By Simon Tay Despite sceptics – most notably US President Donald Trump – people today are increasingly concerned about climate change and calling for action. Governments are responding, with some 60 world leaders gathered for the climate summit last month (Sept). Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong...
By Nicholas Fang For TODAY The recent renewal of a defence agreement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and United States President Donald Trump in New York has a number of ramifications. To be sure, the extension of the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding Regarding United States’ Use...
By Simon Tay and Lau Xin Yi For The Business Times The recent Singapore National Day Rally (NDR) will be remembered for its sobering call to act on climate change - a "life and death" matter according to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This means that beyond...
By Simon Tay and Jessica Wau For The Straits Times Many anticipate a Sino-American "war" and, while the proximate issues are in trade, there is a broader range of contention on issues relating to technology, unfair competition, democracy and the regional and global order. Read the full...
By Nicholas Fang & Aaron Choo For Nikkei Asian Review China's potential military expansion through bases in Southeast Asia has made headlines in recent weeks. A media report that Beijing might be leasing part of Cambodia's well-situated Ream naval base prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen to denounce...
By Simon Tay For The Straits Times Marking the 200th anniversary of Stamford Raffles' landing in Singapore is not only about commemorating long-ago colonial history. Read the full article in The Straits Times....
By Simon Tay For The Straits Times Last month, the world witnessed its two largest democratic votes - in India and across Europe - and elections have also been held in the key ASEAN countries of Thailand and Indonesia. Read the full article in The Straits Times....
By Simon Tay and Lau Xin Yi All major Singapore banks recently announced that they will stop financing new coal-fired power plants. This is significant in aligning Singapore as a financial hub with the position of many Western financial institutions. But it opens up more questions...
By Simon Tay and Liyana Othman For TODAY Sustainable development requires cooperation and a balance between economic growth and environmental and social protection. Often, however, discussions end up with platitudes and vague agreements. Candid dialogue can instead reveal differences, and this is what happened when Malaysia’s Primary Industries...
By Simon Tay, Wu Huijuan and Aaron Choo For TODAY A Haze Outlook developed by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) has assessed that there is a real, although moderate, risk that severe haze will return in 2019. The prognosis is “amber”; on a scale of red-amber-green....