Singapore Government Research Articles

Last Mile Innovation: The Case of the Locker Alliance Network

Problem Definition: The Singapore government has recently proposed the concept of Locker Alliance (LA), an interoperable network of public lockers in residential areas and hot spots in community, to improve the efficiency of last mile parcel delivery operations. This is to complement the existing infrastructure, comprising mainly of proprietary lockers and collection points in commercial areas set up by large delivery companies. How do we determine the density and coverage of the LA network, to promote adoption of locker pickup in Singapore? What will be the impact on the delivery profile in the central business district, far from the residential areas? Academic/Practical Relevance: We discuss the operational challenges associated with the problem of public locker installation in a city, following a new smart nation initiative in Singapore. We used data analytics to address the question: What are the chances that a customer will choose to pickup parcel from a locker, over home or office deliveries, based on walking distance (to lockers) and a variety of other features? Without knowing the transit routes of the customers, how do we design the LA network to ensure that the lockers will be well utilized? Methodology: We use a set of locker usage data from a commercial courier company to calibrate a locker choice model, to determine the impact of walking distance on locker pickup intentions. We use the current (observed) parcel delivery profile to develop a facility location model for the LA network. We use this model to extrapolate and approximate the true adoption and new delivery profiles when the LA network is built. Results: Contrary to conventional wisdom, our model does not always place lockers near areas with peak parcel volume (in pre-existing data), because the LA lockers provide another option for customers to pick up from lockers near residential areas. Furthermore, the model suggests that a coverage of 250 meters is appropriate for the LA network in Singapore. Managerial Implications: Commercial parcel locker installation has traditionally focused on hot spots in the transit routes of the citizens in the city. The LA network is the first attempt in Singapore to allow public lockers in residential areas. This paper develops analytical method to determine network density and coverage based on a locker choice model, and argues how useful insights can be gleaned from the model, despite not having the full transit route information of all citizens in the city.

Survival by Technopreneurialism: Innovation, Imaginaries and the New Narrative of Nationhood in Singapore

Through a consideration of the Singapore government’s moves to encourage citizens to create innovative, high-technology enterprises—or to become ‘technopreneurs’—this essay looks at how government efforts to promote innovation, can articulate with prevailing national and social imaginaries, in ways that reshape notions of citizenship and nationhood and that have potential ramifications for the kinds of risks and burdens that citizens can be asked to bear. I show, specifically, how the new value of innovation is being incorporated into Singapore’s older narrative of national survival in a way that changes this narrative’s mode of emplotment from one of comedy to one of satire. Through this shift, promises of collective prosperity and progress, which are integral to the nation’s founding era of industrial manufacturing-based development, are withdrawn, while new notions of individual and financial risk and reward are introduced. I argue that attending to modes of emplotment may be a useful way to identify the broader entailments of different governments’ innovation policies and programmes.

The securitisation of fake news in Singapore

Employing the securitisation theory advanced by the Copenhagen School, this article critically evaluates the security discourses in Singapore regarding the issue of deliberate online falsehoods, or ‘fake news’. It seeks to address two key questions: first, can the theory provide empirical insights illuminating the heightened political salience of the issue of fake news in the country? Second, how can this study contribute to the development and advance our understanding of the securitisation framework? The securitisation of a political issue gives credence to the urgent need for emergency measures and the mobilisation of resources—and often by suspending due political process—to resolve a purported existential threat. In this article, I show that the securitisation of fake news by the Singapore government has allowed it to consolidate political power, increase regulatory oversight on social media and censor criticisms against the state ahead of the conduct of national elections. In addition, this study contributes to the discussion on the applicability of securitisation theory beyond a Western or Euro-centric political context. It shows that the acquiescence of the audience is vital for a successful securitisation move in an authoritarian regime just as much as it would in a democracy.

Controlling Message and Messenger: Singapore’s Ongoing Efforts to Bureaucratize Islam

This paper argues that ongoing efforts by the Singapore Government to further bureaucratize Islam are driven by a combination of the specific, unique structure of the political organization of Singapore; combined with idiosyncratic historical events inclusive of separation from Malaysia and the race riots of the 1960s. The impact of the specific characteristics of the Singapore body politic are at times underplayed, but their context is critical to understanding the relationship between religion and state in this island nation. The primary differential characteristics include centralization of power, communitarianism, and a strong bias towards non-assimilation. This creates a construct very different from the Western, “melting pot” conceptualization of a multi-racial, multi-cultural society. The paper next outlines the various mechanisms of bureaucratization and subsequent control over both the message and the messenger, inclusive of the Singapore Muslim Identity Scheme (SMI), the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS), centralized control of the Kutbha, the Curriculum Development Plan (CDP), and current efforts to establish Islamic institutions of higher learning within Singapore.

