SINGAPORE: United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was in Singapore last weekend for the Shangri-La Dialogue, where he delivered plenary remarks on Saturday morning, May 30. 

The yearly meeting, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), is the premier defence summit in Asia, where key stakeholders discuss important security challenges in the region.

In his speech, Mr Hegseth encouraged Asian countries to spend more on defence, and praised the nations in the region that have allocated a greater part of their budget for expanding military capabilities, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. 

“President Trump believes in helping countries that help themselves. The era of the United States subsidising the defence of wealthy nations is over,” he said.

Mr Hegseth also said that the US would place its most committed partners at “the front of the line” for support from the global superpower. The War Secretary suggested that the US remain firm in its commitment to its allies in the region, on the condition that these allies also do their part.

Interestingly, he did not include Taiwan in the list of allies praised for higher military spending. Taiwan had raised its military budget to 3% gross domestic product.

In fact, as the New York Times pointed out, while Mr Hegseth had mentioned Taiwan five times in last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, there was no mention of Taiwan at all this year, earning criticism from Senator Tammy Duckworth, who expressed concerns over the US “cosying up” to China. The senator was also part of the US delegation in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Mr Hegseth also sought to reassure representatives from the Asia-Pacific that the US is not abandoning the region as it deals with the conflict in the Middle East. 

”We can do two things at one time,” he said.

The War Secretary said that more weapons would allow the US to “speak softly” while yielding a “big stick.”

While the Vietnamese President Tô Lâm, who had given the keynote address, emphasised the need for more dialogue to resolve regional conflicts, Mr Hegseth had a different opinion and aimed the “empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order”.

“Rules are great, but if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on. We don’t need more conferences, we need more combat power… less Shangri-La Dialogue, more ships and more subs,” he said. /TISG

Read also: US War Secretary headed to Singapore; to meet with PM Wong, Chan Chun Sing & speak at Shangri-La Dialogue

This article (In Singapore, War Secretary tells Asian leaders to spend more on military so they can get more from the US) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: After the Arsenal Football Club ended a 22-year drought and finally won the Premier League last month, Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh, although a longtime Manchester United fan, congratulated Arsenal fans in Singapore.

Mr Singh posted a video of himself being confronted with a long line of Arenal fans within the WP, which ended with him doing a version of ManU’s Mattheus Cunha’s famous and gif-worthy celebratory dance move. 

The short clip, posted on June 2 (Tuesday), has been viewed nearly 720,000 times and has gotten hundreds of comments from Instagram users.

Mr Singh even engaged with some of the commenters, thanking one who advised him “Watch your knees ah…” and replying “Up the Hammers!” to a Westham fan.

And when WP Non-constituency Member of Parliament Andre Low posted a gif of Bryan Mbeumo celebrating a goal against Tottenham Hotspur from earlier this year, as if suggesting that the WP chief could also copy his moves, Mr Singh joked back that “Any mimicking of Mbeumo’s celebration must include beard length.”

Several fellow ManU fans simply wrote “GGMU,” which stands for “Glory, Glory Manchester United,” a popular rallying cry, chant, and acronym used by the club’s fans.

Meanwhile, a fellow football fan wrote, “You gave me another reason to list you as my fav politician.”

Singaporeans perhaps first learned of Mr Singh’s love for ManU in 2012, the year after he was first elected into Parliament.

“Tough being a Manchester United fan today……..a performance unworthy of champions. Advantage Man City, it seems,” he wrote in a Facebook post on April 22, 2012, and when commenters discussed the match, he also added commentary.

In February 2022, after house visits at Eunos, the ward he has been representing in Parliament over the past 15 years, he posted about touching a “This is Anfield” sign outside a resident’s home for the first time in his life.

Later that year, also during house visits, he was happy to have found a fellow ManU supporter at one household, posting a photo with a resident who had hung an Old Trafford M16 sign on his gate.

“There are a rather large number of Liverpool fans in the Eunos ward of Aljunied GRC. I have seen my fair share of ‘This is Anfield’ signs, wrought-iron gates in the shape of the liverbird….you name it. 

So it was nice to see Hamdan and family last night during house visits, playing their part to bring some balance to the Force!”” he wrote. /TISG

Read also: Man U fan Pritam Singh happy to see Old Trafford sign at Eunos amid ‘a rather large number of Liverpool’ supporters

This article (ManU fan Pritam Singh congratulates Singapore’s Arsenal fans) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: After the principal of a secondary school from Hong Kong was caught in a viral video where he behaved rudely toward two security guards during a trip to Singapore, reports say that he has been suspended.

San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun has apologised for the incident, which is now under investigation by the authorities in Singapore, according to the South China Morning Post.

“The school expresses its deepest apologies regarding this matter. The school and its sponsoring body have always placed the utmost importance on the professional conduct of our faculty and staff,” the statement from the school reads.

Meanwhile, SCMP also said that a debate emerged online in Hong Kong after the incident, over whether racism or poor behaviour was a factor in the principal’s actions.

The incident

A video was spread on Threads last week showing Lee Cheuk-hing, the school principal, standing in the doorway of a bus having a heated discussion with two female guards. He then proceeded to taunt and shout at them, despite efforts from at least three onlookers to get him to calm down.

The incident, which allegedly occurred over a parking dispute, is said to have occurred on May 22 at a location in Jurong.

Hours after it was announced that Singapore would be investigating the incident, the manager of the school, Edmund Wong Chun-sek, said that Mr Lee had been suspended as his conduct during the incident did not meet public expectations. Moreover, Mr Wong, a former lawmaker, added that the school’s board wished to show that they were resolved to address the matter.

“Though he said he wanted to protect the students, his actions did not meet what the public expects of a school principal,” SCMP quoted Mr Wong as saying.

Online debate

A debate among Hong Kong’s netizens ensued after the video was widely shared and news of the principal’s behaviour was reported on, especially as the guards that Mr Lee had shouted at are South Asian women. Commenters have pointed to the difference between how the principal interacted with the women, as opposed to a female Chinese passerby.

While the principal had shouted “You shut up!” to the guards, he told the other woman that he would listen to her as she was “very polite.”

“I like you,” he told her.

That interaction may be found here.

A commenter on r/HongKong wrote, “You just know he’s speaking to them that way because of their race. As soon as he has to interact with the local Singaporeans of Chinese ethnicity, he changes his tactics completely.”

“The moment a Chinese woman says the same thing the Malay security guards are trying to get him to do, he listens,” pointed out another.

Others, however, focused on how the principal’s bad behaviour was a poor example for the school’s students.

“If you are a school principal, regardless of the situation (unless life threatening), it makes most sense you ‘take the high road’ and lead by example as a good role model in front of your students,” one pointed out.

“When visiting another country, respect the laws of the country. What is he teaching the students? A principal should be a role model, and yet he isn’t acting as a role model. Every time someone lands in another country, he represents his country of their passport. Funny how he represents his country and his school behaving like he is at home,” another chimed in. /TISG

Read also: Hong Kong authorities say action may be taken after school principal’s swearing incident on Singapore trip

This article (Hong Kong principal who swore at 2 guards in Singapore suspended; online debate on racism, bad behaviour ensues) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: Earlier this month, Progress Singapore Party’s Stephanie Tan reflected on last year’s General Election, writing in a social media post that her “purpose and goals remain unchanged.”

Ms Tan began her post with: “Carrying on, one year on.”

While the campaign period had been full of activities such as walkabouts, interviews, forum discussions and other public appearances, the former candidate wrote that she had “simply hoped for Singaporeans to see me not just as one face of a political party, but to know me better for who I was as a Singaporean and a mother of two children, as someone with shared experiences with them as we navigate through similar systems.”

As for the year since GE2025, she added that while she has “seen much around me, experienced happy times and also faced many heartbreaking moments,” her aim is still the same. 

Her family and children remain her priority in everything she does, and her “desire to serve Singaporeans with like-minded friends still flows. I will continue to advocate especially for the well-being of our children and for families.”

