It’s not every day that you see a Member of Parliament raising his middle finger, so eyebrows were raised when Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong counted to three and left only his middle finger up for a bit too long.
How It Happened
On Wednesday (2 March), Minister Wong spoke in Parliament to round up three days of Budget debates.
He was counting with his fingers as he was discussing alternative tax solutions raised by the opposition and said they will not be able to substitute an increase in Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“Basically, you are asking me to tax more from three possible groups as an alternative to GST. The wealthy, the better off, large companies and our future generation,” Minister Wong said as he gestured his thumb, index finger and middle finger.
He summarised that taxing these three groups more would raise less revenue than a GST hike and may raise revenue at the expense of future generations.
Internet Memes
However, some eagle-eyed watchers who were less focused on the content of the speech caught his unintentional gesture and took screenshots of it.
Of course, the Internet responded to the screenshots hilariously, creating memes from it.
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One particular meme, made by Wake Up Singapore, even likened him to the boy who had flipped off the camera during the 2017 National Day Parade.
But it didn’t just end there.
Minister Wong responded to the memes. Here’s what he had to say.
Lawrence Wong Responds
Yesterday, Minister Wong uploaded a post to his Instagram, with a video of the iconic moment.
View this post on Instagram
He captioned, “Apparently some people online have taken an interest in how I counted with my fingers when I spoke in [Parliament] on Wednesday…”
Steering the Internet’s attention elsewhere, he added, “But more importantly I hope you also take some time to view the substantive points of the speech which rounded up the 3 days of Budget debates in Parliament.”
Minister Wong also included links to highlights from the speech and the full speech.
Some netizens commented on his post, urging others to focus less on minor gestures and more on the important content of the Budget speech.
Others said they had not even noticed his gesture until it became a meme.
Well, it sure takes a special kind of Minister to turn Internet humour into an opportunity to educate the public. Kudos to Minister Wong for handling the situation so adeptly.
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Featured Image: Instagram (Wake Up Singapore)
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