Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Singapore issues - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Singaporeans' lifestyle/spending decisions are environmentally degrading
        
        Singaporeans love for en block sales, where residents of a condominium block band together to sell their block to a developer to tear down and rebuild a new housing block.
        
        Singapore buildings are having shorter average lifespan, such as old HDB demolished even before their 99 year lease is up (in comparison, the pantheon in rome is still in “brilliant condition” after some 1900 years)
        
        40% of global carbon emissions are already coming from building and construction and tearing down and rebuilding just adds on to the energy consumption and is hence not good for the environment
        
        In 2002, Olivio, a 36-unit condominium in Novena was completed and welcomed its new residents. But just four years later, it was sold en bloc and torn down.
        
        According to a YouGov Omnibus research, a third of Singaporeans have thrown away an item of clothing after wearing it just once and, in 2017, 15% of all respondents have thrown away at least three items that they’ve only worn once.
        
        Attempts at raising awareness on the damage the throwaway culture
        Ecosperity week in 2019, an upcycling competition, Trash to Fash, held to not only challenge participants to design clothing using recycled materials but also learn about the value of “trash”, what it means for the fashion industry to adopt a closed loop supply chain, and how materials can be upcycled into fashionable apparel.
        
        Singaporeans consume 2 milion plastic bags daily, according to the Singapore Environmental Council
      - Inability of government to influence environmental awareness of Singaporeans
      - Singapore's apathy towards recycling
        
        While Singapore has one of the highest overall recycling rates, this is attributed to the increase in commercial recycle rates due to the Mandatory Waste Reporting Exercise (Ikea’s recycles 73% of total waste and Sheng Siong increased its recycling of carton materials from 6500 tonnes to over 7000 from 2018-2019)
        
        domestic recycling rates have declined from 22% in 2018 to 17% in 2019
        
        40% are recycled materials are thrown away instead as they have been contaminated by foods and drinks
        
        Founder of plastic-lite SG Aarti Giri said that she observes that the “couched effect” is very prominent in Singapore and calls to be more proactive have to be more convincing to break the indifference
    - - Root cause of first problem is knowledge about recycling and lack of infrastructure to facilitate an environment that encourages recycling and can be easily addressed with sufficient education
        
        According to the Singapore environmental council’s 2018 survey, 70% of Singaporeans do not fully know what is recyclable
        
        Hi-tech trash cans that use facial recognition installed in a complex of flats in Bejing
        Beijing has implemented new sorting rules and have use these bins to encourage recycling
        
        Thanks to Pfand, over 97 per cent of plastic and glass bottles are now recycled in Germany. Pfand rewards users with 25 cents per bottle
        Sg reduced rewards for reverse vending machines from 4 to 20 items for 20 cents - not worth the hassle
      - There is an increase in the environmental awareness of Singaporeans
        
        National Youth Council confirmed that there had been an increase in ground up environmental projects from 2018 to 2019, including recycling initiatives. They have hence set up the Young ChangeMakers Grant to help seed fund these ground up projects
        
        Repair Kopitiam - teaches Singaporean how to repair damaged items ranging from electrical appliances to clothings
        Westcom - Able to convert 50kg of foodwaste into 5kg of organic fetiliser
        CRUST - Converts unused or unsold bread into beer
        
        Swapaholic
        
        Founded by Priyanka Shahra who wanted to reinvent the concept of swopping clothes: It was the notion that secondhand clothes were torn hand-me-downs, smelly polyester vests or messy flea-mart finds. She knew that swopping clothes, however, was a simple way to reduce consumption. Fashion was the problem, but being fashionable was the way to make her initiative appealing.
        