Her journey

Ms Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore with a law degree and was called to the Bar in 2011. She served as an Assistant Director in the Legal Policy Division of the Ministry of Law, as well as a legal counsel to the Ministry of Defence. In 2016, she stepped away from her career as a lawyer to be a full-time mum.

She joined PSP early in 2023 and assisted the party with parliamentary work and research before being fielded as a candidate at Pioneer SMC against the incumbent from the ruling People’s Action Party, Patrick Tay. Though bested by Mr Tay, she won over 34% of the vote.

Shortly after the GE, PSP’s founding members Tan Cheng Bock and S Nallakaruppan, along with former non-constituency member of parliament (NCMP) Hazel Poa, stepped down from the party’s central executive committee. They were replaced by three of the party’s first-time candidates—Ms Tan, Sani Ismail, and Lawrence Pek.

What Singaporeans are saying

In response to Ms Tan’s post, commenters have been full of encouragement toward her, urging her to keep on going.

“Keep up your hard work. Singaporean wants someone like you to serve us with your heart,” one wrote. 

“Jiayu in whatever you aspire. Never say die. Fight on in whatever circumstances,” another added. 

“Keep up the good work, Stephanie! The constituents will surely appreciate your efforts and sincerity,” a third chimed in.

Another wrote, “Hope to see you as an MP representing PSP to work together with PAP.” /TISG

Read also: More fresh graduates in Singapore left without job offers, says PSP’s Stephanie Tan

This article (Singaporeans encourage PSP’s Stephanie Tan to keep going one year after GE2025) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: The fertility rate of Singapore, which reached a historic low of 0.87 in 2025, has become an issue of national importance that the Government is doing something about, such as forming the Marriage & Parenthood Reset workgroup.

Singaporeans have also been tackling the issue online, such as when a local Reddit user initiated a discussion as to whether setting the workweek at a maximum of 40 hours would serve to help solve the problem.

Earlier this week, u/6fac3e70 wrote that Mexico had capped the number of working hours at 40 per week and employers were told not to cut salaries. 

They wrote that they have one child but work between 45 and 48 hours a week, adding, “not being able to spend enough time with family and being tired from work are dampening factors for more kids. Beyond the dollars and cents, it’s time and energy that money can’t buy.”

They wondered if the official Taskforce is considering this as one of the reasons for the low birth rate, but added that based on a self-assessment tool from the Ministry of Manpower, managers or professionals cannot “expect the law to protect you in terms of the number of hours you work” to the detriment of the number of hours spent with the family.

“Isn’t it pretty obvious why and does a task force really need to be set up to find out what we all already know?

Capping hours would mean you’ll need to hire more people to do the same job, and so that would even boost employment,” the post author added.

Historic low TFR

Earlier this year, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said that with Singapore’s citizen population growing by only 0.7 in 2025, it’s possible that by the early 2040s, the citizen population will begin to shrink.

In 2023 and 2024, the total fertility rate was at 0.97. Ideally, the TFR should be around 2.1 for developed countries in order to maintain a stable population. This value is known as the replacement level.

The last year that Singapore’s TFR was at 2.1 was in 1975. Since 1976, it has been below replacement level. DPM Gan added that resident births have declined to around 27,500, which is the lowest on record. Importantly, marriage rates have also dropped, and married couples are having fewer children or none at all.

“If no new measures are taken, our citizen population will start to shrink by the early part of the 2040s,” he said, though he added that “we cannot give up.”

What commenters are saying

Reddit users who commented on the post tended to agree, saying that they could definitely use more work-life balance.

“If MY and other countries can do so 40 hours, why can’t we? We’re inefficient with our time use anyway, moving to 40 will force efficiency rather than have staff out on 2-hour lunch breaks and spreading work throughout the day,” wrote one, adding that they’re most efficient the first four hours of the workday. 

“It’s 2026. There are still some of us working 5.5 or 6-day weeks, btw,” a commenter added.

Another Reddit user, however, wrote, “Work hours are not even the issue now. It’s the job uncertainty in general…

We are all already in debt with our BTO / resale, renovation, and student loans. A lot of us still have to take care of our ageing parents’ medical bills. We can be retrenched tomorrow with zero benefits.

