Dear reader,
It’s Saki, Jom’s head of research and social media. I’ve been working here for almost a year now and this is my first newsletter. Everyone at Jom is currently on our usual mid-year break which means that there will be no essay or “Singapore This Week” today. As you may know, we take two weeks off at the end of the year, and a week off in the middle. Thanks for your patience as we build this organisation together. We do however have some other content below for you.
It’s scary how quickly time passes. We’re already at the halfway point of 2025, and it’s already been an eventful year. I started working at Jom as a part-time social media manager late last year, and one of the first few visuals I made for our social media pages was for “From Punggol with love: tracing the origins of the Hougang Spirit”, an essay by Kelvin Yap. Since then, my role has expanded to a full-time one, and now includes fact checking and research, as well as producing videos.
Being in front of the camera is a new experience for me. I still get incredibly nervous and am nowhere near being a “one-take wonder”. My boss stood in the hot sun and filmed multiple takes of a five-second introduction. (Sorry, Sudhir.) We were at the People’s Labour Day Rally at Hong Lim Park, along with the rest of the Jom team. I had the opportunity to talk to Jaya Anil Kumar, senior research and advocacy manager of HOME (Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics).
That led to our latest Jom video, “Advocating for migrant workers’ rights at the People’s Labour Day Rally”, published this week. I hope to constantly improve the quality of the videos we produce, so if you wish to offer me any feedback on any of our videos, please feel free to e-mail me at saki@jom.media!
I am typing this newsletter at home while seated directly in front of my trusty Booney fan. It’s a great fan but so noisy that I have to turn it off during online meetings. June’s heat has been unforgiving. Yet, being in Singapore where air-conditioned spaces are easily accessible, our experiences of heat are often temporary and transient; an in-between state as we move from one indoor place to another. I find it ironic how air-conditioners are both a respite from and a reason for the heat we’re experiencing. The slow violence of everyday objects towards our natural world. Is environmental destruction inevitable as part of societal and technological progression?
Jom Cakap: The Burning Earth. Sunil Amrith, Yale historian, unpacks our paradoxical relationship with the environment in The Burning Earth, his much acclaimed book from last year. At our next Jom Cakap, Sunil will be in conversation with Faris Joraimi, Jom’s history editor, about his book. Save the date: July 30th. Tickets are free but you have to register. Priority access will be given to Jom’s Patrons and Supporters, please look out for our e-mail on July 2nd. Next in line will be our Members, before we open it up to the public.
Jom Cakap: Scam Inc. If you’re wondering what Jom’s events are like, this week The Economist’s Sue-Lin Wong was in conversation with Corrie Tan, Jom’s arts editor. We’ve collated some of the main takeaways into a post-event report. For those who missed it, I hope this helps fill in some gaps in your understanding of this nebulous, criminal industry. For those who were there, I hope it serves as a record you can access anytime.
“Letters to the Editor”. Readers’ responses are important in nurturing a vibrant space for intellectual discussions at Jom. This week, we have a letter from Imre Wessels, who argues why democratic schools may be the answer to rampant bullying in local schools. Imre was responding to Charmaine Poh’s “Harm in schools”. Read Imre’s letter now. And please share your own responses, to anything at Jom, by e-mailing sudhir@jom.media.
Jom is hiring! We're looking for a part-time community manager, who will be responsible for ensuring that Jom’s readers and followers are taken care of. In terms of comradeship and solidarity, this is a hugely important role, as we are all, from editors to readers, building this organisation together. The community manager will report to me, but will also work closely with everybody else at Jom.
As June's relentless heat eventually dissipates, let’s cool down, slow down, and engage in introspection over everything that has happened in the past six months. Below we’ve curated a selection of essays on slow living and resting.
Jom rehat,
Sakinah Safiee
Head of research and social media, Jom
If you’ve enjoyed our newsletters, please scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up to receive them direct in your inbox.
