(SINGAPORE) THE MEDIA - SG was ranked 153 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index aka not free, esp since SPH has a monopoly over print media and Mediacorp (owned by Temasek Holdings, which has Ho Ching aka Prime Minister’s Wife as a CEO and exec director) - Newspaper and Printing Presses Act sets up a lot of red-tape and bureaucratic processes that need to be undergone if one wished to run an independent newspaper — creates artificial monopoly In countries like US with a range of biased newspapers, they are able to indirectly balance themselves out because Americans can choose where to get their information but in SG the state monopoly disallows this choice. - Sites that report on current affairs and have a substantial amount of unique visitors are bound by a license and have to pay a bond of $50,000 — further curtails freedom In Singapore, KKH said that number of cases of children/teens with an eating disorder has been rising by avan erage of 10% a year since 2008. Market for dangerous illegal online beauty products. In Singap ok’d ore, 350,000 units of such health products have been seized since 2011. Dangers include illegal components that can cause organ failure and death. In 2016, a student in Singapore overdosed on pills which were supposed to be prescription-only and had no dosage instructions and died E.g Less time for family: 1 in 10 Singaporeans spend less than 6 hours a week with their immediate family Increased competition in the work-force and perpetuation of the rat race due to potential accessibility of better prospects at the top of social pyramid or even overseas. E.g increased stress on students: Primary 5 student commits suicide after failing examination, Teen suicides in Singapore in 2015 were highest in 15 years E.g 2011 General Elections in Singapore raised discontent about overcrowding and influx of foreigners, which was highlighted as a possible cause as to why the incumbent PAP performed fairly weakly The heavy control of the media in Singapore (Temasek Holdings involvement in Singapore) Media used as an outlet for promoting worthy causes and evoking empathy in people. E.g Singapore's President's Star Charity: performances and segments to inspire the community to do their part to help the less fortunate and raise funds ($7million in 2016) E.g closer to home, in 2006, blogger Mr Brown wrote about how progress in Singapore was leading to dissent over rising income inequality and cost of living, which resulted in him being ‘suspended from his column for a week and the government striking back to denounce his views on the grounds of it being mocking and untruthful - govt has shown a particular heavy-handedness in dealing with views that challenge and criticise them, giving the illusionof censorship hindering progress since citizens are unable to give feedback and voice out their dissent and thoughts. E.g Conservative Singapore: MDA’s Subscription Television Programme Code has a lot of guidelines to follow such as no promoting/justifying a homosexual lifestyle. An interview of Barack Obama on the Ellen Show was edited to remove his positive comments on the LGBT community when aired in Singapore (SINGAPORE) ENVIRONMENT - HOW SINGAPORE IS AFFECTED Annual mean temperature has risen by 1.1 degree celsius in 42 years = Food security: Singapore heavily relies on imports for food, which is risky especially because climate change is affecting agriculture all around the world Urban land: Buildings and other infrastructure tend to retain heat + natural land cover is replaced with modern buildings — higher usage of air conditioners — contribute to domestic carbon emission Rising sea-levels: Singapore is considered a low-lying island with almost one third of our island being less than 5 metres above mean sea level - Singapore Green Plan (2012) Aims to conserve natural resources and the environment through the use of green technology Aims to ensure sustainability in country’s development and instill a sense of duty and commitment towards the environment in Singaporeans Acknowledges importance of different stakeholders through their 3P Partnership Programme — Persons (citizens), Private (firms) and Public (government) Policies and plans include NEWater (sustainability), Recycling, Nature Reserves and strict pollution controls (regulations on local companies and factories) - Buildings/Infrastructure Star Vista: Singapore's first naturally-cooled open air mall that relies on natural airflow to circulate coolness and reduce the need for air-conditioning, won a BCA Green Mark Gold Award for being environmentally sustainable = JCube: Waste heat from powering the ice skating rink is channelled into shower rooms and other machinery and the mall also harnesses energy via solar panels - Installment of road cameras that can detect smoky vehicles and monitor emissions and identify vehicles that are contributing significantly to the pollution + more efficient and consistent than human vehicle inspections by authorities - MOVEMENTS/EVENTS Earth Hour in Singapore: 2017 partnered with Sundown Marathon to have a sustainable marathon with sustainable race packs, waste management and plantable medals = Clean Up on Kayak: 100 volunteers kayaked for 3 hours and collected over 500kg of trash- International Coastal Cleanup Singapore: An annual event started in 1992 that sees the removal of approximately 16,000kg of trash each year from beaches and mangroves. This year, 67 volunteers collected 888kg of rubbish from the lim chu kang mangrove alone ‘Rich get richer, poor get poorer’: Gini coefficient in Singapore is still relatively high, showing that there is significant income inequality in the country and this could be a problem too coupled with tergenerational immobility. We are also one of the top few countries with the most amount of billionaires E.g In Singapore, the only resource we have is human capital