The purpose of this study is to analyse how the Straits Times reported Singapore's communication news between May 1992 and October 1995, with a focus on Singapore's communication regionalisation. This study is a modest attempt to depart from some of the approaches taken by recent communication related studies of the Singapore experience. They tend to focus on the domestic side of state-press relationship and the issue of Singaporean press freedom, without sustained consideration of external forces, such as globalisation. This analysis provides a synthesis of secondary sources and a qualitative content analysis of communication news in the Straits Times. The results suggest there has been a convergence between the stories in the Straits Times and official views about two themes - business regionalisation and 'Asian' media standards. Results suggest the government has an extensive influence over Singapore's communication, especially with regard to media content. Also, the analysis shows Singapore's identification with Asia, despite bilateral and regional tensions in business and culture, and suggests an uneasy relationship between Singapore and the West, in particular, with the US. That is, while Singapore's business relations with the US are good, its cultural relations are not, especially when Singapore's practice of media standards does not accept the American interpretation, but one based on its national interests. This study provides a glimpse of global communication forces which are influencing Singapore's communication development, as interpreted in the stories from the Straits Times. Although there remains uncertainties about Singapore's communication future, this study may provide an insight as to whether Singapore has taken the right direction in becoming a leading country in advocating an 'Asian voice'.

The first Speak Good English Movement, SGEM, took place in 2000, and has been organized annually ever since. Speaking a “standard” form of English is considered to bring increased personal power. However, the SGEM wants the Singaporeans to use “standard” English in their private life as well. A decade after the beginning of the campaign, a Speak Good Singlish Movement was started. Based on studies of language and identity, it is understandable why some Singaporeans might feel the SGEM threatens their identity. However, the reactions towards the campaign are mainly positive. For the purposes of this analysis, Twitter messages, Facebook pages, and newspaper articles from The Straits Times were collected. The SGEM has hailed both direct and indirect praise and criticism in both social and traditional media: Five newspaper articles praise the campaign while five criticize it; the results are nine and seven respectively for social media. This thesis looks at reactions towards the SGEM in both social and traditional media, analyzes how these reactions might relate to the ideas of the power of language, its variety and the relation of language and identity.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the possible existence of day-of-the-week effects and month-of-the-year effects in the Singapore stock market over the period January 1st 1993 to December 31st 2011. The findings are analysed with the intention of developing investment strategies and to investigate if behavioural finance can help to explain the existence of seasonal anomalies.  Background: A number of previous studies have found evidence of seasonal anomalies in global stock markets, and by challenging the core assumptions of market efficiency, such anomalies may make it possible to predict the movement of stock prices at certain periods during the year. Consequently, there may be substantial profit-making opportunities that clever investors can benefit from, raising two important questions: (1) can such anomalies be strategically used to outperform the market and (2) why do such cyclical return patterns exist? Method: Daily closing prices from the Singapore Straits Times Index (STI) are used to compute average daily and monthly returns, which are further analysed through the use of statistical significance analysis and hypothesis testing to identify the possible existence of day-of-the-week effects and month-of-the-year effects in the Singapore stock market.  The results of the statistical investigation are used to develop investment strategies that are designed to take advantage of both positive and negative effects, and the theories of behavioural finance are applied to help explain why seasonalities occur at certain points in time. Conclusions: This study finds evidence of several seasonal anomalies in the Singapore stock market. Both day-of-the-week effects and month-of-the-year effects are present in the STI over the full sample period. Many of these effects can be explained by behavioural finance, and used to develop investment strategies that outperform the market.