Opinion

LEE HSIEN LOONG has been progressively softening the image of the Singapore he inherited from his autocratic father, Lee Kuan Yew. Working parents now qualify for kindergarten subsidies, and senior citizens, born before 1949, have been dubbed the Pioneer Generation, qualifying for unlimited healthcare and GST subsidies . . .

JOKOWI’s tenure as President will depend on his political cunning, his ability to negotiate the Indonesian Parliament and, perhaps, the whims of his Party’s matriarch, Megawati Sukarnoputri . . .

THERE has been a volley of accusations towards India of reneging on its commitments made at Bali and putting the future of the WTO in jeopardy. These accusations have come from within the WTO and from vested interests outside of it. The reality is different . . .

No Big Bang, but the Budget sets a positive tone, says HSBC. Detailed, pragmatic – but it misses on infrastructure, says BBVA . . . 

ATI Magazine June-July 2014 issue

NARENDRA MODI can cut his own cloth on policy – and the implementation of that policy . . .

ATI Magazine June-July 2014 issue

THE interpretation that Thailand’s political conflict is a tiny Bangkok-based royalist elite and the democracy-loving rural poor is too simplistic – and ultimately a distortion . . .

BUSINESSES and NGOs have an important role to play in successful implementation of the New Colombo Plan scholarships through internships and mentoring opportunities . . .

INDIA’s new Prime Minister embraces paradox – a quiet, introverted writer of poetry, and a powerful and flamboyant political leader . . .

A KEY thrust of China’s interest in securing an FTA with Australia is the export of Chinese workers for Chinese-owned and funded projects in Australia . . .

THE disappearance of North Korea’s Kim Dynasty is likely to result in an overwhelming sense of intellectual and cognitive dislocation and politico-cultural alienation for North Koreans as their entire existing world view vaporises in a swirl of disbelief . . .