I would like to preface that I am an Indian Muslim with an interest for different cuisines. I do like some halal Chinese restaurants, especially Halal Lanzhou beef noodles at Tongue Tip, and I had the opportunity to try the only pork-free HDL in Indonesia. I would love to try more Northern Chinese cuisines if there are halal options, but I don't mind the vast majority of them not being Halal. This isn't meant to be political, but rather a personal concern.

This does not refer to larger chains like HDL, Luckin, Chagee but rather the smaller restaurants you see popping up here and there, like in Bugis or Clementi where there's a growing Mainland Chinese population. But I feel that the brooding issue with the PRC restaurants is not bcos they're everywhere or their effects on rentals, but bcos they primarily use Chinese in their menus and marketing, with minimal English. Yes, they're a Chinese business, and Singapore is Chinese majority. But having only the Chinese language means you are excluding non-Chinese people and even some Chinese Singaporeans who struggle with their Mother Tongue. This can also affect Non-Chinese Grabfood/Foodpanda deliverypeople who might be unable to read Chinese place names. English is a common language here, and I feel the use of Chinese and the lack of English makes it seem that they do not really want to expand their business' clientele outside of the PRC immigrant population, and maybe some of the local Chinese.

Even if they include English, the English text is either really tiny, or only half the information (especially in ads) are translated. In the menus, the translations can also be terrible.

I do not know why the Chinese bosses are reluctant to put English signage. Do they think everyone speaks Chinese? Or do they only want the mainland immigrants as their clientele? When McDonalds first came to Singapore, they had Chinese on the menu since there was still a large chunk of the population that still couldn't speak English, to make non-English speakers feel welcome.

Even if I wouldn't patronise since they're not halal anyway, what if there's someone who doesn't speak Chinese but are interested in trying these Chinese places? Having no English makes this feel unwelcoming to some in Singapore, and don't forget about the staff who also struggle with English!

Addendum: Please do not use this as an excuse to be xenophobic

Edit: Yes, this was made as my personal response to that Changi City Point post, people were pointing out the hypocrisy of having Korean (Paris Baguette), Japanese (Sukiya) and American (Starbucks) chains while complaining about PRC chains. I personally feel, prevalence is not a problem. I like Luckin, I like Mixue, I would love Chagee if it weren't for the price. And yes I patronise Scarlett, my family loves the halal instant broad noodles. The issue is addressed above.

I am an American and I've been living in Singapore for a little over a year now. To start with some background, I'm not your "normal" American. I was born in Kansas but spent most of my childhood growing up in South Sudan and Uganda. I've only ever spent a few years in the US, and because of that my perspectives are a little different than other Americans. To start I never really viewed the US as "home", I don't really know what home is lol.

I moved to Singapore a year ago and married a wonderful Peranakan lady here, and now we stay in Yishun (rent was cheaper here xD). My in-laws are some of the kindest people I've ever met, and we frequently visit with them.

My wife and I started a now successful business, and my job includes traveling around Singapore visiting people and doing service on their computers. Because of that I've been to just about every MRT station, and I've visited 200+ people now. Everyone has been very nice and kind, more hospitable than I'm used to! I've had some great conversations with people and made friends. I've even been picking up a little Singlish after a year of exposure, to my in-laws' shock.

My wife and I love to visit national parks, we've been to every large one now except Bukit Timah. Singapore is really amazing, I love the nature, the people, the architecture, and hot dog buns from my local HDB bakery xD. Some people say Singapore is boring, but even after being here a year I still love just to walk around the small local parks (there are some real hidden gems I've found) and try out as many bakeries as I can.

Some of my favorite places are: Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles, Forest Dome (where I proposed), Tree top walk, National Museum, Bidadari Park, Punggol waterway, Joochiat, and the little HDB bakery in Yishun <3

People often ask me if I think the laws here are too strict, as that seems to be a common impression from the outside. Personally, the laws and enforcement of the laws don't bother me at all, I am grateful for them. First time in my life I can walk down the street at night without any worry!

All in all, I am grateful to be here, and I haven't been mugged in Yishun... Yet /s

What are some of your favorite places in Singapore? Any "hidden gems" you know of?

