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Against the background of rapid technological change and globalisation, worker upskilling and reskilling is an important plank of Singapore's manpower policy. It serves not only Singapore's economic interests, but its social imperatives too, as the country strives to forge an inclusive society. However, Singapore's non-professionals, managers, executives and technicians (non-PMETs) workers—who are at greatest risk of job redundancies—lag behind their PMET peers in training participation. This paper analyses existing policy measures to encourage skills upgrading among non-PMETs, before examining the case studies of Denmark and Norway. The paper then delves into five recommendations to make training accessible to as many non-PMETs as possible, and encourage higher training participation among them. The recommendations underline the need for a holistic and customised approach to create a more conducive policy environment for non-PMET training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global economic restructuring saw the dramatic expansion of feminised labour and extensive mobilisation of women from less wealthy to wealthier countries to supply reproductive labour. Some migrant women perform unpaid reproductive labour through marriage migration in their roles as wives, mothers and daughters-in-law. The paper seeks to understand the divorce experiences of low-income marriage migrant women in Singapore after their marriage with Singaporean husband has ended. By engaging theorisations on transnational families, the paper discusses the transnational aspects of the women's divorce biographies. Using empirical data collected through in-depth interviews, this article examines how the women work out their transnational divorce biographies in these three areas: one, coping with divorce proceedings and obtaining legal representation; two, working out the rights to remain in Singapore and other livelihood issues; and three, negotiate with ex-spouse over post-divorce co-parenting arrangements. To avoid framing the women's experiences in 'victim versus agent' binary terms, the paper examines both their struggles and strategies using a transnational, intersectional feminist framework. This analytical perspective allows the paper to discuss how unequal effects of globalisation and intersection of the women's social identities shape their divorce trajectories, in terms of the struggles they face and strategies they employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between globalization and the spread of English is well established in the literature, resulting in the emergence and burgeoning of studies on the pluralization and localization of English. However, Englishes are also valued unequally and, thus, impact the lives and identities of their speakers differently as well. This paper aims to discuss the politics of Unequal Englishes by mapping out the specific ways inequalities of Englishes are realized in classrooms in Singapore. This requires mapping out accurately both the dynamics of locally produced but globally shaped teaching of English, as well as concrete instantiations of culturally responsive pedagogies which aim to make learning and teaching more nondiscriminatory and equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on transnational Higher Education governance has provided a thesis explaining how East Asian states have successfully selectively blended elements of globalisation in Higher Education with their pre-existing regulatory regimes. However, this paper argues that the thesis overlooks the significance of local politics in understanding the formulation of Higher Education policy, thus insufficiently acknowledging the indeterminacy that arises in the globalisation process. To address this argument, this paper examines the transnational Higher Education development in Singapore and Hong Kong and explains how political resistance and corresponding policy changes that emerged in these two societies help reconceptualise transnational Higher Education governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countering the drive to erect walls between nations and communities, the burden is increasingly on educators to develop in students essential skills and dispositions for a more hospitable future. Global education is essentially aimed at addressing the realities of increasingly networked societies and porous exchanges of knowledge, capital, and products among people and groups around the world. This paper examines how global education is enacted in two schools in Singapore and the United States. Given that a central characteristic of the twenty-first century is globalization, global education is inevitably embedded in the discourse of twenty-first century competencies utilized by policymakers worldwide. However, while global education has typically been studied as a singular subject such as Human Rights or integrated into History, Social Studies, or Civics Education, this study differs as it examines two schools that have adopted a whole-school approach to global education. That is, global education is embedded in the culture of schooling and infused across curricula subjects. The first part of the paper provides an overview of global education and its two key emphases – globalism and global citizenship. The second part discusses the tensions emerging from observations of global education in the two schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of cities in the global economy has been studied extensively for the specific case of advanced producer services. Only recently, studies started to broaden the analytical lens and explore the role of cities in 'multiple globalizations' by adding insights from other industries. Apart from showing that different World City Networks (WCNs) are characterized by differing spatial configurations, these studies are incapable of explaining why cities have been articulated into a particular WCN. Building on a case study of Singapore and Jakarta in the WCN of the upstream oil and gas industry, the study demonstrates the potential gained by adding flesh to the study of cities in 'multiple globalizations' through qualitative insights. The findings reveal how very different state roles have contributed to the shape of this particular WCN. The paper thereby illustrates how this recent field of research on cities in 'multiple globalizations' may advance beyond the mere description of city network structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have the globalisation of real estate and the rise of a transnational class of super-rich homebuyers challenged