Dear friends, what does it mean to be Singaporean? Can we even build a national identity when less than half of our total population was born here? I published an essay on IPS Commons today examining these issues. Please click here to read it. A shorter version is available on Yahoo! Please click here if you have less time 🙂 Would love to hear your … Continue reading The End of Identity?
Dear friends, a student reporter from The Kent Ridge Common, an independent online publication run by NUS students and alumni, came to interview me the other day. In his words, we “chatted for a little over an hour about everything under the sun, from education to economics, from interests to career.” Please click here to read the interview. Continue reading Book interview: The Kent Ridge Common
For a piece on identity that I will be publishing on IPS Commons–with the excerpted version on Yahoo!–I needed to figure out the % of Singapore’s total population that was born in Singapore. I am interested in this number only as a discussion point for identity, nothing else. (Please read the article to see my argument.) Singapore’s National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) was unable … Continue reading What percentage of Singapore’s total population was born in Singapore?
Dear friends, just a small update that the book cover and sleeve are ready. This is apparently the final step in the publishing process. Off to the printers! Book should be ready in about 3 weeks. Exciting! Continue reading The book cover and sleeve are ready!
Dear friends, The past week has been an interesting experience in terms of indirect “engagement” with the government. First, last Thursday, I published a letter in ST’s Forum page, “Scandals exposed flaws in our system” (reproduced below). In it, I pointed out that there may be some potential problems with Singapore’s Darwinian meritocracy. On Sunday, the ST published an article, “System in place to reduce … Continue reading Response to Law Minister’s comments on Singaporean meritocracy
Many people, particularly in Singapore, have asked me what exactly happens at The Economist Group, both globally and in the Singapore office. I think this is partly because quite little is known about the people behind The Economist, our flagship “newspaper” (most of the public calls it a magazine), since there are no by-lines on articles. But it’s also because we are a very small … Continue reading Our work at The Economist Group
Dear friends, I won’t spend too much time discussing the actual bicycle trip here, as many of those stories have found their way into the book–please read it!!! 🙂 However, I shall chat a bit about the period immediately after we returned from the trip, and as the actual book writing began. When we got back to Singapore, after 30 days on the road, living … Continue reading Post-bicycle trip, starting to write. Aug–Dec 2004
Unless there’s some paywall, you can probably read the original on the ST site here. Aug 02, 2012. The Straits Times ALTHOUGH deputy editor Zuraidah Ibrahim makes many good points in her commentary on Sunday (“Scrubbing out sleaze in Singapore”) on recent corruption scandals, in particular, the need for a more watchful, engaged public, I am surprised by one of her conclusions that “everything that … Continue reading ST Forum: Scandals exposed flaws in our system
Once Sumana and I had made up our minds to spend 30 days cycling around Malaysia on RM10 (US$3) per day each, we had to prepare ourselves physically, emotionally and intellectually. Physically, because we had no idea how our bodies would react. The most we had ever cycled was some 50km around Singapore. What would happen when we tried to cycle 80km every single day … Continue reading Preparing for our bicycle trip, May-June 2004
