“Singapore food is stolen from Malaysia” — Celebrity reignites SG-MY food war on reality show

SINGAPORE: A Malaysian celebrity has invited a storm of criticism after claiming, “All the Singapore food that you know of is stolen from Malaysia.”

The controversial remarks were made during a panel discussion on the Taiwanese reality show ‘Student’ featuring guests from Singapore and Malaysia, discussing various aspects of life in their respective countries.

Hero Tai, who was part of the panel, asserted that popular Singaporean dishes such as chicken rice, char kway teow, bak kut teh, and nyonya kueh originated from Malaysia. To support his claim, he urged Taiwanese guests to list dishes they believed were from Singapore, dismissing their responses like barley drink, crab dishes, and pandan cake as also being Malaysian in origin.

According to Hero, many of these dishes existed in Malaysia before Singapore gained independence, implying that they were borrowed rather than authentically Singaporean.

The comments sparked immediate disagreement among the panellists, with a Singaporean guest arguing that Singapore was promoting these dishes as part of cultural exchange, while another suggested that Malaysia had failed to adequately promote its culinary heritage.

However, Hero’s controversial remarks didn’t end with the culinary debate. He went on to make disparaging comments about famous attractions in Singapore, dismissing them as “man-made.” He described Jewel’s Rain Vortex as a “man-made fountain,” labelled Siloso Beach a “man-made beach,” and referred to Gardens by the Bay as a “man-made botanic garden.”

To emphasize his point, he extended the term to describe the Singaporean guests, calling them “man-made people.”

In another provocative statement, Hero advised potential visitors to Singapore not to spend too much time there, claiming that three days and two nights were sufficient because there wasn’t much to do. These comments further fueled the heated debate among the panellists and drew sharp criticism from viewers.

The episode has since gone viral on social media platforms, with netizens expressing their opinions on cultural ownership. The controversy has reignited discussions on regional relations and acknowledging shared cultural influences in Southeast Asia.