Singapore — Let’s not be cruel about public gaffes and slip-ups from people such as politicians, says Associate Professor Bertha Henson of the National University of Singapore .
In a Facebook post on Thursday (Nov 11), Prof Henson, formerly a senior editor with The Straits Times, said that she had “been thinking about cotton and sheep”.
She was referring to a much-ridiculed slip-up of the then Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing in 2020 when he spoke of cotton coming from sheep.
During a virtual doorstop interview on Saturday (30 May), Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing spoke about how important international trade is to Singapore’s survival and said that even a “simple” surgical mask cannot be made without supply from other parts of the world, to make his point.
Explaining that Singapore cannot produce the cotton that goes into making three-ply surgical masks, he said with a snicker: “Don’t have too many sheeps [sic] in Singapore to produce cotton.”
The minister’s gaffe made the rounds on social media and was the butt of jokes for weeks. Mr Chan is now Education Minister.
In her post, Prof Henson wrote: “I find it quite sad that certain images and phrases get stuck on politicians when they are just unfortunate gaffes or when they flub their lines. We might laugh about it, make fun but it shouldn’t be the defining point about them”.
Addressing Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat’s East Coast Plan fumble, Ms Henson observed that nerves or excitement often cause people to misspeak.
Mr Heng entered politics in 2011 and was Education Minister till 2015 when he took over as Finance Ministry. His stewardship of both was well regarded. He has been Deputy Prime Minister since 2019, and since 2020, also Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies.
Said Prof Henson: “I don’t think anyone believes that our ministers are less than intelligent. They are probably just not good on their feet. And sometimes I get horrified when labels are wrongly attached to people and become urban legends.”
She continued: “I am also sure that the PM knows that mee siam has no hum. He didn’t catch himself in time at the (National Day Rally) when he said it.”
Whatever the reason, it became something of a Singapore meme.
Cut to Aug 31 this year and Mr Lee himself made a back reference to it when he posted to Instagram a photo of a bowl of bak chor mee with cockles and remarked: “Comfort food for a cold, wet day.” Like mee siam, bak chor mee is not served with cockles. He also made a reference to it in his 2021 National Day Rally Speech.
PM Lee made a comment that drew swift criticism during his National Day Rally speech in 2006, when he took aim at a podcast by Mr Brown.Referring to a podcast in which a fictitious Jeff Lopez orders bak chor mee – without ter kwa (pig’s liver) at a hawker centre, PM Lee tried to make the point that politics “is not all fun and games.”
He then famously said: “You put out a funny podcast, you talk about bak chor mee. I will say mee siam mai hum.”
PM Lee’s “mee siam mai hum” (mee siam without cockles) remark soon went viral since mee siam does not actually contain cockles.
Prof Henson concluded: “Such labels and images cannot and should not define a person. All of us make gaffes. We’re embarrassed and some of us can laugh along with others. But when they are used CRUELLY, that’s not on”.