and thus we try to attract foreign workers and talent ~ social integration issues as some xenophobic Singaporeans are unwelcoming and even think that these foreign workers are stealing our jobs. 99.7% of jobs created in Singapore in 2015 went to foreigners. Total of 1.4 million foreign workers as of 2017 Inability to appreciate each other's customs. Curry dispute of 2011 where mainland chinese family complained about indian family cooking curry and the pungent smell and the indian family was told to only cook it when the chinese family weren’t home. Singaporeans weren't happy because curry is a local favorite and thus sparked an event where thousands of families agreed to cook curry ona particular day. Provide opportunities for disenfranchised or disadvantaged. E.g Eighteen Chefs in SG which hires ex-convicts and recovering addicts, who make up around 35% of their employees WHAT SINGAPORE HAS DONE/ IS DOING. E.g Welfare organisations: Willing Hearts and Meals-On-Wheels by Touch Community Services provide meals for those who cannot afford it or who are disabled at home and can’t easily go out to get food Singapore’s HDB Ethnic Integration Policy applies the same to HDB flats. BUT Such policies are heavily top-down and do not solve the root cause of lack of understanding and motivations behind racist behaviour. Coexistence can occur but integration and genuine empathy, appreciation and understanding cannot be forged simply through quotas and forcing them to live together. Female genital mutilation. This procedure is still carried out in Singapore on Malay Muslim girls, who sometimes do not even know that it happened to them since the procedure is carried out when they were babies. This is a violation of human rights because the children are unable to consent to it, thus taking away their rights to their bodily autonomy especially since the procedure is non-medical and in fact might lead to health complications Unwillingness to change gender norms. In Singapore, mothers are entitled to 12-16 weeks of maternity leave whereas fathers are only entitled to 2 weeks of paternity leave = still perpetuates traditional roles of mothers being nurturers and even if fathers want to challenge this role, they dont have the government supportAssociation of Women for Action and Research: Singapore NGO aiming to promote gender equality as well as provide welfare services for women such as helplines and support services for survivors of sexual assault Homosexuals devoid of their basic rights. In many countries such as Singapore itself, same-sex marriages are not allowed and consensual sex between adult males is criminal under the infamous 377A E.g New rule that passed that stated that foreign sponsors are not allowed for Pink Dot, even though many big-name backers such as Google and Twitter were on the sponsors list. This creates the impression that Singapore is actually a rather hostile environment and perpetuates discrimination towards the LGBT community, possibility hurting the attraction of foreign talents and companies since we no longer seem welcoming and open. Counter-groups create tensions in society. E.g Wear White: a movement in Singapore to protest against Pink Dot, whereby churches are urged to encourage their congregations to wear white as a show of support for traditional family values Lack of platforms for understanding. E.g in conservative Singapore, sexuality education is explicitly centered around the traditional family nucleus of one man and one woman and does not do much to help dispel discrimination about homosexuals or provide advice/support for such individuals E.g prominent Singapore celebrities/personalities like Tabitha Nauser, Nathan Hartono, Paralympic Theresa Goh were ambassadors for Pink Dot 2017 = trying to spread the awareness and acceptance Pride Parades across the world keep getting bigger, Pink Dot in Singapore reaching full capacity a few hours into the event and not being able to let any other people in DESPITE foreigners no longer being allowed Local support for LGBT rights stepping up even in conservative societies. E.g in Singapore, Speakers’ Corner events could not be backed by foreign companies which posed a problem for Pink Dot be most of its sponsors were foreigners but then local companies rallied and exceeded the target fund DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE IN SINGAPORE - INSTANCES - RACISM - Eg Racism: 6 out of 10 people surveyed by Institute of Policy Studies said that they had heard racist comments and only 66% of Chinese said that they would invite Indians or Malays to their home for a meal as compared to 80% of Malays/Indians - Eg Amy Cheong: rant about Malay weddings being cheap and their high divorce rate and so she got fired from her job and a stern warning from the police - AGE- WHAT SINGAPORE HAS DONE/ IS DOING - _ E.g Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) to handle workplace discrimination by partnering employers, unions, and the government and providing resources like workshops to encourage fair employment practices. - E.g Sedition Act: low-tolerance for comments that could incite racial tensions or discord like in the case of The Real Singapore where the co-founder and editor were charged for posting untrue remarks that could have incited tensions between Filipino and ethnic Indians over a false Thaipusam article — they were jailed for constructing tensions and providing fodder for hostility - EVALUATION - Suppression does not solve the problem: banning of racist remarks does not foster racial harmony and mutual understanding, but only places a lid on the issue which could lead to it boiling over at some point - Reform of mindsets should be heavily emphasized ANIMAL RIGHTS - Animal Welfare Groups in Singapore - Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres): provides research and education and implements solutions for human-wildlife