Yah Lah But

This week, some local writers voiced their objections to the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) plans to build a South-east Asia-focused large language model (LLM), even though a consultation via a survey within the local writing community is still ongoing. Why the outrage over this seemingly innocuous survey? Elsewhere, it was revealed that Singapore’s last trishaw operator had halted...

Terence Lee, Editor-in-chief at Tech in Asia joins us to share his journey of being in the tech scene for so long, and now leading one of the most influential tech publications in Asia. And which covers stories so incisive they often receive cease-and-desist letters. He also was instrumental in getting his team to cover our story of being screwed over by HOOQ, which was published in Mar 2023. Tere...

Minister Desmond Lee has been serving at the Ministry of National Development since 2013, taking over as Minister in 2020. He joins us to discuss some important questions about housing affordability and accessibility, the broader social significance of housing, and whether expectations for housing are being set too high. (00:00) On this episode (00:24) Intro (01:50) Current Housing Climate in Sing...

We got comedian Sharul Channa in to talk about her upcoming hour-long standup performances and to contribute her thoughts on some hot topics. Last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs explained the bill tabled to grant more powers to the police to apprehend suspects with mental disorders, but mental health experts are concerned it’s too heavy handed. Elsewhere, a man confronted a nearby mosque for h...

Sudhir joins us once again to share the first-hand experience of getting POFMA-ed after his company, Jom Media, received the notice in 2023. He also shares his thoughts on the local political scene, his excitement for the upcoming election as well as why “slow journalism” is important for issues like the Israel-Gaza conflict. He also shares a peek into 2 long-form pieces his team is publishing on...

This week, authorities ordered the Israel Embassy in Singapore to take down a social media post that compared mentions of Israel and Palestine in the Quran. Ministers Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan also issued strongly-worded statements in separate interviews explaining the severity of the issue. We look into their statements to understand why they felt these moves were necessary. Elsewhere, fo...

The World Happiness Report 2024 placed Singapore as the 30th happiest country in the world, which made it the top in Asia. Some online commentators were incredulous at the ranking, but is there more to the results than meets the eye? Elsewhere, a Kampong Glam bazaar food vendor was caught in a public dispute with a customer who posted a bad review of their fries. Is the customer always right, or d...

On Tuesday, WP chief Pritam Singh was charged with lying to Parliament over Raeesah Khan’s case from 2021. While he has pleaded not guilty, what is the political significance of these charges, especially in the lead up to the next General Elections? Elsewhere, a Reddit post ranting about work culture in Singapore has triggered a flurry of both supportive and dismissive comments. Why did this issue...

Singapore is currently assessing whether to bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, after Victoria pulled out last year due to its ballooning budget. What are the pros and cons of hosting these Games on such short notice? Elsewhere, the SAF is investigating a photo of a group of servicemen on a military exercise which was posted to IG stories recently. Even worse, a racist caption accompanied the...

This week, the House of Representatives in the US passed a bill that could lead to a national TikTok ban. In response, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew made an impassioned plea to American users to tell their political leaders not to ban the app. Could this actually happen? Elsewhere, many Malaysians made a meal of a Top 100 Sandwiches in the World list that had “kaya toast” from Singapore at #42. These co...

A recent Ipsos survey of 500 Singaporeans revealed that 57% of Singaporean men agree with the statement "we have gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men." Is Singapore a really sexist society? Elsewhere, Kate Middleton’s doctored Mother’s Day photo has triggered a firestorm of criticism, with international news agencies even voluntarily opting to remove the...

Over the weekend, the Italian ambassador to Singapore went on social media and called out Italian restaurant Gotti Italiano for bearing the name of an infamous mob boss and for hosting a “Hip Hop Mafioso” night. The restaurant has since publicly apologised to the ambassador and for any offence caused. Is it a reasonable expectation for the owners of a restaurant in Singapore to be sensitive to cul...

This week in Parliament, it was revealed that Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh was the one who referred the West Coast couple in the recent POFMA case to Leong Mun Wai. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua questioned his intentions in doing so before the Budget 2024 announcement, chastising the politicising of vulnerable people. Who’s playing politics here? Elsewhere, MP Tan Kiat How reve...

