Yah Lah But

You’ve been waiting for this one. Just when we thought 2024 would close out quietly, a national regulator makes a rare, alarming blunder, then the government rolls out two ministers and a chief executive for a press conference and public apology. After all this fuss though, we’re still no clearer what the deal is with our National Registration Identity Card numbers. Should they be confidential, or...

It’s fair to say that Yip Pin Xiu has had a good 2024. Singapore’s most decorated paralympian extended her streak with another two gold medals in Paris this year, and she just got engaged! In this episode, she hits the YLB studio to tell us about the challenges of competing on the world stage, and whether or not it’s okay to ask about persons with disabilities about their condition (hint: how you...

Our sponsor - OPPO This episode is brought to you by OPPO! FOMO keeps us connected to our phones 24/7. But what happens on our phones is often way less important than all the meaningful things happening in front of us! So this holiday season, remember that your phones can wait but life can’t. So enjoy the present! Check out more stuff from OPPO at https://www.oppo.com/sg/ We’re rolling into the ye...

We’ve made it to episode 600! And what better way to celebrate it than to record it live in front of an audience of 60+ YLB fans, right on the cusp of #SG60. It’s the end of the year and everyone’s doing up their lists, so we thought we’d do a recap of 2024! But this time, no need for Google Trends, no need for mainstream media affirmation, because we are talking about the top 10 most streamed top...

This episode we’re talking about Luigi Mangione, whose alleged murder of the CEO of UnitedHealth on a sidewalk in New York has captured global attention. What could have motivated him to do such a thing? Why is he being hailed as a hero by some people online? And what is his tangential connection to Yah Lah But? Closer to home, we try to figure out how a local cosplayer gained enough of a followin...

The GE2025 hype train has left the station, and you know we love us some political punditry. So today we’re discussing a CNA report on how political parties are having trouble finding new blood for GE2025–going as far as interviewing people who turned down invitations to enter the field. Why is there increasing resistance to joining politics, and what does this bode for the country? What kind of c...

We know Singaporeans are an obedient lot, but will we heed the latest guidelines from the Ministry of Social and Family Development? They’ve just issued advice on appropriate caregiving boundaries between parents and children, which covers bathing, nudity, and expressing affection. Joining us for this potentially awkward conversation is comedian Jacky Ng, fresh from stints in Bali and KL. We also...

At Yah Lah BUT, we’re big on looking at issues from multiple angles, and we’ve got a good example this episode! A TikTok video showing a fight at a lift lobby in Vivocity went viral this weekend. Who started it? Who was helping and who wasn’t? The answer isn’t as clear as the video suggests, based on information that’s emerged since then. It’s a great cautionary tale against jumping to conclusions...

We’re into the last month of the year and we start with the sad news that a participant of this year’s Standard Chartered Marathon passed away after completing the event. Few details have emerged, so we’re focusing more on the challenges of long-distance running (including Haresh’s own experience), from training to the actual run. Listen to your body, people! We also discuss a story about hair sal...

There’s no smoke without fire…or in this case, vapes? Apparently, plainclothes Health Sciences Authority (HSA) officers have the power to enter and search your house if they suspect you possess a vape, and they don’t need a warrant to do it. A recent incident involving TikToker Rapperboy has us asking, just how far does the long arm of the law reach? What are the safeguards against scammers taking...

SG60 is just round the corner, and Singapore’s beloved cabaret troupe Dim Sum Dollies are back to celebrate it! In this episode, we speak to founding member Selena Tan about the Dollies’ 22-year history, their upcoming show, and whether or not cancel culture has made it harder for comedians. She’s had a gutsy journey herself, abandoning the law profession in a time when a career in theatre was unh...

The ruling People’s Action Party turned 70, and has officially entered its Lawrence Wong era. At its ginormous biennial conference, our new PM formally took over as the party’s Secretary-General. Of course, we had to read between the lines and dissect his speech, as hype builds towards next year’s general election. Is that the oft-mentioned “fear-mongering” about the Opposition we’re hearing? And...

Today’s episode is all about sending messages and changing behaviours. An NUS student thought it was a good idea to deflate the tyres of several cars to send a message about vehicular carbon emissions. Deflate only; no harm done right? We discuss the global movement that inspired this student, and why such actions may not be as clever as they seem. Meanwhile, the government has re-introduced a toi...

