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SINGAPORE—Social media-savvy Ho Ching, CEO of Temasek Holdings and wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has taken to Facebook to address the question of why only HDB lift buttons—and not those in private condominiums—have been sprayed with disinfectant. Netizens’ reactions to the clarification were mixed, with some expressing their appreciation for the detailed, albeit overly lengthy explanation.

Madam Ho, who has garnered quite a following on her Facebook account, thanks to bold posts that invite discussions on different social issues, didn’t hold back on her explanation of why only HDB elevator buttons are disinfected.

On Monday (May 18), in a Facebook post, Madam Ho addressed a question previously posed to her—”How come you only spray HDB lift buttons? How come you don’t spray the private condo buttons, too?”—with a rather lengthy piece of writing that began with, “Good question. The reason is quite simple.”

What followed next wasn’t so simple. In a whopping 23 paragraphs, Madam Ho clarified that the government basically did not have enough “bandwidth”—personnel and disinfectant—to spray HDB lift buttons as well as private lift buttons.

“Sorry, folks, we just didn’t have the bandwidth to cover everybody, and made a decision and a deliberate choice just to cover the HDB lifts,” was the most simple—and final—sentence of her soliloquy.

Perhaps in an attempt to keep the public well-informed, Madam Ho discussed the finer—and somewhat dizzying (because of its sheer volume)—details of the cleaning routine, how the HDB lift buttons were sprayed, the longevity of the disinfectant coating, and the individual parts played by suppliers and town council members in the process.
As to why private lifts weren’t sprayed, Madam Ho cited three reasons: 1) that there was “not enough of the disinfectant to cover everybody”, 2) that they would have to work with the management committees “of each and every condo”, and 3) “the number of town council contractors are manageable in terms of training to assure some level of quality control” (referring to how HDB lift buttons are sprayed).

 

“However, this doesn’t stop interested condos and their mgt committees to engage contractors to engage vendors to provide similar coatings for their own condos,” Madam Ho added.

While good information was shared, the 596-word post was a lot for some netizens to digest. Though many were grateful that Madam Ho had taken the time to clarify the query, many agreed that the post was well, really long.
Some expressed their gratitude:
Ho Ching Facebook page
Ho Ching Facebook page

Others were grateful, too, but could not help dropping hints at how time it must have taken to write the long post:

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Ho Ching Facebook page
Ho Ching Facebook page

Meanwhile, other netizens were like:

Ho Ching Facebook page
Ho Ching Facebook page
This netizen didn’t even bother to read the post, citing “brevity” as a vital tool in disseminating important information:
Ho Ching Facebook page

Read Madam Ho’s original post for yourself:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1441273189393844&id=100005335308340

-/TISG