conventional analyses of local residential property markets? What analytical tools and concepts can we deploy to understand the dialectical tensions between the local and global; fixity and motion as well as the deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation of real estate by the super-rich? Drawing on Singapore as a case study, this paper interrogates the new ‘spatial fixities’ of the super-rich housing market at two inter-related scales of analysis. At the national scale, this spatial fixity could be interpreted in terms of the attempts by the Singapore ‘property state’ to attract high net-worth individuals to reside and invest in the country as a ‘quick fix’ way to boost national capital. At the global scale, this new spatial fixity of highly mobile super-rich can be seen in their territorialisation strategies to constantly seek out new safe havens to physically ‘park’ and grow their wealth beyond the traditional confines of national boundaries. Insofar as these two kinds of spatial fixes both complement and feed off one another via conspicuous real estate development, they also risk colliding and generating social contradictions that may potentially threaten their symbiotic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to establish a framework being conceptually able to explain a variety of internationalization strategies and related activities employed by port managing bodies (PMBs), as defined by the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) in 2018, considering their hybrid nature. Having identified a potential to further the existing literature on port policy and strategy in general and port internationalization strategy in specific, the paper examines theoretical frameworks and methodologies from the literature on international business that could be applicable to this field. The main objective is to define a conceptual and analytical framework to examine PMB international strategies, which include both inward and outward steps, also discriminating various internationalization patterns (operating modes). In particular, we investigate if the success (or failure) of PMB outward operations is affected by inward (previous) steps. The contribution tests and validates the proposed conceptual model through multiple embedded case studies, which originate from diverse economic and institutional settings in Rotterdam, Shanghai and Singapore. The paper provides a meaningful insight into discrepancies that could exist in internationalization strategies adopted by conventional business firms and PMBs since they are envisaged to show different trajectories in a number of areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of exchange-rate movements on inflation in eight Asian countries. Results from an open-economy Phillips curve are; first, the Markov-switching open-economy model confirm that the two-state Phillips curve outperforms alternative models to study inflation dynamics. There is considerable heterogeneity in the pass-through estimates for Asian countries, with Singapore exhibiting the lowest exchange rate pass-through (ERPT). Regime-dependent pass-through estimates are sensitive to average inflation and it should be factored in when forecasting inflation rates. Second, the extent of pass-through is considerably lower and far from complete in a low-inflation regime, endorsing Taylor hypothesis. Third, in the majority of the countries, we find support for global disinflation in domestic inflation that has strengthened over time. The main takeaway is that globalization matters for Asian inflation dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article re-examines the contents of Singapore’s Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) and Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) educational initiatives, introduced and implemented to promote change and to prepare Singaporeans for a twenty-first century knowledge-based economy. Adopting a critical realist perspective that enables investigations into complex social systems, the paper highlights the concepts, change process and possible outcomes of change proposed by realist social theory. An explanatory critique responding to the question, ‘What social structural changes were implemented by the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, and why?’ is developed, tracing the programmes of change in TSLN and TLLM. Findings reported in 2013, by a local large-scale research project, has made claims about the ineffectiveness of the initiatives in bringing about desired changes in classroom instructional practices. The critique questions—given Singapore’s recent and consistent successful performances in international benchmarking tests—whether it is only in the classroom that educational change that matters, counts. It suggests that despite making strong statements about the limited effectiveness of the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, many programs introduced and adopted by primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions, especially under TLLM, were left unexamined by the research project. The explanatory critique theorises that two kinds of changes have taken place—the reorientation of pedagogical practices in post-secondary institutions and extensions of what already exists in the primary and secondary sections. The paper concludes by highlighting some implications the explanatory critique have for research into educational change in general, and for educational change in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the trade policies and practices of Singapore based on the latest WTO trade policy review. Though Singapore's trade policies have been effective and contributing to its remarkable economic performance, it also faces problems and new challenges in the modern globalisation era. Reviewing Singapore's policies also provides guidance for other small open economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to study the future of the Singapore association of social workers using causal layered analysis (CLA) and the Futures Triangle. In today’s rapidly changing world, professional associations have to re-evaluate their roles to remain relevant. This paper presents an analysis of findings from a study on the level of alliance of social workers with their professional association. By critically examining underlying issues beneath common beliefs held by social workers that impede, promote or sustain change with their professional association, we can gain a deeper understanding into their level of alliance with their association. Insights toward current issues faced by the association as well as its alternative