Dear Jomrade,

Today we’ve published:

• “Singapore This Week”, by Jom
• “Notes from a rental flat dweller”, by Sakinah Safiee

This was another week to savour our little red dot’s diversity. From the Shangri-La Dialogue to the WP’s leadership crisis; from the passing of Lionel Tan, acclaimed violist of The Tang Quartet, to the screening of “Samarang”, a 1933 film set here; and from concerns about consuming all those delectable, possibly carcinogenic charred bits of claypot rice, to news about the annual fruiting of durian trees on public land along Lorong Lew Lian. We write about all these—the lew lians aside–in “Singapore This Week”.

Two other stories reminded me of the vast socio-economic divides that exist across our tiny geography. The first concerns a foreign worker dormitory in Sungai Kadut in the far north. Its operator, KT&T Engineers and Constructors, faces more than 20 charges for running a shoddy operation. Failures include: faulty urinals and missing shower curtains in communal toilets, a broken squatting pan in a toilet, holes in damaged walls, broken floor tiles in a corridor, exposed wiring cable and a metal pole dangling from a ceiling, an exposed circuit box, a loose ceiling fan, no guardrails on multiple upper bunk beds, and my favourite, a broken cubicle partition in a toilet. Fancy pooping while your neighbour watches?

These were all found early last year. Somehow I thought our Covid-era excesses, injustices, and subsequent introspection would have spelled the end of such deprivation. Wrong.

On the other, glamorous end of the island came the story of robbery up in the sky. A woman with S$50,000 in cash was looking for a way to convert and deposit it into her bank e-wallet. She found somebody on a messaging app. She went with her daughter to meet them in a room at MBS. There, they were ambushed by three Mainland Chinese men. One restrained her by the neck as they robbed her. They later locked both mum and daughter outside on the balcony. (Both sustained minor injuries.) The men were in a plane on Changi’s runway, bound for Shanghai, when the police caught up with them, ordering the plane to return to the gate.

Though the woman’s identity wasn’t revealed, I’ll hazard a guess that she’s also Mainland Chinese. How many rich foreigners are running around Singapore with S$50,000 in cash? Are such illegal services so normalised here? I’m reminded of the case of the Myanmar arms dealers caught at Changi in late 2023 trying to leave with almost half a million dollars. They were fined a paltry S$20,000 in total.

So yes, our society’s diversity is on full display, as Asia’s rich wash their dirt here, in edifices built by Asia’s poor, who can’t even poop in peace. A regional meeting point, indeed.

“Singapore This Week” 

• Given Hegseth’s mocking of it, and China’s “low-level” participation, is the Shangri-La Dialogue still relevant?
• Will Pritam Singh remain leader of the WP after its special, end-June cadres meeting?
• How worried should you be, medically, about savouring wok hei and charred foods?
• Pink Dot returns, refreshed
• “Samarang”, a 1933 film set here, and the experience of lost cinematic rituals
• Obituary of Lionel Tan, violist and co-founder of the T’ang Quartet

Above are the issues we chose to explore in more depth. 

Other news this week included: local robotic-hands firm Sharpa joins Nvidia and Unitree on humanoid robot project; a new registry of AI agents for 150,000 public officers; the Religious Rehabilitation Group studies the impact of AI and tech on radicalisation; life expectancy in Singapore hits new highs; only 61 percent of people surveyed find our roads safe; CNA on the hidden costs of high dental fees on an ageing population; CNA on the implications of homegrown food brands outsourcing production abroad; ST on how to evacuate when a medical emergency strikes overseas; ST commentary on the importance of anti-drug conversations at the dinner table; the uncertain future for Singapore’s lighthouses; coping with loneliness and self-harm through muay thai; taxi driver looking for the owner of a S$120,000 Rolex found in her cab; Loh Kean Yew’s loss at the Singapore Badminton Open final; and as durians fruit on public land along Lorong Lew Lian, a reminder that you’re not allowed to pick them.

“Notes from a rental flat dweller”, by Sakinah Safiee

Saki first joined us part-time as head of social media, then full-time as head of research and social media, then she started writing blurbs for “Singapore This Week”, then making videos and writing full essays too. She’s started inspiring others in the broader Jommunity. Just in the past week, we’ve had invitations for Saki to make a video covering an event, and pitches from people hoping to mimic her approach in “All in good time: the poetics and politics of partying in Singapore”.

I sometimes forget what she’s up to, partly cos she works so fast, although I do know that today’s essay on life in rental flats was many months in the making, slowly developed from her NTU undergraduate thesis. Her research focussed mostly on the role of gossip in these small, dense communities, and I’m glad she’s broadened that scope for this Jom essay.

