• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

More than 40,000 sign petition to opt-out from receiving NDP2020 Funpack

by 0033
22/05/2020
in Community, Current Affairs
Reading Time: 4 mins read
9

The National Day Parade (NDP) 2020 Executive Committee has earlier announced on Wednesday (20 May) that NDP2020 will go on despite the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore that is still progressing to date.
Along with the announcement on its official website, the Committee revealed that Funpack will be distributed to every Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) household. However, this particular move received backlash from a segment of Singaporeans, commenting that it is a “waste of resources”.
Many Facebook users left their opinions regarding the Funpack, saying how it’s “nothing fun” amid a global pandemic.
Some of them suggested to opt-out from receiving the Funpack so that it could be given to people “who really need it”.
To prevent the wastage of resources, a petition was created by an NUS student, Kaushik Ilango, on Change.org for Singaporeans and PRs who do not wish to receive the Funpack.
Describing how 2020 has been “one of the darkest years” for many Singaporeans, Mr Ilango acknowledged the Committee for attempting to bring “happiness and positivity” to the citizens. He also believes that the Funpack would indeed bring joy to many Singaporeans.

“At a time like this, I understand that handing out funpacks, ‘something Singaporeans have a close affinity with’ could certainly bring joy to many of us.”

He went on to express that the resources gathered to make approximately 1.4 million Funpacks could be allocated for better use.

“However, I believe that there could be a much better use of the resources used to make roughly 1.4 million funpacks; such as the perishable goods inside the funpack, the novel single-use items, the manpower to acquire, make and distribute the funpacks and not to mention the planning of it.”

Addressing that not every item included in the Funpack is of long term use, Mr Ilango wrote that many of these Funpacks tend to get thrown away at the end of NDP in the previous years.
Other than that, he is aware that the economic recession is happening in Singapore and that unemployment is on the rise. Therefore, he believed that these resources could, in turn, help the people in need during trying times like this.
As a way to help those people, Mr Ilango would like to give away his Funpack to someone who needs it more than he does. He also wished that these Funpacks would not be discarded irresponsibly by the citizens who do not want them.
To support his point, he stated that the irresponsible disposal of the Funpacks will require more manpower to clean up. Moreover, the student thought that Singapore could take this chance to move towards a zero-waste society.

“This will only require more manpower to clean it up. Singapore could also use this as an opportunity to set the right example of moving towards a zero-waste society in times of rapid climate change to the rest of the world.”

Mr Ilango added that he understood how the Funpack has sentimental value for many and he does not wish to deprive those Singaporeans of that. So he thought that it would be a better idea to let citizens opt-out from receiving the Funpacks.
In an update, Mr Ilango noted that many of those who signed the petition has reached out to him, regarding the details of this issue, like whether the funpack procurement has already occurred and if so what would happen to it, what will the budget be spent on instead, who is in-charge of making the decision etc.
He confessed that he is “not in a better position to answer these than any one of us” and noted that he has since reached out to Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen along with this petition and will keep the petition signatories updated on any developments.
As of writing, more than 40,000 people have signed the petition.

Funpack is a “waste of resources”

Many people left their comments under the petition as an additional way to support this idea.
Yu Shin Chan expressed that the resources utilised into making the Funpack could be “diverted to better causes”. Explaining that the essential workers such as nurses, doctors and cleaners had been working tirelessly, Chan believed that they should be given the priority instead.
Besides that, Chan commented that giving Funpacks is “extremely unsustainable at solving pertinent problems”, and it is also not environmentally friendly.

Kavitha Krishnan stated that the Funpack is “not the best way to encourage solidarity”. And she had also commented that the resources could have been channelled towards helping the people in need, especially the ones impacted by COVID-19.

Many other people had made similar comments about the Funpack, supporting the idea of rejecting the distribution. They believed that it was a waste of resources and money to make these Funpacks, and the money should be utilised to support the nation’s crisis response against COVID-19.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone
Singapore

Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone

08/02/2023
Minister K Shanmugam appears to lack understanding of case where judge found bodycam footage debunked police officers’ sworn affidavits
Opinion

Minister K Shanmugam appears to lack understanding of case where judge found bodycam footage debunked police officers’ sworn affidavits

08/02/2023
Rescuers battle cold as Turkey-Syria quake toll hits 5,000
AFP

Rescuers battle cold as Turkey-Syria quake toll hits 5,000

07/02/2023
Hazel Poa proposes singles be allowed to buy 3-room HDB flats
Housing

Hazel Poa proposes singles be allowed to buy 3-room HDB flats

07/02/2023
Jamus Lim: House prices are too High
Politics

Jamus Lim: House prices are too High

07/02/2023
Ministers get away with excuses that ordinary citizens cannot hope to get away with
Opinion

Ministers get away with excuses that ordinary citizens cannot hope to get away with

07/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
9 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone

Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone

08/02/2023
Minister K Shanmugam appears to lack understanding of case where judge found bodycam footage debunked police officers’ sworn affidavits

Minister K Shanmugam appears to lack understanding of case where judge found bodycam footage debunked police officers’ sworn affidavits

08/02/2023
Rescuers battle cold as Turkey-Syria quake toll hits 5,000

Rescuers battle cold as Turkey-Syria quake toll hits 5,000

07/02/2023
Hazel Poa proposes singles be allowed to buy 3-room HDB flats

Hazel Poa proposes singles be allowed to buy 3-room HDB flats

07/02/2023
Jamus Lim: House prices are too High

Jamus Lim: House prices are too High

07/02/2023
Ministers get away with excuses that ordinary citizens cannot hope to get away with

Ministers get away with excuses that ordinary citizens cannot hope to get away with

07/02/2023
Commemorative coin, exhibitions and various activities to mark 100th anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew’s birth

Commemorative coin, exhibitions and various activities to mark 100th anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew’s birth

07/02/2023
国会内庆妇女节 女议员获赠鲜花

15 companies barred from hiring new foreign employees after serious safety lapse found at worksite

07/02/2023

Trending posts

Cognizant India transfers staff to work in Singapore as recently as this year

Local IT grads can’t find jobs while engineers constantly transferred from India to work in SG under CECA

by Correspondent
05/02/2023
108

...

No response from Josephine Teo on whether Mediacorp has been instructed to stop coverage of SMT circulation scandal

No response from Josephine Teo over alleged blackout of coverage by Mediacorp over SMT circulation scandal

by Terry Xu
06/02/2023
13

...

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

by Correspondent
03/02/2023
26

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
48

...

Japanese-Canadian junior high school girl breaks national record with 3km in 9:02 mins

“I want my normal life back,” Sherry Drury withdraws from National Junior High School Tournament due to overheated public attention

by Yee Loon
06/02/2023
3

...

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

by The Online Citizen
02/02/2023
19

...

May 2020
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Apr   Jun »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz