Malaysia Minister’s S’pore Joke Coming True? & Chinese S’poreans Staying Single Longer | #834

Wow, this guy, he's very gleeful about being able to get Singaporeans [music] to have to go to Malaysia to work as opposed to the other way around. There

are still, you know, large swiveing who think that it's a huge step down to go and work in Malaysia.

But I mean, that might change, you know, as like Singapore gets more and more expensive. The Malaysian way of life, it

expensive. The Malaysian way of life, it can afford you many, many things.

Why is it that singlehood seems to become more common for the Chinese people? It must have something to do

people? It must have something to do with the fact that we are not allowed to watch movies in the original [laughter] That is the cause of all problems in Singapore over this couple of weeks.

Uh wait, let me look for my uh [music] race tinted glasses. [laughter]

Please put them on. Put them on. So, if

I were to harbor a guess, and this is purely speculative. Hello there. If

purely speculative. Hello there. If

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[music] What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Yala, your thrice weekly podcast where we talk about the hottest news with a touch of

Terren.

Good old humor.

Good old humor, man.

Yeah.

What's up? How's it been, man? Since the

last podcast.

Um, school holidays are over.

So, the kids are back in school.

You're finally settled back in Singapore weather.

Settled back in Singapore weather. Yeah,

I mean I they said it was very hot the last couple weeks while uh last week at least.

Yeah.

While you and I were both away.

Uh but now seems quite nice. It's like

rainy everything. I don't know what people are complaining about. [laughter]

Give it a few days. Terren, give it a few days. But today has been uh has been

few days. But today has been uh has been uh nice. Nice.

uh nice. Nice.

Yeah. Yeah. It's been nice. And then um the World Cup is now in the knockout stages.

Yeah.

Which is always fun.

Yeah. Yeah. It's fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. During our team meeting today, we paused to watch the penalties.

Watch penalties. That was fun. Yeah. Uh

but yeah, I mean this this period is uh after June, there's always where basically in the second half of the year already, right? All headed towards the

already, right? All headed towards the second half of the year.

Yeah.

Um everything starts to, you know, the timelines start to compress and all cuz you got to meet all your deadlines before the end of the year.

Yeah. It just felt like just a moment ago where we were like, this is the start of the year, things haven't picked up yet and all that. And now, yeah, almost second half of the year, man.

Yeah. Yeah. Things move fast.

Oh, you got second half of the year resolutions Terrence.

Uh, resolutions. I know. I don't even I barely even have like yearly resolutions.

Yeah. You

cuz you're above that.

Uh, I I'm just a bit more realistic about it. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] I have

about it. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] I have much less control over my life and destiny than than most people think that you're not hungry enough. Just say

you're not hungry enough. Terren,

I'm very hungry. I'm very hungry.

They're always hungry. Yeah. [laughter]

What's your second half of the year?

Also, I also don't have don't have second second half year resolutions and all that. It's just that Yeah. The

all that. It's just that Yeah. The

second half of the year is coming like what you said. Uh I mean it already it feels like the last two months of every year things kind of slow down.

So technically we got like four months of like like intensity uh to get done.

Yeah. So, but I mean fun fun but I got confession to make like every four years or so like for one month my general productivity also

declines and is right now this is the world cup there's so little sleep and like even if you want to sleep like wow there's so many exciting matches going the the annoying thing about the subscription fee because you pay that

much you almost want to make it worth your while. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

your while. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So then you try and squeeze in all these games. Even when walking, you try

these games. Even when walking, you try and watch the games. Uh but you planning to watch every every game from now on.

No, no. I mean I think what you're saying is like a bit of the sun cost fallacy, right? Just cuz you pay for it.

fallacy, right? Just cuz you pay for it.

You must go and watch. No. I think

the main thing you're paying for is that anytime you want to, you can just switch on and watch. You don't want to watch.

You you want to sleep. Just sleep. You

know, that's a very I haven't reached that level of maturity.

You're still the I didn't even get the early bird fee.

Because the poverty mindset basically what you are experiencing you pay then you must use must use that kind of thing. Oh, sorry. Terrence, you cannot

thing. Oh, sorry. Terrence, you cannot relate, huh? [laughter] You don't have a

relate, huh? [laughter] You don't have a poverty mindset, is it?

No, no. It's how to, you know, scarity mindset.

Poverty mindset. That's what that's what the the term is what people say, the fire people and all that. That's what

they say.

Oh. Oh. Oh. The poverty mindset. I see.

I see. I see. Yeah. No, I'm not I'm not beyond that.

You're not.

I still count the $118 that I spend, how much it going to cost every game. If I

watch from now, how much each cost game is worth and all.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You never run through AI to see which one is more worth your time to watch.

Never. Never. Never. Never. I'm still

lagging on the on the highlights, man.

