Bukit Batok SMC Member of Parliament Murali Pillai has defended the decision to allow the dinner organised by the Active Ageing Committee of Bukit Batok Community Club (CC) to commemorate its eighth anniversary to go ahead.

Murali's defence, posted to Facebook on Mar. 15, came in the wake of criticism by the Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party, Chee Soon Juan, who questioned if the dinner should have continued in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

What did Murali say?

In his post, Murali said the Bukit Batok Active Ageing Club (AAC) had taken additional precautionary measures to protect the health of the dinner's participants.

Additionally, he had also spoken to the club's chairman, Ong Chai, on the day of the dinner, and Ong explained to him the decision to go ahead with the dinner.

What were these measures?

A separate post by Ong on the Facebook page of Bukit Batok CC Active Ageing Club stated that the additional measures taken included:

• Extending the tables beyond the original dining space to the CC's courtyard, so to create more space between groups,
• Using serving spoons for each dish and appointing volunteers to do the serving for each table instead of participants' using their own utensils for dishes, and
• Scaling down the event.

Ong also highlighted that the event had been held prior to the government's call for social distancing and the cancellation or deferment of events with more than 250 people.

He also acknowledged that as seniors were at a higher risk from Covid-19, all senior-centric activities have since been stopped as of Mar. 11, according to the Ministry of Health's announcement to protect senior citizens.

In giving his take on the decision to proceed with the dinner, Murali said:

"Scrutiny and transparency are important. In reviewing the reasonableness of AAC’s decision to proceed with the scaled down dinner, it would be unfair to take into account facts that happened subsequently as these matters would not be within their knowledge at that material time."

And what did Chee say?

Murali's response came in the wake of Chee's criticism.

Chee asked why Murali allowed such an event to proceed at a time when Covid-19 is "at its most critical".

Chee also highlighted how the dinner's participants were seated close to one another and that there appeared to be a lack of social distancing.

In referencing the SAFRA Jurong cluster and MOH's statement on how "socially irresponsible" people contributed to the spread, Chee said:

"Mr Murali apparently learnt nothing from the surge of new infections coming from people who attended the dinner function at SAFRA Jurong in Feb. The MOH had said that the organisers of the event had been "socially irresponsible."

Chee then questioned if Murali was being "socially responsible" and added that he should have advised the organisers to cancel the dinner, on the grounds that an outbreak could occur at the event.

47 cases are linked to the dinner at SAFRA Jurong

Thus far, 47 of the Covid-19 cases in Singapore are linked to a private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong on Feb. 15.

They are Cases 94, 96, 107, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 164, 166, 174, 179, 185, 186, 196, 201, 218 and 224.

They are mainly senior citizens.

And it appears that the cluster could have been the result of one person having attended the dinner, despite feeling unwell.

This person subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

MOH stated that this could have in turn have resulted in 18 additional cases, who were also at the dinner and later tested positive.

Out of the 18 additional cases, 10 carried on with their daily activities even though they were unwell.

This resulted in another 17 cases who were not at the dinner.

Top photo from Bukit Batok, Our Home (武吉巴督，我们的家园) Facebook