and preferred futures could be illuminated. Design/methodology/approach – Inayatullah’s “Futures Triangle” was used to deepen the findings of the study on the level of alliance of social workers with their professional association from the lens of CLA (Inayatullah, 2004). The study employed interviews with 27 social workers in Singapore, selected through purposive sampling. Findings – Alternative scenarios and preferred futures of the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) that were postulated from the interviews reinforce a need for more targeted recruitment campaigns. It also calls for regionalization and globalization of SASW to maximize its potentials. Originality/value – The paper suggests how a social work association might be able to reposition its role in relation to its stakeholders to promote and sustain itself. SASW could do so through positioning itself as the “National Geographic” beacon for social workers in Singapore to reach out to the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses John Hudzik's (2015) Comprehensive Internationalization as a conceptual framework to examine how two Singaporean universities, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), leverage internationalization as a means to achieving 'world-class' status. Document analysis, semi-structured interviews and campus observations are used to provide a cross-case analysis of the universities' strategies related to partnerships, student and staff mobility, and internationalization of the curriculum. This analysis is placed against the backdrop of wider state policy to explore the relationship between institutional approach and national context. Overall, the findings suggest that a global frame of reference is embedded in the two universities' visions, and internationalization activities are aggressively pursued to achieve those visions. Factors related to each university's approach to comprehensive internationalization are explored in the discussion section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper views seeking the optimal balance between state strengths and the scope of state functions for 'good governance' as the formation of a homogenization-heterogenization matrix of policy initiatives in different social settings. Homogenization refers to a global tendency for institutional changes and governance framework to change state capacity, while heterogenization refers to the local adaptation of these global transformations. The paper attempts to take educational decentralization as an example of policy initiatives to assess and analyse the significance of the two opposite poses in four East Asian newly industrialized economies (NIEs) (Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan). The paper's position is that it may be useful to see these four NIEs as making up two clusters. It sees political democratic transitions in Korea and Taiwan as important local factors affecting the developments of educational decentralization in the two societies, while reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be more consequences of managerial and market values. However, the NIEs face the question of how to maintain sufficient 'stateness' in the decentralization process. To conclude, the paper considers that achieving the balance of 'stateness' is the key to success in state-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety knowledge is created, validated, disseminated, and acted upon. It is conflicted, contextual, and contingent. The technology has a history, the knowledge has a history, and how everyday people interact with food safety ideas has a history. Taking three historical examples from Singapore – pure food advertising; anxiety about botulism; and the prohibition of saccharin – this paper suggests that food safety helps us reposition food and globalization. Singapore was, and still is, a step in a long supply chain of comestibles that pass into and through the port, in which the identity and location of the producers is obscured by distance, value adding, and the complexities of global trade. With its early engagement with globalization, Singapore also provides a counter to the view that it is only the contemporary iteration of globalization, with its long supply chains, technologies and the media coverage of these, which makes food both unsafe and feared in the twenty-first century. Drawing on Frederick Cooper's critique of globalization, this paper looks at the way that knowledge and anxieties about food safety in Singapore were informed by international media coverage to suggest that they were discursively globalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how the elite schools in Singapore have been recontextualising their pedagogical programmes, as the public education system adjusts to the developmental state's balancing act to continue with nation building while remaking Singapore into a global city. The elite schools have been updating their pedagogical programmes to produce the new generation of national leaders and, at the same time, preserve the formally meritocratic system amidst the challenges of internationalisation and increasing inequalities as Singapore globalises. Sociological studies of the reproduction of elites in schools have largely taken their theoretical cues from Pierre Bourdieu. However, the focus on character building, symbolic capital and cultivation of noblesse oblige is not sufficient to account for the educational reproduction of elites in globalising societies, as least for the case of Singapore. Instead, I draw on the works of Basil Bernstein on pedagogic identities to look at the historical pedagogical realignments in four elite schools in Singapore and argue that the focus has shifted to personality cultivation, emotional control and worlding activism. The result is the shaping of affective identities that promise to empower students to navigate and move between the global and local and engage the class inequalities that they contribute to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads congestion pricing has been considered as an effective solution following the successful implementation of such programs by many cities such as Singapore, Stockholm, and London. In multiple cases, congestion pricing projects have not been implemented, and multitudinous industrialized countries' governments are struggling to find an effective and satisfactory way of introducing congestion pricing schemes that will not be affected by the public's negative opinion and resistance. The lack of political and public acceptability can, therefore, be blamed for the nonimplementation of many congestion