What we get, then, is a startling portrait of what life is like for Malay women—both (Gen Z) Saki and her older interviewees—living in precarity at the bottom end of our public housing system. Here’s her opening:

“‘Bring your shoes in, they’ll get stolen.’ Before CCTVs were installed at the staircase landings and corridors, that was my mum’s standard greeting to guests to our rental flat. Over the years I’ve had my rollerblades (thrifted from Cash Converters), a knockoff Yeezy hoodie, multiple pairs of shoes, and even an umbrella, stolen. Before this unit we were living in a three-room HDB flat in Bedok but—in a story familiar to others, I’d later realise—multiple financial missteps forced us out of our home and into the public rental flat system…

Before she moved out, my sister and I used to share the same bed. Our bodies negotiated inches and my mornings were greeted with her drool on my pillow. Outside, in the living room, my parents sleep on single mattresses unfurled in front of our TV console. My father’s snores carry through the flat, cutlery clanks at midnight as instant noodles are prepared, the sounds of the bathroom tap running echoes without restraint. Sound moves easily here, crossing the short distances between rooms.

As a Malay rental flat dweller, it’s hard to not feel like I’m living the stereotypical Malay experience—one that is shaped by prejudice and misrepresentation. Online, you’ll see forums or videos associating Malay identity with a litany of social ills: teen pregnancies and marriages, health deficiencies, deviances, and dysfunctional families. The typical ‘type M’ behaviours…

Meanwhile, intra-community tensions are sometimes captured through the phrase ‘Melayu makan Melayu’ (Malay eat Malay). It’s a colloquial expression that describes the sabotaging tendencies of envious individuals towards more successful counterparts, often through gossip.”

Readers of Teo You Yenn, whom Saki studied under, will probably have some sense by now of life in Singapore’s rental flats, though I’m unsure if there’s been such an intimate and deep first-person account. Thank you for being so open and generous with your story, Saki.

Jom fikir
Sudhir Vadaketh, editor-in-chief
Jom

Behind Jom’s art with Charmaine Poh
Syafiqah Noorman’s illustrations accompanying Saki’s essay on rental flats focus on architectural elements which contribute to the “democratic surveillance” that occurs in such cloistered urban environments. In the header, a single mother with two children finds herself observed by the inhabitants along a corridor, while the spot depicts how private soundscapes and smells never remain as such, drifting and wafting into communal spaces. The experience of being confronted by each other’s lives on a daily basis helps form an embodied knowledge, which Saki uses to delve into how people under pressure navigate “dignity, uncertainty, and survival.”

Jom on race and class

The untold struggles of single parents in Singapore

For many of them, necessities such as stable housing, gainful employment, and affordable childcare remain painfully out of reach.

Jom - A weekly magazine about SingaporeSherryl Cheong

Affordability in the lion city: is Singapore’s public housing model built to last?

How has Singapore’s public housing model evolved since independence? In analysing the roots of this model and examining the factors contributing to the current public housing crisis, this essay argues that a revision of the original Housing and Development Board programme is vital moving forward.

Jom - A weekly magazine about SingaporeJonathan Lin

Class and ethnic segregation in Singapore: are we mixing it up?

In and around public housing estates, there is a trend where a greater mixing of ethnicities is accompanied by less socioeconomic mixing. By focusing on the former, Singapore may be paying insufficient attention to the latter.

Jom - A weekly magazine about SingaporeShin Bin Tan

The Singapore Dream fades for the ‘sandwich class’

Some lower-middle-class Singaporeans find themselves adrift in a perfect storm of ageing parents, dependent children, and the rising cost of living.

Jom - A weekly magazine about SingaporeReeta Raman

Singapore This Week

Society: Pink Dot spreads out

Contrary to what conservatives here might want to believe, the repeal of S377A was simply a milestone, not a finishing line, in the fight for equality. The 18th edition of Pink Dot, Singapore’s de facto pride parade and one of our most significant social movements, reflects this continued evolution. This year’s campaign is titled “Come get personal”, and seeks to centre the multitude of queer communities in Singapore. This will be done partly through a spatial reimagination of Hong Lim Park—a shift from the usual central stage and concert experience to dispersed zones and “villages” that will focus on different aspects of queer life in Singapore—from relationships and identity, to school, work, community and everyday social navigation. Over 20 community groups will host experiential booths and activities across the park. These include South Asian Pride Singapore and WLWheels, a group of lesbian riders who’ll be there with their motorbikes.

All of which suggests that there’ll be not just single-spot picnicking with chums but more churn through the park, offering “multiple opportunities for participation at different comfort levels”, as the organisers said. “Even in its 18th year, Pink Dot is still the first LGBTQ+ community event many people in Singapore attend,” said spokesperson Andee Tay. “It can be daunting to come alone or for the first time, and this year’s format makes it more accessible for people to connect to the community. At the same time, we wanted to create fresh opportunities for long-time attendees to connect with the community in new ways.”

So whether you’re a newbie, or an oldie suffering from Pink Dot fatigue, you might want to visit Hong Lim Park from 4-8pm on June 27th. Those keen to sponsor Pink Dot can do so here.

Some further reading: “The repeal of Section 377A: democracy, secularism, and acceptable speech under threat”; and “Hong Lim Park: A people’s history”

Other stuff we like

Jom print issue No.3

Dive into its themes of movement, materiality, and magic.

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