When the issue of corporate governance and GIC is broached, these are some overlapping issues which come to mind. 1.Comparison with Temasek's recent openness 2.The government's accountability and transparency 3.The government's blank cheque attitude 4.Balancing public and government interests..

The topic of 'happiness' seems to be attracting quite a lot of attention in Singapore blogosphere. In this essay I focus on the debate between those who argue that the government's role in cultivating societal happiness is restricted to economic management and those who argue that the government's role is broader than those listed above...

In the recent New Economic Foundation's Happy Planet Index study of 178 countries (based on life expectancy, consumption levels and happiness", Singapore ended up at the bottom position in Asia. Now what I want to discuss is not really about the index...

mrbrown first came into the Government's crosshairs with the bar chor mee podcast. It was serious enough to warrant the attention of Minister Lee Boon Yang which in turn created an uproar in blogosphere. But it was mrbrown's article (let's call it Rising Costs, Shrinking Incomes) in Today that compelled the Government to pull the trigger...

In the past few years, a lot of emphasis have been placed on social entrepreneurship. Like the euphoria of business plan competitions, the Singaporean business community has jumped on the bandwagon to create an awareness in this new buzzword "social entrepreneurship". Unfortunately, the notion of social enterprise has been marred by the NKF incident. In this …

It would suck if, in the future, the country we knew as young children and fresh immigrants became so alien to us as to become unrecognizable. When Singapore became independent in 1965, as a country we were committed to the idea of meritocracy and rapid social mobility, and to the kind of country that would give us. After all, at that time, there was no reason to oppose the …

If you have not heard this, please give it a shot. It is the best Mr Brown podcast ever. Even better than the ter gua podcast. Theatrical maybe to some, but the essence of it is poignant. Especially if the astute observor steps back and understands that the patriotic podcast was forged in the unfortunate incident of the government not tolerating any sincere criticism from the …

On the fourth of July, I decide to blog on my personal experience with local American politics.

K Bhavani's reply on July 3rd to Mr. Browns June 30th satirical article "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" is a setback for the government's call for us to be actively involved in our nation's future and also generates unnecessary implications for our journalists and newspapers...

This post attempts to look at three recent news items in a wider historical and theoretical perspective - particularly with reference to the ideas of NUS sociologist Prof Chua Beng Huat. It argues that recent events are consistent with the PAP's electoral strategy, policy agenda and core beliefs which have been extremely stable since 1988 or earlier.