My grandmother is a second-generation Teochew Singaporean.

Her family hailed from Jieyang, one of three major Teochew cities in China's Eastern Guangdong Province.

Like many her age, being a girl in pre-war Singapore meant not having much of an education, if any at all.

We speak exclusively in dialect – her in her native Teochew and me in my half-baked imitation, but we get by.

Lost in translation

To my grandma, Teochew forms a huge part of her identity.

I often hear about her early life in Singapore – how kampungs sorted themselves by dialect groups, how they supported each other in a language only they knew.

Things get lost in translation, though. Since the 1979 Speak Mandarin Campaign, which restricted the use of dialects in favour of Mandarin, communicating with younger generations of Singaporeans became limited to her tiny arsenal of about 10 Mandarin words.

And so when Chinese Indie film "Dear You" landed in Singapore's cinemas on Jun. 18 to much fanfare, I found the plot all too familiar.

The story centres around a Chinese man's search for his "billionaire grandfather" in Thailand, before discovering that the one who has been corresponding with his grandmother for years is not her husband.

Like the male protagonist, my grandmother's father was among the influx of Chinese immigrants who moved to Southeast Asia in the 1930s to find work amidst social and political turmoil back home.

"Teochews must look out for each other" is frequently mentioned by characters in the film. Like them, my great-grandfather relied heavily on those who arrived before him to build a life in a foreign land.

According to my grandma, he would send letters and money to relatives back home, relying on a handful of neighbours who could read and write in Mandarin.

The Teochew community banded together through their common dialect, much like how some Singaporeans abroad might find familiarity in hearing Singlish.

Dubbing a dialect movie

Despite its modest budget of 14 million yuan (S$2.66 million) and a largely unknown cast, the film was a sleeper hit, poised to become the third Chinese film to break a million dollars at the box office this year.

But it wasn't just the heartfelt dialogue or nostalgic scenes of 1950s Siam, or Thailand, that sparked conversation, but the fact that, except for limited screenings, the Teochew film was dubbed over in Mandarin here.

Calls were made by members of the public, filmmakers and even members of parliament to reconsider the restriction.

In a Facebook post, Workers' Party's Hougang MP Dennis Tan called for the preservation of the nation's dialect heritage, citing dialects like Teochew and Hokkien as the language of communication among many of his residents at Hougang.

"I have come to believe that our dialect group heritage is as much a part of our Singaporean Chinese cultural heritage as any of the customs we more readily celebrate."

PAP's Bishan-Toa Payoh MP Cai Yinzhou wrote in a Facebook post that, in light of many residents' disappointment about the dubbing choice, he had filed parliamentary questions to the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) to clarify the decision.

"I ask this as language carries culture. Dialects and language nuances are part of how stories are told and remembered," he said.

In a Straits Times forum, local filmmakers Eric Khoo and Jack Neo called for a relaxation of the policy altogether, calling it "outdated".

MDDI attributed the decision to dub the movie on Jun. 22 as part of the government's longstanding policy to promote Mandarin as one of the nation's four official languages.

"This has helped to strengthen Mandarin proficiency across generations and facilitate communication among Chinese Singaporeans from different dialect backgrounds," the statement said.

That is very true.

But 'facilitating communication' takes on different meanings depending on who you ask. For my grandma, who was much too poor to have an education and much too old to learn a new language in 1979, restricting her dialect meant taking away her ability to use the only form of communication she knew.

This continues even today.

A Teochew watching a Teochew film...in Mandarin

My grandma watched the Mandarin-dubbed version of "Dear You" on its opening day on Jun. 18 after failing to secure tickets from the first slate of Teochew releases.

When I asked for her thoughts on it, it was not to my surprise that she said she failed to understand a majority of the dialogue.

The most memorable parts of the film to her were its visual aspects, including the architecture of the share house where the protagonist lived and the streets of Siam.

It dawned on me that without her familiar language, images became the only way she could form an emotional connection with the story, much like the characters' practice of sending photographs alongside letters they couldn't read.

Asked what would have made the film better, my grandma's response was: "I think the Teochew version would have been much clearer."

