Minister for Trade and Industry, Maj-Gen “Kee Chiu” Chan Chun Sing had a hearty laugh with business leaders as he condemned the behaviour of Singaporeans who he deemed overreacted to the 2019-nCoV Wuhan Virus scare.
In a leaked audio clip that has been making the rounds online, Maj-Gen Chan, who is slated to be Singapore’s next Deputy Prime Minister, is heard putting down Singaporeans, and taking swipes at Hong Kong and China.
Maj-Gen Chan put down the efforts of Hong Kong and China’s leaders to stem the spread of the virus, and also laughed at Singaporeans who sought more masks from the government and stormed supermarkets to stock up on food supplies.
The meeting reportedly took place last week.
Here’s some of the juiciest quotes from Maj-Gen Chan’s speech.
On Singaporeans complaining about mask distribution:
“The fear that we had issuing the four masks to every family was this. Everybody anyhow use ah, next qwwl everybody come back and ask you for more masks ah, what will gahmen do? If gahmen cannot give more masks the next week ah, the whole country will panic right, if people never calm down, and listen to the gahmen and say only use when you need it? If everybody take four masks, that’s why everybody scold us, wah lau eh my family got five members you give me four masks how to enough? I say uncle only when you sick. They say what if my family all five fella fall sick together? Then what is the answer? Stay at home call the ambulance take the whole family there together already. Don’t need to take five masks already. I mean seriously, if your whole family sick until like that right, then we really call the ambulance, quarantine you, send you to NCID already, won’t be taking you mask by mask.”
On limited supply of face masks:
“We took a gamble. I took a gamble. To calm the nerves, I distribute four to everybody to use only when you are sick to go to the hospital. To calm the nerves. But to issue four to every family, I burn another 5 million masks from my limited stockpile. When China now asks for masks right, China is burning at a rate of hundreds of millions a day. Which country, and even which production line, can meet China’s needs? Cannot right?”
On Hong Kong’s leadership regarding personal safety and hygiene:
“If we issue surgical masks and give everybody surgical masks just to make them feel shiok shiok because they say Carrie Lam wear mask right? At the conference right? Everybody must wear mask right? Ah today you see newspaper. What is happening to Hong Kong now? What did South China Morning Post just report about Hong Kong? They are down to less than one month’s supply of masks for their medical people. Which means that when the medical people don’t even get their masks, you think they dare to go and take of the sick people? If we have done what we have done, like Hong Kong, without thinking, and ask Carrie Lam if PM, myself, Lawrence Wong, Gan Kim Yong go to press conference, everybody wear a mask, today everybody panic, I can guarantee you today our hospital system would have broken down.”
On Singaporeans being a disgrace:
“Why did the run happen? The run on the supermarkets, right? Actually ah this one ah, I’m damn ashamed. You know why? Xia suay. I don’t know how to say in English. Eh, in English xia suay called what? We embarrass ourselves. Disgraceful. We disgrace ourselves. Don’t say Third World lah, Third World also some people quite nice one.”
On “suckers” who stockpiled food:
“Of all things rice. Rice since 1970 ah, we’ve been stockpiling. In fact, I can tell you ah, I’m very happy now. Finally got people turn over my rice stockpile. Actually ah, that night ah, Friday night ah, I buay tahan ah. I was thinking ah, maybe some retailer ah – eh were you involved or not? I was thinking ah, the retailer ah, trying to clear the old Chinese New Year stock, Christmas stock ah, send out all the video ah and the thing, then everybody go and chiong. So now ah, when you go to Sheng Siong and NTUC ah, you buy all fresh stock. Because all the suckers have bought the old stock.”
On stupid Singaporeans:
“I can almost name you all the photos and videos that I’ve seen. The first one is the Aunty Bukit Indomie. Correct or not? The one fifteen one. That one photo kena sent to me like five, six time. Even my Whatsapp group, I don’t know you all kena how many time. Right? Then another two idiots wear mask, wear goggle, young couple, go and buy things one. But actually ah, the number of photos is finite you know.”
Maj-Gen Chan’s speech wasn’t without some wittier moments, such as:
“You stock rice, stock noodles, I can tahan ah. Then why stock toilet paper? If you eat all the rice and instant noodles you confirm diarrhoea. You explain to me lah. Then why Hong Kong people stock toilet paper? Because monkey see monkey do. Hong Kong people stock toilet paper because people scared toilet paper come from China, tomorrow China no toilet paper, we all cannot go pang sai (take a shit). Right? Our toilet paper come from where? Indonesia and Malaysia. So got Indonesia and Malaysia cut off our toilet paper supple or not? Cut off that one ah, the famous words ah, from Sun Xueling ah, ‘bo zhua zhui ar ho’. No paper, water also can. So why do people behave so idiotially? I also cannot tahan.”
Towards the tail end of his speech, Maj-Gen Chan cautioned, while still seemingly taking a swipe at other nations:
“Just a small group behaving like idiots like that ah will kill all of us. It will kill our current price negotiation strategy, it will kill our future business opportunity…. Every country can behave like idiots, Singaporeans cannot behave like idiots.”
READ: KEECHIUGATE: Chan Chun Sing Says “Frank Assessment” was Given During Closed-Door Dialogue
