In this undated handout photo released on January 29, 2020 by the Fire Department Eastern Voluntter shows a runaway giraffe seen crossing a road in Bang Khla, Chachoengsao province. - An African giraffe which bolted from a convoy destined for a Thai safari park remained on the run January 29, as vets scoured farmland near the escape zone in a near 24-hour search gripping the public. AFP
A giraffe whose daring escape from convoy en route to a Thai breeding station won hearts online was found dead in a lotus-clogged canal on Thursday after a two-day search using drones and hang gliders.
Two giraffes made a bid for freedom from the back of a poorly secured truck as it slowed in highway traffic after leaving Bangkok’s main airport on Tuesday.
The animals had been imported from an unnamed African country and destined for Safari World, a popular attraction outside Bangkok which describes itself as “an open zoo”.
Rescuers caught one of the creatures after stunning it with a tranquiliser gun, but the other escaped into scrubland — cheered on by hundreds of thousands of people on social media.
The story took a tragic turn, however, after it was found dead in a lotus swamp near a main road, according to Safari World.
Vets will determine the cause of death.
Hundreds of thousands of Thais followed Facebook live videos of journalists trailing the hunt for the runaway ungulate.
Comments lamenting its fate poured onto social media.
“Hope you reincarnate in a better world lil giraffe,” said one.
Safari World is Thailand’s biggest animal park, but the multi-million dollar company has in the past been criticised for training its creatures to perform for entertainment — including staging boxing matches with orangutans.
Zoos and animal shows are common in Thailand, where tourists pay to have their pictures taken with tigers or watch elephants play football and perform tricks.
For illustration purposes only (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP)
by Hector RETAMAL / with Dene CHEN in Bangkok
Pregnant, newly wed and now trapped at the Chinese epicentre of a global health crisis, Thai national Aphinya is among thousands of foreigners desperate to escape — and watching helplessly as the US and Japan fly their citizens home.
Hundreds were flown to safety this week to Tokyo, Singapore and California on government-chartered flights, but those from countries with less diplomatic clout fear they are being left behind.
“I feel hurt that they don’t care about us,” Aphinya Thasripech, 32, told AFP.
“Either I could starve or I’ll get infected and die,” said the factory worker, who is two months pregnant.
So far 170 people have been killed by the virus since it emerged from a market in Wuhan, and more than 7,700 people have been sickened.
The illness has also spread around the world, with cases being recorded as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Finland and the United States, but all of the deaths have been in China.
China has imposed transport bans in and around Wuhan — effectively trapping tens of millions of people — including thousands of foreigners — in a bid to contain the virus.
Aphinya arrived in China on two weeks ago to marry her Chinese husband in Xiantao — about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Wuhan.
Now the city is a virtual ghost town, with restaurants and shops shuttered.
Aphinya said she is worried for the health of her unborn baby, and desperate for the Thai government to get her out.
For days, the government in Bangkok has said they are awaiting “permission” from China to evacuate 65 citizens known to be at ground zero.
But the wait is taking its toll.
“Sooner or later, it will get to us,” said Aphinya, adding she had heard that a man had collapsed in a restaurant near her.
Thai medical student Badeephak Kaosala has barricaded himself in his dorm room with a dwindling supply of food and water.
He has watched with disbelief as wealthy nations have mounted mercy flights for their stricken citizens, with no word from home on when — or if — he might get out.
“China has given permission to so many other countries… so we feel really down,” , 23, told AFP.
‘Only fools want to stay’
South Korea, France and Britain have all announced preparations to evacuate their citizens. Japan has already brought out two plane-loads.
But “fear, frustration and panic” is mounting among those still trapped, said Pakistani Ruqia Shaikh, 33, who was visiting friends when the city was locked down.
There are around 500 Pakistani students in Wuhan. Currently four have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, an official in Islamabad has said.
Those with families are eager to leave, said Ruqia, though some students prefer to remain where they are — happier to take their chances against the disease than run the gauntlet of Pakistan’s poor health facilities.
“Our country is not capable of treating the coronavirus,” she told AFP.
But Fadil, an Indonesian doctoral student in Wuhan who goes by one name, said he and his friends are desperate to leave — even if only to another Chinese city.
There are about 100 Indonesians in Wuhan, and another 143 elsewhere in Hubei province.
