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Culture
Creator of Squid Game wins Straits Times Asian Award
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: The creator of the Squid Game, a drama series about survival of the fittest in a capitalist eco-system, South Korean Hwang Dong-hyuk beat three other illustrious contenders to win The Straits Times Asian of the Year award. The trio are Ms…
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Politics
Tripped in race to lead Singapore, but Heng Swee Keat still in limelight
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: “Good Luck.” That’s what “Heng” means in Singapore’s local dialect. So, once-kampong boy Heng Swee Keat considered it his good fortune that he has had a crack at high office. Not by luck but by the dint of his credentials.…
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Society
Gates upbeat Covid-19 may soon lose its venom
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Some good news out of Singapore: the raging Covid-19 pandemic may devolve next year into something like the flu. This optimistic assessment by Bill Gates, who warned the world of the coming pandemic in 2015, came during a virtual interview at…
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South East Asia
Safeguard yourselves against Covid-19, government tells Singaporeans
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: “YOU are on your own, lookout” That’s the new order of the day as Singapore pushes ahead as one of the first Covidean states to pivot towards living with the Coronavirus. Since late September, the city-state of 5.45 million has gone…
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Politics
Covid deaths spike, but Singapore stick to re-opening plans
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: The figures tell a staggering story that smacks of a runaway pandemic. However, the authorities are looking at the bigger picture and taking the explosion of the Delta mutant cases in stride. Since mid-September, new daily caseloads have hovered between…
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East Asia
Rise of Eco-cities: An Asian model of sustainable development
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: The search for an Asian eco-culture is in line with the international discourse on a new global ethical agenda for the New Millennium, focusing on religion, language, values and rights of minorities and indigenous people. It is marked by…
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Politics
Singapore keeps an eye on Kabul after aiding refugee pull-out
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: During the last acts of the United States’ precipitous retreat from Afghanistan in mid-August, Singapore got a piece of action -helping in the historic, if chaotic, airlift of thousands of Americans and Afghans fleeing the Taliban forces closing in on…
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People
Funding-surge for blogger in Singapore PM’s defamation case
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: Critics have decried the outcome of a defamation case in which a political blogger has been found to have impugned the reputation and integrity of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in an article. Mr Terry Xu, chief editor of…
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Politics
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…
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Business
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…
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