        Swapaholic is a unique fashion startup in Singapore that aims to save individuals money while giving them the chance to engage in responsible consumerism.
      - Government measures thus far have been indirect and ineffective but newer measures implemented are now more radical/dramatic
        
        Indirect/ineffective
        
        Solution to lack of knowledge on what to recycle is by pasting new signs on recycling bins
        
        But ineffective because Singaporeans may not bother reading and it is still only in English + only tackle one part of sustainability
        
        Radical
        
        Installation of recycling chutes right outside the houses of newer homes
        
        All new car registration must be cleaner-energy models by 2030
        
        Eco stewardship programme to "strengthen the inculcation of informed, responsible, sustainability-conscious" mindsets and habits in youth
        
        Progressive installation in solar panles, LED lights and energy-efficient DC fans
        
        80-80-80 in 2030: Green 80% of buildings by gross floor area, 80% of new builidings to be super lower energy (SLE) and best-in-class green buildings to see an 80% improvement in energy efficiency
        
        Sustainability and environment minister Grace Fu mentions that the government will use grant funding to "influence stakeholders to move"
- - - - high degree of integrity (honesty in civil service, no corruption)
      - meritocracy (Appoint the best people, no nepotism where we appoint people because of their connections or becayse they are related to somebody)
      - inclusiveness (government tries to ensure that everybody benefits from Singapore's progress, housing programme by HDB, affordable education and healthcare)
- - - - People in Singapore are found to sleep the least and work among the longest hours in the world
        
        Work-life balance
        
        Referring to the Asana survey, Dr Lim said that the high numbers could be due to Asians and Singaporeans’ tendency to be more punitive towards themselves in general.
        
        The study also revealed that Singapore workers has the longest working week of more than 42 hours, and that eight in 10 people experienced burnout in 2020, which is higher than the global average of seven in 10.
        
        The survey, done by Asana, a workplace application tool developed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, found that nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of Singapore workers reported experiencing imposter syndrome in 2020
      - For knowledge workers, the lack of transition periods/leisure time could negatively affect their productivity (Transition periods contribute to productivity)
      - Exposing children to this frantic pace, through "enrichment" activities, can stymie Singapore's transformation into a knowledge economy. It encourages uniform thought processes and reproducing scripted responses, as opposed to experimentation, discovery and learning from trial and error, traits that valuable in a kowledge economy
    - - Waiting time at polyclinics are often long despite its highly subsidised rates. The other alternative is to seek help from a General Practitioner to avoid long waiting times,but costs are much higher.
      - While the Community Health Assistance Scheme (CHAS) cards can help citizerns offset some costs, it is still rather costly for those who are retired/earn minimal
      - Shortage of hospital beds despite having 14 public hospitals and 9 private ones
      - Waiting time to see a specialist at a public hospital can be between 3 to 6 months
    - - Efforts to ensure the mental/psychological well-being of the population is incipient, despite the acknowledgement and recogniton given to it
      - Mental health is how we think, feel and act as we cope with our lives and also determines how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices
      - A study by the Institute of Mental Health in 2018 found that 1 in 7 people in Singapore has experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime. The high proportion of people with mental disorders who are not seeking help compounds this problem. and a significant treatment gap remains
      - The Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) and the Singapore Association for Mental Health both reported receiving an increase of calls to their hotlines, while newly released data by the SOS in July showed that there were 452 suicides in Singapore in 2020, a 13 per cent increase compared to 2019. The suicide rate is also the highest in the country since 2012.
        
