By 2018, the heritage space of Kampong Glam seems to have found its place in Singapore’s tourist landscape as an attractive enough place for foreign tourists and Singaporeans to comingle with Singapore Malay-Muslim community visiting the area for spiritual and leisure purposes. The impact of conservation efforts since the 1990s had raised concerns on the economic viability of the area as being not “attractive” enough for the modern tourists. 2018 Kampong Glam, especially the main thoroughfare of Bussorah Street, has been transformed with its ethnic minority heritage touristified, commodified, exotified and “showcased” to achieve that right balance of “authenticity” amidst the usual activities that distinguish modern tourism. This is a contested evolution with significant repercussions on history, identity and memory. With Kampong Glam, pupils and students of Singapore history need to look beyond the comfortable descriptive narrative of textbook learning journeys or the triumphalism of heritage sustainability through tourist-centered conservation efforts. Undoubtedly, heritage conservation is a complex process but in appreciating Kampong Glam, there must be the effort to analyze the deep structures of these processes and the tangible and intangible negative outcomes not always included in official narratives or tourist brochures. Heritage management is about power dynamics of defining space and this ultimately resides with the state and state-defined interests. In appreciating Kampong Glam, as with any heritage spaces, pupils and students therefore should be introduced to the interdisciplinary framework of deconstructing conservation, heritage, and identity within competing power dynamics which can result in disempowerment for selected groups.

Technology is radically transforming every industry sector in Singapore and most parts of the world. As Singaporean leaders have continually reiterated, this will continue to have a severe impact on jobs, professions and careers. The key to growth ultimately depends on how fast a country is able to restructure its industries to remain competitive and how workers, young or old, can develop new skills to stay relevant. This chapter focuses on Singapore’s SkillsFuture movement and its ambition to encourage every citizen, no matter what stage they are in, to attain personal mastery by continuously learning. It details government efforts at promoting as well as funding skill training, professional conversion programmes and lifelong learning to ensure career resilience especially among older workers. Many of these efforts require close collaboration between government agencies, trade associations, training providers as well as institutes of higher learning. The chapter provides insights into how older workers are adjusting to the digital economy and the disruptive technology, and highlights key success factors that are crucial to ensure that social cohesion and citizen welfare are not sacrificed in the drive to maintain economic growth and stability.

The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre (NSC) Archaeological Field School was first launched by Professor John Miksic in 2011. The field school is part of an East Asia Summit (EAS) initiative funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Singapore. The central focus of the field school is predominantly, but not exclusively, archaeological and anthropological. Broad themes address ancient polities and trans-Asian connections through history. The field school has been progressively upgraded. The intent is to contribute to research in applied and academic interests involving the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Southeast Asia. For participants and junior staff, the purpose is to, (a) facilitate multilevel and multi-skill training, (b) increase their multidisciplinary breadth, (c) emphasize the quality engagement in tasks performed at each stage of the research; in particular, research design, methodology, project implementation and management, data collection, analysis, assessment, and reporting. The following discussion focuses on case studies of the upgraded program conducted in Cambodia and Singapore from 2015 to 2017. Close attention is given to the issues above with critical assessment of outcomes and limitations.