Mangroves are our best bet against floods (video shows why). Definitely something for govts across Southeast Asia to think about before the next horrible flood hits.
This is Frida. She became Mexico’s symbol for hope after the 2017 earthquakes. It’s reported she’s located over 50 people in her long rescue career. Today, her protective gear was removed and replaced with a toy to signify her retirement and a new beginning. 15/10
#GraciasFrida
Stop what you're doing and read our latest: Human placenta and a hand. Harvested from a school lab in Brazil. Bound for Singapore. The customer? "A famous Indonesian designer who sells accessories and garments using materials of human nature."
We were all moved by Anupam Tripathi's Squid Game performance as Ali Abdul, the kind and soft-spoken player cruelly treated by his boss. But migrant worker abuse and exploitation in South Korea and the rest of Asia is very, very real. A thread
@jolovanwham
JUST IN: Singapore WILL REPEAL Section 377A of the Penal Code, officially decriminalizing gay sex, PM
@leehsienloong
announces in annual August rally speech.
In Fahmi Reza’s last interview before his latest arrest, conducted with VICE, he spoke out about Malaysian police brutality as well as abuse he received from officers while in custody. He addressed various other issues and told us he was expecting “big trouble” but was prepared.
I've been wanting to do this story for years.
Why pro-democratic Hong Kong hates Jackie Chan (the man who went from starring in Police Story to supporting police brutality) - with great voices from
@HKWORLDCITY
,
@lokinhei
&
@badiucao
On this day 35 years ago, Studio Ghibli released a film “so powerful it forced a rethinking of animation”: Grave of the Fireflies. Something I wrote for the occasion in 2018, carrying views from Japanese history and culture experts
Short preview of the Fahmi Reza episode on Censored—Full version now out on YouTube via VPN but it will be released in Malaysia from Monday. Watch it here:
@kuasasiswa
She called out her teacher's [stupid] rape joke. Now she's being sued. The story of 17-year-old
@ant33ater
went viral in Malaysia but it deserves to be told ALL ACROSS THE WORLD.
Making a v rare appearance on Twitter to convey how excited I am that my
@nytimes
bureau life has begun – and after years of newsroom hot-desking, I have a place to call my own 💜
I met Raeesah when she was campaigning this week.
Warm and sincere, she spoke to everyone who stopped to chat (even signed a deaf uncle!!)
She shouldn’t have to apologise for calling out inequality. If that makes you uncomfortable then CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE
#IStandWithRaeesah
“[Our] presidential election is turning into a competition to determine who hates and discriminates against women the most.” Inside South Korea’s Incel Election (Parts of it were painful to write. By
@junhyupkwon
and I)
"Obscene material is not seen as deserving of legal protection in Singapore."
Hear from Titus Low and an array of voices in our follow-up feature to his police case and what it will mean for SG's hidden OnlyFans scene. VICE first and exclusive
Today, a Malaysian grandfather nicknamed Dr Ganja heads back to court after severe delays due to the pandemic. His crime was medical marijuana and he faces the death penalty. Profile on him for VICE, illustrated by none other than Fahmi Reza
@kuasasiswa
The story blew. my. mind. I woke up this morning to several messages from Brazil and each detail got darker and darker. Everyone who reached out did so because of this story we did about Indonesia's Arnold Putra.
To clarify: My tweet has now been deleted on orders of Disney. But the original clarification I made from reaching out and reporting still stands -- There are no official plans for a Disney themed park in Malacca, earlier reports were purely speculative and misinformed.
This is how you play Singapore state media (which definitely did not and will not cover the execution of mentally, intellectually ill Malaysian inmate Nagaenthran). That’s Naga on Subhas’s shirt.
“I’m going to see God tomorrow and when I do, I will tell him all about you.”
Six years with the BBC and this was the first time I cried doing a story. My feature about Singapore’s death row angel: Changi Prison counsellor Sister Gerard Fernandez.
Arnold Putra is the epitome of evil he brags about giving fake designer goods to indigenous people in exchange for human remains and prized items from their culture.
Mainland Chinese authorities have seized two luxury Beijing properties owned by Jackie Chan—despite objections and court appeals by the Hong Kong movie star.
