Singapore's AI Revolution
Issue 23 — Key Developments Across the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam
Editor’s Note
by Karen Ysabelle R. David, Lead Editor - Pacific Corridor Desk
Seemingly overnight, in Southeast Asia and beyond, AI has seeped into every facet of our lives. The recent rapid development has led to both hopes and fears regarding its usage. But even as countless debates still rage on, Singapore once again lives up to its reputation for innovation: correspondent Ryan writes about how Singapore’s eager adoption of AI will revolutionize the future of jobs in the city-state.
In the Philippines, Eduardo G. Fajermo Jr. takes a look at how controversy at a university forum exposes deeper issues about academic freedom in the country. Can universities remain bastions for open discourse when state actors intrude upon spaces not meant for them?
And in Vietnam, Quang Anh reports on the Communist Party’s upcoming 14th National Congress, a major political event held only once every five years. With the draft Political Report currently circulating for public consultation, this is a chance for the Vietnamese people to participate in setting the tone for, and the trajectory of, their country’s near future.
Singapore 🇸🇬
Will AI Steal Singaporeans’ Jobs?
by Ryan
Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from pilots to production in Singapore, raising a practical question: will it take jobs or reshape them? Singapore has set aside over SGD 1 billion under the National AI Strategy 2.0 to boost computing power, build talent, and drive adoption, and the National Supercomputing Center is expanding with new Graphics Processing Unit-based systems backed by additional public funding. Together, these moves aim to make AI accessible for all enterprises and developers, not only large tech firms. Policymakers are leaning into the transition with training, standards, and incentives, while companies ramp up deployment.
Adoption is accelerating. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) reports that AI use among small and medium-sized enterprises rose from 4.2% to 14.5%, and among larger firms from 44% to 62.5%, reflecting a broad shift into operations. Singapore’s labor market remains relatively tight, with 1.39 job vacancies per unemployed person, a sign that firms still need workers as tasks evolve. Training capacity has scaled, with about 555,000 SkillsFuture participants, up from roughly 520,000, supporting mid-career moves into data, cloud, and AI operations.
Policy is focused on mitigation and safe scaling rather than blocking automation. IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator has upskilled more than 340,000 individuals in AI-adjacent skills such as cloud and data, while governance tooling is maturing through the AI Verify Foundation, which launched with seven premier members and more than 60 general members. Capability building is reinforced by public-private programs to accelerate generative-AI adoption in local firms and by homegrown models like SEA-LION that support Southeast Asian languages and use cases.
When comparing Singapore to other countries in ASEAN, Malaysia is pursuing a responsible-AI playbook under the National AI Office (NAIO) that pairs industry deployment with regulation; NAIO is running capacity building such as “AI at Work,” creating sandboxes, and convening working groups on governance and ethics, while publishing seven deliverables that include an AI Adoption Regulatory Framework and an AI Code of Ethics. Vietnam has moved from strategy to legislation, with a draft AI Law submitted to the National Assembly that sets out risk-based classifications and governance provisions. In the Philippines, AI has become a priority, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urging rapid but studied adoption and signaling integration of AI into government operations.
What this means for jobs in Singapore now: displacement pressure will concentrate in routine, process-heavy roles, while demand rises for AI-adjacent skills in cloud, data, and systems integration. Global evidence indicates that skills gaps are a primary barrier to firms’ transformation plans, which reinforces Singapore’s focus on training and placement pipelines. The next markers to watch are whether enterprise adoption sustains its current pace, whether training converts into placements at scale, and how AI governance toolkits are operationalized in regulated sectors.
The bottom line is AI will not “steal” all jobs, but it will reconfigure many. Singapore’s mix of rapid adoption, tight labor conditions, and scaled reskilling gives it a better chance to turn displacement risk into role redesign.
Ryan is a final-year finance student at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) with experience across venture capital, venture debt, and business development. He also holds a diploma in Law and Management from Temasek Polytechnic. His interests lie in how emerging technologies and economic trends shape business ecosystems and regional development in Asia.
The Philippines 🇵🇭
When “Open Discourse” Becomes a Closed Circle: The Politics of Academic Freedom in the Philippines
by Eduardo G. Fajermo Jr., in Angeles City
When state security actors step into university forums, the promise of open discourse comes under scrutiny. At the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila, a colloquium titled “Preventing Terror Grooming: The Philippine Experience” invited speakers linked to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and the National Security Council. While the event’s organizers defended the choice as “open discourse,” the inclusion of agencies with histories of red‑tagging transformed the university into a stage for state narratives.
