Politics and ethnicity: Framing racial discrimination in Singapore

Racial discrimination is a global phenomenon that the United Nations seeks to eradicate. In contemporary Singapore, research shows that the basis for racial discrimination is anchored in the role of ethnic identity and how it frames the formulation of policies related to education, employment, housing, immigration and politics. These policies have been formulated and implemented by the People‟s Action Party (PAP) government that has been in power for over 50 years. When confronted with its racially based policies, the PAP government insists that it follows a tolerant approach towards different races and that it propagates the idea of multiculturalism and meritocracy as a racial equaliser. However ethnic minorities in Singapore complain they are being discriminated daily on the basis of their race or religion. They argue their views are often not given airing in the local mainstream media and are further prevented from discussing these issues openly due to legislations restricting freedom of expression and assembly on these matters. Given this background, the first ever visit of the UN Rapporteur on Racism to Singapore at the invitation of the PAP government in April 2010, allowed the city-state‟s racialist based policies to be put on an international spotlight. This paper examines the visit of UN Rapporteur, his initial findings, government and civil society responses and the significance of this first UN mission. The paper locates its research on racial discrimination in the context of Singapore‟s political framework and the United Nations efforts to eradicate racism. It argues that ultimately policy changes in Singapore can only take place as a result of politically challenging the PAP government

Dumbing down democracy: Trends in internet regulation, surveillance and control in Asia.

This article argues that the trends in state regulation, survelliance and control of the internet in Asia stand to effectively reduce political expression. A variety of international media watch and human rights organisations have noted that since September 2011, a slew of anti-terrorism laws have been adopted in Asia which place greater restrictions on the internet. Laws against online pornography, gambling, hate speech and spam have been revised to cover online political content and mobilisation. Such measures limit and reduce the space cyberactivists have to push the demogaphic agenda online. These cybersecurity measures, introduced as part of the 'war against terrorism', represent an extension of already draconian regulation in South-East Asian countries

’Citizen Journalism’: Bridging the Discrepancy in Singapore’s General Elections News

The political expression of ordinary Internet users in Singapore has received the attention of some scholars but very little has been specifically written about citizen journalism during general elections. Since the arrival of the Internet in Singapore in 1995, the People’s Action Party (PAP) government has actively sought to control the supply of online political content during the election campaign period. This paper looks at how online political expressions of ordinary Internet users and the regulations to control them have taken shape during the last three general elections in 1997, 2001 and 2006. In absolute electoral terms there seems to have been no impact over the last three general elections. However, as a supplementary medium for alternative information during elections, the Internet has made some headway. It remains to be seen if this headway will have an impact on the absolute electoral results in future elections or become the target of increased control.Die Forschung hat jüngst den politischen Äußerungen von Internetnutzern verstärkte Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Bislang ist jedoch sehr wenig über die journalistischen Beiträge von Bürgern im Internet erforscht worden. Seit Einführung des Internets hat die People’s Action Party (PAP) während des Wahlkampfes versucht, eine stärkere Kontrolle der politischen Inhalte im Internet zu sichern. Der vorliegende Aufsatz behandelt die politischen Äußerungen und rechtlichen Kontrollen bei den Wahlen in den Jahren 1997, 2001 und 2006. An den Ergebnissen lässt sich bislang keine Wirkung ablesen. Als ergänzendes Medium für alternative Informationen während des Wahlkampfes hat das Internet jedoch Fortschritte gemacht. Es bleibt abzuwarten, ob diese Fortschritte auch Wirkung auf die Wahlen haben oder ob sie zur Zielscheibe zunehmender Kontrolle werden

Content shared on social media for national cancer survivors day 2018.