Nuances and sentiments

The irony was not lost on me that a film intended to celebrate the contributions of early Chinese settlers in Southeast Asia had excluded that very group, all because of a language barrier.

It was not just words that had been lost in translation, but the sentiments that came with them.

Being fortunate enough to catch both versions of the film, I found an unassuming 30-second scene in the second half of the film that best illustrated this imbalance.

As the male protagonist set off on sea in his new fishing business alongside other Teochews, the group began reciting a once-famous Chinese nursery rhyme.

It loosely translates as such:

One whorl sits neatly.

Two whorls walk on foot.

Three whorls have rice to cook.

Four whorls no rice to cook.

Five whorls have five fields.

Six whorls split their hearts,

Seven whorls bring seven benefits.

Eight whorls bring begging.

Nine whorls, nine peace and safety.

Ten whorls can make you a high-ranking official.

The rhyme was a superstition that a person's whorls (fingerprints) can determine their fates.

Originating in Chaoshan, Guangdong, it also captured a familiarity with the hardship faced by immigrants in that generation, like the protagonist, my grandma and her father.

Yet it flew over my grandma's head when recited in Mandarin, arguably for sounding too literal.

To me, it was also much less poetic.

A policy that needs an update?

As Cai said, dialects and language nuances are part of how stories are told and remembered. It might also capture emotions that mainstream languages cannot convey.

Take for example Manpower Minister Tan See Leng's quotation of a Cantonese movie phrase during a parliamentary Committee of Supply debate on Mar. 7, 2025:

@mothershipsg Manpower minister Tan See Leng used a Cantonese movie quote to describe his interactions with NCMP Leong Mun Wai in Parliament #singapore #sgnews #tiktoksg #fypsg #parliament ♬ original sound - Mothership

The moment became a debated point about the use of dialects in parliament, but it remains arguably true that there was no more transparent way to convey Tan's message.

Much like how "delicious" doesn't begin to capture the essence of "shiok", or how I wouldn't share the same closeness to my grandma if I had never learnt to speak in Teochew.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced on Jun. 22 that it would take a "more flexible approach" to the screening of dialect films in Singapore in light of recent calls from the onset of "Dear You".

Judging from the two slates of Teochew ticket sell-outs so far, that flexibility will hopefully bear fruit.

I, for one, say go for it.

Or as my grandmother would say, "Ga Ga Kia".

A couple in the United States, who discovered they had been implanted with the wrong embryo, will retain permanent custody of the child, despite having no biological relation to her.

Steven Mills and Tiffany Score reached a custody agreement with the child’s biological parents in a court filing via their lawsuit against a Florida fertility clinic, NBC reported.

An attorney representing the biological parents stated that they "intend to remain a part of this child’s life, while recognising the impossible situation that both families have been placed in, through no fault of their own".

The mix-up

Mills and Score, who are both white, first suspected a mix-up after their daughter, Shea, was born in December 2025.

According to a lawsuit seen by NBC, the couple noticed that their newborn "displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child".

Genetic testing conducted in January 2026 confirmed that the baby was 100 per cent South Asian, proving she was not biologically related to either Mills or Score.

The Florida fertility center later admitted that Score had been implanted with another couple’s embryo via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), rather than one created using her own egg and Mills' sperm, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The mix-up also left the fate of the couple's own embryos up in the air.

In 2020, the couple had stored three embryos at the clinic.

According to Orlando Sentinel, one resulted in a miscarriage and one remains in storage.

However, the third embryo is still unaccounted for.

As part of their lawsuit, Mills and Score sought to identify Shea's biological parents and demanded the clinic pay for genetic testing for other patients' children to check for further mix-ups.

Choosing to keep Shea

In an amended January complaint, Mills and Score had formed an "intensely strong emotional bond" with Shea and wanted to keep her in their care, but also recognised that she should be "legally and morally united with her genetic parents", The Guardian reported.

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According to a "mutually devised custody agreement" filed in court, the couple will "continue as the permanent custodial parents of their daughter", the couple's attorney said in a court document seen by the Orlando Sentinel.