To me, the saddest character in all of Squid Game had to be Ali—the kind and soft-spoken player from Pakistan (esp poignant given that migrant workers around the world are subjected to cruelty and abuse). Our exclusive with breakout star Anupam Tripathi
Dear
@SpotifyMY
, just sent you an official press inquiry re: Fahmi Reza's Spotify Premium playlist
#DengkiKe
. Emails seen by VICE showed it being censored a total of 105 times. We hope you'll address this issue and reply to my email in time for our upcoming coverage.
@kuasasiswa
Why... Did one of my fav-ever chicken rice aunties just sass her way onto CNN? YES, yes she did: "Frozen chicken? You expect [me] to cook ... using frozen chicken? If that's the case, you might as well go to Malaysia and eat their chicken-rice there lah."
You can apparently tell a lot about a man by the watch he wears. Love this thread of what Singapore's leaders wear: overall very basic brands and affordable models. Ie: No Rolex,
As compared to the notorious example of Cambodia's PM Hun Sen, pictured with a $1.2m Patek Philippe
Thread of Singapore politicians and their watches.
1) Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong only ever wears one watch, the white dialed Seiko 5 Automatic SNKK87. A really nice $100 watch, and Seiko 5 is a classic. I would change the strap though, since it's folded (scratchy).
Forget Clarissa Ward. Here’s one CNN personality who handled himself, and the people around him, in Myanmar so well (albeit it was a different time). If Bourdain were still alive today, he’d definitely be heartbroken at the state of things in the country.
In the Myanmar episode of Parts Unknown, Bourdain sat down with former political prisoners at a coffee shop to talk about life after dictatorship and their struggles.
This is the Singapore episode. Clearly remember watching and cringing at the people they chose here.
Here's what us in Asia had to say about that CNN reporting trip to Myanmar. "I guess that’s what happens when you’re parachute reporting — You forget why you’re there because you’re [too busy] enjoying being there for yourself.”
Our second VICE Censored episode this week turns to Malaysia and who better to address draconian censorship than Fahmi Reza?
@kuasasiswa
doesn’t mince his words about actions against him (“Coming after me is a joke”). He also addresses police brutality
Her shirt read:"Everything would be OK".
But her death, along with so many others', was NOT okay. VICE: Her Name Was Angel. She Died Fighting for Freedom in Myanmar.
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
@JusticeMyanmar
Guess who’s back, back again: Indonesia’s most notorious shock influencer: Arnold Putra, apparently in Ukraine. Unverified photo, but not surprised if he’s gone to those lengths. ht:
@randymulyanto
@sandhatu
ngeliat postingan ini udah kayak diberakin di muka alias bener2 tai modal kaya doang bisa pake rompi press di pedalaman ukraina sementara w di sini cuma ngeliatin dalam keadaan ga punya pekerjaan tetap dan ampe sekarang kaga jadi wartawan juga ilah
Spotify says it does not wish to comment on Fahmi Reza's
#DengkiKe
playlist — but hear it exclusively from
@kuasasiswa
himself on the ordeal he's faced after his arrest. "If the authorities wanna make an example out of me, they are making a big mistake.”
Malaysian Indian men are dying in police custody and NOT A SINGLE OFFICER has ever been charged. This VICE World News investigation examines police brutality and misconduct in Malaysia as well as factors that contribute to the disturbing and alarming trend
SO BASICALLY SG GAHMEN SAY GAY SEX NOW CAN BUDDEN AFTER TONIGHT MUST PROTECT STRAIGHT PPLE AND CHURCHIES FEELINGS SO AFTER THIS THEY WILL MAKE GAY MARRIAGE, OTHER ISSUES HARDER. SO IN THE END PROGRESS BUT ONLY A BIT, LAGI WORSE. MACAM FAUSTIAN BARGAIN—
A humble but massive legal win: A migrant worker from India sued his employers in Singapore after he fell off the back of an overcrowded lorry. And won. Full story on
@CNN
:
2 years ago I lost my baby Charlie to lymphoma
It is not a kind disease. I hate it
So every time I see or hear of a doggy battling it, Charlie and me send ALL OUR POWER & GOOD VIBES (I also did donate)
You are a god Apollo. You got this
This is Apollo. At just four years old, he’s fighting stage 3 large-grade lymphoma. He needs multiple cycles of chemotherapy to have a shot at beating this. His floppy grin lights up every room he walks in, and you can help him and his family below. 13/10
It's Trans Awareness Week and Malaysia's most famous transgender celebrity has a message for people back home suffering in silence: "I want them to know that they aren’t alone, and that there is a world out there that’s bigger and better than Malaysia."
