Deep Dive

In the last decade, child abuse cases involving neglect and physical or sexual abuse have gone up from around 300 in 2012 to 2,141 in 2021. Several high profile cases before the court involved the death of young children. Steven Chia gets answers on how the system works and why some cases slip through with Soh Ying Si, deputy manager at the Melrose Home, Yogeswari Munisamy, senior principal social worker at the Ministry of Social and Family Development and C Amutha, deputy head of Punggol Family Service Centre.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julian Kho, Toh Ting Feng, and Lim Chong Tee discuss the impact of high COEs on families, alternative transportation options, challenges of car ownership in Singapore, and potential benefits of electric cars for families.

Jansen Chow, a law firm co-head, and Assistant Professor Nydia Remolina discuss the responsibility for scam losses. They talk about the increasing number of scam victims in Singapore, the need for preventive campaigns, the sophistication of fraudsters, the debate on liability, regulations for cross-border transactions, and improving fraud detection in banks.

Videos of Kinderland teachers allegedly mistreating their young charges went viral last year. What are the challenges teachers face in classroom management? How are rules and guidelines applied on the ground? Steven Chia puts these questions to Caroline Seng, director of professional development and standards at the Early Childhood Development Agency, Cara Lee, deputy director at the Anglican Preschool Services and Fiona Cher, a mother of two preschool children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam ended his presidential race with a landslide victory of 70.4 per cent, political analysts expressed their surprise, calling the win "unthinkable" and "remarkable". What do the results say about how the Singaporean voter thinks? And what lessons can political parties draw from Mr Tharman's win as they look ahead to the next General Election? Steven Chia breaks it down with Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, Assistant Professor at the Nanyang Technological University and Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since news broke on the billion-dollar money laundering case in Singapore, there have been questions on how bad actors operate. How do property agents and bank staff separate a legitimate transaction from a shady one? And what makes this type of crime especially tough to crack down on? Steven Chia speaks to Adam Maniam, director of dispute resolution at law firm Drew and Napier, Associate Professor Soh Kee Hean from the Singapore University of Social Sciences and former director of the CPIB, and Fabrizio Fioroni, adviser on anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New BTO framework in Singapore, categorized as Standard, Plus, or Prime. Longer minimum occupation period (MOP) discussed. Impact on prices, affordability examined. Factors influencing flat choice, challenges in finding affordable HDB flats. Shifting mindset of homeownership and government efforts to change perception of homes as assets.

The attrition rate for nurses has stabilised post-COVID but with a fast greying population, the hunt for a solid pipeline of nursing talent continues. Aside from better salaries, can concerns over high home rentals and allowing foreign nurses to bring their families here be addressed? Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, group chief nurse of the National Healthcare Group Yong Keng Kwang and CEO of recruitment agency People360 Services Jordache Keith share their thoughts with Steven Chia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been described as an “intractable” problem: The transportation of migrant workers to and from their worksites. Why is this issue so complex? How can safety and business realities find common ground? Steven Chia breaks it down with Debbie Fordyce president of migrant rights group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and Associate Professor Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The annual Primary 1 registration season is back and parents are strategising how to get their children into choice schools. Despite tweaks done to the system, brand name schools are still being oversubscribed. Why are parental attitudes so hard to shift? And can the system meet everyone's needs? Steven Chia speaks to Ong Junda, father and founder of SGschooling.com, Associate Professor Jason Tan from the National Institute of Education and Tan Hui Min, a mother of two.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.