Retail Sector in Singapore

The retail sector plays an important role in Singapore and it is one of the most significant factors of Singapore economic development. However, a series of problems were caused by the increasing number of overseas retail stores expanding into Singapore. In order to understand the actual survival status of the Singapore retail sector, this article will first discuss the related issues and explain how Singapore government work out on these issues. Second, is discussed how big data could affect the retail sector today in Singapore. In addition, a multiple regression analysis will be provided for testing and analyzing the relationship between Singapore retail sales and some particular economic indicators of Singapore.

Reducing Critical Hindrances to Building Information Modeling Implementation: The Case of the Singapore Construction Industry

The Singaporean government has made building information modeling (BIM) implementation mandatory in new building projects with gross floor areas over 5000 m2, but the implementation is still plagued with hindrances such as lacking project-wide collaboration. The purposes of this study are to identify critical factors hindering BIM implementation in Singapore’s construction industry, analyze their interrelationships, and identify strategies for reducing these hindrances. The results from a survey of 87 experts and five post-survey interviews in the Singaporean construction industry identified 21 critical hindrances, among which “need for all key stakeholders to be on board to exchange information” was ranked top. These hindrances were categorized into lack of collaboration and model integration (LCMI), lack of continuous involvement and capabilities (LCIC), and lack of executive vision and training (LEVT). LEVT and LCIC contributed to LCMI; LEVT caused LCIC. The proposed framework implying the key hindrances and their corresponding managerial strategies can help practitioners identify specific adjustments to their BIM implementation activities, which enables to efficiently achieve enhanced BIM implementation. The hindrances identified in this study facilitate overseas BIM implementers to customize their own lists of hindrances.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE SINGAPOREAN PREPARATION FOR THE FUTURE WORKFORCE AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VIETNAM

This paper aims at firstly reviewing initiatives on workforce transformation in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 funded by the Government of Singapore, and then making recommendations to policy makers regarding the workforce preparation in Vietnam. In the era of continuous change, workforce is a key factor in a thriving economy, thus Singapore’s strategy is to engender a future-ready generation for a better Singapore by strengthening the talent pools through lifelong learning and enabling all Singaporeans to excel and discover opportunities to fulfill their potentials. How has Singapore been doing to prepare a tomorrow’s workforce? How does Vietnam learn from Singapore’s experience in preparing for a future-ready workforce? This analysis will answer those two questions. The findings indicate that (i) the Government of Singapore has adopted an inclusive approach and has succeeded in developing a sustainable skills ecosystem and lifelong learning programs, and (ii) It is necessary for Vietnam to think about our own strategy that will focus on changing public awareness of lifelong learning and skills upgrading, identifying necessary skills for the future workforce, and creating effective action programs to encourage individuals to learn for life, pursue skills mastery and develop fulfilling careers.

Confucian Masculinity: State Advocacy of Active Fatherhood in Singapore

This article examines representations of fathers and fatherhood in the advertising campaigns of Singaporean government agencies. The introduction of paternity leave and encouragement for fathers to play a bigger role in childcare and child-raising suggest that the government is sympathetic to the pursuit of gender equality, but I argue that state advocacy of active fatherhood serves to reinforce patriarchal tendencies in Singapore. Current scholarship on the problematization of women in state discourses has highlighted the power and privilege of a particular social group in Singapore: heterosexual men. However, there has been a developing body of theoretical and empirical research that looks more critically at the discursive constructions of masculinities, particularly along the dimensions of class, race, and sexuality. This article takes up this issue of different masculinities and the implications this diversity has for understanding patriarchal culture and its intersecting hierarchies. I propose the concept of Confucian masculinity to explain how the depiction of active fatherhood reinforces the ubiquitous “normal family” that upholds patriarchal ideology and perpetuates patriarchal power, thereby obscuring the contradictions of class, race, and sexuality that exist in Singapore.

‘He has to take his chances’: the resettlement of a refugee in Australia and his deportation to the country he had fled, 1980–1992

Drawing on previously unexamined archival records, this article explores the Australian government’s attempts to deport a Cuban national who had been resettled in Australia as a refugee in 1980, in 1987 was sentenced to two years in prison on assault charges, and in 1991 was left stranded at Singapore Airport because Cuba refused to facilitate his repatriation. Before the Singaporean government enforced his return to Australia, Parliament passed the Migration Amendment Bill 1991, which had been amended specifically to ensure his indefinite detention upon his arrival. Highlighting the government’s determination to proceed with the deportation, the article explores the political and legal circumstances of the case, and discusses it in light of recent changes to the Migration Act.

