by
simply altering search results rankings
○ When people feel that they cannot trust what they see and hear, this may lead to
reality apathy, where people stop caring about reality and stick to re-existing beliefs and
affiliations
○ Solutions:
■ Using technology itself to side-step regulation by pitting machine intelligences
against each other in a race to detect deep-fakes → but researchers
overwhelmed

Flaws and strengths of democracy

● [Link]
● Insightful article that argues that despite its flaws, democracy still is the best form of
government especially compared to authoritarianism.

Division in politics
● Positive case study: Indonesian 2019 Presidential Campaign
○ Country showed division in political allegiances along religious lines, with more
conservative Muslim areas opting for Prabowo, while his rival Widodo won in provinces
that were more religiously diverse and tolerant
○ Following electoral defeat, Prabowo alleged electoral fraud and challenged results in
Constitutional Court. The initially peaceful protest descended into violent riots.
○ To mend ties and for the sake of national unity, the two rivals came together, and had
an MRT ride and satay lunch together. Prabowo was made Defence Minister and the
acrimony effectively ended.
● Negative case study: Trump and Pelosi
○ After President Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, during the State of the Union,
Trump refused to shake the hand of Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In
response, Pelosi tore a copy of his speech on live TV. Both are historically unprecedented
displays of mutual disdain.

Political Participation and Activism

● Cambodia
○ Repression of democracy and election boycotts
:
 ■ Elections give governments the legitimacy to rule → after Cambodian regime
under Hun Sen nearly lost power to the opposition in 2013, it has been anxious
for validation, offering cash and food to those who vote, and arresting activists
who called for a boycott
■ Repression of independent media, arrest of activists
■ Power of social media: Thy Sovantha, Cambodia’s most popular influencer,
used to be one of the faces of the local opposition. The fact that the government
bothered to court her with monetary incentives, causing her to switch
allegiances, illustrates the magnitude of influence online personalities can have
today
○ Youth participation in politics
■ Recently, the youth in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are leading
political movements and asserting their interests onto the national political
agenda. Although the specific issues of political concern differ, they are
motivated by a common fear of economic decline for their generation, a
rejection of political marginalization, and a moral awakening that their
governments and the older generations are endangering their future, including
democracy.
● Anti-war movement in Japan
○ Students led the charge against the Abe administration’s new
Collective Self-Defence law to permit Japan’s Self-Defense Forces
to engage in military action outside Japan and in the aid of allies,
a move deemed by them as well as constitution scholars to be
unconstitutional under Japan’s pacifist constitution.
○ While their presence kept a check on the government's
tendencies towards war, this didn’t stop the government from
passing the law.
● Youths as a voting bloc
○ Growing frustrations over the socioeconomic woes
○ In the lead up to the elections, university student bodies and
various youth groups mobilized young voters to go to the polls,
which resulted in a 13 percent increase among 20-year-
olds since the last election, resulting in a surprise loss of majority
by the ruling conservative Saenuri Party
● Hong Kong’s umbrella movement
○ The umbrella movement in 2016 was sparked due to China’s
insistence on Hongkongers having to choose from a pool of
preselected pro-Beijing candidates for Chief Executive.
○ Widespread protests in June 2019 following the introduction of
an Extradition Bill which would allow Hong Kongers to be
prosecuted in mainland China → infringe on judicial
independence and threaten dissidents
● Underlying causes
○ High youth unemployment in Korea and Taiwan
○ Exorbitant retail prices in Taipei and Hong Kong

Racial discrimination
● Schools in the USA have been widely documented to disproportionately punish black students
● Implicit / unconscious bias: In 2016, researchers from Yale showed preschool teachers a video
of 4 preschool students of different races and gender and were asked to look for misbehaviour.
:
 Using eye tracking software, it was found that teachers, whether black or white, looked at the
black male student far more than the others.
Populism
● Brexit 2016: Pro-Brexiteer Michael Gove infamously said “I think the people of this country
have had enough of experts with organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best
and getting it consistently wrong.”
● Distrust has been encouraged and cynically weaponised by those who have vested interests in
discrediting experts because they want to advance a particular agenda - be that in the field of
economics, climate change, health or whatever - which may conflict with what expert opinion
would be.
● Experts are dismissed as supporting the elites, lacking any understanding of the socioeconomic
experiences of “everyday” citizens → implications on areas where there is almost unanimous
consensus like climate change and imperative for vaccinations
● Underpinnings for the rise of populism
○ Economic reasons
■ Anti-elitism is key tenet of populist ideology
■ Part of this is due to the fact that hourly wages have stagnated since the 2008
Global Financial Crisis, lagging behind increase in labour productivity. This
indicated that the benefits of increased productivity was not going to workers;
the returns to capital greatly exceeds returns to labour.
■ Increased job insecurity as well due to automation + outsourcing of jobs
■ Contrast this to the fact that the stock markets, dominated by the wealthy
elites largely recovered by 2016
■ Yet this narrative doesn’t fully explain the phenomenon of populism; ⅔ of
Trump voters in the 2016 Republican primaries earned over 50,000 USD / were
not working class
○ Social and demographic reasons (chiefly in the USA)
■ Economic and political empowerment of women and minority groups
juxtaposed with their financial woes and/or feelings of neglect made them feel
like strangers in their own land.