conflict and advocates for the rights of endangered species in Singapore - Cat Welfare Society: aims to promote sterilization of cats to prevent needless destruction of cats and also encourage the society to be humane and informed in their treatment of cats. After campaigning, number of cats culled yearly dropped from 13,000 in 1999 to 1000 in 2015 - House Rabbit Society of Singapore: concerned with welfare of rabbits in Singapore and discourage reckless and irresponsible buying - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Singapore: welfare of animals and birds in SG and provides services like animal cruelty investigation, emergency animal rescue, shelters, educational talks etc - Laws regarding animals in Singapore - Animals and Birds Act: Those caught engaging in cruel acts on animals and birds could be heavily fined and jailed, but the process is difficult and needs strong evidence and witnesses (most cases don’t end in convictions) - Animal cruelty in Singapore: multiple cases of neighbourhood cat killers and abusers ~ Animal Testing IS allowed in Singapore but has strict regulations and guidelines SINGAPORE - Personal Data Protection Act: rules governing collection and use of personal data in order to protect it + organisations can only collectJuse personal data with knowledge and consent and for appropriate purposes Fertility rate of east asian women has fallen from 5.3 in 1960s to less than 1.6 now, and 1.2 in Singapore, below replacement rate of 2.1 Rising cost of living and large amounts needed to raise a child: Poll by National Journal found 75% of Singaporean respondents felt that financial security should be prioritized over marriage- Tuition is more of a norm than an exception: household spending on it doubled within a decade to hit $1.1 billion - Cash grants and subsidies can give parents a good start but cannot ensure them financial security in the long term, especially since having a child is a commitment SOLUTIONS (Low marriage and birth rates). Programme by Ministry of Social and Family Development to help young couples stay married E.g Singapore boasts one of the longest working hours in the world, at around 45.6 hours a week. Foster family bonding: Eat With Your Family Day held on the last friday of every school term, businesses and schools are encouraged to end activities by Spm to facilitate people going home to their families (SINGAPORE) MARRIAGE AND BIRTH PERKS - Parents with 3 or more children are given priority allocation for new HDB flats. - Married couples with at least 1 first-timer applicant and at least 1 citizen child aged below 16 years (including the unborn) are given priority allocation for their HDB flats - Govt provides $6,000 for 1st and 2nd kids and introduced Baby Bonus Plus aka +$2000 w.e.f 2015 - Child’s savings under Child Development Account matched dollar by dollar up to $6000 for 1st and 2nd child and then double for subsequent pairs - Each baby gets a Medisave grant of $4000 - Various subsidies for Child Care and Infant Care centres - Govt increased paternity leave to 2 weeks wef 2017 and maternity leave can be shared with fathers E.g Singapore raising legal age to purchase/smoke tobacco to 21 to discourage youths from rashly picking up the habit due to peer pressure or immaturity E.g countries like Brazil and Vietnam have banned tobacco advertising and in Singapore, graphic images are printed on the packaging as deterrents. Political apathy: 40% of youths surveyed in Singapore said that they wouldn't bother voting if it was optional. 56% of 50 youths polled by an NUS group said that they have never tuned into the government’s budget statement E.g in Singapore, students can participate in Community Problem Solving (CmPS) to make a change in what they believe it, and they win at international competitions for the quality of their service Youths display creativity and entrepreneurship. E.g three NUS Industrial Design students designed a smart wallet that was launched on Kickstarter and received backing from 7,000 backers all across the world, reaching 70 times of their $4,000 goal(SINGAPORE) EDUCATION - New initiatives - PSLE T-Score to be replaced by scoring-bands to move away from over-emphasis on academic results and to nurture well-rounded individuals instead by reducing the fine differentiation between students based on the current aggregate T-Score system - However it might achieve the opposite effect since now students with varying scores will get the same psle score and so parents increase anxiety and will push their kids to achieve the highest possible score = Increasing demand for pre-school education - ‘Higher demand, enrolment for kindergartens set up by MOE’ - Parents are sending their kids to MOE kindergartens (housed in Pri Schs with before and after school care so parents don’t have to worry about rushing to and from work) and kids get early exposure to subjects and mother tongue. Learning is play-based to suit the interest of kids. Parents have found that their kids love to read more and are more confident. - _ Rise of premium pre-schools - Some pre-schools offer features such as swimming pools and dietician-designed meals for children but concerns are that it stratifies children of different socio-economic statuses from a young age especially since when they enter schools they will have to eat the same kind of food and use the same kind of facilities as everyone else - Increasing tuition culture - Latest Household Expenditure Survey found that families spent $1.1billion a year on tuition - almost double the $650m spent a decade ago - Associate Professor Jason Tan of the National Institute of Education: ‘Tuition has morphed into this huge industry to keep one’s child ahead of the rest...’ it is not longer being an option but more of a necessity - Divisive nature of education systems - Streaming systems — identification of academically stronger