Singapore Today Research Articles

Antenatal corticosteroids in Singapore: a clinical and scientific assessment.

Preterm birth (PTB; delivery prior to 37 weeks' gestation) is the leading cause of early childhood death in Singapore today. Approximately 9% of Singaporean babies are born preterm; the PTB rate is likely to increase given the increased use of assisted reproduction technologies, changes in the incidence of gestational diabetes/high body mass index and the ageing maternal population. Antenatal administration of dexamethasone phosphate is a key component of the obstetric management of Singaporean women who are at risk of imminent preterm labour. Dexamethasone improves preterm outcomes by crossing the placenta to functionally mature the fetal lung. The dexamethasone regimen used in Singapore today affords a very high maternofetal drug exposure over a brief period of time. Drawing on clinical and experimental data, we reviewed the pharmacokinetic profile and pharmacodynamic effects of dexamethasone treatment regimen in Singapore, with a view to creating a development pipeline for optimising this critically important antenatal therapy.

“Owned them like a Father": Labor Contractors, Port Workers, and the Makings of Ethnicity in Singapore

Despite the importance of ports to the Indian Ocean world, labor contracting systems in ports remain understudied. By focusing on ethnic divisions of labor among port workers in colonial Singapore from the 1930s to the 1950s, this article shows how labor contractors constructed these divisions and how social organization in modern Singapore is rooted in labor contracting at the port. Past scholarship has explained merchants’ propensity to form partnerships within the same kin or ethnic circles with the notion of trust: that those of the same kin or ethnicity could be trusted more easily. However, this article argues that labor contractors often recruited migrant workers from the contractors’ home villages and regions because shared kinship and ethnicity allowed contractors to better control workers’ laboring, social, and cultural life. Performances of shared kinship and ethnicity gave contractors power as both employers and community leaders. After World War II, port workers also solidified ethnic divisions by organizing into unions along the lines of ethnicity, and they secured benefits as ethnic blocs, rather than for all port workers. This post-war moment of organizing labor by ethnicity has shaped labor activism in Singapore today as migrant workers continue to strike in ethnic blocs to protest disparities in working conditions between workers of different ethnicities.

Multilingualism among the elderly Chinese in Singapore: an oral account

Abstract This study aims to qualitatively document the histories of Singapore’s Chinese multilingual elderly. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Chinese Singaporeans aged 75 years and above on how and why they acquired the languages they speak and their attitudes towards these linguistic varieties, of which many are declining in usage. Five participants were multilingual and spoke three or more languages fluently; two spoke only two languages and were included for a balanced and holistic perspective. Common themes from the interviews were identified and discussed. One key finding was that communicative necessity and practicality naturally fuelled language learning. Outside of the home, multilingual individuals acquired varieties from conversing with friends, relatives and customers, or as an educational requirement. Language was tied to ethnic belonging, but, generally, pride to speak a linguistic variety was linked to its functional value, not its associated ethnic identity. Unhappiness was expressed at the waning of the Chinese vernaculars and Baba Malay in Singapore today. Such language loss was seen as a sombre, but unavoidable consequence of Singapore’s globalisation and modernisation.

Singapore’s Liquid National Identity

Every other policy had to bend at the knees for our water survival. —Lee Kuan Yew1 Each voice a story, each voice unique./Singapore river: speak. —Roger Vaughan Jenkins2 Singapore today may not bring to mind an image of a water-scarce nation. In spite of its history of British colonization (1819–1963) and independence from Malaysia as recently as 1965, within a single generation this “little red dot” has become one of the most prosperous and technologically innovative countries in the world. That said, water has long been tethered to this young nation’s identity and continuity. Singapore is water-scarce due to its limited land area onto which rain can fall, as well as its lack of natural aquifers, lakes, and groundwater (Bhullar 154; Tortajada 2006). Over time, its combination of profit-based initiatives with altruism, steps toward self-sufficiency, investment in research and development, and sharing of water management strategies have helped Singapore brand itself as a “Global Hydrohub” that “seeks to leverage growing concerns over global water problems” (Joo and Heng 210). In the process, it has taken adaptation measures that already provide buffers against climate change impacts (Bhullar 2013).

