“3 years too late to retract what you said” – Singaporeans remain unimpressed with Josephine Teo’s “private joke”

Singaporeans appear to be unimpressed with Manpower Minister Josephine Teo’s recent explanation that the ‘sex in small spaces’ comment she made in 2016 was meant to be a “private joke.”

In 2016, Ms Teo asserted that Singaporeans don’t need to get a flat before having children and quipped: “You need a very small space to have sex.”

The comment stuck and remains one of Ms Teo’s most infamous statements to date. Singaporeans felt that the People’s Action Party (PAP) politician was speaking from an ivory tower and was making light of the struggles of ordinary citizens with her insensitive comment.

In a recent interview with the Straits Times, Ms Teo admitted that she “should not have said” what she did. The Minister said that the ‘sex in small spaces’ comment was “meant as a private joke.”

Acknowledging that “nothing is really private anymore” as a Minister who is constantly in the public’s eye, Ms Teo said that the comment became a “lesson learnt” for her.

Singaporeans, however, have asserted that the Minister’s retraction comes “three years too late”.

The majority of netizens responding to Ms Teo’s explanation felt that her explanation could be aimed at appeasing voters ahead of the upcoming General Election while some felt that Ms Teo’s comments were still made in bad taste – whether it really was a “joke” or not:

The ‘sex in small spaces’ comment was “meant as a private joke” – Josephine Teo