“The key thing is that we want to get out of here,” he said. “Only fools would want to stay in Wuhan.”
A few Myanmar nationals living in Wuhan have taken to Facebook, issuing public pleas to be brought home.
“Other countries are calling back their citizens… when are we going back?” said Khin Thiri Thant Zin, a hospital intern in Wuhan.
“I have a headache from crying so much — I cannot sleep at night.”
Changi Airport Group (CAG), as well as Workforce Singapore (WSG), have been accused of sending circulars to their staff telling them not to wear masks.
In a tip-off sent to TISG, security staff at Changi Airport were sent a text message that read: “to prevent spreading panic in Changi, no one is to wear mask unless permission is granted”.
“The only group of people who, at this point, are allowed to don the surgical mask in the course of their work, are the APOs performing temperature screening duties for our client, MOH, inclusive of APOs engaged in Door 4 ops for flights arriving from China”, the message added.
It also said that it will “manage” other airport staff seen wearing masks.
Photo: Tip-off sent to TISG
Similarly, during an event in Toa Payoh that was organised by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) as a career fair for the transport sector, staff had the following message sent to them: “staff in contact with members of the public are not to don masks, so as not to send the wrong signal to the public”.
According to TISG’s informer, the message from CAG was to their front line team, and the person who received it was a security officer.
Photo: Tip-off sent to TISG
Upon checking social media, many netizens also say that front-line staff at the checkpoints have been told not to use masks.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!IT doesn't make any sense at all. Why are you doing this to our front liners? I was just on the…
Another netizen, Carol CY Ho wrote on Changi Airport’s Facebook page: “It seems that direct employees of CAG, and retailers in CAG and their employees, are allowed to wear masks. But outsourced security personnel are not allowed to wear masks while on duty. Even those tasked to screen passengers on inbound flights from China, especially inbound flights from Hubei”.
She added, “They are THE vulnerable lot”.
Photo: FB/Changi Airport
A Xiiao Key questioned, “Good morning, as the deadly new coronavirus that’s spreading rapidly in China and beyond. Why aren’t auxiliary police officer (sic) (AETOS / Cisco) allowed to wear masks on duty? They are at the front line”.
Photo: FB/Changi Airport
In reports earlier today, at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), some front-line staff were upset after they were apparently told not to wear face masks at work in case they alarm the guests.
TISG has reached out to CAG and WSG for comment and clarification. -/TISG
Update – In response to TISG’s queries, CAG has responded with the following: “As mentioned in our Facebook comment, CAG has not prevented airport workers from wearing a face mask while on duty. But we stand “accused of sending circulars to staff telling them not to wear masks”. We are investigating the source of the WhatsApp message posted in the article as we don’t know where it’s come from.”
Singapore— National Development Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Thursday said (Jan 30) that every household in Singapore is to receive four surgical face masks.
He said, “We are doing this to assure Singaporeans that every family will have access to masks if someone in your family really needs it.”
Mr Wong added that the masks should only be used when absolutely needed. “Do not open up the packet and start using them right away. Use it only if you’re unwell and have to go out to see the doctor,” he urged.
The announcement comes amidst daily updates on the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The growing tally of the number of people affected (over 7,000), as well as the death toll (170), have been cause for concern, and long lines of people waiting to buy surgical masks for added protection against the virus have been seen all over Singapore.
Starting this Saturday, February 1, people may get the masks at 654 Residents’ Committee (RC) centres and 89 Community Centres (CCs).
The government expects that all households will have collected their masks by February 9.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports Chan Chun Sing, the country’s Minister for Trade and Industry as saying that in the last nine days five million masks were made available to retailers, but people have bought them at faster rates than anticipated.
While Mr Chan said, “We understand when people are fearful there is a tendency for them to panic buy or hoard,” he added that to not manage the private use of surgical masks would “jeopardise our entire healthcare system, not allowing us to take care of those who need it the most.”
Regarding the distribution of masks to Singaporean households, Mr Wong said that this would be a “one-time exercise”. The masks are from the country’s national stockpile and given directly to Singaporeans.
Mr Wong added that the first priority for the stockpile is given to front line healthcare workers. As for distribution, areas with a high concentration of residents that are vulnerable, Pioneer Generation residents and rental block residents, will be given first priority.
The masks are being packed by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), similar to 2013, when the SAF packed masks for distribution during the period of intense haze.
