Chan Chun Sing Said He “Laughed Well” When He Realized What He Did (File)
Singapore:
A Singaporean minister timidly confessed to declaring that cotton came from animals rather than plants in an error during an interview that sparked mockery online.
Commerce and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing made the mistake in a video interview on Saturday when he was trying to explain Singapore’s small dependence on foreign trade.
He gave face masks – which are widely used in the city-state to combat the spread of the coronavirus – as an example, suggesting that there weren’t many components that Singapore could produce itself.
“(We) don’t have too many sheep in Singapore to produce cotton,” he said.
Netizens quickly rallied against him for the error.
“Baba black sheep do you have wool? Nursery rhymes easy to remember ok,” said a comment on Facebook.
It didn’t take long before Chan realized the mistake and said he had had a “good laugh” when he realized what he had done.
“For anyone (especially young children) who watches the video – cotton certainly does not come from sheep, it comes from cotton!” he says in a Facebook article.
“I should catch up on some sleep,” he added – prompting a citizen to respond, “I heard that counting sheep helps.”
It was not the first blunder linked to Chan’s virus.
In February, he was criticized for leaking a tape in which he said that panic buyers behaved like “idiots” during a closed-door meeting with members of a chamber of commerce.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