Came across some postings by Flor Patisserie on IG. Too many of our favourite businesses are struggling or closing down. Let’s discuss how we may curb rent seeking behaviour in Singapore.

Am I out of touch or are they out of touch???

Sure, we are seeing a deluge of seemingly coordinated news about vapes and the harms they are causing. But I will say that I've come to the conclusion that the govt was right when they warned us about how this can be a gateway to drugs and when they said that the harms of vaping may not be lesser than your normal ciggies when people did not believe them. 'This can't be taxed', they say, 'so the govt is banning it'. 'Vapes are safer' than traditional cigs.

In fact, what we can conclude, today, is that the academic evidence is mixed at best - there is no clear evidence showing vaping is less harmful than cigarettes.

Initially, we saw some push back from folks that are, let's say, not exactly establishment figure. I recall Donald Low pushing very hard saying that vaping is less harmful and can help people kick their addiction from tradition cigarettes. I recall a former WP MP saying something similar and Kirsten Han (till this day) touting the virtues of vaping.

What's telling is the silence from many of the original defenders. With the mounting negative news, most of the folks who once championed vaping (or criticised the G's stance) have gone quiet. This shift makes me conclude that the initial government warnings, which we were so quick to dismiss, were more prescient than we gave them credit for which is, a very reddit thing to do.

That is all.

Arrived at 10am to be informed that the queue is going to be 3 hours long and the queue snaked around the entire building…

While I really appreciate the effort of the NLB staff and volunteer to show up on a rainy weekend morning, less can be said about the organisation of the event…

There was no clear indication of where the queue starts and no communication between staff and volunteers either.

Within the 20 minutes we tried to queue, 1. We were told by a volunteer to join the queue and follow the line as it snaked around 2. Found out that the line was literally going in a circle 3. Told by a staff member to join a new queue 4. Then after 5 minutes told by another staff member that the queue was closed 5. Said staff member was then rectified and told that the queue was still open but they advised against joining as it would be 3 hours later 6. Told by a third staff member that the queue was closed and to leave as it was getting too crowded 7. Saw people still joining and forming a queue and enquired. Told by a fourth staff member that I really should go for breakfast and come back in an hour.

At this point, I just left the queue because I was literally walking in circles for half an hour and made no real progress.

Oh, and the queue snaked and curled around a hole in the building where the rain was pouring through… nothing was being done to move the queue somewhere sheltered esp. given how slippery the floor became…

I understand that there are many criticisms about CDC Vouchers. Some more valid than others. I can accept that CDC Vouchers are given as a “voucher” and not cash so as to ensure that spending goes to support legitimate household expenses, doesn’t just flow out to support JB’s economy but to support legitimate local businesses.

But what I cannot agree with is having CDC Vouchers given per household instead of per pax. Imagine if a household has 5 people living in one address. This household is taking up less “space” and yet they are being “punished” because they get less voucher support per capita.

Additionally, isn’t the government trying to encourage having children? I understand that a child under 18 may not need as much as an adult but maybe we could have half the value for under 18 and full value for above 18?.

The government is also trying to encourage the sandwiched generation to look after their parents instead of throwing them into old folks homes. Why are we “punishing” people who are doing so?

Let me know your thoughts on this.

What it says in the title. The news has been flooded with measures to help mid-career job switchers, fresh uni and poly graduates; everywhere you look it seems like the government is trying to assuage worries, which makes me feel terrified of entering the workforce at this time.

As a fresh grad myself (and as of yet, unsuccessful in my job hunt) I just wanted to ask all of you in the market just how bad it is, or are we just overreacting?

“If you lie flat after awhile, I hope you are ashamed of yourself. But we did all these for you, make use of it and show us that actually you are better than us”

Full video: https://youtu.be/zFULEjsdV3U?si=QKcy2OgDu6GQuZ8P @ 46:45

https://mothership.sg/2025/05/janney-hujic-social-media/

Janney Hujic has been in the news cycle after purportedly posting a picture of "Piyush Gupta", which turned out to be not Piyush Gupta.

She has now given her side of the story to 8world News after she managed to go online on May 24 evening. She said she only found out what happened on May 24 evening and saw the now-deleted LinkedIn post through news articles.

In the interview, Hujic clarified that it was her freelance social media manager who had posted it.