A design-driven approach to integrate high-performance photovoltaics devices on the building façade

To promote sustainable development, the Singapore government has set an aggressive target for PV deployment. However, as a highly urbanized city-state, Singapore has limited land space. Hence, innovative PV deployment is one area where Singapore is actively exploring. In urban environment, Singapore has a lot of vertical building surfaces; building-integrated PV (BIPV) is one of the good options to further increase PV adoption. Using a design-driven approach, this paper explores a different way of integrating PV modules on the building façade, considering the aesthetic as well as the building performance of PV modules.

International Real Estate Review

The government of Singapore imposed two rounds of demand restrictions in 2010 and 2013, respectively, which prohibited private housing owners from concurrently owning both a private housing unit and a public housing flat. These restrictions curb speculative and investment activities, but do not deter public housing owners from upgrading to private housing. Using private housing transaction data between 2005 and 2015, we find that the demand shocks in 2010 and 2013 caused a significant reduction of 2.4% and 1.8% in the transaction prices of investors relative to those of the owners, respectively, ceteris paribus. Larger price declines are observed in investment sales in the submarkets, such as the core central region, and resale, moderate-to-high end, and large unit markets. The results show that when the housing market is volatile, risk averse investors are found, and owners move up the ¡§quality¡¨ curve by upgrading their home.

건설 GDP를 고려한 아시아 지역의 건설폐기물 발생량 변화 추이 비교 분석

Purpose: This paper analyzes and compares trends of the amount of generated construction and demolition (C&D) waste in South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore from 2004 to 2016. Method: This paper calculates the amount of generated C&D waste per capita and construction gross domestic product (GDP) as well as the amount of general waste per capita and GDP. The relevant data are collected from websites provided by governments and international organizations. Result: The amount of generated C&D waste per capita in South Korea, Japan, and Singapore has slightly increased over that period while dramatically increasing in Hong Kong. C&D waste per capita in South Korea was the second highest in the four regions. In 2014, C&D waste per capita and construction GDP in South Korea were about 5.7 times and 4.1 times those in Singapore, respectively. Since Singapore government efficiently manages the amount of generated C&D waste rather than South Korea, South Korea government needs to benchmark waste management policies in Singapore to decrease the amount of C&D waste.

Explicit Measures of Impacts of Transaction Taxes as Market Cooling Measure: Evidence from the Sellers’ Stamp Duty in Singapore Housing Market

The paper integrates the theories of market micro structure, contagion and market illiquidity to discover the behavioural and market outcomes in responding to the Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) implemented by the government of Singapore to curb the exuberating behaviour in the housing markets. Using the unique experiment of the Singapore property transaction taxes, the paper explicitly quantifies the market responses to the transaction taxes. We find a “SSD lock-in” home seller could yield a housing price premium of 1.5% higher than that of a “SSD non lock-in” home seller. This marginally compensates the SSD tax rate. An SSD tax compels a “SSD lock-in” home seller to search and bargain harder, higher SSD tax strength results in higher bargaining power by at least 1.3%. We document that some “SSD lock-in” home sellers opt to lease out the property with the rents at least 0.8% lower than that of SSD non lock-in housing investors because the lock-in effect lowers their ability to search and bargain in the rental market. The magnitude of “SSD lock-in” effect is determined by the SSD tax strength. We also identify a contagion effect through which the selling decision of “SSD lock-in” home sellers influences the selling decision of “SSD non lock-in” home sellers who subsequently set higher asking prices. This amplifies the trade frictions among the “SSD lock-in” home sellers to market level illiquidity. It explains why housing transaction volumes are low while prices remain high after a transaction tax is implemented.

From contempt of court to fake news: public legitimisation and governance in mediated Singapore

Common perceptions and literature on media in Singapore suggest an authoritarian government that either silences or co-opts public media, using repressive laws that are passed unopposed, given the People’s Action Party (PAP) government’s super majority in Parliament. In practice, laws in Singapore are not simply crafted to maximise their effects in silencing political criticism but are also carefully debated – at times with the PAP’s strongest opponents – in public, to rationalise their implementation even before such laws are applied. In studying public discourse surrounding four recent pieces of media legislation, this article argues that the Singapore government strives not just for its right to pass laws at will but is equally concerned with building its legitimacy to govern using these laws. This sophisticated practice, in line with Foucault’s concept of governmentality, seeks to govern by convincing the citizenry to consent the suppression of their own socio-cultural and political freedom.