Mr Chan added that in cases wherein residents cannot claim the masks in person, these will be distributed to them by volunteers from the People’s Association. And if there is a need for additional masks, these will be assessed on a case-to-case basis.
From February 1 to 5, these masks will be distributed at RC centres within Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates. From February 6 onwards they’ll be distributed at Community Centres. The allowed time for claiming the masks is between 2 to 10pm on February 1 and then between 10am to 9pm on the days that follow.
In order to claim the masks, residents will need to show their NRIC. -/TISG
Singapore—An early morning fight at a club at Clarke Quay on Jan 27 (Monday) ended up with a thirty-one-year-old man getting sent to the hospital. Videos of the brawl that occurred at Club Illusion are circulating around social media, showing over a dozen people involved.
The man was still conscious when he was taken to Singapore General Hospital.
According to the police, they were alerted to a rioting incident at 3A River Valley Road shortly past 3 o’clock in the morning on Monday.
The video shows people throwing things in the air, pushing and yelling at each other with both men and women scurrying around. A stool, glasses and a drink tower were thrown into the air amidst the scuffle.
Crowdsourced news website Stomp reports that several people had brought its attention to the brawl, wherein an individual is heard shouting ‘get out’ in Malay, and security officers and bouncers also attempt to restore order at the club.
The brawl may have started over an argument over drinks, as one person in the video is heard saying, “He took their Martell some more, you know.”
This is not the first time that disturbances have been noted in the Clarke Quay area. A brutal fight was caught on video in April 2017, which ended in the death of one man who succumbed to his injuries after the brawl. A woman can be seen on the video attempting to break up the fight.
Nine men between the ages of 20 and 30 were arrested by the police for rioting with a deadly weapon.
The victim was later identified asTan Jun Jie by Shin Min Daily News. Mr Tan was brought to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) after the brawl, and reportedly suffered from a brain haemorrhage that led to his demise. He was in critical condition upon admission to the hospital and died three days after the incident.
Mr Tommy pretended to help and comfort the intoxicated young woman, but had, in actuality, molested her for several minutes. He only stopped when the young woman’s cousin arrived to help her. The cousin pulled the woman away from Mr Tommy’s grasp and took her home. Mr Tommy, age 49, was at that time in Singapore for work.
In addition to the fine, Jason Esaias Gao Weijie paid some S$8,000 in compensation to his victim, Eugene Lee Wei Liang. The altercation between Messrs Gao and Lee occurred in the early morning hours of January 12, 2019, at the Haidilao outlet at Clarke Quay. -/TISG
Since the Pakatan Harapan(PH) came to power in May 2018 the overwhelming focus has been on the federal government which operates largely out of Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. Parliament, the principal federal seat of the Executive and the Judiciary also operate out of these two areas largely and there is a tendency to assess, the sometimes immeasurable, performance of the government, based on statements, slants and statistics issuing out of these places and the kind of media and press coverage these institutions get.
Adoption of Good Governance
The PH Government made it abundantly clear from the beginning that their governance model would represent a radical departure from the previous government’s. The previous government of Dato’ Sri Najib Abdul Razak had been involved in many shady, speculative and kleptocratic activities that could not, at a certain stage, be contained and eventually attracted adverse public and press publicity.
The biggest expose of these illegal activities came initially from foreign sources including the US Department of Justice.
It would seem that at the highest national level there were extraordinary and essentially illegal excesses that bled, bludgeoned and nearly bankrupted the country’s treasury. At the same time these dubious actions resulted in wrongful gain and burnished the bank balances of some of the perpetrators of these illegal actions.
With almost 21 months in office PH’s mantra of accountability, transparency and good governance has gained credibility and has attained some traction at the federal level.
There has been less focus on state level activities as the financial resources that were lost to fraudulent activities at the federal level were of such astronomical proportions.
Sabah and Sarawak are the not focus of this analysis as those two states are rather unique, sizeable in land area and vary greatly from the states in the peninsula with a lot more autonomy.
State Administration
It would be appropriate to take a peek at the real situation at state level in the Peninsula.
