Organizer: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Type/Location: Hybrid / Singapore
Description:
Over the past decade, public consciousness about the climate crisis in Southeast Asia has grown. With intensifying extreme weather events and increasing threats to ecosystems, it is no wonder that Southeast Asians are sounding the alarm about climate impacts on their everyday lives, especially in the form of looming food insecurity and rising energy prices. While governments have started to signal stronger climate ambition, serious concerns remain over how their targets can be implemented in tandem with economic and social justice priorities. How do Southeast Asians view the performance of their own governments in addressing the climate crisis? Would they accept decisive measures to curb emissions, such as carbon taxes? How do they express their concerns through advocacy? How should governments collaborate with international partners to accelerate the climate transition?
About the Speakers:
Dr. Janil Puthucheary is Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. Dr Janil Puthucheary is a member of the National Integration Council and an Advisor to Cyber Youth Singapore, and Advisor to Narpani Peravai, People’s Association. He previously held portfolios at the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and the Ministry of Health. He chairs OnePeople.sg, which works to promote racial harmony in Singapore, and the Executive Committee of the People’s Action Party (PAP) Community Foundation, which provides early childhood education and eldercare services. His political roles have included, Chair of the Mental Health Group, Chair of Young PAP and Whip.
Shing Kwok Choi is the Director & CEO of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, which does research on the political, economic and socio-cultural developments in Southeast Asia. He is also the Chairman of SP Services Limited, an energy services company, Deputy Chairman of the ComfortDelGro Group, a global transportation company, and a board member of the St Andrew’s Mission Hospital, a medical charity. In addition, he also serves on the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF) Limited as voting member. Before his retirement from the civil service in October 2017, Shing Kwok was the Permanent Secretary of the then Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) for 5 years. He also served 7 years as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and 9 years as a senior official in the Ministry of Defence earlier in his career. During his military service, Shing Kwok held a variety of command and staff appointments in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Promoted to Brigadier-General in 1996, he took early retirement from the SAF in 2000 to join the Administrative Service. Shing Kwok obtained his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Engineering Tripos from Cambridge University in 1981 and 1985 respectively. He also received a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University in 1994 as an Edward Mason Fellow. During his public sector career, Shing Kwok was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 1993 and the Meritorious Service Medal in 2000.
Professor Cheong Koon Hean is Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities as well as Professor of Practice in the Singapore University of Technology and Design. She is concurrently Chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities Advisory Panel under the Ministry of National Development and Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Finland. She is also Rector of NUS College and serves on the boards of Capitaland and Surbana Jurong. Prof Cheong has played an active role in the urban transformation of Singapore over the years. She was the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) from 2010 to 2020, the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 2004 to 2010 and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of National Development from 2001 to 2016, steering the urban planning and development of Singapore and the development of public housing. Prof Cheong is a multiple award winner including notably the meritorious award for outstanding public service and the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. An active contributer on urban issues, Prof Cheong was a former Deputy President and Council Member of the International Federation of Housing and Planning, global Board trustee of the Urban Land Institute and member of the World Economic Forum’s Real Estate and Urbanisation Council. She has also served on several international expert panels advising on governance, planning and sustainability, including the master planning of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco City in China and Jinan’s Future Industry City.
Melinda Martinus is Lead Researcher at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Her research interests revolve around sustainable development, climate governance, institutional frameworks, and policies for advancing climate ambition in ASEAN countries. Melinda is Production Editor of the ASEAN Studies Centre’s blogpost, ASEANFocus+ at Fulcrum.sg. She is one of the editors of the institute’s two annual survey reports, the State of Southeast Asia and the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook. Before joining ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, she was a programme manager at Kota Kita Foundation, Indonesia, and a researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (Centropolis) at Tarumanagara University Jakarta. Born and raised in Jakarta, she studied urban planning at Tarumanagara University and later at Columbia University in New York.
Dr. Samuel Chng is Research Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design, where he leads both the Urban Psychology Lab and Positive City Lab. His work in urban psychology examines how city environments shape behaviour and well-being, using behavioural insights to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient and socially equitable futures. He collaborates with government, industry and community partners to translate research into practical strategies that help people thrive through the climate transition.
Sharon Seah is Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Prior to academia, Ms Seah spent 15 years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and the National Environment Agency. Her research interests are in ASEAN, multilateralism, rule of law, and climate change. Ms Seah graduated with a Master in Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne in 2018. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. She is co-editor of 50 Years of ASEAN and Singapore (World Scientific: 2017) and editor of Building a New Legal Order for the Oceans (NUS Press: 2019) by Tommy Koh. She is also the lead author of The State of Southeast Asia Survey Report and the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook Survey Report.
Professor Mely Caballero-Anthony holds the President’s Chair in International Relations and Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, where she also serves as Head of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies and Associate Dean for External Engagement. Her research focuses on regionalism and multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific, non-traditional security, human security, nuclear security, peacebuilding, and global governance. She has led several global and regional research projects on international security and global governance. Prof. Caballero-Anthony has held key leadership roles in major international networks and institutions. She has served as Secretary-General of the Consortium on Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia since 2008 and is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Nature and Security and the International Climate Security Expert Network. Her past roles include Vice President-at-Large of the International Studies Association (ISA) and member of ISA’s Global South Task Force from 2018 to 2021. She was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters from 2013 to 2017, serving as Chair in 2016, and was formerly Director of External Relations at the ASEAN Secretariat from 2011-2012. Prof Caballero-Anthony has published extensively on security issues in the Asia-Pacific. Her recent works include Climate Security in Southeast Asia: Navigating Concepts, Approaches and Practices (Third World Quarterly, 2024), Human Security and Empowerment in Asia (Routledge, 2024), and Conflict Management and Atrocity Prevention in Southeast Asia: Making ASEAN ‘Fit for Purpose’ (Journal of International Peacekeeping, 2023).
Paramita Mohamed is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Consultant of Communication for Change, an Indonesian consulting firm specializing in research-driven strategic communications for social change. A graduate of Universitas Indonesia in psychology, she began her career in marketing research before transitioning to internet media, where she survived the first dot-com bust. Subsequently, she established Ogilvy Interactive, a pioneering digital advertising agency in Indonesia. Her international experience includes serving as a global strategy director for Unilever and Johnson & Johnson in London and Paris. She concluded her 15-year advertising tenure as the Chief Strategy Officer at MullenLowe Jakarta. AtCommunication for Change, she directs initiatives on opinion and narrative research,as well as strategic communication for civil society organizations. She formerly servedas a contributing writer for an advice column for the LGBTQ+ community inMagdalene.
Dr. Harvey Neo is Professorial Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Harvey’s research focuses on urban futures, citizen urban science and policy-making as well as nature-society interactions. He is concurrently Director of the Master in Urban Science, Policy and Planning programme at Singapore University of Technology and Design. At the LKYCIC, Harvey heads the Southeast Asian focused “Cities and Urban Science” programme which looks at how a citizen-centric urban science can be practised, and sustained in tandem with big data. He is also Head of Programme for the Centre’s “Urban Environmental Sustainability” where he is the Principal Investigator of the Social Sciences Research Council funded project on human adaptations to urban heat. He also co-leads, with Dr Samuel Chng, the Tote Board supported “Future Ready Society Knowledge Partnership and Impact Fund” at LKYCIC. Since 2021, he has been an appointed member of Housing and Development Board’s Research Advisory Panel.
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