Lawrence Wong talks about jobs and livelihoods but all people want to know is who made those hot mic comments in Parliament

For some who were wondering if another individual was involved in the hot mic situation recently in Parliament, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has said no.

Wong was responding to a comment on his Facebook Live post on jobs and livelihoods in Singapore on Wednesday (Sept 22). 

The netizen wrote: "Actually I think people are more interested to know whether you were the one who made the 'lousy school' comment in Parliament.”

Wong replied hours later, saying: "Thanks for the question. I assure you that I did not make any of those comments."

On Sept 15, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan apologised to Progress Singapore Party's Leong Mun Wai after his comments were picked up by the Parliament microphone – at the tail-end of a lengthy debate on jobs and foreign worker policies.   

In a segment of the session, live-streamed on YouTube, viewers heard a voice saying “He’s illiterate” as NCMP Leong asked Manpower Minister Tan See Leng for clarification on the data discussed.

In the video, Wong was seen sitting beside Dr Balakrishnan, who had Dr Tan on his right.

Another comment picked up by the microphone said: “Seriously, how did he get into RI (Raffles Institution)? Must have been a lousy school.”

Dr Balakrishnan said in a Facebook post on Sept 15: "I called Mr Leong Mun Wai today to apologise for my private comments to a colleague in Parliament yesterday. I disagree with him on the issue, but I should not have said what I said.

"Mr Leong has accepted my apology."

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zakaria@asiaone.com