This dissertation examines and writes the early history of distribution and exhibition of moving images in Southeast Asia by observing the intersection of transnational itinerant entertainment and colonialism. It is a cultural history of turn-of-the-century Southeast Asia, and focuses on the movement of films, people, and amusements across oceans and national borders. The starting point is two simultaneous and interrelated processes in the late 1800s, to which cinema contributed. One process, colonialism and imperialism, separated people into different classes of people, ruler and ruled, white and non-white, thereby creating and widening a colonial binary. The other process was bringing the world closer, through technology, trade, and migration, and compressing the notions of time and space. The study assesses the development of cinema in a colonial setting and how its development disrupted notions of racial hierarchies. The first decade of cinema in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore, is used as a point of reference from where issues such as imperialism, colonial discourse, nation-building, ethnicity, gender, and race is discussed. The development of film exhibition and distribution in Southeast Asia is tracked from travelling film exhibitors and agents to the opening of a regional Pathé Frères office and permanent film venues. By having a transnational perspective the interconnectedness of Southeast Asia is demonstrated, as well as its constructed national borders. Cinematic venues throughout Southeast Asia negotiated segregated, colonial racial politics by creating a common social space where people from different ethnic and social backgrounds gathered. Furthermore, this study analyses what kind of worldview the exhibited pictures had and how audiences reproduced their meanings.

This thesis comprises, firstly, a careful and detailed description of the institutional workings of the Chinese stock market; secondly, a literature review of the Chinese segmented markets and dual-listed shares price premium; and thirdly, three evidence-based contributions designed to cast new light on the Chinese A-shares premium puzzle. Publicly-listed firms in China, under certain criteria, can issue two different types of shares, namely A-shares and B-shares, to local and foreign investors respectively. These shares carry the same rights and obligations, but are however priced differently due to market segmentation. After a review of the literature on determinants of the premium, the first contribution offers a complementary explanation. I propose that the premium reflects the difference in valuation preferences between the local and foreign investors, i.e., local investors pay more attention to stock liquidity, while foreign investors pay more attention to firm’s intrinsic value, and so firms having more favorable fundamentals tend to have lower premia. The second contribution involves the examination of a controversial question that which investor group is better informed about local assets, by testing the direction of information flows between the A- and B-shares markets. Both time series methods, and panel data techniques which are used for the first time in this context, are employed, in order to get a distinct and more insightful picture against the current literature. The third contribution compares and contrasts institutional settings of China, Singapore and Thailand which have similar market segmentation and dual-listing systems; examines whether or not the premia in the three countries are caused by same factors; and tries to answer why foreign investors in China pay less, rather than more, as commonly observed in other segmented markets, for identical assets. It provides the first cross-country comparison evidence after 1999 with updated data.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

本論文各章內容如下： 第一章：前言。敘述本論文寫作的動機，研究的架構與重點。 第二章：地理環境與歷史背景。分別敘述新加坡的地理位置、地形、資源及新加坡之 由古代以迄近代自治獨立的歷史過程。 第三章：國家認同與政治權威的問題。計分兩節。第一節多元種族社會的國家認同。 分別探討多元種族社會之成立及其早期的發展；認同觀念的轉變；認同感的建立。第 二節政治權威的合法性。探討政治穩定的獲致；權威的本質；權威的承續。本章主要 偏重於政治文化層面之討論。 第四章：政治參與、行政能力及經濟發展的問題。本章則落實於制度與績效層面之探 討。亦分兩節。第一節行政能力政治參與。討論文官的動員；政府的地方基層組織， 諸如人民協會，公民諮詢委員會及居民委員會；行政角色與政治角色的不平衡。第二 節則就新加坡的經濟發展所造成的問題為探討。 第五章：穩定與變遷。乃本文之結論，除總結前述各章節，並提出對新加坡未來前途 之看法。

<p>This thesis will show how authoritarian governments rest legitimacy on their ability to create socio-economic development. It will point to some methods used to consolidate power by authoritarian leaders in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. An authoritarian regime that successfully creates development is strengthened and does not call for democratic change in the short run. It is suggested that the widely endorsed Lipset hypothesis, that development will eventually bring democratic transition, is true only when further socio-economic development requires that the economy transfers from being based on industrial manufacturing to knowledge and creativity – not on lower levels of development. Malaysia and Singapore have reached – or try to reach – this level of development today, but restrictions on their civil societies have still not been lifted.</p><p>This thesis describes modern political history in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia in a Machiavellian tradition. The historical perspective will give a more or less plausible idea of how authoritarian regimes consolidated au-thority and what role development policies played in the leaders’ claims for authority. The conclusion will give a suggestion on how the political future in these three countries might evolve. It will point to the importance of an active and free civil society as a means to develop the nations further, rather than oppression.</p><p>This thesis will try to point to the dos and don’ts for authoritarian regimes. The ideas of Plato, Machiavelli and Hobbes provide the structures and methods that authoritarian regimes apply. It will be shown that a regime will disintegrate when it fails to comply with Plato’s and Machiavelli’s ideas. Al-though ancient, Plato and Machiavelli provide methods and structures that seem to carry relevance to the modern history of Southeast Asia.</p><p>I will point to how authoritarian rule can be maintained in the long run. What is required from the political leadership, what are their strategies and methods? What makes people to tolerate or topple authoritarian regimes? Why do some authoritarian regimes successfully create development while others do not? These are some of the questions this thesis will try to an-swer.</p>

