The central provident fund scheme in Singapore: Challenges and reform

The article explains the features and evolution of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme in Singapore and the reforms it has undergone in the face of recent challenges. At its inception, it was designed as an exclusively state managed savings scheme to meet the retirement needs of its members. Over the years, it has been gradually liberalised, allowing account holders to use their savings for additional purposes. In recent years two key challenges have arisen. One has been the problems arising out of liberalisation itself, which has left too many CPF members with insufficient savings for their retirement as a result of mistaken or imprudent choices in committing their savings to the additional options available. In response, the Singapore government has tempered or reversed the process of liberalisation, imposing or maintaining constraints on the use of CPF savings so as to ensure sufficient savings to meet retirement needs. The second challenge is the need to restructure the Singapore economy in the face of regional and global competition so as to sustain the profitability of the business sector and enhance employability of the older workers. The response of the government has been to allow the CPF contribution rates of employers to be adjusted and the CPF salary ceiling to be lowered so as to reduce business costs and increase the chances of employment of older workers. However, using the CPF scheme as a macroeconomic tool by reducing employers’ contribution rates may lead to less scope for CPF members to accumulate sufficient savings for their retirement. This would mean that the response to the second challenge would be at odds with the response to the first challenge.     

Book notes

Habitat : Human Settlements in an Urban Age, Angus McGunn, Pergamon Press, 1978, pp. 272, price unknown.

Decision Making for Energy Futures, David Pearce, Lynne Edwards and Geoff Beuret, Macmillan, 1979, pp. 296, £10.00.

Party Politics in Local Government: Officers and Members, Royal Institute of Public Administration, Policy Studies Institute, 1980, pp. 50, £2.50.

District Trends 1980, City of Bradford Metropolitan Council, 1980, pp. 45, free.

Housing the Disabled, John Hunt and Lesley Hayes, Torfaen Borough Council (with the support of Cwmbran Development Corporation), 1980, pp.204, £3.95 (paperback).

The West Riding County Council, 1889–1974 Historical Studies, B. J. Barber and M. W. Beresford, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, 1979, pp. 262, price unknown.

Public Administration: The Political Environment, Roger Stacey and John Oliver, MacDonald and Evans (BEC Books), 1980, pp. 296, £4.95 (paperback).

How to Run Committees and Meetings, Michael Locke, Papermac (Macmillan Press), 1980, pp. 190, £2.95 (paperback), £10.00 (hardback).

The Politics of Positive Discrimination: An Evaluation of the Urban Programme, 1967–77, John Edwards and Richard Batley, Tavistock Publications Ltd., 1978, pp. 287, £4.25 (paperback).

Urban Deprivation and the Inner City, Colin Jones (Editor), Croom Helm, 1979, pp. 218, £9.95 (hardback).

Urban Harvest: Urban Renewal in Retrospect and Prospect, Stanley Mill‐ward (Editor), Geographical Publications Ltd., 1977, pp. 266, £8.25 (hardback).     

Planning in the passenger transport executives∗

Abstract This article examines the use of Management Buy‐outs (MBOs) as a strategy for the reorganization of service provision by some local authorities in response to compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) under the 1988 Local Government Act. It looks at:

1. How MBOs fit in with the other patterns of change associated with CCT.

   The reasons why particular local authorities have sold service organizations to MBOs.
   The immediate and short term implications of MBOs.
   The longer term prospects for MBO companies in CCT service areas.
   The prospects for further MBOs being established.

     

Professional credentialing of american municipal managers: Searchings for national and cross-national experiences

Over the last several decades, American managers have not performed well. Municipal managers are no exception. Although considerable attention has been given to the need of strengthening upper levels of municipal management, the results have been disappointing. Too often these positions are filled by rank amateurs. The nation can no longer afford the cost of amateur managers.

Professional credentialing is proposed as a basic way to correct the situation. The discussion searches national and cross-national experiences in credentialing. It singles out Irish, Australian and American public school experiences as to possible developmental programs in this vital area.     

Is Duverger's Law Working in South Korea? An Analysis of District-Level Elections 1988–2012

How do electoral rules shape competition? District level data from South Korea's seven legislative elections since democratization (1988-2012) provides a means to test one of the oldest findings in political science: Duverger's Law. South Korea provides a unique opportunity to analyze variation in mixed election rules, where seats are allocated in both single member districts (SMDs) and by a nationwide party list by proportional representation (PR), as the country has used three different electoral formulas over the time period. Through quantitative analysis, evidence of a gradual reduction in the number of candidates is evident as is a more nuanced influence of regionalism on vote concentration.     

From Konfrontasi to Disintegrasi : ASEAN and the Rise of Islamism in Southeast Asia

This article evaluates the development of militant Islamic threats in Southeast Asia from the early 1990s onwards and its security implications for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The analysis contends that the extent of extremist Islamic infiltration of the region was obscured by governmental rhetoric, along with much Western opinion, which argued erroneously that ASEAN was following a unique developmental path based on shared regional values that had resulted in economic growth and political stability. However, by ignoring underlying religiously motivated tensions within and among its membership, and by refusing to countenance mature debate about them within their societies, ASEAN has succeeded only in incubating its potential nemesis.     

The Tribes that Bind: Yemen and the Paradox of Political Violence

Beset by multiple security challenges, not least the emergence of a powerful Al Qaeda franchise, Yemen appears the antithesis of the “Weberian” state model. But while these challenges are acute, they should be seen as part of a wider “political field,” dominated by powerful tribes and conditioned by patrimonial networks that have long framed the modes of political exchange between the center and periphery. This remains crucial to understanding the wider eddies of tribal politics in Yemen, and in turn, the limits of a purely military response by Washington as it seeks to confront Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.     

Explaining Myanmar's regime transition: the periphery is central

In 2010, Myanmar (Burma) held its first elections after 22?years of direct military rule. Few compelling explanations for this regime transition have emerged. This article critiques popular accounts and potential explanations generated by theories of authoritarian “regime breakdown” and “regime maintenance”. It returns instead to the classical literature on military intervention and withdrawal. Military regimes, when not terminated by internal factionalism or external unrest, typically liberalize once they feel they have sufficiently addressed the crises that prompted their seizure of power. This was the case in Myanmar. The military intervened for fear that political unrest and ethnic-minority separatist insurgencies would destroy Myanmar's always-fragile territorial integrity and sovereignty. Far from suddenly liberalizing in 2010, the regime sought to create a “disciplined democracy” to safeguard its preferred social and political order twice before, but was thwarted by societal opposition. Its success in 2010 stemmed from a strategy of coercive state-building and economic incorporation via “ceasefire capitalism”, which weakened and co-opted much of the opposition. Having altered the balance of forces in its favour, the regime felt sufficiently confident to impose its preferred settlement. However, the transition neither reflected total “victory” for the military nor secured a genuine or lasting peace.