Deep Dive - GE2025: Are independent candidates a new force to be reckoned with?

Deep Dive
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For the first time in 53 years, an independent candidate received more than 35 per cent of vote share, performing better than some smaller opposition parties. Jeremy Tan, who ran in Mountbatten SMC, and Darryl Lo who contested in Radin Mas SMC, join Steven Chia and Otelli Edwards to talk about lessons learnt from their campaigning and their future after GE2025.
Deep Dive - GE2025: Are independent candidates a new force to be reckoned with?
For the first time in 53 years, an independent candidate received more than 35 per cent of vote share, performing better than some smaller opposition parties. Jeremy Tan, who ran in Mountbatten SMC, and Darryl Lo who contested in Radin Mas SMC, join Steven Chia and Otelli Edwards to talk about lessons learnt from their campaigning and their future after GE2025.
21 mins
Deep Dive - GE2025 results: A closer look at the strong PAP mandate and the opposition strategy
Voters gave the People's Action Party and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong a clear mandate in GE2025. What accounted for the result and why couldn't the opposition parties make good on gains from the last election? Steven Chia and Otelli Edwards speak to Associate Professor Eugene Tan from the Singapore Management University and Dr Reuben Ng from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
23 mins
Deep Dive - WP's Jasper Kuan on the 3-hour chat with former chief Low Thia Khiang that convinced him to run for GE2025
East Coast GRC candidate for the Workers' Party Jasper Kuan admits this may not be the right 'season' for him to jump into politics because of his three young children. But he tells Steven Chia how a three-hour conversation with Low Thia Khiang changed his mind and why as a former Gifted Education Programme teacher, he believes the education system needs structural changes.
20 mins

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CNA

3 hours ago

• CNA

Snap Insight: US strikes against Iran raise more questions than answers

SINGAPORE: After days of mixed signals, the United States joined in the Israel-Iran war, sending air strikes – including the use of bunker-busting bombs – on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday (Jun 22). As the world waits for what comes next, the strikes will likely first kick off a war of narratives. In his televised address, US President Donald Trump celebrated the strikes as ' a spectacular military success ', even if it is unclear what that means and despite US intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) assessments that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons. Saying his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was 'wrong', Mr Trump echoed Israeli claims that Iran was months, if not weeks, away from possessing nuclear weapons. On Saturday, before the strikes, Ms Gabbard tried to reword her position saying that Iran 'can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise assembly' in a post on X, and that her testimony to the US Congress – that the intelligence community 'continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon' – had been taken out of context. Mr Trump's dismissal of the US intelligence assessment raises questions about who the president listens to: the US intelligence community or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. HOW SAFE IS IRAN'S ENRICHED URANIUM? While Mr Trump said the three sites – Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan – targeted by the United States have been ' completely and totally obliterated ', Iranian officials asserted that Iran had already pre-emptively transferred its 60 per cent enriched uranium. (To be of weapons grade, uranium must be enriched to at least 90 per cent). "All enriched materials…are in secure locations. We will come out of this war with our hands full,' said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Mohsen Rezaei. This would make a difference in how far the Iranian nuclear programme is set back, as the US claims. Nuclear facilities can be rebuilt. So the question is how secure those locations where the uranium has supposedly been moved to are. If the death on Friday of an unidentified Iranian nuclear scientist, an alleged weaponisation specialist, is anything to go by, Iran's uranium may be less secure than the country would like the world to believe. Israel said it killed the scientist in a safe house where he was hiding to escape assassination. He was the 10th nuclear expert assassinated by Israel in the last week. Military analysts note that, depending on how deep underground Iran's nuclear facilities are, the US may need several bombings to destroy them at the risk of being sucked into an expanding regional conflagration. Mr Trump suggested, in his address after the strikes, that the United States will launch further attacks against Iran if it refuses to return to nuclear negotiations on his terms, which Iran has repeatedly rejected. IRAN'S CAREFUL RESPONSE Iran is likely to calibrate its response carefully, even as it braces for Israeli follow-up strikes and potentially further US military action. While it is difficult to see Iran forgoing its perceived right to retaliate, it is likely to want to ensure that it does so in a manner that keeps the door open to negotiations. A restrained Iranian response would also cater to advice proffered by its partners, China and Russia, who do not want to see an all-out regional war and are likely to primarily offer Iran political and diplomatic support rather than military participation. Russia and China are sure also to have advised Iran to make good on threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, a major global trade artery through which much of the world's oil and gas supplies flow because this would increase the risk of further intervention in the war by the United States and other Western powers. WILL GROWING CONFLICT REMAIN CONTAINED IN MIDDLE EAST? Middle Eastern states are concerned about the fallout from the US strikes. Gulf states await potential Iranian retaliation against US military and diplomatic facilities on their soil. In addition, they will also be worrying about the potential environmental fallout of the US bunker-busting bombs taking out Iranian nuclear facilities. Türkiye and Iraq dread an expected influx of Iranian refugees if hostilities continue or, even worse, expand. Together with Pakistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan, Türkiye worries about the potential spillover effect of potential unrest among ethnic Iranian minorities like the Kurds, Azeris, Arabs and Baloch that straddle their borders. For their part, Egyptians fear that war is inevitable amid concern that Israel could attempt to drive Gaza's Palestinian population out of the Strip and into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Will an expanding conflict remain contained to the Middle East? That will likely depend on whether Iran strikes at US, Israeli or Jewish targets elsewhere in the world. Dr James M Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M Dorsey.

