5 things that made us go WTF this week in Singapore
New legislation, thwarted rocket attacks from Batam and the arrival of Pokemon Go have made this a very bizzare week in Singapore.
8 years ago
A typical week in the Singapore news cycle tends to involve several important pieces of news with a huge bearing on daily life and several bits of completely frivolous that citizens flock to instead. This week is no different. Here are the things that made us go WTF this week in Singapore.
Free speech and contempt of court shenanigans
While we were busy sharing clips from the White House State Dinner and that really pretty video of the Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, a new piece of legistation was proposed in Singapore that would broaded what constitutes contempt of court. The Administration of Justice (Protection) Bill would make criticizing the judiciary punishable by jail time. Critics, including the Committee to Project Journalists, have said the bill would tighten freedom of speech further and encourage more self censorship—already a problem—in the media. There's currently a local petition to demand a public consultation on the bill.
From Batam by rocket
Indonesia may have been scoldy and unhelpful when it comes to the haze, but they were rather helpful this week in foiling a terrorist attack against Singapore. Singapore went on alert late this week after six people were arrested in Batam for allegedly plotting to hit Marina Bay Sands with a rocket launched from the Indonesian island. We don't know details about what sort of rocket we're talking about, but Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen has said, "We should assume that there may be more plots, other terror cells on the lookout for ways, and new munitions to penetrate our defences." Eek!
The inevitable arrival of Pokemon Go
Even the threat of terrorism won't stop Singaporeans from heading out in search of Pokemon, though. It's hard to feel WTF about what we knew would happen sooner or later, but we're feeling WTF anyway. As of Saturday morning, Singapore residents can download and play Pokemon Go, as announced on the game's Facebook page. There had been tons of drama in the lead-up, with Minister Yaacob Ibrahim weighing in, an Australian national living in Singapore getting fired for unleashing an online tirade against Singapore for not having the game already and more. Now that it's here, we're wary about all the silliness the craze may unleash—trespassing, flouted safety and, of course, companies using "lures" to lure us into their shops.
Garden City's new neighbor? Forest City!
It's becoming increasingly obvious that development projects with the word "eco" in them tend to come with not insignificant ecological concerns. The latest is a massive, multi-billion dollar land reclamation project off the coast of JB. Called Forest City, the "eco-city" will involve 700,000 (!) residential units over four man-made islands. Headed by HK real estate giants Country Garden, the project is causing concerns about the ecology of the area, voiced by everyone from Greenpeace to local fishermen to Singaporean authorities, who have vowed go monitor the situation closely. Sounds very eco.
The Sun Ho look goes viral
Ok, if the rest of this story felt depressing, you can always cheer yourself up with a nice, dramatic makeover. Singapore blogger Xiaxue was the toast of the blogosphere this week with her frightful make up tutorial teaching people how to look like the disgraced City Harvest pastor's wife. Enjoy!
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