And I mean, again, media sports, media sports doing a kickass job with the highlights man.

Yeah. Yeah. And I turning them out.

I think like like you, I'm trying to put in effort to watch the highlights. Don't

just go for the goals.

Yeah. Pull the 10-minute highlight. You

know, you see some of the things they talk about the lineups and all that, the subs and all. Yeah. It's fun.

The the the process of match. Last time

I think when I was younger, I was like, "Oh, let's just watch the goals like Yeah.

Just want to soak in the process. I want

to hear people cheering. I want to see the players emotions, everything.

Yeah. And I mean that's what we also were thinking. Should we have done

were thinking. Should we have done something more World Cup focused?

Yeah.

Even though our team would be like why?

Uh but for the two of us, you know, we care about it so much.

I feel like we we want it. [laughter]

It's always you and me talking about it.

Everyone's like, "What the you're talking about?" But I'm sure there's

talking about?" But I'm sure there's he couldn't give a right now.

[laughter] Yeah. I mean, Tristan is is he's a

Yeah. I mean, Tristan is is he's a renaissance. He's a purist. is this like

renaissance. He's a purist. is this like Neanderthalss talking about football.

[laughter] It's not for him. But I mean, I'm sure there must be other people like us who, you know, we watch a game, but we don't talk about it, you know, process the feelings and emotions because that's the

thing about about the World Cup. The

emotions are get any other in any other competition.

And and I mean, it's like what we do with news, right? We help people process it as we process it.

Yeah. Yeah.

So in this case, the World Cup, maybe it's just a reminder that when Singapore plays at the Asia Football Championships in January, we need to do something.

Yeah. Yeah.

Or maybe even Yeah. people listening, if you're listening to this and you care about, you know, what Yalabad is and what we like to talk about, let us know. So like like would you appreciate something like that?

Like a work up. Yeah. Like a daily round up. Does it daily? Every two days, every

up. Does it daily? Every two days, every few days just to give you stuff to talk about with your friends when you meet.

Tristan is like face palming right now.

[laughter] He's like the whole two guys just cannot stop over lunch meetings.

Yeah, correct. Yeah. But I mean it's magical. It's magical.

magical. It's magical.

Yes.

But uh yeah, I mean our topics also quite magical.

uh because we're talking about things that are, you know, quite close to the hearts of Singaporeans these days. These

are things that Singaporeans talk about all the time.

Yeah. Matters of the heart. Matters of

the heart, which all arose because uh on June 30th, the department of statistics released their general household survey 2025, which is a 151page PDF document, which was very easy to find, which is

good.

Uh it's a it's good that we can find reports that are spoken about.

Um but a few headlines came out from this. The most notable of which was that

this. The most notable of which was that more young Singaporean residents aed 25 to 34 are staying single especially amongst the Chinese.

So a lot of stats from this uh um report but uh what what about this you know uh tickled your own fancy.

I mean it kind of corroborates a lot of what we've been talking about right this podcast. the young people anecdotally

podcast. the young people anecdotally they tell us they don't want to get married or don't want to have nice big weddings they don't want to go through all the traditional BTO stuff don't even

want to have kids right uh this like this mid decade uh population census report uh actually kind of confirms that quite quite starkly right that it's happening

uh but I did think it would be interesting to dissect because the fact that Chinese people more acutely single.

Yeah, single. Maybe you now as a resident Chinese expert having spent time in China, you know, you can also me tell us a little bit more about the mindset of the Chinese people.

But can I just say there was someone who commented that I have no right to call them Chinese brethren until I go to like a tier 2 or tier three city because it's like a foreigner coming to Singapore

seeing reflect [laughter] which is what I did when I went to Shanghai.

I think I thumbs up. I thumbs up.

Oh, you won the thumbs up. Is it you as a mentor? I say

a mentor? I say yeah. I mean, you have to start

yeah. I mean, you have to start somewhere, right? You have to start

somewhere, right? You have to start somewhere. Uh even though I wouldn't say

somewhere. Uh even though I wouldn't say Raffle City is the the place to bring a foreigner to.

Yeah.

Um but uh yes, as a as a somewhat born again Chinese, uh I might have some comments.

Yeah. Yeah.

I can also speak for my own minority races.

That's true. That's true. But but have you been seeing that anecdotally that young people really uh you know more of them are de either delaying marriage or even just choosing not to go through the whole courtship and marriage and BTO

thing.

Yeah. And I mean as much as like I wouldn't want to stereotype it happens more often than not that when speaking to a younger person be it like through family or friends they have a perspective that is vastly different

from either my own or the kind of perspectives that we grew up with. Yeah.

