Kirsten Han 韩俐颖

straitstimes.comS’pore to contribute marine expertise, international connections to global ocean protection: Gan Kim YongSingapore to share marine expertise in global ocean protection efforts, as Gan Kim Yong highlights the UN High Seas Treaty. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Where on the ocean protection agenda does constant land reclamation fit? www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

And will Singapore continue to be depicted as if it’s some bizarre extension of China?

Graphic design is my passion

straitstimes.com‘Not the time to go soft’: Shanmugam signals new laws to ensure deterrent sentences for all scam mulesSingapore to introduce tougher laws targeting young scam mules to deter scams after High Court ruling on probation sentences. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Disagree with a court ruling? Amend the law or introduce a new one! www.straitstimes.com/singapore/po...

jeanneten.blogspot.comRole-playing a Prisoner Without the Conviction: Within the Dungeons of Singapore's State Courts30 September 2026 I am writing about something uncomfortable and embarrassing, but sometimes the most uncomfortable stories are precisely th...

Jeanne Ten, who was charged in court the same day I was, was in lock-up for longer. This is her account of her humiliating ordeal, where it was a struggle to even get toilet paper from the officers. jeanneten.blogspot.com/2026/10/role...

currentsnewsletter.com“Fuck you, I’m going to keep doing this”: Singapore’s Resurgent Youth Activist MovementListen now | Anti-death penalty and pro-Palestine activist Mel Eng on finding her community in an authoritarian system

Mel of Student Actions for Transformative jUstice (SATU) speaks w/ @calumstuart.bsky.social about the participation of young Singaporeans in anti-authoritarian organising. There have been real shifts in activism and civil society in Singapore in recent years. currentsnewsletter.com/p/fuck-you-i...

tennessean.comCourt stays Christa Pike execution in Tennessee: UpdatesChrista Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. A court stayed her lethal injection that was scheduled for Sept. 30.

An attempt was made to execute Christa Pike, the only woman on death row in Tennessee, after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for execution to proceed. But Pike was still breathing after receiving two doses of lethal pentobarbital, and was taken to hospital. www.tennessean.com/story/news/c...

independent.co.ukSingapore actors charged over protests against death penaltySingapore retains the death penalty for murder, certain drug-trafficking offences, and serious firearms offences

This is how journalism that picks up a narrative from govt sources and other media end up misrepresenting reality to readers. This says charges are for “protests against the death penalty” which, w/o context, paints a diff picture from what actually happened. www.independent.co.uk/asia/southea...

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The average reasonable person would *not* define this as a “public assembly” or “protest”. But when media outlets pick up on the state’s language and narrative without describing what actually happened, it gives people a very different impression of the situation.

This is how the media fails the people. I don’t think it’s happening out of malice (most of the time, anyway). It’s happening ‘cos newsrooms are being downsized, journos are losing their jobs, bosses expect more stories to be produced with less. Under such pressure, shortcuts are taken.

independent.co.ukSingapore actors charged over protests against death penaltySingapore retains the death penalty for murder, certain drug-trafficking offences, and serious firearms offences

The charges are now framed as being about “protests” because the charges under the Public Order Act are about “public assemblies”. But the Public Order Act is so broad that a huge range of action can be deemed “public assembly” even if we wouldn’t ordinarily see it as such.

The “protest against the death penalty” that Neo Swee Lin and Lim Kay Siu (and others, including myself) have been charged for was this: we went to court to support a friend who’d been charged. Afterwards, we stood outside the courthouse and someone snapped some photos. Then we left. That’s it.

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴

@xunlingau.bsky.social

Replying to @xunlingau.bsky.social

Those targeted by Singaporean authorities include @kirstenhan.com whose written a bit more about her experience here:

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖@kirstenhan.com

I wore this shirt to the State Courts for my court mention for one count of "taking part in a public assembly within a prohibited area". Security wouldn't let me into the building wearing it. I ultimately took it off by the entrance and turned it inside out before I was allowed in.

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴

@xunlingau.bsky.social

@adpan.bsky.social & other anti-death penalty groups call on Singaporean authorities to withdraw the charges relating to peaceful advocacy against activists from the Transformative Justice collective & other groups. Full text: adpan.org/wp-content/u...