We are not like other countries, where we can just move out of the city into a cheaper area. We are stuck in the most expensive city in the world for our whole lives. There is no way we can have kids.” 

“I am guessing only certain jobs would benefit. For example, teachers are notorious for bringing work home and continuing to mark over the weekends. So a hard cap on working hours is meaningless if overall workload doesn’t change,” a commenter pointed out, adding, “I am still for a 4-day work week. Way more tangible, and we also save in other aspects, such as travelling time. Plus, it’s also easier to plan for short getaways.” /TISG

Read also: Childcare job postings in Singapore see steepest decline in February as fertility rate hits record low 

This article (Singaporeans debate whether shorter workweeks could encourage more people to have children) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: The author and leadership expert Crystal Lim-Lange made the news recently when she explained that Singaporeans are smart enough to “read the room” in their workplaces, in that they don’t speak up as this carries risks to their careers. 

At Vogue Singapore’s Wellness Day on June 6, Ms Lim explained the “real reason Singaporeans don’t speak up.”

In a clip she posted on TikTok, Ms Lim calls Singaporeans “damn smart” because “they know that their workplaces are not safe enough to speak up.”

She explained that for people to speak up, there needs to be a hygiene factor, which is a feature of a job or workplace that makes an employee unhappy if it’s not present.  An example of this would be fair pay or a safe environment.

Sharing something personal is an interpersonal risk for workers, she added. 

“I take a risk to ask a question. I take a risk to say I don’t know. I take a risk to challenge my boss,” Ms Lim-Lange said, and these risks may result in reward or punishment.

“For a lot of us, it’s that we know that we’re going to get punished. That is why people don’t speak up,” she added.

Ms Lim-Lange also said that when she gets asked to do speak-up workshops in her line of work in the corporate world, she says no. 

She admitted that she can conduct these workshops, but they won’t be effective.

“The reason is that you need to fix your psychological safety, your inclusion, your learner safety, your contributor safety, and your challenger safety, and if you don’t do that, nobody will speak up,” she added.

What commenters are saying

Many people agreed with the points Ms Lim-Lange raised.

“They tell us to speak up, but the moment we do, somehow we become the problem. It’s exhausting,” one wrote.

“This is true, in my previous job, I spoke up and was banned from attending briefings… I rest my case,” added another.

“Workplace culture here favours obedience, while thoughtful dissent is often discouraged. So it’s better to be quiet, just agree along and not ask or speak up,” a TikTok user pointed out.

Ms Lim-Lange wrote the national bestselling book, Deep Human, hosts the Comfort and Growth podcast, and is the founder and CEO of Forest Wolf, a company that provides leadership training and strategic advising. /TISG

Read also: ‘The leadership is filled with their blood’: Singaporean shares harsh SME work experiences

This article (CEO says Singaporeans are smart & don’t speak up because workplaces are not safe) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: A local TikTok user did not hold back her opinion that although Singaporeans are highly educated, some are ill-behaved toward workers in the Food & Beverage and other service industries, and she gave examples of the unreasonable demands they’ve made.

In her May 24 post, @reneechongruien began by saying she was aware her opinion is an unpopular one. However, as a full-time F&B worker, she expressed that “Singaporeans can sometimes have the worst attitudes toward service staff that I’ve ever encountered.”

Ms Renee clarified, however, that as controversial as her take is, it does not come from a place of hatred toward any culture or nationality but is simply based on her observations while working.

The content creator, who is also a musician, explained that she has been financially independent since the age of 18, paying for most of her personal expenses as well as her brother’s tuition and enrichment classes. As an F&B worker, she works six days a week, from nine to 11 hours each day, with only a 45-minute lunch break. 

“Singapore often prides itself as one of the most educated countries in the world,” Ms Renee said. “However, I’ve also come to realise that being highly educated does not necessarily translate into kindness, basic respect, or empathy.”

Ms Renee then began to give examples of the poor behaviour she has encountered while working in the service industry, starting from complaints about poor customer service.

