Singapore — Criticising the People’s Action Party (PAP) for the way it handled the Covid-19 pandemic, DR Chee Soon Juan wrote that it was unfair for Singaporeans to bear the consequences of the risks taken by the Government.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (May 5) that garnered over 2,700 likes and almost 500 comments, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general wrote that Singaporeans have been “exceedingly cooperative since the onset of the pandemic despite the many bungles the PAP has committed with regards to the spread of the disease”.
Criticising the PAP, he wrote: “Singaporeans remember that just prior to the surge of infections in March 2020, the PAP exploited the situation and started campaigning for elections that it wanted to call. The subsequent deterioration of the situation ultimately resulted in the Circuit Breaker.”
“As a consequence (of the Circuit Breaker), the country had to incur nearly $100 billion to dig ourselves out of the hole”, Dr Chee wrote.
He commended the people of Singapore for their cooperation and obeyance of the rules in order to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases.
“What more could the people have done? How many more regulations does the government want the people to follow that they haven’t already?” Dr Chee asked.
Citing Education Minister and multi-ministry Covid-19 task force co-chair Lawrence Wong, who said that “that “we’ve always taken a risk-based approach in managing our borders from the start”, Dr Chee asked if these risks were warranted.
“While many other governments took decisive and strong measures to close their borders when circumstances necessitated it, the PAP insisted on letting in foreigners even as the number of imported cases here rose”, he wrote, adding that Singaporeans had to bear the consequences of such risks.
Dr Chee concluded his post by adding that Singaporeans are watching closely “as the nation cannot afford another surge of the disease. The PAP will be wholly to blame if the disease triggers another unthinkable lockdown”.
Netizens who commented on his post agreed with him, with some adding that his sentiments conveyed what they felt.
/TISG