My charge under the Public Order Act has to do with participating in group photos outside the State Courts in Feb 2025. The authorities say this is an illegal assembly in a prohibited area. Others have been charged, too. The judge imposed bail of S$5,000 surety. My passport had to be surrendered.

wethecitizens.netA little time in lock-upReporting back on my first court mention and experience in lock-up.

While bail was being processed, I was handcuffed and briefly shackled, and made to wait in a lock-up cell with a pastel pink door and bars (because it was the women's lock-up, get it?) I've written about this experience here: www.wethecitizens.net/a-little-tim...

straitstimes.comSix to face charges after allegedly taking part in unlawful assembly at Changi Prison, State CourtsSix individuals will face charges for participating in unlawful public assemblies without permits at Changi Prison and State Courts in Singapore. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Bold to refer to warnings as “penalties” when they carry no actual legal weight 🙄🙄🙄 www.straitstimes.com/singapore/co...

podbean.comEpisode 2: Trafficking, or Trafficked? The Story of Mary Jane VelosoOn 29 April 2015, Mary Jane Veloso came within an hour of execution by firing squad in Indonesia when she was suddenly granted a reprieve. More than a decade later, following bilateral negotiations th...

Excellent news from the Philippines today that Mary Jane Veloso has finally been granted a pardon. The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network produced a podcast episode on her case earlier this year: www.podbean.com/media/share/...

wethecitizens.netAltering States: Drug policy is a feminist issueDecades of punitive drug policy have caused immeasurable harm to women and girls. A feminist movement that fails to recognise the inequalities and injustices of the war on drugs is a movement that's i...

Mary Jane’s story is not an isolated one, and demonstrates how death penalty abolition is also a feminist issue. I wrote about this in May: www.wethecitizens.net/altering-sta...

channelnewsasia.comMan charged with taking part in public assemblies near Changi Prison without a permitS Suraendher Kumarr, 32, is also accused of taking part in a February 2025 public assembly at the State Courts, where such gatherings are prohibited.

The first of our group charged in court and bailed out today: www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ma... The rest of us charged for being part of the photo-taking outside the State Courts will be charged on Monday morning.

mekongreview.comPolitical theatre - Mekong ReviewSingaporean actor Lim Kay Siu on the differences between acting in Hollywood and in Singapore, the power of theatre to raise public awareness of important issues, and getting political on live streams...

Read @calumstuart.bsky.social’s interview with Lim Kay Siu (for @mekongreview.com) here: mekongreview.com/political-th... If listening is more your vibe, a version of the interview is also available here: currentsnewsletter.com/p/actoractiv...

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖@kirstenhan.com

Someone commented on a clip of Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau talking to the media about the government’s efforts to help Singaporeans get started with using AI, and her response was… dismissive, to say the least

wethecitizens.netWTC Wrap: 19 September 2026This week: The police dole out more charges and warnings to Singaporeans (including yours truly).

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖@kirstenhan.com

This week: The police dole out more charges and warnings to Singaporeans (including yours truly). www.wethecitizens.net/wtc-wrap-19-...

channelnewsasia.comPublic servants need to shift from doing things ‘for’ Singaporeans to ‘with’ them: Chan Chun SingGiving the example of the recent redevelopments of Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks, Mr Chan said the public service has to honestly articulate trade-offs on policy decisions.

This isn’t meaningful if the government continues to suppress rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and insists only on engaging with parties they’re comfortable with via channels they control. As Garry Rodan says, participation without democracy. www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ch...

wethecitizens.netWTC Wrap: 19 September 2026This week: The police dole out more charges and warnings to Singaporeans (including yours truly).

This week: The police dole out more charges and warnings to Singaporeans (including yours truly). www.wethecitizens.net/wtc-wrap-19-...

18 Sept

One more person was charged with the same offence today, and I think there might be more to come. Others in the photo (and who had been summoned for questioning) have been called up, possibly to receive police warnings.

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖@kirstenhan.com

🧵 Today I was charged under Singapore's Public Order Act for “taking part in a public assembly within a prohibited area”. 3 friends were also charged for the same offence. The assembly in question? Posing for photos outside the State Courts after my friend Jolovan Wham's court mentions in Feb 2025.

18 Sept

If you watched Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender… yesterday one of the friends who was charged with me was Lim Kay Siu aka Monk Gyatso So I’m in good company, at least

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖@kirstenhan.com

Last week, six people had court mentions in the same morning for charges relating to pro-Palestine organising and vigils for death row prisoners. Hundreds of people showed up in solidarity. I've never seen such a huge crowd at the courthouse.