Another thing is like like getting a driving license. Even if you don't have

driving license. Even if you don't have a car, even if your family doesn't have a car. I didn't grow up with a car, but

a car. I didn't grow up with a car, but I I I got my license not as early as some friends. But to me, it was

some friends. But to me, it was something that I want to get because in the event that I have a chance to drive a car, I would like to, but I meet so many younger folk who don't have a license and there's almost like there's no desire and you can understand like where

they're coming from.

It's just w like that whole thought process and this report shows different perspectives like that across the board.

M um but despite that like according to this the married status is still the majority status in Singapore.

So it was 58.8% of residents in Singapore are married in 2020 compared to 61.8%.

Um but amongst the demographics once you go to the younger folk uh across genders yeah the the rates of singlehoods singlehood is increasing. Mhm.

Um but um what else what else stood out to you from this report?

Um I think the report doesn't just cover about uh singlehood or or marriage or so. It also talks about household

so. It also talks about household incomes right?

Yeah.

Uh and the headlines I mean the the report is very long. You like you mentioned 100 plus pages, 150 plus pages. But the headlines uh essentially

pages. But the headlines uh essentially paint quite um you know uh I I would say kind of rosy picture about one in seven Singapore families has income of at least 30k a month.

Yeah. So that's the household itself.

Household. Yeah. Household. So that that could be even parents with uh living with their children, right? Older adult

children as well, right?

Yeah.

But even the the household income per member of the household has also increased.

Yeah. since the last uh the last census and that kind of paints a picture of do you think that that paints a picture of prosperity in Singapore when the headlines written like that

it does paint a picture just based on headlines um but it also feels like wow uh that's more than I expected one in seven families have a household income of 30k

but I think the thing that stood out to me the most is like you look at all the stats the one thing that it doesn't really capture is the fact that these stats are also influenced a lot by the

policies cuz I mean on Reddit online people were pointing out that um of course you would expect household incomes to generally increase because uh houses are getting more expensive.

People might be moving out later.

If there are more singles that means they don't qualify for public housing which means they need to stay at home longer.

So that is also a circumstance of the policy as well not just behavioral change. M

change. M I think this report kind of admittedly it doesn't need to capture that kind of stuff but seeing that in that context it gives it a bit more uh how you say uh

justifi justification.

Yeah. Yeah. One thing that did strike me about this report is that it it just presents a lot of the numbers. It

doesn't really give you a very strong narrative about what why they think this is happening necessarily and all that. Right.

Yeah. Correct. Um, in fact, that's why I felt like you probably would get more opinions from the actual articles that are written about the reporter.

Yeah.

Um, and and yeah, th those statistics about our household incomes did surprise me. Um, you know, the stuff about

me. Um, you know, the stuff about singlehood and and marriage don't surprise me, but yeah, there are very obvious things that happening like, you know, the fact that family sizes are

smaller as well. So

uh in terms of the last time, you know, when families were a lot bigger, people wanted to move out quickly and set up their own family and things like that.

But now, you know, a lot of people has one kid or max two kids and things like that.

So even when the kids grow older, become adults, they don't necessarily move out merely until they're 30 years old or something right?

Yeah.

So yeah, the demographic changes or the mindset changes of Singaporeans are not captured in data like this.

Yeah. And another thing also like for example when it doesn't take into context. So according to this report the

context. So according to this report the most common household type is still married couple with kids even though it fell from 50.4% in 2020 to 47.6% in

2025. But it also says that 77% of

2025. But it also says that 77% of Singaporeans live in public housing. But

public housing is not the most friendly to non-married couples.

So of course it would skew upwards or skew towards the married households.

Yeah. So, and that didn't dawn upon me until I started reading comments online about people pointing out that of course the numbers would reflect this way and is it a surprise that people are married getting married later and they they

pointed out certain things like if it's taking longer to get your BTO if BTO is smaller if BTO is more expensive uh of course all this will play into people's decisions whether or not to

settle down or even get married.

Yeah.

Or have kids I mean and because in this report I assume single means not married. Yeah,

it doesn't account for dating because what if the department of statistics needs to follow dating habits?

Yeah, that be hard.

It's very hard. Very hard. Uh there's

some people asking about that like so many such if it's really so many single single people.

I think the step for 25 to 29 year olds like 74% female single and like 80% male single. But this is just married. It's

single. But this is just married. It's

not dating.

Yeah, I think they're out there dating.

I hope I hope they're out there dating.

Uh yeah, I mean the other thing people also are pointing out that the the dollar values in this uh calculation of household incomes also are not adjusted for inflation. So right uh and if

for inflation. So right uh and if anything I realized from my recent trips is that yeah in Singapore we've had yeah we we've we're still trying to get used

to the rate of uh increase of prices in our country for the past 10 years 10 20 years. uh it's been a very sharp rise

years. uh it's been a very sharp rise and that's why even our own day-to-day mindsets about what a meal should cost have not caught up with what the realities of you know food cost and rent and everything have gone up as well right

so yeah the fact that it's not adjusted for inflation is also another and when you say that you mean like the purchasing power of someone who owns earns less last time might still be a bit higher than yeah yeah

what it implies yeah yeah yeah correct so the dollar values are not adjusted for that so the absolute dollar value yes you look like you're earning more But what you can buy now is a lot less.

