{
  "id": 14669044,
  "title": "SDP chief Chee Soon Juan calls out George Yeo, Kishore Mahbubani for brushing off question about Singaporeans' happiness",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/sdp-chief-chee-soon-juan-calls-out-george-yeo-kishore-mahbubani-for",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-15T09:00:20.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Independent Singapore",
    "slug": "the-independent-singapore",
    "url": "https://theindependent.sg/sdp-chief-chee-soon-juan-calls-out-george-yeo-kishore-mahbubani-for-brushing-off-question-about-singaporeans-happiness"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan has criticized former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo and longtime diplomat Kishore Mahbubani for dismissing the issue of Singaporeans' happiness during a recent Bloomberg interview. While discussing Singapore's wealth and status, the interviewees highlighted that the country is one of the wealthiest yet its citizens are among the unhappiest in the world.\n\nYeo referenced former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's statement that the government should \"never promise happiness\", eliciting laughter from the audience. Mahbubani agreed with the statement.\n\nChee Soon Juan responded, stating that this attitude is \"sickening\", comparing Singapore to Finland, a country with lower living costs and better quality of life rankings. He highlighted the stark contrast in salaries between Finnish and Singaporean ministers, with Finland's Prime Minister earning about $20,000 monthly compared to Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who earns $300,000.\n\nChee Soon Juan also pointed out that the comparison between Singapore and Finland was not based on land size, but rather on factors such as happiness and wealth accumulation, which he believes are more important. He accused Yeo and Mahbubani of dismissing the issue of Singaporeans' unhappiness as something their government has no responsibility for.\n\nChee Soon Juan emphasized the need for a serious and public debate on the factors contributing to Singaporeans' unhappiness and the government's role in addressing it.",
  "summary": "SINGAPORE: A comment from former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo during a Bloomberg interview last month received a lot of attention, and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan has somewhat belatedly weighed in, saying that the happiness of Singaporeans should be no laughing matter. Mr Yeo, together with longtime diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, sat down with Bloomberg’s Mishal…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}