students and the channelling of more resources to them while those who might not perform as well are sidelined or given far less opportunities - _ E.g GEP Programme to identify top 1% of cohort and nurture them to their full potential by pulling them out into specialized classes, but the programme has received criticism for encouraging elitism from a young age: Wee Shu Min scandal, an RIC student at the time who made comments on her blog such as calling other people from ‘the sadder class’ and telling them to ‘get out of my elite uncaring face’ - Students who come from more privileged backgrounds are able to access more opportunities, despite Singapore being meritocratic and striving to provide equal opportunities for all - _ E.g More than half of students in top school like Raffles have fathers who were university-educated whereas in 4 neighborhood schools surveyed, the highest rate was 13% and findings show that intergenerational mobility in SG is low aka those with parents at the top tend to stay at the top in future too- E.g location-based admission to Primary Schools, many ‘top’ primary schools are located in wealthy neighborhoods like RGPS and NYPS in bukit timah - Father who lied about address in order to try and secure spot for daughter was jailed two weeks - show extent of competitiveness that you can even lie for the sake of a7 year old - Different types of schools in Singapore to cater to different groups of people LASALLE + SOTA (Art) ‘SUTD which has a collaboration with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and focuses on design and engineering NUS High School of Math and Science that focuses on, you know, math and science, and culminates in a diploma and 90% of graduate pursue STEM related courses in University. Millennia Institute, which offers a 3 year pre-university route instead of the 2-year ‘one that JC offers so as to allow students who did not get into JC but still wish to do A Levels an alternative route. Pathlight School, the first special school for students with autism that focuses also on academics and preparing students for employment. Students still take mainstream national exams and perform on a comparable level as peers from other schools, but with the added bonus of an autism-friendly environment that would otherwise not be present in mainstream schools. 3INGAPORE) ART - STATISTICS Population survey in 2015 revealed that 8 in 10 Singaporeans attended an art event but only 4 in 10 expressed an interest in the arts. $1 million set aside for WeCare Arts Fund aimed at projects that will foster inclusivity in less advantaged communities like the disabled or youth at risk or elderly. NTU study found that those elderly that were exposed to an art form experienced an improved quality of life by around 4%, in areas such as social support and mental well being 44% of survey respondents in NAC survey said they had never read a Singapore literary work or were not aware of any - THE ARTS SCENE IN SINGAPORE (POSITIVES) Rising popularity of art festivals and exhibitionsE.g Singapore Biennale 2016: ‘Contemporary visual exhibition’ attracted record number of 614,000 visitors last year, the highest number ever E.g Yayoi Kusama‘ exhibition at the National Gallery Singapore had the highest attendance at an exhibition since the museum, and the museum had to extend its operating hours to cope with the overwhelming response - Art Exhibitions as an outlet for people coping with illnesses and disabilities and helping them gain confidence and build a voice for them - Eg In Process, In Progress: Art exhibition at Goodman Arts Centre featuring artists that suffer from mental illnesses. One particular artist said that picking up art therapy helped him focus and concentrate better and stabilized his mood and also his hands bc they shook from the medication. Subsequently, he ended up having to see the doctor less often and his dosage of medicine was lowered. E.g Pathlight School Exhibition: Pathlight students find confidence in expressing themselves through art, and then people buy these pieces of art as a fundraising cause. This kills two birds with one stone because these special needs students get an ego boost and an outlet to express their emotions and passions and destress while at the same time know that they're contributing to a good cause! E.g Train Sketcher: UK artist Liz Atkin has Compulsive Skin Picking disorder and in order to battle this compulsion she does charcoal sketches on newspapers on the train and then gifts these pieces of art away, even in Singapore when she came — Artis a channel for her to overcome these self-destructing acts and regain control over her life and actions. “Art is my tool for recovery. Art is what got me better.” - Artasa way to provide support for those with special needs in the community - _ E.g Fashion design for the disabled: LaSalle College of the Arts fashion studies students designed a line for those with disabilities, featuring stuff like geometric prints to even out body proportion appearances and also thinner fabric to suit wheelchair-bound wearers that might suffer heat rash from thicker clothing - Art asa bridge to build connections between different members in society Series of art workshops sponsored by Lien Foundation and Superhero Me, an art NGO, where children with conditions from Rainbow Centre get to interact with children without special needs and do art projects together in order to foster an inclusive experience.