SINGAPORE: Some Reddit users recently poked fun at the new Prime Minister, posting a screenshot of his acceptance letter to the President and pointing out his handwriting.
On May 13, an exchange of letters between then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam was published on the PMO and Istana websites, showing Mr Wong’s acceptance of the appointment to the office of Prime Minister.
While President Tharman’s handwriting has gone uncommented, one Redditor wrote in a May 21 r/SingaporeRaw post, “When your hand shakes because the job offer is too 🔥.”
Indeed, Mr Wong’s penmanship does not appear to reflect his calm demeanour, and one commenter on the post even characterised it as “terok.”
There aren’t enough handwriting samples online to determine whether Mr Wong’s less-than-tidy penmanship represents how he normally writes, although he has tried his hand at Chinese calligraphy at least once.
Also, with people depending on their computers and mobile phones more and more these days for written communication, his handwriting skills may have suffered over the years, as with many of us.
(No judgment here; we also find ourselves putting pen to paper less and less as time passes. And some of us have had poor penmanship from day one tbh.)
While some research has shown that penmanship can be associated with intelligence, there have been enough geniuses throughout history whose handwriting wasn’t great, including Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Louis Pasteur.
We could throw Pablo Picasso and Napoleon into the mix, although other experts have underlined that poor penmanship is not a guarantee of high intelligence either.
Additionally, perhaps Mr Wong is more on the receiving end of letter writing. Earlier this month, he shared one from a 7-year-old girl named Faith, who sent him well wishes as he prepared to take over as Prime Minister.
@lawrencewongst Got a letter from Faith, whose 8th #birthday coincides with the swearing-in ceremony on 15 May! 🥳
Much has also been made of Mr Wong’s other skills, especially with the guitar. It made the news when he covered Taylor Swift’s Love Story for Teacher’s Day last year.
Late last year, he even tried his hand at the sitar and impressed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who re-posted a video of Mr Wong playing the instrument on X (formerly Twitter). /TISG
Read also: DPM Lawrence Wong plays the sitar; PM Narendra Modi is impressed