Deep Dive

Is the cost of dental care stopping Singaporeans from going for preventive checks or getting timely treatment? With almost 80 per cent of dental care provided by the private sector, those who cannot afford private fees may face longer waits for subsidised care. Tiffany Ang and Steven Chia speak with Dr Yeo Kok Beng, CEO of Royce Dental Group, and Associate Professor Jeremy Lim from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine about what drives dental fees, why dental care has not received the same level of public support as medical care and whether the local dental industry's current public-private mix is leaving some people behind.

Related: I'm Turning 55 With 24 Teeth Left: What Would Losing More Cost Me? | Talking Point
Reference: MOH Guide to Dental Treatment Costs and fee benchmarks

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Ghosted by your interior designer, left with unfinished renovation work or stuck waiting for your furniture to be delivered? For some homeowners, creating their dream home can quickly turn into a costly nightmare. So, what can homeowners do to protect themselves from renovation woes? What red flags should they look out for before signing a contract, and what can they do when things go wrong? In this week’s Deep Dive, Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with interior designer Shaun Fong and litigator Pang Khin Wee from IRB Law to unpack the risks, red flags and safeguards that every homeowner should know before embarking on a home renovation.

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Another delay to the construction of the North-South Corridor means two more years of dust, noise and disruption for affected residents, businesses and pedestrians. For an engineering project of this scale and complexity, are delays simply part of the process or could more have been done to prevent them? And as businesses grapple with declining footfall and mounting losses, what can be done to help them ride out the prolonged disruption? In this week’s Deep Dive, Steven Chia speaks with Dr David Ng from The Institution of Engineers, Singapore - who has worked on major infrastructure projects from the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) to MRT lines - and business owner Alvin Lin about the challenges surrounding the Corridor project, from the engineering difficulties to the business fallouts.

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Recent controversies over the Nepal-Tibet floods and the debate over Singapore Airlines’ investment into Air India have once again put Singaporeans’ attitudes towards race and immigration in the spotlight. Does this reflect growing racist views in society, or is social media amplifying the racism of a minority? Are we also up against something more sinister, like AI bots creating divisions? Can we have meaningful discussions about hot-button immigration or social issues without resorting to racism and stereotypes? And will the new racial harmony law – which took effect on Sep 15 – put the brakes on racist commentators online, or will it drive them underground? Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with Dr Mathew Mathews from the Institute of Policy Studies and associate professor Natalie Pang from the National University of Singapore about what’s driving these conversations, where the lines should be drawn and how we can do better.

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A convincing livestreamer, thousands of reviews or professional-looking packaging may make an online food purchase feel safe to buy. But none of these can tell you whether the food itself is safe. With more of our shopping moving online, have we become better - or worse - at assessing the risks? Tiffany Ang and Steven Chia speak with Dr Vinayak Ghate from the department of food science and technology at NUS and Dexter Tay, executive director at the Consumers Association of Singapore, about what consumers can and cannot tell from food labels, seller claims and customer reviews.

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A pat on a child's head by an elderly man at Roxy Square, which led to a shoving incident, has ignited debate about how a gesture can be seen as friendly affection by one person but viewed as an unwanted touch by another. As social norms shift, how should adults respond when they feel that children's boundaries are crossed? Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with Tey Beng Huan, psychologist at Temasek Polytechnic Centre for Applied Behavioural Sciences, and Kelly Tay, CEO of Juicy Parenting (@juicy.parenting), parent educator and author.

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This year’s National Day Rally brought welcome news for parents. From additional childcare leave and lower childcare centre costs to increased financial support under the new Singapore Child Support Package, the measures signal a push by the Government to provide families with more sustained support. But will these measures be enough to persuade parents who are already juggling full-time jobs and family life to have another child? How can those with no children not feel left behind? In this week’s Deep Dive, Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau and working parents Rachael Cheong and Yuvaraj Uthaman about their lived realities and whether the new initiatives can truly move the needle when it comes to family planning.

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Two AI-generated local films released over the National Day weekend sparked an uproar, with viewers calling them "AI slop". But in the age of generative AI when music, films and images can be created in minutes, what happens to the creatives who have spent years perfecting their technical skills? Is AI democratising creativity or devaluing the creative craft? Are we hurtling towards a future where the audience expects infinite content made with little creative input from humans? In this week’s episode of Deep Dive, Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang sit down with two people who are on the opposite ends of this creative process for a debate – Playbox Studios founder Basil Yeo who doesn’t use AI in his media agency's works and Matthew Lee, co-creator of Recess Remix, a TikTok account that used AI to remix school songs.

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From getting Healthpoints for donating blood to being paid for reading, Singaporeans are increasingly being incentivised to do what's beneficial for themselves and society. But when the rewards stop, will the good behaviour stop too? And could all these incentives make us a more transactional society? Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with Dr Serene Koh from the Behavioural Insights Team and assistant professor Lawrence Jin from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on the intentions of putting incentives at work, when they backfire, and whether rewards produce long-term benefits.

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The recent arrests of three self-radicalised teenagers under the Internal Security Act (ISA) have sent shockwaves through Singapore, with attacks in schools planned in two cases. What makes young people vulnerable to extremist ideologies? And what more can parents, schools and friends do as the online world increasingly shapes their exposure and belief? Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with Professor Kumar Ramakrishna, dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and Dr Mohamed Feisal Hassan, secretary and counsellor at the Religious Rehabilitation Group, to unpack the evolving threat of radicalisation, the warning signs to watch for, and what you should do if you suspect someone may be at risk.

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