News this week included: a survey of South-east Asians finds Singapore to be a regional leader on issues and rates “US leadership under President Trump” as the top geopolitical concern; FairPrice supermarkets freeze prices of 100 essentials for over a month; the first wholly-government-owned worker dormitory opens; Sar-El Volunteer Corps, the Israeli outfit where two Singaporeans volunteered, but have been cleared of wrongdoing; a new surgical procedure trialled at Changi General shown to improve symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s; the number of kids sexually assaulted, and the number attacked by family members, both rose in 2025; a 38-year-old Indian national (and Singapore PR) faces two careless driving charges after killing a 6-year-old Indonesian child; Amos Yee returns, and our minister for home affairs wishes “the Americans had kept him”; as “irritating as incessant drilling”, says a man in Clementi after he stands in the middle of a pickleball court to stop a game; Aloysius Yapp wins a surprise 8-ball world title in US (and here’s Jom’s earlier profile of him); the “Singapore Pokedex”, a free online wildlife library, launches; the Singapore Art Book Fair gracefully walks back a controversial idea for its 2026 edition following online criticism; and our very own MacGyver, as a 39-year-old man is charged after weapons, including firearms and homemade crossbows, were found in his Potong Pasir flat.
Below are the issues we explore in depth.
International: The wages of war
The modern world order is built on free trade, much of it underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UNCLOS parcels out swathes of the oceans to coastal nations: full sovereignty over 12 nautical miles, another 200 nautical miles for activities like fishing and mining. It designates most waters as global commons. It guarantees safe passage on the high seas and through key navigation routes for ships of all flags (save the Jolly Roger). Vivian Balakrishnan, foreign affairs minister, told Parliament that if Singapore were to negotiate with Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, it would upend the logic of UNCLOS—a right enjoyed by all countries turned into a privilege granted (and withdrawn) by one. A principled stand; self-interested too in that such negotiations could invite similar gamesmanship in the Straits of Malacca, sovereign waters belonging to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore but open to all under UNCLOS. (Some Malaysian politicians have criticised us for choosing “disengagement” over “dialogue”.)
Balakrishnan’s remarks coincided with reports that Iran had allowed a Malaysian vessel to sail through Hormuz, and as prices at petrol stations, in power tariffs, and down the chain at kopi stalls began to bite. To assuage the pain, the government has reached for its favoured VCR toolkit—bringing forward CDC vouchers issuance, and announcing higher cash transfers alongside more corporate tax and utility rebates. Ride-hailing and taxi drivers, among the most severely affected, welcomed the S$200 one-time payout while calling for more sustained support. A few countries have cut fuel levies but Jeffrey Siow, acting transport minister and senior minister of state for finance, ruled out a similar move here, calling it “regressive” and “blunt”. Siow’s stance was backed by Ho Ching. “Cutting taxes and increasing subsidies are both bad options for all govts. They addict [sic] people and economy to cheap oil,” wrote Facebook Singapore’s resident oracle (and former boss of Temasek). To be fair, their opposition isn’t misplaced—the benefits of such cuts tend to accrue disproportionately to wealthier households, which consume more fuel.
The G’s announcements came amid heightened tensions, as Donald Trump, US president, declared “a whole civilisation will die tonight” before announcing a two-week ceasefire. A day in, the fragile peace is already showing signs of fraying, thanks in no small part to Israel carrying out its largest attack on Lebanon since the war began. Iran claims this was a violation of ceasefire terms; the US disagrees. Even if the peace holds, and Iran allows shipping through Hormuz immediately—neither a given—the ructions are going to be felt for a while yet. The backlog of some 2,000 vessels stranded in the region will take days to clear; oil supply disruptions caused by extensive damage to the Middle East’s energy infrastructure will take months to resolve. “It’s not a case of you just flick a switch and everything’s back up again,” an oil executive told the New York Times.
The contagion of higher prices is likely to spread, including to food. “[W]e import everything,” K Shanmugam, minister and head of the recently convened Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee, said. “Fertiliser prices have to go up. And the cost of bringing those food products, transportation to Singapore, that will go up.” (Read Jom’s essay on Singapore’s food security.)
If there’s a silver lining in the carnage, it’s that individual suffering may catalyse systemic change. The war has laid bare the urgency of cultivating indigenous energy sources. Land constraints limit Singapore’s solar potential, so experts are pushing for nuclear power: clean, reliable, and better insulated from geopolitical shocks. But this will take time. For now, we must bear the costs of one man wielding power he neither understands nor deserves.
Society: Go overseas to work or play?
Andrea, a recent graduate of the National University of Singapore, went viral for her “six-step” process of putting on the Chulalongkorn University uniform in 2024. “No exchange student studies on exchange okay?!” she quipped at the start of another video, this time cramming for an exam during her Bangkok stint. Andrea is one of a growing number of Singaporean students signing up for overseas programmes in ASEAN-China-India (ACI).
A quick search on Lemon8, a Singaporean social media platform owned by ByteDance, throws up a thriving depository of student-made guides on navigating ACI study or work experiences: from recommending databases of overseas opportunities like the Singapore-China Youth Interns Exchange Scheme (YES), to reflecting on mistakes. In the past, language barriers, unfamiliar work cultures, or simply not knowing where to begin would intimidate many from considering studying or interning in non-Western countries. Today, social media is filling the gap in a way official university brochures often cannot.
