Politicians, by their very nature and job requirements, aren’t usually known for their candidness. Unless you’re counting populist presidents of course.
But certainly candid was Tan Chuan-Jin last night (Feb 20) as Singapore’s Speaker of Parliament went off on Twitter. His forthright vibes must have felt like a huge breath of fresh air for folks on Twitter, who quickly became his stans after he personally responded to everyone who @ him.
To be clear, the man has had an active Twitter account for quite some time already but it was only last night that it suddenly blew up. It began with a rando responding sourly to Tan’s sensible tweet urging people not to go panic-shopping in response to the heightened coronavirus outbreak situation.
https://twitter.com/alextong10/status/1230071745966563329
Two things about the Twitter user who put Tan on blast. Firstly, he was actually defending the wanton acts of panic-hoarding. Secondly, he mistook the Speaker of Parliament for Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, whose leaked remarks about panic hoarders recently circulated on social media.
Tan shot back and (surprisingly) engaged the other party in a small Twitter squabble, and he didn’t hold back. The Speaker of Parliament has spoken.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230505886352736257
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230507803325784065
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230513344022335489
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230513918184849414
It ended pretty quickly, with the politician apologising to his followers for the odd exchange.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230515022826049539
The frankness revealed another side to the Speaker of Parliament, and because Twitter loves drama, folks started chiming in. The stans started arriving.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230519922037383170
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230520242008256512
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230515138760826880
After having a relatively quiet Twitter account for some time, Tan finally realised that being stanned on the platform opens you up to a whole new world. Of course, he also learnt what stanning means.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230516795468963841
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230515291077005312
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230516489553240064
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230517312114970624
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230526610408759296
From that point onwards, the Speaker of Parliament turned into the de facto Tweeter of Parliament too as he spent his Thursday night replying to his new stans, discussing things like the Premier League (he’s a Liverpool stan himself), his preferred potato chip flavours, and his thoughts on Academy-award nominated flicks.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230527621735141376
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230530307645788160
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230531777476755456
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230536926513418240
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230540738359750661
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230662714294329344
The man eventually had to head off for some shut-eye, but as of this morning, he continues to diligently reply to his mentions.
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230665918964879360
https://twitter.com/chuanjin1/status/1230671299191529472
