Singapore government launches dating app to match.. civil servants
Maybe their bonus will be tied to how many babies they make
straitstimes.com/singapore/com…
FirstDate is designed to matchmake public officers aged 21 to 35. Read more at straitstimes.com.Shermaine Ang (The Straits Times)
She also asks a good question
If the Singapore education system is as good as it’s supposed to be, why does everyone still send their kids to tuition? (To get ahead..)
If it’s so pro-family and so great for straight families, why don’t they want to have babies?
We can’t reverse decades of eugenics either (in the 80s and 90s, our public policy in family planning was very unmistakably eugenicist. Women with college degrees were to have more babies; women without should ‘stop at two’)
Most of my straight friends are incredibly stressed. Taking care of children and parents. Wouldn’t want to be them.
—
“The impressive wealth of this small island-country, its high rankings on numerous global indices measuring quality of life, and the state's strong and highly institutionalised 'pro-family' interventions and care-infrastructure investments over the past decades indicate that Singapore is a great place to live and raise kids.
If this cannot realistically be true for everyone, then it should at least hold for those who fit into the idealised citizen or family imagined by public policy-heterosexual, married, educated, employed.
Yet, in account after account of life in contemporary Singapore-even among these legitimated 'families'-I heard about shortfalls in time, missed connections in relationships, fractures between aspirations and real life. In the interviews, there was a palpable sense that imbalance is the norm, survival is the creed and 'no choice' is the default.”
ethosbooks.com.sg/products/une…
A review in the local English paper: straitstimes.com/life/arts/soc…
Her previous book This Is What Inequality Looks Like was on ST's bestseller list for 80 weeks. Read more at straitstimes.com.Clement Yong (The Straits Times)
Don’t forget the beverages.
An old man ‘pulled’ the milk tea one cup at a time (teh tarik, or pulled tea) while his wife ran some sugarcane sticks through a press to make freshly squeezed sugar cane juice
Anyway all of that cost less than one entree in a cheap US restaurant or cafe (plus various snacks I haven’t even accounted for.. got a curry puff, or curry empanada)
In the same hawker centre we have a Singapore / Malaysian Ceylonese style idiyappam (string hoppers) that we call putu mayam
I feel like people who primarily cook their own foods don’t understand when I say
I can’t just cook most of the foods I miss
A lot of Singapore and Malaysian Chinese breakfast foods operate on economies of scale and specialization.
A single vendor puts this bowl of Hokkien prawn and pork rib noodles together, and sells it for S$6 / US$4 (this dish is common in Singapore and Penang. In Penang it might be RM 12, or US$3.50)
I once tried to make this myself. It took me 6 months to collect enough shrimp to make a single bowl of soup and it wasn’t even as strong tasting.
Then each stall has their special blend of chilli powder, and various hot sauces (like the homemade sambal) that you simply can’t buy off the shelf, or make on your own
Breakfast options: Michelin noted xiaolongbao in a Singapore hawker centre. US$4
This is one of the more expensive stalls (and I’m having the Hokkien prawn noodles next door instead)
Just yesterday I wrote a letter to the state that basically said
Here are my overseas tax returns. The amount exceeds your requirements. Howver since you do not recognize my marriage kindly consider me as a single in your calculation. And halve the amount.
According to my single calculations I meet the requirements to purchase a home.
(The purchase of public housing is prioritized for heterosexual citizen couples.. queer people, and single people, widowed people, people coupled with immigrants.. all fall into the weird nooks of ‘pls give us some scraps’)
Teo You Yenn, Singapore academic in her book on family in Singapore “Unease”:
“Pro-family: the obsession with defining and policing boundaries of ‘family’—who it is made up of, who plays what role, who is responsible for whom—is not matched by attention to and appreciation for how people experience being givers and receivers of care throughout their lives, how people vary in aspirations and desires when it comes to relationships [..]
Family should be a happy place but there is no time to enjoy it [..]
Every school is a good school but some are better than others [..]
Everyone can have upward mobility but some talents will be rewarded more [..]”
Here at #OASec in #Singapore, which I helped to organize. It’s been fun working with a global group of folks who care about AI safety and security as much as I do; we got a bunch of good talks from practitioners across Asia.
A practitioner-focused open forum on AI safety and security in Asia Pacific. 28 September 2026, Singapore. Tracks: Enterprise, Governance, Offense, Defense. Registration and CFP now closed.OASec
I think that it’s difficult to understand Singapore today without understanding our recent past:
Of colonialism, anti-communism, repressing labour despite electing initially ‘socialist’ independence leaders, and of rapid globalization even before globalization was a word.
It also led to possibly the world’s greatest economic boom in a trajectory that I think will be impossible to replicate today in any other time or geography or moment.
My grandparents were poor coolies, my parents were healthcare workers, my sibling and I get to do whatever we want anywhere we want. Our children will also face down some of the world’s greatest income inequality
global-developments.org/p/you-…
Development and Authoritarianism in the World's Favorite City-StateOliver Kim (Global Developments)
When I was a child growing up here
These factory buildings near my home were all for manufacturing. Many Rollei cameras were assembled here for example.
