A friend is flying SQ in J to MLE on sq ticket, what are the best options for FF and status?

A friend is flying SQ in J to MLE on sq ticket, what are the best options for FF and status? He has none at the moment with VA or SQ and is flying with his partner. He is likely to use VA more in the future. Can he accrue status to a VA account on an SQ ticketed flight. If so at what earn rate?

For J i'd go Velocity. Fairly good status credit earn for SQ flight numbers in J but more importantly, can use family points pooling to credit all points into one account.

If they're travelling from the east coast (SYD/MEL/BNE-SIN-MLE) in J it's 200 SCs each way per person. Pooled together will be 800, enough for gold and almost enough for Plat.  

can he earn va miles and status credits if the flight is marketed by and ticketted by SQ?

Yes he can, just keep in mind the sectors won't count as eligible sectors towards status. (4 VA sectors required for Gold, 8 for Plat)