“To be clear, customers absolutely have the right to give feedback when it’s justified, especially if staff are rude, careless, or genuinely provide poor service. Mistakes happen, and accountability matters. However, I’ve also seen colleagues getting scolded or yelled at for things that honestly feel unreasonable to me,” the TikToker said.

She said that customers have gotten upset or angry when they were given coins as change instead of notes. Others have had a negative reaction when others were served before they were, even though they weren’t first in line. 

In another case, customers expected the F&B staff to clean up a mess that their child had made “far outside of the store.

Finally, others have complained about “waiting more than five minutes” in spite of a long queue during peak hours, and only one staff member was inside the store doing everything.

“From my perspective, so if this reactions are honestly shocking and absurd. 

Singapore has one of the highest employment rates in the world, and yet many people seem unable to extend basic patience or empathy towards workers when dealing with stressful conditions,” she added. /TISG

Read also: Food delivery rider argues with F&B staff amid holiday rush to fulfil orders; others say situation should have been avoided

This article (F&B worker says some Singaporeans have the worst attitude toward service staff) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has been having an extraordinarily busy month, flying in and out of the country on official business.

Dr Balakrishnan, the keynote speaker at AI Engineer SG on May 16, said in his speech that he will be flying to 12 countries this month. 

Interestingly, the minister is making a rare visit to North Korea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Sunday that from May 24 to 28, Dr Balakrishnan will visit the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Korea, at the invitation of his counterparts from the three countries.

“Minister Balakrishnan’s visits are part of Singapore’s ongoing efforts to engage external partners amidst global challenges.

During his visits, Minister Balakrishnan will meet his counterparts in the three countries to reaffirm bilateral ties. Minister Balakrishnan will also exchange views with his counterparts on regional and international developments,” MFA said.

His last visit to North Korea was in 2018, just before the summit between United States President Donald Trump and the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

“From Singapore’s perspective, diplomacy with North Korea could, in some ways, be more important than with South Korea, as it may serve as a mediator for potential US-North Korea dialogue,” Park Ah-reum, a visiting professor at the Institute for North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, was quoted as saying in a report in NK News. 

On tourism opportunities with North Korea, she added that the country’s “former nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, frequently met with Singaporean officials, and Singapore later even provided a luxury cruise ship to North Korea.”

Dr Balakrishnan will spend three days in Beijing before proceeding to Pyongyang. On Thursday (May 28), he is scheduled to be in Seoul for a meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun.

In November, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong visited South Korea to mark 50th years of diplomatic relations. This was followed by President Lee Jae-myung’s state visit to Singapore in early March.

“Foreign Minister Balakrishnan’s visit to Korea is the first official visit by a Singaporean Foreign Minister in nearly 20 years since Foreign Minister George Yeo’s official visit in 2007, and the first bilateral visit since Minister Balakrishnan took office in 2015; it is expected to be a good opportunity to further strengthen Korea-Singapore relations,” said South Korea’s foreign ministry, which added that measures to strengthen bilateral cooperation, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, regional and international affairs, including the recent situation in the Middle East, are scheduled to be discussed.

Singapore is South Korea’s second-largest trading partner within ASEAN. /TISG

Read also: Spy agency says Kim Jong Un’s daughter is close to being designated North Korea’s future leader

This article (North Korea included among countries Vivian Balakrishnan is visiting ‘to engage external partners amidst global challenges’) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: The head of one of New Zealand’s leading wealth and fund management firms expressed admiration for Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme, saying that his country could learn from it.

In a piece published in Stuff on June 9 (Tuesday), Blair Turnbull, the chief executive officer at Milford Asset Management, wrote, “New Zealand doesn’t lack wealth. We lack a system that directs it.”

He then went on to describe New Zealand’s retirement savings scheme, KiwiSaver, writing that though it is a strong foundation, the scheme is optional and is too heavily dependent on personal discipline when it comes to saving, which means people do not end up with enough.

He compared it to systems in other countries, where long-term saving is mandatory and becomes part of people’s working lives, noting that “Over time, this compounds into more comfortable retirements for individuals and deeper pools of capital to invest in their future.”

