Minister Lawrence Wong “had a good laugh” after seeing MTF press conference meme

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong “had a good laugh” after coming across one of the many memes that arose from the recent multi-ministry task force (MTF) press conference.

It all started when Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Trade & Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong turned towards Mr Wong after a reporter had posed a question about a variant of COVID-19 found in Vietnam.

After returning them with a quick glance, Mr Wong proceeded to answer the question.

The three minister, who co-chair the MTF on COVID-19, were providing updates on the situation in Singapore at a virtual press conference that was broadcast live on Monday (31 May).

While it does not sound funny when described in writing, the footage of the scene prove otherwise.

Sharing a meme of the incident in a Facebook post on Wednesday (2 June), Mr Wong said that he “had a good laugh” after stumbling upon it.

The Minister asserted that it is “really not about who answers the questions”, adding that he “works closely together” with his fellow co-chairs 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 added in the post, which also tagged Mr Ong and Mr Gan.

Subsequently, Mr Ong chimed in under the comments section: “Lawrence, next time you can ‘eye power’ me back!”

Mr Wong later replied to his comment: “Sure mate… can’t wait for the next conference.”

Local humour site SGAG also joined in the buzz to tease the Minister, asking if he “kena arrow” once again for voicing out about the memes.

SGAG went on to encourage Mr Wong and his team in the MTF to keep doing their best, while jokingly assuring that it will continue to keep Singaporeans entertained with memes about the Minister.

In response, Mr Wong noted that he and his team will do their best, adding that he is looking forward to SGAG’s next meme.

Mixed reactions from netizens on the whole ‘arrow’ incident

Besides the exchange between the ministers and SGAG, a handful of netizens took to CNA’s YouTube page – where the full press conference was broadcast live – to poke fun at the three ministers involved in the press conference.

At the time of writing, the video has garnered 299,765 views.

While it appears to be all fun and games with the meme-worthy incident, many online users also gave voice to their dissent on the laughing matter.

Commenting on The Straits Times Facebook post, a couple of them expressed their concerns on the press conference incident as well as the ministers’ remarks on Facebook, given that both the current and former health ministers were seemingly unable to answer an important question from the media.