Recognising the edible urban commons: Cultivating latent capacities for transformative governance in Singapore

Across urbanising Asia, edible commons surprise, contradict or challenge social norms of being in public. Their presence provokes new adjudications of approaching, governing and managing shared and living property, prompting thought on how public and private realms of life may converge into informal modes of co-governance for green place-making and flourishing. Starting with an anecdote of stealing in a short-lived urban farm in Singapore, I conceptualise edible urban commons as ‘active moments’. Specifically, they are active moments where a generative form of friction and fiction emerges, and as such, are allegorical packages that transmit latent capacities. I suggest that closer attention to forms of regulatory slippage in these spaces generates insight about latent capacities for transformation. Finally, I propose a preliminary set of latent capacities for transformative governance towards an ecological identity that supports edible commoning in cities.

The People’s Action Party and the Singapore Presidency in 2017

While the Singapore government has sought to construct the elected presidency as an institution critical to Singapore’s political system, the result in fact forces the institution to contradict itself. This paradox has important implications for politics in a post–Lee Hsien Loong Singapore.

Sustainable Energy Policy in Southeast Asia: Domestic Variation and Congruence in Policy Discourses

Southeast Asian governments have maintained “energy self‐reliance” and “energy security” as essential rationales of their macroeconomic policy. Since the availability of energy remains necessary for unabated domestic growth and development, the pursuit for “alternative” sources of energy and the resolve to build sustainable energy systems are constant priorities. Informed by the literature on policy discourse, this article draws attention to the analytical use and significance of policy discourse as a means to examine sustainable energy policies in Southeast Asia, which dominantly adopted an economic lens for “energy supply security.” Policy documents were examined to show the congruence and variation of policy discourses that prompted the governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore to institutionalize sustainable energy development from 2000 to 2016—a critical period for the institutionalization of sustainable energy in the region, when domestic renewable energy sectors and systems were simultaneously being established by these governments.

싱가포르의 분쟁해결문화와 ADR제도

Singapore has witnessed rapid economic growths for a couple of decades due to the inward foreign direct investment. To accomplish this purpose, Singapore tries to transform a small island into the international business hub in East Asia. Concomitantly, Singapore government implements strategy to construct this country as the international dispute resolution hub during last couple of decades. In line with this strategy, Singapore has established Singaporian dispute resolution system, such as Singapore court annexed mediation system, Community Resolution Center, Singapore Mediation Center(SMC), Singapore International Mediation Center(SMIC), Singapore International Mediation Institute(SIMI), Singapore International Arbitration Centre(SIAC), and Singapore International Commercial Court(SICC). Furthermore, Singapore provides an unique Arb-Med-Arb service to disputants. The spectrum of dispute resolution institutions indicates that Singapore is expected to implement a vision of multi-door court house in Singapore.

The Emergence of the global and social city: Golden Mile and the politics of urban renewal

ABSTRACT This study discusses the conflicted ideas of urban renewal under the economically progressive but inexperienced leadership of a young Singapore government. As the site of this study, the Golden Mile shares its aspirational name with the first building built on it – the Golden Mile Complex. This district was planned to carry Singapore into the era of the global city. During the period of modernization in the 1960s, influential ideas were propagated through different United Nations experts. Singapore used these recommendations to legitimize an aggressive form of urban renewal, but it also encouraged greater participation by think tanks with greater intellectual and research sophistication. This marked Singapore’s most democratic period of public debate and participation in urban policy-making. The advancements made by the Singapore Planning and Urban Research group, and Lim’s built megastructure and unbuilt linear city came about under these liberal conditions. Consumerist functions and civic-minded forms were combined to produce unprecedented but ultimately incomplete socio-urban effects. This episode revealed that Singapore’s successful legacy of modernization was always exclusively narrated by the state, but there was an under-documented tussle was between the sociopolitical capital of Singapore’s public housing programme, and the economic acceleration of private and global consumerist functions.

Comparison On Sustainable Urban Landscape Management: Insight From Urban Green Space Governance In England, Malaysia And Singapore

In order to achieve high-quality urban landscape management, it is important to have a proper management system. Some developing countries are facing a decline of green spaces due to lack of proper management. This paper aims to identify best management practices and provide a comparison regarding the governance of urban landscape management in the context of three countries: England, Malaysia and Singapore. It also highlights the importance of establishing more appropriate programs in order to achieve the goal of sustainability. The findings show that good and proper planning as well as programs and activities in the local government system can enhance and increase urban green space in a landscape. The contribution of this paper is to increase the local authority’s knowledge of managing the landscape and decreasing the deterioration and decline of urban green spaces in a landscape.