The command to wage jihad (meritorious struggle or effort) and the reminder against neglecting it appears in many verses of the Quran and the Prophetic traditions. Some consider disregarding this injunction as blasphemous and worthy of humiliation and scorn from Allah swt. As a result, we are witnessing groups such as the Islamic State (IS) who have sanctioned their ‘eye for an eye’ campaigns by instrumentalising concepts within the Islamic tradition such as jihad and recruiting others to join them.
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From Integration to Inclusion: Reconstructing the Minority Narratives
With Singapore opening up after two years of COVID-19 restrictions, it almost feels like the country is back to how it was pre-pandemic. Log on to social media or switch on the news, we’ve been flooded with stories of resilience, stories of perseverance, and also stories of love and support. However, we also had to confront an ugly truth – are we as harmonious as we like to say we are?
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Mitigating the Impact of Rising Inflation Rates in Singapore
The recovery phase from the COVID-19 pandemic has been slowed by several external shocks to the world’s global value and supply chain. Already one of the most expensive cities to live in, Singapore’s headline consumer price index or overall inflation reached 5.4 percent year on year in April 2022[1]. The core inflation (excludes accommodation and transport) also accelerated to 3.3 percent, the highest in a decade when core inflation reached 3.5 percent in 2012.
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Countering Violent Extremism: The Singapore Experience
Last December 2021, Singapore commemorated the 20th anniversary of the arrest of members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group. In late 2001, they were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for planning to launch terrorist attacks in several locations in the country. These included plans to use truck bombs to attack the US and Israeli Embassies, commercial buildings housing American firms and shuttle buses carrying American military officers and their families in the Sembawang area to Yishun MRT Station.
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COVID-19 Lessons Learned: Business Owners Edition
NEW WORLD, NEW RISK
The year 2020 saw a tremendous shift in the business world and almost every industry across the globe was affected. While businesses often expect to be affected by waves of economic recession, part of the challenge this time is the fact that the pandemic has lasted much longer than what many businesses are normally used to in an economic crisis. Businesses were at the point of decimation, with many ending up shutting their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.