Han Fook Kwang

1 week ago | channelnewsasia.com | Han Fook Kwang

SINGAPORE: It is conventional wisdom now to view the world as being a more dangerous place because of how President Donald Trump wants to remake America and its place in the international order.  His aggressive style, making outlandish demands of other countries and threatening retaliatory action otherwise, has made everyone nervous about where it will all lead to.

1 month ago | channelnewsasia.com | Han Fook Kwang

SINGAPORE: If Lee Kuan Yew were alive today, would he jump out of his sick bed as he famously promised and try to stop the downward slide he feared Singapore could head towards? Or would he afford himself a satisfied smile that the island state was in good hands and doing as well as could be expected? Ten years after his death in 2015, contrary to the claims of some of his critics, Singapore has not followed him to his grave.

2 months ago | channelnewsasia.com | Han Fook Kwang

SINGAPORE: Whenever the issue of the rising cost of living is discussed in Singapore, it feels like flogging a dead horse. After all, what can be done? Singapore imports almost everything and has to accept the price of goods set by other countries. In other words, to use a technical term, it is a price taker. End of discussion? Except for one inconvenient truth - it is the number one issue that people say they are most concerned about, as almost every poll has shown.

Jan 10, 2025 | channelnewsasia.com | Han Fook Kwang

SINGAPORE: Politics had a bad run in 2024. In many countries, it dominated the news headlines for the wrong reasons. In South Korea, impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law to neutralise his political opponents backfired spectacularly and he is now facing arrest. In the United States, the unseemly spectacle of a presidential candidate being convicted of an offence related to a sexual abuse case and facing imprisonment seemed too surreal to be true.

Oct 15, 2024 | channelnewsasia.com | Han Fook Kwang

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government’s decision to block the Income-Allianz deal was both surprising and extraordinary, but most of all, it was the right call. When the matter was discussed in parliament in August, there wasn’t a hint that it would not approve the sale of Income Insurance’s shares to the German financial services company.