CHECK OUT our new Ministry of Funny website at https://www.ministryoffunny.com/! It's the world's first TRISHAW PODCAST! We’ve sped through 499 episodes of Yah Lah BUT, so for ep 500, we decided to do something wheel-y special! Harking back to our MOF roots, we took it to the streets ON A TRISHAW to bring some YLB goodness to the gentrified hipster heritage district of the East Coast. We look back...

It’s Taylor Swift Week! And alongside the buzz about her sold out series of concerts at the Sports Hub, officials in the Philippines have called out Singapore’s deal with the singer, saying it "isn't what good neighbours do." Should we be feeling bad about depriving our regional neighbours of their dose of Swift-mania? Elsewhere, NSmen’s allowances came under the spotlight in Parliament, with Oppo...

Shibani Mahtani is the Washington Post journalist who published an article last year which alleged that local Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao “now routinely echoes some of Beijing’s most strident falsehoods”. This prompted a strong rebuttal from the newspaper and even Singapore’s ambassador to the US. However, Singapore recently invoked the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 against b...

This week, we got comedian Jacky Ng in the studio to talk about his upcoming hour-long standup performance, and to contribute his thoughts on a couple of funny (OK, maybe not-SO-funny) topics. Concerns arose last week when it was revealed that schools have been teaching students about the conflict in Gaza via their Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) lessons. The slides from the lessons were...

Clarence Sim AKA @clarencesimple, the NTU scientist who went viral after highlighting filtration company Sterra’s misleading ad on tap water in Singapore, drops by the YLB studio! He talks about his journey as a science communicator, why he decided to call out Sterra, and whether the company has since reached out to him to make amends. And oh, he also talks about all the THIRSTY messages in his DM...

In response to recent rumours of a Southeast-Asia exclusivity deal, STB and the Ministry of Community, Culture and Youth (MCCY) clarified that a grant had been provided to help bring Taylor Swift’s concert to Singapore, but did not confirm if the deal was indeed exclusive. Will this news cause bad blood with Swifties in our neighbouring countries? Elsewhere, the fallout over football star Messi’s...

For the first “instalment” of the Forward SG social compact, DPM Lawrence Wong delivered Budget 2024, which leaned in on preparing workers for uncertain times ahead, and providing relief for those affected by ongoing retrenchments. In what’s becoming an annual tradition, we invited Reggie, boss of personal finance network The Financial Coconut (TFC) into our studio to help us read the tea leaves a...

This past week, NCMP and PSP leader Leong Mun Wai was issued a POFMA for publishing false information about an elderly West Coast couple who were allegedly facing financial difficulties. Was there any merit to this POFMA? Elsewhere, PUB called out water purifier firm Sterra for its “misleading” advertisements that made dubious claims about the cleanliness of Singapore tap water. Was this a POFMA-a...

The police announced that they are looking into 2 events related to the Israel-Hamas war that took place in Singapore over the last couple of weeks, including a march to deliver letters to the Istana. In light of how the rest of the world is reacting to the Middle East conflict, were these events really out of line? Elsewhere, Singaporean actress Caitanya Tan is starring in the new Ubisoft video g...

This week, PM Lee and members of the Opposition were engaged in a marathon debate about Singapore’s reserves, with PSP putting forward a motion to use more of the national reserves for the needs of the current generation of Singaporeans. Who made the better points in the debate? Elsewhere, Mr Coconut is currently caught in a bitter dispute with an ex-employee, who alleged on social media that she...

The 2023 suicide case of police officer Uvaraja Gopal and related discrimination allegations were addressed by Minister Shanmugam in Parliament this week, prompting a question by NCMP Leong Mun Wai about whether the case warranted a Committee of Inquiry. Does his point have any merit? Elsewhere, NTU announced that it will be imposing a fee on tourist groups coming to their campus in response to an...

Last week, a Singaporean businessman, Phillip Chan, became the first person to be designated a “politically significant person” under the recently implemented foreign interference law. Is this a valid use of this law? Elsewhere, Hong Kong football fans were left raging when Lionel Messi sat out of an exhibition match between Inter Miami and a local team due to injury. Is the fans’ anger valid? Fin...