🧵After much work with Nhu Truong and
@MaggieShum3
, our
@democ_journal
special issue on "Agents of Resistance: Resolve and Repertoires Against Autocratization in Asia" is finally published! The introduction to the special issue is open access here:
As a Singaporean who studies a bit of SG politics and economics,
@rafiziramli
and
@lamkanahraf
are correct. Because Singapore imports so much of what it consumes, a rising SGD makes imported goods cheaper, thereby reducing our inflation (which has touched record highs recently).
Yes, SGD has risen to 3.50 against the MYR.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been strengthening the SGD to counteract inflation (since 2021).
The SGD's rise against other currencies led to a loss of $30.8 billion for MAS (largest loss MAS has ever recorded).
The
I have decided that from henceforth, all Singaporean MPs and Ministers will be evaluated based on whether they can provide speeches/answers that are below, match, or go above ChatGPT answers. Case 1 - Ms Tin Pei Ling and conflict of interest. Ms Tin unfortunately fails the test.
Why lawyers are not social scientists 101. I hope my PS3257 Political Inquiry students recognize that you should gather evidence to test hypotheses, and not the other way around. And there's plenty of academic articles on how to weigh the veracity of empirical evidence.
Edwin Tong: “Mr Singh, I am entitled to put a hypothesis to you because we should test the evidence.”
Pritam Singh: “You don’t test the evidence with a hypothesis, but go ahead.”
Attended
@ayuh_malaysia
's fundraising event in KL last night. Very interesting, with lots of take-aways for the future. All the best to
@rafiziramli
and
@n_izzah
as they bring their message across Malaysia over the next few weeks and months.
I teach a class on Malaysian Politics at
@NUSingapore
@NUS_PoliSci
. For the students' last essay assignment back in April 2023, I asked them to speculate on the results for the upcoming
#PRN2023
state elections. All of those who answered this question predicted the 3-3 outcome.
Humbled and happy to share I'll officially begin as tenure-track Assistant Professor in
@NUS_PoliSci
at
@NUSingapore
beginning 1 Jan 2021. It has been a long journey since my Bachelors from
@sgSMU
in 2010, Masters from
@Politics_Oxford
in 2012, and PhD from
@EmoryPolisci
in 2018.
[If You Cannot Pray to God, and If Your Friends Look Down On You and Your Children, Is Life Still Worth Living?]
By now, many people have read Teo You Yenn and Ng Kok Hoe's piece on their report developing a "basic living standard" in Singapore.
Voters of Singapore, particularly those from Sengkang, Aljunied, and Hougang, basically gave the finger to Mr Calvin Cheng and said, "You can take your conservatism and fraudulent intellect and shove it up where the sun doesn't shine."
🚨Warning: *Rant ahead* I'm a bit curious as to why some journalists with good knowledge of how Singapore's system works are wringing their hands over (a) the perceived government flip-flopping of Singapore's COVID restrictions with lack of detailed parameters for policy shifts,
"When The Straits Times tailed the convoy, it seemed that they were heading there. Then, they bypassed the hotel and headed for Sentosa, stopping at luxury resort hotel Capella at about 6.20pm." See,
@straits_times
IS capable of detailed investigative reporting if it wants to.
Go one big round, eventually the chief of Singapore's central bank low-key agrees with the economic policies of the main opposition party
@wpsg
. Goes to demonstrate how Singapore's current economic policies are so unmoored and held back by stubborn ideology.
This angsty thread on Singapore Reddit reflects many Singaporeans' frustrations with growing wealth inequality and meritocracy. Will tomorrow's Presidential Address on the opening of the new parliamentary session substantially address anything?
Satirical interpretation of nothing happening in Singapore in particular:
Overprivileged majority: "Can you give me some more space and meet me halfway? I very scared of you leh."
Underprivilged minority: "You're asking ME, the MINORITY, to give YOU, the MAJORITY, more SPACE?"
