DPM Tharman ups his cool factor with tongue-in-cheek Facebook reply on long beer queues

DPM Tharman ups his cool factor with tongue-in-cheek Facebook reply on long beer queues

He may be among the top guns in the Singapore Government but Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam is clearly also keeping tabs on the country's music scene.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Feb 28) evening, Mr Tharman, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, praised singer-songwriter Joel Tan as an example of "a young Singaporean who knows what he wants, and works for it."

Tan, 22, who goes by the stage name Gentle Bones, had been featured in a BBC video for being Singapore's answer to Ed Sheeran. He was also featured in a recent Forbes Asia list of "30 under 30" personalities and quit university to focus on his music.

Mr Tharman wrote: "I've known Joel for some years now, and admire how he's carving his own path. A different path."

Incidentally, Joel Tan's father is Mr Tan Chong Huat, a prominent lawyer and founding member of law firm RHTLaw Taylor Wessing.

Mr Tharman also asked his social media followers to catch Gentle Bones at an upcoming gig on March 11, and to hear other top local performers and new talents.

But then came a cheeky comment from follower Roy Lim who made a post referencing the logistical nightmare at last Saturday's Guns N' Roses concert here which angered concert-goers for never-ending queues for food and beverages that snaked for hours, among other issues that cropped up.

Lim posted: "Will there by a 2 hour queue for beer?"

In a rare move by a Singapore politician, Mr Tharman wasted no time to reply him with something tongue-in-cheek.

Posting a cute emoticon character holding a mug of beer, Mr Tharman wrote: "I'm unreliably informed that the KPI is 5 min max."

Photo: Facebook/Tharman Shanmugaratnam

The man said it like it is, that no one should have to wait that long for a beer. And we agree too.

His reply attracted 117 likes while the original post has been shared 131 times as of Wednesday morning.

Here's the original post:

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/TharmanShanmugaratnam/posts/1599993690030116[/embed]

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