        In fact, a recent study done by Professor Tazeen Jafar from the Health Services and Systems Research Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School, found that one in three adults, particularly young women, experienced psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and even insomnia, from COVID-19 interventions like lockdowns, social distancing and quarantine.
  - - - Price hike of G&S that are deemed to be undesriebale to/threaten one's health in order to reduce demand (e.g. cigarettes, liquor)
      - Nation-wide movement such as the "Healthier Choice" and "ask for" programmes rolled out by the Health Promotion Board invites citizens to take ownership and adopt healthier eating habits by requesting less oil, salt, sugar in their food
      - Penalties/fines/capital punishment against the posession, purhcase and consumption of harmful substances to keep the population safe as far as possible
      - National Steps Challenge Seasons 1 to 5
    - - There are government subsidies that are made available to those who need to foot healthcare bills, such as costs from prevention and treatment of life-threatening diseases, especially low-income families.
      - They can tap on their Medisave/Medifund to co-pay their medical bills amidst the rising healthcare cost, rather than use cash/their savings, relieving their financial burden.
      - Improvement in life expectancy over the years, with Singapore topping the world in life expectancy in 2017, ahead of Japan
    - - Health Promotion Board and the Singapore Sports Council work together to envourage the public to adaopt a healthy lifestyle and to live better through sport respectively
      - e.g. Active SG courses, Park connectors
- - - - Paramjeet Kaur, the woman who refused to wear a mask at Shunfu mart while claiming that she was a "sovereign", went viral in April this year. Before her identity was revealed in court, netizens went after another woman, Tuhina Singh, whom they incorrectly-identified as the person in the video. Tuhina's details were circulated on social media and online forums, before the identity of the actual offender was revealed.
      - Netizens harassed a man they suspected of being the culprit of a 2018 incident where a cyclist lashed out at the side mirror of a lorry.
      - They even went to the extent of leaving negative reviews on his workplace's Facebook page, prompting a police report by the wrongly-identified individual.
      - Thus, one possible criticism of the mob-like behaviour involved in some forms of cancelling is that sometimes extreme actions — in this case, doxxing — may be taken, without leaving room for the full story to be revealed
    - - In Oct. 2019, netizens went after a resident of Eight Riversuites condominium in Whampoa, after a video of him shouting at a security guard went viral online.
      - Netizens eventually found his personal details, doxxed him, called on his employer to take action, and, according to the police, even sent him and his family threats of "death and violence (even rape)".
      - In 2014, a video of a Vietnamese tourist begging for a refund went viral after mobile phone shop owner Jover Chew overcharged him by S$550 for an iPhone, using underhanded sales tactics.
      - The Internet quickly took matters in their own hands as they published personal details of Chew and his wife online, prank called him, and sent large orders of pizza and McDonald’s to his house.
    - - Monica Baey, the National University of Singapore (NUS) student who was filmed by fellow student Nicholas Lim while she was showering.
      - Baey took to Instagram in Apr. 2019 to share her dissatisfaction with NUS' handling of her situation, calling for the university to do more to protect and support victims of sexual assault, and seeking concrete consequences for all perpetrators of sexual misconduct.
      - Baey's chosen course of action — which could be characterised as "cancelling" — created massive pressure on NUS to change its policies, when her Instagram stories went viral.
      - Her story sparked a massive response against both Lim and NUS, including a comment from then-Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung on the matter, calling the penalties given by NUS "manifestly inadequate".
      - By May 2019, Baey shared that NUS had reached out to her to "acknowledge that the current disciplinary system dealing with sexual misconduct cases in the university is inadequate", that NUS had organised a town hall to hear students' concerns and, and that it was forming a Review Committee to make changes to its system.
    - - Tosh Zhang, who faced online backlash after his past homophobic tweets resurfaced in May 2019. This was after he was announced to be one of Pink Dot 2019’s ambassadors.
      - In an Instagram post, Zhang apologised for his past tweets, saying that he felt “awful & disgusted” that he had spoken in that way and that he had changed since then.
      - Two days later, Zhang took to Instagram again to announce that, after “thinking it through thoroughly”, he would be stepping down as a Pink Dot ambassador.
      - In a statement, Pink Dot organisers said that Zhang’s decision came as a surprise to them, and that they believed that “the evolution of Tosh's views over the years is a demonstration of the empathy and understanding that many Singaporeans are capable of”.
      - Critics of cancel culture argued that Zhang stepping down was an example of the cancel culture “mob” taking down yet another individual, without regard for the fact that he had grown in maturity over the years.
      - Zhang still has over 300,000 followers on both Twitter and Instagram.