pricing projects in many cities around the world. This paper reviews eight cases where congestion pricing schemes were implemented or rejected, as well as the major influencing factors that enable congestion pricing introduction and acceptability by road users, discusses public and political acceptance of urban road pricing, and provides a valuable guideline for policy and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on ageing populations, which are becoming more common around the world. The article also explores the possibility of cooperation among international cities as its research purpose. The cooperation among international cities is for the transfer of knowledge of adult guardianship system (hereunder "AGS") law and AGS/supported decision-making (hereunder "SDM") practices through the implementation of human resources training. Using fieldwork in Singapore and Tokyo including interviews with AGS/SDM experts and literature research, this article addresses potential collaboration in the areas of AGS/SDM among international cities to advance global concerns about ageing through exchanges that have not yet been formalized by any country or international/regional organization. A proposal is for Tokyo, Singapore, and Istanbul to form a joint project to implement AGS and SDM. Tokyo and Singapore could jointly cooperate with Bangkok, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur on the topic of AGS/SDM, and Tokyo and Istanbul could similarly collaborate with Bagdad, Baku, and Cairo. Cooperation among international cities could lead to friendships to assist one another on common social issues shared by cities and could encourage shared universal values of human rights without large budgetary expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singaporeans need not be told what globalization means. The popular media, as well as the political leaders of Singapore, have generated a local-babble of the derivative meanings of globalization. That globalization means #x2018;competitiveness’, innovation' ‘creativity’ ‘entrepreneurship’, and ‘foreign talent’, has become deeply enculturated and embedded in the Singaporean consciousness. This paper will show that the ‘local-babble’ on globalization in Singapore is ineluctably linked to state discourses and practices. I will argue in the paper that these state discourses are not free-floating, but produce teleological and ideological effects to regulate the Singaporean habitus, and create new subjectivities suitable for the new economy. Using Foucault's (1979) notion of ‘governmentality’ and its related concepts and vocabularies, this paper will illuminate Singapore's response to new geo-politico- cultural-economic realities as it continues to live with globalization tactically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the current globalisation and complexity of today’s business environment, there are increasing concerns on the role of business ethics. Using culture and religion as the determinants, this paper presents a cross-national study of attitudes toward business ethics among three countries: Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The results of this paper have shown the attitudes toward business ethics to be significantly different among the three countries. It was also found that respondents who practised their religion tend to consider themselves more ethically minded than those who do not. Additional findings on gender have also revealed significant differences between the males and females for respondents in Singapore and Australia. Males are generally considered more ethical than females across the three countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the role of the state becomes more important in some significant respects as the pace of globalization accelerates, contrary to the popular perception that it should be diminished. This is mainly because, as mobile factors obtain more freedom to choose locations across national borders, the role of the state as the ultimate provider of "complementary assets" in attracting mobile factors to a national economy becomes more important. The paper also argues that the very success of Singapore's complementing strategy in the era of globalization has necessitated the state to move to a two-pronged strategy, in which it needs to attempt seriously to acquire higher-end capabilities that are securely based on its territory, while trying to exploit ever-expanding complementary business areas as it has done previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three developmental regimes in Singapore. China and Malaysia. In these three cases, heavy state intervention was necessary because their economies required significant economic restructuring. For Singapore, state intervention was necessary for the process of industrial transformation. For Malaysia, state intervention wets necessary because the government wanted to reallocate economic resources as a means to deal with ethnic conflict. For China, state intervention was necessary in order to gradually "marketize" the socialist economy. The paper also briefly discusses the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis (1997-1999) on these developmental regimes. It finds that for all three cases, economic restructuring was successful because of long-term and heavy state intervention. It explains that, unlike the other developmental states of Asia, these developmental regimes were able to undertake such significant restructuring because of the .state's power base, which even managed to survive the Asian Financial Crisis. It concludes with some comments about the future of state intervention in a rapidly globalizing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and the evolution of a knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of education in most countries around the world. In order to enhance the overall competitiveness of individual nation-states in the global market environment, comprehensive education reforms have been launched in different parts of the globe to strengthen manpower training. Realizing the fact that there is only one resource in Singapore – human capital – the Singapore government therefore has tried to maximize the potential of its citizens in the further advancement of its economic modernization. In order to make its citizens more creative and innovative, the Singapore government openly acknowledges the importance of allowing more autonomy for schools in charting their own courses of development. By introducing a policy of decentralization, the Singapore government hopes that schools could have more autonomy and flexibility to develop their