kixes

kixes, 1 month ago to singapore

#Singapore #DeathPenalty #StopTheKilling

🧵 A flurry of execution notices have been issued these past few weeks. It is of course horrific every time a notice is delivered to a death row prisoner and their family, but what’s especially troubling in these cases is that all these prisoners are currently party to a joint application to the court, filed even before the first execution notice was issued.

kixes, 3 months ago to singapore

The #Singapore Airshow begins next week, and exhibitors from #Israel will be there, showing off their munitions—the same weaponry used to kill in #Gaza right now. Meanwhile, Singaporeans who organised peacefully to call for ceasefire and urge our own government to do more to get Israel to stop killing are being investigated by the police. https://www.wethecitizens.net/whats-responsible-in-the-middle-of-a-genocide/

kixes, 3 months ago to singapore

It’s the third day of the #LunarNewYear! For me, this means attending the annual luncheon of #Singapore’s Old Left. This year, I’ve been assigned to read out a speech by Dr Poh Soo Kai, a founding member of the People’s Action Party, back when they were still leftist, anti-colonial activists. Dr Poh was later detained during Operation Coldstore and kept behind bars, without trial, as a political prisoner for many years.

kixes, 4 months ago to singapore

This morning I sent out a special issue of my newsletter on the #Singapore government's intention to designate Philip Chan, a naturalised Singaporean originally from #HongKong, under the anti-foreign interference legislation: https://www.wethecitizens.net/the-first-fica-designation/

kixes, 4 months ago to singapore

This week’s newsletter: just days before the event, the #Singapore police told organisers that a public indoor event in solidarity with #Gaza would be illegal because it required a police permit that the police wouldn’t be willing to issue. Tthe police claimed that the event had to do with race/religion. The venue had no choice but to cancel the event.

Still, people packed into a space in an industrial estate for a private event with speeches and protest chants.

More: https://www.wethecitizens.net/stay-and-fight-the-barriers-we-put-in-your-way/

kixes, 4 months ago to singapore

It feels like I am saying a lot less about #Singapore these days… I used to tweet all these lengthy threads on various news items and issues but these days I either can’t summon up the energy or know what exactly to say. Is it the vibe of the platform, or something else?

kixes, 5 months ago to asia

Back to writing the Mekong Review Weekly #newsletter this week. Subscribe to keep up with what goes on behind the scenes of our #Asia-focused literary #magazine: https://subscribepage.io/mekongreviewweekly

kixes, 5 months ago to random

A very Happy New Year to everyone who sees this. I was feeling a little bit off yesterday because it felt like I hadn’t had enough time to process 2023 before I was being forcibly shoved into 2024. But now I’m here I guess I’ll just have to deal with it and muddle along…

kixes, 5 months ago to singapore

The #Singapore state has spent actual money on this sponsored IG video in which two women whine about how “Singaporean guys are the worst”, then go gooey over a guy because he is a checks notes #prison officer.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1ZAlXRPDlW/?igsh=bGkzamJzdDl4eHE4

kixes, 5 months ago to singapore

I wrote this last week after a short road trip, where a friend and I had some time to chat about our lives in #Singapore compared to how we are in #Scotland, and the sorts of change that might occur in our lives as we move forward after the things we’ve been through so far.

https://kirstenhan.com/2023/12/23/transformations/

kixes, 5 months ago to random

The terrible news of Lee Sun-kyun’s death pushed me to write this reflection on the #WaronDrugs and the harm it causes by building up stigma and demonisation of people who have been connected to drugs in some way, even before investigations come to any conclusion. It’s really terrible and if we don’t rethink this around the world drug policies will keep ruining lives.

https://www.wethecitizens.net/the-death-of-lee-sun-kyun-and-thoughts-on-high-profile-drug-investigations

kixes, 5 months ago to australia

This call for submissions—a tie-up between RMIT’s nonfiction/lab and #MekongReview—is still open for writers in #Australia and #SoutheastAsia!

Please share widely 😊

https://mekongreview.com/mekong-review-non-fictionlab-call-for-expressions-of-interest/

kixes, 5 months ago to singapore

Coconuts Singapore was one of the very few #Singapore platforms that covered the #DeathPenalty issue and the executions over the past couple of years. Always terrible when an independent #media outlet shuts down in Singapore’s already sparse landscape.

https://coconuts.co/coconuts-announcements/goodbye-so-long-farewell-were-closing-coconuts/

kixes, 5 months ago to movies

Available to read on Mekong Review’s website: a review of both Oasis of Now and Tomorrow Is a Long Time, #films from #Malaysia and #Singapore respectively.

