Singapore—After the controversy which caused new PAP GE candidate Ivan Lim, a smaller online ruckus emerged concerning the behavior of another candidate, Shawn Huang, concerning a post from a netizen regarding Mr Huang’s poor behavior when he was the NDP Parade Commander in 2018.
According to the post from netizen Lin Leo, Mr Huang threw some food onto a table on the day of a rehearsal for the parade “in front of two servicemen.” Ms Lin also expressed astonishment that had become a candidate for the upcoming GE.
Ms Lin has since taken down the original post, although she is sticking to her version of the events that transpired. And on his part, Mr Huang has issued a clarification of the incident as well.
In a Facebook post early on Sunday morning (June 28), Mr Huang wrote that Ms Lin’s post had come to his attention and that he wished to air his side of the matter, which he said occurred “during one of the rehearsals at the Floating Platform.”
https://www.facebook.com/ShawnHuangWeiZhong/posts/144339643895750
He had discovered that no food had been provided for their lunch, and requested for food at the logistics control group next to the rest area where he was. When the person in charge would not give him some, he “tried to reason it out” with her, saying the food would be thrown out later anyway. But the WO still refused, and Mr Huang said he left it at that and was able to find food elsewhere.
In the PAP candidate’s version of the incident, when he returned to the tent and found some food there, he “told the WO that I no longer needed the ration and politely passed the ration back.”
He also named some witnessed who were present during that time, “This was witnessed by Encik Azmi, WO (Special Functions) and CWO Ng Siak Peng.”
Mr Huang says he was surprised by the story, “as I knew the WO who had posted it and felt that it was a misunderstanding.” He added that he had endeavoured to answer her on the post, but it had been removed by then.
On the same day, Ms Lin put up another post, saying she appreciated that Mr Huang had come forward, but added that she also wanted to “make some clarification.”
https://www.facebook.com/JesVerA31/posts/10158525423878279
Ms Lin admitted that she had used “harsh language” and had come “from a place of a sudden shock.”
“But i had taken it down after thinking about it, I see that my message is not very clear and being taken the wrong way by some,” she wrote. She added that she had no “intention to say that his character is fully bad.”
However, she also wrote this: “It is just simply sharing an experience with the candidate that was negative. After thinking about it, I can understood (sic) that it may not show his whole identity because I am happy to hear that he has been a good commander to his servicemen and personnel. But what remains is that this was the experience that I had with Mr Huang at the time and i was upset and shocked that as the commander that the reaction was such.”
Ms Lin wrote that she is not “a person that simply wants to attack the candidate’s character” but that “sharing is important so that people gets (sic) a full understanding of everyone and their interactions.”
She added, “all i wanted to say is that we have to be mindful of the way we can come across especially to service personnel of lower ranks,” and ended her post by writing “I hope Mr Huang also understands why the concern is there and hopes that he will press on if he is committed to serve and lead.” —/TISG
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