4 January 2025: Gently, now...

I know 2024 wasn’t an easy year for many people (myself included), so let’s be kind to ourselves and ease into 2025. I’m not going to stuff this first issue of the year with too much because we're all still emerging from the Christmas/New Year food coma—let’s just start with some banner items and a big of goal-setting.

(1)

I’d expected the general election to be called last year, but obviously that didn’t happen so now I can say with my whole chest that this year is going to an election year. This isn't some genius prediction; it's just because the election has to be held by end of November 2025.

The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee still hasn't been convened, though, so we don't have to expect the GE to leap out of us behind the next corner.

(2)

SingPost has sacked three of their top guys in an "unprecedented" move. Vincent Phang, the chief executive officer, Vincent Yik, the group chief financial officer, and Li Yu, the chief executive of the international business unit, were booted in December for what the company says was "grossly negligent" behaviour in the way they handled an internal investigation into a whistleblower report. A couple of days before Christmas, the two Vincents issued a statement saying that they'd been unfairly terminated. Li Yu has also indicated that he'll be contesting his sacking.

The Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) has called for an independent inquiry into all this drama. From their press release, signed by David Gerald, their founder, president and CEO:

"The sudden dismissal of three senior executives from SingPost, coupled with their vigorous denial of the allegations against them, has raised critical questions in the minds of shareholders, investors and the market.

The fact that they were told to leave with immediate effect points to an extremely serious breach of the rules which in turn necessitates detailed explanations. Yet it has to be said that the disclosures from the company and the responses from the three executives thus far raise more questions than provide answers.

Shareholders deserve better and so does the market if all are to make informed decisions regarding their investments."

(3)

I've been thinking about what I want to do with We, The Citizens in 2025, and this is something I wrote about it recently: I started We, The Citizens in 2018 the way I start most projects: on a whim. It just came into my head that a newsletter focused on aspects of Singapore that don’t otherwise get much attention would be a good idea. In the very first issue, I wrote that “I’m going to try this for the next three months and see how it works out”. This coming April will be the newsletter’s seventh birthday.

I’m really proud of this newsletter. It’s not just a job; it’s become a real part of my life that has grown with me. Now that I’m re-reading it, I realise that, in that first issue, I linked to the response that Singapore’s ambassador to the US had written to my op-ed in The New York Times—the very response that later inspired the title for my first book. There are probably many more such examples: things mentioned in my newsletter that took root in my head and sprouted in other work, other projects and other possibilities. Sometimes subscribers tell me that they learn a lot about Singapore while reading We, The Citizens. I love hearing that because I’m learning, too, through writing it.

I don't have a very detailed work plan for this year, but here's an idea: I’d like to write more special issues—I didn't have as much time or energy to do it last year as I'd like to have done—and also revamp the Kaya Toast Mini-Mentorship to create space for aspiring writers!

Around the region

This year, I'm aiming to be more collaborative and supportive of fellow journalists and writers running newsletters in this region. I've started chatting with a few friends about how we can better share one another's work; this isn't an easy environment or industry to be in, so we should stick together as much as we can!

I'm going to start with two newsletters: Febriana Firdaus's Indonesia at a Crossroads and Michael Tatarski's Vietnam Weekly. Check them out!

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