David Neo says he should not have made dialect films joke in Parliament

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo has said he should not have made a joke in Parliament that drew criticism from members of the arts community and the public.

"I shouldn't have told the joke," Neo said during a 20 July interview with the media on his ministry's wide-ranging plan for Singapore youth.

The joke was made while Neo was still acting minister, during a 7 July Parliament sitting, when he said in Mandarin that "ministers have no time to watch movies (部长没有时间看电影)".

Neo's remark came in response to a question from Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC Kenneth Tiong, who had asked which version of the film Dear You ministers had watched, the Mandarin-dubbed release or the original Teochew version.

Tiong had raised the question during a debate on the government's approach to dialect-language films, questioning whether restrictions on dialects in cinema and broadcasting remained necessary.

Neo's quip sparked criticism, with some in the arts community describing it as dismissive of the underlying policy question.

Briefly addressing the matter during the 20 July interview, Neo said he took the criticism in his stride, adding that the point was to take feedback positively and ask how to improve.

Reshuffle press conference remarks

Neo, then still acting minister, had also addressed the backlash on 22 July, when Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced changes to the Cabinet line-up at which Neo's promotion to full minister was confirmed.

Responding to a question from a Lianhe Zaobao reporter about the criticism over his remark, Neo said: "Well, I should just not tell any more jokes."

He added that he took every instance of criticism as feedback, describing it as a matter of how the same words could be experienced differently by different people.

Neo's promotion to Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Education took effect from 27 July. He had held the youth and culture portfolio in an acting capacity since May 2025.

Background to the parliamentary exchange

The exchange in Parliament had reignited debate over Singapore's Speak Mandarin Campaign, launched in 1979 to encourage the use of Mandarin among the Chinese community over dialects.

Dear You, a Chinese film shot mostly in the Teochew dialect, opened in Singapore on 18 June with Mandarin-dubbed screenings made available to the general public.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) had said in June that the Mandarin-dubbed version would be shown for general release, before later approving additional Teochew screenings in batches.

Neo told the House on 7 July that the use of dialects in Singapore had continued to decline, and that dialect artistic works were increasingly seen as complementing rather than competing with Mandarin.

The government told Parliament that IMDA was reviewing its film classification framework as it relates to dialect use, though it stopped short of committing to remove existing restrictions on dialect-language cinema releases.

Public reaction to the remark

Online discussion of Neo's 22 July response, including comments on a Mothership Facebook post and a Reddit thread, showed continued criticism of his handling of the episode, as reported by The Online Citizen.

Some commenters said Neo's response missed the central point of the criticism, arguing that the objection was not to political humour in general but to the appropriateness of the remark in the context of a serious parliamentary debate.

Other commenters disputed Neo's characterisation of the remark as a joke, suggesting it read instead as dismissive of Tiong's question.

Some defended the use of humour by political leaders, arguing that excessive caution could make politicians appear less relatable, while acknowledging that context and delivery mattered.

A number of commenters also raised the broader question of whether restrictions on dialect-language films should be reviewed, saying this should not be overshadowed by the debate over Neo's remark.

Youth plan announcement

Neo's 20 July remarks on the joke came during an interview about his ministry's five-year plan for Singapore youth, which includes measures such as job tasters and an "Adulting 101" initiative.

Asked separately during the interview about support for young people seeking to preserve dialects, Neo said Singapore's approach was to promote Mandarin while expanding space for dialect use.

He cited the National Arts Council's support for young practitioners working to protect intangible cultural heritage, including through the Young ChangeMakers grant.