Acting Min. David Neo Watches Dear You Movie Days After "No Time" Remark, Gets Called "Wayang"

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo has watched the Chinese hit film Dear You with seniors in Tampines, just a week after joking in Parliament that "ministers have no time to watch movies"

In a FB post on 14 July 2026, Neo shared photos from the screening held at the Festive Arts Theatre in Our Tampines Hub.

However, the post drew criticism from some netizens, who described the move as "wayang" and suggested that Neo only watched the film after being called out over his earlier remarks.

In the post, Neo reflected on the film, saying it served as "a simple reminder to cherish the people and relationships that shape our lives"

"This is exactly why Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and our heritage organisations have been encouraging our young to get to know our dialect heritage while promoting Mandarin," Neo said, adding that there was no need to choose one over the other.

The post followed Neo's widely discussed remark in Parliament that "ministers have no time to watch movies", made in response to a question from Workers' Party MP Kenneth Tiong on whether he had watched the Teochew or Mandarin-dubbed version of the Chinese film Dear You.

Tiong also questioned the Government's long-standing restrictions on dialect films, saying Teochew-speaking residents in his constituency had asked why they could not watch films in their native dialect. He then argued that promoting Mandarin and restricting dialects were two separate policy goals.

Dear You, a mainland Chinese box-office hit, follows a man travelling to Thailand in search of his long-lost grandfather. The film sparked public calls in Singapore for it to be screened commercially in its original Teochew audio instead of only a Mandarin-dubbed version, in light of Singapore's bilingual policy.

Following strong public demand, MDDI and IMDA said they would retain the existing approval framework for dialect films while adopting a more flexible approach to applications for dialect screenings. IMDA later approved additional Teochew screenings of Dear You.

Since the Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched in 1979, Singapore has promoted Mandarin as the common language among Chinese Singaporeans in support of its bilingual policy.

This policy has since influenced media guidelines, including films.

Under IMDA guidelines, Chinese-language films intended for general commercial release have generally been expected to be in Mandarin. Dialect versions have typically required special approval and were often limited to film festivals or niche screenings rather than wide release.