On June 15th, A Good Space - Singapore's first community-owned co-operative - organised a discussion involving speakers from four non-profit organisations: AWARE, or the Association of Women for Action and Research; Beyond Social Services; ReadAble; and SG Assist. The discussion, which I had the privilege of moderating, was titled, “Beyond COVID19: The future of social services for low-income youths and families”.

In this episode, we summarised three segments, featuring the work of the organisations, how research and advocacy feature in their work, as well as the future of social policies and social services in Singapore. The full two-hour discussion is available here (https://www.facebook.com/AGoodSpaceSG/).

This is a special series of episodes, created in collaboration with “Our Class Notes” (ourclassnotes.com), a website of both reporting and research on the electoral, parliamentary, and political scene in Singapore.

Today, we focus on how the public has assessed the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, Liang Lei and Sean Lim, both graduates of the National University of Singapore, share more about findings of public opinion polls or surveys published by firms such as Blackbox and Ipsos. What can we learn from these polls or surveys? How has the government responded to these different findings, if they have? And how has the government responded to critical commentaries published in the local and international media?

Relevant article: “First-time voters rate the Government’s response to Covid-19 outbreak” (https://www.ourclassnotes.com/post/first-time-voters-rate-the-governments-response-to-covid-19-outbreak).

This is a special series of episodes, created in collaboration with “Our Class Notes” (ourclassnotes.com), a website of both reporting and research on the electoral, parliamentary, and political scene in Singapore.

Today, we speak to veteran journalist Bertha Henson, currently an Associate Professor of Practice at the National University of Singapore and formerly with the Singapore Press Holdings stable of newspapers. She's covered seven general elections, four by-elections, and two contested presidential elections, and hence I asked her about her experience of reporting an election, the issues to which she is paying attention during the upcoming general election in Singapore, as well as how the ruling party would approach the election.

Relevant articles: "This GE: Let’s hear plans for a “new” Singapore" (https://berthahenson.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/this-ge-lets-hear-plans-for-a-new-singapore/) and "Give the PM a chance" (https://www.ourclassnotes.com/post/give-the-pm-a-chance).

This is a special series of episodes, created in collaboration with “Our Class Notes” (ourclassnotes.com), a website of both reporting and research on the electoral, parliamentary, and political scene in Singapore.

Today, we focus on the clarity of election and electoral regulations by speaking to Christalle Tay and Ethan Tay, both recent graduates of the National University of Singapore. They tell us more about the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee and the Parliamentary Elections (COVID-19 Special Arrangements) Bill, the discourse surrounding online and postal voting, as well as the election experience of Israel and South Korea. In terms of what else Singaporeans need to know about the elections, Christalle also makes the interesting observation that this will be the first time that parties will campaign in a Pofma environment.

Relevant articles: “No clarity on Covid-19 elections legislation” (https://www.ourclassnotes.com/post/no-clarity-on-covid-19-elections-legislation) and “Campaign rules need to be out way before writ of election” (https://www.ourclassnotes.com/post/campaign-rules-need-to-be-out-way-before-writ-of-election).

Community initiatives emerged spontaneously - even before the pandemic - to build connections among overseas Singaporeans. We hear from two overseas Singaporeans who have been running independent initiatives during the pandemic, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jasmin Young has been organising weekly community forums as part of the volunteer-run Singapore organisation, SingaporeConnect, while Wilson Khoo has been spearheading food delivery efforts to help F&B businesses in the area.

In the process of learning more about these different initiatives, we also gain awareness of overseas Singaporeans who have different needs, who require various forms of help, or who may have fallen through the cracks.

The coronavirus pandemic has been described by some as “the great equaliser”, yet we now know the disproportionate impact of the virus. Individuals from low-income households and communities of colour are at higher risk of infection, serious illness, and death. And in this vein, the pandemic has revealed the persistent inequalities in our societies, including in Singapore.

In one of the most insightful and powerful conversations of the podcast series thus far, we speak with Professor Mohan Dutta on marginalisation and the role of academia. He explains the "culture-centred approach", describes the prioritisation of those of the margins of the margins through sustained voice and communicative infrastructures, and draws from his centre's research in Singapore and beyond.

Then, we consider the role of academia. Are us academics and researchers too used to being in the limelight? What about the exclusionary effect of academia and jargon? And what does change look like, both politically and economically as well as, academically?

Before the pandemic, building communities was difficult. Maintaining and sustaining these communities, after they were built, was even more difficult. And now, with a pandemic and a circuit breaker in Singapore, community organisers who run social initiatives and programmes have had to adapt, so as to remain connected to and engaged with their communities.

We hear from three such organisers: Debra Lam, co-founder of the social enterprise Society Staples; as well as Grace Chua and Tham Jun Han, co-founders of the social organisation Friendzone. Through their experiences, we want to learn about how they have shifted their regular programmes and services - very much premised upon face-to-face interactions - to online platforms. How has the transition been? What were the challenges? And what have they learnt, through this COVID19 experience?

Amidst the pandemic and the ongoing circuit breaker in Singapore, the needs and concerns of foreign domestic workers deserve greater attention. Groups such as the Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics and A Good Space have highlighted these issues, yet many of these needs and concerns had surfaced even before this pandemic.

If “business-as-usual” was already problematic, what are the necessary policy and perception changes? How do we better the employment conditions of these workers? And more broadly, what is the complicity of Singaporeans, under these circumstances? Today, we speak to Nessa Swinn, who leads the youth advocacy group, MaidForMore (https://www.instagram.com/maidformoresg/), which aims to challenge dominant - and oftentimes problematic - cultural ideas and perceptions that Singaporeans hold about these workers.

Countries around the world have brought attention to domestic, family, or intimate partner violence in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, especially since rising unemployment is associated with a higher number of personal crises. In Singapore, cases of family violence, child abuse, spousal abuse, and elder abuse were documented even before the pandemic, and now - amidst a circuit breaker in Singapore - these worries deserve greater and continued attention.

On May 14, the Singapore Police Force said that police reports related to family violence increased by 22 per cent since the beginning of the circuit breaker period.

We focus on domestic, family, and intimate partner violence: Before, during, and after the pandemic. How should the public understand these forms of violence and abuse? What does help, support, and assistance look like? And more importantly, what are the important steps to make sure that policy recommendations and actions on this issue remain priorities, even after we emerge from the circuit breaker? For that, we turn to Chong Ning Qian, Senior Research Executive at the Association of Women for Action and Research.

The discourse surrounding the universal basic income (UBI) and its experiments has gained traction around the world, including in Finland, which just announced, last week, the findings of its two-year UBI evaluation study. And while Finland was preparing to launch its UBI experiment in 2016, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore cannot afford a basic income.

And yet, in April this year, in the midst of a pandemic and the circuit breaker, Dr. Ong Qiyan - deputy director of research at the National University of Singapore's Social Service Research Centre - and nominated member of parliament Walter Theseira proposed the Majulah UBI in parliament. Funded by a temporary personal income tax increase, the proposal will see all Singaporeans receiving $110 a week, for 12 weeks. While noting important design differences between the Majulah UBI and the general conception of a UBI, we were interested to learn more about their motivations, the state of UBI and its experiments around the world, as well as their thoughts on social welfare policies and interventions in Singapore.