Perspectives

Indonesia has attracted e-Commerce investments from the region due to its advanced digital capabilities. While many local players have dominated Indonesia's marketplace, how long will they stay Indonesian? Guests: Iman Usman, Co-founder and Chief of Product & Partnership Officer at Ruangguru; Tony Lai, Director - Brand, Marketing and Recruitment at the Singapore Institute of Management Holdings; Shafie Shamsuddin, President Director and CEO of PT. Trans Retail Indonesia; and Muhamad Fajrin Rasyid, Co-founder and President of Bukalapak.

The gap between the haves and have nots is expected to widen, mainly due to the loss of jobs arising from disruptive technology. And this inequality is expected to grow. How can we prevent this? Guests: Gerald Lum, Director, Regional Marketing & Recruitment at SIM Global Education; Chen Tien Yue, Executive Director of Royal Selangor; Salika Suksuwan, Human Capital Leader with PwC Malaysia and Azwan Baharuddin, Managing Director of Accenture Malaysia.

The use of the Internet carries with it risks of cyberattacks. But is a talent shortage in ASEAN the biggest threat in tackling new cybersecurity challenges?   Guests: P. Ramakrishna, CEO of CIO Academy Asia; Dr Aaron Tan Kia Ann, Director of the Teaching and Learning Division at the Singapore Institute of Management Global Education; Tammie Tham, CEO of Accel Systems and Technologies, Exco Member and Cybersecurity Chapter Chair of SGTech; Stephen Dane, Managing Director of Global Security Sales Organization in the Asia-Pacific and Japan at CISCO.

In today’s technologically dependent world, are educational institutes missing out on the wealth of knowledge that the private sector has managed to gather over the decades? And does the private sector need to step up its industry inputs into the education sector? We examine where these two intersect. Guests: Vincent Quah, Regional Head of Education, Research, Healthcare at Not-for-Profit, APAC Public Sector at Amazon Web Services; Balamurugan Krishnasamy, Principal of Singapore Institute of Management International Academy; Chua Horng Shya, Public Sector Lead at Microsoft Singapore and Professor Sujit Banerji, Professor of Operations Management and Executive Director, WMG Education at WMG, University of Warwick.

China's Belt and Road Initiative has significant economic potential for ASEAN to tap on. Can ASEAN harmonise their social policies in response to this new infrastructural project?  Guests: Ho Geok Choo, CEO of Human Capital (Singapore); Anselm Chu, Managing Director & School Director of the Singapore Cambodia International Academy, SIM Group; Cheryl Lim, Partner at McKinsey & Company and Jimmy Koh, Managing Director with UOB Group within the Wholesale Banking/ Sector Solutions, Group Business Insights and Analytics.

SMEs are critical in ASEAN economies as vital engines of growth and innovation. But in the era of technological disruptions, there are pressures on SMEs to re-learn. What would it take to get the bosses of SMEs to go back to school? Guests: Susan Chong, Founder and CEO of Greenpac Singapore; Dr Lee Kwok Cheong, CEO of the Singapore Institute of Management Holdings; Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, Singapore; and Dirk-Peter Van Leeuwen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Red Hat Asia Pacific.

Prostate, colorectal, lung and breast cancers are the top killers but they are also the ones with the highest survivor rates. How does one cope after a cancer diagnosis? Guests: Associate Professor Cynthia Ruth Goh-Fung, Council Member of the Singapore Hospice Council and Senior Consultant, Division of Supportive and Palliative Care at the National Cancer Centre Singapore; Raman Singh, CEO of Mundipharma; Dr Lim Siew Eng, Senior Consultant in the Department of Haematology-Oncology at the National University Cancer Institute in Singapore; and Noor Quek, President of the Breast Cancer Foundation in Singapore.

With the widespread use of technology, are healthcare professionals losing their human touch? Guests: Prof Tan Huay Cheem, Director of the National University Heart Centre, Singapore; Raman Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Mundipharma; Tin Pei Ling, Member of Parliament (Singapore), Member of the Government Parliamentary Committee – Health (Singapore); Ong Leong Seng, Director, Delivery Group, Integrated Health Information Systems (Singapore).

