'I really left a legacy': ex-PPP member Samuel Lee on being 1 of the most memed GE2025 candidates

Former People's Power Party (PPP) member Samuel Lee said the reason he inspired so many memes during the General Election (GE) 2025 was because he was "original".

"I think I really left a legacy lah. For the good or for the bad, that is for history to judge," added Lee.

Lee was responding to questions from Singaporean comedian Rishi Budhrani during an episode of his podcast "The Rishi Report".

A teaser of the episode was published by Rishi on his TikTok page on Jun. 6.

One of the questions Rishi asked Lee during the episode was how he felt about being one of the most "memed" candidates in GE2025.

Look left, look right

Lee, who was part of PPP's slate for Ang Mo Kio GRC, went viral online during the campaign period for his adapted rendition of the Mandopop song, "I am Just a Tiny Tiny Bird (我是一只小小鸟)."

Lee's version of the song goes like this:

"I look left look right, look left look right, for a career path. Is this a request considered too high?"

Lee clarified during the podcast that the "correct meme quote" was "Produce, you cannot. Reproduce, you also cannot."

He pointed out that the full sentence was "conveniently" cut off.

@rishibudhrani He didn't look left or right. He just looked straight and walked into our studios. Full interview with Samuel Lee drops tonight.#therishireport #rishibudhrani #comedy #tiktoksingapore #foryoupage #fypシ゚ #fyp #viral #foryou @Samuel Lee (李育儒) ♬ original sound - Rishi Budhrani

Why contest against SM Lee in GE2025

In the teaser, Rishi also asked Lee about why he and his team decided to contest Ang Mo Kio GRC, facing off Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his People's Action Party (PAP) team in his first GE.

In response, Lee said he viewed himself on equal terms as the PAP candidates:

"They have two eyes, I have two eyes. They have one brain, I have one brain. So it's just a reflect[ion] of different people, the different experience. So we just now compete on equal terms as much as possible."

The full podcast episode featuring Lee will be released on Budhrani's YouTube and Spotify.

Related stories

Top images via rishibudhrani/TikTok