Modi’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis

● Some in the electorate have a penchant for valuing decisiveness and boldness in policy making
even if policies are inadequate or ill-informed. When Modi shut down the Indian economy in
March in response to Covid-19’s arrival, he did so relatively early. While people suffered, every
voter in every part of the country knew that Modi alone had shut the economy down in response
to the threat. By taking action early and on the grandest possible scale, he inoculated his
popularity against the pandemic’s political effects. No rival can now accuse him of not doing
enough and be believed by voters.
● However, in February, the government proceeded to organise massive public events in
Ahmedabad for the visiting US President Donald Trump. Ahmedabad subsequently became
epicentre of the virus for a while after.

International Relations
● Taiwan VS China
○ Taiwan as a beacon for democracy is perceived as an existential threat to the
Communist Party’s legitimacy to rule and the sovereignty of China, as Taiwan is seen as
part of China’s sovereign territory
○ Election and subsequent re-election of more anti-China DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen to the
presidency has further worsened ties
:
 ○ Embedded in wider superpower confrontation between the USA and China, with
Taiwan benefiting from increased US support as the US looks for allies
○ China’s efforts:
■ Weaponizing vast economic power to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic allies with
incentives like infrastructural deals → Solomon Islands and Kiribati cut off ties
with Taiwan within just a week apart in 2019. Reducing international recognition
of Taiwan as a sovereign state is crucial in isolating it.
■ Blowback: China’s use of “warrior diplomacy” has pushed some away from it
→ in Czech Republic, the high-profile visit by the Senate leader to Taiwan
threatened Beijing (EU stood behind Czech Republic)
■ Blocking Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organisation (WHO)
○ Taiwan’s response:
■ Economic
● Opt for softer informal cultural and economic ties rather than formal
recognition → “Go South’ policy to encourage Taiwanese businessmen
to invest in Southeast Asia
● Free trade agreements
■ Expertise
● Taiwan successfully contained the Covid-19 outbreak, and capitalised
on it through donating medical equipment and sharing its knowledge
with hard-hit countries across the developed world.
■ Political
● Hong Kong protests: Tsai Ing-wen visited bookstore, owned by Hong
Kong dissent who fled to Taiwan, and emphasised her support for the
democratic movement in Hong Kong

China's power over Indochina amidst Covid-19

:
 United Nations
● UN celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2020
● Successes:
○ Safer environment for smaller countries
○ Protection of rule of law
■ UN intervention when Iraq invaded Kuwait
:
 ○ Human rights protection
■ UNDHR, conventions against genocide, torture and slavery, racial and gender
discrimination, rights of the child and the disabled and much more
■ Enforcement is weak though, Human Rights Council’s resolutions are non-
binding
○ Agencies to aid every human endeavour
■ Developmental agencies like the UNDP, Food and Agricultural Organisation,
World Food Programme
■ International Marine Organisation and International Civil Aviation Organisation
makes rules that govern shipping and air travel
■ WHO’s rule in the Covid-19 crisis as indispensable source of information and
even leadership
■ World Meteorological Organisation’s role in climate change
○ Environmental protection
■ UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is comprehensive treaty that prevents
oceans from being polluted, degraded and overexploited
○ Peacekeeping operations
■ Separation of forces of Israel and Arab nations in 1948 uptill now with UNMISS
in South Sudan
● Greatest failures:
○ Conflict resolution
■ UN was founded to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, yet
it failed to prevent wars and armed conflicts
■ Conflicts since 1945 have killed more than 40 million people, including in
Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya and Syria
■ Partly due to geopolitical disagreement between the 5 permanent members of
the Security Council (USA vs Russia and China especially) who wield veto power
○ Protecting minorities
■ Inability or unwillingness to end killing and oppression of minorities in Rwanda
in 1994, and Srebrenica in 1995
■ In Rwanda it was due to the lack of any vested interest in conflict for the Big
Five
■ Current case with Rohingya refugees → difficulty in preventing genocide as the
state of Myanmar has sovereignty.
● The UN is not perfect but the civilization we enjoy would not exist without the UN and its family
of agencies. The UN should improve their relevance and efficiency, be a thought leader on new
developments like artificial intelligence, the digital economy, cyber security and warfare, and
external interference in elections.

