October 12, 2016, 10:42 AM 
Josephine Teo, the Senior Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office gave a candid interview to two Straits Times journalists last week, discussing her views on sex, and starting a family.
She was talking about the birds and the bees because she is the politician in charge of population matters, including marriage and parenthood.
Here is the quote that set off a thousand netizens.
"You need a very small space to have sex."
And you know it's a quirky statement, when even the newspaper had to preface the quote with this sentence.
"With a straight face, Mrs Teo declared".
Singaporeans react strongly
But a running theme along the comments was how the proposal felt very "not Singaporean".
And to her credit, Teo did acknowledge that vein of criticism.
This is her observation of the differences between the west, and us.
In our case, man meets woman, man falls in love with woman, man proposes to woman, they then plan the wedding and do the house...In France, in the UK, in the Nordic countries, man meets woman, tonight they can make a baby already. The Straits Times, Oct 12
Which brings the commentors to another point, shouldn't we change how Singapore is structured, before wanting to change Singaporean mentality.
What she meant
It is important to note that Teo was answering in the context of the Parenthood Priority Scheme.
Which is this.
The Parenthood Priority Scheme (PPS) provides priority allocation to first-timer married couples with a citizen child below the age of 16 (including those expecting a child) for BTO/SBF flats to better meet their housing needs. They must also have satisfied all other eligibility conditions in buying a new HDB flat.
So, in that context, the safest interpretation of what she was advocating could well be, get married, stay in parents house, get pregnant, and then apply under this scheme.
Which brings us to the most disturbing part of the article.
No one likes having sex anywhere near their parents.
These are the stuff of nightmares.
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Top image altered from Zimbio, Wikicommons
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