Amidst popular concerns about rising inequalities and living costs, reduced social mobility and inadequate public infrastructure, Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) suffered significant declines in electoral support in the 2006 and 2011 general elections before regaining support at the 2015 polls. Importantly, these concerns reflect the intensification of contradictions inherent to Singapore's model of capitalist development. This juncture in the city-state's political economy has been conducive to greater scrutiny of core PAP ideological notions about the perils of "Western" social welfare and the moral and functional advantages of non-democratic institutions of political accountability and representation. The PAP has responded with creative new defences of its core ideologies in conjunction with social spending boosts, a strategy that will be further tested following the 2015 election.

Goods and Services Tax or GST is one of the most controversial taxes, causing dissatisfaction among the people. The distribution of justice and the implementation and effectiveness of GST policies tend to be the most frequently debated issues. The objective of this study is to examine the implementation, impacts, effectiveness, and challenges of GST policy in Southeast Asian countries, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. By employing a critical analysis perspective such as from Marxism’s lens of view, it is expected that this article will provide a new perspective in analysing GST policy implementation in the region. A descriptive qualitative analysis approach was used in this study, emphasising the content analysis method and the data obtained from official sources and literature studies. The study found that GST contributed to Singapore and Malaysia’s economy and revenue. Nevertheless, the GST impact affected the citizens of Singapore and Malaysia, especially the lower-income earners. The study argued that there is a dilemma in the GST tax policy implementation. It can be assumed through the findings that the GST policy did not meet the conscience of the Marxist perspective as it is regressive. Thus, in several parts of GST implementation, it has both advantages to the country’s production and productivity. On the other hand, it disadvantages society, particularly the lower and middle-class groups. © 2022,Journal of International Studies(Malaysia). All Rights Reserved.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the casino development and regulation in Macau and Singapore. The paper also seeks to assess the potential for casino development in Asia, with a particular focus on the prospects of Japan's casino resorts. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the gaming history, gaming/tourism policies and casino regulations of Macau and Singapore. The key aspects concerned with the casino development in Asia are also examined. Findings: The paper identifies the fundamentals that have contributed to the prosperity of casino resorts in Macau and Singapore, as well as highlights the potential and challenges for the casino developments in Japan and other Asian destinations. Research limitations/implications: A number of legal and tourism-related factors are identified to be the determinants of casino development. However, more research is needed to examine the political, economic and socio-cultural factors associated with casino gaming. Practical implications: The paper, discussing the casino development and regulation in Macau and Singapore, provides practical implications for the design of gaming/tourism policy and casino control in Japan and other prospective gaming jurisdictions. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the gaming law and casino development in Asia and provides insights for policymakers contemplating the adoption of casinos as a strategic policy for tourism development and economic growth. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Over the past three decades, China has shown tremendous interest in the “Singapore model” through its sending of tens of thousands of cadres to Singapore for executive training and graduate education. Although this phenomenon has been studied, no attention has been drawn to the perspectives of those mid-level cadres who took part in the training and what those perspectives might imply. Utilizing a unique dataset of over 1,350 mid-level cadres graduating from the “Mayors’ Class” in Singapore from 1995 to 2016 and follow-up surveys and interviews, this article intends to fill this gap. We found that the most appealing characteristics of the “Singapore model” for these mid-level officials lay in practical governance lessons and their potential transferability rather than in ideologies. This finding challenges conventional wisdom that the most plausible rationale of China's learning from Singapore is political. We also examine Xi Jinping's view of Singapore and its relevance to China's latest national agendas in building a “learning nation” and strengthening the CCP's resilience through anti-corruption and intra-party regeneration. The conclusion places the China–Singapore case within the context of the changing trend of transnational knowledge transfer in the non-Western world.

A Central Party School media organ under Xi Jinping praised Singapore's People's Action Party (PAP) for its "high efficiency, incorruptibility, and vitality" over several decades of one-party rule. [.]it has been widely reported that Xi's anticorruption drive is part of the effort to establish a merit-based civil service emulating that of the PAP. Dozens of books and thousands of academic papers have been published over the past quarter-century, with about a thousand more being added every year. Since 1990, more than 22,000 Chinese central and locallevel officials have traveled to the city-state to explore various aspects of national and local governance, visiting nearly every ministry, government department, and statutory board.