It's true. Cuz even housing prices over the past 5 years have spiked like crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. I was looking up recently uh how much it would cost for me to buy one of those Panini FIFA World Cup sticker albums. I don't know. And then buy the the stickers and complete album.

I think back then when we were kids, it was like uh you could essentially like of maybe like one two weeks pocket money you could actually safely afford it. Now I look at it, it's

like it's because of sculpers and everything, the prices are much higher really.

So yeah, even just enjoying the little little hobbies or things in life, we just have to pay so much more, you know.

Terren, non World Cup fans already like, can you stop talking about World Cup or not?

I can't help it.

Bringing it into the news.

My mind is just in my mind on my mind all the time.

It's true. I think the for something that wasn't even a playoff game last week, the ticket prices were apparently at least 3,000 US for the cheapest ticket, which is mad.

Yeah. And then I mean we just heard also that Yeah. I mean the tariff electricity

that Yeah. I mean the tariff electricity tariff prices are going up as well, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Like by 17% and gas 7.1%.

Yeah.

Um but some interesting stats. Uh so you know um apparently uh amongst 40 to 49 year old uh women right women with

university degrees are more single than those without. M

those without. M but for men at that same age group with men with uh without degrees are more single than men with degrees.

M yeah. So it's almost like the flip side.

yeah. So it's almost like the flip side.

Yeah.

Uh so so that's where it's uh it was a bit surprising.

Yeah.

And I mean you you get certain interesting stats like this if you if you pour over the the whole report.

But that's why this report actually is is very interesting. Um and yeah some articles have been written about it but um yeah does it does it does it worry you or does it fill you with optimism

but but before that the one thing we haven't talked about is the ethnic divide as well.

Oh yeah yeah yeah correct correct why is it that the Chinese ones Chinese residents uh you know singlehood has seems to become more common for the Chinese people.

So since you are part of the majority why don't you give your hypothesis my hypothesis? Yeah,

my hypothesis? Yeah, it has it must have something to do with the fact that we are not allowed to watch movies in the original [laughter] that is the cause of all problems in

Singapore for this couple of weeks.

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Cannot buy ticket to the tu screening also even if they got approved.

Yeah.

Uh okay. So that's your hypothesis.

No, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Uh but

but I mean I don't know. It's it's I mean Chinese you know we as a eth ethnic group uh generally quite uh practical

pragmatic when it comes to affairs of the heart right and a lot of considerations of uh money and and wealth and and can you take care of my daughter can can you know that kind of

thing so maybe given the kind of environment that we live in Singapore today where it's ultra competitive ultra uh it's much harder to to, you know,

make a good living, right? Uh yeah,

Chinese people just generally see it.

Okay, let's let's put all those dreams of like, you know, those romantic notions of building a family aside and really look at the heart numbers. Not

saying that other ethnic groups don't do that. It's just that Chinese we are the

that. It's just that Chinese we are the the propensity to do that might be very much higher.

Oh, that's a very logical logical approach.

I think so. Uh wait, let me look for my uh race tinted glasses. [laughter]

Please put them on, man. Put them on.

So if I were to harbor a guess, and this is purely speculative, I I can see it uh happening such that as you know, as the majority race, there's almost this

inbuilt, how you say, sense of self-confidence thinking that, you know, you don't need other people, you can do it yourself. Whereas for the minorities,

it yourself. Whereas for the minorities, right, we're like we got to pair up, man.

[laughter] We got to pair up, you know, get all in crisis mode. You're in crisis mode all the time. You're surrounded.

Get all the governments, you know, like let's not like let's not try and go against the system. The system is meant for for pairs. Uh let's pair up. Uh I

don't know. Um I don't think that something that's why I got married. Um

but I I can imagine that sort of stuff if you Yeah. If you from that perspective having some element at play.

I did. Yeah. I I think that on one CNA interview once I was in the same uh panel you were the token Chinese.

Yeah. Token Chinese. Then I think one of the the minority uh panelists also said that essentially to that effect where um what is the alternative if they don't

if they don't look out for each other the the minorities? What's the

alternative? you know, we we sort of they sort she she thinks that, you know, the minorities kind of live in a crisis mode a lot of the times and if they don't take care of each other, then who's going to take care of them?

Yeah.

Whereas maybe as the majority race here, you kind of see, okay, if society doesn't take care of me, you know, I'll I'll find my way. You even

leave Singapore or something like that.