Most, not all, of the state governments were run by political leaders and parties affiliated with the previous prime minister’s political coalition and by PAS. The two exceptions were Penang and Selangor. It would seem that Penang and Selangor maintained a higher level of accountability, transparency and good governance and built up impressive reserves of funds. It would appear that they were also held to a higher level of accountability and scrutiny by federal institutions. It was partly that impressive record that stood them in good stead for the 14th General Election which they won convincingly. GE14 also changed the political configuration and colour of the country completely and brought the country more in sync with these two states’ higher threshold of accountability.
The state of Kelantan recently attracted some attention as their Menteri Besar and his Executive Councillors were each allocated one unit of a Mercedes Benz and a RM50,000 one-off allocation. The state is controlled by the conservative PAS, the nation’s biggest Islamic party.
It is known that there was nothing irregular about the state government of Kelantan providing funds for the acquisition of these premium cars. It was on the basis of a decision made by the state’s executive council. The state appears to have had the funds to purchase these vehicles and there seem to have been some precedents where the marque of cars were concerned.
Are the States’ Land Banks intact?
What needs to be looked at is how the state governments maintain not only accountability, transparency and good governance but also how they adhere to norms of proportionality, reasonableness and justice in governing their states. Practices of states in governance matters vary greatly. The states have at their disposal through their respective unicameral legislature the power to determine emoluments of state assembly persons, the sitting and travelling allowances and other perquisites including loans to purchase their vehicles, housing allowances and entertainment allowances.
Some states also provide miscellaneous allowances to cover donations and payments made to their constituents who face some extraordinary eventualities like a fire or flood. Being in the proximity of their constituency they would be obliged to assist in these situations while awaiting remedial action by the state authorities. These are obligatory functions that a state assembly person cannot avoid.
Ideally all state assembly members should be adequately remunerated and should be able to maintain a reasonable standard of living. It is equally important that state assembly members, including state EXCO members, are not overcompensated. From press reports it would seem that state assembly members draw emoluments and allowances that are lower that than paid to federal members of parliament.
One important asset that state governments have that is not so abundantly available to the federal government is land. The constitution vests power over land administration and local government in the various state authorities. It is known that previously some state executive councils allotted parcels of land to members of state assembly for their services to the state.
Under the Pakatan Harapan government it is not clear if this practice has been discontinued.
In any case with barely a third of the way through their five year term it would seem that it is highly unlikely that land parcels or leases have been offered and accepted by executive council or state assembly members. If this has happened however some inquiry should be held to determine the basis on which such land has been given.
Precedents set by a previous government’s practice should not be used as a basis to do so in the new Malaysia.
Peninsular Malaysia is highly urbanised and more than 80 percent of its population live in urban areas. Land prices have been rising over the years with the development of good infrastructure and connectivity. If states wish to reward their people’s representatives the quantum of land provided must be a one-off affair, it must be made upon the completion of an assembly person’s tenure at the discretion of the succeeding government and the land area should not exceed a normal sized house plot. It should not exceed 10,000 square feet, for instance. If a retired assembly person wishes to apply for bigger residential land the person must be prepared to pay the prevailing market rate for the excess applied for. Such allocations of land should be gazetted in the relevant state’s public documents.
This is a step that has to be taken because members of the state assembly qualify for full pensions after serving a minimum of five years. Civil servants have to serve a minimum of 25 years to qualify for a full pension. Both members of state assemblies and members of parliament also qualify for the best medical treatment at government hospitals.
It would seem that it is unreasonable, disproportionate and unjust to reward elected politicians with so much when able, efficient, dedicated and long serving public servants get so much less for nearly a lifetime of dedicated service.
It would also be appropriate for the federal authorities to counsel state governments on good governance. In order to maintain cordial relations with the states such counselling should be of an advisory rather than an admonitory nature.
Would popular will accept or endorse this transparent action in allowing parcels of land to state assembly members? Should not the state governments be subject to greater scrutiny? Two states, Sabah and Sarawak are several times larger than states in the peninsula and they may be justified in seeking a bigger allocation for their official transportation needs.
M Santhananaban
Dato’ M Santhananaban is a retired ambassador with 45 years of public sector experience
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore. /TISG
Prof Koh, with the rest of the team behind the book, 'Fifty Secrets Of Singapore's Success' (FB screengrab Tommy Koh)
Singapore—At the launch of a new book entitled Fifty Secrets Of Singapore’s Success, Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh said that the seemingly simple hawker centre food “saved Singapore,” since it allows everyday Singaporeans to enjoy a wonderful meal at a very low price.