Local Pollution as a Determinant of Residential Electricity Demand

This study finds that a significant and hitherto ignored determinant of home energy demand is ambient particle pollution. I access longitudinal data for Singapore, a newly affluent Asian city-nation and arguably a harbinger of what is to come in the urbanizing tropics. Singapore today combines high (yet unequal) defensive capital stocks, such as residential air conditioning, with widely varying particle pollution. Overall, residential electricity demand grows by 1.1% when PM2.5 rises by 10 µg/m3. I compare the pollution-electricity response to the well-known heat-electricity response, and show how it varies over the socioeconomic distribution. Local pollution control has the cobenefit of reducing electricity generation, via lower household demand, and thus mitigating carbon emissions. The observed inequality in defensive expenditure may also exacerbate health inequalities, as suggested by an exchange between epidemiologists and government.

Laden with great expectations: (re)mapping the arts housing policy as urban cultural policy in Singapore

The arts and artists need space to thrive. However, as much of the land in Singapore is state-owned, the finiteness of space – literally and figuratively – remains a key challenge. Yet there is a rich variety of arts infrastructure in Singapore today, from exhibition spaces to performing arts venues and state-subsidised artist studios. This infrastructure comes at a cost - these arts spaces are positioned as policy interventions capable of achieving a broad confluence of cultural, urban, economic and social outcomes for Singapore. This article aims to provide an understanding of how arts spaces in Singapore has been framed and legitimised as a strategic means to pursue multiple policy goals. In particular, this article will focus on the Arts Housing Policy, which was formally introduced in 1985 as an artist assistance scheme that provides subsidised work spaces to artists and arts groups. Over the years, the policy has evolved into an urban cultural policy expected to achieve urban rejuvenation goals. Through tracing the governmental structures and organisational processes behind the evolution of the Arts Housing Policy from an artist assistance scheme into an urban cultural policy, this article will demonstrate how and why arts housing spaces have become encumbered by the institutional layering of potentially incommensurate policy agendas, assumptions and aspirations. This article contends that a micro-level analysis of the bureaucratic structures and processes behind policy development will enable a more nuanced understanding of the tensions and incongruities between local artist needs and urban cultural policy goals in Singapore. • Arts governance in Singapore has been instrumentalised to deliver urban rejuvenation rather than arts-related benefits. • Singapore's Arts Housing is an urban cultural policy shaped by both global policy trends and local non-cultural state agendas. • The actual capacity of cultural infrastructure to deliver urban rejuvenation outcomes is questioned. • Analysing the processes and agendas behind cultural policy will enhance understanding of the expectations placed upon the arts. The

Local Pollution as a Determinant of Residential Electricity Demand

This study finds that a significant and hitherto ignored determinant of home energy demand is ambient particle pollution. I access longitudinal data for Singapore, a newly affluent Asian city nation and arguably a harbinger of what is to come in the urbanizing tropics. Singapore today combines high (yet unequal) defensive capital stocks, such as residential air conditioning, with widely varying particle pollution. Overall, residential electricity demand overall grows by 1.1% when PM2.5 rises by 10 ug/m3. I compare the pollution-electricity response to the well-known heat-electricity response, and show how it varies over the socioeconomic distribution. Local pollution control has the co-benefit of reducing electricity generation, via lower household demand, and thus mitigating carbon emissions. The observed inequality in defensive expenditure may also exacerbate health inequalities, as suggested by an exchange between epidemiologists and government.

Inclusion in Singapore: a social model analysis of disability policy

A rhetoric of inclusion and increased social spending within a global context of austerity cuts has dominated disability policies in Singapore today. However, there is a lack of academic works that take a critical disability studies view towards the analysis of disability in Singapore. This work aims to address this gap by adopting a critical social model-led analysis of disability policies in Singapore. The article examines the rhetoric of inclusion, how disability is defined and its implementation through various policies in Singapore. It will examine the underpinnings of disability in Singapore today and its impact on the lives of disabled people.

