Singapore GE2025: Do Singaporeans care if politicians speak their dialects

Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, who speaks multiple Chinese dialects, attending the SG60 Neighbourhood Party on April 19. - ST

SINGAPORE: Over a bowl of Teochew fishball noodles, PAP candidate Daniel Liu is getting an impromptu language lesson from a senior volunteer. She tells Liu, 40, who is Hokkien by descent, that while Teochew might sound like Hokkien, it has a lighter intonation – the kind you might hear on an opera stage.

Liu spent over a decade serving in Nee Soon GRC, where Hokkien is the go-to dialect at temple dinners and grassroots events.