- _ E.g Closing of art gallery: Mandala Fine Art closed down but has artwork like stored in some place where no one knows and so the artists can't get their artworks back, causing them to be owed like $1m and the company also owes staff money — reduces incentive for artists to enter the SG art scene because incidents like these gives it a bad name - Compromise on art for the sake of political and social stability - National Arts Council withdrew an $8,000 grant for Sonny Liew’s graphic novel The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, citing sensitive content in its plot that contains several political allegories. This withdrawal of the grant led to increased publicity, the book was sold out upon print, and it won three Eisner Awards, which are the Comic equivalents of the Oscars. He is planning ‘on returning a $19,000 grant for his upcoming book so as to not be restricted by state boundaries. - Excessive stifling of creative expression - E.g ‘Sticker Lady’ Samantha Lo was arrested in 2012 for pasting satirical stickers on traffic light buttons and spray-painting ‘My Grandfather Road’ on several roads in the CBD in her attempt to ‘make Singapore feel like Singapore again’. She was supposed to be charged for vandalism but members of the public petitioned to reduce her sentence because many considered it art, and she was charged with Mischief instead. MEASURES TO HELP IMPROVE THE ARTS SCENE = Getting foreign talent to help with expertise and development - Foreign Artistic Talent scheme: grants PR status to foreign arts professionals who are talented in the area and have contributed to Singapore's local scene - they can stay and continue to spread expertise, over 100 musicians artists and dancers have taken up this scheme - Funding, grants, scholarships to encourage people to pursue the arts- Young Artist Award & Grant: recognizes young artists who have been outstanding in their artistic achievements and makes them eligible for the grant which will cover up to $20,000 in future works - Creation grant: supports creation of new work, adaptation across genres, translation across languages - Support for traditional arts - Traditional Arts Repository: grant to cover the cost of digitization of material that is related to traditional arts that have significant historical value: e.g digitization of photos, original manuscripts, conversion of analogue files - Made available for free on nlb website for public to view and know more about - Community and councils to help develop the arts scene - Eg Noise Singapore: youth arts organisation that provides platforms for youths to showcase their art and also has mentorships in music and design for budding talents. - Opportunities for students to pursue their dreams - Eg Art schools : Lasalle, SOTA, NAFA Art and film is used to teach younger generations about their roots: e.g Roystan Tan's film 667 commissioned by Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre that is in dialect and touches on how various Chinese communities have found home in Singapore — through artistic elements of films, the message and educational elements are enhanced and put across more movingly. Adoption of Al will help double Singapore’s growth rate by 2035 and raise labour productivity by almost 41%, the highest amongst developed countries E.g the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, a collaboration between Singapore and China to develop an ecologically-friendly city that utilises green transport and buildings + governments, through collaboration, can push for more environmentally friendly conservation= WeCare Arts Exhibition project centered around what home means to them. - Band of Doodlers: a community of artists that aim to foster an inclusive art form and collaboration of people across different backgrounds. Participated in many events like Grand Prix, SG5O, at Google etc - Local Artists winning esteemed prizes and achieving good awards - Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo won a Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival (first ever Singaporean film to do so) - Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye that won like 3 Eisner awards anyway - Singaporean singer Gentle Bones achieving 1 on iTunes Chart, Singer Linying on US Top 50 viral songs Spotify, Nathan Hartono and Joanna Dong making it far into the finals of Sing! China - Not entire stifling! - Presence of street graffiti art at scape, giant murals and graffiti along haji lane and bali lane - Sticker Lady collaborated with Siloso Beach to produce quirky signs with local references to celebrate National Day THE ARTS SCENE IN SINGAPORE (CONTENTIONS) - _ Restriction on innocent, good-intentioned art because of practical reasons - E.g HDB void deck artwork cleared: 75 year old man made an artwork at the void deck out of vintage stuff to make the space feel homely and less empty but then it was removed because of a fire hazard — having licenses and permits on art reduces the accessibility for certain demographics who might not have knowledge or ability to get permission for their art pieces and so it deters the creation of art for the community to enjoy - _ Lack of security and stability of the arts scene in Singapore, giving it a bad name and reducing the diversity since foreign artists are distrustful and discouraged to exhibit their art in SingaporeSINGAPORE (SINGAPORE) A BACKGROUND - _ Singapore has one of the lowest infant mortality rates and crime rate in the world - Singapore is one of the most population-dense countries - 72.6% of Singapore is ethnic chinese (SINGAPORE) TRANSPORT - 66% of people aged 18-35 surveyed by Sunday Times said they wanted to own a car in future due to the convenience (ferrying elderly children, get to out of the way places) - They would buy a car if a bus stop or train station isn’t within 10 mins walk - Government is building 700km of cycling paths by 2030 to improve infrastructure for cycling and encouraging it as a mode of transport - Government Technology Agency (GovTech) is going to reveal the code for crowdsourcing transport app Beeline in the hopes of encouraging innovation and improving urban mobility. (SINGAPORE) HOUSING - Around 82% of population lives in HDB flats - Ethnic Integration Policy: Units in each HDB block must be sold to families from ethnicities