US-China superpower confrontation over trade, technology, intellectual property and human rights
● While observers are quick to call this a new Cold War, there is a distinct difference between the
rivalry the US had with the USSR and the one it now has with China: China is inextricably linked
economically to the USA, which raises the economic cost of a full-on war.
● US missteps
○ Trump tore up the Trans-Pacific Partnership which set the rules of free trade in the 21st
Century in line with US interests and excluded China - China is now looking to join the
new agreement Japan managed to salvage from the TPP
○ Failing to align with Germany even though it leads the EU, which wields immense
economic power as the world’s largest single market.
:
 Worsening Sino-UK ties
● Confrontation between UK and China over the latter’s suppression of democratic freedoms in
Hong Kong, in violation of the agreement the two countries signed handing HK over to China in
1997.
● UK government made momentous decision to allow up to 3 million ppl from HK to come to the
UK to live and work, the single biggest wave of immigration in the history of the country →
greeted with shouts of approval from all parties (irony is that some conservative parties
previously rejected untattered immigation)
● Illustrates that sometimes, countries do stand up for their values (democratic values in this
case) even if it comes at the expense of economic gains; Britain probably caused a potentially
lucrative relationship with economic giant China to sour especially in a time when Britain is
looking for trading partners after leaving the EU.

Implications of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban on US global hegemony[3]

● [Link]
american-hegemony
● Fascinating article by political scientist Francis Fukuyama

Migrants and Refugees

:
:
:
 Singapore:
● NIMBY mindset: Opposition to construction of migrant worker dormitories in Serangoon
Gardens in 2008. Mix of concerns surrounding overcrowding, traffic congestion and more
xenophobic undertones → Government compromised, downsizing domintories and creating a
leisure space to act as a buffer zone between residents and migrant workers (further reading:
[Link]
● Outbreak of Covid-19 in migrant domintories bringing to light poor sanitary and hygiene
conditions to which migrant workers are subjected to. Some xenophobes mistook this outcome of
discrimination as a justification for it, perceiving migrants as dirty and uncultured (e.g. Lianhe
Zaobao forum letter linking outbreak to personal hygiene of migrant workers
[Link]
:
 ● Asymmetric power relations between employers and foreign domestic workers → creates
opportunities for abuse which maids may be reluctant to report. Plenty of examples of physical
and verbal abuse, starvation and even murder.
([Link]
piang-ngaih-don-14263088)
● Deceptive advertising by job agencies about working conditions and pay
● Equality before the law and unequal access to justice: Parti Liyani case study
● Competition between locals and foreigners for access to jobs, as well as goods and services like
housing and transport => Demand for policies of differentiation, which give native-born
Singaporeans prioritised access to public services (healthcare, education etc) and employment
(Singapore for Singaporeans protest in response to government White Paper in 2013 planning for
a population of 6.9 million)
○ In response to heavy backlash, the Singaporean government has sharply shifted away
from liberal immigration policies, reducing PR inflow, tightening PR and citizenship
requirements, increasing school fees for foreign and PR students. To ensure fair
employment opportunities for locals, the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) requires
that companies post job advertisements in the national Jobs Bank for citizens prior to
applying for Employment Passes
○ Some, including those in Opposition, find this inadequate
○ Debate in Parliament between the ruling party and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP)
over the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in
2021. Critics fear that the agreement gives Indian foreign talent excessive access to the
Singaporean labour market

Education
Holistic, interdisciplinary education
● Merger of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Faculty of Science to form an
interdisciplinary college known as College of Humanities and Sciences
● NUS president wants to radically change its education, from specialisation to interdisciplinary
learning.
● In the past, graduates would specialise in a single field, find a corresponding specialised
occupation and remain in the industry.
● Assumptions no longer hold. Rapidly changing world has problems that are ill-defined,
constantly evolve and defy single-discipline solutions
● E.g. Covid-19, beyond a medical issue, requires social, political and environmental study and
intervention as well
○ Engineering and medicine to make test kits and vaccines
○ Public health to set guidelines for social distancing and mask-wearing
○ Social work and business to address mental health
● To even understand, much less solve it, integrated knowledge, skills and insights thus needed
from different fields
● Interdisciplinary knowledge shouldn’t dilute depth though

