#879: Can Grace Fu's Haze Task Force Keep Up? & HDB Defends ‘Pathetic’ Tengah BTO Kitchen

Terence (0:00)

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to continue doing Yah Lah But. In these crazy times, there's always some dire news about how humans are going to be replaced and how the media industry will be the first to be made redundant with AI taking over everything. But the funny thing is, a lot of listeners still come up to me with a message to keep doing what you're doing. I guess amidst all this chaos and uncertainty, sometimes we need to huddle together and make sense of the craziness in this world. Together, that's all we need to get through the day. So do us a favour. If Yah Lah But has ever helped you feel a little less alone in this crazy world, help us hit the follow button on this app. It means a lot to us. Thanks for listening.

Haresh (0:39)

What's up everybody? Welcome to another episode of Yah Lah. Your Thrice Weekly Podcast, where we talk about the hottest news with a touch of what? Terence.

Terence (0:49)

Good old humour.

Haresh (0:51)

Good old humour, man. Yeah. How come you're smiling, man?

Terence (0:54)

What a beautiful day it is.

Haresh (0:56)

Beautiful morning, afternoon.

Terence (0:59)

I did maybe the most daring thing I've done in like the last two months. I opened my windows this morning when.

Haresh (1:05)

Wow. Blue skies. I could see clouds.

Terence (1:08)

Yeah.

Haresh (1:09)

I could see clouds. It really feels like, you know, we've never had the winter going to spring kind of moment, but this felt like spring in Singapore.

Terence (1:16)

Yeah. I used to say that about Singapore. There was no such thing as a beautiful day. Because every day is hot. And then compared to overseas, like winter countries or like when the sun's out on a summer day after, you know, winter frost. Spring, spring, spring. Yeah. That day is just beautiful. Everyone's just rolling around the grass wearing like, you know, swimwear, walking around.

Today is the day in Singapore that I feel like everyone's like, wow, the mood's so much better.

Haresh (1:41)

You were rolling around in the grass in swimwear.

Terence (1:43)

No, I wasn't.

Haresh (1:43)

I wasn't.

Terence (1:44)

But I was like, wow, the sun, the sunshine, the way the sun rays come in so nice. Let me take a picture.

Haresh (1:49)

Yeah, I also just opened all my home windows, turn on the fan, get some ventilation, like recycle the air a bit.

Terence (1:55)

Yeah, I mean, it was actually, but I don't exactly know when this happened, this transition happened, because I was away over the weekend in Malaysia. Haze was, you know, the haze, pretty bad then. Was Sunday, was it clearing up Sunday?

Also, you foresaw this coming already.

Haresh (2:10)

I mean, couldn't foresaw, you never know what to expect. But Sunday yesterday, it did feel clearer.

But still, okay, still haze, I checked. That night was still like, I think, 100 plus where I was. But this morning was like 45 I was like, holy shit.

Terence (2:24)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, that's the thing. I wasn't around. So I don't know whether it was a sudden thing or what. But it seemed like, yeah, all the hysteria, the mass hysteria, that took hold of Singapore the last two weeks, calling for accountability and calling for, you know, Grace Fu's head and everything.

Are we all going to, do we all owe her an apology now, is it?

Haresh (2:46)

I mean, this is the one day, okay? One day.

I mean, so poetic, right? They just had the press conference on Friday. Yeah, Friday evening, and then Monday booms like this.

Terence (2:58)

The magic of a multi-ministerial task force coming together.

Haresh (3:01)

When Singapore puts together a task force, even nature is no match.

Terence (3:06)

But it's quite sudden. I did not expect this. And over the weekend, I heard that, you know, there were events next week and all that had been canceled because of people's anticipation of the haze. For example, the Purple Parade, which every year is this very big parade that celebrates, you know, the different abilities of the disabled people, well, persons with disabilities, pardon me. And it's a very big thing. Like last year, I think it was at Sun Tech, you know, like multiple towers in the open area, there was a march and everything.

So they announced it was supposed to be next weekend, or this weekend, and they canceled it. Or at least like postponed it till next year.

I don't know, do you know of any other big events that have been postponed or canceled? Big Bang, Big Bang still went on, right?