新加坡是個經濟繁榮、法治嚴明、資訊科技發達的城市國家，主流平面及電子媒體由報業控股公司（SPH）及新傳媒（Media Corp.）兩大集團壟斷，奉行「政府說了算」的新聞學意理，網路使用普及後，公民媒體乘勢興起。 Mr. Brown Show是由新加坡人民製作的政治諷刺播客（podcast），主要作者為資深部落客李健敏（Mr. Brown），持續發聲已逾三年，廣受歡迎。播客內容多為重現新聞時事的幽默短劇，以人民的觀點針砭時政，實踐公民新聞學（citizen journalism）。 筆者以播客發聲至今顯著性高的新聞議題為指標，選出四大議題共二十三則播客，將之謄寫、節譯為文字稿，以主流媒體（如《海峽時報》）報導為事件背景，對照播客內容，呈現Mr. Brown Show觀點，並歸納製作群的慣用表述策略，如文字遊戲、雙關語、偽裝角色等，申論政治諷刺拓展公民新聞學實踐的範疇。 Mr. Brown Show以播客為載具，網路為傳播平台，正好規避當局對傳統媒介的管制，更甚者，當局未干涉播客的諷刺評論，Mr. Brown Show為另類媒介提供生存線索，並拓寬當前播客的使用目的。 傳播科技帶來新媒體發展的可能性，本文取Mr. Brown Show為個案，以小窺大，除了看它如何利用播客實踐公民新聞學，也探討新媒體對統治當局的挑戰。 / This study examines the production of podcast by a Singaporean blogger Lee Kin Mun, a.k.a. Mr. Brown. He and his team have been utilizing the outcome of a technological convergence — podcast, in a most creative way to express their political views. By its own unique style of satire, Mr. Brown Show has survived in this city state’s closely regulated Internet sphere. In addition, it emerged as a good example of citizen journalism, providing survival tips for local alternative media. It remains to be seen, however, in what way Mr. Brown Show or its likes can make a difference on Singapore’s online democracy.

The thesis is a study of the early stages of the writing cycle in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) class at the University of Singapore. The study focuses on a group brainstorming activity prior to the stage of writing the first draft and on the impact of this activity on the students’ first individual drafts. In addition, the study compares two different modes of discussion: face-to-face and online synchronous chat. The comparison is concerned with the interactional patterns of the discussion in the two modes, and with the transfer of content from the discussion to the first written drafts. The use of group brainstorming at the pre-writing stage is a familiar activity in the writing class but researchers have not yet paid much attention to the way in which the ideas generated in the brainstorming activity are transferred to individual written drafts. It is this gap that this dissertation seeks to fill. A question of particular interest is the extent to which knowledge construction in the composition class is accomplished by the individual or by the group. Data were collected from four classes of first-year undergraduate students of Science taught by the researcher. The control group, with 31 members, carried out their brainstorming activity in face-to-face mode, while the experimental group, with 27 members, carried out their brainstorming using a synchronous chat facility. The primary data were the chat scripts, face-to-face transcripts and first writing drafts. Analysis of the discussion data was carried out using a genre-based content analysis model deriving from speech act theory (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975), rhetorical structure theory (Mann & Thompson 1986, 1988), and more recent work on collaborative writing by Plowman (1993), think-aloud protocols (Smagorinsky, 1991) and collaborative computer-based communication by Garrison and Anderson (2003), among others. The model is used to count the frequency of different ideas according to their rhetorical characteristics in the two conditions (face-to-face and synchronous chat), and to determine whether the ideas were generated by individuals or through group discussion. The analysis then looks at the extent to which the ideas were subsequently reproduced in individual drafts. The frequency analyses are complemented by detailed qualitative analysis of the discussion transcripts and the essays of four students, two from each discussion mode. The results of the analysis suggest that collaborative brainstorming is productive in helping students with the generation and development of ideas for their writing. The findings also suggest that there is a strong link between ownership and use of ideas initiated in the discussion. This tendency is stronger in the chat group than in the face-to-face group. Analysis of the discussion transcripts suggests that this difference is a result of more ideas being initiated in the chat group. In addition to these group differences, the analysis shows that discussion in both modes is characterised by a tendency to seek consensus, with very little argument and negotiation of content. The implications of these findings for the use of group discussion in the writing class are discussed.

