Deep Dive

Some pet owners have had to pay five-figure sums when their pets fall seriously ill. Is the current system in need of greater scrutiny and regulation? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Dr Diana Chee, director at the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) and Dr Angeline Yang, a veterinarian and owner of VetMobile. 

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Tech giant Grab has told its employees to return to the office five days a week starting in December. This follows other MNCs such as Amazon. Do the reasons for mandating full-time office work stand up to scrutiny? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert discuss this with guests Karen Teo, country manager for recruitment and talent firm Quess Singapore, and Dr Issac Lim, founder of Anthro Insights and lecturer at NUS Business School.

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Up to 20,000 additional certificates of entitlement (COEs) will be progressively injected across all vehicle categories from February 2025. Why is the government making this move and will this bring COE premiums down? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences and Arthur Wong, managing director of ACM Automobiles. 

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More than 35,600 applications were received in the October Build-to-Order (BTO) flat sales exercise, the highest number since August 2022. A 10-year minimum occupation period, clawback rules and rental restrictions did not deter strong demand for Prime and Plus HDB flats. Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at MOGUL.sg and Professor Sing Tien Foo from the NUS Business School.

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Cases of people falling seriously ill after eating contaminated food have been in the spotlight. Why does severe food poisoning happen and are caterers the only one to clean up their act? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Dr Richard Khaw, deputy director of the School of Applied Sciences at Nanyang Polytechnic and Chris Loh, creative director of Purple Sage and Rasel Catering.

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The latest edition of Miss Universe Singapore was made more inclusive, with a single mother and a transgender woman as contestants. But how relevant are beauty pageants? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert take a beauty deep dive with Angela Tay, managing director of ERM Singapore which organises Mrs Singapore World and Manhunt Singapore and Mrs Veronica Lee, this year's winner of Mrs Singapore World.

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In a recent viral video, a Qihua primary school student was seen being repeatedly attacked. The case is under police investigation but is bullying getting worse in Singapore? What are the causes and why are perpetrators filming their deeds? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Cheung Hoi Shan, assistant professor at the National Institute of Education, MOE master school counsellor Sean Ng and Beyond the Label ambassador Cindy Chu.

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Former transport minister S Iswaran was handed a one year sentence by Judge Vincent Hoong on five charges, including obtaining gifts as a public servant. Why did he get more than what the prosecution asked for? Head of criminal law at Quahe Woo and Palmer, Sunil Sudheesan, explains the rare move. Plus, Crispina Robert gets a firsthand account from senior journalist Koh Wan Ting who covered the court proceedings.

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The Enabling Masterplan 2030 aims to increase the employment of people with varying disabilities. What are the biggest challenges and what does it take to get more companies onboard? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Ho Geok Choo, founder and CEO of Human Capital Singapore and DG Carole Ann, a multiple amputee who works at ServLink Technology Resources.

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Bus and train fares in Singapore will go up by 10 cents per journey for adult commuters from Dec 28. How are public transport fees calculated and what is the role of government subsidies? Steven Chia and Crispina Robert get Assistant Professor Terence Fan from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at the Singapore Management University, and Dr Raymond Ong, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NUS to explain.

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