Op-Eds

Op-Eds, Opinion

The Art of Moving On 
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Georgia Ong (26S03O) 

If you have even the slightest inkling of what K-Pop is, you’ve probably heard the name Mark Lee. And you’ve probably heard the news that after 10 years of idol life, he’s parting ways with both his agency, SM Entertainment, and his group, NCT. 

At the tender age of 26, he is walking away from what defined over half his life—he joined the company in 2012 and debuted in 2016 at the young age of 16. Throughout his career, he established himself as a key member of NCT, juggling activities between his subunits NCT 127 and NCT Dream. 

The overworked golden child, Mark was beloved by both his agency and fans. He was the leader of NCT Dream and face of NCT; many thought that he would be one of the members most likely to re-sign with SM during contract renewals. 

No one expected him to leave his company, let alone the group entirely.

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Commentary, Nationally Speaking, Singapore

Tradition Adrift: Orang Laut Heritage in a Modern Nation
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Gladys Koh (26A01B), Kunchur Bharat (26A01B) and Lerraine Neo (26A01A)

All images, unless otherwise stated, were taken by the writers.

Before Lee Kuan Yew, the Crown colonies, and Raffles, there were the Orang Laut. Literally translated from Malay as ‘people of the sea’, they are a group of seafaring nomads who resided in the waters around Maritime Southeast Asia, such as the Malay Peninsula, the Riau Islands, Java, and Sumatra. And, they are Singapore’s indigenous people. 

Also known as the Orang Pulau, in Singapore’s quest for modernisation, they have faded into obscurity, confined to a few pages in a Social Studies textbook, if any. One organisation, oranglaut.sg, wishes to change that.

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Commentary, Current Affairs, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds, Opinion

When Machines Wage War, Who Remembers?
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Gladys Koh (26A01B)

For all of its devastation, war has a way of forcing invention.

A century ago, when the first tanks rolled over the mire of the First World War, soldiers recoiled with horror. They called them “metal monsters”—unfamiliar machines grinding through the trenches like something half alive.  While some soldiers fled amidst a spray of successive gunfire, others stood frozen, trapped in the shadow of impending doom. 

The first tanks used in World War I. Image credit: Imperial War Museums

But the scenes before our eyes have shifted today. 

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Opinion

Separating the Art from the Artist
Reading Time: 9 minutes

By Tomi Peh (26S06P)

“Separating the art from the artist” is a famous moral dilemma that has long been the topic of debate when casting judgement on art. It presents itself so commonly and is so entwined in the way we view art in fact, even in the process of writing this article, a fresh, prime example of this dilemma seemingly materialised out of nowhere – popular music artist, David Anthony Burke.

Cover of d4vd’s album “Petals to Thorns”

David Anthony Burke, better known by his stage name ‘d4vd‘, is a well-acclaimed alternative/indie pop artist, rising to fame around July of 2022 with his song titled “Romantic Homicide”, which currently sits at around 1.7 billion streams on Spotify. 

A placard expressing condolences for Celeste Hernandez

Controversy struck, when the deceased body of 15 year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in the trunk of David’s car. It didn’t take long for bits and pieces of evidence of a relation between David and Celeste to begin surfacing on the internet, which prompted a multitude of different accusations upon David, including serious allegations of murder and having an illicit relationship with the 15 year-old. Many fans now view him in a completely different light— the thought that the music they were listening to might be in reference to the now-deceased Celeste lingers in the back of their minds.

But this is not the first time a popular music artist has come under fire from the masses due to their actions.

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Humans of RI, Opinion, Student Features, Student Issues

Letter To My 17 Year Old Self
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Tara Sim (26A01C)

(For the full reader experience, kindly listen to “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” by Laufey before/while reading.)

Your time in JC could be some of the most fulfilling years of your life, or nothing like the Teenage Dream. And to be frank, with J1 long gone and more than a quarter through J2, I’m still not sure which of those two categories my RI life falls in. 

Aptly put by American Songwriter in their article explaining Laufey’s “Letter To My 13-Year-Old Self”: 

“You don’t know who you are and thus everything about you feels wrong.” 

This quite perfectly captures my JC experience so far, and with the high of orientation over for J1s and the rigor of JC and CCA in full swing, although scrolling through r/SGExams might provide you with some good—albeit dated—tips on how to survive JC, here’s 3 things I wish I knew when I was in J1. 

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