Racism in Singapore's rental market—Hear it straight from those who personally experienced it first hand in our latest VICE video. We also address the spate of very public racist attacks (fyi, they aren't new or triggered by the pandemic)
Wah no manners. We never gonna be friends or lovers, zoom meetings only (on a side note, this came from the WSJ. Didn’t deserve my clicks and I stole the screenshot from
@koreanforeigner
. But seriously: Why do US newspaper always get the worst voices for columns???)
1. Malaysia was identified as the only country in a recent survey, where a majority of people have confidence in Vladimir Putin.
59% of Malaysians had a favourable view of the Russian leader.
Across the 18 nations surveyed, a median of 90% say they have no confidence in Putin.
I swear I DID NOT cry when I heard the news: Magawa, the AMAZING landmine hunting rat in Cambodia, is retiring. 71 landmines and 38 bombs—incredible service to humanity. Rest well and enjoy all the bananas and peanuts, brave cutie. 🐀🍌🥜
@HeroRATs
Capital punishment in Singapore, the practice of pre-execution 'portrait photos' taken in prison and a question I raised to our government which resulted in a 5-page response. Unpacking all this in my latest
@CNN
feature:
To get into character, Anupam the actor told me he “watched documentaries and read articles” about the treatment of migrant workers in Asia. An excellent thread that explains Ali’s mannerisms in the show (basically a survival mechanism, mimicking real life societal hierarchy)
Why was Ali portrayed as someone who kept sniveling in sirs? Well, here's a thread that will explain why.
Firstly, when Ali is first introduced to the audience, and before he gets close to any of the other characters, he does not refer to them by their names.
How does one even begin to process something like this? An official letter sent by the Singapore Prison Service, informing a mother when her 22-year-old son (diagnosed as having a borderline intellectual disability) will be executed.
Photo via
@wakeupsg
on Instagram
This is Bella, a beluga whale living in a very shallow tank in Seoul belonging to the powerful Lotte group—one of Korea's biggest and richest chaebols. She is alone and displaying signs of stress and aggression and should be returned to the sea:
🇲🇾: “Malaysia was indeed the first regional casualty of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the downing of MH17. It has never been forceful in demanding an apology or compensatory damages and quietly let legal investigations play out.”
@ZachAbuza
Malaysia, a country that has lost a national airliner full of innocent civilians as a direct result of eastern Ukraine separatists and proven Russian bad actor direction, strangely, continues to remain silent about Russian aggression on the global stage.
Last night, I had notifications from Twitter telling me Titus Low had tweeted at me in response to a story we put out at Vice about his current predicament. It led to us chatting and just as he said, he’s released a video on YouTube about everything, including his mental health.
Grave of the Fireflies: "Hollywood will have you believe that heroes are needed when times are tough. Isao Takahata shows us the humble opposite, that when times are tough what you need most is humility, patience and self-restraint."
South Korea: Where a man can ejaculate onto a woman's personal things and not be charged as a sex crime. Our long read on "semen terrorism" and "terrorists", featuring survivor accounts and
@newsjean
's insight. TW: sexual abuse w
@junhyupkwon
A reminder that Singapore isn’t a neutral observer of events unfolding in Myanmar. We have been, and still are, Myanmar’s biggest foreign investor (forgive you if you thought it was China) — and we know that money talks. A lot.
No shortage of articles talking about extreme heat and how to cool rich cities like Singapore. But what about those not allowed to benefit? "Migrant workers are excluded from climate conversations tho they are one of the most vulnerable groups at risk."
First thing that obv comes to mind: drug trafficking offences punishable by death (disabled Malaysian prisoner Nagaenthran on death row in Singapore was recently executed for trafficking). Move is definitely a progressive game changer
@ouellette_celia
So yes, Ali deserves the WORLD but so do our migrant workers—who are just as deserving of our respect and protection. (If they had the choice, I’m pretty sure they would choose to be at home with their families rather than risk their lives in frightening, rich foreign countries.)
