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Singapore Ambassador to Japan Peter Tan Hai Chuan has issued a letter to rebut an article published by Nikkei Asian Review regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore and General Election, saying that the writer has painted “a distorted picture” as well as made false and misleading statements.
The article titled, “Coronavirus and Inequality Threaten to Unsettle Singapore Election” was written by Singaporean author Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh on 1 July, while Mr Tan’s letter to the editor-in-chief of Nikkei Asian Review was dated on 11 July and was published on the Nikkei Asian Review website on 16 July.
Ambassador denies claim over the Government’s perceived pandemic lapses led to 44,000 COVID-19 cases, saying it has acted in a “swift, proactive and vigilant manner” since outbreak start
In his article, Mr Vadaketh said that the Singapore Government’s perceived pandemic lapses have resulted in the 44,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
With the severe COVID-19 outbreak in migrant workers dormitories, Mr Vadaketh also noted that Singapore was facing the “worst humanitarian crisis since independence”, where the crisis has also helped the country to “refocus attention” on the domestic concerns such as economic model, inequality and immigration.
Responding to this, , Ambassador Tan rebutted the claim of the Government’s perceived pandemic lapses, stating that the Government has acted in a “swift, proactive and vigilant manner” where they formed the Multi-Ministry Task Force even before the COVID-19 outbreak hit Singapore.
He explained that most of the confirmed cases are derived from the migrant workers who live in dormitories, adding that it is inevitably the “significant transmission” could be happened in any sort of environment where people gather in groups.
While Singapore has “committed to aggressive and extensive testing” of all migrant workers living in dormitories, the ambassador described that the Government has put in place the “active case finding and systematic clearance of migrant worker dormitories” as well as expanded the “active surveillance testing efforts” for the vulnerable groups and those who have higher exposure risk to COVID-19.
Ambassador denounces Mr Vadaketh for painting “a distorted picture” of PAP fetishizing GDP growth and downplaying negative consequences
Mr Vadaketh in his article also highlighted that the People’s Action Party (PAP) has been criticised for “fetishizing gross domestic product (GDP) growth and downplaying negative consequences” over the past twenty years, which had “slowly eroded Singapore’s social compact”.
In response to this, the ambassador denounced Mr Vadaketh for presenting “a distorted picture”, adding that “he fails to recognise that the government has been making continuous efforts to address the challenge of social mobility, in pursuit of an inclusive society that leaves no one behind.”
Ambassador Tan elaborated that the Government has maintained the broad-based real income growth over the past decade to continue upholding absolute mobility as well as implemented various policies, such as KidSTART, SkillsFuture in order to provide equal opportunities for the people.
On top of this, he also highlighted that the Government has enhanced support for the lower-income Singaporeans worker and retirees through Workfare, Progressive Wage Model and Silver Support.
Flip-flop policy regarding the lease of Singapore’s public housing
At the same time, Mr Vadaketh had also raised issues regarding the 99-year lease of Singapore’s public housing.
He hinted that the Government had adopted the flip-flop policy on the public housing lease, in which the Government had promised for decade that the property values “will never go down” but later has confirmed that some properties “will be worthless” after the end of their 99-year leases.
Ambassador Tan then responded saying that Mr Vadaketh has made a misleading claim given that the Government has always been upfront that “when the lease for the property expires, it will revert to the state so that the land can be redeveloped to benefit future generations of Singaporeans.”
Ambassador questions the motives of Mr Vadaketh’s remark on the native-born citizens are well in the minority
The ambassador also took issue with Mr Vadaketh’s remark on how the native-born citizens are well in the minority.
In his article, Mr Vadaketh noted that Singapore’s population has increased over 40 per cent to 5.6 million from 1999 to 2018, “much through immigration” while adding that “native-born citizens are now well in the minority”.
Stressing that the assertion made by Mr Vadaketh is untrue, the ambassador further questioned the motives of Mr Vadaketh.
Ambassador Tan concluded his letter by expressing his hope that the Nikkei Asian Review will maintain their high-standard and professional reporting as well as avoid “being used by certain individuals to perpetuate partial and misleading opinions”.
“I am not in any way attempting to, as Ambassador Tan says, ‘fuel xenophobia and social divisiveness’,” says Mr Vadaketh
On the other hand, Mr Vadaketh also made a clarification regarding his remark on native-born citizens are well in the minority in Singapore’s total population through The Straits Times.
As the ambassador doubted his motives, Mr Vadaketh argued that he had worked long to “promote harmony and social inclusiveness in Singapore” and not “in any way attempting to” fuel xenophobia and social divisiveness.
According to Mr Vadaketh, his remark is also based on “an approximation” in his article titled “The End Of Identity?” that published by the IPS Commons on 23 August 2012.
He claimed that the National Population and Talent Division who declined to provide him the official figure had also acknowledged this remark without dispute by that time.
Not just in Singapore, he said that the foreign-born population is a data point that analysts look to when assessing immigration and integration in the multicultural societies globally.
https://www.onlinecitizenasia.com/2...ian-reviews-article-on-spore-ge-and-covid-19/