Manufacturing was a big part of the Singapore’s post-colonial independence history. Eventually and very quickly, we became way too expensive and manufacturing shifted elsewhere.
These buildings are now heavily subsidized offices for tech startups.
A decade ago I rented a decent office here for about US$650. I also got subsidized housing nearby in old British military housing that they turned into housing for people working in specific industries (media, tech, art, mostly)
Motion blur temple and church from a bus in Tanglin Halt
Possibly one of the nicest Shake Shacks anywhere
This is one of my favorite food blogs for Singapore
I don’t know who he is but we have similar taste in food
I mean
At this point I just think we are in a weird globalized world where the cost of housing in most tier 1 cities across the world except Tokyo is normalizing to the same exact dollar amount.
There is no point for me to try to do any geo-arbitrage or cost of living adjustments because all of the places I could live in (because of jobs and family) are in cities with the same housing prices.
‘Why aren’t you freaked out about San Francisco housing prices’
‘I come from a place where a 1492 sq ft public housing apartment which you own for less than 99 years.. goes for US$1.5M’
Singapore will no longer accept Singapore dollar checks for corporate / business use: dbs.com.sg/personal/deposits/c…
I went to a talk once and heard someone describe their way of thinking about the world as
They’re part of a larger world of sea-faring folks
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_La…
Land-based borders must be so bizarre.
Also from the Wikipedia page, in a Kipling book, a character calls them Orange Lord instead of orang laut
Here’s an overview of their food
When I’m back home I’m definitely going to have a party where I cater their food and try it. Many dishes I’ve tried as part of ‘Malay food’ but one of the reasons why I thought our Malay food was different from more land-based food up north, is because we have such a strong island culture and also, relations with nearby Indonesian islands as well (and also the concept of 'Malay-ness' is so different in Singapore / Malaysia / Indonesia, really varies according to each country's politics around it)
A relationship that modern borders blurs over.
The phrase ‘ikut hati kau’, or ‘follow your heart’, underlies the way we cook and sometimes, how we live.manojhl (Orang Laut)
Here’s a great video about the orang laut (people of the sea)
I was glad to see that at the national day parade last month, Ashida Daud sang in the Orang Laut ‘dialect’
youtube.com/shorts/uOhA0uTyTQE
As far as I know (and I know very little) there are many different groups and they identify differently.
Here are the orang seletar
Here’s a young person from one of those communities who takes people on boat tours to learn more
And here’s a video about more young people talking about the sense of loss of, really, being ripped away from their culture and communities and lifestyles
Golden moment: Asnida Daud’s stunning vocals filled the National Stadium for her original piece Aok Diko in the Orang Laut dialect, a song that speaks of Sin...CNA (YouTube)
Most people think of a giant big city and skyscrapers and Chinese people when they think of Singapore these days
But we have a rich history of Indigenous, island culture that formed a part of a greater sea-based / maritime culture (which overlaps into current day Malaysia / Indonesia / Philippines)
Here’s a good video about one of those (the folks from Pulau Brani)
But there are several others
Azman Abu Bakar moved from his birthplace of Pulau Brani, an island off the coast of Singapore, when he was 13 years old. Since then he has taken up fishing ...Viddsee (YouTube)
Each Singaporean child to receive up to 55K USD in support, and other #ndr (National day rally) policies
channelnewsasia.com/singapore/…
Nothing matters more than helping families thrive, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his 2026 National Day Rally speech.Abigail Ng (CNA)
I feel like #Teochew people have always been fighting for our rights.
A huge Teochew movie from China (about Teochew immigration to SE Asia) was set to be screened in Singapore.. dubbed in Mandarin only.
People were upset, and we got the imperialistic Mandarin-only media rule removed.
@PhoenixSerenity check it out!!
Scammers used videos of Singapore politicians to make a compelling zoom meeting to convince a man to transfer US$3.8 million to assist the Singapore government on a matter relating to the reopening of the Straits of Hormuz
channelnewsasia.com/singapore/…
I don’t know what to say but if you’re a Singaporean who is being asked for money by our government, something is very wrong (they have so much money)
Analysis of full footage shared exclusively with CNA found that the scammers used obscure or dated YouTube videos of high-profile figures, alongside other deceptive techniques, to make their fabricated virtual event convincing.Renald Loh (CNA)
I'm running this workshop in Singapore at the end of Sept! Please send it on
Some thoughts on setting up a Singapore pte ltd company (a C-Corp) in 2026 vs 2009 and 2014:
- For Singapore residents and citizens the process can be entirely completed online now, using SingPass on ACRA.gov.sg
- if anyone of your directors or shareholders is a foreign national, you’ll still need to go through a ‘corporate secretary’. I’ve worked with many good and bad ones and I recommend SmoothOps.asia or Duellix.com
(Don’t use the venture-backed large volume guys)
- Banking still sucks. Look at the challenger banks (like Malaysian banks in Singapore, Maybank and CIMB for their SME accounts for far less onerous minimum deposit / balance requirements compared to the big SG banks). Functionally they all work the same way as long as they have a Singapore banking license.
