MP WEE Siew Kim has said sorry for remarks he and his 18-year-old daughter, Shu Min, made about Singaporeans who worry about jobs.
In a statement issued to The Straits Times last night, he apologised for the comments he made in an earlier interview on his daughter's criticism of another blogger, Mr Derek Wee, 35, on her Internet journal.
'We both apologise to the people whom we have offended, and especially Mr Derek Wee,' the MP said.
Miss Wee, a Raffles Junior College (RJC) student, had last week called Mr Derek Wee 'old' and 'undermotivated' after he wrote in his blog that the Government should try to be more understanding of Singaporeans' employment woes.
Many on the Internet slammed her for her remarks. She subsequently shut down her blog and was later counselled by her tutor at RJC.
In an interview with The Straits Times published on Tuesday, her father tried to smooth things over by acknowledging that she had used insensitive language.
However, he said he stood by his daughter's 'basic point', saying well-educated Singaporeans such as Mr Derek Wee should 'get on with the challenges in life' rather than complain to the Government about them. 'I think if you cut through the insensitivity of the language, her basic point is reasonable,' he had said.
'Some people cannot take the brutal truth and that sort of language, so she ought to learn from it,' he added.
The MP's comments drew further criticism, especially online.
Yesterday, in his apology, he said: 'I should not have said what I did about people's inability to take the brutal truth and strong language.'