The book, which Mr Koh edited, was published by Straits Times Press, and was launched on Wednesday (Jan 29) by Eddie Teo, the chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers. The launch was held at the National Museum of Singapore.
As the title suggests, it is made up of 50 essays written by people at the top of different fields expressing how Singapore has achieved great success.
I must say that my wife and I are great fans of hawker centres. We go to the wet market every week. We often have lunch on a Sunday or Saturday in one of the hawker centres.”
The professor wrote about the inception of the book in his first column for the lunar year in both the print and online editions of The Straits Times (ST), saying that it had been inspired by two events. First, in a meeting with Mexican university students last year, he had been asked by one of the students what the secret is to the country’s success, to which he replied, there is not one, but many. She then asked that he write a book about it,
Second, shortly afterward the Ambassador of Finland to Singapore, Paula Parviainen, gave the Professor a best-selling book entitled 100 Social Innovations From Finland, which further cemented his intention to write about Singapore’s success.
The straitstimes.com reports that during the launch, Mr Teo said that he had initially been surprised that a book about the country’s success had stories about toilets and hawker centers. But later he realized that these essays, authored by World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sim and Singapore Management University president Lily Kong, “convincingly explained how important they are for nation-building and national development”.
He expressed the hope that young Singaporeans would learn something about the country’s history, “So I hope that this book will not only reach foreigners, but will also find its way into the hands of younger Singaporeans, if not the hard copies, at least the e-version.”
“To succeed, they must have the same passion, commitment and love for Singapore, which our founding generation leaders clearly had,” he added.
According to Professor Koh, while Singapore is too small to be a model for other countries, its stories can serve as sources of inspiration for other developing nations.
“We are not a model, but we can be a source of inspiration. We can be a source of practical solutions to many of the problems that developing countries face.”
President Halimah Yacob wrote in the book’s foreword, “Our journey has not been easy in the face of global challenges, but we have always pulled through because we were determined to make something for ourselves.” -/TISG
Singapore—Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and one of the richest men in China, has vowed to donate 100 million yuan (S$19.6 million) to help find a vaccine. This is in addition to a previous financial pledge from Alibaba for medical supplies to the virus’ hardest-hit areas.
A social media post from the Jack Ma Foundation on Wednesday (Jan 29) announced that from the total amount of the donation, Mr Ma set aside 40 million yuan (S$7.86 million) for two Chinese government research organizations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The rest of the donation will be distributed to scientists at institutions around the world who are similarly developing a vaccine.
In a post on Wednesday, the foundation promised over Weibo that “Jack Ma Foundation will exhaust our abilities to provide more help to the development and growth of medical science.
Mr Ma, whom Forbes called the richest man in China in 2019, has a personal net worth of $42.8 billion (S$58.3 billion). He is listed as 19th on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
On Sunday (Jan 26) Alibaba already announced that it was setting up a fund for the amount of one billion yuan (S$196 million) for medical supplies for Hubei in central China. Wuhan, Hubei, the city where the virus originated is currently in lockdown and is home to 11 million people.
Additionally, Alibaba has said it will provide free Artificial Intelligence (AI) services to scientific organizations doing research on finding treatments or vaccines.
The state-owned China Daily has reported that other tech giants have donated to funding research for the novel coronavirus vaccine, including Huawei, Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance, the owner of the enormously popular TikTok.
Elsewhere in the world donations are also pouring in from other philanthropists, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, who are donatingUS$10 million (S$13.6 million) to aid first responders in China and Africa, half of which will go to international cooperation, treatment and vaccine development.
Frenchman Bernard Arnault, the third wealthiest individual in the world and head of luxury fashion brand LVMH, is donating $2.3 million (S$3.1 million), Francois Pinault, founder of another luxury firm, Kering, is donating $1million (S$1.36 million),
Mr Pinault said, “Our thoughts are with the many impacted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, and therefore we have decided to donate the funds as an immediate contribution to assist.”
However, the CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said on Wednesday (Jan 29) that it could take at least one year to develop a vaccine that would treat the virus, adding that its rapid spread should be taken “really seriously.”
“The reality is, it will take over a year in my expectation to really find a new vaccine for this so, we need to really use epidemiological controls to really get this situation in a better place,” said Vas Narasimhan, the chief executive of Novartis.
