Singapore Confidential

As Singapore faces its longest stretch of unhealthy air with PSI levels crossing 100, we investigate the companies driving the haze. Why is it so hard to prosecute those responsible and what is Benjamin’s suggestion on how to stop them burning forests once and for all? Plus, Marcus reads through all 89 pages of the controversial NBER report, so you don’t have to! Did Singapore’s civil servants rea...

We sit down with Singapore's most controversial (or as he puts it, courageous?) political commentator Calvin Cheng to discuss racism, salaries, and facing the online mob.  Was the SIA-Air India deal politicised? How did online comments turn racist so quickly? The trio spar on Singapore’s Ministerial Salaries, whether top leaders should be paid like private-sector CEOs, and suggest a different...

In this episode, the boys are recording live from the heart of Maju Forest, now at the centre of a heated debate over development, nature and how Singapore handles difficult trade-offs. But what happens when everyone gets a say? Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:27) Maju Forest (04:21) The backlash and public consultation (07:30) Housing, GCBs and the trade offs (11:13) Golf courses and the politics of...

Parliament spent NINE HOURS this week debating the future path of Singapore’s economy. And what did they end up with? Why were MPs quibbling over the words of the motion they were going to pass? Singapore Confidential’s two micro-SME owners come together to discuss that, Salvador Dali, the art of surviving retrenchments, whether Singapore can rely on domestic demand to replace exports, and how ins...

People are up in arms about forests in Singapore being cut down for affordable housing. Meanwhile, Bloomberg just lost a defamation suit. And a beloved Minister just tended a shock resignation in Singapore. Chapters: (00:00) Intro(01:29) “Minister got no time to watch” - Was Singapore overreacting?(06:07) Should Maju forest be cut down?(08:54) Singapore's Housing Crunch: The real numbers(14:28...

Two chiak-kentang Chinese guys in Little India enjoying prata and Teh Tarik, and grumbling about the latest local drama.  What could be more Singaporean? Marcus Lim and Benjamin Chiang weigh in on the movie that has local audiences scrambling for tickets and the government sweating. The Teochew-dialect version of the China mega-hit Dear You (给阿嬷的情书) has been consistently selling out screenin...

Benjamin and Marcus dissect the massive internal reckoning facing the Workers’ Party. With a special cadres conference forcing a referendum on Pritam Singh’s leadership, we look at the high-stakes battle happening with cadres of Singapore's largest opposition party. But who are these cadres? We reveal the secretive cadre system and explore how it acts as both a shield against party hijacking a...

What do a national airline, a global coffee chain, and a suspiciously inauthentic social media account have in common? They are all at the center of Singapore’s latest online storms, sparking heated debates over halal certification, shared spaces, and personal choice. In this episode, hosts Marcus Lim and Benjamin Chiang sit down with Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib, Founding Director of Dialogue Centr...

It’s May Day… but what are we really celebrating? Across the world, strikes, protests and demonstrations tend to mark Labour Day. And the contentious relationship between workers and companies. In Singapore, things look very different. But does that mean workers here are weaker or better protected? In this special May Day episode of Singapore Confidential , hosts Marcus Lim and Benjamin Chiang exp...

Singapore has never experienced a successful terrorist attack. But does that make us safe… or a prized target? In this episode of Singapore Confidential , hosts Marcus Lim and Benjamin Chiang are joined by terrorism Research Analyst Kenneth Yeo to discuss the real threats facing Singapore today. From a foiled rocket plot targeting Marina Bay Sands to online radicalisation through gaming platforms,...

How long until Singapore runs out of energy? With the Strait of Hormuz closed and the Middle East conflict ongoing, can our fuel reserves keep going? And is it time for us to think about the “N” word- NUCLEAR? Alternative sources like solar, hydrogen and geothermal energy are still limited, leaving us with a question many people don’t want to ask. Could nuclear energy eventually power Singapore? I...

With a baby crisis on hand and the lowest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Singapore history, the Government is desperately trying to solve this existential issue. But are we already too late? In this episode of Singapore Confidential, hosts Marcus Lim and Benjamin Chiang look at why despite decades of baby bonuses, subsidies and parental support, Singapore’s fertility rate continues to fall.  Could...

Budget season is upon us! PM Lawrence Wong has set aside a whopping $155 billion to help Singaporeans navigate a more volatile future.  Can the national push on artificial intelligence finally put an end to that uncle who sends you obviously AI-generated articles? What does it say about the Singapore way of governance that we actually have a $15.1 billion surplus compared to other countries drowni...

GIC and Temasek seem to constantly be in the news. Without fail, the political football that is our SWFs keep attracting questions in Parliament. Are GIC and Temasek losing money? Are they making enough money? And potentially in the future, are they making too much money? So what is the truth? From Sony music catalogues to fine dining restaurants in the Middle East, Marcus and Ben dive into the ve...

Phone bans, job losses, and a party facing a reckoning, this isn’t the jolliest of episodes. We take a hard look at the latest jobs report, and find out… in the words of Italian football legend Gennaro Gattuso… things are “sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe sh*t”.  Ben looks Down Under to warn us about Australia’s extreme social media blanket ban, as MOE prepares to ban smartphones in school. A...

From the Ariana Grande “gatecrasher” and Singapore's jail-and-deportation response, to the potential return of Amos Yee, Marcus and Ben look into the security lapses and strange characters that have hogged the headlines. And what about the backlash to PM Lawrence Wong’s otherwise measured remarks at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum? A coordinated push to pressure the PM? Viral antics, political pre...

Parliament got spicy. From Eileen Chong’s viral quote, to Kenneth Tiong’s ‘stupid question’ moment, and Pritam Singh’s debate about the word ‘gatecrash’, Parliament can hardly be called boring.  Add to that the long-drawn out saga of 38 Oxley Road. With Jamus Lim’s revelation of a Lee family member donating to the Workers’ Party, warning signs are flashing and the duo discuss the UK’s infamous Cas...

A preacher's list of demands, a foreign political party's endorsements, and a Polish blogger's article. All of them at the center of a recent Parliament debate on identity politics and foreign interference. How do these discussions expose the thin boundary between representation and division, and what lessons does history warn us about when fault lines are weaponised? From Minister Shanmugam’s sta...

From Cold War Moscow to modern-day LinkedIn, Singapore has found itself entangled in the hidden world of espionage. In this gripping episode of Singapore Confidential, Marcus and Benjamin uncover three astonishing Singapore spy cases involving Russia, China, and the United States. A cipher officer seduced by a KGB agent, a researcher-turned-spy, and a CIA sting gone wrong. These aren’t movie plots...

One of Singapore’s most shocking and brutal crimes happened along Andrew Road. Three people were murdered in cold blood, and two others barely escaped with their lives. What started as a robbery ended in a spree of violence that stunned the nation—and revealed the dark descent of a young man failed by family, society, and himself. In this gripping episode of Singapore Confidential, hosts Marcus an...

Singapore's deadliest riots saw over 500 dead, and some 300 homes destroyed. And yet, most Singaporeans have never even heard of it. Singapore, 1854. What should have been a small dispute erupted into days of bloodshed, turning the streets into a war zone. Rival Hokkien and Teochew factions clashed in a deadly street battle, homes burned, and the British—overconfident and unprepared—lost control o...