british empire. soon thereafter, singapore grew, quickly becoming a economic hub and regional capital for the british empire s new colony on the malayan peninsula. after world war ii, singapore clamored for independence, first becoming part of the malaysian federation, then a fully independent state in 1965. helmed by its first prime minister, lee kwan yeu, tiny singapore famously went from a third world outpost to a first world nation in a single generation. cab driver: in singapore, rules and regulations in singapore is very strict. we have to follow them. like, i am taxi, i can t break any laws. anthony: so if a camera catches you? cab driver: yeah, everything is in camera. so it is important everyone, we
itek sioh, duck braised with tamarind and coriander. and the famous lady fingers, or sambar bendir, okra sauteed with sambal. who s cooking now? has that changed? damian: it has changed. you know, everybody wants to go up the ladder very, very quickly, and they want to do it in a way where they don t want to put too much effort in it. where is the prestige in a peranakan restaurant? you work in a kitchen, 12, 14, 15 hours a day, and most of them don t want to do that. so what happens is that they want to work in a french restaurant, they want to work in an italian restaurant. why? because they get more money. anthony: okay. damian: okay? anthony: i think it s a tactical mistake, because i just flew halfway around the world to singapore, and i sure as shit am not eating french food when i am here. damian: no, you re right. you shouldn t. anthony: and you know what? i m not going to eat japanese food. damian: so you talk about
do you think that the singaporean success story is a rebuke to american and western values in some respect? donald: no, no. anthony: i mean, is free speech overrated? donald: i don t think we succeeded because the absence of free speech. anthony: it s a fact, though. donald: the values of free trade, the values of a liberal global order, these are western ideas. i mean, singapore did not invent them. the asian did not. anthony: i mean, look, it shouldn t work. it hasn t really worked like this anywhere else. and yet, it works. donald: i think my objection or my discomfort with the lack of democratic freedoms is that i think we cannot allow a lot more without hurting singapore s prosperity, it s stability, one ounce. what will we lose if we had a free uprise? what would we lose if we had more democratic opposition representation? it would make for not only a livelier debate, it would make for a better debate.
question. where are they going to come from? goh: there s a lot of insinuations of an answer, but no true answer. anthony: the answer is not from singapore, right? they re going to have to come in from china. goh: for the 15,000, or 20,000 food stalls like this we have in singapore, if it s public run like this one, you can t hire foreigners. it s meant for singaporeans. anthony: but isn t the beginning of all of this was people from china, india. goh: that s what i keep saying, our food came from the rest of the world. yeah, we had nothing. and in that tradition, i say we must continue. anthony: for rent, cook food stall. we should do a pop-up. get my apron. anthony: stamford raffles arrived in singapore in 1819 with the british east india company, establishing at first as a trading post for the
cab driver: chinese, ho kai min. anthony: ho kai min? cab driver: ho kai min. sometimes chicken rice. anthony: chicken rice of course. cab driver: yes. anthony: how about favorite indian dish? cab driver: definitely biryani. you know that? anthony: the biryani. cab driver: ya. biryani rice. anthony: oh, sungei road right? cab driver: yes, yes. anthony: oh that s the best on sungei road. it s funny. i recognize every place here by food. [ laughter ] goh: tony, how are you? anthony: pretty good. goh: my brother. so what blows you back to singapore? anthony: you know why i come here. i come here to eat. goh: i live here to eat, too. anthony: i come here mostly to eat because that s what they do here. and they arguably do it better with more diverse, affordable food options per square foot than just about anywhere on earth. my godfather and mentor for singaporean street food has