Mr Narasimhan’s time frame estimate of one year was echoed by Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. -/TISG
SINGAPORE — On Wednesday (Jan 29), three new cases of the Wuhan virus were confirmed in Singapore by the Ministry of Health, bringing the total number of persons infected in the country to 10. As the outbreak continues, citizens are experiencing distress, with three out five Singaporeans afraid of getting infected, according to a new poll by YouGov.
Market research and data analytics firm YouGov Omnibus has released its latest survey. The global data and public opinion company polled 1,013 citizens to find out what Singaporeans really think of the Wuhan virus outbreak.
Firstly, 94 percent of respondents said that they were fully aware of the virus and of the news surrounding its spread. Three out of five participants—broken down into 68 percent of female respondents and 52 percent of male respondents—said they were afraid to contract the virus.
Jake Gammon, Head of Omnibus APAC at YouGov Omnibus, said that “fears of the virus are shared across age groups” and noted that “a significant amount believe that more governmental measures can be taken”.
Breaking it down even further, the survey found that 19 percent (two in 10), are “very scared”; 40 percent (two in five), are “fairly scared”, 25 percent are “not very scared” and only seven percent are “not all scared” about the risk of infection. Eight percent are undecided as to whether they are afraid or not.
Interestingly, older respondents were less fearful of the virus, while younger participants displayed more fear and anxiety over getting infected.
There have been no official cases yet of a Singaporean contracting the virus, but 47 percent of those surveyed believe that citizens have indeed been infected with the Wuhan virus.
When asked about measures the Singaporean government should take to combat the coronavirus, 58 percent think the government is doing enough, 35 percent think they should do more to fight the outbreak, and three percent think the government is doing too much.
Source: YouGov
Two out of five (43 percent) said that they think all Chinese travellers currently in Singapore (regardless of whether they flew out of or have been to Wuhan) should be placed in isolation and quarantined, while 84 percent agree with the government’s move of placing a travel restriction on persons who recently visited or are flying from Wuhan.
Regarding flights, 20 percent also believe that the government should ban flights from other countries where people have been contaminated, while five percent think all inbound international flights should be stopped.
Some five percent believe that the entire country of Singapore should be placed under quarantine, while 56 percent believe the government should, at the very least, provide free masks for the whole nation.
As a result of the outbreak, 81 percent of respondents are taking more personal measures to observe proper hygiene, like washing their hands more.
To minimise the risk of infection, a total of 73 percent are purposefully avoiding crowded spaces to minimise infection risk, around 63 percent are choosing not to eat raw meat, 48 percent will not travel outside of Singapore, 37 percent of Singaporeans are wearing a face mask in public, and five percent are avoiding going to work or school altogether.
Singapore — The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, took to social media earlier on Wednesday (Jan 29) to call out netizens who spread fake news meant to smear politically.
Mr Tan shared an image of a false post by a netizen. It read: “PAP is paying quarantined infectees $100 a day. Wuhan citizens on hearing that their province is to be locked down and suspecting themselves to be infected, fled to Singapore to disregard regulatory measures and bring the disease with them.”
Another part added: “NUS, NTU students are forcibly expelled from their hostels along with their belongings, with less than a day’s notice, in order to make way for them. Then those quarantined are paid $100 a day. How many of us Singaporeans can struggle to earn $100 a day?”
Photo: The post that Mr Tan shared and referred to as ‘falsehood’
In response to the fake post, Mr Tan wrote: “In times like this, games are still being played. Sadly this is one of many falsehoods that is being pushed out and circulated. They are increasing. Unfortunately, a number also actively share them, unwittingly … or not.”
He also called out those propagating politically-driven fake news and asked: “But this is not a political game that is unfolding is it?”
Mr Tan called for people to come together to deal with the Wuhan crisis and shared a number of links to trusted websites.
As an afterthought, he added: “In case anyone still wonder:
“It is regrettable that some people are circulating falsehoods on this. Quarantine allowance is not new. We did it for SARS too. It’s given to Singapore-based employers to cover their employees under quarantine and to self-employed Singaporeans/PRs under quarantine. It’s not given to tourists who are quarantined. Our whole point is to help Singaporeans.” /TISG
In times like this games are still being played. Sadly this is one of many falsehoods that is being pushed out and…
