Netflix pokes fun at Marine Parade Town Council with cheeky “ownself clear ownself” ads

In its latest attempt to enmesh American television series within the Singaporean context, Netflix Singapore has parodied Marine Parade Town Council’s flyer showing a block cleaner being his own supervisor.

It has previously incorporated the “happenings in Yishun” by featuring Yishun in a Stranger Things promotional video.

The video-on-demand streaming service has now released posters from six popular series carrying a version of the uniquely Singapore slogan, “ownself clear ownself” which is typically used to describe the Singapore Government which has suggested that it is its own check and balance.

HOUSE OF CARDS

STRANGER THINGS

BOJACK HORSEMAN

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

RIVERDALE

HATERS BACK OFF

The phrase “ownself check ownself” came to be after Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong lambasted the opposition’s call to elect more opposition members into parliament to robustly check on the People’s Action Party (PAP), as a “seductive lie” in the lead up to the 2015 General Election. Mr Goh, who until the last election was the anchor-Minister for the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency, proudly declared: “We (the PAP) are our own checks.”

Pritam Singh, an opposition MP, brought up this declaration of Mr Goh’s and famously dubbed it in Singlish, “ownself check ownself”. Mr Singh asked Singaporeans if this is a system we want in Singapore.

The anchor-member of Mr Singh’s Aljunied GRC, Mr Low Thia Khiang, also made a similar comment more recently in Parliament when he rose to speak on the allegations against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made by his siblings about the abuse of power.

When Mr Goh asked him and other MPs to “state their position clearly on PM’s and the Government’s integrity,” Mr Low pointed out that they cannot do that because all the PAP has done is “ownself defend ownself”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iE3EJX8m6A

The phrase resurfaced recently when a Facebook post from a resident of Marine Parade showing that the supervisor and the cleaner of the town council are the same person, went viral.

In response, Marine Parade Town Council admitted that the cleaner of a particular cluster of blocks is his own supervisor, before calling the man, Moktar, “an unsung hero.”

https://theindependent.sg.sg/does-marine-parade-grc-really-believe-in-ownself-check-ownself/

https://theindependent.sg.sg/marine-parade-town-council-confirms-ownself-check-ownself-in-attempt-to-turn-gaffe-into-pr-win/