For Mr Turnbull, who lived with his family in Singapore for four years, the city-state is one of the clearest examples of this. The mindset behind CPF is what appears to have greatly impressed him, which is the focus on long-term planning that “shows up everywhere – in government, across the economy, and within households.”

He went on to praise Singapore’s scheme, where savings are not optional but “expected, structured, and sustained.”

For comparison’s sake, Mr Turbull noted that for Singaporeans younger than 55, the contribution rate is around 37%, while in New Zealand, it is around 7%, with many not contributing altogether.

“Those numbers tell the story. One system actively channels wealth into long-term savings. The other largely assumes individuals will figure it out for themselves – and many do not.

That doesn’t happen by accident. Singapore has spent decades building a system that makes long-term saving the norm. Over time, that has helped create both stronger retirement outcomes and one of the world’s most productive economies,” he added.

Mr Turnbull ended his piece by noting how New Zealand has been widely praised in a number of aspects. However, it would do well to follow Singapore’s example in adapting long-term thinking and saving into everyday life.

Last year, Singapore’s CPF was the first social security savings scheme in the Asia-Pacific to receive top marks in a yearly ranking of such systems.

On the 2025 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index, CPF earned an A rating, the first time it has done so in the 17 years since the index began. In 2023 and 2024, the scheme received a B+ rating. Only the Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark and Israel were in the same top-rated group on the index. /TISG

Read also: Singapore’s CPF ranks 5th in the 2024 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index

This article (Wealth manager says New Zealand can learn much from Singapore when it comes to long-term planning) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: While the founders of local megachurch City Harvest have run afoul of the law, and one of them was even jailed for more than two years, they appear to have a love story that has endured through the ages.

On Monday (June 1), the church’s pastor Kong Hee penned a loving tribute to his wife on her birthday, which also happened to be the 40th anniversary of the day they met.

He wrote that he knew she was “the one” on the day they met and added that he was hers forever.

“I was a little late to be your first, but I want all of my last to be with you. I love you, and I will love you until my final breath. And in eternity, I will continue loving you every day, forever and ever.

Thank you for being my best friend, my confidante, my lover, and my companion through every season of life. I love you more than words can say, more than life itself.”

On her part, Ms Sun, who also pastors the church, had written in an Instagram post that she and her husband had shared “deep and personal insights” about their 33-year-long marriage during City Harvest’s Bali Marriage Getaway last month.

“We can truly say that we’re even deeper in our connection and love as a couple … we are each other’s safe place,” she wrote.

However, more than a decade after Mr Kong’s conviction in the largest case of misuse of charitable funds in Singapore, comments on his post have been mixed. While some left well-wishes for Ms Sun’s birthday, others brought up the couple’s past.

In 2015, along with five other members of the church’s leadership, Mr Kong was found guilty of misappropriation of over $50 million in church funds. After serving two-thirds of his prison sentence, he was released on August 22, 2019. He was the last of his cohorts to be set free, save for the church’s former fund manager, Chew Eng Han, whose sentence was extended by 13 months after he attempted to leave Singapore via sampan one day before he was scheduled to go to jail.

Ms Sun had left her position as head of the church’s creative department in 1995 to pursue a career as a Mandopop singer in Taiwan, later releasing albums that were distributed in China and the United States. 

She was also questioned in 2010 over the alleged misuse of funds and was given two suspension orders that were lifted in 2013. It was later revealed that church leaders had spent millions of dollars on Ms Sun’s music career in the US. /TISG

Read also: Kong Hee’s reappearance brings megachurch criticism back into focus

This article (‘I will love you until my final breath’: Controversial City Harvest pastor Kong Hee marks 40th anniversary of meeting Sun Ho) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, will be in Singapore in the next few days on his fourth official visit to the region.

Mr Hegseth will be meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing, according to an announcement from the US Department of War. He will be participating in a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings with allies and partners in the region.

“He will also deliver plenary remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue focused on the Department’s forward-looking, common-sense approach to safeguarding U.S. vital national interests in the Indo-Pacific,” the announcement added.

