Under The Angsana Tree: Confusion between cotton and sheep

"CCS = Chan Chun Sing = Cotton Comes from Sheep”

Update 28 Apr 2021: Chan Chun Sing, our beng?

Everybody I know who knows Chan Chun Sing likes him. Smart, folksy, straight-talker, authentic, humble beginnings, frugal, hard worker who tirelessly works the ground, all well known attributes. I like his accent and liberal use of colloquialisms.

I have enjoyed stories about how he likes driving his security detail around (rather than being driven) and how, in conversations with elite civil servants, he has championed the need to cultivate closer ties with our immediate neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia, an issue close to my heart. All that gives me reason for pause when critiquing CCS. In the ivory tower that writers sometimes appear to occupy, one invariably wonders about the image of a person that the media projects. CCS is not the bumbling buffoon caricatured by his kee chiu antics, something I’ve heard many times.

Yet, as with most things, there is value in the views from both near and far. From my distant trench, the evidence that keeps emerging about him—the latest being a leaked recording of a closed-door discussion with the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI)—only deepens my conviction that he has ascended far higher than he would have if we had genuine meritocracy at the top.

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Gerry Yeo 13 hrs

Walioa! That's what he said "Cotton comes from sheeps" .. Isn't he a SAF scholar?

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Chan Chun Sing teased online: “CCS stands for Cotton Comes from Sheep”

2020 is proving to be quite a year for the country’s eminently quotable Trade and Industry Minister, Mr Chan Chun Sing.

From “xiasuay” (disgrace) early in the Covid-19 outbreak, when people rushed to the supermarkets, to the recent “We don’t have too many sheeps in Singapore to produce cotton”, when he spoke about face masks just before the phased end of the country’s circuit breaker from Tuesday (June 2).

People online poked fun at the minister’s latest gaffe, unearthing and sharing old videos of his remarks and actions. Mr Chan took it in stride, writing in a Facebook post on Saturday (May 30) that he also had “a good laugh” over having spoken “too fast” and clarifying, especially to “young children” that “cotton definitely doesn’t come from sheep, it comes from cotton plants!”

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Minister Chan explains confusion between cotton and sheep as being due to the lack of sleep

In a recent media podcast, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing explained that “it would not be possible for Singapore to survive without trade”. “We must not forget – even to produce eggs ah, where does the egg come from? You would probably tell me hens. But where does the chicken come from? Don’t tell me eggs,” he said.

In trying to make the point that Singapore cannot survive without international trade, he made an illustration that surgical masks could not be wholly produced in Singapore because there are parts that have to be procured elsewhere, such as cotton.

Giving a sardonic snigger, he drove home the message that we “don’t have too many sheep in Singapore to produce cotton.”

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Chan Chun Sing says lack of sleep was why he blurted that cotton comes from sheep

He said, “cotton – (we) don’t have too many sheeps in Singapore”

During a virtual doorstop with Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on labour issues over the weekend (May 30), Mr Chan blurted that cotton comes from sheep.

Mr Chan was speaking to the media on how Singapore is reliant on trade from other countries.

He added that even though Singapore can produce some things domestically such as masks, it still relies on the many natural resources from other countries.

related: CCS’s cotton & sheep brings memories of PM Lee’s “mee siam mai hum”

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It’s hair-raising and spine-chilling that our Trade and Industry Minister thinks that cotton comes from sheep

International trade is not chicken-&-egg problem: Chan Chun Sing explains

The Trade and Industry Minister was trying to make the point that Singapore cannot survive without international trade.

But he only succeeded in making us scratch our heads and wonder whether he knows that he is exposing himself to ridicule and mockery.

Chan Chun Sing was making the illustration that surgical masks could not be wholly produced in Singapore because there are parts that have to be procured elsewhere, such as cotton. Giving a sardonic snigger, he drove home the message that we “don’t have too many sheep in Singapore to produce cotton.”

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Chan Chun Sing clarifies cotton doesn't come from sheep, probably should catch up on sleep

Chan Chun Sing explains

Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing talked about labour issues during a virtual doorstop interview with local media on Saturday, May 30.

In it, he talked about how it is not realistic for Singaporeans to replace foreign workers in the construction industry, as Singapore's labour pool is finite.

Chan also addressed the importance of trade for Singapore's survival. Part of his interview though involved a rather interesting analogy.

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Chan Chun Sing 22 hrs

I had a good laugh too when I was told that I spoke too fast in a video interview yesterday about cotton and sheep.

To any one (especially young children) watching the video - cotton definitely doesn’t come from sheep, it comes from cotton plants! 😊

In my mind, I have been thinking for weeks of all kinds of substitutes (including wool from sheep and other animals) that we can use for the various parts of the masks that we produce here. Unfortunately in Singapore, we have neither cotton nor sheep.

Meanwhile, I should catch up on some sleep...CCS

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Singapore minister sheepishly admits woolly thinking over cotton

Singapore minister Chan Chun Sing mistakenly suggested cotton came from sheep, a gaffe which triggered bleats of mockery online

A Singaporean minister has sheepishly admitted to saying that cotton came from animals rather than plants in a slip-up during an interview that triggered bleats of mockery online. Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing made the error in a video interview on Saturday while attempting to explain tiny Singapore's reliance on foreign trade.

He gave face masks -- which are widely used in the city-state to fight the spread of the coronavirus -- as an example, suggesting there were not many components that Singapore could produce itself. "(We) don't have too many sheeps in Singapore to produce cotton," he said.

It was not Chan's first virus-related gaffe. In February was criticised over a leaked recording in which he said panic buyers were behaving like "idiots" during a closed-door meeting with members of a commerce chamber

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Singlish-slinging minister praised for calling outbreak panic buyers ‘idiots’

Just a small group behaving like idiots like that will kill all of us

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing was being praised for his plainspoken tough talk after he apparently said “disgraceful” Singaporean panic buyers were behaving like “idiots” and threw shade at Hong Kong’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

His comments, made in a roughly 20-minute clip that has been spreading online this week, has gotten the attention of Singaporeans who seemed to enjoy his Singlish-steeped straight-talk and agreed with what he said. The clip was recorded in a closed-door meeting with business leaders.

“Just a small group behaving like idiots like that will kill all of us, it will kill our current price negotiation strategy, it will kill our future business strategy … I was very upset on Saturday because it has long-term implications on our international standing. Every country can behave like idiots, Singaporeans must not behave like idiots,” the voice that sounds like Chan says in the ostensibly leaked clip.

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