Singapore—On social media these days, there’s no telling what might upset netizens.
Ho Ching, the CEO of Temasek Holdings and wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has found herself on the receiving end of some backlash after one post concerning a donation of masks from Taiwan last Saturday (April 11).
Ms Ho, who posts frequently on her Facebook account, shared a link to an article from Taiwan News entitled, ‘Taiwan to donate medical masks to Singapore,’ with the short and rather cryptic caption of “Errrr….”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1402637113257452&id=100005335308340
Unfortunately, this was perceived as an ungracious response by many netizens, especially the Taiwanese, according to Taiwan News.
The Ministry of Foreign affairs had announced on April 8 that more than one million surgical masks would be donated to Singapore and other New Southbound Policy (NSP) countries in an endeavour to curb the spread of Covid-19. Singapore has reported a growing number of confirmed coronavirus cases, prompting a new spate of tighter social distancing rules. Its policy concerning the wearing of masks has changed as well, with PM Lee announcing earlier this month that people would not be discouraged from wearing them.
Taiwan has been able to donate millions of masks to several countries in Europe, as well as to the United States, and is one of the countries considered as successful in controlling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Moreover, according to this report, the countries that have received the donations of masks from Taiwan have expressed gratitude.
Many people commented questioning Ms Ho’s caption
Others openly called her out for what they perceived was an impolite response
Some wondered why the mask donation had become politicised
Others took it upon themselves to simply express their thanks to Taiwan, and some even apologized on Ms Ho’s behalf
Since the post was put up, different ones have been spamming Ms Ho’s Facebook wall with the comment “Errr…” regardless of the topic of her post. Even when she posted a YouTube link to a song by Irish singer Enya, people wrote “Errr…”
When Ms Ho posted about an archaeological finding, it was the same.
As well as when she posted a link about “the best Korean fried chicken”
The suspension of operations in Changi’s Terminal 2
A stray puppy in Australia (that turned out not to be a puppy)
The mutations of the coronavirus
Volcanic eruptions in Indonesia
And so on. On Sunday, April 12, Ms Ho reposted several links from the Facebook group Masks Sewn With Love, a local initiative among Singaporeans for making reusable cloth masks.
However, netizens continued spamming Ms Ho’s posts for a second day, keeping up with their “Errr…” comments on her posts.
-/TISG
Read also: Ho Ching: Don’t be alarmed by rising Covid-19 numbers
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