Read it here: https://mekongreview.com/single-parent-single-child/

Remember you can get 20% off a year’s subscription of our magazine if you use the promo code ENDOFYEAR2023!

kixes, 6 months ago to random

This was a fascinating interview to edit: Mike Chinoy has reported on #China for many years, including on what happened at #Tiananmen in 1989. I learnt a lot reading this.

We’ve taken the paywall on it down temporarily over at Mekong Review’s website, so everyone can check it out. We’d also really appreciate it if you’d like to subscribe to our magazine! You can use the promo code ENDOFYEAR2023 to get 20% off a year’s subscription.

https://mekongreview.com/assignment-china/

kixes, 6 months ago to random

"Greg Grandin [...] estimates that Kissinger’s actions from 1969 through 1976, a period of eight brief years [...], meant the end of between three and four million people. That includes “crimes of commission,” he explained, as in Cambodia and Chile, and omission, like greenlighting Indonesia’s bloodshed in East Timor; Pakistan’s bloodshed in Bangladesh; and the inauguration of an American tradition of using and then abandoning the Kurds."

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/henry-kissinger-war-criminal-dead-1234804748/

kixes, 6 months ago to random

I've been raising #kittens this past week and it has been lovely. https://kirstenhan.com/2023/11/19/raising-kittens/

kixes, 6 months ago to asia

The November 2023–January 2024 issue of #MekongReview, a literary magazine from, on and about #Asia, is now available online! It marks the fourth issue that I've produced since I started this job, and what a journey it's been.

Check out what's in the magazine here: https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/231880/emails/104787717243537227

If you'd like a subscription, use the promo code ENDOFYEAR2023 to get 20% off a year's subscription!

kixes, 7 months ago to random

I’ve been trying to get the word out about Mekong Review’s end-of-year subscription drive/promotion, and it’s tough. We have our newsletter, and I’m trying to do what I can with social media… Twitter used to be our most reliable platform but we’re not using it anymore (because, well).

Anyone who uses the promo code ENDOFYEAR2023 at https://mekongreview.com can get 20% off a year’s subscription to our quarterly literary magazine covering Asia.

kixes, 7 months ago to random

I love November because it's my birthday month. You know what I also love? Discounts.

So: discounts on subscriptions to my Singapore-focused newsletter for the month of November (plus an added bonus if you also subscribe to Mekong Review, a quarterly literary magazine that I edit).

Check it out here and please share widely: https://www.wethecitizens.net/november-discounts/

kixes, 7 months ago to random

Four opposition political parties in Singapore came together today to form The Coalition, a "non-formal partnership". They were quick to assure Singaporeans that they're not looking to kick the PAP out of government (that's SG politics for you), but want more "checks and balances".

https://www.wethecitizens.net/the-coalition-isnt-going-to-kick-the-pap-out-but-hopes-to-make-them-sweat-a-bit/

kixes, 7 months ago to random

Listening to VCHA’s Y.O.Universe while reading Jared Yates Sexton’s book on toxic masculinity is making my brain short-circuit with the juxtaposition.

kixes, 8 months ago to singapore

This week in #Singapore: Infuriating responses from NTU and NAC over a queer performance, a well-paid parliamentarian questions what a basic need is, and the stupidest question I've ever heard about a packet drink.

https://www.wethecitizens.net/what-have-you-done-with-your-lky-drinks-packet/

kixes, 8 months ago to random

I wrote a short blog post about processing the fact that I have written a book that has actually been published and actually currently exists on actual bookstore shelves https://kirstenhan.com/2023/10/04/i-wrote-a-book/

kixes, 8 months ago to random

What are the conflict of interest considerations re: news outlets carrying sponsored content from state organs they report on? I get that branded content is important for revenue but it feels off for Singapore's main broadsheet to be carrying paid content praising the police force or the courts, when these are the very state organs that we need incisive, critical reporting on, for oversight and accountability.

A screenshot from The Straits Times' website. The article is labelled as "branded content". The headline reads: "From drug-busting operations to rehabilitation: They're guardians of a drug-free Singapore". The sub-header says: "Meet the uniformed and civilian officers across the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) who have made its their lives' work to combat the scourge of drugs."