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Were you at the Labour Day Rally in Hong Lim Park yesterday? It was a great turnout, possibly the best I've seen out of all the Labour Day Rallies I've attended so far.
I spent most of the afternoon at the NIMBUS booth, talking to people about our independent media network, our freedom of expression tracker, and the various publications whose work we had browsing copies of. (If you're receiving this newsletter for the first time after subscribing to WTC at the rally, hello!)
This year's rally was co-organised by Workers Make Possible and SG Climate Rally, drawing clear links between labour rights and the climate crisis. The current system that we live under works people to the bone in desperate efforts to keep up with the cost of living, leaving us with little time for rest, leisure, or community. The same system is also relentlessly extractive, causing environmental devastation and driving temperatures up and up.
There were loads of booths this year: civil society organisations, arts and culture groups, environmental groups, workers' organisations, and even political parties (Singapore Democratic Party, Progress Singapore Party, and Red Dot United).
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Prime Minister Lawrence Wong got teary during his May Day Rally speech. He was reading excerpts from a message written by a Singaporean who'd been on a repatriation flight from the Middle East. With the situation unstable in the region and the Strait of Hormuz closed, the impact will be felt around the world—fuel shortages, supply issues, rising costs—and Singapore is not at all immune. During his speech, Wong pledged that the government will act "decisively" to "stand with you, with every Singaporean, every step of the way".
Another key focus of the prime minister's speech was, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence. "I cannot promise that there will be no disruption," Wong said, but promised that workers will be protected. It's matchy-matchy with the speech that NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng gave the day before, during which he promised that while AI will likely cause disruption, it'll "open new doors of opportunities".
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A man has been charged with two counts of promoting enmity between racial groups in Singapore in his... WhatsApp profile status. The 50-year-old is accused of having posted anti-Semitic content in his WhatsApp profile status in 2025, including three disappearing status messages posted while he was in China. For each count, the maximum penalty is imprisonment of up to three years and a fine.
Now, I have no idea what he posted, but arresting and charging someone for their WhatsApp profile status is quite something. Does a WhatsApp profile status, including a disappearing one that only lasts for a specific period of time, count as publishing? How many people actually saw those posts? What was the actual danger of those status messages inciting hostility or causing strife? And, very importantly, Singapore still doesn't have clearly defined standards or criteria to determine whether something is hate speech or not.
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