SCOOP: VICE contacted Singapore drone gun maker TRD about this image. The company confirmed that it would be stopping ALL sales to Myanmar police and other forces in lieu of the coup. cc
@TigerBeerSG
#WhatsHapppeningInMyanmar
Singaporean biz TRD says they will not be supplying anti-drone guns to
#Myanmar
for now & will review future sales 👏🏽👍🏽All biz must end ties w/ military! Its unconscionable for Singaporean biz to cont supporting the military.
#Myanmarmilitarycoup
A dying mangrove in Johor. 2019 throwback to when
@LivvyLepoids
and I were producing a BBC documentary about the Pasir Gudang river pollution scandal. fyi: then-environmental ministers and their teams were NOT helpful or willing to acknowledge the problem. Or their shortcomings.
My latest for VICE focuses on the ugly racism that Indians in Malaysia and Singapore have had to face when renting homes (intl media outlets tend to angle the problem on expats, this isn't the case). Shot by
@lamkanahraf
and featuring
@pingster2008
We learn that Ali lost his fingers while working in a South Korean factory and was denied pay for months. In Malaysia, a migrant laborer working at the world's largest latex glove company had his hand was chopped off while working non-stop.
Looks like our SG government had a change of heart and is now calling on Myanmar's military to stop killing its citizens: Took them a while but now they need to hit the junta where it really hurts: their bank accounts and wallets
#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
Doxxing threats, lie detector tests, harsh and highly inappropriate interrogations. Sexual abuse survivors from NUS came forward and detailed their experiences to VICE World News. What is really being done to support them? Stellar piece by
@wali_talks
And some news that I'm excited to finally share: I'll be bringing my ideas and brand of enterprise reporting to
@CNN
, joining
@steve0george
and his stellar team of journalists as their newest reporter-writer covering Asia.🥰 So. much. adrenaline. I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED
“Malaysia calls itself a modern country but many ex-Muslims remain in hiding over fear of death threats and violence.” For
@VICEWorldNews
, I looked at apostasy in Malaysia; why it's on the rise and why it's dangerous for Muslims to renounce their faith
This week, the high court in Malaysia refused to hear a woman's bid to leave Islam for Buddhism. She is BRAVE. Because renouncing Islam in the country is so dangerous. Here's a piece I wrote on VICE, where I spoke with brave ex-Muslims who explained why
There are some things Malaysia does better than Singapore (certain food, rich and diverse cultural history) but public transport and urban planning isn't one of them. VICE looks at ongoing efforts in KL to improve public transport and a car-centric society
Singapore is trying to jail OnlyFans star Titus Low, and honestly? I think his name and branding will only get bigger. Rolling Stone has already picked up on coverage of his case too, here's ours at VICE
INDONESIA: VICE is looking to expand our network of journalists. Indonesians please. Drop me or
@joefree215
a reply here if you'd like to make contact and bring bold ideas to life on our platforms. My DMs are also open. RT for good karma and to help us spread the word! 🙏
It's official: Singapore on Tuesday repealed Section 377A of the Penal Code (after announcing the decision in August), thereby decriminalizing gay sex in the country.
93 MPs voted in favour of the move -- with a minority remaining stuck in colonial times
"You can’t survive without air con in Singapore. It’s impossible with the heat."
SG's love for air con is no secret AND it comes at huge cost. Latest
@CNN
looking at how our air con addiction has trapped our already hot nation in a vicious cycle (timely)
In case you haven't heard: Indonesia's govt is planning to turn part of Komodo National Park into a lucrative Jurassic Park-style tourist attraction. What you haven't heard are wildfires, plans to relocate indigenous villagers and suspicious censorship
Over the weekend I spoke with the sister of a man on death row for (you guessed it), drug trafficking. One of the strongest takeaways from our interview: “The government isn’t punishing just the trafficker, they are punishing his entire family—and the public cheers for that.”
A very kind Brazilian Federal Police officer spent 30 min on the phone with me and confirmed everything was true. Organs were indeed harvested and preserved by a
@UEAmazonas
professor in his lab. In Brazil, buying and selling organs constitutes a state crime punishable by law.
Unlike everyone else, Ali wasn’t pushed to the Squid Game because of deceit, betrayal or greed. He was there all because his manipulative boss didn’t pay him for six months. So whose fault is it really?