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Thursday, March 21, 2013 By Abhijit

Lee Kuan Yew and the power of one

I am disappointed that the Straits Times did not give a full report of Lee Kuan Yew’s talk at the Standard Chartered Singapore Forum yesterday where he shared the stage with the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

The two reports on the Straits Times’ page 3 did not mention what he said when asked about China-India relations. You can see it in this video, shown on the Straits Times’ own website.

India does not have the same dynamism as China for many reasons, he said. “First, because they are not one nation, they are multiple nations.” India does not have “one cohesive core, as you have in China”.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: china, india, innovation, lee kuan yew, new ideas, oneness

Saturday, January 14, 2012 By Abhijit

India cracks down on Google, Facebook and social media

Sonia Gandhi is taking after her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. Not only is she the undisputed leader of the Congress party; her government is also trying to curb freedom of expression.Continue Reading

Filed Under: India, Media Tagged With: china, emergency, facebook, freedom of expression, google, indira gandhi, media, social indicator, social network, sonia gandhi

Sunday, September 19, 2010 By Abhijit

The world’s biggest selling newspapers

The internet is said to be taking its toll on newspapers, but circulation is still healthy in highly wired countries like Japan and South Korea. Tokyo seems to be the newspaper capital, boasting the two most widely circulated newspapers in the world: Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun.

Tokyo has, in all, four of the 10 most widely circulated newspapers in the world. Two are published from London: the News of the World and the Sun. One is German: the Bild. Two are in China. And the other one is the Times of India.

So why aren't any American newspapers on the top 10 list? It can't be because of the internet. The internet is as widely used in Britain, Japan and South Korea as in America.

Filed Under: Media Tagged With: ananda bazar patrika, asahi shimbun, bild, britain, calcutta, chennai, china, circulation, daily mail, daily mirror, europe, hindu, hindustan times, india, japan, million, mondo newspapers, new delhi, new york times, news of the world, newspaper, pakistan, south korea, sun, thailand, times of india, usa today, wall street journal, yomiuri shimbun

Thursday, September 9, 2010 By Abhijit

How the Global Competitiveness Report is prepared

There were more respondents from Singapore than from many bigger economies to the World Economic Forum's executive opinion survey this year.

The survey is used to prepare the annual Global Competitiveness Report.

Singapore was ranked the world's third most competitive economy this year, same as last year.

This year there were 122 respondents from Singapore compared with 437 in the United States and only 102 in the United Kingdom and 103 in India. There were only 132 respondents from Japan but 362 from China.

Singapore also enjoys greater cohesion than, say, America, Britain or India. Politics is far more polarized in those countries. Have you ever heard a Republican praise a Democrat?

Such polarization can affect a country's ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report because of the way it is compiled.

Filed Under: Singapore, World Today Tagged With: america, britain, china, education, executive, executive opinion survey, global competitiveness report, india, japan, judicial independence, politician, sweden, switzerland, trust, world economic forum

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 By Abhijit

Foreign-born Singapore resident population up from 18% to 23%

Singapore Population (Figures in Thousands)

Singapore now has 5.07 million people. But the population is growing more slowly – by 1.8 per cent this year, down from 3.1 per cent last year – with fewer new permanent residents and a lower intake of other foreigners. Several Asian countries have even lower growth rates, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

The number of Singapore permanent residents has gone up by just 1.5 per cent to 541,000 this year, after an 11.5 per cent increase last year. There are now 1.3 million non-resident foreigners, up 4.1 per cent this year after a 4.8 per cent increase last year and an astounding 19 per cent jump in 2007.

The Singaporean population has grown only 0.9 per cent to 3.23 million after a 1.1 per cent rise last year. China's population (1.33 billion) has an even lower growth rate (0.5 per cent in 2008 and 2009 ) and so does Hong Kong (population 7 million after 0.4 per cent growth in 2008 and 0.7 per cent in 2009). Taiwan's population (23.8 million) increased only 0.4 per cent and South Korea's (48.7 million) just 0.3 per cent in both 2008 and 2009 while Thailand's (63.9 million) went up by merely 0.7 per cent in 2008 and 0.6 per cent in 2009.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: 0.9 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 1.8 per cent, 2000, 2010, 4.1 per cent, 5.08 million, bangladesh, born, census, china, chinese, citizen, foreign, hong kong, india, indian, indonesia, macau, malaysia, pakistan, permanent resident, population, resident, sri lanka

Sunday, August 29, 2010 By Abhijit

Joseph Stiglitz: Government helped Singapore boom

Jospeh Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, attributes the success of Singapore and other East Asian economies to government intervention. In his book, Freefall, he writes:

Government has played an especially large role in the highly successful economies of East Asia. The increases in per capita incomes there during the past three to four decades have been historically unprecedented. In almost all of these countries, government took an active role in promoting development through market mechanisms. China has grown at an average of 9.7 per cent per year for more than thirty years and has succeeded in bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty. Japan's government-led growth spurt was earlier, but Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, and a host of other countries followed and adapted Japan's strategy and saw per capita incomes increase eightfold in a quarter century.
Of course, governments, like markets and humans, are fallible. But in East Asia, and elsewhere, the success far outweighed the failures.

