Jom

16/10/2026

Print and tote sale, 48 hours, beginning 8pm tonight.

Once a year, we leave our digital realm to deliver you the warm comfort of print. Issue No. 4 is almost here. Ahead of that, we’ve decided to cut the prices of issues 2 and 3, just for this weekend. (Issue 1, you may know, is sold out.)

If you haven’t got copies yet, here’s your chance. And even if you have, well, they make great gifts. Pick up a Jom tote too while you’re at it.

Buy now: https://www.jom.media/shop/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=16oct26_merchclearance_facebook

Images from pngtree.com and Canva

16/10/2026

𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤: 𝐎𝐜𝐭 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆: 𝗢𝗠𝗚, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘇𝗲!
Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan’s capital, recorded PM2.5 levels as high as 3,340. (Anything over 250 is considered “very high”.)

Most Singaporeans would not give two hoots about any of this. Except that the haze is now bothering us too: this week’s 280 reading sparked runs on N95 masks and purifiers. And so a script, as familiar to us as those West African palms that have blanketed our region, is now playing out. Malaysians and Singaporeans whine. This prompts our governments to complain and offer help to Indonesia, which rebuffs us with witticisms. 2015: “For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us”; 2026: “When there is no smoke, we send oxygen”.

Greenpeace and other activists point out the obvious ironies that Malaysians and Singaporeans love to ignore: many of our companies, domiciled and/or listed here, are the ones implicated through “haze source points”.

🇸🇬 Read more in “Singapore This Week”, Jom’s weekly, opinionated update on our city-state: https://www.jom.media/singapore-this-week-161026/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=16oct26_stw_facebook

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

The corporate, government, and palm oil addiction maze behind the haze; giving in Singapore; the big business of domain names; and more.

14/10/2026

Now is the time to give Jom. Just S$96 a year.

Choose the start date: today, their birthday, any day.
Honest reporting doesn’t get old.

Give the gift: https://www.jom.media/gift-subscription/?utm_source=organic_post&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=14oct26_facebook

13/10/2026

A transgressive movement, borne of liberation from state surveillance and market structures, somehow survives in one of the world’s capitalist and paternalist meccas.

“Dreaming in the shadow of the C*D: raves and raving in Singapore”, by Clarissa Ng, an NUS law student who interned at Jom this past summer.

Read now: https://www.jom.media/dreaming-in-the-shadow-of-the-cbd-raves-and-raving-in-singapore/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=13oct26_facebook_essaypost

Photographs courtesy of Bussy Temple and from Corner/website Wikimedia Commons

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

A transgressive moment, borne of liberation from state surveillance and market structures, somehow survives in one of the world’s capitalist and paternalist meccas.

09/10/2026

𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤: 𝐎𝐜𝐭 𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀: 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗔𝗣’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝘂𝗻𝘀
When you make money from a property investment, how much should you credit your financial nous versus factors beyond your control? An individual’s response to that can reveal their broader ideological stance. Lefties, for instance, would point to numerous actors—from the roadsweeper and police officer keeping your streets sanitised to dock workers and others far away keeping the economy humming—as important contributors whose rewards aren’t commensurate, particularly in red-hot property markets that attract global investment. The property gains, in other words, are mostly privatised by those with the means to invest.

Governments have long used tax policy to mitigate this. Singapore’s property taxes have become increasingly progressive in recent years, but much more can be done.

🇸🇬 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 “𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸”, 𝗝𝗼𝗺’𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆, 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲: https://www.jom.media/singapore-this-week-091026/?utm_source=stw_facebook&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=9oct26_facebook_post

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

PAP MPs call for inheritance tax; the latest from Parliament; the coolest Nobel Prize for Physics; workplace contretemps; and more.

07/10/2026

We’ve launched our metered paywall! Here’s an ecology selection to get you going: four essays exploring power, interconnectedness, and Singapore’s role in the global climate crisis.

Jom on ecology: four essays on how deeply our ecosystems are connected, and on Singapore's role in the global climate crisis.

1️⃣: “Magical thinking: shaping sand for our dreams” by Aleithia Low
2️⃣: “Raiding Riau: the hidden costs of Singapore’s ‘clean’ energy drive” by Robin Hicks and Gabrielle See
3️⃣: “The fight for Singapore’s wild spaces” by Choo Yi Feng
4️⃣:”Singapore is not an island” by SG Climate Rally

Read one paid piece a month for free. Sign up now: https://www.jom.media/sign-up-newsletter/

Like with all metered paywalls, we hope the teaser convinces some of you to start paying, so we can keep doing this for as long as SG reclaims land; while also allowing those who cannot afford Jom to still enjoy some of our content every month.

Photographs from Canva and Wikimedia Commons

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom (link in bio).