around the national average in order to prevent formation of racial segregation and ethnic enclaves — encourage racial harmony and mutual interaction - Singapore Permanent Resident Quota: About 8% of a block’s units has to be sold to a non-Malaysian PR household to prevent formation of ‘PR enclaves’ - Public rental flats for low-income households that have no other options, with rents as low as like $27 a month aka heavily subsidized (SINGAPORE) WELFARE & THE DISADVANTAGED - FOR OLDER CITIZENS: - WORKFARE INCOME SUPPLEMENT Scheme for lower-wage older workers that rewards them with CPF (to help with retirement savings) and cash payments (to help with short-term expenditure needs) for their hard work - WORKFARE TRAINING SUPPORT Subsidizes courses for these older workers to upgrade themselves and increase employability - increase potential to earn more - FOR STUDENTS - _ EDUCATION BURSARIES/FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and Independent School Bursary (ISB) for students from low-income households that covers school fees and transport fees and also provides them with bursaries (monetary grants)Tuition previously seen as privilege of rich since it’s rather costly, but there are now subsidized tuition programmes in place by Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), Mendaki and Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) for poor students who need the extra help - Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund for students from low income families - FORTHE DISABLED - Special Employment Credit: wage offsets to companies that hire older workers or people with disabilities - Disability Employment Portal: Site that provides resources for people with disabilities to find jobs/internships/training programmes - Society for the Physically Disabled helps provide employment opportunities and training workshops for employers to learn how to better work with people with disabilities: Over 200 people found employment through them in 2015 - Singapore Disability Sports Council: Provides opportunities for the disabled to train and excel in sports that they like without allowing their disability to restrict them - SCHOOLS IN SINGAPORE Autism: Pathlight school, Eden School Visually/hearing impaired: Lighthouse school Multiple disabilities: Rainbow Centre Singapore (SINGAPORE) AGEING AND INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICT - Statistics - Number of citizens >65 years of age has doubled from 220k to 440k from 2000 to 2015 and is expected to reach 900k by 2030 - SGhas the highest proportion of older residents and fastest ageing population in Southeast Asia - Old Age Support Ratio is falling In 1970, 13.5 people of working age (20-64 years old) supported 1 elderly person — In 2015, this dropped to 4.9 = It's expected to reach 2.1 by 2030 = Economic Impacts of Large Elderly Population - _ Increase in demand for healthcare and eldercare: - Elderly healthcare cost in Singapore is projected to rise tenfold by 2030, $51,000 a year per senior citizen - Increase in demand for elderly-friendly services/infrastructure in transport, technology housing E.g clutter-free interface - Government has to spend more on such infrastructure and development — higher budget and possibly heavier pressure on working population, which could mean higher taxes - Focus of economy has to change - Moving towards developing medical services and to improve effectiveness of using technology in jobs so people can continue to work even when growing old = Social Impacts on Elderly Population- 42,000 of elderly live alone, making about around one-third of single-person households - Rising number of elderly suicides 30% of suicides in Singapore were by elderly in 2014 (126 of them) Many of them reported feeling lonely, with no direction in life, and feel like they're a burden - INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICT: - _Ageism in the Workforce Young to Old: Older workers discriminated against by younger workers because they lack technology skill or because they seem as though they are unable to cope as well as younger workers Old to Young: Younger workers discriminated against by older workers because of the impression that they are not experienced or reliable enough OVERARCHING IDEA: Communication gaps between generations and lack of understanding towards each other, thus resulting in stereotype mindsets and different values = Older workers value experience and a rigid system whereas younger workers are more flexible and ‘self-centered’ aka don’t consult others GOVERNMENT SOLUTION - Career Support Programme: Government subsidises wages of older workers so firms will be incentivized to give them a try and hire them - Raising retirement age: from 65 to 67, provide support for elderly beyond a certain age, especially since life expectancies are long and this also expands the labour force OTHER COUNTRY!!! = BMW in Germany tested out an assembly line with workers of average age 47 and made modifications to suit them such as providing chairs and larger screens and reducing physical strain needed in the production. As a result, production went up by 7% and absenteeism dropped and the defect rate dropped to 0%! And the project only cost $50,000 - Abuse of Elderly Financial Abuse - _ Newspaper reports cases of elderly being tricked into selling off their property and giving the proceeds to their children, who promised to care for them, but later on abandoned them. - Elderly giving their life savings to children to manage but their children take their money Physical Abuse - 2015 case of guy filming his neighbour slapping her mother and hitting her (Lower Delta Rd Block incident) - Elderly dont know who to turn to to report the misdeed since they're often reliant on the people who abuse them and fear the aftermath- WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE FOR OLD PEOPLE = Social