The Shangri-La Dialogue, held yearly, is organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). It is the premier defence summit in Asia, where key stakeholders discuss important security challenges in the region.

Held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, it is scheduled this year from May 29 to 31, with the Keynote Address to be delivered by Tô Lâm, the President of Vietnam, on May 29 at 8 p.m. Singapore time.

Mr Hegseth, meanwhile, will deliver his remarks at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, May 30.

It was reported on Tuesday that Dong Jun, China’s Defence Minister, will be missing this year’s dialogue for the second year in a row. Sources familiar with the matter said that a lower-level People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation will be attending the dialogue in Singapore instead, according to the South China Morning Post.

Who is Pete Hegseth?

Mr Hegseth, 45, served in the US military several times between 2003 and 2021, including guarding detainees at  Guantanamo Bay detention camp, volunteering in the Iraq War as an infantry officer, and later serving as a civil affairs officer, and working as a counterinsurgency instructor in the US and Afghanistan. He currently holds the rank of major.

After a failed bid for the US Senate in 2012, he worked at Fox News from 2014 to 2024, later becoming one of the hosts of Fox & Friends Weekend, where he caught the eye of Donald Trump. He supported Mr Trump’s first presidential campaign and later became one of his advisors.

After Mr Trump won the election in 2024, he named Mr Hegseth as s his nominee for Secretary of Defense, despite the numerous lawsuits and allegations against Mr Hegseth, including sexual assault. He was confirmed in the position after Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote. In 2025, the Defense Department was renamed the Department of War. /TISG

This article (US War Secretary headed to Singapore; to meet with PM Wong, Chan Chun Sing & speak at Shangri-La Dialogue) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: In a June 3 Instagram post, an Indian woman in Singapore told of how a woman pushed her in order to grab a seat on the train that had been offered to her by commuters who saw her holding her sleeping baby.

However, a complete reversal of that stranger’s rudeness soon took place. Another woman not only offered her a seat but also fanned her and her sleeping child nonstop for the next 15 minutes in the crowded train.

“One pushed. One helped. And that’s why I’ll never forget Singapore,” wrote the post author (@unplugwithsakshi), who lives in Singapore, adding a heart emoji to the caption of her post.

The new mum explained that while they were on their way back from Universal Studios on a hot day, her baby fell asleep on her shoulder while they were waiting for their ride home on the MRT.

Ms Sakshi said that the train that arrived was full, but when the passengers inside the cabin she entered saw her, several offered her a seat.

However, before she could take it, another woman swooped in and grabbed the seat for herself, apparently pushing her away. According to the post author, the woman appeared to also be an Indian and looked to be around 35 to 40 years old. 

Ms Sakshi added that the woman did not seem to have anything physically wrong with her, but she just chose to ignore the woman’s rudeness.

Fortunately, another woman, described by the post author as being between 40 and 45 years old, very quickly offered her a seat, and as if that kindness were not enough, went on to fan her and her child, as it was warm on the train. 

“I was so emotional at that time,” she said, “no stranger has ever done anything this kind for me.”

When Ms Sakshi thanked her for her kindness, the woman replied, telling her not to worry as she understood the challenges of travelling with a baby, adding that it was her duty to help the young mum out, as she was raising a future generation.

“So you know, you got the message, right? How one small act can represent your country in a foreign land, and how one small act by a stranger can define a complete memory, a complete journey, for you,” she said at the end of her video.

The Independent Singapore reached out to Ms Sakshi, who told us, “I just want to say that Singapore people are a gem. Unknowingly knowingly we met very kind people. In another incident, a stranger handed over an umbrella to us when it was drizzling, and we were standing at the traffic light with our baby.”

She added that she is “really impressed with everything… the rules, regulations, cleanliness… everything is top notch./TISG

Read also: ‘Always choose kindness!’: PAP MP stops at accident site, offers to take home stranded PHV passengers in the rain

This article (Indian mum says she was pushed aside for a seat before stranger stepped in to help) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.