BACKGROUND:Studies estimate that the number of cancer survivors will double by 2050 due to improvements in diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy. Despite the growing population of cancer survivors, there is a paucity of research regarding how these individuals experience the transition from active treatment to long-term surveillance. While research has explored this transition from more organized venues, such as support groups for cancer survivors, this paper explores the discourses surrounding cancer survivorship on social media, paying particular attention to how individuals who identify as cancer survivors represent their experience. METHODS:We identified social media posts relating to cancer survivorship on Twitter and Instagram in early June 2018, in order to coincide with National Cancer Survivorship Day on June 3, 2018. We used nine pre-selected hashtags to identify content. For each hashtag, we manually collected the 150 most recent posts from Twitter and the 100 most recent plus the top 9 posts from Instagram. Our preliminary sample included 1172 posts; after eliminating posts from one hashtag due to irrelevance, we were left with 1063 posts. We randomly sampled 200 of these to create a subset for analysis; after review for irrelevant posts, 193 posts remained for analysis (118 from Instagram and 75 from Twitter). We utilized a grounded theory approach to analyze the posts, first open-coding a subset to develop a codebook, then applying the codebook to the rest of the sample and finally memo writing to develop themes. RESULTS:Overall, there is substantial difference in the tone and thematic content between Instagram and Twitter posts, Instagram takes on a more narrative form that represents journeys through cancer treatment and subsequent survivorship, whereas Twitter is more factual, leaning towards advocacy, awareness and fundraising. In terms of content type, 120 posts (62%) of the sample were images, of which 42 (35%) were images of the individual posting and 28 (23%) were images of patients posted by family or friends. Of the remaining images, 14 (12%) were of support groups and 7 (6%) were of family or friends. We identified four salient themes through analysis of the social media posts from Twitter and Instagram: social support, celebrating milestones and honoring survivors, expressing identity, and renewal vs. rebirth. DISCUSSION:We observed a marked relationship between physical appearance, functional status and survivorship. Additionally, our findings suggest the importance of social support for cancer patients and survivors as well as the role social media can pay in identity formation. CONCLUSION:Our findings suggest that individuals who identify as survivors on social media define their identity fluidly, incorporating elements of physical, emotional and psychological health as well as autonomy

The Dark Disk of the Milky Way

Massive satellite accretions onto early galactic disks can lead to the deposition of dark matter in disk-like configurations that co-rotate with the galaxy. This phenomenon has potentially dramatic consequences for dark matter detection experiments. We utilize focused, high-resolution simulations of accretion events onto disks designed to be Galaxy analogues, and compare the resultant disks to the morphological and kinematic properties of the Milky Way's thick disk in order to bracket the range of co-rotating accreted dark matter. We find that the Milky Way's merger history must have been unusually quiescent compared to median LCDM expectations and therefore its dark disk must be relatively small: the fraction of accreted dark disk material near the Sun is about 20% of the host halo density or smaller and the co-rotating dark matter fraction near the Sun, defined as particles moving with a rotational velocity lag less than 50 km/s, is enhanced by about 30% or less compared to a standard halo model. Such a dark disk could contribute dominantly to the low energy (of order keV for a dark matter particle with mass 100 GeV) nuclear recoil event rate of direct dectection experiments, but it will not change the likelihood of detection significantly. These dark disks provide testable predictions of weakly-interacting massive particle dark matter models and should be considered in detailed comparisons to experimental data. Our findings suggest that the dark disk of the Milky Way may provide a detectable signal for indirect detection experiments, contributing up to about 25% of the dark matter self-annihilation signal in the direction of the center of the Galaxy, lending the signal a noticeably oblate morphology.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; submitted to Ap

Fathers report experiencing negative feelings and psychological difficulties during the perinatal period

The perinatal period is the time from the start of pregnancy to 1 year after the child has been born.1 During the perinatal period, an estimated 5%–10% of fathers will develop above-threshold symptoms of paternal depression.2 During this period, fathers can experience a high level of stress which can have negative effects on themselves and their families.3 This review aims to explore the needs and experiences associated with the mental health of fathers during this perinatal period.

Electoral court option to address irregularities

UNLESS there is a timely and satisfactory review and accountability around the alleged electoral irregularities, the 13th General Election (GE13) will not be able to achieve an acceptable closure among a large section of Malaysia's electorate. Even though several foreign leaders have congratulated Malaysia's new government,the electoral disputes stand to generate negative perceptions externally should the issue catch international momentum