programmes Senior Activity Centres for elderly to interact and get support so that they can get out of their homes and not feel so lonely Befrienders: E.g Lions Befrienders where volunteers carry out home visits for elderly and sometimes accompany them to their hospital visits too Three-Generation flats: encourage multi-generational living and interaction and bonding, especially since it more affordable Active Ageing Hub: Launched in 2016, aims to provide recreational as well as medical services and a garden for dementia patients to stimulate their senses Multigenerational childcare centres: Elderly engage with children in calligraphy, art and exercise sessions = Economic/Daily Various VWOs such as Meals on Wheels provide home food delivery for elderly who are unable to go out or are fairly immobile Government has multiple schemes that provide payouts for low-income elderly, like the Silver Support Scheme or the ComCare Long Term Assistance Scheme - Preventive/Medical Home Improvement Programme for seniors provides subsidies for them to install stuff like grab-bars and slip resistant floors for safety - Legal - Maintenance of Parents Act: People above 60 years old who are not able to support themselves are able to sue their children for a maintenance sum if these children are not currently taking care of them, as a social safeguard against children trying to flee responsibility. (SINGAPORE) ECONOMY - STATS/BACKGROUND - Singapore's real per-capita GDP has grown 12-fold over the past 50 years - Milken Institute’s Global Conference statistics found that SG is the easiest place in the world to do business, the best port of access for the vibrant Asian market, the world’s leader in high-tech exports, and the globe's most impressive assortment of human capital. - JOBS & EMPLOYMENT - Economy slowdown has affected the labour market: more people losing jobs and companies opening up fewer vacancies. Overall unemployment rate rose 0.2% between March and June 2016 - Government encouraging increased focus on skills and knowledge gain- Eg SkillsFuture: Citizens >25 years old will get $500 in SkillsFuture Credit to use of Government-supported courses to further learning and gain skills that can be beneficial to development/advancing in one’s career Jobs that didn’t exist like maybe 10 years ago do now, opens up new paths for people to take risks - Eg social media influencers: Fashion blogger Andrea Chong or Youtube personality Tan Jianhao earn approx 6 figure sums annually thanks to their wide social media following and online content - _ [Link] as resource for entrepreneurship: 27 year old Elshan Tang started a watch business funded by Kickstarter, raising close to half a million dollars, all from his family home MOVE TOWARDS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE National Research Foundation announced in 2017 that it will invest up to $150 million over the next 5 years in artificial intelligence to boost Singapore's capabilities SINGAPORE) KIASUISM Ahokkien term that directly translates to ‘scared to lose’, which reflects a national attitude of a fear of losing out and engaging in often negative and grasping, sometimes selfish behaviour Nominated Member of Parliament Kuik Shiao-Yin calls it a ‘toxic arms race’, citing the apt example of parents sending their children for tuition classes just because it has become close toa norm in Singapore. NOTABLE EXAMPLES Eg in buffets, it is not uncommon to see Singaporeans be afraid that they might not get enough food, and thus, in order to maximize their money's worth, they will take far more food than they can actually eat just so as to not miss out on it. This led to many restaurants implementing waste charges on uneaten food to discourage such selfish and wasteful behaviour. Eg in 2000, McDonald's launched limited edition Hello kitty dolls, which resulted in thousands of people queueing for hours, fighting, fainting, traffic congestions due to long drive-thru queues, and even a glass door shattering. It has become a textbook example of Singaporeans’ love for queueing and fear of missing out on popular items, and highlights the ugly behaviour that we can engage in when trying to secure our own interests over things that we do not need but simply want for the sake of having. E.g [Link] which is true to its name, a parenting forum for parents to discuss examinations and compare schools and share parenting tips to help their children excel. However, this tones down the competitive nature that is often associated with kiasuism and instead presents collaboration!(SINGAPORE) PARKS & GREEN SPACES Singapore Botanic Gardens - Attained UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription, for having maintained its historic landscape and heritage trees and valuable plant collections extremely well over the last 150 years Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden - Specially for children to learn about and immerse themselves in nature via activities like worksheets and a Sensory corner Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve - Opportunity to view migratory species and other interesting flora and fauna around Park connectors: one with nature! Lmao (SINGAPORE) HERITAGE & CULTURE National Heritage Board: operates and promotes heritage sites in Singapore - _E.g Kampong Glam, Little India, Haw Par Villa + conducts heritage trails for people to gain an understanding of such places and the significance of their history Gentrification of culturally significant places - _E.g Chinatown and Kampong Glam and Tiong Bahru - all have seen waves of newer and ‘hipster’ establishments that strip the place of its authentic cultural identity and drive up the cost of living in the area and push out local and traditional businesses Singapore Heritage Festival for people to sign up Hawker heritage culture in Singapore but it’s dying but there are increased efforts to