strengths and thereby individual schools can evolve with their own unique features. One way to promote quality education is the introduction of the "school excellence model" (SEM) to engage schools in self-improvement and self-assessment exercises. This paper sets out in this policy context to examine and study the newly proposed SEM, with particular reference to examining and studying the philosophy and principles, major features and detailed procedures of this quality assurance model. More specifically, this paper will also analyze this model in light of the global trends of educational decentralization and marketization, reflecting upon the changing role of the Singapore government in educational governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaphor of an 'education hub' was initially promoted as also a policy concept for reversing cross-border student flows to the West in both Malaysia and Singapore. The Singapore version of 'Asian education hub policy' represents a distinct economic policy model of higher education which has since also influenced the very Western contexts it was derived from. However, it appears the Singaporeans might have actually borrowed the policy concept from the Malaysians whose aspirations to reverse international student flows to the West was rather aligned to related national capacity development plans as still something of a public good. This paper will use a Malaysia-Singapore contrast to compare distinct developing country (national/regional) vs. developed country (globalised) conceptions of the Asian education hub model. On this exemplary basis, it will also outline an integrated framework to better make sense of the related yet also often conflicting imperatives of privatization, internationalization and marketization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-case analysis explores national level internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) policies in Singapore and Japan. Through comparison of the state level internationalisation strategies, this paper aims to highlight how each country's unique policy environment impacts their approach to IoHE. The analysis suggests that despite the differing national circumstances and ultimate approaches to internationalisation, both states use it primarily as a means to stay competitive in the twenty-first century global knowledge-based economy. This suggests that while IoHE does build bridges between nations, institutions, and individuals within and between regions, within these cases it is being driven by nationally-centred rationales. While some criticize a competition orientation in IoHE, even with such rationales it may still serve to drive greater collaboration and integration among East Asian higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once regarded as the most essential subject in the national curriculum vital for civilizing the public, English Literature has now lost its place of prominence. In this paper, I focus on Singapore where the subject was a core aspect of the colonial curriculum and where it is currently facing declining enrolment at the national examinations. In the first part of the paper, I discuss how Literature initially functioned to propagate colonial values education in Singapore and how, following Singapore's independence, its goals were overtaken by a nation-state model of values education. Limitations of this model provide the grounds for a transnational model of critical values education that, as I argue in the second part, may be powerfully conveyed through Literature. It is Literature's capacity to facilitate transnational critical engagements with values and explorations of identity especially involving highly sensitive aspects related to gender, race, and religion that represents the strongest justification in the light of its present demise. What Literature offers is the possibility of engaging with values beyond the confines of Empire or nation by grappling with essential questions about what it means to be a cosmopolitan as opposed to a nationalistic citizen inhabiting the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• The Singapore state changed its strategic role in engaging with foreign universities. • Singapore moved from importing global knowledge to fostering local skill formation. • More recently set up offshore campuses are more embedded in local skill formation. • Offshore campuses with high levels of embeddedness serve specifically local functions. With operating offshore campuses, universities perform key education and training functions in regional economies worldwide. Few studies have acknowledged universities' expanded role in knowledge and skill formation as both local providers and transnational managers of education and training. Not enough is known about the embedding of transnational universities in local skill formation and varying levels of embeddedness, as well as about the role of hosting states therein and consequences for local economies. This paper addresses this gap in the context of the city-state of Singapore, exploring how skill development at foreign universities has been locally embedded, and why this embeddedness of offshore campuses in local skill formation has changed over time. Empirical evidence is drawn from semi-structured interviews with managers of foreign university subsidiaries. It is found that the Singapore state has changed its role in engaging with foreign universities, from a first phase of importing 'global' knowledge in teaching and training to a second phase of strengthening 'local' knowledge and skill formation. With being distinctively more embedded than older offshore campuses, recently established subsidiaries perform specifically 'local' functions in Singapore's progressing knowledge-based transformation project. The paper provides better understanding of varying/changing levels of offshore campus embeddedness and the interconnections between changing roles of the state, integration of foreign universities and regional development. A further contribution lies in presenting a conceptualisation of offshore campuses with high levels of embeddedness, helping shed light on the dynamics in local skill formation and in foreign actors' functions for the regional economy more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore's post-independence leaders perceived the country's vulnerability in terms of its miniscule size, lack of resources and hinterland, fragile ethnic harmony and geo-strategic location surrounded by larger, and potentially hostile, neighbours. Given such odds, Singapore sought to become a global city by tapping into international flows of