Changing education landscape in Singapore - former Minister of Education Ong Ye Kung

● Four trade-offs
○ Rigour and Joy
○ Sharpening and blurring academic differentiation
○ Customisation vs stigmatisation
○ Paper qualifications and career skills
:
 ● New changes
○ Removal of Mid-year exams for P3, P5, Sec 1 and Sec 3, any weighted assessments for
P1 and P2, from 2019-2020
○ 2016: Elementary Math syllabus amended to include new Application Question
○ 2021: PSLE scoring system reformed; student scores no longer based on relative
performance to peers to reduce unhealthy competition + academic differentiation
blunted so students don’t have to fight for every last mark
■ Some parents felt that the changes will not significantly reduce stress, as it
does not change underlying causes of stress like the fact that PSLE remains too
consequential an examination, deciding whether or not students enter top
schools or “settle” for others.
○ 2024: MOE announced in 2019 that it would abolish the practice of secondary school
streaming by 2024. Previously, students were sieved into Express, Normal Academic, and
Normal Technical streams depending on academic ability and inclination. Led to a high
degree of stigmatisation especially for NA and NT students, which can discourage
otherwise capable students. Abolished in favour of subject-based banding, which
encourages greater flexibility in one’s subject difficulty, and reduces stigmatisation of
students.
● Past changes
○ “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation” vision in 1997
■ Strengthen thinking and inquiry in students
■ Reduced curriculum by 30%, enhance teacher training
○ “Teach Less, Learn More” in 2002
■ Curriculum cut by 20% → more active and independent learning

Top 10 Job Skills in Demand

● [Link]
○ Good article about 21st century job skills

Technology and education

● Coding classes for all upper primary school students
○ Equip them with 21st century skills
○ Create healthy pipeline for tech talent for new digital economy
● Complementing existing efforts
○ “O” Level and “A” Level Computing
○ Weaving Artificial Intelligence (AI) into ITE curriculum
● Significance of digital economy
○ (LOCAL) Study by Microsoft estimates that by 2021l digital economy will contribute to
$10 billion to Singapore’s GDP
○ (GLOBAL) 2016 study by Oxford Economics and Huawei estimated that the total market
value of global digital economy was be about $11.5 trillion, or 15% of global GDP

Lifelong learning
● Increased need to acquire new skills as established ones become obsolete
● Mass Open Online Courses (MOOC): online platforms that partner top universities like
Harvard and MIT to provide short-term modular courses and longer-term degree programmes
○ Edx
○ Coursera
○ Udemy
Democratisation of education
:
 ● Education is becoming increasingly diffused and accessible. Whereas learning used to be
largely the preserve of traditional educational institutes like schools and universities, new
information technologies are rapidly increasing access and affordability beyond the four walls of
traditional organisations. Online courses are riding the Internet wave to provide quality education
on platforms like edx and Coursera (fun fact: co-founded by a Singaporean!), covering everything
ranging from coding to sociology at a fraction of their original cost. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is
used by Coursera to grade math and programming assignments automatically => overcomes
geographical and financial barriers

“Singapore in danger of becoming an academic aristocracy” - Straits Times, Chua Mui Hoong
● Singapore prides itself as a classless society but a class divide now exists
● Meritocracy rewards academically inclined students with good jobs and scholarships (e.g. the
prestigious PSC scholarship) in private and public sectors
● IPS survey found that social classes in Singapore lack interaction with other classes. On average,
Singaporeans living in public housing (HDBs) have fewer than 1 friend who lives in private housing
● Concept of “social distance”
○ Distance that emerges among groups along racial, class, gender lines resulting in
tendency to socialise rather exclusively with ppl of the same group
○ Affective social distance
■ People of one group identify with and feel more affinity for others of the same
group
○ Normative social distance
■ Thinking that people like yourself are the “norm” → insiders who should get
their rewards in the system
● Singapore’s government is dominated by scholars and academically gifted individuals as part of
meritocracy
● This “ruling class” of scholar-administrators may one day lose touch with the needs and
interests of others due to affective and normative social distance, knowingly or inadvertently
creating a system that primarily benefits people with similar backgrounds to them (common
populist trope/narrative employed by Singporean political opposition)

