Yesterday’s post about my experiences with Kumaran Pillai of the Progress Singapore Party is spreading like wildfire. All over the Internet, on Reddit and Facebook and elsewhere, people are asking questions and casting aspersions. Here I’m going to address them. Q: Kumaran Pillai’s candidacy was announced on 25 June. Why did you wait until Nomination […]
Testimony Against Kumaran Pillai of the Progress Singapore Party
The Progress Singapore Party intends to field Mr. Kumaran Pillai in the upcoming General Elections. I must speak out against him. In my experience, he does not possess the values needed to be a leader and a servant of the people. In late 2013, I first met Mr. Pillai to discuss the possibility of contributing […]
Singapore’s Pandemic Election
As Singapore enters a lockdown that the authorities won’t call a lockdown, one burning question remains: when will the government call for an election? Next week, the government will table a bill to enable elections during the Covid-19 outbreak. With Parliament dominated by the People’s Action Party, the Bill is practically guaranteed to pass. The […]
9 Deaths in Peacetime
In the past 16 months, 9 servicemen in the Singapore Armed Forces have passed away. The latest death occurred on 23rd January, when Corporal First Class (NS) Aloysius Pang was struck by a moving howitzer barrel during a maintenance operation. The following are my thoughts, first penned on Facebook. — The purpose of the military […]
Should Homosexuality be Decriminalised in Singapore?
The repeal of Section 377 in India has sparked a debate in Singapore over Section 377A of the Penal Code, which outlaws sex between men, even if it were mutually consensual. Leading the charge to repeal is Johnson Ong, who filed a constitutional challenge against Section 377A. Ong’s belief that abolishing S377A will put an end […]
The Art of Turning Gangsters Into Friends
I’d never known my grandfather. He passed away after shortly after I was born. Nonetheless, he lives on in my father’s stories. One of them was about how he befriended a group of gangsters. In the early 1980s, the Cheah family operated two shophouses in Singapore, specialising in curtains and interior design. My grandfather ran […]
Twenty Million Dollar Diplomacy
Singapore needs the world. The world doesn’t need Singapore. This is the heart of Singapore’s foreign policy. A tiny island surrounded by much larger neighbours, whose only resources are people and proximity to the Straits of Malacca, Singapore cannot afford to isolate or be isolated by anyone, least of all the great powers of the […]
Cham: The Dance of Masks
Yesterday, I witnessed a pair of traditional Cham dances at the Esplanade. Performed by oracular monks from Mangtro Monastery in Ladakh, India, the ritual dances were blessings and meditations, bringing peace to and removing obstacles from the audience and the island of Singapore. The ritual began with the preparation of the stupa. Representing the Buddha […]
The Death of the Singapore Dream
I grew up on the Singapore Dream. Study hard, get good grades, go to a good school, get a good degree, get a good job. Be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, some high-status PMET with an enviable pay package and guaranteed Central Provident Fund contributions. Then, and only then, will you be successful. What they won’t […]
Censorship Won’t Stop Fake News
Singapore is seeking to regulate fake news. For the past five days the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods has held hearings on the issue, inviting experts, academics and media professionals to give oral evidence. Three more days of hearings are scheduled. As Mothership discusses, the thrust of the hearing is pointing towards a raft of legislation […]