The details of the custody agreement will remain private, according to a court filing seen by The Guardian.

Since the incident, the fertility center announced on its website that it would no longer operate after May 20.

“Questions about the disposition of our own embryos are still unanswered and are even more unlikely to ever be answered,” the couple said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

“Only one thing is as absolutely certain as it was on the day our daughter was born – we will love and be this child’s parents forever.”

A 49-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to 11 months’ jail after being found in possession of child abuse material on his electronic devices.

Tou Jen Hau pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing child abuse materials on Jun. 22, The Straits Times reported.

Raid

In court documents seen by Mothership, police raided his home and seized Tou’s devices on Mar. 6, 2023.

His devices consisted of a laptop, a four-terabyte hard drive, and another 10-terabyte hard drive.

Investigations revealed that Tou possessed adult pornography and child abuse material.

Child abuse material

A total of 13 of the videos extracted from his devices were identified as child abuse material.

The videos depicted children, who appeared to be aged between nine and 15, engaging in sexual poses and activities.

Genital regions of male children were also depicted.

The faces of at least 23 out of 24 of the children were visible in 12 of the videos.

Tou would search and download the materials from a file-sharing platform, using search terms such as “boy”, “pedo”, or “phtc”, an acronym that stood for “pre-teen hardcore”.

After downloading the materials, he would move the videos from his computer to his external hard drives so that the file-sharing platform would not automatically allow others to download the pornography from his computer.

Tou would then organise them into folders.

He admitted that he downloaded child abuse materials since 2010 and intentionally sought them for his own viewing and sexual pleasure.

Hour-long video

The prosecution sought a jail term of between 13 and 14 months for Tou, stating that one of the videos found in his possession was about an hour long.

Any person found in possession of child abuse materials may be liable to a jail term of up to five years, fined or caned.

A truck carrying sand skidded and overturned along the Tampines Expressway (TPE).

The incident occurred on Jun. 22 at about 2:35pm, towards the Pan Island Expressway (PIE), before Exit 2A to Upper Changi Road East.

In photos circulating online, the truck was seen resting on its side.

The sand it was carrying spilled across the rightmost lane of the road.

The road barrier was also damaged.

Traffic on one lane was cordoned off.

An Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System (EMAS) vehicle was also at the scene, while workers removed fallen trees and debris.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said the truck was believed to have self-skidded.

A 36-year-old male driver sustained minor injuries but refused to be taken to hospital.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Civil servants in Singapore will receive a mid-year Annual Variable Component (AVC) of 0.45 months, the government announced on Jun. 23, following close consultation with public sector unions.

Junior grade officers will also receive an additional one-time payment on top of the AVC.

Civil servants in grades equivalent to MX13(I) and MX14 will receive S$250, while those in grades equivalent to MX15 and MX16, as well as those under the Operations Support Scheme (OSS), will receive S$400.

Why 0.45 months?

The Public Service Division said the mid-year payment takes into account Singapore's economic performance in the first quarter of 2026, while noting that downside risks to Singapore's economic outlook remain significant, citing the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.

Singapore's GDP growth forecast for 2026 remains at 2 per cent to 4 per cent, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

On the labour market front, the Ministry of Manpower's advance estimates also showed the labour market held up in the first quarter of 2026, though hiring has slowed compared to the final quarter of 2025.

What happens at year-end?

The government and public sector unions said they will jointly monitor economic developments for the rest of the year and calibrate year-end AVC payments accordingly, taking into consideration the National Wages Council guidelines, which will be released later in the year.

A 43-year-old Singaporean man was convicted for littering for the 13th time.

Tang Bo Xiang has been convicted since 2000.

He was fined S$2,500 and ordered to perform 12 hours of corrective work on May 15, 2026.

This was part of the National Environment Agency (NEA) enforcement efforts and stakeholder partnerships to uphold public cleanliness and hygiene, the agency said on Jun. 23.

3,000 fines

From January to March 2026, NEA issued about 3,000 fines for ground littering offences islandwide.

