Following Dr Thum Ping Tjin’s submission to the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, he received much flak both online and from Singaporeans. Dr Thum has also posted rather controversial statements online, such as his suggestion that Singaporeans should also celebrate Malaysia’s independence day. After the passing of Aloysius Pang who died after an accident during his reservist training in New Zealand, PJ Thum took to social media to express the futility of trying to make changes to the army and its systems.
He wrote, “While the death of yet another National Serviceman is a tragedy, it would be futile to expect any significant reform to a system that has led to so many NS deaths”.
PJ then went on to blame Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, which earned him harsh words from netizens.
He said, “This tenet, first articulated by LKY, has been treated as gospel by subsequent administrations, with few concessions made and only in the face of overwhelming public discontent”.
While the death of yet another National Serviceman is a tragedy, it would be futile to expect any significant reform to…
Posted by Pingtjin Thum on Sunday, 27 January 2019
He added, “efficiency and economic returns are more important than individual lives”.
PJ then expressed how he felt that changes were unlikely to permeate the system.
“The values of a system as a whole have greater influence than individual policies. Regardless of what the Committee of Inquiry recommends, no policy can fix a system which is fundamentally inhumane”.
His post had a single comment, but over 400 likes.
On the flip side, many others commented that it did not take much for PJ to always come back to blaming the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and that PJ’s post barely made sense.
