Editorials

While no official word has come out from SIA on this, media reports has indicated that the additional measures mentioned could include the possibility of asking staff to take voluntary no-pay leave. Times are bad indeed if even our national carrier has to take such drastic measures as staff hiring freeze and asking staff to volunteer for no-pay leave.

With this sudden increase of cases on Italy and South Korea, there were also reports that the towns in these two countries that were badly affected have seen the residents panic buying in supermarket, causing essential items to basically run out. So,based on our Ah Beng Minister Chan Chun Sing, these people in South Korea and Italy should be called idiots too? After all, they are panic buying, just the same as people in Hong Kong and Singapore.

In submissions to the tribunal, Woon described the Law Society’s argument – that Suet Fern and Hsien Yang deliberately cut Kwa Kim Li out and got Lee to execute his last will in her absence, and misleading him as to its contents – as being “totally implausible”.

If LKY was not lucid, why did he voluntarily make a codicil to the Will some time after signing it? If he was truly misled, wouldn't he have revoked the Will? The facts are there for all Singaporeans to mull over. Let's just see who is trying to mislead who in this family saga. After all, trying to get one's way in a family feud by using the State's resources always ensures you have a better chance of winning. History is written by those in power.

And did he spend time and effort to understand Singaporeans and the challenges they faced? It is one thing if a hard-nosed politician does not mince his words; and it is something absolutely incomparable when politicians use words such as "idiots" on people. The latter not only shows a lack of vocabulary and character, but it also shows he sees the people in the limited way in which his mind identifies them with himself.

But remember: you are only a straight-talker when you speak the same way even when you know the whole world is listening. You can't claim to be a straight-talker when your colleague walks out of a cubicle after you bitch about him if you have been acting chummy with him all this while.

But Chan Chun Sing has put himself in this position all of his own doing. He did not think through the consequences of his supposedly straight talking speech. After all, why would a Minister speak in such a way at a closed door event? He was not talking to his close friends in a private event. While it’s true that the panic buying is unnecessary, there is no need for a Minister to resort to such derogatory words when speaking in his capacity as the Minister of Trade and Industry. This does not put Singapore in a good light, especially in terms of bilateral relations.

In fact, the way he spoke was more akin to an Army commander talking down to his lowly ranked men, who has no choice but to listen to his ranting and nod their heads in silence. This was no way a Minister, even in a closed door event, should be carrying himself. Certainly not in a Singlish heavy rant, which not only brings shame upon himself, but to Singapore in general. After all, wasn't his PAP party the one that started the campaign for Singaporeans to speak proper English, and banish Singlish to the dustbins. This would be another failed PAP initiative then, when one of their own top Minister cannot remove himself from his Singlish.

Singapore's economic depression over the past decade is a symptom not the disease. More importantly, Singaporeans must be wide eye to know that the recession in 2020 is not caused by the COVID-19 disease. The COVID-19 disease merely hastened the coming of a recession in Singapore. If and when the COVID-19 disease become pandemic and caused a global recession, Singapore's recession in 2020 will become more severe.

In the message, a netizen who called herself 'Mabelline Goh' compared the instructions of not wearing a mask as similar to a General instructing his men not to wear helmets, as they are going to get killed anyway, with or without a helmet.