This is bad. Overall inflation=5.4%. Core inflation=2.9%. Food inflation=3.3%. Services inflation=2.6%. These levels are nearing or at prevailing CPF interest rates, which means time-value of CPF savings are gradually declining.
Work update - I'm very excited to sign a book contract with the University of Michigan Press to publish my book manuscript on opposition parties (not) building pre-electoral alliances in electoral autocracies. There is still more work to be done before I submit the final...
🚨New article! Co-authored with a former
@NUS_PoliSci
student Syazwi Rahmad, we ask why do civil society organizations in Malaysia like
@bersihofficial
engage in so much more collective action to push for political reform than CSOs in Singapore? 🧵Thread.
As a political scientist, I'm 100% behind this thread pushing back against China's claims it is a "democracy that works". But from the perspective of an ordinary citizen, such pushback is unconvincing. Here's why (with insights from Singapore and Southeast Asia):👇
Reminder: the most basic definition of democracy is "a system in which parties lose elections."
(You have to actually alternate parties in power to be sure that one party won't balk & try to hold onto power at the point of a gun.) 1/2
I understand that the police felt aggrieved having wasted "significant resources" to investigate Raeesah Khan's lies. As a taxpayer, this is not how my money should be wasted. But somehow I also feel aggrieved that Min Tong is wasting taxpayer's money...
I've got emails and WhatsApp messages from journalists from ST, BT, Time magazine, Reuters, TODAY, who all need quotes for their articles on the Singapore political sagas today. But sorry guys I'm in scorching Osaka w my family, all angsty that the Glico man did not light up!
What I find so remarkable about this open letter is that there is such a HUGE academic community from RAs to MA students and full professors who care so deeply about Singapore calling out Zaobao. My heart swells a bit reading through the list of signatories, young and old...
The
@straits_times
should be doing these sorts of investigative stories, but of course it is either incapable or unwilling to do them. I remember donating a pair of shoes to this program. Turns out it was all a fraud!
Last year we began investigating a shoe recycling project run by Dow and the Singapore government. We discovered that shoes they said would be turned into jogging tracks were exported to Indonesia. 🧵TV/story 👇
@specialreports
For all those who are busy reading the tea leaves of the survey results recently released by IPS titled "Our Singaporean Values". A gentle reminder to read the methodology section from pages 10-20. This detail stood out to me - 20% of the respondents are permanent residents.
In a few months time, Singapore will likely have its own Presidential elections. Yesterday a 3-page feature was done by the
@straits_times
. Moving forward, for my journalist friends, here's how I think reporting can and should improve approaching the elections, a thread 🧵 ...
The corollary is this: If you take away all the social aspects of life, and only focus on housing, food, and clothing (as many people say they should because "basic mah"), then you are stripping away a person's dignity and humanity.
🤯🤯🤯 ChatGPT on the Singapore's major challenges and what the government is doing in 4 acts.
Act 1: Tell me what are the major challenges facing Singapore today.
🙏🙏Website official - I'm very honoured and happy that the Singapore SSRC has awarded me a grant for my next research project titled "After Victory: Governance Outcomes, Political Stability, and Institutional Reform in East and Southeast Asia."
My research on opposition alliances has made its way to Turkey, and is now part of an active conversation among intellectuals on whether alliances are fruitful or not.
Since Turkey is a dear part of my heart (I was an exchange student 15yrs ago), pls allow me to clarify. Mega🧵
Rekabetçi otoriter rejimlerde nadiren de olsa muhalefet seçim kazanıyor. Literatürde (Przeworski, Fearon, Arriola etc.), muhalefetin seçim kazanabilmesi için mutlaka ittifak kurması gerektiği yönünde bir mütabakat var. Diğer bir ifadeyle başarılı örnekler (Kenya 2002, Ukrayna
Other than the fact that this statement by the PA is both tone-death and digging its own grave, what is also particularly galling is that they did not use the proper title for my friend Walid J. Abdullah, simply mentioning his name or using "Mr". Heeeelllllllooooo???!!!