Hwee Hwee Tan's Mammon Inc. as Bildungsroman; Or, the Coming-of-Career Narrative

This article examines the relationship between genre and neoliberalism through a reading of a novel about a diasporic Singaporean trying to land a position with the “largest company in the world.” Following a discussion of how Hwee Hwee Tan's novel Mammon Inc. comments on Singapore's socioeconomic restructuring after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the article argues that attention to genre provides a framework through which to understand how the internalizing of neoliberal values becomes a matter of personal fulfillment and self-improvement. Tan's novel dramatizes neoliberal subject formation in Singapore today and can be described as a “coming-of-career” novel, or the story of becoming an economically viable subject in a globalized economy through the pursuit of a professional career. Through a reading of Mammon Inc., the article discusses the significance of age identity and age relations for neoliberal ideology. The novel highlights the manner in which professional careers are conflated with notions of life and the ways they are posed as a corrective to youth. Although the coming-of-career narrative is limited to discussions of privileged and upwardly mobile subjects, there is potential to think about the genre more generally. This article proposes that theorizing the neoliberal bildungsroman might present an opportunity to better historicize neoliberalism.

A century long sedimentary record of anthropogenic lead (Pb), Pb isotopes and other trace metals in Singapore

Reconstructing the history of metal deposition in Singapore lake sediments contributes to understanding the anthropogenic and natural metal deposition in the data-sparse Southeast Asia. To this end, we present a sedimentary record of Pb, Pb isotopes and eleven other metals (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Tl, U and Zn) from a well-dated sediment core collected near the depocenter of MacRitchie Reservoir in central Singapore. Before the 1900s, the sedimentary Pb concentration was less than 2 mg/kg for both soil and sediment, with a corresponding 206Pb/207Pb of ∼1.20. The Pb concentration increased to 55 mg/kg in the 1990s, and correspondingly the 206Pb/207Pb decreased to less than 1.14. The 206Pb/207Pb in the core top sediment is concordant with the 206Pb/207Pb signal of aerosols in Singapore and other Southeast Asian cities, suggesting that Pb in the reservoir sediment was mainly from atmospheric deposition. Using the Pb concentration in the topmost layer of sediment, the estimated atmospheric Pb flux in Singapore today is ∼1.6 × 10−2 g/m2 yr. The concentrations of eleven other metals preserved in the sediment were also determined. A principal component analysis showed that most of the metals exhibit an increasing trend towards 1990s with a local concentration peak in the mid-20th century.

Marine habitats and biodiversity of Singapore’s coastal waters: A review

Rapid and sustained coastal development, land reclamation, and intense use of surrounding waters by shipping, have changed the original land- and seascape of Singapore in the last two centuries. Reclaimed land now account for more than 30% of the current land area, with a concomitant loss of original intertidal and subtidal habitats across most of the southern shoreline of Singapore mainland as well as other offshore islands. The extent of coral reefs, mangroves, mudflats, seagrass beds, estuarine reefs, sandy and rocky shores has diminished considerably, so much so that man-made habitats such as seawalls, tidal canals, swimming lagoons and other artificial structures now form significant marine habitats in their own right. These remarkable changes in the marine environment have affected marine organisms to a greater or lesser extent, based on the very limited information available on marine habitats in Singapore prior to large-scale reclamation. However, the present extent and diversity of marine life that can be observed in Singapore today is still impressive. Much remains to be discovered and deciphered in terms of their biology and ecology. New records and species new to science continue to be described, even as new coastlines are built, and organisms continually adapt to a changing environment characterized by chronic disturbance. This review serves as a snapshot of the current state of knowledge of marine habitats and biodiversity in Singapore based on existing literature. Key threats and knowledge gaps are also highlighted.