But for minority, it feels you already feel like you're struggling. There's

uphill challenge against you.

Yeah. The cards are against you. So you

kind of got to Yeah. just look at what cards you have and play with them.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean that one I there's no way of quantifiably proving that. But

yeah, it sounds plausible. Can you

imagine that as a pickup line or not?

You walk up to an Indian girl when I was single and be like, "Hey, you think you can make it on your own?"

You mean you mean like interracial pickup line or Oh, like within I thought you meant like Chinese guy or Chinese.

Intrario. Yeah. Interracial will be a different kind of thing. Intraracial is

like just pointing out that you think you can survive on your own. You need

me, you know, I need you. Let's pair up.

Community, you know, we take on the system together.

Yeah. Yeah.

Um Yeah.

Were there were there discussions like that for you and your never had anything like that?

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Maybe it was subconscious. I don't know.

subconscious. I don't know.

Maybe subconscious. Uh but yeah. Uh no.

No. Yeah.

So I mean it's interesting like um uh I think one thing is for sure Singapore might be the only place in the world where this kind of thing is just uh studied and put out as a statistic and it doesn't cause a protest.

Correct. [laughter] Correct.

Every other country I feel like w there'll be a lot of people offended or some protest going on you know.

That's true. That's true cuz it also talked about religion about how uh there is a increasing number of people who identify as not being associated to religion. Yeah. Yeah.

religion. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Um and um that's that's rising more amongst the younger and older generations, I think.

Yeah. And another thing that the survey also doesn't track is um cohabiting.

You know, nowadays a lot of couples, they don't even think true. There's no

need to get married, but they live together and they're practically married right?

Yeah.

Uh I mean, I know quite a number of couples like that already. So,

this survey doesn't capture or even mention them at all.

Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, another stat that points back to something that you brought up, the dear you. Um, apparently despite the

dear you. Um, apparently despite the efforts of the Singapore bilingual uh, campaigns. Yeah. Singapore is becoming a

campaigns. Yeah. Singapore is becoming a English monolingual leading society.

Oh, damn.

Yeah. Um, so now 19.5% of English primary speakers now report having no second language up from 13%.

Wow.

So it's Yeah. Like people are losing their second language. So maybe it is time to bring back the the dialect languages.

Uh but that's the the argument, right?

That if you bring a dialect languages, oh, everything has diluted.

Yeah. It dilutes the whole chunk of what Chinese means and all that.

Oh, but then you think about it in this day and age where people want to stand out. Isn't it cooler to speak a language

out. Isn't it cooler to speak a language that less people speak than everybody else?

Correct. Correct. I think so. I think

so. I think you want to attract people.

I I think about that a lot for even my my own child all that. you you kind of want to make sure that they they find something unique or interesting about their culture that makes them want to learn the language rather than force them to learn the language so that they

can appreciate.

So what what what does your kid learn about being Chinese?

I mean he listens a bit to J Cho music.

Yeah. Yeah. I play J Cho and uh I don't understand half of what he sings but just the fact that you know a you know Chinese music can be catchy and interesting to listen to listen to. I

play it. Uh do you do you do that for any for your child any kind of second language or like uh I play some uh Hindi Hindi pop?

Hindi we choose Hindi. Why you choose Hindi?

I mean I'm closer to my culture. Bangra

you know some Bangra.

You're not Singaporean. You speak one of the official languages of Singapore.

I mean it's not it's not my mother tongue. So and those songs I actually

tongue. So and those songs I actually like.

Uh so some are not bad but maybe I should start playing more.

Yeah.

Maybe more.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, oh, one thing I do is like when I read like books, right, I very deliberately try and sound Singaporean when voicing the characters in the books. So, even if it's like Paddington, you know, Paddington in

English, I try to say it with a Singapore, like a neutral Singaporean kind of accent cuz I don't want uh, you know, my kid growing up thinking that to sound, you know, like a proper

character, you got to speak like Queen's English.

I I second that, man. I second that.

When my when my daughter said IO for the first time, I was like m [laughter] you you you doing good, girl. Of course.

Of course, not everybody's the most uh the biggest fan of her saying I mean you just separate in you know. Um

so as long as she's picking up other words, it's fine. It's fine.

Yeah. Yeah.

Um but uh but yeah, but anything you any intros, you know, introspective thing that you, you know, realized about yourself as a Singaporean on seeing the survey results and all?

Um, I think just the cuz when doing research for this, I went on Reddit and all and I think the the dink movement and all,

it's it's getting uh not to say traction as it's something transient or something, but uh generally if you go to all these Reddit threads and all the the the whole dink dual income no kids thing

is becoming a lot more common.

And I'm not saying that's bad, but they did point out that when I read certain accounts, oh that's interesting.

They said even within their friend group. Last time the social activities

group. Last time the social activities once they reach a certain point tended to be things that are favorable to kids because most of them have kids.

