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Politicians are naturally under intense public scrutiny, especially during the General Election (GE) campaigning period.

One politician who has garnered some scrutiny last night was Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli, also the anchor minister running in Tampines GRC, after he misspoke during a Facebook live video.

Mistakenly referred to Lee Hsien Yang as PM

A clip that shows Masagos accidentally calling Lee Hsien Yang as the Prime Minister has been circulating online since last night (July 3).

The clip came from a 43-minute online rally in Tampines GRC on July 3.

The verbal faux pas was made when Masagos mentioned Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally (NDR) speech last night.

Masagos intended to say that the PM Lee pledged S$100 billion at last year's NDR to tackle climate change.

The full video featured a conversation with fellow team mate Koh Poh Koon, who is replacing Heng Swee Keat at Tampines.

Masagos also shared more about the plans to make Tampines a more sustainable and inclusive town.

Masagos: Got too excited about sustainability and mis-spoke

In response, Masagos posted on Facebook regarding the issue on July 3.

He said that he received a text from his son after the clip went viral.

Masago's son told him that this "will be just another laugh" and encouraged him by saying "Go Mr Massss" in the message.

He clarified that he mis-spoke as he got too excited about the topic of sustainability.

His post added that Lee Hsien Yang used to be his boss at Singtel.

Before Masagos entered politics, he was the CEO of SingTel Global Offices.

Back in 2006, he shared that PM Lee had prepared him for the intense public scrutiny he would face as an MP, saying that every small mistake will get amplified.

PM Lee told him "that being an MP is also a high risk to (his) career, because it takes a lot of time, and a small mistake gets amplified 10 times, 20 times"

On this incident, Masagos also said that he will move on and "focus on the tasks ahead".

Top photo via Masagos Zulkifli/Facebook