NEA also conducted 66 enforcement blitzes at cleanliness hotspots identified through localised litter counts, public feedback, and sustained ground observations.

At these hotspots, visible patrols, standees, surveillance cameras, and ground engagements were carried out and deployed to deter littering.

A total of 150 Corrective Work Orders (CWOs) were also issued in the first quarter of 2026.

Offenders will be required to perform corrective work at these hotspots.

Any individual who litters is liable to a fine of up to S$2,000 for a first conviction, S$4,000 for a second conviction, and S$10,000 for the third and subsequent convictions.

A corrective work order requiring offenders to clean public areas for up to 12 hours may be imposed.

Decline in rat burrows

NEA's two-monthly surveillance cycle recorded a decrease in the average number of rat burrows per cycle from about 4,900 in 2025 to about 2,900 in early 2026, based on the January-February and March-April cycles.

The majority of burrows were detected in public housing estates, followed by grass verges along roadsides and in industrial estates.

NEA and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) also conducted about 260 joint enforcement actions against premises owners for rat-related lapses from January to March 2026.

About 150 were for poor refuse management.

Partnerships and ground efforts

Areas with high trade activity and poor refuse management were targeted under the Cleaner Neighbourhood initiative.

At Chai Chee Avenue/Road, refuse management lapses fell by more than half from 23 in November 2025 to 10 at the end of February 2026.

This was done through engagements with trade premises on proper refuse management, close collaboration with town councils to reduce visible waste, and the deployment of surveillance cameras.

Similar progress was also observed during the same period at Serangoon Avenue 2 and 3, where refuse management lapses dropped 52 per cent.

Advisories were issued to trade premises to install additional bins and remove bulky items stored outside their shops, which can serve as potential harbourage for rats.

These efforts have led to 12 enforcement actions taken, including two enforcement actions under the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act 1998 issued to a premises owner, amounting to a S$6,000 fine.

Good rat management practices by premises owners were also observed.

AMK Hub has reportedly not experienced sustained rat activity since the end of 2023, which was attributed to deliberate focus on prevention, early detection, and quick response, rather than relying solely on reactive pest control.

This includes training staff to spot early signs of rat activity, isolating F&B units to limit rat movement, and having clear protocols in place for fast containment.

The approach was tested.

When a rat was brought in with raw materials, it was detected promptly and trapped shortly, with no further activity observed.

These measures adhered to NEA's rat management guidelines, emphasising prevention and the use of technology alongside conventional control methods.

Premises managers and owners who fail to practise proper refuse management or create conditions favourable to the harbouring or propagating of rats may face a fine of up to S$20,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both, for first-time offenders.

For a first offence under the Environmental Public Health (Public Cleansing) Regulations, premises owners can be fined up to S$1,000.

After he was released from prison for cheating, a Singaporean man was still on a remission order when he flew to Cambodia and helped an organised criminal group cheat others in Singapore.

For about a month from October 2024, Muhammad Firdaus Bin Abdul Rahman, now 37, impersonated government officials in scam calls to people in Singapore.

Then, after he returned to Singapore, he took another job from someone still linked to the group, helping to collect a total of S$656,788 in cash from scam victims in April and May 2025.

On Jun. 22, he was convicted of being a member of an organised criminal group, and assisting someone in gaining benefits from criminal conduct, both breaching the conditions of his remission order.

Accepting a scam job

Prior to this offence, Firdaus was sentenced in November 2022 to two years and seven months in prison for cheating, according to court documents.

After his release, he was placed on a remission order from Sep. 24, 2024, to Aug. 3, 2025.

Sometime before October 2024, when Firdaus was no longer subjected to electronic monitoring, he learnt about a scam job in Cambodia.

A friend of his, identified as Jackson Lim Soon Lai, reached out with the job offer, telling Firdaus that the basic pay was S$1,000 on top of a 3 per cent commission.

Firdaus accepted the job knowing that Lim was in the business of engaging in illegal activity, the court documents Mothership saw stated.