"None of us involved in the process saw a problem with stealing a Malay couple's wedding photo, cutting out their faces, and turning it into a caricature for our Hari Raya decorations, but how dare you say we're racist"
📚Website Official! I'll be a
@FulbrightPrgrm
Visiting Fellow at the Council on Southeast Asia Studies in
@yale
from Sept-Dec 2023. I'll be working on my second book project. I look forward to meeting people at
@JacksonYale
@YaleMacMillan
n elsewhere.
For Malaysian Politics class this week, I've assigned
@SlaterPolitics
's classic "Iron Cage in an Iron Fist" from
@Journal_CompPol
2003. These 2 pages on Mahathir, Anwar, Daim, and Mirzan in 1997-1998 make recent events much more understandable. He is looking to settle old debts.
Just published at Party Politics - "What Are We Voting For? Opposition Alliance Joint Campaigns in Electoral Autocracies". I actually think the conclusion section, with all its caveats, is more interesting than its main findings. A thread saying why 🧵👇
The comedian Jocelyn Chia engages in offensive tropes and stereotypes about Malaysia that is the worst of the worst. It is something that I've been trying to change through my teaching of Malaysian politics at NUS. I'm glad to learn from she is actually no longer a SG citizen.
1. The Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia, Vanu Gopala Menon, has apologised for Jocelyn Chia's jokes.
"I am appalled by the gratuitously offensive comments made by stand-up performer Jocelyn Chia...I sincerely apologise to all Malaysians for her hurtful remarks," he said.
🚨 I'm recruiting a Masters student who is natively or nearly natively fluent in Korean and/or Japanese for Aug 2024. This Scholarship (covers tuition and stipend) is funded by a grant from the Singapore SSRC. Pls see the link and email me for any qns.
I'm incredibly pleased to have organized this Tri-University Assistant Professors Lunch with YB
@syedsaddiq
, current Malaysian Member of Parliament for Muar, Johor, founder of the new youth-focused political party MUDA, and the former Minister for Youth and Sports under the PH.
Overheard conversation in Hokkien while I was queuing up for breakfast this morning.
Old lady: "Can I sit at this table?"
Aunty staring at her phone: "One table can sit 5 people. I one backside only, so of course you can sit."
[Hot Takes on the Recent Singapore Parliamentary Debates about FTAs and Jobs] In my view, the recent parliamentary debates in Singapore about Singapore's free trade agreements and their effects on the country generated more heat than light. The government undertook tremendous
@RivkaGheist
@perdricof
I live in Singapore. I teach political science in the largest university here. I'm Singaporean. I study local political parties. There is poverty yes. But I can assure you 100% no one sells their children. Actually there are no textile factories here to sell to for child labour.
In this day and age, I believe the
@straits_times
can do better than offer a manel (i.e. a panel exclusively made up of men) on Singapore's Budget 2022.
🧵Yesterday, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, the designated "PM in Waiting" to take over current PM Lee Hsien Loong, made the decision to "step aside" in favour of someone younger. How can poli sci research help us make sense of it?
New article alert! In this article published with Contemporary Southeast Asia,
@ISEAS
's flagship journal, I revisit and revisit and unpack the common trope about an urban-rural dichotomy in Malaysia.
This forces me to reflect 🧐🤔- Were things that foreseeable some months away? Are public "observers/analysts" no better than my undergraduate students? Or have I trained my students so well that they are on par with public "observers/analysts"?
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! My forthcoming
@UofMPress
book "Opposing Power" is now available for pre-order!! Get 40% OFF with the Fall Sale discount code "UMFALL21" and the paperback is only US$23.97!!! The book will ship in May 2022.
