Dear reader,
- Why Ng Chee Meng is the luckiest Singaporean
- Lawrence Wong rubber-stamps a Palestinian initiative
- The floundering shoe recycling project by SportSG and Dow
- Singapore’s “post and boast” fraudsters
- A roadmap towards ending the ferrying of workers in the backs of lorries
- Masjid Madani, a controversial new mosque in KL
- AGAM Theatre Lab’s new theatre, and placemaking in the arts
- Singapore’s military embraces AI and robots
And more, in our weekly digest. Read it now.
Commentary: “The parts we leave out”. Jom’s editorial team wrote this in response to the brouhaha involving K Shanmugam, law and home affairs minister, and the two young activists who approached him at his meet-the-people session.
“When we are quick to judge, to believe authority over activists, to pine for some imagined decorum in a dialogue biased by the disparity in power, we leave out much from our collective consciousness, our understanding of who we are.”
Read on here.
A build-in-public aside: We’ve been figuring out how to publish more rapid responses to important societal issues. There’s a tension between the urgency inherent in societal dialogue, and the need for us to still adhere to our “slow journalism” ethos.
We’ve sometimes published these as carousel posts on social media, but this past Monday we decided on a simple, text-only post on our website, which we then promoted via Instagram stories. Do reply and let us know what you think of this approach—or if there’s another you might find more appealing. (Surely not another e-mail in your inbox…)
Essay: “Postcard from Toronto: pieces of Canadiana”. Why do mid-career Singaporeans decide to move abroad? When they reach their destination, how easily do they gel with their new community? What do they miss about home?
These are some of the many questions Carolyn Oei and Marc Nair, two artists, help us think through from their new home on the other side of the planet.
“Its neighbourhoods are, unlike Singapore’s, demarcated along ethnic lines. Far from being a problem, though, they are celebrated as enclaves of specialised cuisine, traditional shops and services and become focal points for celebrating that community’s special festivities. Koreatown, Little Tibet, Little Poland, Portugal Village and Greektown…After six months, we feel the difference from Singapore. The air is fresher, less polluted. The pace of life is a tad slower. There is a burgeoning sense of freedom to think and speak without feeling censored by yourself or your country. The soul expands.
But it isn’t all roses. Migrants must understand that they will be assimilating into a tight labour market, a gaping lack of affordable housing, exorbitant commercial rentals, and a flaky public transport system.”
We’ve published many postcards from around the world, each one nudging us to think a bit more about our place in this world. This could be the first that delves into what multiculturalism and class divides mean in a city experiencing a long real-estate boom. How are Toronto’s residents coping? What happens to those who can’t afford homes?
When we visit a faraway, same-same-but-different place through the eyes of fellow Singaporeans, we often also learn a lot about ourselves, our own condition. So thank you, Carolyn and Marc, for sharing your migrants’ story.
Jom melancong,
Sudhir
Editor-in-chief, Jom
Behind Jom’s art, with Charmaine Poh
Our regular postcard illustrator, Marie Toh, uses the motif of the jigsaw to depict the sometimes confusing experience of moving to a new land, and how aspects of identity and belonging often emerge in fragments, each at its own pace. Simultaneously, through her use of vibrant, warm colours, we are able to sense the passion that such change can arouse, and the bright memories that such adventure can inscribe.
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