Hello.
The festive season is approaching fast. Along with that, the perennial issue of hours-long traffic jams at the Singapore-Malaysia land border crossing and a concern of many recently – a rise in COVID-19 infections.
How worried should Singapore be about the current COVID-19 surge, especially when more people are meeting with friends and family or travelling this holiday season? While we consider whether to mask up or schedule that booster vaccination, Duke-NUS Medical School’s Ooi Eng Eong gives his take in this video commentary.
In Malaysia this week, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time since taking power over a year ago, installing five new ministers and a trusted technocrat as second-in-command at the finance ministry. After a bumpy first year in power and challenges from a feisty opposition, the immediate takeaway from the new ministerial line-up is that he is now firmly in charge, says CNA senior correspondent Leslie Lopez.
At the COP28 climate summit, nearly 200 nations agreed for the first time on the need to move away from fossil fuels. There was much angst and wrangling over the words in the final, agreed text. Unfortunately, the same debates will likely be repeated next year, says CNA climate change correspondent Jack Board.
We hope you enjoy our selection of commentaries this week.
Alison Jenner
Supervising Editor, Commentary
