Dr Amy Khor removed a photo that she took of herself, cooking up a pot of fried beehoon after being mocked by netizens for hoarding 3 trays of eggs.
Dr Khor, who is the Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, posted a Facebook post on Thursday of her cooking fried bee hoon for lunch.
She wrote, “Started cooking again since Day 2 of the CB (Circuit Breaker).
Facebook page, Sin Rak Sin posted a screenshot of her Facebook post, writing: “Minister Chan CS says don’t panic buy to hoard, else very Sia Suay. May be SMoS Amy has a very big family. Besides the eggs, there’s a stack of rice (?) further behind.”
The post garnered more than 500 reactions and 1k shares. The image has also been shared on other Facebook pages as well.
As seen in the removed photo, 3 large trays of eggs can be seen. Each tray holds 30 eggs.
Just last month,NTUC FairPrice imposes purchase limits for various items to stem panic buying. Out of the items that are limited, eggs are capped at 30 per customer.
It is not certain how many people stays in her house. But according to an interview with Mothership, it seems that there are at most four person staying in her residence; Her husband, her mother, her son and herself.
WdyLuv Rayden commented, “Background got 3 trays of eggs Sia.. 1 tray 30pcs, 3 tray 90 leh.. we only allow to buy 30eggs.”
KokSiang Tan wrote, “Each person limited to 1 tray of (30) eggs only. Chan CS should thank you personally for helping him clear old stock in the warehouse.”
Update: Dr Khor in a post on Saturday evening, wrote:
“I live with a large family of 7 and we do our grocery shopping once a week, or sometimes even longer as all of us except my 90 year old mother are working. My mother, my two daughters and myself are fond of cooking and baking. In fact, even though my mum is 90 years old, she cooks every day and uses eggs quite often as a key ingredient, such as in dishes like mee siam, longtong, foo yong egg etc. My son and husband also regularly have half boiled eggs.
It also so happened that just the previous week one of our friends who is a farmer kindly brought some extra eggs and vegetables over to share with us as well.”
Chan Chun Sing scolds those who hoard
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing conducted a closed-door meeting with a group of business leaders organised by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI).
In the meeting, he addressed a number of issues including people’s behaviour of panic buying and hoarding essential items in Singapore. He noted that this behaviour “has long term implications” on the country’s international standing.
Mr Chan was referring to incident of Singaporeans clearing out supermarket shelves as they stock up on rice, instant noodles, hand sanitisers and more after the country’s Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level was raised to orange as the coronavirus outbreak continued to escalate.
Describing the entire thing as “xia suay” or “disgraceful”, Mr Chan said, “We embarrass ourselves, disgraceful, we disgrace ourselves.”
Mr Chan added that he was “ashamed” at the behaviour of some Singaporeans who were stocking up on so-called essential items in fear that the country would run out due to supply chains being affected by the global outbreak.
He went on to say that he was reaching the limit of his patience, “cannot tahan”, and wanted to “scold people” for their behaviour.
Mr Chan narrowed in on how the behaviour of Singaporeans during this time could affect the country’s standing on a global level.
He added when the society starts to panic, suppliers will use that opportunity to raise prices.
He said, “Already got people trying to raise the price. Then you all behave like idiots, the foreign supplier lagi raise their price.”
Mr Chan reiterated, “So some of us, just a small group behaving like idiots will kill all of us. It will kill our current price negotiation strategy, it will kill our future business opportunity.”
The minister went on, “Every country can behave like idiots, Singaporeans must not behave like idiots. Then we behave properly, then we show the world how different we can be. Then people will have confidence.”
Mr Chan then warned his audience, “If we continue to behave like that, the virus won’t kill us. Our own behaviour will kill ourselves.”