Kirsten Han
Freelance Journalist
Singaporean. Journalist/writer. Chief Editor @ New Naratif. Telling stories from a tiny Southeast Asian island.
PROJECTS
Foreign Policy
Asia’s Authoritarians Are Big Fans of Regulating Facebook
Not everyone fighting “fake news” is doing it for the right reasons.
WorldPolicyInstitute
“Keep Calm and Carry On”
Singapore is a place of contradictions. A city-state of about 5.6 million people squeezed into just over 270 square miles, it’s known internationally as both a free-market haven and a site of widespread state intervention.
The New York Times
What Trump Is Learning From Singapore — and Vice Versa
Mr. Trump constantly proclaims that his “America First” policy will prevent the United States from being taken for a ride by other countries, while Singapore denounces foreign interference in its domestic politics. Yet when the occasion suits, both are more than happy to borrow ideas from elsewhere to control their populations. Such opportunism is the hallmark of authoritarians constantly on the lookout for ways to consolidate or expand their power.
atimes.com
Singapore plays up terrorism to curb liberties
New measures empower authorities to ban reporting, detain suspects and suppress sit-down protests in the already tightly controlled city-state.
The New York Times
A Malaysian Insta-City Becomes a Flash Point for Chinese Colonialism — and Capital Flight
The piece was written by Brook Larmer; I contributed reporting from Forest City in Johor.
The Washington Post
Why Singapore’s moves to curb ‘fake news’ may backfire
While President Trump liberally applies the label “fake news” to any reporting he wants to discredit, other authoritarian governments have weaponized the term as an opportunity to suppress civil society.
atimes.com
Tax and not spend in Singapore
Rich island state plans to hike taxes despite a booming economy, budget surplus and national credo that links social spending with failure and sloth.
CNN
Singapore's migrant workers struggle to get paid
Singapore's constant construction boosts the economy, and relies on a large foreign labor force. As of June 2017, Singapore had about 296,700 migrant workers in the construction industry, from countries like Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China, according to the Ministry of Manpower.
Working in a city without a minimum wage, they earn a fraction of the salaries of white collar employees who toil in offices the migrant workers construct. Despite the city state's reputation for technocratic efficiency, for some it's a huge struggle to get paid.
Quartz
An LGBT couple whose marriage was wiped off the books in Singapore is going to court
A Singapore court has agreed to review the decision to delete a Singaporean couple’s marriage from the city-state’s marriage registry after one partner underwent gender-affirming surgery, according to lawyers for the couple.
atimes.com
Colonialism a cause to celebrate in Singapore
Some noted that the People’s Action Party (PAP) resoundingly won re-election soon after the feel-good SG50 celebrations and wonder if snap polls could follow in the colonial bicentennial’s celebratory wake. But the announcement also triggered a more critical discussion of Singapore’s relationship with its British colonial past.
atimes.com
Recalling Singapore’s forgotten unions
The long-ruling People's Action Party first rose to power on the back of the working class - a once strong, now politically co-opted constituency.
thesplicenewsroom.com
Layoffs, restructurings and pivots to digital were the hallmarks of Singapore’s media in 2017. And 2018 isn’t much better.
2018 is setting up to be the toughest year for Singapore’s news industry as long-awaited restructurings take hold.
atimes.com
No dissident thoughts allowed in Singapore
After months of investigations, Singapore police finally dropped a bombshell at the end of November: social worker and activist Jolovan Wham would be charged for organizing public assemblies without a permit, vandalism and refusing to sign police statements.
international.thenewslens.com
Singapore further Squeezes Freedoms with Jolovan Wham Trials
Kirsten Hans spells out the innocuity of Jolovan Wham's allegedly illegal activities and the risk a creeping crackdown on freedoms poses to the future of Singapore.
atimes.com
Is Singapore’s Lee truly poised to step aside?
When Prime Minister’s Office Minister Chan Chun Sing met last month with Singapore’s Foreign Correspondents Association, it was no surprise that the assembled reporters quizzed him on whether he wanted the island state’s top job.