Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper investigates the mechanisms by which the Singaporean state rules. Specifically, it looks at how the state frames the problem of women and their fertility, and how it then tries to resolve the supposed problem. It argues that the state approaches the problem by balancing rhetoric and practice; by emphasizing inclusion rather than exclusion; and by trying to convince citizens that they should behave in particular ways for the good of the nation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels (1979) argued that ‘the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’ (p. 82). In other words, the state is an instrument for the capitalist class to rule the working class. This paper will seek to critically examine the relevance of this claim in Singapore today, looking specifically at the issue of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The assumption is that government policies are a result of social tensions and conflicts, thus the decisions made (resulting in government policies) reveals the state alliance to certain interests. Given the limitations of an academic paper, the strategy adopted here is to look at government policies regarding the administering of Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARV) for HIV patients.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper examines the surge of Chinese nationalist movements in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia in the decades prior to and during the China-Japan War of 1931 to 1945. It extends and sharpens Benedict Anderson’s concepts of “imagined communities” and “long-distance nationalism.” Anderson argues that diaporas of the same ethnic root would identify with each other. Using a wide range of archival and documentary sources (including British colonial archives, Japanese intelligence reports, Chinese newspapers, commercial directories, and newsletters of business and native-place associations), my research however shows the tenacious growth of Chinese sub-ethnic cleavages in diasporic nationalist movements. I argue that diasporic Chinese bourgeois initiatives to organize nationalist movements invariably drew on sub-ethnic ties to mobilize support. Although these movements solicited support from the bourgeoisie through their transnational business networks, the movements were by and large operated by each major sub-ethnic group. In short, Chinese diasporic nationalism lacked the capacity to unite all sub-ethnic groups. Instead it provided the terrain for competition among sub-ethnic business networks and the political parties they supported.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Scholars have pointed out that three major innovations have given the impetus to an ongoing transformation of our economic and social environment. These historical and technological changes were the swing of electronic industries to digital technology, the large-scale marketing of personal computers and the advent of the Internet. These three changes interacted to produce Information Communication Technology (ICT) convergence and the evolution of industrial society towards an "information society". Cheaper transmission of information via many more communication outlets as a result of convergence will mean that ICTs will be used in increasingly many other ways by governments, commercial systems and society that had previously not been possible. So, does this mean that with advent of the age of convergence, increases in the variety of ways the same information can be access will result in the reduction of the gap in the digital divide? This paper explores the extent of convergence in Malaysia and Singapore, two countries located in South East Asia and the nature of the digital divide in both countries.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Singapore has been well-known for its strict censorship against the press since the 1970s. It is done out of the authoritarian belief that the government knows better than anyone how “to advance the economic, social and cultural well-being of their peoples.” The press should be kept under the tight control of the government to serve public interest.
The appeal of Singapore's theories of censorship lies in the popular values it promotes. In particular, the generic values, such as patriotism, social harmony and economic growth, are upheld by authoritarian regimes and embedded in their policies, deserve special attention.
To these censorship claims, one may simply denounce them as violating international human rights norms. But criticisms offered by this paper take another path. It will be based on thorough discussion of both the conceptual issues involved as well as detailed analysis of the social situation in Singapore. In the following, two major theories of press censorship in Singapore, namely the development-oriented argument and the Asian values argument, will be presented and criticized. Each theory will be given a sympathetic understanding before it is subjected to critical scrutiny by looking into its theoretical shortcoming and empirical validity. It is hoped that a critique of these two arguments, based on considerate analysis of Singapore’s situation, can enhance the understanding of their fundamental weaknesses while we show our sensitivity to its cultural particularity that gives rise to these censorship claims.