Impersonating government officials

After flying to Cambodia on Oct. 3, 2024, Firdaus worked in an office heavily guarded with about 15 guards and some guard dogs, located near one of the country's borders.

The office had about 60 people carrying out various kinds of scams, Firdaus said later.

The women engaged in internet love scams, while he and another man impersonated government officials.

They were instructed to make calls to Singapore phone numbers and claim that they were from the Singapore Cyber Emergency Response Team (SingCERT), a government-run organisation that responds to cybersecurity incidents.

Firdaus was to call about cybersecurity-related issues, and if the receiver believed him, he would transfer the call to another line for a colleague to talk to them.

If the syndicate manages to successfully scam the receiver into transferring money to them, and if Firdaus was the one who made the initial call, he would get a cut of the money.

After making such scam calls for about a month, Firdaus was hospitalised, with his medical fees paid for by the scam syndicate.

After he was discharged, he flew back to Singapore alone.

Collecting money and information

Back in Singapore, Firdaus continued to assist Lim with tasks knowing that they were linked to scams.

As requested by Lim, he would send information about the Singapore police and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), ranging from pictures to information about their activity publicly available on the internet.

Around Apr. 19, 2025, Lim asked him for help to collect packages of money and hand them off to a stranger, promising payment for his assistance.

Knowing that the money were benefits from criminal conduct, Firdaus took the job, and collected about S$656,788 from 14 different victims of government official impersonation scams.

The places he went to collect the money included residential flats, shopping malls, and a playground.

He was paid at least S$1,000 for this job.

Without providing details on how he was caught, court documents stated that Firdaus was arrested on May 5, 2025, and has been in remand since.

Sentencing

The prosecutor sought a prison sentence from five years and seven months, to six years and three months, with an enhancement of up to about eight months for the breaching of his remission order.

Including the assistance he provided after returning to Singapore, Firdaus' involvement with criminal group went on for seven months, only stopping due to his arrest by the police, the prosecutor pointed out.

In court, Firdaus' lawyer called for a shorter sentence, The Straits Times reported.

Firdaus had a heart-related health issue, and was in a coma for three days while he was in remand, the lawyer said.

He will be sentenced in August.

A five-year-old boy in Hong Kong died after his 38-year-old mother physically abused and starved him to death in September 2022.

At the time of his death, he was a mere 9.7kg, which is half the normal weight for his age, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

The mother, only identified as “LST” at the High Court, pleaded guilty on Jun. 22 to one count each of manslaughter and child cruelty.

129 injuries

The judge described the case as “extremely serious”, adding that the level of abuse involved was “at the top end” of the scale for such a crime.

An autopsy report showed the boy had starved to death and had also suffered 129 injuries to different parts of his body, SCMP reported.

The mother also had an elder daughter and a younger son, with all three children sent to a care centre at some point in their lives, as she was deemed unable to care for them.

The boy, who was born in April 2017, had reportedly been in foster care under the Social Welfare Department’s supervision since he was two months old.

He is said to have suffered from symptoms of substance withdrawal as a newborn, likely as a result of being exposed to narcotics during pregnancy.

The judge ordered the prosecution to look into why he eventually returned to his mother’s care sometime between 2020 and 2021.

He was also absent from nursery for more than two-thirds of school time during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years.

Confined to room

The boy’s sister, who was eight years old at the time of his death, told police that their mother did not allow him to get off his bed and struck him if he did so.

He was forced to eat and urinate in his room, and was only allowed to leave the room a few times a week.

The mother did not allow him to attend classes remotely as well, as she did not want others to see him.

Death

On Sep. 3, 2022, the mother reportedly called her friend and claimed to have beaten the boy to death.

Local media HK01 reported that the mother also called the police at about 1am, and police officers found her standing precariously on the ledge of her apartment.

She was rescued through a window, and officers found the boy unconscious with bruises on his face and his eyes and mouth slightly open.

Investigations later revealed that the mother had already found the boy dead during the afternoon of the day before.

She reportedly said she had woken up from a nap to discover his “stone cold” body by her side.

She admitted to the police that she had noticed he was malnourished, but did not take it too seriously.