Straits Times

4 hours ago

• Straits Times

16 hurt, building hit in Israel after Iran missiles: Rescue services, TV

Rescuers and security personnel at the impacted site after a missile attack from Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 22. PHOTO: REUTERS JERUSALEM - At least 16 people were hurt and at least one impact was reported in central Israel after Iran launched two waves of missiles at the country following the US bombing of its nuclear sites, rescue services and reports said. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said in a statement that it had 'evacuated 16 people to hospital, including a 30-year-old man in moderate condition after being wounded in the upper body by shrapnel'. Public broadcaster KAN 11 showed images of a devastated building surrounded by mounds of rubble that it said was in central Israel, following the two waves of missiles launched at Israel from around 7.30am (12.30pm Singapore time). Sirens rang around the country after the Israeli army reported the incoming missiles, with air defences activated shortly afterwards, causing loud explosions heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israeli police reported 'the fall of weapon fragments' in a northern area encompassing the port of Haifa, where local authorities said emergency services were heading to an 'accident site'. Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, but at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nationwide and 25 people have been killed since the war began with Iran on June 13, according to official figures. Coastal hub Tel Aviv, the southern city of Beersheba and the northern port Haifa have been the three areas most frequently targeted by Iran. Israel's sophisticated air defences have intercepted more than 450 missiles along with around 1,000 drones, according to the latest figures from the Israeli military. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

CNA

6 hours ago

• CNA

Lawrence Wong to make first visit to China as prime minister, meet with Li Qiang and Xi Jinping in Beijing

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will visit China from Jun 22 to Jun 26 and meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping in Beijing. This will be Mr Wong's first visit to China as Singapore's prime minister, and both sides will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China. 'It is also an opportunity for leaders on both sides to exchange views on bilateral issues as well as regional and international developments,' said the Prime Minister's Office in a statement on Sunday (Jun 22). Mr Wong last met Mr Li and Mr Xi respectively in October and November 2024 on the sidelines of multilateral meetings. He last visited China in December 2023 as deputy prime minister for the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation. This time, he will meet Mr Xi, and be hosted to a welcome ceremony and a dinner banquet by Mr Li. He will also meet Mr Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress In Beijing, Mr Wong will also engage Singaporeans in the Chinese capital at a reception. In Tianjin, the Prime Minister will attend the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Annual Meeting of New Champions, often referred to as Summer Davos, and take part in a dialogue session with WEF president Borge Brende. Mr Wong will also attend an official dinner hosted by Mr Li for foreign leaders attending Summer Davos. On this trip, he will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu and Acting Minister for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Finance Jeffrey Siow. Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and for Home Affairs Sim Ann, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Syed Harun Alhabsyi and other government officials will also be part of the contingent. Mr Wong will conclude his trip on Jun 26 and be on leave on Jun 27. In his absence, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong will be Acting Prime Minister from Jun 22 to Jun 25, while Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam will take on the role from Jun 26 to Jun 27.