- Consider a virtual bank like Airwallex, or Wise for much easier setup but be aware of the lack of insurance on balances, and other non-normal-bank weirdness
Regular reporting rules apply, and annual compliance costs are necessarily higher like with any private company.
16. I really enjoyed this video interviewing people who were alive in the 1930s in Singapore
Talking about what it was like, how they grew up.
‘26 languages used in daily life’
From climbing coconut trees to catching crabs by the sea, the generation who were born in the 1930s and 40s lived in a Singapore completely different from wh...CNA Insider (YouTube)
14. Singlish and Singapore English are different.
Singlish is a local creole-like language with its own rules.
Don’t just add ‘lah’ to everything. 99% of the time when someone does that, it’s incorrect. And it’s also not the right word.
Use this guide instead medium.com/@visakanv/lah-leh-l…
15. Singapore English is NOT just Singlish
It exists on a continuum.
From the basilect to mesolect to acrolect. This corresponds roughly with social class
I think this old video of Ruby Pan talking about the different English accents in Singapore gives a great overview
(Very interestingly Ruby is now the Venerable Damcho: sravastiabbey.org/community-me…)
#Singapore #Languages #Singlish
TalkingCock in Parliament, We the Citizens event at Old Parliament Chambers. Ruby Pan's segment. This mrbrown show is sponsored by Imaginary Friends Studios....Wesley Wee (YouTube)
13. Whenever traveling through places like Singapore and Malaysia, any place purporting to sell ‘western food’ isn’t making it up:
We have a fusion cuisine called ‘western food’.
Basically, the British hired Hainanese people to cook in their homes and in the military barracks. After, the same Hainanese people would make the same food outside for the locals, but add more spices and soy sauce.
So Hainanese western food is essentially late 1800s British military officer food, made by Chinese chefs for people of all other Asian backgrounds.
It’s delicious and I adore it.
There’s also Hainanese-Russian food.
(You can in fact get good French and Italian and other Occidental food. Hehe. They will be named that way, and they won’t be called ‘western food’)
straitstimes.com/life/food/goo…
Restaurants like British Hainan and Shashlik tread the line between heritage and innovation. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.Cherie Lok (The Straits Times)
12. You can buy freshly squeezed orange juice using your transit card
A delicious intersection of my interests
youtube.com/shorts/HcmBIQEKMHA
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.A Random Creator (YouTube)
10. One of my favorite things to do in Singapore is to try to seek out super hyper regional Chinese cuisines.
Heng Hwa food, the food of a group from Fujian, that speaks a different but related language (Heng Hwa) distinct from Hokkien, is incredible. I don’t know many other places where you can get this cuisine easily.
Ming Chung is my fave, but any mall where you see a fancy restaurant named PUTIEN (named for the city that these folks come from), is also good
11. I love taking the MRT but I also enjoy bus rides
Remember to tap in and out of buses (fares are distance-based)
Here’s a video on how to take the train and bus there
You can use credit cards as a transit card but remember that every foreign-issued card incurs an extra transaction fee (not to mention your card also potentially charging you extra for foreign transactions). Best to get a local transit card
After watching this video you'll know exactly how to get around the city on the public bus and train!👉 Join my private tours: https://dashingheights.com/joi...DashingHeights (YouTube)
3. It’s not just skyscrapers.
There’s an active wildlife community and you can participate in some mangrove walks and saltwater crocodile spotting
If you’re Singaporean you can use your free Culture Pass credits to sign up for a walk or workshop with:
Or do a free public tour: nparks.gov.sg/visit/parks/pasi…
Nestled in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, is a world rich in biodiversity and wildlife. On the island’s largest remaining mangrove eco system, dwells its larg...The Untamed Paths (YouTube)
8. One of my ‘I’ll do anything for this’ foods is the tofu tart at LE Confectionary & Pastry.
Instead of the typical egg tart filling, they fill the tart with a tofu custard that I adore.
Their pineapple tarts are also incredible
I always bring too much of their stuff with me when I leave
9. Singapore’s little India is one of the best places outside of South India to try my favorite regional Indian foods that I can’t easily get outside of India.
Tamil Nadu village style nonveg hearty peasant food.
Off the top of my head I can think of three really good spots in one place:
- Erode Mess
maps.app.goo.gl/VybRxMPiqVcfag…
- Courtallam Border Kadai (I’ve actually eaten at this place in Courtallam.. it is good there and also in Little India Singapore!)
maps.app.goo.gl/KrwM38Bx5hGA9e…
- Junior Kuppana (a famous chain from Chennai)
maps.app.goo.gl/psYTp1FYSiZH31…
I love this style of food so much and it pains me to not be able to easily access it.