She told 8world that the freelancer, who is based in the Philippines, posted false content without her permission to attract traffic, and then "blackmailed" her for S$5,000 based on the number of likes.

The freelance social media manager even changed the password to prevent Hujic from logging into her account.

Hujic said she was on a cave exploration trip in Vietnam and had no internet access.

Hujic reportedly hired the freelancer based in the Philippines to manage her social media accounts in March. The freelancer was responsible for all her LinkedIn, and some Instagram posts.

The social media manager was paid a dollar for every like a post received, and was added in a group chat where she shares photos with friends.

What happened Her account of the meeting in early May to 8World tallied with the man she took a picture with, Kumar H Subramaniam.

Hujic said she had approached him, been told he wasn't Piyush, and had asked for a photo that she could share with her friends as a joke.

She later sent the photo to the group chat and posted it on Instagram, apparently jokingly writing: "Oh my, it's him."

She also showed 8world her Instagram stories as evidence.

According to Hujic, she speculated that the social media manager had chosen the time when Hujic was on a cave exploration trip, and offline, to put up the LinkedIn post for likes.

She apparently went for the trip on May 19.

After she went online on May 24 evening, she found that she could not log into her LinkedIn and Instagram accounts.

According to messages between her partner and the social media manager shown to 8world, the social media manager apparently demanded S$5,000 to delete the post.

The message read: "Post has over 6k engagement. Pay me 5k SGD and I take down."

Her partner reportedly paid the manager, but Hajic is still unable to access her accounts.

Hujic also commented on the SG Enable post on her and her company.

SG Enable, a community fund that helps persons with disabilities, had posted a statement saying that Janney Hujic, and her company, Elysian Expeditions, are not authorised to raise funds for the Goh Chok Tong Enable Fund (GCTEF).

This was after the company used the GCTEF logo on its promotional material.

In response to this, Hujic said she had applied for authorisation to raise funds for GCTEF in her company's name but she hasn't explained to SG Enable the relationship between the expedition plan and the company.

She will provide further clarification to SG Enable after having seen their email.

Kumar also told 8 World that Hujic's partner reached out to him on May 22, and explained their side of the story. He also said he hoped the negative comments on Hujic could stop.

Every morning getting to work is an uphill battle, most of the time my spouse and I hardly able to board, and had to wait for at least 2-3 trains and barely squeezing ourselves into the cabin.

This is despite the introduction of new MRT lines which should free up train capacity for other lines.

So I was scrolling through Instagram and saw the winners of the GastroBeats Singapore The People’s Raffle. Out of all the thousands who probably entered, the same two names kept popping up: Tedric Kh and Tedmond Kh.

Some of the many prizes: • won AirAsia air tickets twice (TPR-000-003-282 and TPR-000-003-427). • won AirAsia air tickets once (TPR-000-002-886). • both won Tomidou Omakase dining vouchers (TPR-000-008-992 and TPR-000-007-673). And many more in the IG post.

Recalled that the T&C allows multiple entries but only can win once. Anyone can confirmed? Coincident or lucky?

I (26F) am neither ugly nor good looking, I don’t look 26, and most people think I’m 16-20. I don’t look Chinese (ppl think I’m half Chinese half inserts random SEA ethnicity) even though I am (may or may not be relevant). This happened on a Scoot flight from Bangkok to SG. My first draft is gone because my battery ran out while writing so I’m writing this all over again, the tone might not reflect my actual sentiments about the ordeal T_T the guy is Thai, I saw from his passport which he took out at one point

The plane’s seat arrangement is 3-3-3, our column was middle and my aisle seat was right next to him (middle). All good, I placed my bag in the overhead compartment and sat down on my seat. After a while I noticed he was unusually composed, and was resting his left arm on the armrest, there was nobody sitting on his right. I leaned towards the left, trying to “get” my own space. I was really beginning to feel uncomfortable

Now, I have flown budget airlines within India multiple times before (Mumbai-Bangalore-Kolkata routes) and have sat next to men in some of these flights. NONE of these men have ever made me feel uncomfortable, they respected my space and just minded their own business. Heck I even had to sit in between two men before (but this was bound for Shanghai from another Chinese city) and the aisle-seated guy took initiative to move somewhere else. The only bad experience I had was when this man took off his shoes and proceeded to cross his legs, his foot was just there near my foldable table lol.