Inequality in Singaporean education

● Stats
○ Study by Children’s Society research officer in 2016 found that over 40% of secondary
school students in prestigious Integrated Programme (IP) and Gifted Education
Programme (GEP) schools come from homes with monthly income over $10,000
● Causes:
○ Due to unequal financial or tuition resources (commonly cited, a little banal at this
point) - the top 20% of households spend as much as 4 times the amount on tuition than
the bottom 20%, and the quality of tutors is likely to vary widely, depending on how
much parents are able to fork out
● Measures
○ Subsidies:
■ Expansion of subsidised government kindergartens to increase access to low
income students. Ensures they don’t lag behind as kindergarten education is
correlated with better literacy and numeracy skills essential for primary school
■ On average, every child entering Primary 1 in 2018 would have received over
$130,000 in education subsidies by the time he completes secondary school.
Parents only pay $13 each month per child in primary school fees
:
 Stress in Singaporean education
● 2014 OECD Report found that Singapore’s students had the 3rd highest hours spent on
homework: 9.4 hours per week, nearly double the OECD average - but MOE spokesperson says it’s
reasonable
● Singaporean “O” Level and “A” Level syllabi are more demanding than their international
counterparts.
● According to a 2019 OECD study, 3 in 4 students in Singapore reported that they were afraid of
failure, way above OECD average.
○ Concerns that this may prevent risk-taking, necessary for innovation and
entrepreneurship. Giving creative answers in exams rather than established ones may be
too risky for high performers because it could cost them precious marks.
Politics and education
● Controversial scrapping of university module on dissent by playwright Alfian Sa’at in the liberal
arts Yale-NUS College in 2019. Proponents of the cancellation pointed to itinerary, which include
the creation of placards, visitation of the Speaker’s Corner and inclusion of well-known anti-
establishment figures like Jolovan Wham and Dr P.J. Thum, some of whom have been previously
convicted of public order related offenses. They say it stirs up disorder, dissent and protest, the
latter of which is especially restricted in Singapore. Critics say this is an attack on academic
freedoms and a suppression of alternative voices. (Yale-NUS subsequently merged out of
existence with University Scholars Programme, announced in 2021)
Sports
● Human rights
○ The promise of high pay and a chance at a better life cause athletes to endure human
rights abuses
■ Sexual assault
● Most often perpetrated by men in positions of power like coaches and
doctors who use their status to manipulate victims and deter reporting
● A widespread problem among female athletes
● Tacit acceptance and silence
● Larry Nasser: sports physician who sexually assaulted 150 girls, using
his position as a cover to gain access to female athletes
■ Overwork
● Mary Cain, who was once America’s fastest runner, faced immense
pressure from her Nike coach to lost unreasonable amounts of weight
● Caused high emotional distress which drove her to cut herself and
suffer from suicidal ideation
● China’s Olympic factories
○ There is a strong drive by the government to develop the
sporting scene, in an effort to beat America at Olympic medal
tallies. 1 billion dollars was pumped into sporting infrastructure.
○ Intensive training programmes that induct children as young as
7 into their ranks - child abuse?
● Sports and politics
○ In the 1936 Olympics, the games were used by Hitler in an attempt to flaunt his regime
and racist ideology to the rest of the world. His efforts were thwarted when African
American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals, beating the Germans on their
home turf.
○ Black rights:
■ Two African American athletes raising a black power fist during the national
anthem to protest racism in the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics →
:
 subsequently sent home and suspended from track team
■ NFL and NBA players sported shirts with George Floyd’s infamous words “I
can’t breathe”, uttered by the black man as he was arrested and subsequently
knelt upon by police officers, as a sign of protest and a show of support
○ International politics:
■ 1972 Montreal Olympics were boycotted by African, Carribean and Middle
Eastern countries in protest of the New Zealand rugby team touring apartheid
South Africa, where racist segregation was still in practice.
■ Superpower politics: Moscow Summer Olympics was boycotted by the USA in
protest of Moscow’s invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets boycotted the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympics in retaliation.
○ Arguments
■ Athletes are morally obligated to do so. Unique position of influence that few
others have
■ Sports may be one of the few unifying threads in society; To politicise would be
divisive

Additional Content
● Climate Change Package:
[Link]
DH7Y/edit?usp=sharing
● US and China Conflict (Politics and International Relations) Package:
[Link]
5wn8/edit?usp=sharing

[1] partly male and partly female in appearance

[2] Meaning the net emissions produced is zero. This is different from zero emissions, meaning the activity
does not produce carbon emissions at all.
[3] Hegemony: (noun) leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
: