COMMENTARY ON SINGAPORE (V2)

Thought-leaders contributing to this volume include Piyush Gupta, Laurence Liew, Lee Tzu Yang, Geh Min, and more!

This volume comprises essays by Singapore thought-leaders republished from various issues of the annual journal of the National University of Singapore Society called Commentary.

The chapters have been curated to provide historical review of Singapore's journey in economic, ecological and social development. Centred around the theme of sustainability, together, they provide a rich account of how the issues of environmental management and human resource development were pursued in tandem with strategic industrial policy from the early days of independence.

They also convey how the current plans to take the country into the age of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 of digitisation and artificial intelligence, to continue to be the hub of hubs in the new economy, cannot and must not be at the expense of ecological health and a strong sense of stakeholdership among Singaporeans. The issues about immigration in the face of demographic decline, the choices in the sources of energy to power the economy in a carbon-constrained world, and the competition that a small state must continue to respond to as new growth sectors reshape the global economy are tackled by the eminent thought-leaders who contributed the chapters.

While this is not new material, the reader will be surprised by how the debates about the policy choices and the expressions regarding what is important for Singapore and Singaporeans to achieve true and enduring national wealth remain fresh in this highly accessible edited book.

Contents:

• Economy:
  • Singapore's Economic Development, 1965–2020: Review, Reflection and Perspective (Tan Khee Giap, Evan Tan Beng Kai and Vincent Kwan Wen Seng)
  • Economic and Business Development in Singapore and the World: A Small Economy Perspective (David Skilling)
  • Development of Singapore's Financial Sector (Piyush Gupta)
  • SGP 4.0 — Singapore in the Artificial Intelligence Era (Laurence Liew)
  • Singapore and ASEAN: Working in Tandem to Leverage Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Sanchita Basu Das)
  • Singapore's Interest in LNG and Becoming a Regional Gas Hub (Lee Tzu Yang)
• The Environment:
  • Singapore's City in Nature: More than 50 Years of Greening (Kenneth Er and Leong Chee Chiew)
  • 500 Shades of Green (Geh Min)
  • Singapore Challenged: The Natural and Living Environment (Euston Quah and Christabelle Soh)
  • Iron Trees and Cheap Water: Environmental Identities in Singapore (Leong Ching)
• Population:
  • Reflections on Singapore's Demographic Future (Paul Cheung)
  • Building an Enabling Environment for Successful Ageing (Susana Concordo Harding)
  • A Sustainable Future through Purposeful Making (Veerappan Swaminathan)

Readership: Students, academics, policy makers, corporate sector officials and civil society activists, and general public interested in Singapore.

Key Features:

• Written in a non-technical manner that is easily accessible to the general reader
• Provides quick references to the historical context and approach to Singapore's economic, manpower, and environment policy for the general reader or people not yet familiar with The Singapore Story
• Brings the debates of longstanding hot button issues like the challenges of economic restructuring, environmental sustainability and immigration to present day, and presents these three closely interrelated arenas in one volume