_____________________________________________________________________Editor's Letter

Dear Readers,

Greetings from LKYSPPeak!

We wish you a Happy New Year to all of you. We are back with fresh faces on board in the editorial team. With nine students from the MPP and MPA programs - one acting as our “international correspondent” based in France - we are delivering you our second issue with extensive information on the numerous events and student activities that have enriched LKYSPP throughout the semester.

In this third issue, LKYSPPeak comes with a new section, the Editorial section, which discusses contemporary events with a special focus on Asia. We discuss the military’s role in politics in recent developments in Myanmar, Pakistan, and Thailand.    
 
This semester the School has been very busy and the student interactions have been livelier since the number of MPP and MPA students has increased with more countries represented than ever before.       

Our issue will hopefully raise your expectations even higher in regards to what LKYSPP and you as students can achieve in the future. We highlight the 2nd GPPN Conference where students have benefited from being exposed to fresh and critical insights about Asia and the debate on globalization, as well as from networking with professors, deans of public policy schools, and policy experts around the world. They also had a chance to attend the 2nd GPPN Student Conference in Berlin, Germany which is held biannually and provides an excellent networking experience for public policy students from three continents.  

Throughout the semester we have been well-exposed to a number of high-profile events organized at LKYSPP, including the very recent public lectures by former British PM Tony Blair and Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Students also had the opportunity to attend the  international conference on “The Role of the State in Public Service Delivery”, the dedication ceremony of the Li Ka Shing building where the Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was present and the 3rd anniversary public lecture by Zainah Anwar on “Islam and Public Policy”.

In the midst of busy assignments and group projects, students at LKYSPP have also been very active in initiating student organized events from a student seminar series featuring UCLA’s Prof Tom Plate, a World Bank teleconference with Sciences Po and LSE to more social events such as football competitions, movie screenings, and trips throughout Asia during the mid-semester break. 

We hope you enjoy this new issue of LKYSPPeak!  

Managing Editor,
Hanafi Rais

LKYSPPeak Editorial Team. Managing Editor: Hanafi Rais. Editors: Bianca Martina-Rohner, Sanjana Govindan. Production: Helen Sophia Chua-Balderama, Chandrasen Kumar, Lawrence Yeo, Preeti Prakash. Photographer: Kanlapat Engbunmeesakul. Foreign Correspondence: Sumathi Chandrasekaran. Contributors for this issue: Huang Jing, Jose Tito Baeza Huesca, Prelia Handarani Moenandar, Willow Darsie, Akshar Saxena, Rowena Angela C. Parungao, Buvana Chinnaswamy, and Yang Yiping.

LKYSPPeak welcomes any articles, suggestions, queries, and letters from readers. Please send them to lkyspp@nus.edu.sg