When Heng Swee Keat was ‘confirmed’ as the PM-in-waiting last month, many Singaporeans breathed a sigh of relief.
Some were glad to see an experienced Finance Minister at the helm, whilst others were disappointed that it wasn't Tharman. Most citizens, however, simply closed their eyes and said a silent prayer of gratitude: “Thank god it’s not Chan Chun Sing.”
Okay, I lied. The prayers were loud and gleeful. Many were overjoyed to learn that Chan Chun Sing, long considered the frontrunner, would not be our next King. They were so ecstatic that the usual ‘return my CPF’ complaints were temporarily suspended, replaced by expressions of Schadenfreude at Keechiu’s ‘downfall’.
Personally, I don’t like CCS, but I’m also disturbed by the amount of hate that he has received over the past year. To me, he is just another 4G Minister like his peers OYK and TCJ, neither exceptional in his achievements nor particularly damning in his faults.
So what gives? Why do so many people have such a deep-seated dislike of Keechiu?
The Boy Who Lived
The most obvious answer: people don’t like his face.
Don’t roll your eyes, because you know it’s true. Some politicians are blessed with an authoritative jawline (Macron). Others, with a kindly disposition that reminds you of a well-loved uncle (Tharman).
CCS, however, looks like a boy. Specifically, the boy from the cover of MAD magazine. The large ears, buck teeth, and moon face make him look like a venture scout cosplaying as a Minister, and prevents him from projecting the gravitas that voters expect.
And it gets worse when he’s not smiling for the camera. At rest, his mouth curls naturally into a smirk, twisting his boyish features into a picture of smugness.
The unfortunate geometry of his head is not helped by his manner of speaking, which is neither heartland nor RI.
A Singaporean politician has 2 choices when making a speech: either speak like Low Thia Khiang and sound like a man-of-the-people, or speak like Tan Chuan-Jin and sound like a proper Oxbridge-educated elite.
There are pros and cons to both, but CCS seems incapable of either. If you watch his public speeches closely, there is an odd note of inauthenticity when he speaks. When he’s talking to ‘the people‘, the Singlish accent seems exaggerated, and you get the feeling that he’s pandering or being condescending. When he’s speaking to his peers at a conference or in parliament, the intonation is a little weird, and he sounds like a man struggling to keep the Singlish from creeping into his Queen’s English.
The result is a neither-here-nor-there accent that confuses everyone. He doesn’t sound like one of us, or one of them. He sounds like … a person trying to sound like someone else. Not a good look for politics, where sincerity is a valuable currency.
More at https://tinyurI.com/ya5x6f2r
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