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Selected by Mothership.SG as one of the Top 10 local non-fiction books of 2014 3rd Prize Winner of Popular Readers' Choice Award 2015, English (Adult) Category Chiam See Tong (b. 1935) is Singapore’s longest serving opposition politician. A member of parliament for nearly three decades, Chiam is also one of Singapore’s most iconic, influential and beloved political figures. Through his efforts in shaping Potong Pasir into a “model constituency”, the veteran statesman has greatly contributed towards an increasingly pluralistic Singapore. When he first entered politics in 1976, there was not a single opposition member in Parliament. As the founder of the Singapore Democratic Party, and...
Based on extensive interviews and archival material, The First Wave tells the story of the opposition in Singapore in its critical first thirty years in Parliament. Democratisation has been described to occur in waves. The first wave of a democratic awakening in post-independence Singapore began with J. B. Jeyaretnam’s victory in the Anson by-election of 1981. That built up to the 1984 general election, the first of many to be called a “watershed”, in which Chiam See Tong was also elected in Potong Pasir. After their successes in 1991, the opposition began dreaming of forming the government. But their euphoria was short-lived. Serious fault lines in the leading Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rose to the surface almost immediately after the opposition victories of 1991, and the party was wiped out of Parliament by 1997. The opposition spent the next decade experimenting with coalition arrangements, to work their way back to victory.
Four decades have elapsed since the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) scheme was introduced in 1984. It has been raised and debated at every general election since — even as Singapore's political landscape has seen major changes since the scheme was introduced, when the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) had nearly complete domination of Parliament.To its proponents, the NCMP scheme has been an extraordinary instance of the PAP government's magnanimity in allowing 'best losers' from opposition parties to enter Parliament. To cynics, the scheme was designed to stave off the challenge to the PAP by guaranteeing voters a minimum level of opposition representation, to encourage them to vote for the PAP. Regardless of the perspective taken, the innovation of the NCMP scheme has been central to the question of political representation in Singapore.This book looks at the evolution of the scheme, with contributions by the NCMPs themselves, providing a platform to discuss whether the scheme is still relevant today, and how it could be changed. It captures views from both the PAP and the opposition, as well as from political observers.
In The Roots of Resilience Meredith L. Weiss examines governance from the ground up in the world's two most enduring electoral authoritarian or "hybrid" regimes—Singapore and Malaysia—where politically liberal and authoritarian features blend, evading substantive democracy. Weiss explains that while key attributes of these regimes differ, affecting the scope, character, and balance among national parties and policies, local machines, and personalized linkages, the similarity in the overall patterns in these countries confirms the salience of those dimensions. The Roots of Resilience shows that high levels of authoritarian acculturation, amplifying the political payoffs of what parties and politicians actually provide their constituents, explain why electoral turnover alone is insufficient for real regime change in either state.
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Is the EU able and prepared to deal with emerging Asia? Is an increasingly affluent Asia willing to engage with economically challenged Europe? This engaging volume presents the latest empirically informed comparative insight into how key Asian players imagine and perceive the EU before and after the Lisbon Treaty – as well before and after the outbreak of the Euro debt crisis. The result is a comprehensive overview of how these two continents engage and interact.
GE2020: an election that should not be forgotten for yielding startling outcomes, including the appointment of the first Leader of the Opposition. Voting in a Time of Change is part of a longitudinal study by editors Kevin YL Tan and Terence Lee, who have been assembling trenchant analyses of each General Election by leading academics and commentators since GE2011. Their long game makes possible specific and unique insights. Of GE2020, this is what they have to say: “The major political shift in Singapore that started in 2011 is marching on, even amidst a Covid-19 pandemic that was to have been a great disrupter. Whether we call this a ‘New Normal’ – as many did back in 2011 – or otherwise is not as important as the momentum for change that has built up since then. Covid-19 thus became a political backdrop to a social and political shift that was merely searching for a catalyst.” What insights and lessons can we carry forward to the next General Elections? This is an indispensable milestone publication for citizens who wish to commit to even more informed choices, and for political observers who are keeping close tabs on the evolution of our political landscape.
This comprehensive volume explores the remarkable expansion of higher education systems and institutions in Asia in recent decades, alongside changing forms of consumerism, mobility and global economic conditions. It demonstrates how recent changes in training, education and employment have sparked new aspirations for possible and desirable livelihoods among the younger generation, while also generating fresh problems and tensions. The authors in this volume critically interrogate the links between education and employment; normative understandings about youth and adulthood; as well as personal, national and regional level aspirations for economic ‘success’. Comparative chapters on Cambo...
Singapore’s 2020 general election saw its fair share of drama and comedy, and the results were not unexpected. But beyond the polls, the hard truth is impossible to avoid—the electoral system is in dire need of an overhaul. Former journalist and university lecturer Bertha Henson takes you through the days leading up to 10 July 2020 and peels back the veneer of Singapore politics. Aided by a team of NUS undergraduates, she draws on her past experience covering Singapore’s polls to give you a blow-by-blow account of the campaign, and some cold truths about the political playing field.