Pritam Survives as Hormuz Burns

Pritam Singh keeps his Workers' Party leadership, the Online Safety Commission flexes its muscles, and a Singapore-flagged ship gets hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

Jun 29, 2026

Singapore business, finance and trade news, every Monday.

Singapore Lion fountain — Photo by Joshua Ang on Unsplash

Pritam Survives the Cadres

Between 79 and 84 (depending on who you ask) of the 107 cadres who showed up voted to keep Pritam Singh as the Workers' Party secretary-general on Sunday. This is a result that’s now buried, at least internally, a saga stretching back to Raeesah Khan's lies to Parliament in 2021 and Singh's own two convictions for lying to a Committee of Privileges. The special conference had been forced by a letter sent last December that demanded Singh account for himself, step down, or face a vote (the same vote that he just won). In this case, however, no one challenged him for the position.

Read more: CNA (CEC composition), CNA (Low endorsement), CNA (succession planning), South China Morning Post (84 of 107), Bloomberg (Gerald Giam)

Singapore Internet Gets a Hall Monitor

The Online Safety Commission started operations on Monday with teeth and a growl. The 40-person agency has the power to order platforms to remove “harmful” content, block access to users in Singapore, or force app stores to pull apps. Platforms that drag their feet on harassment or stalking complaints will be allowed 24 hours before the OSC steps in; for doxxing, intimate image abuse, and image-based child abuse, victims are now able to file directly. The legal basis, the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act passed in Parliament in November, covers 13 sorts of online harm, though the OSC is beginning with the five it considers most serious.

Read more: CNA (free filing, named platforms), CNA (app store removal), Business Times ($5,000 minimum damages), AsiaOne ($500,000 maximum damages)

Boss Comes Home but Loses Passport

Ramu Palani Velu, the permanent resident who allegedly left 407 workers from India and Bangladesh unpaid for months, flew back to Singapore on Friday and promptly had his passport impounded. Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash gave the news in person to about 280 of the stranded workers. About 40 construction firms have offered 150-or-so jobs to the workers. Twenty have been placed so far, and the rest are expected to get roles over the next two or three weeks.

Read more: AsiaOne (MWC, NTUC support), Firstpost (SGD 200 assistance), Economic Times (TADM contact)

Singapore Flag Meets Iranian Projectile

The Ever Lovely was leaving the Strait of Hormuz on the night of June 25 when it got hit. Evergreen Marine says the Taiwan-operated, Singapore-registered container ship was following the UK navy's recommended route off Oman when an "unidentified object" damaged the bridge superstructure, shattering windows. All 21 crew have been accounted for, the engines kept running, and the ship completed its transit. Two US officials told Reuters that Iran fired the projectile. Tehran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, set up to manage transit requests through the strait, was more circumspect, saying that vessels using unauthorised routes do so at their owners' risk. At least four tankers, including three crude carriers each capable of hauling two million barrels, entered the Gulf on Friday despite the misfortune of the Ever Lovely.

Read more: CNA (MPA condemnation), South China Morning Post (tanker movements)

MAS Cuts Queue for Fund Approvals

DPM Gan Kim Yong used the Association of Banks in Singapore dinner on June 25 to announce that Singapore is getting a new Protected Cell Company framework for insurers, as well as faster approvals for new fund categories. The PCC structure, conceptually similar to the existing Variable Capital Company setup, will allow assets and liabilities to sit in ring-fenced cells under a single core entity, making captive insurance more accessible for corporates and insurance-linked securities faster and cheaper to issue. MAS is expected to publish a consultation on the framework shortly. Gan said that by his reckoning, Asia is still "markedly underinsured.”

Goh's Nine-Point-Seven Million Smiles

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong took home nearly S$9.7 million ($7.3 million) for the year ended March 31, up from about S$7 million ($5.3 million) the year prior, as the carrier reported record revenue of S$20.5 billion ($15.4 billion) and flew 42.2 million passengers, a 7.7 percent increase. Operating profit was up 39 percent, but net profit fell 57.4 percent (the previous year was padded by a S$1.1 billion ($825 million) non-cash gain from the Air India-Vistara merger). The board's compensation committee said the package was both "appropriate and not excessive." About half of Goh's pay was in the form of shares, partly because the sixth and final tranche of a Covid-era retention scheme, disbursed in July 2025, overlapped with grants under SIA's ongoing share plans. Base salary was about S$1.5 million ($1.1 million); bonuses made up another 35 percent.

Telcos Talk MAS Out of Moving

Core inflation was 1.4 percent in May, flat from April and a smidge below the 1.6 percent economists had penciled in, as cheaper telecoms reduced services prices. MAS and MTI have kept their full-year forecast at 1.5 to 2.5 percent and warned that energy costs working their way through global supply chains could still push prices up. Private-sector economists now think MAS will hold policy at its July meeting.

Read more: Business Times (CPI breakdown), Business Times (MAS July hold)

Ghosts in the Strait of Malacca

RSS Invincible and RSS Impeccable are in service, the first two of a fleet of Type 218SG submarines built by Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and tuned by Singapore's DSTA for shallow tropical waters. The Invincible-class runs on fuel-cell air-independent propulsion, letting it stay submerged far longer than conventional diesel-electrics. Singapore retired its last Cold War-era Swedish Challenger-class boat in late 2024, and the move from refurbished relics to bespoke German hulls is considerable.

Singapore Weekly

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?