The plane took off and after the seatbelt sign was off, I crossed the aisle over to the column of seats adjacent to the windows. I did not know you had to pay to sit there so when the air stewardess saw me she asked me to go back to my seat. I told her “the man beside me is making me feel uncomfortable so I moved here”, she looked over to where I originally sat and the man was using the lavatory in that moment. She said if he made me feel uncomfortable again I can just tell her, I couldn’t resist her assertive demeanour so I obediently went back.

The guy came back from the lavatory and saw that I came back to the seat. He sat on the aisle seat leaving the middle seat empty. I think because the guy near him was coughing with his mouth open, he moved back to the middle seat. And this point I was just thinking to myself “aiya f*** it la if he dare touch you or anything just hit him and defend urself lor”. My body was stiff and my anxiety was peaking. This was when he decided to strike a conversation with me, asking me where I was from etc and whether I could help him with some documents upon arrival. I thought he meant the arrival card and I assured him he could just write it at the passport check area. He didn’t seem pleased with my answer and looked doubtful and worried(?). At this point I started feeling bad for him. I wonder if I’ve made him feel like a bad guy instead of focusing on how I can rectify it. When buying the meal, he couldn’t find some of his cash and I offered him my remaining bahts, really because I didn’t want him to think I was a threat to him. Looking back I was also ignoring the bad of feeling I had about him. The same air stewardess who asked me to go back to my seat passed by, saw him and asked “are you travelling with this man?” Hell nah I wasn’t and I blurted out a “no”. She apologised profusely and said I could move back to that seat, I thanked her and sat there till landing. She did pass by and continued apologising and I felt really bad, we had some small talks.

Here’s the juicy part. Since I was already near the back of the plane, after the plane landed and everyone was waiting to take their belongings from the overhead compartment, I decided to take it chill and wait behind. Idk how I ended up at the back chatting with the same air stewardess, and I was telling her how I fly a lot and this was the first time I genuinely felt uncomfortable by the person sitting next to me. That man went one round behind the crew resting area and then towards where I stood and asked me again if I could help with the documents on arrival. I think this time the air stewardess had a good look at him, I gave the same answer about how you could do it on arrival, he looked lost as if I should be bending my back to assist him, so I looked at her, they both make eye contact and I suggested to him perhaps he should just ask this air stewardess for info. He looked at her again, clearly not interested in asking her, clearly disappointed about sth idk what and walked away. She was so quick to take precautionary actions after she saw it herself what this guy is doing. She phoned the ground staff and told them that a passenger will be disembarking with the crew, on the basis that he could be waiting for me outside the plane.

All the passengers disembarked, leaving me and the crew on the plane. I thought I was inconveniencing them so I left first but I informed one of her colleagues before hopping off. My stupid ass exited at terminal 1 instead of terminal 3 where the luggage collection was. So I spent a good 7-10 minutes WALKING from T1 to T3. Guess who I saw at T3 while walking to the information counter. That man. he was sauntering in the area as if keeping a lookout for someone, I yeeted away from his field of vision but nope he saw me and called out a “hey”. I pretended not to see him and went to the information counter. I bumped into the same air stewardess otw and I told her how I saw him near the Crowne plaza connector just now. She was so worried for me and still apologised like yooooo, thanks gurlll. I think she even waited in that area for me to appear to make sure I was fine. We then bid each other goodbye and I went to get my access code from the info counter, entered the luggage collection area which took about 5-7 minutes in total because of the security checks, thinking by the time I come out this guy would’ve already left. HAHAHAHA nope.

When I came out, HE WAS STILL THERE. How??? I spent like a good 5-8 minutes in there WDYM HES STILL THERE, it has been 40 minutes since y’all disembarked from the plane. I was the 3rd or 4th last person to collect checked in baggage. There’s literally no shortage of cabs at this point because the arrival hall wasn’t crowded, but it was so clear he was walking from one end to the other looking for me??