She also said she would hit his palm and buttocks with a cane or a clothes hanger when he was disobedient.

Weighed only 9.7kg

Court records showed that while the boy had weighed 14.6kg in early 2020, he was only 9.7kg at the time of his death, SCMP reported.

The cause of death was later confirmed to be “severe protein-energy malnutrition”.

The mother will return to court for sentencing on Jul. 24.

A 34-year-old man, who went missing for two days, was found in a weak state in a public toilet in Melaka, Malaysia, after reportedly conducting a livestream on paranormal activities.

He was found at a public toilet near Skytrex Adventure Melaka on Jun. 21 at about 3:03pm, Bernama and Guang Ming Daily reported.

Livestream

According to local police, the man had been carrying out a TikTok livestream centred on paranormal activities.

The man was apparently conducting the livestream at the Ayer Keroh Country Club Resort area at about 8:30pm on Jun. 19 when it was abruptly cut off at about 9pm.

The man's friend, who viewed the livestream, reportedly grew worried about his safety and went to the area to search for him.

His friend also attempted to contact the man by phone and WhatsApp but received no response.

His friend did not manage to find him.

He eventually filed a missing person’s report at 3:29am on Jun. 21.

Search

With assistance from the local fire and rescue department, the police conducted a search operation.

The man was eventually discovered by a member of the public.

He was found apparently in a weakened and exhausted state.

He received initial medical attention on site before being conveyed to the hospital for further treatment.

A 70-year-old woman, who had lived in a cluttered three-room flat in Bedok for years, was in for a surprise when volunteers helping to clear her home found thousands of dollars in coins and several gold chains buried amid the clutter.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, has been living in the flat with her younger sister for more than a decade.

According to Chinese-language daily Shin Min Daily News, the pair had depended on each other after their parents died, but the home gradually became filled with clutter following their mother's death more than 10 years ago.

Plastic bags containing electrical appliances, cardboard boxes, clothes and other items piled up over time, eventually leaving only a narrow path through the flat.

"Even our bedroom was packed with bags, both on the inside and outside, making it difficult to enter," the woman said, adding that the sisters had even lost track of what was inside some of the bags.

Cleanup efforts

On Jun. 6, volunteers from AMKSS Social Move, a ground-up community initiative founded by Michael Sim, alongside a group of Ang Mo Kio Secondary School alumni, stepped in to help, Shin Min reported.

The group, comprising between 20 and 30 volunteers, and more than 10 others from the town council, spent about eight hours sorting through and clearing out the flat, going through the bags and sorting out items that could be discarded.

It was during this process that volunteers found a stash of coins, believed to weigh upwards of 10kg in total, along with gold chains that had belonged to the woman's late mother.

"If it weren't for this big clean-up, I would never have known that these items existed," the woman said. "It was a pleasant surprise, and I am very grateful to Sim and the team for their help."

"I've been living in such an environment for years"

According to Shin Min, the woman said her younger sister, who suffers from depression and poor health, had increasingly hoarded items in recent years.

She said the room sometimes smelled of urine and that there were bedbugs in the house.

"I've asked her to clean it, but she won't listen. I've been living in such an environment for years, and I feel very helpless," she said.

The woman further added that she had resorted to sleeping in the toilet for several months to avoid being bitten by bedbugs.

Sim said the clean-up was prompted after the younger sister was hospitalised earlier this month.

A hospital social worker who learned of the sisters' living conditions then contacted his group for help.

"The situation at their home was very serious, and I was worried about potential safety hazards, so I made arrangements immediately," he said.

It took about five visits to the flat, including for pest control, before the home was cleaned up to its current state.

Sim added that further repairs are still needed, such as repainting the walls and replacing doors and cabinets, with volunteers having covered about S$2,000 in costs out of pocket so far.

In a Facebook post, AMKSS Social Move said the clean-up, which was supported by East Coast Town Council, the Housing and Development Board (HDB), as well as the New Environment Action Team (NEAT), had transformed the woman's home into "a safer, cleaner and more comfortable living environment".