https://www.scmp.com/rss/501335/feed Ignatius Koh is a Singapore-based writer who covers sports, tech and economic stories. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In 2017, Brandan Chan and his girlfriend thought they had the perfect plan: buy a Built-To-Order (BTO) flat constructed by Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB) and get the keys to their new home within three to four years. Marriage and a family would follow soon after. Applying for a new government flat was the typical route taken by most young Singaporeans looking to land their first homes. But fast forward four years and the couple’s housing dream has been shattered. While it... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3149936/singapores-first-time-homebuyers-bind-public-housing-prices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3149936/singapores-first-time-homebuyers-bind-public-housing-prices?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Sep 2021 00:00:31 +0000 Roy Tomizawa’s association with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics goes back before he can remember. On October 10 that year, as the Games began, he was celebrating his first birthday in the New York City borough of Queens, while his father was working with the NBC News crew that was broadcasting the event to homes across the United States. Tomizawa, an American of Japanese descent, went on to become a historian. In September 2013, when Tokyo won the bid to host the 2020 Games, the paucity of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3142296/tale-two-tokyo-olympics-57-years-apart-one-common?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3142296/tale-two-tokyo-olympics-57-years-apart-one-common?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:30:17 +0000 From 1,000 guests to 20. Farah Hani and Khairul Anuar were ready to get married in 2020, having prepared for their big day more than a year in advance. Covid-19 swiftly put paid to those plans. As Singapore implemented stringent safety measures, the couple faced a predicament – to proceed with a scaled-down event or to postpone it. “Our venue vendor suggested to postpone our wedding to February 2021, with the ‘assurance’ that 1,000 guests would be allowed,” said Farah, 25, a specialist teaching... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3120793/heck-coronavirus-asian-weddings-back-sickness-and-health?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3120793/heck-coronavirus-asian-weddings-back-sickness-and-health?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Feb 2021 03:00:16 +0000 Singapore may be undergoing its worst recession since independence, with retrenchments and job losses at record levels, but property-obsessed Singaporeans are still queuing up to buy multimillion-dollar homes. While the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.6 million people worldwide, had hit the pause button on ever-increasing price rises, analysts predict Singaporeans will resume their love affair with property as vaccines come on stream and the country moves into the third phase... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3114484/singapores-love-affair-property-resumes-amid-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3114484/singapores-love-affair-property-resumes-amid-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Dec 2020 01:30:17 +0000 For over a decade, Tidaporn Potisai served customers with a smile at 38,000 feet in the air. Today, the former flight attendant continues to do so on land with a mean bowl of kor moo yang (Thai grilled pork). After Covid-19 struck and flights were grounded, she decided in May to turn her cooking hobby into an online business. It turned out to be a hit – she receives anywhere between 50 to 100 daily orders from all parts of Bangkok. For young Asians, Covid-19 defines bleak new era of vanishing... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3110250/southeast-asia-young-people-see-silver-lining-e-commerce-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3110250/southeast-asia-young-people-see-silver-lining-e-commerce-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Nov 2020 02:45:33 +0000 Philip Leong gets out of bed at 3am every morning to open his food stall in Singapore’s Jurong district. He stands for hours over a sizzling wok, whipping up more than 100 plates of fried vegetarian bee hoon, or vermicelli. The 68-year-old has been doing this back-breaking work for nearly two decades, yet his life as a hawker was not borne of a particular passion for cooking but rather sheer necessity. In 2002, Leong lost his job as a senior engineering assistant at Singapore Technologies... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096654/coronavirus-batters-singapores-economy-lost-jobs-loom-long-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096654/coronavirus-batters-singapores-economy-lost-jobs-loom-long-term?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Aug 2020 00:00:26 +0000 Every morning, Brizio Adi Putra wakes at 9 o’clock and enjoys a quick breakfast before settling into his chair for a gruelling 10- to 12-hour shift at work. The work is so tough his company has hired a psychologist to help him and his colleagues deal with the stress. But unlike many of his fellow graduates in Indonesia who are hunched over their desks in 9-to-5 office jobs, churning out reports and sending dozens of emails a day, the 23-year-old professional gamer – who goes by the alias “Hyde”... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096530/e-sports-stars-southeast-asias-us43-billion-gaming-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096530/e-sports-stars-southeast-asias-us43-billion-gaming-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Aug 2020 04:15:15 +0000 After navigating her way through three rounds of interviews, H.P. Tan, a senior from the National University of Singapore, a top-ranking school in Asia, had all but secured a job at a public relations firm last month. But the job would never come to pass. Under pressure to cut cost to weather the pandemic downturn, the company paused its hiring and rejected Tan. “When I got that rejection, it was a turning point. I didn’t think I would be directly impacted,” said the 23-year-old. Tan is like... https://www.scmp.com/business/coronavirus-pandemic-could-haunt-fresh-graduates-their-entire-careers/article/3080666?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/coronavirus-pandemic-could-haunt-fresh-graduates-their-entire-careers/article/3080666?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:10:15 +0000 Freelance filmmaker Anita Reza Zein had grown used to jam-packed production schedules requiring her to put in long hours and run on little sleep. Until Covid-19 struck. Today, the talented Indonesian is suddenly free. With five projects on hold and many more potentially cancelled, she now spends her time working on a personal project, doing research for her work and occasionally going for a ride on a bicycle. “I feel calm and patient although I’m jobless. Maybe because it’s still the third week... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3080489/class-2020-lost-generation-post-coronavirus-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3080489/class-2020-lost-generation-post-coronavirus-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Apr 2020 23:30:12 +0000 When the doors to the sales gallery of an upcoming residential project in central Singapore opened in July, more than 4,000 prospective homebuyers flooded the showroom for a first glimpse of the plush development. The project, One Pearl Bank, sits on a 99-year leasehold site once home to the iconic horseshoe-shaped Pearl Bank Apartments. It is set to stand among the tallest residential properties in the Lion City when completed by 2023, boasting unobstructed views of the city skyline. Following... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3022220/hype-smoke-and-hot-air-clouding-singapore-real-estate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3022220/hype-smoke-and-hot-air-clouding-singapore-real-estate?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Aug 2019 01:00:16 +0000 Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo might have retired, but in the not-so-distant future, their successors could be lighting up stadiums in a part of the world that has never played host to soccer’s biggest stage – Southeast Asia. That’s right, the World Cup may well be on its way to the region, after Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that the Asean countries (the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei) would submit a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3016564/southeast-asias-football-world-cup-2034-bid-time-asean-or-just?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3016564/southeast-asias-football-world-cup-2034-bid-time-asean-or-just?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jun 2019 04:30:04 +0000