Foreseeable: A Podcast Series by Global-is-Asian

The world’s largest democracy, India, has recently concluded its six-week long election, counting 640 million votes. India’s incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected but his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost their majority and are now in a coalition with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). What does this mean for India, Asia and the world?

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A new book, Building Urban Resilience: Singapore's Policy Response to Covid-19 is one of the first few books to discuss the Covid-19 crisis as an urban phenomenon. Written by our guests—J.J. Woo who is a Senior Lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Debbie R. Loo, who is an architect by training with a background in professional practice, urban studies research, and teaching—the book takes a look at how pandemics have shaped urban planning for centuries, and how we can learn from the experience to improve our population centres in many different ways.

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Indonesian voters in Southeast Asia’s largest democracy elected the ticket of former military general Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka in February 2024, but not without controversy. Gibran is the son of outgoing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who is accused of manipulating the courts to allow Gibran to run despite being below the constitutional minimum age.  

There are even charges of vote rigging that are being handled by Indonesia’s Election Supervisory Agency or Bawaslu and The General Elections Commission known as KPU.  

Associate Professor Suzaina Kadir is Vice Dean of Academic Affairs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and an expert on politics in Southeast Asia.  

As an avid Indonesia watcher, we wanted to get her take on what the upcoming administration means for Indonesia domestically, regionally and globally.  

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From booming GDP growth and low interest rates to raging inflation and a shrinking economy, most of us have a sense of how the macroeconomic ups and downs can affect our lives. But have you ever considered what it takes to keep an economy healthy? 

Our guest certainly has. Ramkishen S. Rajan is Yong Pung How Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He has been a Visiting Fellow at various regional research institutes, including the Asia Competitiveness Institute, the Institute of Policy Studies as well as the Asian Development Bank Institute.   

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The last time we spoke to Leong Ching, Vice Provost for Student Life, NUS, and Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, we discussed the "yuck factor" which describes people's visceral aversion to drinking recycled water. Today, we'll be expanding on that topic to look at the rationale behind irrational environmental behaviour in general.

As an institutional economist, Professor Leong uses narratives, perceptions and stories to understand collective public behaviour as well as environmental identities. 

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Urban environments, from infrastructure to green spaces, play a crucial role in shaping lifestyle choices, social dynamics, and overall quality of health. 

Tan Shin Bin is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP). She previously worked as an urban planner at Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, the government body tasked with guiding the physical development of Singapore in a sustainable manner.

She joins us to discuss how urban environments impact health, as well as the opportunities and challenges faced when developing policies to promote healthier lifestyles within urban spaces.

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Dr Marina Kaneti is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Her area of research centres on global governance and questions of migration, climate and geopolitical developments.

She has explored the influence of China around the world, including the Belt and Road initiative. Recently, she produced a two-part documentary series titled “The Seas That Bind Us and Define Us”, exploring maritime heritage and its significance in Asia.

She joins us to talk about maritime heritage, exploring the shaping and impact of narratives, and implications for the present and beyond.

Get our monthly updates to stay ahead on Asian policy issues here.

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In an increasingly interconnected world, the advent of mobile banking has ushered in a transformative era. Access to mobile banking can have a profound impact on people in developing economies. The impact of mobile banking extends beyond individual lives – it ripples through entire communities, affecting aspects such as migration and inequality.

Dr Saravana Ravindran, Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, studies challenges and potential policy solutions relating to migration, including mobile banking and digital financial services. He has conducted research into whether mobile technology can reduce inequality by modernising traditional ways to transfer money. He joins us to explore the socio-economic impact of mobile banking on communities. 

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to create a highly integrated regional economy by 2025. Known as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the initiative faces many obstacles that may hinder the achieving of its goal.

To understand the obstacles and opportunities, we speak to Dr Denis Hew. Currently Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Dr Hew has served as Director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Policy Support Unit. He also spent time managing technical assistance programmes on regional cooperation and integration at the Asian Development Bank. Dr Hew has published extensively on policy issues related to economic integration in ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region.

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Singapore is world-renowned for its urban planning. While it is enjoying the success of the good planning of the past, it finds itself in the middle of an important shift to be prepared for the environment of the future. To understand the challenges and opportunities, we speak with Dr Woo Jun Jie. Dr Woo is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where he heads the Governance and Economy department. His work focuses on urban policy, economic development, and crisis management in Asia. 

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