goods and trade. Becoming a core node in the global economy also enhanced Singapore's strategic relevance, upping major powers' interest in its survival. However, due to its global connectivity Singapore's exposure to rapidly spreading global risks, such as pandemics and financial crises, has become increasingly noticeable. This paper seeks to uncover a paradox in Singapore's ambition to become a global city as new vulnerabilities emerge from its highly globalized status. Through a discourse analysis of policy-makers' statements and speeches, it reveals that a recurrent theme of perceived vulnerability today relates to the extensive global maritime, aviation and financial flows on which Singapore's continued prosperity depends. The paper concludes that the critical infrastructure that underpin its global connectivity - its airport, maritime port hub and financial centre - can also unwittingly circulate and import global risks such as pandemics, Weapons of Mass Destruction proliferation, financial contagion and terrorist financing, adding a new dimension to how its leaders perceive vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to ayurveda, siddha medical practice and use outside India has hardly been investigated. Based on an ethnography of siddha and ayurveda clinics conducted in 2019 in Singapore, and secondarily, in southern Malaysia, this paper analyzes the development of these medicines in terms of adaptations, transformations, and the strategies or avoidance necessary to respond to clients/patients' demands and to fit in with the regulations for traditional medicines. Whereas siddha medicine is well established in Malaysia, it is hardly discernible in Singapore, represented by only two clinics: a long-standing one reflecting the tradition, and a recent one, illustrating the process of modernization impelled by the institutionalization of medical knowledge. The practice of ayurveda, by contrast, has seen a significant expansion since the beginning of the twenty-first century in these two countries, a dynamism impelled by its reputation abroad which has been spurring Indian practitioners to migrate and popularize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and increased mobilities have multiplied cross-border transactions not only in the economic sphere but have also a major impact on human relationships of intimacy. This can be seen in the increased volume of differently mediated forms of international marriage, not just straddling ‘east’ and ‘west’, but within Asia and across different ethnicities and nationalities. International marriage raises a host of social issues for countries of origin and destination, including challenges relating to the citizenship status and rights of the marriage migrant. This paper examines the negotiation of citizenship rights in the case of commercially matched marriage migrants – namely Vietnamese women who marry Singaporean men and migrate to Singapore as ‘foreign brides’. While they are folded into the ‘family’ – what is often thought of as the basic building block of the nation in Asian societies – they are not necessarily accorded full incorporation into the ‘nation’ despite Singapore's claims to multiculturalism. This is particularly salient at a point when cross-nationality, cross-ethnicity marriages between Singapore citizens and non-citizens are on the increase, accounting for over a third of marriages registered in Singapore in recent years. Vietnamese women who marry Singaporeans are positioned within the nation-state's citizenship regime asdependentsof Singaporean men, having to rely on the legitimacy of the marriage relationship as well as the whims of their husbands in negotiating their rightsvis-à-visthe Singapore state. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic work with 20 Vietnamese women who are commercially matched marriage migrants, the paper first focuses on the vulnerable positions these women find themselves, particularly given difficulties in forging their own support networks as well as weaknesses of the civil society sector in what has been called an ‘illiberal democracy’ characterized by a political culture of ‘non-resistance’. The paper then goes on to examine the way they negotiate rights to residency/citizenship, work and children within webs of asymmetrical power relations within the family and the nation-state. We draw on our findings to show that citizenship is ‘a terrain of struggle’ within a multicultural nation-state shaped by social ideologies of gender, race and class and negotiated on an everyday basis within spheres of family intimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue for the deparochialising of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) English A1 curriculum where teachers as curriculum-makers would critically assess text choice and where students have the opportunities to make critical readings and engage in conversations about issues raised by the text. Through the case study of the implementation of one English A1 curriculum in a Singapore school, I demonstrate the possibilities for a cosmopolitan literature curriculum that is attentive to both the global and the local. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a meta-concept, 'globalization' has the tendency to create master categories such as an emergent global/izing education policy. This paper critiques the thinking and assumptions that underpin a global education policy. The paper proposes that 'global assemblage' is a more helpful conceptual thinking about the way education policy works in globalizing circumstances. Conceptually, the notion of an assemblage helps us to re-conceive global forms not as a totalizing external force but as an element that works in combination with other heterogeneous elements in local situations and contexts. Aspects of Singapore's education policy landscape are analyzed as part of Singapore's 'global assemblage' to reveal a culture of education policy making that is constituted by heterogeneous elements such as global techniques, situated politics and ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Films produced since the 1990s revival of Singapore cinema have been interpreted through a historical backdrop consisting of the nation's rapid development, participation in the global economy and authoritarian one-party governance. Film historians have described these texts by relying on discourses associated with globalization and postmodernism. This paper finds the perspective of Singaporean films to have overlooked colonialism as a significant part of Singapore's cultural identity and argues that greater consideration of that history can not