This thesis addresses the “foreign talent” situation in Singapore with an ethnographic account of the lived experiences of immigrant PRC students on scholarships, or “PRC scholars.” For some two decades, the Singapore government has annually recruited middle school students from China in their hundreds, selecting them through tests and interviews, granting them full scholarships at either pre-undergraduate or undergraduate level, and, very often, “bonding” them to work subsequently in Singapore for a number of years. Wooed and appropriated in such a way as prized potential human capital, PRC scholars exemplify the Singapore state’s desire for “foreign talent.” In the first decade of the twenty-first century, as the influx of all manners of “foreign talent” into the small city-state gathered pace, local sentiments and discourses of resentment arose. The local-vs-“foreign talent” problem became a serious strain on a city and people proud of their cosmopolitanism. This thesis analyzes the “foreign talent” situation through the ethnographic “macro-trope” of desire. It argues that “foreign talent” is a site of convergence and divergence, collusion and collision, accommodation and contestation, fulfillment and failure of various individual, sociocultural, and political desires and longings. Through the lens of desire, and its psychoanalytic undertones and insights, this thesis looks ethnographically into the PRC scholars’ “foreign talent” journeys in nuanced ways. Based on ethnographic fieldworks carried out in a Chinese middle school and a Singaporean university, the thesis shows how Chinese students are constituted as specific subjects of desire, and how they subsequently develop certain perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes about the local “other” as well as about themselves after arriving in Singapore as “foreign talent.” Infused with multifarious desires, the PRC scholars’ experiences are often characterized by angst and dissatisfaction; yet it is also argued that generative subjective transformations take place precisely amidst these dynamics and pragmatics of desiring. Ultimately, this thesis seeks to make possible an ethical re-imagination of the “foreign talent” situation in Singapore from the perspective of desire; to provide an account of the so far little-studied Chinese migrant students in the context of Singapore; and to speak more broadly to the cultural and subjective dimensions of human experiences in the context of educational mobility, identity politics, and globalization.

L’étude des Tamouls à Colombo, Kuala Lumpur et Singapour montre l’intérêt d’adopter une perspective comparative et multiscalaire pour saisir dans toute leur complexité les différents facteurs agissant sur l’identification et l’intégration socio-spatiale d’un groupe minoritaire transnational. Ces Tamouls évoluent dans des contextes politiques nationaux très différents. À Sri Lanka, ils se retrouvent au cœur d’un conflit intercommunautaire. À Singapour, ils sont reconnus officiellement comme l’une des composantes de la société multiculturelle alors qu’en Malaise, l’État privilégie les Malais. L’analyse des politiques menées par la puissance coloniale, puis par les trois États indépendants à l’égard des minorités, permet de mieux comprendre leurs impacts sur le sentiment d’identification et d’intégration des Tamouls à la Nation, ainsi que sur leur répartition dans ces villes. À l’échelle locale, l’inscription spatiale de leur identité et les pratiques citadines des Tamouls favorisent une appropriation de leur environnement urbain. Toutefois, cette dernière n’est pas immuable. Les politiques urbaines développées par les États, qui selon les cas préservent ou détruisent les ethnoterritoires, ont des conséquences sur l’empreinte urbaine tamoule et leur pratique de la ville. Cette réalité n’est pas sans conséquences sur la façon dont les Tamouls perçoivent leur appartenance à la Nation. Enfin, les liens transnationaux (culturels, politiques, économiques) entre Tamouls et les dynamiques migratoires internationales contemporaines des Tamouls dans ces trois pays ont également des conséquences sur l’identification et l’intégration de ceux de Colombo, Kuala Lumpur et Singapour. / The study of Tamils in Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore shows the importance of adopting a multi-scale and comparative perspective in order to fully grasp an understanding of the complexity of the various factors affecting the identification and socio-spatial integration of a transnational minority group. These Tamils evolve in very different national political contexts. In Sri Lanka, they are at the heart of inter-communal conflicts. In Singapore, they are officially recognized as a component of a multicultural society, whilst in Malaysia the government officially favors Malays. The analysis of the policies enforced by the colonial power, followed by the three independent states toward minorities provides a better understanding of their impacts on the sense of identity and integration of Tamils in the Nation, as well as their geographical distribution in these cities. At the local level, the spatial inscription of tamil identity and their urban practices favor an appropriation of their urban environment. However, it is not immutable. Urban policies developed by states, which according to the cases preserve or destroy ethnoterritories, have an impact on the Tamil urban footprint and their practical of the city. This reality is not without consequence on how Tamils perceive their attachement to the nation. Finally, transnational ties (cultural, political, economical) between Tamils and contemporary dynamics of international migration of Tamils in these three countries also have consequences on the identification and integration of those from Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.