@mrbrown
I wish your tone would be less condescending and less dismissive. Simply acknowledging and recognizing that people might have different opinions on what constitutes "basic standard of living" is good enough. I don't think anyone is asking for free tuition classes here.
Singapore's Parliament is known for many things, but this is the first time I know that an MP is caught outright lying. Looks very bad on her and WP I'm afraid.
Your own parents will look down on you because you don't bring anything when you visit them. God will not receive your prayers and donation. Children won't be loved. Teenagers will be discriminated or left out by their friends. Is such a life worth living at all?
@donovanchoy
"the issue I take is that the rhetorical volume of race activists" = you guys talk too loud. I buay tahan. Can talk softer a bit? And I really don't care about the substance of your arguments.
SG Gov: We have a Singapore Green Plan 2030 to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and climate change initiatives!
SG GLC: We issued a "stern warning" to a company that "erroneously" cleared an important forest.
Sudden thought = I wonder if Singaporeans' mini-obsession with Scandinavian interior design has got to do with aspiring to live the high standard of living of Scandinavian lifestyles which they subconciously recognize they will never achieve.
Wow, PM Lee just declared in his Mandarin Chinese that it is completely baseless to say there is "Chinese privilege" in Singapore. All races are treated equally, he declared.
Has anyone in Singapore questioned and answered, why do the same ideas and issues keep getting recycled over decades of citizen outreach and elections?
In this New Paper article on 7 June 1997, students discussed what they hoped to see in Singapore in 2015. They included: A greater say in gov policies, more computer use, deeper interracial understanding & a greater appreciation for the arts.
Q1: What is NUS' "strategic realignment" since 2018? Q2: If the "New College" offers interdisciplinary education, and the newly-formed College of Humanities and Sciences offers interdisciplinary education, then what's the diff?
@Hopeily
My guess, and only a guess - Low income under-educated elderly working in NTUC Fairprice probably do not know the nuance differential between race and religion. There needs to be corporate education and staff training, both of which have certain limits.
dimmed after he stepped down as Prime Minister, Singapore has lost its compass. We are now a nation of property upgrading, $150K home renovation, omakase dinners, $40 million good class bungalows, and the next best value for money steal/deal on Carousell, Shoppee, and Lazada.
One of the most heartening policy changes announced in
#ndrsg
#ndr2021
is the de facto minimum wage of $1,400. Effectively silences all those who have argued against it in the past few years = free market libertarians, folksy wisdom antagonists and all...
If you're interested in my book "Opposing Power: Building Opposition Alliances in Electoral Autocracies", please get your copy at the
@UofMPress
booth at the
@AASAsianStudies
#AAS2023
exhibition hall! I think there's a hefty conference discount! 😅😅
Political rhetoric in Singapore is frequently frustratingly immature. Like a stumbly new-born just learning to walk, it often lurches from one side to another, or just falls down flat on its bottom altogether. Earlier last week, a good Canadian friend shared a mainstream...
So how to push back against the disjuncture between rhetoric and reality? I thought Tom's last point was probably the most insightful. Don't fall into the trap of conflating democracy with good outcomes. Value democracy on its own human terms.
My Member of Parliament just knocked on my door, wished me Happy Chinese New Year, gave me a pair of Mandarin oranges, and a pack of specially designed exclusive red packet with his face on it. In political science, this is called........???
#imaQT
#cutstooclose
Thread - Now that Singapore's 2020 General Elections are over, there are 2 key things to look forward in the next few weeks. The first is the new Cabinet. I expect the new Cabinet to be finalized and announced before National Day, so as to give a semblance of national unity.
🚨 Got an op-ed published in the Straits Times today on the upcoming Malaysian elections 🇲🇾. TLDR: With low voter turnout, party fragmentation, and post electoral cabinet formation, Malaysia is becoming like a normal democracy!! Fascinating to witness this transition.
