Lim Tean criticises Gan Kim Yong and the Ministry of Health’s policy on virus management

People’s Voice founder Lim Tean on Wednesday (Feb 26) criticised PAP Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong for his recent statement regarding the possibility of lowering Singapore’s DORSCON level as well as the Government’s banning of South Koreans from Daehu and Cheongdo.

According to a recent report, Singapore’s Health Minister, Gan Kim Yong, said on Tuesday (Feb 25) that if the Covid-19 virus continues to spread even more widely internationally, then the Government may lower Singapore’s DORSCON level, which was raised to orange on Feb 7. In a recent press conference, Mr Gan said that should the international outbreak intensify, then Singapore may have to loosen its border control measures. “If it has become quite a widespread community transmission all over the world, and a lot of these border control measures may no longer be useful, we may begin to remove some of these border controls if it becomes apparent that every country is going to have transmission,” he explained.

Lawyer and political activist Lim Tean, however, disagreed with Mr Gan’s logic. In a recent Facebook post, Mr Lim wrote, “According to this logic, if many in the world are infected, we should open our borders and we should just be prepared to live with the fact that we may get infected as well.” He argued that the well-being of Singaporeans should be at the top-most priority of the Government task force. “What it shows again unfortunately, is that we have a Government that is more concerned with trying to keep the economy running uninterrupted, than the health and safety of its people!”

Mr Lim also criticised the Government’s mandate to ban travellers coming from both Cheongdo County and Daegu City in South Korea.

According to Channel News Asia, the Ministry of Health on Tuesday (Feb 25), declared that Singapore would not permit visitors from these locations to enter the country as there has been an alarming increase in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Mr Lim addressed this decision in his post as well, calling it “daft.” “Given the virus explosion in South Korea, all travellers from South Korea should be banned,” he asserted. He then stressed that People’s Voice has demanded for such a decision to be made. Mr Lim also cited Hong Kong and Israel, whose governments have both taken this particular measure as a precaution.

“South Korean officials are increasingly worried about the increasing number of cases in Seoul and the Yonhap region, which have no connection with China,” he argued, before asking how the Singaporean Government could guarantee that South Koreans who have recently travelled to Cheongdo and Daegu would not enter Singapore.