New data on household budgets in Singapore shows that in order for hawker food culture to thrive, and for stall owners to earn more than a subsistence income, they must be paid about S$1 more per plate.
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Killing Vulnerable People Won’t Protect Singapore From Drugs
Singapore is set to execute Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam in two days. If we don’t succeed in halting his execution, he will be the latest person with a cognitive impairment to be killed in Singapore’s war on drugs.
Posted inOpinion
The PAP’s Long and Bloody History of Foreign Interference
Singapore’s PAP government has long meddled in the domestic affairs of its neighbours. If the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) applied to PAP activities abroad, most of its efforts would be illegal. This is hypocrisy of the highest order.
Posted inOpinion
In Suharto’s Anti-Communist Purge, Prisoners Made an Island Bloom
In his 2020 memoir “Pearls on the Prairie, A Survivor’s Story”, the late author Tedjabayu recounts his 14 years as a political prisoner and shares part of Indonesia’s history that government-sanctioned schoolbooks do not tell.
Posted inOpinion
Shanmugam’s Stealth Coup in Singapore
The Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill will give Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam the power to demand information about any Singaporean’s private life and finances, all based on the suspicion of foreign interference—no evidence required.
Posted inOpinion
Malaysia’s Drug Law Condemns Vulnerable Women to Death
Most women on death row in Malaysia have been sentenced under a strict drug trafficking law that fails to take their vulnerable socioeconomic realities into account. For justice to be possible, this law needs to change, writes Ngeow Chow Ying.
Posted inOpinion
The Anti-Vietnamese Legacy of Kem Ley
There were two sides to Kem Ley, the beloved Cambodian activist who was murdered five years ago: the calm, insightful public intellectual, and the hyperbolic nationalist who wanted to rid Cambodia of “illegal Vietnamese immigrants”, writes Tim Frewer.
Posted inOpinion
Singapore: Stop Sending Migrant Workers Back to Crisis in Myanmar
Singapore is forcibly repatriating migrant domestic workers to conflict-ridden Myanmar. Considering the vast economic rewards Singapore reaps from their labour, the government should offer social protections and the chance to stay and work, writes Laura Antona.
Posted inFeature
Malaysia’s Hypocrisy on Palestine
For Malaysian politicians, speaking out in support of Palestinians is a well-worn tradition, especially when Israeli oppression makes headlines. However, by depriving refugees of basic rights at home, these same leaders undermine the Palestinian cause, writes Wael Qarssifi.
Posted inOpinion
“Every Journalist’s Worst Nightmare”: CNN’s Myanmar Misadventure
CNN reporter Clarissa Ward’s shallow coverage of the Myanmar coup, her endangerment of her sources and her embarrassing rationalisations erode journalistic ethics and perpetuate the notion that brown people need a white saviour, writes Aye Min Thant.