My first court mention has been set for 28 September, 10am at Court 4B at the State Courts. I don’t know if as big a crowd will show, but it’s clear that there’s stronger solidarity and support for activists now. Singaporeans, especially younger ones, are not as easily deterred by investigations.

It’s common for journalists to have communications that aren’t on the record, or that might require anonymity for legitimate reasons. I have a responsibility to protect my sources to the best of my ability, even if there’s no official recognition of this journalistic privilege in Singapore.

The charge+warnings I got come in the context of a flurry of charges/warnings issued to multiple Singaporeans in recent weeks for vigils and expressions of solidarity w/ Palestine. Investigations into actions that took place years ago are coming out of the woodwork and finally being "concluded".

On 24 June 2022, I was questioned by the police about the two so-called assemblies mentioned above. My phone was confiscated, and an officer who identified himself as being from cybercrimes asked for my passwords so they could access my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and email accounts.

I refused. I stated that I’m not comfortable giving the police (or anybody) access to these accounts because I am a working journalist and there are digital security concerns that I take very seriously.

(2) In April 2022, I posed in a group photo outside Changi Prison, a couple of nights before Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was hanged on 27 April.

I *also* got a stern warning for alleged “obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating course of justice” 🙃🙃🙃 Here's what this one is about:

I also received stern warnings for two alleged instances of "taking part in a public assembly without valid permit", which took place four years ago, in 2022:

wethecitizens.net8 June 2024: Students tell MHA exactly what they think about a proposed racial harmony billThis week: Alarmed by what it could mean for activism and freedom of expression, about 40 students delivered their feedback on the proposed Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill to the Ministry of Home A...

(1) In March 2022, three friends and I lit a small number of tea lights and sat outside Changi Prison, for less than an hour, the night before Abdul Kahar bin Othman was hanged on 31 March—the first person executed in about two years.

The students were alarmed by the ways the proposed law could be used against those speaking out about the genocide in Palestine, and asked if I’d like to follow them and write about their collective action in my newsletter. So I did, and I wrote about it here: www.wethecitizens.net/students-tel...

I later learnt that The Straits Times, Singapore's main broadsheet, had photographed the students at the MRT station and outside MHA, but as far as I know, I was the only journalist identified to the students on the day, and who briefly interviewed some about what they were doing and why.

I also received a 12-month conditional warning for allegedly "taking part in a public assembly or public procession". In June 2024 I followed a group of students as they delivered letters to the Ministry of Home Affairs with feedback on the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill (now passed into law).

cna.asiaAnthropic to open Singapore office in October, hire locallyThe Singapore office will be the AI company's fifth in the Asia-Pacific region.

16 Sept

After OpenAI, Anthropic is also coming to Singapore cna.asia/4cIPlFk

youtube.comMekong Review Writers' Room May - July 2026YouTube video by Mekong Review

15 Sept

Sharing this again in case people missed it! My conversation with Bhuchung D. Sonam and Jamyang Phuntsok on Tibetan literature, the distribution of Tibetan publications, stereotypes about Tibetans, and more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9yv...

Mekong Review@mekongreview.com

Here's a snippet from our last Writers Room series, in which writer Jamyang Phuntsok explains how Tibetan books reach the Tibetan diaspora worldwide. Find the full conversation on our YouTube channel through the link in our bio.

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Mekong Review

@mekongreview.com

2 Sept

A former teacher turned resistance medic supports civilians and fighters in the revolution against the Myanmar military junta. 📖: mekongreview.com/a-f...

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Badiucao巴丢草

@badiucao.bsky.social

10 Sept

1/ My cover design for @mekongreview.com for August - October Look closer where AI is leading to us to. I think its a right time to post it following jacob Coxton ‘s AI doom warning tweet after resigining from Anthopic.

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Mekong Review

@mekongreview.com

9 Sept

The three volumes of Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi: The Novel contain a rollicking yarn with a cast of colourful characters that swirls about its nucleus, Musashi, with curious and often calamitous results. 📖: mekongreview.com/the...

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 reposted

Animation Obsessive

@ani-obsessive.bsky.social

15 Sept

The Disney renaissance movies used to look different. They were planned to be printed on 35 mm film -- that's how they were first released. Modern editions skip that last step in the process. It was a highly developed, overlooked craft, as we explore: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/disneys-fi...