only illuminate contemporary films, but also expand film scholarship to include understudied films from Singapore's ‘golden age’ of filmmaking from the 1950s to early 1970s. The history of Singapore cinema should thus be re-periodized. By analyzing the heuristic function of colonial urbanity in films from both eras, this paper explores how spatiality provides a common thread that runs through local experience, identity, culture and cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Prasenjit Duara, the sacredness of the nation hinges on its ‘regimes of authenticity’ where timelessness and the politics of embodiment are key to an authentic national identity. This paper looks at three different cultural impulses that have attempted to manufacture authenticity in Singapore. They are: the Malay literary movement Angkatan Sasterawan 50 prior to independence; the state-sponsored Confucian ethics discourse during the 1980s; and the romanticization of the working-class ‘heartlander’ through contemporary popular culture in confrontation with the politics of global capitalism and globalization. In doing so, this paper articulates the difference between the regimes of authenticity of state elites and non-state cultural producers, as well as their ‘national imaginaries’. It concludes that the regime of authenticity, that operationalizes the representations of the working class as a diametric opposite to the logic and force of globalization, offers the most popular symbols of national identity in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides some insight into the asymmetric effects of stock market volatility transmission using weekly stock market return data (January 1992-June 2010) of four countries, namely, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States within a MGARCH (multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) framework. Our results indicate that negative shocks in each market play a more important role in increasing both volatility and covolatilities than positive shocks. In addition, as expected, we identified that all markets (particularly Australia and Singapore) exhibit significant positive mean and volatility spillovers from the US stock market returns, but not the other way around. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the case of Curaçao, as a small island coping with globalization, with Singapore, Barbados, New Zealand, Ireland, and Aruba and to contribute to the development of a framework for discussing globalization and economic development strategies for small islands. Design/methodology/approach – The study and the paper follow the inductive line of reasoning, starting by comparing the current situation of six countries – Singapore, Barbados, New Zealand, Ireland, Aruba, and Curaçao. Next the six countries are placed in their respective social, economic, and historical contexts. Then the paper explores what Curaçao can learn from the other six countries by applying the framework of spiral dynamics and the eight-stage process for creating major change. Findings – Curaçao can look at other countries and learn a great deal, but Curaçao cannot copy the model of another country and implement it. This is because of the differences between the various exemplars, particularly in the starting position and the changes that have taken place in the world, which make the case of Curaçao unique. Curaçao will have to develop its own model. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the analysis of globalization of small islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the educational policy trajectories of Singapore and Cambodia in an era of globalization. Drawing upon David Johnson's five metaphors to describe the historical and political forces that shape educational policy trajectories, the paper argues that Cambodia's current educational policy trajectory is characterized by the 'politics of compelling' while Singapore's situation is more akin to the 'politics of selling'. In Singapore, the politics of selling intersects with the politics of gelling, in which various interest groups are encouraged to work together to strengthen the new economy of knowledge. The paper raises a common challenge for Singapore and Cambodia: to shift from a traditional teacher-centred and textbook-based approach to a more student-centred and ICT-based approach in a globalized world. The last section of this paper explores the possibility of addressing this challenge through gelling, by setting a new agenda for education, one that combines foreign and indigenous sources of knowledge from various interest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assuring the quality of transnational education has been an endeavour of increasing importance in the internationalisation of higher education but is also increasingly challenging given the involvement of many stakeholders. This paper focuses on the experiences of and challenges faced by private tertiary education providers in Malaysia and Singapore, which are major importers of Australian degrees, in coping with the varied and increasingly demanding requirements of different quality assurance goals, emphases and systems. Interviews with staff from private providers of tertiary education in both countries revealed that the existence of a large number of different requirements based on varied standards leads to counter-productive and ineffective outcomes such as the diversion of resources. The experiences of Malaysia and Singapore provide valuable lessons for emerging economies, including China and India, both of which will likely be major educational providers in the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global decline of fertility levels and the retirement of the 'baby boomer' generation of the 1960s and 1970s, multinational companies are competing the world over for talented human capital. With rapid globalization and the increasing importance of the knowledge-based economy (KBE), governments are competing with each other to attract the best and brightest talents. The competition for talented human capital is occurring not only in developed economies but also in the newly industrializing economies of Southeast Asia. Singapore is experiencing very low fertility levels and is unable to produce a critical mass of talented individuals to propel further growth of its KBE despite massive investments in its education sector. Malaysia has a higher level of fertility and larger pool of graduates, but because of inherent constraints, most of its graduates have not achieved the level of competence required to sustain growth in Malaysia's KBE. The aim of this paper would be to