Singapore—Commenting on Singapore’s current situation, lawyer and opposition leader Lim Tean wrote in a May 9 Facebook post that it’s “like March/April of 2020 all over again”.
During that time, the country experienced a sharp uptick in Covid cases, especially in migrant workers’ dormitories. A few weeks later, Singapore entered a circuit breaker to curb the rise in infections, and stringent restrictions were imposed. This meant the vast majority of people stayed home, and once-bustling streets were empty.
There has been a recent increase in Covid-19 cases. Mr Lim wrote, “Take a walk through the usually bustling malls today and you will notice how eerily quiet everything is. And the lines of waiting taxis are lengthening once again.” This is reminiscent of last year, he added.
He considers this a failure of the People’s Action Party (PAP) administration.
First, he called out former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong for calling the PAP’s leadership succession issue “a National One”.
“As usual, he is his old presumptuous self. His words reveal a Party which refuses to face up to reality- which is that its outmoded model of how the country should be governed is now met with derision by the well-educated and intelligent Singaporeans.”
Mr Lim wrote that when Singaporeans cannot take the likely successors—Messrs Chan Chun Sing, Lawrence Wong and Ong Ye Kung—seriously, this is not a National issue but “a non-issue”.
Mincing no words, he added that the three top contenders to be the next Prime Minister are each perceived to be a “mere mouthpiece for a discredited ideology”.
“No serious person will follow a ‘leader’ who is unable to articulate his vision for a better tomorrow,” he added.
The lawyer, who heads the People’s Voice party, mentioned the “recent debacle over SPH” as another example of “how hollow the PAP model actually is”, alluding to the Singapore Press Holdings CEO Ng Yat Chung and referring to him as an “unqualified” person who had been tasked to helm a national enterprise.
“Putting unqualified people to helm national enterprises is tantamount to putting a person who cannot ride on a bicycle. The crash is inevitable,” he added.
With tighter Covid restrictions in place again, Mr Lim warned that firms would suffer and fail because of the PAP Government, even as “the men and women at the helm of the PAP continue to collect their enormous pay cheques regardless of performance or the pains and burdens felt on the ground”.
This, he added, would have been unnecessary had Mr Lawrence Wong and Mr Gan Kim Yong, who lead the multi-ministry Covid-19 task force, along with outgoing Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, imposed stricter travel restrictions earlier.
“When businesses fail and jobs are lost or cannot be created, it is ordinary Singaporeans who will have tears in their eyes. The PAP leaders with their no-blame culture, lack of accountability and claims of meritocracy will once again put the blame for the spike on the ordinary Singaporeans. In this they will be assisted ably by their MSM mouthpieces and so called experts.”
Mr Lim ended his post by calling for better leadership for Singapore.
/TISG
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