Singapore’s Pritam Singh case spawns ‘lao hong’ biscuits, spilled tea memes as trial adjourned
Netizens seize on buzzwords, lighter moments in the trial for memes including ‘Gigachad’ references and return of Low Thia Khiang to ‘save WP’
The courtroom drama centred on Singapore’s opposition leader Pritam Singh has spawned a series of memes based on buzzwords and lighter moments in the trial, which took a back seat on Tuesday after it was adjourned due to Singh’s lawyer falling ill.
Online interest includes a fixation on last week’s lao hong – or deflated – biscuits debate, when a prosecution witness used the term to describe a former colleague in Singh’s party who had lied in parliament, as well as “tea-spilling” or allusions to gossip unveiled by other testimonies.
Singh, 48, is embroiled in controversy stemming from former Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan’s lies to parliament in August 2021 about accompanying a rape victim to a police station. He faces two criminal charges for giving false evidence in his testimony during parliamentary committee hearings in December that year.
Before the start of proceedings on Tuesday, the case was adjourned after the court heard that Singh’s lawyer, Andre Jumabhoy, had fallen ill and was unfit for court for two days. The trial will resume on Wednesday afternoon, subject to Jumabhoy’s health.
Over the last two weeks, Singapore has watched as former Workers’ Party members took the stand to give evidence against Singh.
Online users have been particularly enthralled by the lao hong biscuit debate last Friday. Former party member Loh Pei Ying uttered the term, Hokkien for “leaking air” and used mostly to describe biscuits that have lost their crunch, to imply Khan was weak and buckled easily under pressure. Memes soon emerged, with Khan’s face plastered over biscuits on social network Reddit.
One captioned a mock advertisement with the words “goes well with tea”, referencing “tea” as slang for gossip.
