“Don’t be sour grapes” says Goh Chok Tong to netizen who commented about ‘Swiss standard of living’

“Don’t be sour grapes” said then-ESM Goh Chok Tong to a netizen who sarcastically commented on his Facebook page about a ‘Swiss standard of living’.

Following his retirement from being a Member of Parliament (MP), former Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh Chok Tong has been active on social media, even documenting his walks and leisurely activities.

In a Facebook post on Saturday (Aug 1), Mr Goh shared photos after he met with and took photos with parrots during a walk at Jurong Lake Garden.

“Went to Jurong Lake Garden for a walk. Heard a “meow”, turned around and saw that it came from a parrot”, Mr Goh wrote.

“The owner perched the parrot on my shoulder. It nipped my ear. Ouch! Owner said it was because I swayed and the bird felt unsteady. Fortunately, it was not nervous or it might …..”, continued Mr Goh.

More than 1,900 people liked his post, and it garnered over 200 comments.

One Suling Tan commented: “Enjoy swiss standard of retirement for himself. Never mind the rest of Singapore”.

In 1984, before Mr Goh became prime minister, he set a target for Singapore to reach a “Swiss standard of living” by 1999.

While Mr Goh told CNN in an interview that he was referring to the per capita of income, or the average income earned per person in a given area.

In his interview, he said, “In 1984, when we talked about the Swiss standard of living, I was using a simple measure of per capita income. By 1999, we would like to achieve the 1984 per capita income of Switzerland”.

Since then however, his measure of “Swiss standard of living” has been used for numerous comparisons and to pit Singapore against various benchmarks along the way.

To Ms Tan, Mr Goh replied, “Don’t be sour grapes please. Go to Jurong Lake Garden. Hundreds are enjoying Swiss standard of living”.

Mr Goh’s response to Ms Tan received more than 300 likes, with many others commenting about how she had made an unnecessarily critical comment. /TISG