Yeah.

But then now they're finding their own social groups excluding the ones with kids because they are the minority and them troublesome to deal with and them troublesome. And then like they cannot drink alcohol, cannot do this. So

they're not like ah that's an interesting phenomenon because even within my social group uh my close friends from whatever still more people have kids than not. But I would imagine one generation later, you have kids, you're like, "All right, don't hang out

with us."

with us." Yeah.

You you go out the group really.

Yeah. As opposed to like when I didn't have kids or not married, I was a minority in the group of friends.

Correct. Correct.

So, I'll just be there, you know, hearing him talk about friends, but now now it's like flipping.

That's true. That's true. I I saw that like that I saw those group dynamics on the trip to Bintan recently.

Yeah. A big group of like young 20s Yeah. 30s things.

Yeah. 30s things.

Then one couple had a young baby. Then

they sit at the other table.

I was thinking like what are they going to do together like cuz there's a very young baby there with them all that. And

I realized, yeah, it'll probably be not be very fun for that that one couple with that one baby cuz everyone else is like probably going to go banana boating and all these other things which you can't do when you're carrying a child, right?

Yeah.

But that was Yeah. They they

but that's that is their circle. They

can't get away from it. So the the young parents have to adjust to the things as opposed to the other way around. And

I mean that is a big systemic uh trend that I'm sure the government is paying attention to but it all factors into the the TFR because like you hear this these things

um talk about their life. They said

actually life is is great you know now there's more of us so we don't don't feel like oh we have no one else to hang out with because our generation I think you know once your friends get married have kids uh once

that becomes a norm then as a dink you're like oh I got no one else to hang out with now it's flipping and then it becomes that whole gap in social activity which sometimes I don't know how much it affects people's

decision to get married is is no longer there and then they're like actually why I get married yeah correct why have kids yeah and It's a it's a big trend. And of

course, the cost of living, the cost of everything going up. You can totally understand the rational.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. 10 years ago, I was one of those dinks that only had uh I had pets, dogs, right?

Yeah. And then I would Yeah. seek out

other pet owning dinks, you know, and like uh and find that community there cuz you know, a lot of my friends are moving on to Yeah. And it was a it was a it was a

Yeah. And it was a it was a it was a scarce community, right?

It it was it was Yeah. So we I became quite close to, you know, that bunch of people. Uh but now I'm I'm the one that

people. Uh but now I'm I'm the one that that's like kids and and then I see them now hanging out a lot more. You know,

the the those that still just dinks with pets, right? They hang

out, they do a lot of fun stuff together, like going partying and all that.

Uh but yeah, it's a different lifestyle already.

Different lifestyle. Sinks also.

Sinks. What's that?

Single income, no kids.

Oh wow. And they talk about how one person's, you know, like got the freedom to do this, freedom to do that, fly here, fly there, you know, open relationship, but this this kind.

No, just single income. Look, is married but one person working.

Oh, single income. I thought single like just single.

Oh, no. I was like, why why why do you want to have kids if you're single?

Oh, no, no, no. Sinks and dings.

Sinks. Sinks and dinks.

Okay. Okay.

Um, yeah. Compared to digs and sinks.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Before [music]

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Uh but yeah, that's the demographic changes happening in Singapore. Uh but

it's not just the demographic changes happening in Singapore. up north as well.

Yeah, it seems like the demographics of people working up north are also changing uh as highlighted by this Malaysian.

Who's this person?

Uh this Malaysian is uh a politician there uh who goes by the name of Na Corming who is the current minister of housing and local government. Um I mean

it was something that came up in a recent interview where he reflected on something he said a few years ago about how um if I think he was making a

comment about if certain party took power in Malaysia there will be more Malaysians going to work in Singapore.

But if his party took over it will reach a point where Singaporeans will want to work in Malaysia. M

and I mean I don't remember this uh from 2022 2023 but apparently it ruffled a lot of feathers to the point that he kind of had to clarify that it wasn't uh anything meant

to take offense or anything. It was just um highlighting that you know if Singaporeans come to work in Malaysia is just a is a good thing for Malaysia and Singapore.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's a like it pushing the country to improve its economy right so that more Singaporeans want to go to Malaysia to work.

Yeah. Yeah, that's why he clarified.

Yeah. But do you think what he said, would you have taken offense or are you taking offense now?

Um I mean he says it very calmly in his interview. He clarifies it very calmly

interview. He clarifies it very calmly in this interview if you watch the video uh in Mandrin, right? Uh but when you watch how he delivered the damn speech Yeah. in 2022,

Yeah. in 2022, it was a almost like a political rally speech, right? Yeah,

speech, right? Yeah, it it definitely almost dripped off that kind of um almost anti-forigner kind of

like uh vitriol.