Too Much Medicine: Time to Stop Indiscriminate Cancer Screening

Like most industrialised countries in the world, cancer has now become the leading cause of mortality in Singapore. Approximately 1 in 3 deaths in Singapore today is as a result of cancer.1 It is therefore unsurprising that cancer screening has become an integral part of health screening in primary health care today. The current Singapore’s Ministry of Health as well as Academy of Medicine’s guidelines are in keeping with most screening guidelines in the world in their recommendations of routine screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in those with average risks based on appropriate age cutoff,2,3 as well as screening for additional cancers based on elevated risks such as family history. Nowhere in the guidelines are serum tumour markers recommended as a method of routine screening. Despite this, every day in primary health care setting in Singapore, serum tumour markers such as carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), CA153, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) serology are commonly included in packages of health screening. Indeed, an entire industry surrounding this concept of healthy living and early disease detection has sprung up locally in which one can spend a day in a spa-like “health screening centre” where health screening packages can be selected from a menu by a consumer. These packages are often dressed up in attractive sounding hyperboles such as “Premium”, “Executive”, “Deluxe”, “Luxury” as well as the rather bland and less persuasive sounding “Basic” package. The last of which, ironically, is often the only one that is usually driven by guidelines. To compound this further, many of these health screening endeavours are not truly individualised according to personal risk factors despite their claims as such. In fact, the only personalised aspect of the screening appears to be based primarily on consumer request and how much he or she is willing to spend. Indeed, a healthy 30-year-old with no risk factors or symptoms can request and undergo a package that will include among them, a colonoscopy, an oesophago-gastroduodenoscopy and all the various serum tumour markers despite the fact that the likelihood of him being harmed far outweighs any potential miniscule benefi t that may arise.

The Rise and Fall of Homonationalism in Singapore

Pinkwashing and homonationalism are recent terms coined to describe the identification of sexual minorities with the neoliberal state; the former is usually used to critique certain policies within the State of Israel meant to promote its society as tolerant of diversity, the latter with the movement for same-sex marriage and participation in the armed services in the United States. This essay extends the application of these terms to Singapore, where between 2001 and 2004 the state tentatively and partially relaxed its restrictions on homosexual activity (e.g., the “Nation Parties”) in the hope of attracting the “creative class” to the island and its economy, only to reinstate prohibitions when those burgeoning activities were seen as conflicting with Singapore's ideology of “Asian values.” Singapore today remains a nation where male homosexuality is illegal but domicile to a discreet gay subculture.

The urban pteridophyte flora of Singapore

A total of 81 species in 41 genera of pteridophytes were collected and documented from the urbanized parts of Singapore. Eight introduced and ornamental species are confirmed to have escaped and are growing wild in Singapore today. The endangered status of several fern species in Singapore reported in the second edition of Singapore Red Data Book are updated based on new distribution data.

Malay Literature in Singapore: Lines of Thought and Conflicting Ideas

A line of thought exists and develops from the socio-political and cultural atmosphere, apart from the writer’s level of public and individual awareness. Beginning with the call for “literature for society” by ASAS’50, the following decades saw more variety in literary trends, although, on the whole, established writers still remained committed to use literature as a means for raising awareness and channelling social criticism, while at the same time using it to present the ideal to which the writer aspires. In the cultural and political context of Singapore, there are three lines of thought. The first is a kind of foregrounding, in which the writer makes a universal observation of humankind and/or describes the condition of the Malay community with all its challenges and problems, touching on issues that have a basis in history or current realism. The second is the tendency to offer alternatives or echo moral messages that call for people to be more spiritual and more ethical in this life, without making a concrete link to the communal life or the structures and systems that underlie the society and nation. The third is a kind of escapism, indicated by a domestication of thought or “popularization” of literature following the dictates of a market in which light reading and entertainment-type reading materials are what sells. In Singapore today, writing is becoming more varied. What is to be observed is how literature has become the vehicle for refuting dominant ideas, apart from becoming the ground for competing ideas as writers present what they feel is the best idea in the interest of society. The challenge for developing an effective literary culture is ensuring that literary works have a clear social vision, employing good techniques and language skills, while at the same time building a grounded, people-oriented literature. This discussion will analyse the obstacles that complicate the literary culture of the Malay literature of Singapore as it aims to achieve all this. Keywords: modern literature, Singapore Malay, political culture, humanity, conflicting ideas

The Profile of Coaching and Coach Education in Singapore: Past, Present and Future