protect it (SINGAPORE) EVENTS RACE - 2013 Little India Riots Indian construction worker was knocked down and killed by a coach. Soon, people started to gather and it ended up with like ~300 people and they threw dangerous shit like vegetables (and metal grates) at the police officers and SCDF rescuers and overturned police cars and set fire to SCDF vehicles. Turns out the dude was drunk and ran after the bus and fell and it was ruled not the driver's fault but ppl were still pieces of shit anyway. = 2014 Anti-Riot Drill CONSERVATISM Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan made an FB post about an hour-long anti-riot exercise at a Woodlands dormitory that involved South Asian workers as the aggressors. Many netizens commented that it was racially insensitive and in poor taste by stereotyping certain racial groups as rioters.Majority of youths (18-34) were either neutral or for same-sax marriage and gay lifestyles whereas those of the older generation, especially >70, were against it Complaint over Cathay Pinkdot advertisement even though it was not actually in violation of any code, but they were advised to remove the tagline ‘supporting the freedom to love’ because of public sensitivity Public outcry over Ashley Madison's attempt to branch into SG in 2013 — petition garnered 13,000 signatures in 2 days and even Minister for Social and Family Development spoke up against it - SCANDALS NKF Scandal: T.T Durai, CEO of NKF, was found misappropriating donations and funds on his own personal expenses (gold-plated fixtures, first-class trips) as well as. under-declaring funds and over-declaring number of patients under their care to solicit more donations. Many regular donors cancelled their donations and the walls of the NKF premises were vandalized. City Harvest Church: Church leaders, including founding pastor Kong Hee, were convicted of over $50 million of fraud and the use of funds to fund lavish lifestyles and Sun Ho's pop career - AMOS YEE Charged in 2015 for a video involving hate speech against Christians and insulting, as well as publishing obscene images of LKY. He fled to US to claim political asylum and was granted it, since the Immigration Judge decided that Singapore persecution was actually a move to silence his political opinions that criticized the government hidden behind the guise of maintaining religious harmony — places spotlight on Singapore being a tightly-censored and controlled country with zero tolerance for dissent or opposing viewpoints - ANTON CASEY In 2014, British Banker Anton Casey posted offensive comments about the SG public transport system on his Facebook account, most particularly calling the commuters ‘poor’ and referring to the experience as leaving a ‘stench of public transport’ while accompanied by a materialistic photo of his Porsche. He received death threats and public outroar and had to leave the country although he had been a PR for 12 years. His lawyers also received hate mail Imao and reporters kept trying to contact his friends on Facebook, leading them to have to unfriend him - XENOPHOBIA Total of 1.4 million foreign workers as of 2017 Not In My Backyard: In 2008, 1600 Serangoon Gardens residents signed a petition protesting against the plans to build a foreign workers' dormitory there. Some in the upper-middle-class neighbourhood wondered whether property prices would nosedive and crime soar. 94% of respondents were comfortable working for a local-born Chinese as compared to 74% for a boss who is a new citizen from China. 32.% of residents surveyed felt that prejudice based on nationality has become more widespread now (2014) compared to five years agoCONTROVERSIAL TOPICS IN SG - LGBT: Lack of representation in media, 377A - _ FOREIGNERS: Spawned the creation of the Singapore First political party that promised reforms to prioritize Singaporeans in the economy and labour sector, in the face of rising foreign talent working in Singapore. - RACIAL: Amy Cheong’s Malay wedding rant, recent Presidential elections being labelled as tokenistic, Channel NewsAsia’s documentary that investigated the perceptions of race and racism (was a surprising leap into the contentious but it paid off because it actually conducted a lot of fair and mature conversations about racism in Singapore) 1964 race riot: political and religious tensions between ethnic Chinese and Malay groups at Padang, where 22 people were killed and almost 500 injured — inspired Singapore's drive for a racially harmonious society and it is commemorated every year as Racial Harmony Day and students learn about itin textbooks What SG has done for racial harmony: - [Link]: body that works to promote racial harmony through dialogues and hosts the OPMUN to discuss stakeholders in SG - Ethnic Integration Policy in HDB flats - Not all racial incidents are bad: Malays at a Malay wedding in Pasir Ris stood up to pay respects to a passing Chinese funeral - RELIGIOUS: rising tensions against the Muslim population are not completely absent even in our progressive society + Islamophobic behaviour like graffiti was found in public spaces after the Paris Bataclan attack and other ISIS attacks Religious harmony in Singapore: Jamiyah Singapore, Singapore Buddhist Lodge and Taoist Federation Singapore co-organize a Hongbao Distribution every year Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act: allows for a restraining order to be made against a religious authority/figure that has committed the deliberate act of trying to incite religious tensions or use to comment on politics. Maria Hertogh riots: Fight for custody between a Child's Christian Dutch biological parents and her foster Muslim Parents and the courts granted custody to the biological parents and newspapers published pictures of Maria surrounded by Christian symbols — Muslims felt that the law was biased against them and started a riot, attacking Europeans