Stuart White, Author at The Singapore Post

Why Singapore’s PAP is taking aim at opposition WP so soon after an election

15Nov

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Why Singapore’s PAP is taking aim at opposition WP so soon after an election

The PAP’s war of words against the WP is a calculated approach for it to get a head start before the next election, analysts say It has been six months since the national polls concluded in Singapore, but the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is not resting on its laurels. A popular line among party faithfuls is that the PAP begins preparing for the next election the day after winning one. But a recent series of salvoes against its main opponent, the Workers’ Party (WP) and leader Pritam Singh suggests a new intensity, if not strategy. Observers point to a calculated PAP approach outside election season as its recognition that future polls in the city state will become more hotly contested and may hinge on swing voters or its supporters who may be leaning towards the middl

Five ways US government shutdown is hurting – and why it’s about to get worse

31Oct

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Five ways US government shutdown is hurting – and why it’s about to get worse

The US government shutdown has entered its fifth week and there is no clear end in sight. With Democrats and Republicans deadlocked over passing a spending plan that would reopen federal agencies, millions of Americans are feeling economic pain that could soon grow worse. The fiscal fight means millions of Americans may not receive food aid, thousands of troops could have to work without pay, and millions may go without heat. Here’s how the shutdown has affected everyday people. Food assistance More than 40 million Americans use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) to feed themselves and their families. While that programme had enough funding to survive the first four weeks of the shutdown, the Trump administration has said the money will run out on 1

Russia Deploys Missile in Ukraine Sparking U.S. Withdrawal From Nuclear Treaty

31Oct

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Russia Deploys Missile in Ukraine Sparking U.S. Withdrawal From Nuclear Treaty

Russia has used a ground-launched cruise missile in Ukraine whose secret development prompted the United States to withdraw from a landmark nuclear arms control treaty in 2019, according to Ukrainian officials. The revelation raises concerns that Moscow is employing weapons once banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and escalating the risks for European security as efforts intensify to negotiate an end to the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters that Russia had fired the 9M729, known by NATO as the SSC-8, at targets in Ukraine in recent months — the first confirmed use of the missile in combat. “Russia’s use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates President Vladimir Putin’s disrespect to the United Stat

Mamdani signals a shift in American politics. And how immigrants see themselves in it

31Oct

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Mamdani signals a shift in American politics. And how immigrants see themselves in it

Naysayers are employing the same old playbook against the outsider, fear dressed up as caution, prejudice disguised as concern. Growing up in India, I often heard that democracy was where the silenced finally found a voice. And now New York City seems to be finding a new voice. The capital of capitalism might soon elect a socialist as its mayor. Whatever one thinks of Zohran Mamdani—the 34-year-old state assemblymember once dismissed as an outsider—his rise marks an extraordinary turn in American politics. For the Democratic Party, and for the city that defines so much of America’s identity, his potential victory isn’t just another election result. Some are already calling it the most significant breakthrough for socialism in modern US history. Mamdani’s campaign speaks to the e

Singapore doubles down on zero tolerance for identity politics, foreign interference

16Oct

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Singapore doubles down on zero tolerance for identity politics, foreign interference

Singapore’s government has reinforced its bottomline of zero tolerance for the politics of race and religion as well as foreign interference, arguing that such elements should be rejected swiftly.In parliament on Tuesday, Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh and Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam disagreed on the “timing” and “substance” of the WP in rejecting election endorsements by a self-styled Islamic preacher Noor Deros and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) members. In April, ahead of Singapore’s May 3 general election, Noor and the PAS members endorsed WP candidate Faisal Manap over then minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs Masagos Zulkifli, as the former was seen to be more vocally supportive of the Malay-Muslim community. Masagos led the ruling P

Beyond politics, disinformation and hybrid threats strike at Singapore’s economy

5Oct

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Beyond politics, disinformation and hybrid threats strike at Singapore’s economy

At stake is more than national security; it is the integrity of our economic ecosystem and the trust that underpins it DISINFORMATION, defined as the deliberate creation and spread of false or misleading content with the intent to deceive and cause harm, is often framed as a matter of politics or national security. But it is also an economic risk – one that can erode trust, destabilise markets and hit businesses hard. When President Tharman Shanmugaratnam addressed Parliament last month, he placed resilience at the centre of Singapore’s response to a volatile world, warning that foreign actors will seek to spread disinformation and cause societal rifts. He stressed that Singapore would strengthen its capabilities to counter hybrid threats: harmful, coordinated activities that

Ousted Nepal PM Oli Says He won’t Flee Amid Political Turmoil Neighbours

30Sep

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Ousted Nepal PM Oli Says He won’t Flee Amid Political Turmoil Neighbours

Former Prime Minister of Nepal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has dismissed rumours that he plans to flee the country, accusing the current government of trying to strip him of his security and official privileges, Dhaka Tribune reported.Speaking at a gathering of the party's youth wing, Yuwa Sangh Nepal, in Gundu, Bhaktapur, Oli made it clear he intends to stay and fight politically. "Do you think we will flee by handing over the nation to this groundless government?" he asked supporters. Oli said he was determined to "restore peace, good governance and constitutional order."Oli recently vacated the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar on September 9 after weeks of Gen Z-led protests culminated in the fall of his government. Since then, he has relocated to a rented...

‘Clog the toilet’ trolls hit Indian visa holders rushing back to U.S.

29Sep

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

‘Clog the toilet’ trolls hit Indian visa holders rushing back to U.S.

Vacationing in India, engineer Amrutha Tamanam rushed to return to the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced a $100,000 fee for the visa she holds. As she scrambled to get back to the country she's called home for a decade, racially motivated far-right trolls launched coordinated efforts to disrupt flight bookings from India, calling their campaign "clog the toilet." The White House would later clarify that the new H-1B fee was a one-time payment not applicable to current holders. But leading U.S. companies had already advised their employees abroad to swiftly return to avoid the fee or risk being stranded overseas. Tamanam, an Austin-based software engineer, began searching for a flight from the city of Vijayawada, as users on the far-right messa...

U.S. Political Interventionism Under Trump

29Sep

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

U.S. Political Interventionism Under Trump

Despite promising not to lecture other countries on “how to live,” the Trump administration is intervening with increasing frequency and force in the political affairs of other countries. Immediately upon taking power, President Donald Trump and his team set about pulling the United States away from its longtime stance as a supporter of democracy globally. They dismantled U.S. pro-democracy assistance programs, dissolved most of the State Department’s institutional capacity on democracy issues, and disabled most of U.S. global broadcasting, a traditional linchpin of democracy support. Trump put a ribbon on this course change in Riyadh in May when he criticized his predecessors as “interventionists” and declared that the United States would no longer give other countries “

19Sep

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Nepal’s Violent Gen Z Uprising

n the morning of September 6th, a black S.U.V. carrying a provincial minister from Nepal’s ruling party ran over an eleven-year-old girl, Usha Magar Sunuwar, outside her school in the city of Lalitpur. Rather than stop to help the injured victim, the occupants of the vehicle sped away. Many of the powerful in Nepal, like their brethren across South Asia, believe themselves to be exempt from accountability. And Sunuwar, who miraculously survived, became, in the eyes of the public, another casualty of the governing élite’s contempt for ordinary Nepalis. When K. P. Sharma Oli, the country’s seventy-three-year-old Prime Minister, was questioned by the press about the incident, he shrugged it off as a “normal accident.” Oli, a Communist who began his political career as a tribune of the op