Lawrence Wong & Ong Ye Kung Responded Candidly About Them Being Meme-ified

By
Zhi Hao
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It appears that nobody’s safe from getting meme-ified nowadays, whether it’s the President of the United States, local artiste Mark Lee or even…

Our very own governmental ministers.

So lest you’re unaware, a press conference, which sought to provide updates on Singapore’s COVID-19 situation, was broadcasted live on 31 May 2021.

At one point, a reporter asked three pertinent questions:

  • Will the new coronavirus variants result in another spike in cases?
  • When will the measures be relaxed?
  • Has the new Vietnam variant been detected here?

In response, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung simply looked to his right, and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong followed suit.

Together, they passed on the ‘torch’ to a visibly surprised Lawrence Wong, who could not help but display a priceless expression as he took a moment to clarify his thoughts.

Suffice to say; it was a textbook example of ‘arrowing’ someone.

And Netizens did not pass up the chance to meme-ify the situation. Local humour site SGAG, for instance, was quick to draw up a three-panel meme that detailed the scenario with utmost aplomb.

The post swiftly went viral, and everything else was history.

But did we expect a response from the ministers themselves?

Not quite.

Lawrence Wong & Ong Ye Kung Responded Candidly About Them Being Meme-ified

Mr Wong was the first to respond.

Following the viral success of the memes, the Finance Minister reposted SGAG’s rendition on his Facebook page, and stated that he had a good laugh.

“Had a good laugh when I saw this meme of the MTF press conference on Monday,” he wrote. “It’s really not about who answers the questions. My fellow co-chairs and I work closely together to fight the pandemic. We are all in this together, and teamwork makes the dream work.
“Let’s continue to stay united in this challenging time!”
He then proceeded to tag his fellow ministers.

In reply, SGAG jokingly asked whether Wong had been ‘arrowed’ again to address the meme.

“Bro Lawrence Wong did you kena arrow AGAIN to address this viral meme that we did?” the local humour outlet wrote in the comments section.

“HAHAHAHA! You and your team keep doing your best to keep SG safe la huh? We will do our best to keep Singaporeans entertained with our memes (about you!) HAHAHAHAHA!”

And it appears that Mr Ong was also game to join in on the social media banter.

“Lawrence, next time you can ‘eye power’ me back!” he quipped.

“Sure mate…” the Finance Minister replied. “Can’t wait for the next conference.”

Mr Wong also replied to SGAG.

“We will do our best,” he wrote. “Look forward to your next meme.”

Mr Gan, however, has declined to comment.

Mr Ong would later clarify with The Straits Times about the situation as well.

“It felt like a question Lawrence can answer best,” he said. “When it was a question on the vaccination exercise, I could feel everyone’s ‘eye power’ too!”

Well, if all things go well we could soon see Mr Wong and Mr Ong ‘eye power-ing’ Mr Gan from both sides.

Or as some may put it: “Hong gan liao”.

Vaccinations

However, apart from clarifying memes and posting Tik Tok videos, Mr Wong also takes his job seriously.

So lest you’re unaware, vaccinations came under intense scrutiny sometime back, when it was unveiled that four of the five COVID-19 cases working at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) had already been vaccinated.

And in response, Mr Lawrence Wong, the face of our fight against COVID-19, wants you to take a chill pill.

The mindset that vaccinations are ineffective, Mr Wong said, is a “big mistake”.

“That would be disastrous because the vaccinations do work,” he said, adding that they reduce transmission and prevent people from the risk of severe disease.

He said that while vaccines are not foolproof, they will help to reduce the overall spread in the community.

Mr Wong added that the authorities already knew those breakthrough infections – infections of vaccinated individuals – could happen.

But this shouldn’t stop people from getting vaccinated.

“We should not overreact to the news of breakthrough infections, or worse, make the biggest mistake, which is to say that, ‘Oh, vaccinations don’t work, and therefore, maybe there is no need for a vaccine’.”

Featured Image: Facebook (Lawrence Wong)

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]