How does ASEAN fare compared to their western counterparts when it comes to innovative healthcare?  Guests: Dr Stephen Chan, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Woodlands Health Campus (Singapore); Raman Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Mundipharma; Gillian Tee, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Homage; Phua Tien Beng, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Operations Division, Parkway Pantai.

Patients today are empowered with knowledge as healthcare information is readily available. How does one use that information to make the best decisions? Guests: Adj Asst Prof Tan Tze Lee, President of the College of Family Physicians (Singapore); Raman Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Mundipharma; Dr Wong Sweet Fun, Deputy Chairman, Medical Board and Senior Consultant, Geriatric Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital; Dr Lim Toon Wei, Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiology, National University Heart Centre, Singapore.

While the public sector in some countries struggles to provide for the people, the private sector remains an untapped reservoir of resource. How can public and private sectors collaborate for successful partnerships to provide quality healthcare ? Guests: Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Member of Parliament, Singapore, Chairperson, Government Parliamentary Committee, Health (Singapore); Raman Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Mundipharma; Peh Kim Choo, Chief Executive Officer of Tsao Foundation; Associate Professor Lim Yee Wei, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

Over the past 10 years, the ASEAN region has tackled epidemics ranging from SARS to H5N1. With infectious diseases easily crossing borders, are we prepared for the next epidemic that may hit our shores? Guests: Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, Senior Principal Investigator, Programme Director, Human Infectious Diseases at the Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR Singapore; Raman Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Mundipharma; Prof Leo Yee-Sin, Clinical Director, Communicable Diseases Centre (Singapore), Executive Director, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Ministry of Health (Singapore); and Assoc Prof Teoh Yee Leong, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Clinical Research Institute.

The future of trade in ASEAN could depend heavily on what becomes of China's expansive "One Belt, One Road" initiative. How can ASEAN ensure it derives optimum outcomes from this initiative? Guests: James Crabtree, Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House; Professor Arnoud De Meyer, President, Singapore Management University; Omar Shahzad, Group Chief Executive Officer, Meinhardt; Richard Fenning, Chief Executive Officer, Control Risks.

Transformation is made possible by embracing disruption and driving innovation. However, the switch may be costly and require a workforce ready to take on change. Will the digital age exacerbate existing inequalities and societies? Guests: Claus Andresen, President and Managing Director, Southeast Asia, SAP; Prof Lily Kong, Provost and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University; Jonathan Rees, EY ASEAN Advisory Digital Leader, Ernst & Young Advisory; Rachel Ong, Chief Executive of ROHEI Corporation.

Cash may soon become obsolete as it becomes more common to use your mobile device to pay for goods and services. What does a truly cashless city look like ? Guests: Zhang Dayong, Head of Southeast Asia at Alipay; Prof Robert Kauffman, Professor of Information Systems and Associate Dean of Faculty at the Singapore Management University; David Fernandez, Managing Director and Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Barclays; and Brad Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Wave Money.  

Can we take all three or is it down to just two? Throw in increasing healthcare costs, add inflation and the price tag for a comfortable retirement stacks up. Is a conventional retirement possible today? Guests: Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress; Prof Bryce Hool, Dean of the School of Economics and Director of the Centre for Research on the Economics of Ageing, Singapore Management University; Dr Mary Ann Tsao, Chairman of the Tsao Foundation; and Girish Ramachandran, President, Asia Pacific, Tata Consultancy Services.

Many cities have announced their dreams of becoming smart - one where the people are empowered by technology to lead meaningful lives. What exactly makes a city smart? Is the goal of being a smart city a utopian dream or a realistic vision? Guests: Prof Archan Misra, School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University; Koen Cardon, CEO of Katoen Natie; Jacqueline Poh, CEO of Government Technology Agency (GovTech Singapore); and Dr Limin Hee, Director of Research, Centre for Liveable Cities.

The social compact is an implicit agreement between the government and the people, which directs the growth of society. When globalization megatrends start to erode the faith in this social compact, how can we define a new norm?  Guests: Paulin Straughan, Professor of Sociology at the Singapore Management University; Stephen Groff, Vice President (Operations 2) at the Asian Development Bank; Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings and Dureen Shahnaz, Founder of Impact Investment Exchange.