compare the state strategies of both Malaysia and Singapore in their quest to attract foreign talent that would enable both economies to develop into KBEs. The paper will compare and contrast the strategy of recruiting foreign talent in Malaysia and Singapore as well as its economic, political and social impact on local talent. Specifically, the paper will examine the recruitment of foreign talent from India, which is one of the largest global sources of talent outflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal language use in online communication and phone messages is increasingly being replaced by a new age language, i.e. the net lingos commonly used in Internet acronyms and text messages. This is, perhaps, a logical consequence of computers, mobile phones and gadgets becoming familiar household items in an era where there is a constant demand for faster transmission of information. Effective and fast delivery of messages has become the accepted norm particularly in informal communication since emails, short messaging service, blogs, online forums, news and social network sites allow for almost instant custom messages to be sent to different parties at one time. This new way of virtual interaction, while written, is more spontaneous and like oral communication in substance. As a result, the notions of literacy are no longer confined to having the ability to read and understand traditional texts, style and form or to the more recent conception of multiliteracies. Instead, the availability of these tools has broadened the concept of literacy to include having the ability to decipher and use these new language varieties. This implies the need for individuals to be effectively 'bilingual' or mutli-dialectical in standard English and these language varieties to meet new age language requirements. As a consequence, language and literacy planning has had to become more complicated as the implementation of existing language policies already include the use of these high-tech tools in schools, but perhaps without a full realization of the linguistic consequences. The new tools have created an environment for the new language forms that have arisen and this means that both macro- and micro-language policies must complement this need to effectively create 'bilingual' language users. This paper examines at how Singapore, one of the most globalized nations in the world, through its use of technology, attempts to fulfil its language planning goals at the national and school levels. This planning is complicated not only by the use of language related to technology, but by the existence of Singlish - the unique interlanguage native to Singapore. This paper discusses the successes, challenges and limitations that Singapore faces in carrying out its language planning initiatives in this rapidly evolving context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of educational action research amongst schools in Singapore can be attributed to the government's belief that educational research and reform can improve school performance and help Singapore keep pace with the impact of globalization. However, against a backdrop of neo-liberal educational reform where efficiency, accountability and demonstrable outcomes are valued, the underlying intent of the action research projects would seem to be inconsistent with the emancipatory intent normally associated with action research. A systematic review was conducted of 71 action research projects submitted to a local educational conference in 2006. Of concern to us is how action research has been narrowly interpreted and recruited simply as an evaluative tool with the emancipatory potential largely ignored. The paper is theoretically framed by governmentality and performativity to explore the embedded power relations that may “fabricate” the action research projects. The findings and discussions suggest a need for the government, schools and teacher-researchers to reflexively question the current expectation of action research and to be clear about its broader purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the constraints of a comparatively small economy amidst globalisation challenges, Singapore embarked on diversification as strategy in the mid-eighties to develop clusters and ensure economic survival. This paper examines the development of the creative industries cluster of a city state that shifted its economic focus from manufacturing to innovation. Using Singapore as a case study, this paper will describe how the creative industries started in the city, discuss the policy areas critical to the development of the innovation system of this cluster, and propose an approach to how this cluster should be cultivated to create innovation for the country. It will present the challenges that are specific to Singapore and describe the limitations and potentials of the smaller nation's innovation policy and innovation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose — This paper seeks to identify the cultural obstacles or what discourages the setting-up of businesses among Singaporeans. Design/methodology/approach — Focus group method. Findings — Four obstacles: being over-compliant, too left-brained, over-pampered, and afraid of failing, are identified. They are assessed as stemming from two key trends: chiefly, a safe, orderly and affluent society and Singapore Government's father-leadership style. Several recommendations are then made. Research limitations/implications — Limitation: time and costs constraints — otherwise more focus group sessions could have been held. Future research, if a budget permits, can employ separate recorders to take notes, freeing the researcher to facilitate the discussions, extracting more information. Practical implications — The paper implies the need for several cultural changes: Singaporeans can be more entrepreneurial by taking a paradigm shift, adopting the ‘backpack mentality’; embracing globalised thinking and networking; and tapping the melting-pot edge. Originality/value — The article provides a continuing perspective on entrepreneurship in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on the interaction between mobile factors and less mobile factors in the process of globalization, this paper argues that the role of the state becomes more important in some significant respects as the pace of globalization accelerates, contrary to the popular perception that it should be diminished invariably. It elaborates on the argument by comparing different challenges to the developmental states in East Asia, mainly those of South Korea and Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]