So the way he's repackaging it now makes it sound very sane. But when you watch it, you're like, "Wow, this guy, I don't know. It feels like he he's he's very gleeful about being able to get Singaporeans to to have to go to

Malaysia to work as opposed to the other way around."

way around." Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I don't I maybe it's just a politician being a politician and and sort of wanting to backtrack from statements he made but then realizing he also doesn't want to to admit that he

was wrong and have to say sorry or yeah but uh I mean I didn't even understand what he was saying in 2022 because he was in Mandarin uh but you could tell the the fire the passion

but I mean at the end of the day like I think Malaysian politics it's such a such a different world compared to Singapore that these kind of things when they ruffle feathers It might not be

just because of the comment itself but everything around it. Cuz actually if you look at his history, he's actually kind of mentioned how Malaysia should learn from Singapore's HTV which he got flack for from Malaysians

because uh there was some claims that he was undermining the Bumiutra rights and you know the the racial kota or racial harmony in Malaysia by men by pushing

for something more like Singapore's HDB which has ethnic quotas and all. So I

mean feels like he's uh he's got a lot of practice getting himself out of out of controversy.

Yeah. But you you can also say that he's quite preient right like now with H&M Gardinia all announced that they're closing down Singapore operations and moving them to Malaysia. It is true that

there will be Singaporeans moving to Malaysia to work, right?

Yeah.

And I mean obviously the currency is also strengthening against the Singapore dollar. So there is some there is some

dollar. So there is some there is some truth to what he's saying. He's not he's not entirely just uh it's not a pipe dream right?

Yeah. Because in 2022 he actually claimed as part of his rally that if Barisan National which is a coalition that his party was opposed to if they win the exchange rate between the US

dollar and ring it will become US $1 to 5 ringgit and Singapore dollar to ring it will become one Singapore dollar to 350 ringgit which in some sense did did pan out whereas what he was saying if they take

place uh if they if his party Pakistan Harapan uh won it would be a lot more manageable to the point that Singaporeans would consider consider working in Malaysia as opposed to the other way around.

Yeah. Yeah. But do you think that there's a stigma that like Singaporeans would at this point right would bulk at being offered a job in Malaysia in this economy in this time

I think it depends like if it's going cross border to work in JB I think there is a stigma there JB as opposed to the other way around because you can get a very cushy job in KL for example. So I think if you get a

posting to KL I don't think it's automatically a stigma attached to it but if it's a cross border just close to the border then unfortunately there might be a stigma.

Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I I've heard of a lot of MNC's that uh they want to set up in Malaysia because of the right now the the cost differences compared to Singapore.

But do you know that there was a movie earlier this year called Abing versus Langopo starring with Jacko inside that actually talked about this issue?

No. about Langopo having to go to Malaysia to work as like a domestic uh helper. Yeah. Yeah. And then part of the

helper. Yeah. Yeah. And then part of the I think part of the joke is like who the hell wants which what kind of Singaporean wants to go to Malaysia to work even in what your currency is and all that.

I didn't I did not know that this movie was a Chinese abing versus what's the abing role the abing uh I think it's a Malaysian

comedian who plays a security guard or something like that. And uh yeah, it's just I mean it's a Malaysia Singapore co-production, you know, MM2 and and all

that Jacko kind of jokes. I mean Yo is a very beloved uh comedy character for those who are too young to remember that it was a very beloved comedy character that Jacko played um in the in the

leadup to becoming you know Jacko the film director as part of like weekly comedy nights on channel 8. Oh

um but yeah so back then crossdressing and and all that kind of comedy was very very common place in Singapore the Singapore's comedy scene. So yeah this movie was is literally about that that

process of Singaporean a Singaporean going to Malaysia to work and then getting involved in some shenanigans. I

believe it has to do with like child trafficking or something.

Yeah. The official log line is this the mismatch duo um of Yang Popo and uh the Malaysian Abbang as the hotblooded security guard. uh is forced to team up

security guard. uh is forced to team up on a frantic crossber rescue mission to save a young girl from an organ trafficking syndicate.

Organ trafficking. Yeah. Yeah. [snorts]

So yeah, it just goes back to my earlier point about the perception, right, that even in our popular culture, there are still, you know, large sws of Singaporeans who think that it's a huge

step down to go and work in Malaysia.

Yeah. But I mean that might change, you know, as like Singapore gets more and more expensive. people are starting to

more expensive. people are starting to appreciate more of um finding things that mean a lot more to them as opposed to just money. Yeah.

Uh you never know. And I mean I have family in in Malaysia and yeah the politics and all is tricky and all but the Malaysian way of life it can afford you many many things.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think I spend a lot more time JB and all that now. Yeah.