06/10/2026

We disagree with the government’s decision to bring charges against the death penalty abolitionists and pro-Palestine activists last month.

Read more: https://www.jom.media/in-solidarity-with-our-activists/?utm_source=faceviij&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=6thoct26_facebook_post

Photographs from Canva, Dreamstime, Instagram/Neokelelei, and Wikimedia Commons

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

We disagree with the government’s decision to bring charges against the death penalty abolitionists and pro-Palestine activists last month.

02/10/2026

Singapore This Week: Oct 2nd 2026

Society: Big Brother will help you get laid
This week GovTech launched its long-awaited dating app, FirstDate. It’s currently open only to government officials aged 21-35 who are single, widowed, or divorced. Upon sign-up users are prompted to answer 33 questions, including on: their PSLE result; their favourite minister to work under; how long they’d be willing to volunteer at a primary school in order to get their kid in; and whether they’d go along with a partner who wants to climb the property ladder using confidential information about unannounced train stations—or report them.

Well, one can wish. The actual 33 questions include the following: “Now, spill! What do you actually love about your hobbies?”; “Be honest! What does your room look like right now?”; “Team sunrise, or team ‘it’s 2am and I’m still up’?”; and “Gym rat, occasional jogger, or exercise is a myth to you?” The questions are interesting as much for their content as their insights into (presumably) Gen Z bureaucrat-speak. Respondents will, of course, have to trust in the app’s confidentiality and privacy measures. Are those still up at 2am in line for a promotion? Will those for whom exercise is a myth be summoned by the Health Promotion Board? Is Indranee going to handcuff and whip those who say no to kids? (Hmmm.)

🇸🇬 Read more in “Singapore This Week”, Jom’s weekly, opinionated update on our city-state: https://www.jom.media/singapore-this-week-021026/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=2oct26_facebook_stwpost

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

On chickens and their eggs; a government dating app; WorldSkills; AI-generated images; the inaugural Singapore Indie Bookshop Day; and more.

29/09/2026

Home reno? You’ve either experienced it, or hope to one day. In the blur of modern life, there are few more calming, restorative acts than retreating to a space that you’ve had the privilege to slowly shape. It’s your home.

In this column, Serene discusses some behavioural concepts underlying the relationship between you and your home reno contractor.

Read now: https://www.jom.media/wrong-shade-of-white/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=29sep26_everydayecons_essay_facebook

Illustration by Lauren Cheung for Jom and photographs from Canva

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

Underlying the relationship between you and your home reno contractor are some behavioural concepts with applications across life

25/09/2026

Singapore This Week: Sep 25th 2026

Sport: The choir-girl’s chops
“Barbaric” and “human cockfighting”. That’s what John McCain, US senator, called mixed martial arts (MMA) in 1996. The very first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993 featured just three rules: no biting, no eye gouging, and no groin shots. Promoters sold it as a real-life version of “Mortal Kombat” and “Street Fighter”. By 2007, with the sport having adopted more rules and gained broader societal acceptance, McCain changed his mind. New York state became the last US state to legalise it in 2016. And in the decade since, MMA has risen in tandem with the MAGA movement.

Yet this image of MMA—sweat-and-blood soaked men with black eyes, toothless grins, and too many tattoos—is but one. Alongside are mellower versions. MMA’s core building block is Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a century-old sport that combines grappling, ground fighting, and submission holds. (MMA adds on striking elements, from boxing, Muay Thai, and elsewhere.) Over the past two decades jiu-jitsu has grown exponentially around the world, championed by celebrities like Anthony Bourdain. Around Singapore today, there are adherents young to old. MMA itself also grew.

But for Singaporeans in competitive jiu-jitsu and MMA, the journey has been mixed, as May Ooi, a national swimmer-turned-MMA fighter, asserted at Jomfest earlier this year. All this is why Tiffany Teo’s MMA gold medal (Singapore’s first in the tournament) on the sport’s debut at the ongoing Asian Games, is so important. “A bigger goal of mine [than the medal] is to grow the sport of MMA in Singapore,” she said. Teo’s childhood, as narrated to The Straits Times (ST), is one many Singaporeans might relate to. “[N]ever into sports growing up”, Teo chose the choir in primary and secondary schools, “because it was the most chill CCA [co-curricular activity] and I could sit in an air-conditioned room.”

Photograph by David Wirawan/Asian MMA

🇸🇬 Read more in “Singapore This Week”, Jom’s weekly, opinionated update on our city-state: https://www.jom.media/singapore-this-week-250926/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=25sep26_stw_facebook

We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom: jom.media/membership

The pleasures and perils of coffee; mRNA vaccines; Tiffany Teo at the Asian Games; zapin in South-east Asia; and more.