Singapore—While the country imposes more stringent ways to prevent the further spread of Covid-19 by implementing “circuit-breaker” measures, former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng has also announced a “Circuit Breaker” for his Facebook page.
Mr Cheng, who does not hold back with expressing his opinion on the social media platform has, understandably, received comments from people who do not always agree with him, to put it mildly, which he has decided he’s had enough of.
The former NMP wrote not one but two posts concerning the “Circuit Breaker.”
On Sunday morning (Apr 5), he wrote that he would enforce a circuit breaker, which he did with his usual panache and humour.
While he is normally “a very tolerant person,” he wrote, he is also human, albeit “slightly above average in looks and intelligence.”
His circuit breaker is a ban on all commenters who attack or insult him or others, “vehemently disagree or to pick a fight,” or “engage in pointless debates,” those who “have magical powers and come here to say they already KNEW what was going to happen,” and finally, those who comment merely to spread “negative energy.”
Mr Cheng said that the account was after all a fan page and not a forum for debate. He added that he is a private citizen, and not a member of the media or an elected official or civil servant.
Furthermore, he wrote, “If you don’t like what I say, you don’t have to come here. I have zero interest in debating you to change your mind.”
Instead, true fans who agree with and compliment him are welcome, and he provided examples of comments that netizens may use. Tongue in cheek, he added, “You are true fans and I am an egomaniac and I feed off praise and positive energy.”
In his second “Circuit Breaker” post, written on Sunday afternoon after it had been announced that a record 120 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 had been added to the country’s numbers, Mr Cheng took a decidedly more serious tone and endeavoured to remind readers to take the “Circuit Breaker” measures seriously. He also asked for readers to share this post.
He wrote, “Let’s not sugar coat this : there is now community spread and we need to also flatten the curve, so it doesn’t enter an explosive, exponential growth phase.
If it does, many more will get very sick, and die, and hospitals will get overwhelmed.”
Mr Cheng reminded readers to stay home and avoid contact to avoid infection, since Singapore’s hospitals should not get overwhelmed because Covid-19 is not the only sickness being treated there, and people with other diseases need to continue receiving medical treatment.
He added that he understood how difficult it is to stay home, but seeing “our people dying by the thousands” would be even more difficult.
Mr Cheng entreated Singaporeans to stay home and save lives, otherwise the country may need to enter Phase 3, which he called Operation Lockup, and which he said he did not want. —/TISG
Read also: Calvin Cheng says that drawing from our reserves is like “breaking the piggy bank”
Calvin Cheng says that drawing from our reserves is like “breaking the piggy bank”