SINGAPORE: Capital cities don't just happen. They develop slowly over decadesqqjili, perhaps centuries, before resembling their creator's dream - if they ever do. Indonesia is discovering such massive endeavours are hard work and prone to delays. Ec
SINGAPORE: Sunday (Aug 18) was the perfect day for father-daughter bonding. Paetongtarn Shinawatrawowjili, the 37-year-old head of the Pheu Thai party, received royal endorsement to become Thailand’s youngest prime minister. On the same day, Thaksin
SINGAPORE: With Fumio Kishida last week announcing that he will not re-contest for a second term as leader of the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), his tenure as Japan’s prime minister will end next month after three years in power. The timi
WASHINGTON DC: The sensible and overdue retirement of Joe Biden has but one catch: His high-spending protectionism will never face its electoral reckoning.gambit city “Bidenomics”, if we are to accord such an old-fashioned programme such a fresh nam
TOKYO: The 7-Eleven convenience store experience is so quintessential to modern Japan that it’s sometimes hard to recall that it’s not Japanese. The first in Japan opened 50 years ago in Tokyo’s Toyosu, where the first item sold was a pair of sungl
jilisakto Commentary: How may Singapore remember its colonial figures beyond their controversies?
2024-10-08SINGAPORE: Questions about how we remember Singapore’s colonial past arose when National Parks Board (NParks) announced the installation of two statues, of Sir Stamford Raffles and Danish botanist Dr Nathaniel Wallich, at Fort Canning Park. Some qua
betmpv Commentary: Why North Korea may find the South’s new vision for unification provocative
2024-10-08CAMBRIDGE: Every year on Aug 15, there is a public holiday in South Korea to commemorate the day the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule. On this day, there is a longstanding tradition whereby South Korean presidents outline t
SINGAPORE: A popular tuition centre near my home charges S$1,000 a month to prepare children for the Gifted Education Programme’s (GEP) maths syllabus. The centre boasts a high admission rate to the GEP, if parents are willing to dish out S$12,000 a
sigeplay Commentary: Global mpox emergency – the world must show it learnt its lessons from COVID-19
2024-10-08SINGAPORE: On Aug 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a global public health emergency, its highest level of alert. The next day, Sweden announced the first case of clade 1b outside of Africa. On Thursday (Aug 22)sigeplay, it was T