Filed Under: Books, Singapore Tagged With: china, east asia, economics, economy, freefall, government, income, japan, joseph stiglitz, market, nobel, poverty, prize, singapore, stiglitz

Friday, August 20, 2010 By Abhijit

Singapore fastest growing Asia-Pacific country

Singapore has the fastest growing population among all the countries I checked on the Asian Development Bank Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2010. You will find it here on the bank's website.

I didn't check Samoa and Vanuatu and a few other Pacific islands on the list. But, among all the other countries, Singapore posted the biggest population increase in 2008 and 2009, according to the figures given by the bank. It shows by what percentage the population increased in each country. Those are the figures used here in the chart and the following table, which includes all the countries I checked.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: 2008, 2009, asian development bank, australia, china, hong kong, india, indonesia, japan, malaysia, new zealand, population

Thursday, August 19, 2010 By Abhijit

Iraq war flashbacks as last US combat brigade exits

Remember Rageh Omaar, who reported from Baghdad for the BBC when the Iraq war began in 2003? This is how he reported the arrival of US forces in Baghdad and the toppling of Saddam's statue in April 2003. Here you can see President George W Bush claiming "Mission accomplished" aboard the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in early May 2003.

This is how the BBC showed Saddam Hussein's medical examination following his capture. And this is the CNN report on his execution. (I couldn't watch it).

All because of 9/11. This video shows the second plane hitting the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. You can hear the newscasters gasp. What a terrible tragedy. I remember watching it on CNN and couldn't believe my eyes. It was like the end of the world.

As the last US combat brigade pulls out of Iraq, leaving behind more than 50,000 US soldiers in the country, here's a moment of remembrance:

Filed Under: World Today Tagged With: 9/11, afghanistan, baghdad, base, bbc, brigade, capture, china, combat, defence, economy, execution, gdp, george bush. us, gross domestic product, indian ocean, iraq, killed, naval, new york, rageh omaar, saddam hussein, soldiers, string of pearls, trillion, twin towers, world trade centre

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 By Abhijit

Singapore visitors soar: Majority Indonesians, Malaysians, Indians

Indonesia, Malaysia and India sent the largest number of visitors to Singapore in June, followed by Australia and China. The Singapore Tourism Board reported, as the number of visitors reached 950,000, the highest figure since last December and the highest ever for June:

Fourteen out of the 15 top markets registered positive year-on-year growth in June this year.
In June 2010, China ( up 65.8 per cent), Malaysia ( up 51.3 per cent), and Hong Kong (up 48.2 per cent) registered their highest growth out of the top 15 markets.

Visitors from India rose 6 per cent to 83,000.

Indonesia sent the most visitors: 214,000, up 34 per cent. Malaysia sent the second biggest contingent, 93,000; India, third; Australia, fourth, 75,000; and China, fifth, 69,000.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: china, hong kong, hotel, india, indonesia, japan, june, malaysia, Singapore Tourism Board, united kingdom, united states, visitor

Friday, July 23, 2010 By Abhijit

Gini coefficient: Income gap in Singapore and elsewhere

Singapore has the second highest income gap between the rich and the poor, as indicated by the Gini coefficient, among the 38 countries with very high human development, according to the 2009 United Nations Development Report. Only Hong Kong has a higher income gap. See the table on this web page. You can also build your own tables using various economic indicators by going to the statistics page and you can read the report here.

The UN report says: The Gini index lies between 0 and 100. A value of 0 represents absolute equality and 100 absolute inequality.

Singapore, according to the 2009 UN report, had a Gini coefficient of 42.5, exceeded only by Hong Kong (43.4) among the countries with very high human development.

Here we compare Singapore's Gini coefficient with the figures for the rest of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asean Nations (Asean) and other countries with which it has close links. The figure tends to be lower in European countries, as this chart shows. All the figures are from the UN report.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: Asean, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, australia, Canada, china, development, gini coefficient, hong kong, human development index, income gap, india, Ireland, japan, malaysia, Norway, Philippines, poor, report, rich, south korea, thailand, united nations

Lee Kuan Yew and the power of one

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The world’s biggest selling newspapers

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How the Global Competitiveness Report is prepared

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Foreign-born Singapore resident population up from 18% to 23%

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Joseph Stiglitz: Government helped Singapore boom

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Singapore fastest growing Asia-Pacific country

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Iraq war flashbacks as last US combat brigade exits

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Singapore visitors soar: Majority Indonesians, Malaysians, Indians

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Gini coefficient: Income gap in Singapore and elsewhere

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