The past 3 days has been a whirlwind of events. On Sunday, I had my book launch at the
@nlbsingapore
. On Monday and Tuesday, I organized my first academic workshop at
@NUS_PoliSci
. As a junior academic, these are important milestones in our bid to establish a rep and career.
by chasing hypotheses and narratives that seem to have a partisan agenda rather than a focus on eliciting the truth. Sir, the committee has 1 x Speaker (annual salary about $550K+), 3 x Full Ministers (including yourself)(annual salary about $1.1million+), 1 x SMS, 1 x Parl Sec,
Singapore’s former Minister for Foreign Affairs — who has, in recent years, leaned further and further into pro-CCP propaganda — is now amplifying Tucker Carlson and false claims about biolabs in Ukraine.
Fuck everything
I'm very happy to share that the 2024 IPSA-NUS Methods School is now fully open for registration! Join us for 2 weeks in Singapore to learn the latest social science research methods of your choice. Course list here: Pls help retweet to spread the word!
🧵 Quick thoughts on Singapore's new Cabinet line-up: Optimists hopeful for a shakeup will be sorely disappointed. Ministers across all legal-security ministries have remained unchanged. Even the major economic ministries in MTI and MOM have seen no change in leadership.
20 years late but thank goodness - We finally see an update on the SGov's ideology surrounding unemployment, updating them to European standards. Previously, protect jobs, any job is good. Now, protect workers, find job that is best fit for talent.
Call for Applications: Pre-APSA 2023 workshop for early career political scientists based in Asia who study Southeast Asia! Deadline: 16 April. Travel grants up to USD$1,000 available. Please submit your applications!
@risa_toha
@APSAtweets
@seaprg
Lastly, on what it means to be living. The profs repeatedly emphasize that their definition of the "basic standard of living" is "more than just housing, food and clothing." It is about "having opportunities to education, employment, and work-life balance, as well as access to
IPS 35th anniversary conference begins with a video collage of "loving critics" - Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, Chua Beng Huat, Cherian George, Linda Lim, Lim Siong Guan... Sudhir is the most blunt: IPS is seen as too closed linked to the PAP.
I strongly agree with this statement from
@NUSingapore
@FASSNews
. Almost everyone has vented their frustrations for now. Step away and take care of yourself.
Also wrote a separate op-ed on the war rhetoric surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what Singaporeans can learn from it. TLDR: Reject the numerous twisted logics justifying war. Inspired by my in-laws and my own parents who imbibed too much Russian propaganda.
Majority: "Yah. See! Your overly aggressive response proves that I am right. You're always making people scared."
Minority: "WE make YOU scared?"
Majority: "Your shouting and bullying proves my point."
Minority: "I can't even..."
Navigating university bureaucracy is bizarre = In order to figure out how to make payment for indexing my forthcoming book, I have to write to my HOD, to my dept admin staff, to the faculty research division, to the faculty procurement unit, to the university finance office.
🙏🙏Many thanks to the selection panel at
@NUSingapore
@FASSNews
for the FASS Award for Promising Researcher 2023/2024. I shared some short thoughts about my past and future research on opposition parties at an interview here:
The 4G leadership has tried some lame attempts at coming up with a new slogan. Ministers Chan Chun Sing and Lawrence Wong have been saying that we need to do ABC and XYZ in order for Singapore to "thrive and survive". Pardon me. WTF is that?!
[Story on inflation]
I had just finished buying vegetarian beehoon from the new vegetarian stall at the coffeeshop. A short old lady came up beside me. She pointed at a spring roll and said to the stall owner softly "这个多少钱?" (How much is this?).
Sure, find Raeesah and WP leaders guilty. Censure them, fine them, suspend them from parliament. Make whatever judgement you want. But can faster a bit a not? Don't waste everyone's time and money can?
@historyogi
The qn now that we must ask ourselves, esp for Singaporean historians and political scientists, was why was it so obvious to everyone that the solution to their problems was complete separation? In other words, why was separation the preferred solution as compared to others?