UST Department of Political Science Chair Dennis Coronacion told The Varsitarian that the participation of government entities enriches policy‑relevant engagement: “In our past engagements with the government, we have noticed that it listens to the various stakeholders. And when it does, it leads to policy and program adjustments.”
Yet student activists left the forum with a sharply different impression. Philosophy freshman Raven Kristine Racelis disputed the framing. She posted in mixed Filipino and English: “First of all, I’m not stupid. I wasn’t ‘groomed.’ I’m a Philosophy student who knows how to read context and understand ideology. I sat through all five speakers, and it is clear: this forum was nothing but a fascist state propaganda machine disguised as ‘academic research’.” The event seemed less like inquiry and more like indoctrination.
Across Southeast Asia, universities are increasingly caught between their historic role as platforms for dissent and the growing pressure to align with state security narratives. In Indonesia, campuses have been sites of forceful police intervention, and there was reported use of heavy tear gas and arrests at protests near Bandung’s universities in September 2025. In Thailand, academics at Chulalongkorn University and other institutions face criminal charges or state scrutiny for challenging the political status quo. These examples reinforce that this is a regional — not purely Filipino — dilemma.
The UST case raises a core tension: when universities include state actors known for suppressing dissent, is academic freedom being exercised or instrumentalized? Racelis described the forum bluntly: “This is not a research forum. This is indoctrination of fascist state narrative.” With the involvement of such actors, the boundary between the campus as a space for debate and the campus as a space for control becomes blurred.
Again: for universities in Southeast Asia, this is not a local dilemma but a regional one. The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration emphasizes that “every person is equal before the law … entitled without discrimination to equal protection of the law.” When academic institutions are perceived to become state‑aligned platforms, the marketplace of ideas risks becoming a battlefield of narratives.
If UST and similar institutions are to maintain their role as incubators of critical inquiry, the structural question remains: can discourse be free when state agencies, charged with monitoring rather than debating, are seated at the table? And if not, what becomes of the university’s claim to truth and independence, especially in a region where academic freedom is already under siege?
Eduardo is a faculty member at Holy Angel University, where he teaches courses on Philippine history and contemporary global issues. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas, with a research focus on disaster governance, environmental politics, and the urban poor in the Philippines.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
Vietnam Gears Up for 14th National Party Congress
by Phan Quang Anh Bui, in Hanoi
Vietnam is entering the final phase of preparations for its 14th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party, scheduled for early 2026. Held once every five years, the Congress is the country’s most important political event, setting the direction for policy and leadership in the next term. The Central Committee has now agreed on the size and composition of the incoming Politburo and Secretariat and approved key documents to be tabled at the Congress. Among them, the draft Political Report stands out in importance as the main blueprint for Vietnam’s orientation and strategy for the upcoming 2026–2030 cycle. The report has been released for public comment through official government and media websites, marking the start of a nationwide consultation process before its final adoption.
The draft consolidates the Party’s recent strategic resolutions into a single framework for the next five years. It introduces a new growth model centered on science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the main engines of development. The text reiterates that the private sector is the “most important driver of the economy” and sets the target for an average annual gross domestic product growth of 10% or higher. Meeting this would require higher investment efficiency, stronger productivity gains, and greater use of technology across industries.
Sustainability features more prominently than before. For the first time, environmental protection is being placed on the same level of importance as economic and social development, establishing it as a core pillar of the growth model. As such, Vietnam states that it will not forego long-term national and intergenerational interests for short-term gains. The document reaffirms the country’s 2050 net-zero commitments, in which tools such as carbon pricing, “eco-taxation,” and green-finance incentives will help to encourage low emission investments.
In terms of foreign policy, Vietnam will elevate diplomacy and international integration to the same level as defense and security for the first time, creating a “three-pillar” approach to national protection and development. This new conception treats external relations as a permanent, whole-of-government function that links economic, cultural, technological, and security interests. It emphasizes economic and technological diplomacy, stronger engagement with multilateral institutions, and a greater role for provinces and businesses in international cooperation.
In addition to gathering feedback through conferences, workshops, forums, and written submissions, another innovation this year is that citizens will be able to use the VNeID digital platform to provide their inputs. This all-important document will remain open for public consultation from Party members, officials, citizens, and overseas Vietnamese until mid-November and is expected to be finalized for adoption at the 14th Congress early next year.
Quang Anh is an Urban Resilience Consultant at the World Bank, supporting Vietnam’s lending operations and policy dialogues with subnational governments. He previously worked in government affairs at Apple and served at the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the country’s 2020–2021 UN Security Council term. He has also consulted for UNDP, UNESCO, USAID/PATH, and the Dubai World Governments Summit, focusing on climate resilience and geopolitics.
Editorial Deadline 11/11/2025 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
