Gan Siow Huang Joked About Her Run & Said She Didn’t Do 5BX, Hinting She Did See Memes About Her

Gan Siow Huang is many things: newly-appointed Member of Parliament (MP) for Marymount SMC, first female to achieve the rank of general in Singapore, newly minted Minister of State for Education and Manpower, a generally elegant lady and more.

Yet, despite all her overwhelming achievements, Gan also seems to possess a fine sense of humour…

An aspect that would surely go down well with her (exponentially increasing) horde of followers.

Gan Siow Huang’s Battle Cry

But before I commence on Gan’s sense of humor and how graceful it has proved to be, let me just bring you up to date with ‘current affairs’ real quick.

So lest you’re unaware, Gan, as per political candidate protocol, had delivered a speech on Nomination Day.

And as one would’ve expected of an individual with such an accolade of achievements, her speech quickly garnered traction.

Though the thing’s that it’s not quite for the reason one would’ve speculated.

Deemed to be a tad bit too “vigorous” in nature, the speech was compared to that of a “war cry” or even a military command.

Memes have also emerged in the aftermath, with some superimposing the audio track onto battle scenes.

You can view one such instance down below:

Laughing At Herself

Considering all of Gan’s achievements to date, it’s not hard to imagine her reacting in an infuriated state.

The first female general in Singapore, being laughed at by individuals of an arguably lesser stature? What a joke it must’ve seemed to her, the average bystander might have thought.

But it seems that unlike certain elitists, Gan is more down-to-earth than we thought.

In a video posted on her Facebook page (on 5 July), Gan was seen reacting to one of the aforementioned spoof videos with good humour.

“Well, I think it’s very creative, I mean it’s a way of expression!” she remarked.

“Frankly, I think I’m usually not so fierce.”

Gan also said that she’s actually quite approachable to those who know her well.

For the nomination speech, however, she felt it necessary to put on a serious front, as she wished to show that she “was serious about wanting to serve them”.

You can view the light-hearted video down below:

That was before she was formally an MP.

And now that she’s become an MP, and even a Minister of State (i.e. junior minister)?

Gan Siow Huang Joked About Her Run & Said She Didn’t Do 5BX, Hinting She Did See Memes About Her

And now, it seems that Gan has become so accustomed to the memes…

That she has actually started to poke fun at herself.

In a Facebook photo post on 25 July, Gan reveals that she had been out and about for a morning jog with friends.

And though the pictures were undeniably charismatic in nature, netizens found their attention drawn to something a little more literal.

“Morning run followed by a hearty breakfast in Bishan Park with friends,” the caption read. “And it was not 5BX.”

Lest you’re not accustomed to army routines, 5BX does not refer to “5 Bodies Xcercising”, as some might speculate.

Rather, it refers to “5 Basic Exercises”, a common form of physical training practised in military units that NSFs do in the morning, and NSmen didn’t really give a f*** about.

Well, it seems that Gan has truly embraced the memes in all their unbridled glory…

And Netizens were naturally stoked.

One commenter, for instance, quoted a military greeting in jest:

And others complimented Gan’s sense of humour.

Some have also pointed out the effectiveness of Gan’s reaction.

Which, with all things considered…

May just have prolonged her walk down the parliamentary route.

You can view the original Facebook post down below:

Now, if you want to exercise with her, you can.

In yet another viral post about her, Marymount Community Club posted deets about their Marymount Virtual National Day Celebrations 2020.

That wouldn’t have attracted any attention and Facebook wouldn’t have even shown it to anyone until you spot this:

Wait, an NDP workout?

Ms Gan isn’t there as an MP but as an adviser, but as usual, people were reminded of army life:

Guess it’s going to take a while before we associate her with the military.

Lest you didn’t know, Ms Gan won with 55.04% of the vote in Marymount SMC, outdoing PSP’s Ang Yong Guan, a psychiatrist who previously took part in the 2011 General Election as part of SDP to contest for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, and in 2015 as part of the Singaporeans First party for Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Ms Gan was a Deputy CEO in NTUC’s e2i after serving in the military for 27 years, and recently, she has been sworn in as the Minister of State for Education and Manpower.

The former soldier is married to a former Naval officer and is a proud mother of three girls. She had met her husband through the military in 1994 – he was a naval officer studying in Britain on a SAF scholarship. They got married in 1998.

You can read more about her here, or download our app so you won’t miss those important articles that are simplified for you (like…what is a Minister of State?).