Singapore lifts quarantine for German and Brunei visitors
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: From September 8, fully vaccinated travellers from Germany and Brunei will be able to visit Singapore for leisure without having to serve a 14-day quarantine. Under this Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, they will only be required to take four virus tests and undergo a […]
Reincarnated Straits Times unlikely to see government grip easing
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: A government-backed rescue exercise was mounted recently to save Singapore’s flagship English newspaper, The Straits Times, from possible demise as it found itself unable to reverse advertising revenue losses and a decline in readership subscription. And fortuitously, it took the unseen hand of the year-and –a- […]
Covid-19 upsurge derails Singapore’s normality push
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Just when things seemed to be looking up, a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases has pushed Singapore off course from the government’s much-heralded plan to move into an endemic phase of living with the presence of the virus as a form of perennial influenza. As daily […]
Run-ins with Lee Kuan Yew cut short young activist’s career
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: On Sept. 27, 1957, a bright 26-year-old activist, Arun Mahadeva, Maha for short, was invited to meet Lee Kuan Yew,34, a United Kingdom-trained lawyer and up-and-coming politician who was soon to become Singapore’s Prime Minister. At the meeting in Lee’s law office, the secretary […]
Cautious easing of tightened Covid-19 curbs in Singapore
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Singapore is moving cautiously to ease some heightened restrictions following a drop in community cases in the past week. From June 14, five people, instead of two, can gather publicly. However, they will not be allowed to sit down in a coffee shop or restaurant […]
Learn to live with covid-19 in our midst, Singapore PM Lee warns
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Get ready to live dangerously with the Novel Coronavirus in your midst — this is the new normal into which you have to transit. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, seeking to drive home the stark reality to all Singaporeans, warned this would be the long-term […]
No quick exit by PM Lee as succession plan unravels
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: The punishing impact of the Covid-19 crisis in Singapore has produced three political surprises, upsetting the smooth political successionplan of the city-state’s ruling party. One, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, the front runner, dropped out of the race to be Singapore’s fourth Prime Minister. […]
Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore cancelled amid uncertain COVID-19 situation
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Another high-level conference in Singapore has fallen victim to Covid-19 pandemic as the city-state sees little sign of the raging virus outbreaks receding soon. The Shangri-la Dialogue, as the annual summit of defence chiefs is called after the Shangri-la hotel venue, was to start on […]
World Economic Forum calls off meeting in Singapore
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Singapore is facing a fall-out at the international level because of the new near-lockdown measures it imposed to cope with a surge in Covid-19 cases. The World Economic Forum has called off its special annual meeting scheduled in the city-state in August. WEF founder and […]
Tough curbs in Singapore as leap In Covid-19 cases raises concern
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Singapore is scrambling to check the proliferation of a more virulent Coronavirus in the community by a slew of tough restrictions that come close to a previous lockdown Kicking in on May 16, and to last till June 13, social gatherings in public are capped […]
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