The demand for certified sports coaches in Singapore is high, especially from the schools and private sectors. This trend is in line with the significant global growth of the vocation of sports coaching (Taylor & Garratt, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to provide an informal review of the state of coaching and coach education in Singapore, by addressing three main themes: (1) provide an overview of the evolution of the Singaporean coaching system since the late 1990s, (2) describe examples of identified ground up initiatives from various stakeholders within the coaching ecosystem and (3) draw conclusions from existing literature and provide suggestions on how coach education systems can be further developed. The foundation of the current coaching system was established in the late 1990s with the introduction of the National Coaching Accreditation Program (NCAP) and it is still the benchmark for the coaching practice in Singapore today. The basic NCAP is broken down to a theory and technical component which is administered by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the National Sports Associations (NSAs) respectively. The SSC had embarked on various initiatives over the years to ensure that more Singaporeans have access to quality coaching.

Educating multicultural citizens: Colonial nationalism, imperial citizenship and education in late colonial Singapore

This article recounts the unusual history of a national idea in late colonial Singapore from the 1930s to the early 1950s before Singapore's attainment of partial self-government in 1955. Using two different concepts, namely ‘colonial nationalism’ and ‘imperial citizenship’, it offers a genealogy of nationalism in Singapore, one that calls into question the applicability of prevailing theories of anti-colonial nationalism to the Singapore-in-Malaya context. Focusing on colonial nationalism, the article provides a historical account of English-mediated official multiculturalism through tracking shifting British colonial priorities, ideologies of governance and challenges to its authority in Singapore. This account is rarely appreciated in Singapore today given official scripting of national history that abets particular amnesias with regards to its multicultural nationhood.

A Critical Discourse of Singapore’s School Geography for the Twenty-First Century

School Geography has experienced changes in curricula over the past few decades. In each iteration, the Ministry of Education has endeavoured to design a geography curriculum that is relevant to the needs of Singapore for each of those time periods. Between the 1960s to the late 1970s, it was taught as Regional Geography, covering a range of geographical topics for each selected region. Thematic Geography was introduced in the 1980s to school Geography in Singapore. In 1997, school Geography curriculum underwent changes leading in a new national curriculum at the turn of the century in 2001, in response to a state-driven education initiativeThinking Schools, Learning Nations. A mid-term review of that curriculum in 2007 resulted in a distinct form of school Geography unprecedented in Singapore’s education history. Today, school Geography in Singapore is learnt conceptually with national level assessment designed to that end. In response to the changes in school Geography, pre-service and in-service teacher training has also responded by focusing on conceptual learning and inquiry. This paper will explore the state of school Geography curricula in Singapore today, and the curriculum of teacher training, with the intent to critically discuss if Geography education in Singapore is educating an informed citizen for these changing times. Geography has been a school subject in Singapore since its independence. Although it has remained a disciplinary subject whose place has yet been disputed, the big question of why study Geography in the first place needs to be answered to ensure its continued survival. This paper ends by offering a reason to why Geography plays an important role in education for Singaporeans, and even to any citizen of the world in our changing times.

A brief history of interventional radiology in Singapore and its current status.

X-ray services were first established in Singapore in 1898. With the opening of the General Hospital in 1926, there was subsequent increase in workload. However, a radiology department was not formed until the 1950s. Angiography was introduced in the same decade initially for diagnosis. By the 1960s and 1970s, both vascular and non-vascular interventions were performed. Subsequently, interventional radiology experienced exponential growth, with newer technology and better facilities established over the past 3 decades. With more trained interventional radiologists, the service is currently available in all public hospitals and in most private hospitals in Singapore today. It is envisaged that structured training and formal credentialing will be established, eventually leading to recognition of interventional radiology as a specialty in its own right.

Bazaar Malay topics

Bazaar Malay is a Malay-lexified pidgin with a Chinese substratum spoken in the marketplace of Singapore (and elsewhere in Southeast Asia). Although it is no longer a lingua franca in Singapore today, it is nevertheless still spoken by older Singaporeans. Like Chinese and Malay, Bazaar Malay is a topic-prominent language. We document three types of the Bazaar Malay topic construction and show that they are identical to the topic structures found in Chinese. The degree of convergence in the topic construction between Chinese and Bazaar Malay, and between Chinese and Singapore English, supports the systemic view of substratum transfer.