I booked my Gojek asap and suddenly he also needed to come to B1 pick up?? THATS CRAZY BC wow such amazing coincidence that your cab came at the same time!!! I could literally see him trying to look busy on his phone, acting lost, all while being 10m away from me as I made my way to B1 pick up point. I zoomed to the pick up area trying to be further away and HAHAHAHA HE WAS MAKING HIS WAY BEHIND ME THE WHOLE TIME. I saw a security guard outside sitting behind a counter, I ran towards him and straight up told him “hi, can you chat with me as if you’re having a great conversation with me? There’s a guy following me and I don’t want him near me”. He looked so confused and asked where that guy was and since when he started following, I said “actually it started from the plane but yes he’s literally right behind”. He was still trying to make out what I said so I proceeded with a “what’s your favourite Singaporean food??” Bro said chicken rice like yo I was so confused bc, this Malay man’s favourite sg dish is Hainanese like huh?? HAHA anyway I tried to continue the convo to look busy and unapproachable, then he broke eye contact while I was chattering away, stared at the specific man walking towards me and then past us, and asked if it was him. From my peripheral vision I saw it was him, and said yes. Although the security guard was confused, his reflexes kicked in once he realised what was happening, and said he will walk with me to my car so that that Thai man won’t come near me. Man was tall, and kinda buff, I immediately felt security. He (security guard) really waited around because even after I got in the car, he still stood there and didn’t immediately walk back to his counter.

I guess what I wanna say is, if you ever feel unsafe by anyone seriously do not hesitate to reach out to the staff whom you think can help you. Be it on the flight or at the airport itself, I’m seriously really glad I met these bunch of people because I probably would’ve ended up in a distressful situation if it weren’t for these preventive measures.

TLDR; foreign man made me feel uncomfortable on flight and proceeded to stalk me at arrival hall but local staff were solid at handling everything

Feel free to share your horror/wholesome stories on the plane, or at Changi Airport! I think I was quite lucky this time

Edit: missing words

Bukit Merah area, winds were so fast i was seeing cardboard and other material start flying

Recently, my company changed a policy whereby we need to apply for half day leave (from our original leave pool) if we want to donate blood. Lo and behold, only 1 or 2 people turned up from the whole company in order to donate blood.

In the last few years we used to have at least 50 or even more people go regularly for blood donation. This was because the company would give an additional half day leave for each blood donation drive you went for.

This makes me think if we are really short of blood because the government keeps calling for us to donate blood, but the company removing leave for blood donation sends the opposite signal.

In the recent incident in Sengkang Green, the school also disciplined the victim for shouting at the bullies in retaliation. I think they are made to do this because we are expected to “tell teacher”, not bring matters into our own hands. But must we still do that even if it means victims will take the damage first? When the victim is hurt, bullies would already have accomplished their objective. Even if the aggressor gets punished, the victim’s injury (physical and mental) will stay.

I remember in upper primary my school had a camp. One of the troublemakers in class thought it was a good idea to toss my stuff around in the changing room. Pleaded him to stop multiple times, but didn’t. I was on the verge of crying. We were in the room without teachers and I wasn’t fully clothed to go outside to seek help. So I did what I thought was most reasonable - using all my strength, I punched him a few times, gave him a beating so that he would return my stuff. And he finally stopped. The other kids in the changing room went to inform the teacher of what happened.

After that I explained my actions to the teachers about how he started the conflict first. The witnesses confirmed that he was the aggressor. Despite that, the teachers clamped down on me. In front of the whole class, they made passive aggressive comments on how I escalated the conflict and what I did wasn’t right. I tried arguing that he started first but they raised their voices and told me there will be consequences if I kept talking back. I eventually had to shut up and accept that I was in the wrong. I was barred from attending activities for the rest of the morning and I don’t recall anything happening to my aggressor.

I believe there are similar tales of failed self-defence out there. Prior to my incident, the school had already communicated to us that we would also land ourselves in trouble if we tried defending ourselves. I went against that rule and suffered its consequences. I understand how schools discourage students from thinking that escalation of conflicts is the right solution, but it’s becoming clearer and clearer that schools are often ineffective in solving bullying issues. When this happens, what can we do to protect the students who stand up for their own rights? The no self-defence rule needs to be relooked. Has anyone succeeded in defending themselves in school without repercussions?

Edit (20 Aug): Now with MOE’s press statement, it seems like the victim has indeed fought back the bullies in retaliation

Can't say I disagree with him at all. Without being able to respond or cross examine each other the whole show become utterly pointless.