Singapore — With the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, some Singaporeans have expressed dissatisfaction with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung’s handling of the pandemic situation, with a petition even circulating online calling for his resignation.
On Friday (Sept 24) Singapore saw its largest number of new cases to date, with 1,504 people testing positive for COVID-19.
Mr Ong has called the surge in infections a “rite of passage” on the road to normalcy and warned that the journey to reopening would be “uncertain and full of twists and turns.”
But the Health Minister has found support from a rather unlikely source, Singaporean businessman and social activist Tan Kin Lian.
Mr Tan Kin Lian, who ran for president in the 2011 election, has been a vocal critic of the People’s Action Party government. However, in a Facebook post on Friday morning, he wrote that he does not agree with the petition calling for Mr Ong’s resignation.
Instead, he praised him for his actions and wished him well.
“There is a petition asking for OYK to step down for his poor handling of the pandemic, which has led to the big spike in infections and illness.
I do not agree with this petition. I did not sign it.
I believe that OYK is taking the right approach. Although the spike was faster and worse than expected, this is part of the uncertainty of life.
We need to take a decision and deal with the consequence.
He is taking the appropriate actions, e.g. to increase the hospital capacity, to deal with the spike.
I wish OYK all the best in dealing with this latest event,” wrote Mr Tan.
On his blog, the former presidential candidate wrote further on the issue of spiking Covid cases. While he understands that people are angry and feel that “ministers are only fighting fires, one after another,” he underlined that the situation carries a lot of uncertainty.
Mr Tan Kin Lian added that the surge in Covid infections was also beyond what the ministers had expected. Again, he put in a good word for them, writing:
“Having learned about the spike, they are taking the appropriate actions to deal with the new situation.
I do not agree with the ministers on many of the actions that they took in the past to deal with the pandemic. My disagreement is based on their response to the known data. I think that they made many wrong decisions. I have expressed my differing views on several occasions.
I believe that they have made the right decision to relax the restrictions and allow life to return to normal, as much as possible. Although the spike in infections and illness is faster than they had expected, I do not fault them.
I also consider their response to the new situation to be quite good.” /TISG
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