Singapore — Calvin Cheng has called the current measure of limiting social gatherings to five people ‘overly conservative’ that may even backfire against the PAP government, as it errs too much on the side of caution at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Criticism of the ruling party is somewhat of a departure for Mr Cheng, as he is usually a vocal supporter of PAP’s policies.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jan 5), the businessman and former Nominated Member of Parliament compared the current five-person rule in Singapore to the situation in England, which has “record-breaking daily cases” he pointed out.
Nevertheless, “England’s government is holding their nerve and not putting in new restrictions,” he added.
He underlined England’s high vaccination rate of old and vulnerable people and wrote that the country’s National Health System is holding up, even with the high number of Covid infections at present.
And then the hard-hitting Mr Cheng took aim at the situation at home.
“Perhaps our policy makers fear that our health system isn’t as good as the UK NHS.
Or perhaps kiasu-ness is so hardwired into our DNA that we are always erring on the side of caution.”
He added that “Younger, healthier vaccinated people are getting tired of overly-conservative rules, and silly restrictions,” and recommended for the ruling People’s Action Party to “consider whether it’s failing to really lead us out of the pandemic”.
The ex-NMP called Singapore’s current situation “neither here nor there,” because, unlike China, a Covid-zero strategy cannot be implemented, but he opines that the authorities have “no nerve to treat the virus as endemic.”
“More vaccinated healthy people must speak up against these rules that impose an economic and psychological toll on society,” he added.
Netizens commenting on Mr Cheng’s post voiced their agreement.
/TISG
Read also: Calvin Cheng on OMICRON cases being allowed to recover at home: “Very good. We win. Turtles lose.”
Calvin Cheng on OMICRON cases being allowed to recover at home: “Very good. We win. Turtles lose.”