There’s a saying in gambling: the house always wins. Unless, it seems, you’re Resorts World Sentosa. Due to unsatisfactory tourism metrics, authorities have only renewed its casino licence for two years, instead of the usual three. The Integrated Resorts opened to such fanfare in 2010, yet RWS’ facade now seems to be… dare we say… DISintegrating? Where did it all go wrong? In other news, HSBC’s ne...

Big Tech used to be all about big employee perks: flexible hours, free food, travel opportunities, in-office naps and massages, all to attract top talent to do high-value work.  But as the tech crunch continues, these perks are being swallowed. Will glamorous tech firms eventually become like all other mundane companies? Separately, we look at what is arguably the biggest employee perk ever: diplo...

In Parliament this week, an epic 5-hour debate about how to save our hawker culture took place. PSP’s Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa put forth a slew of suggestions, which were hotly debated by both sides of the floor. At the end, the amended bill was passed unanimously, highlighting the pressing need to preserve our hawker culture, but will it be enough? Elsewhere, a Singapore PR made headlines when...

In a surprising move, the Ministry of Home Affairs is proposing a slew of legal amendments that will lessen the punishment for road traffic offences, even if they result in grievous hurt or death. Pretty unusual for a country that tends towards harsher punishments for many things! We discuss the MHA’s thinking behind this, and what signals it may inadvertently send. In other news, the days of indi...

People are calling the 2024 US Presidential Election the ‘Podcast Election’ for the role that long-form, unfiltered conversations played in shaping popular opinion. So is Lawrence Wong becoming our ‘Press Conference Prime Minister’? He has pledged to do more press conferences, not tied to any specific announcements, just to improve the government’s public communications. In a recent one, he weighe...

It happened. Trump is once again the US president-elect, and suddenly everyone’s an expert. Including us! Well, not really. We can’t claim to know the situation as well as political analysts, so for this episode, we drop casual observations with our guest host, comedian Rishi Budhrani. Also, we look at an AsiaOne survey on the least satisfying places to live in Singapore while asking “eh where ah”...

A Singaporean film about censorship, has been banned in Singapore by film censors. You can’t make this stuff up. We speak with actor and guest host Caitanya Tan about Daniel Hui’s film Small Hours of the Night, and what lines it could have crossed, because they’re not obvious. We also discuss the role that censors play in Singapore, and what exactly they protect Singaporeans from. Separately, a pr...

The weather’s been hot lately, but our studio got even hotter this week when veteran journalist and political commentator Bertha Henson dropped by with a delivery of flaming hot takes on the state of journalism in Singapore, Pritam Singh’s trial, our new PM, and the Oxley Road saga. But lest we bury the lede (journalism reference), we spoke with her about her new ebook, When Mama Fell, a manual on...

Imagine the Singapore zoo being attacked by Zombies. Now imagine talking animals trying to survive it! That's our adult-themed animated TV series called "Zombie Safari"! We chat with Munah Bagharib, who plays Grace the Flamingo as well as Jerrold Chong, one of the co-creators of the show and also a co-founder of Finding Pictures, the animation studio we worked with to bring the story alive. We tal...

38 Oxley Road is the house that just won’t fall. This episode we look at the latest exchange between Lee Hsien Yang and the Singapore government over the fate of his late father’s historical home. To demolish or not demolish? What are the options, what are the precedents? And why can’t we just get this over and done with? We also discuss a viral video of a wedding proposal gone wrong, where the mo...

Is the pandemic honeymoon truly over? Singapore tech giant Grab is ending hybrid work for its employees and summoning everyone back to HQ, continuing a trend we’re seeing across the world. We discuss what working from home means for employees, as well as employers in various industries. Heck we even talk about us, and how we pivoted from recording YLB from home, to our studio! Also, Singapore rece...

Somehow, NINE years after Mr Lee Kuan Yew left us, we’re still talking about his former house at 38 Oxley Road. This time it’s because his daughter Dr Lee Wei Ling recently passed away, leaving the house vacant and reigniting the debate over its fate. We look at claims that her brother Lee Hsien Yang has been making about the house and Singapore in general while in self-exile and… is it just us, o...