Exhumations; Inside the Body of a Petrostate (1873)

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Featured in Quill and Quire’ s 2026 Spring Preview • A Globe and Mail Spring 2026 Read Singaporean-Canadian author Joanne Leow sheds light on the underbelly of Singapore's history and the human cost behind its glittering façade. "What unknowable chemical? How slow was this damage, this violence? . . . How might any of us stay uncontaminated by all that was built around us?" Sleek and verdant, the city-state of Singapore has long been admired on the global stage as a lush utopia, a well-connected trade port and the jewel of Southeast Asia. Yet this carefully pruned exterior conceals the country’s crude construction—oil is the blood that's run through Singapore’s hidden veins for decades, while sand and migrant labour has allowed for its rapid development and expansion. The upkeep of this sanitized public image has also relied crucially on the complicity and regulation of its body politic. Years after