🇸🇬 Verdict for Pritam Singh as election looms

Hello friends!

We’ve got three on the simmer this week. Firstly, in Singapore an election looms and the Worker’s Party should learn today if Pritam Singh will be able to keep the course. In Thailand, the People’s Party meets a challenge in the shape of a Move Forward ghost. And Indonesia’s progressives are readying for a fight over budget reforms. 

Over at Reformasi this week, Kevin O’Rourke and I chatted with Jon Lindborg, a long-time aid worker in and around Indonesia. Much of the USAID coverage in the region has, rightly, focused on the impact in Myanmar so it was fascinating to chat with Jon about how it will play out in a country with very different needs. Give it a listen!

Let’s crack in
Erin Cook

🇸🇬 Judgement day for Pritam Singh

Singapore’s opposition leader Pritam Singh is back in court this morning where the verdict in his long-running case is expected to be handed down. He faces charges of lying to Parliament’s Committee of Privileges over the scandal relating to former Worker’s Party MP Raeesah Khan. This all kicked off a long while ago, so here’s the excellent Channel News Asia explainer from last March as a refresher.  

If he’s found guilty, it’s believed he’ll be the first to be prosecuted under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, CNA reports. And it could see him barred from parliament. The Attorney General's Office has previously indicated it would seek fines for both counts — a maximum of SGD$7,000 a pop — but he could also face jail time. 

For Singh and the Worker’s Party, it’ll be a numbers game today. If he can stay out of jail and cop a fine under SGD$10,000 all up, he’ll still be eligible to run in the next election. Constitutional lawyer Eugene Tan expects “the courts will likely go along with what the prosecution seeks as appropriate,” and that he’s unlikely to be deemed ineligible. 

Alongside all this, the usual signs of an election are brewing. Singapore must go to the polls by late November and Parliament will dissolve in August. The Registers of Electors inspection opened over the weekend, allowing would-be voters the opportunity to double and triple-check their registration. That’s a sign, reports the Online Citizen, as is the “increased political activity.” By November at the latest — but think May, the outlet counsels. 

And then the budget comes out tomorrow, but we’ll have to worry about that later. Lots of luck to Singapore’s journalists this week! 

🇹🇭 A new battleground in Thailand (it’s kinda just the old battleground)

Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission is coming for 44 former Move Forward MPs. The agency indicated it will indict the politicos over breaches of ‘ethical standards’ dating back to the now-dissolved party’s platform on reforming Section 112, Thailand’s lese-majeste law. Of the 44 MPs, 39 have become People’s Party members, the Nation reports. 

Well this doesn’t make much sense, says People's Party MP Rangsiman Rome. “I don’t understand how sponsoring to amend a law is illegal, as it is the duty of an MP. Besides, there are no laws prohibiting the amendment to Article 112,” he wrote in a widely-quoted Facebook post on Friday. Like all parties, Move Forward had submitted its policies to the Election Commission ahead of the 2023 vote and the EC did not flag a breach then, he noted. 

Rangsiman’s head is so consistently above the parapet that there seems to be a sense of inevitability, in his case at least. “I am well aware that my time may be limited, so in the meantime, I will continue to carry out my duties to the fullest,” he wrote. 

🇮🇩 Indonesia’s budget showdown

Last month, Indonesia’s ministers, agency bosses and regional leaders were issued an edict from President Prabowo Subianto — slash now, and slash deeply. He’s looking to free up a staggering Rp 306.7 trillion (US$18.9 billion) in this year’s budget to fund a series of very expensive flagship policies, including his free school lunch program. 

There is some fat to trim, the Jakarta Post reports, with many welcoming changes that would rein in spending on travel budgets, for example. But with a target so high civil servants, activists and others worry we’ll see the lean meat chopped away too. 

The vocal Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) has warned cuts could be unconstitutional. “The proposed budget revision should be submitted by the government as a bill to amend the 2025 state budget, which needs to be approved by the House before the end of the 2025 fiscal year,” YLBHI chair Muhammad Isnur said in a statement last week. The tricky thing there, of course, is that Prabowo’s coalition so handily controls the House it would be merely a formality. 

Get ready for the students. University of Indonesia students have already flagged a demonstration today. “We, as UI students, are distressed by the nation's current situation. There are too many policies being formed recklessly, and the people of Indonesia continue to suffer,” Student Senate chair Iqbal Chiesa said in a video over the weekend, as reported by Tempo. The outlet also reported a meeting hosted by YLBHI was set to be held last night. 

It’s gearing up to be the first major challenge in Prabowo’s presidency. Which may help explain why his predecessor, the eternally popular Joko Widodo, featured so prominently at Prabowo’s Gerindra party congress over the weekend.