It's like okay I mean I understand people who choose to uh what do you call rebase themselves.

uh not based just bas rebates rebates rebates rebates themselves in JB you know still earn the Singapore dollar but live in Malaysia it's not just about the money I think it's also about pace of life

pace of life and you know just just being closer to what the real world is right as opposed to the bubble that we are in the bubble that is Singapore

uh but I mean yala yala I mean who knows maybe one day we'll do a yalabat run up in Malaysia would like to Uh, always very close to Malaysia, you know.

Yeah, that would be cool.

Yeah. But yeah, what is your one show comment?

Uh, my one show comment. Uh, wait, you have yours?

Yes, I do. Uh, wait, sorry.

Oh, my my one show comment was actually that comment about the brethren thing that I mentioned earlier.

Okay. Okay. My Let me then let me do mine.

Yeah.

Uh, mine's from on YouTube. Denho 9044

was I think he's talking about remember how we talked about the holidays that we went on you Shanghai mean the test media he said the thing is in Shanghai only a few things are expensive but in

Singapore everything is expensive [snorts] can tell this fell is pro PAP I think he's talking about you I believe he's talking about you oh is it because did you mention that that um

Shanghai things are very expensive or what uh I don't think so you mentioned Australia more expensive yeah yeah I was the one mentioned that stuff in Australia is feels cost of living feels higher, right?

Yeah.

Uh so I think maybe this comment kind of confused what we were talking about. I

was I think I was very specifically saying that that Australia Yeah. certain things are more expensive but in Singapore everything is expensive and so I believe

this uh this insult was directed at me you know [laughter] which I asked to clarify but I haven't got an answer yet right uh by but do you think is is true that in Singapore

everything is I mean not necessarily the food thing really is is something that is very unique in the world um I mean aside from that I'm sure that

there's stuff that wouldn't say like it's it's very expensive.

I don't know. I mean everything I mean all the services stuff in other countries at least in Australia the moment there's a human servicing you damn expensive and maybe that is the

proper way to price it right given what human capital means today but in Singapore you know we we complain a lot about it but it's still relatively cheaper.

Yeah that is true that is true. So yeah,

so not everything but um a lot of things.

So the big ticket items, housing, cars, car, the big ticket items, but I mean as Viv Balak Krishna say, do you want three meals in the hawker center, food court or restaurant? Right,

that's the question. [laughter]

Yeah, man.

So you don't have additional one command.

Then uh what is your one shook thing?

Uh my one shook thing, wait, let me see.

Um it is uh so previously there was this one uh content creator that I was I became a big fan of uh his name is Pablo Roshot.

Uh so recently he directed uh um music video for uh Phoebe Bridges called Lost Boys. And I mean, um, it it

kind of, uh, plays on Game of Thrones also, like the the the background of like, you know, uh, who's the queen?

What's the name of the queen? Daenerys.

Oh, yeah.

She's dressed as Daenerys and all. And I

mean, just just happy to see that Pablo Rosha uh is is getting gigs like this like cuz he's super talented. Yeah.

And um yeah, very very very cool.

Yeah.

Um, that's my one shook thing. Yeah.

Uh, what about you? Uh my watch thing is a CNA uh documentary which I believe you can find on the CNA uh YouTube channel.

Well, it's about this um they're following this family who has a child who's under who is uh basically undergoing severe social isolation

and the term is called heikoi, right?

Um and I think uh I I haven't watched all all parts here. I watched the first part, but yeah, they they talked about how they follow the family, especially the the father. The mother didn't want

to be uh on camera. They followed the father and and they interviewed him and asked him about yeah why why is this happening to your child and how you adjusting to it and um I mean the child's not not small and he's like 15

already but apparently hasn't stepped out of the home for 2 years out of the room out the room for 2 years right and there's a social worker who comes every month to try and connect with him

and all and uh yeah it's kind of made me yeah realize that you know nowadays a lot of uh what young people grow up with as social interaction is just on their

phones.

So they feel like they almost feel like that's enough for them, right? Why do I need to actually meet people and have social anxieties and all? Uh so yeah, I think I I'm more I'm very interested to

finish watching the documentary and three parts to just better understand this phenomenon which uh we probably might hear more and more of.

Well, I I didn't know it was three parts of like 45 minutes each. That's quite

substantial. Yeah, but I can't imagine living with someone who doesn't step out the room like that.

I mean, I I I think I was already very much a hermit when I had roommates and stuff like that, right? But I Yeah.

After a while, you crave human. I mean,

this is your parents with their son, man.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's in the same house. So,

yeah, it's uh crazy.

Um but yeah, man.

But yeah, it's uh our second podcast of the week.

All right. Cool. Thanks. Uh, thanks for listening everybody. We got one more to

listening everybody. We got one more to go this week. Uh, so until then, uh, hope you enjoyed it and, uh, we'll talk to you all very soon. [music]

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