On 26 March, the founding leader of People’s Voice (PV), Lim Tean, demanded the Ministry of Education close down schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among schoolchildren. He claimed that his demands began early February, but so far, the action taken by the Ministry was to implement one day of home-based learning in a week. The following day on 27 March, Education Minister, Ong Ye Kung, stated that they were working hard to keep schools open with the intention to support working parents.
Mr Lim took this issue to his Facebook again earlier this morning (2 April), announcing that a Primary 2 schoolboy was tested COVID-19 positive yesterday. He stated that the boy appeared well on Monday which was the day he last attended school. He suggested that the boy could be an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, and Mr Lim worries that the boy might have infected the people around him at school.
“Very sad to learn that a Primary 2 schoolboy was tested positive with coronavirus yesterday. The fact that he had appeared well on Monday when he last attended school suggests that he was an asymptomatic carrier of the virus. This is worrying as he could have infected those around him in school,” wrote Mr Lim.
Following the announcement of the schoolboy’s case, Mr Lim went on to criticise Mr Ong for “turning a blind eye” to the dangers of schoolchildren being infected at school. He emphasised the importance of cross-party solutions so the people are able to gain from multi-party initiatives. Mr Lim stated that a one-party dominance of Parliament is “detrimental” to a country and “dangerous in times of crisis”.
“This young person joins a growing list of young people who have been infected. But Ong Ye Kung continues to turn a blind eye to the dangers of our young being infected at school. This incident is proof once again that a one-party dominance of Parliament is detrimental to a country and dangerous in times of crisis. Cross-party solutions demand excellence from all sides and the People can only gain from broader multi-party initiatives,” Mr Lim stated.
Mr Lim wrote that People’s Voice had been proven right at every turn of this crisis. He continued to claim a list of suggestions given by the People’s Voice to manage the outbreak such as wearing masks, working from home, closing borders, closing schools as well as social distancing, and stated that the People’s Action Party only adopted a few of PV’s suggestions.
“Peoples Voice has been proven right and the PAP wrong at every turn of this crisis. From wearing masks, working from home, closing our borders, closing schools, social distancing etc, We were the only Party that had the courage to make the right calls at the outset of this crisis.”
Seeing how the COVID-19 Multi-Ministry Task Force had been taking “baby steps” that had led Singapore down this “disastrous path”, Mr Lim further claimed that PV would be able to do better if they were the ones handling the crisis.
“Compare this to the Baby steps and series of ‘brakes’ that Lawrence Wong and the incompetent Taskforce chose to take, which has led us down this disastrous path, and you will have no difficulty in concluding that Peoples Voice would have done much better for our People if we had been the ones handling the crisis,” claimed Mr Lim.
Mr Lim ended his post by declaring that PV will be able to come up with the right solutions because instead of choosing the economy, his Party prioritises the people’s health and safety.
“We were able to come up with the right solutions because We Put People First, and not the economy or other interests, which should never take precedence over the health and safety of our People at a time like this!”
