YOG food poisoning scandal: Not a single word of apology or regret from Dr Vivian and other YOG officials
August 19th, 2010 | 
Author: Despite the massive outcry among Singaporeans at the YOG food poisoning scandal affecting some 26 YOG volunteers last Sunday, PAP leaders and YOG officials have sought to downplay the incident which is hardly reported in the state media.
Though it happened last Sunday, it took more than three days for the authorities to inform the public about it with no official statements released by both NEA and MOH on their websites.
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Not a SINGLE word of apology or regret about the food poisoning outbreak was heard from the PAP minister in charge of the YOG, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and his deputy Mr Teo Ser Luck or YOG officials Mr Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of the Singapore YOG Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) or Mr Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who ironically pay tribute to the volunteers in his speech made during the YOG opening ceremony.
In an interview with Straits Times, Dr Vivian appeared more eager to exonerate himself from any blame in what is possibly the BIGGEST food poisoning SCANDAL in the history of the Olympic Games:
“In a massive operation like this, from time to time, problems will arise, but we will be completely forthright about it,” he said rather nonchalantly as if he has nothing to do with it.
If Dr Vivian and SYOGOC are “completely forthright” about the food poisoning outbreak, why did they take THREE DAYS to inform the public about it? Shouldn’t the volunteers be told immediately and allowed to bring their own home-cooked food to YOG venues?
Dr Vivian added that the investigations will take “some time” to complete without even revealing a single detail such as the identity of the food caterer responsible for preparing the food which the victims ate.
The callous behavior of Dr Vivian and his entourage towards the welfare of the YOG volunteers not only betrays the spirit of the Olympian Charter, but demean the value of volunteerism altogether by showing scant regard and respect for those who have offered their precious time and energy to the YOG out of good will.
As one angry parent Kelvin Aw commented on TR Facebook:
“Minister VB, what if your kids were under that makeshift tent at *scape? Minister VB, what if your kids were those “volunteers” who ate the packets of tainted food? How can you as a minister be so flippant about these mishaps?”
Since the exact cause of the food poisoning outbreak remains unknown and investigations will take “some time” to complete, then it is only fair and reasonable for parents to pull their children from the YOG completely till there is proper accounting done to the public by the organizers.
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Foreign journalists, please stay tuned on our site and Facebook for the latest updates on the ground about the YOG. You can never get any authentic or accurate news from the Singapore media which is ranked a pathetic 133th in terms of press freedom by international media watchdog Reporters without Borders last year. All the papers in Singapore are owned by a single media company – Singapore Press Holdings whose Chairman is a former PAP minister Dr Tony Tan.
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MINISTER VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN N MAYOR TEO SER LUCK N YOG CHAIRMAN NG SER MIANG DON’T APOLOGISE TO ‘LESSER MORTAL-3RD CLASS’
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What happen is very bad… it happens, let’s move on…
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The caterer and the committee in charge of food and volunteers must apologize for this matter. The parents must take action against the organizer.
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You will NEVER EVER find these letters S,O,R, R, & Y in pap~
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”we are DEAF to criticisms” sounds familiar?
”champion grumblers” you think they will apologize to us slaves? wake up la.
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You know what Temasek Review? We all know that the YOG is bullshit and VB needs to be held accountable for the close to $400mil of tax payer dollars spent, however nitpicking every single thing and flooding your site with this just makes you seem petty, vindictive and downright childish.
There are issues going on in Singapore like the $3mil a year rubber stamp the PAP selected as the so called “president” for one and commuters being fleeced at every turn for another.
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omg , vivi you are so famous now but for the wrong reason ! let’s face it , you’re simplely imcompetent , ignorant , thick skin and good for nothing … btw , how you get your million dollars salary hah ?
honestly , you don’t have to apologize becoz we already know you are damn lousy … expected lah , what can you do ? you can’t even take care those poor senior citizens .
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Since when the government ever apologize for anything that went wrong? They will only come up with excuses after excuses.
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Aiyoh, kena left and right. Poor thing. Why don’t the YOG committee set $x for volunteers to handle their meals and transport? At least this will save the committee the hassle of handling too many headaches at one go. Hopefully with this proposition, complaints will be resolved.
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We (PAP)are deaf to all criticisms.
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@stormlab
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – Elton John
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If words such as sorry, apology and regret are not in their vocabulary, how do you expect them to do so ?
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“Sorry” is one word i will never never say even if i did the worst of things. By saying sorry, it will mean that i am wrong and i can never be wrong because i am an elite. An elite will never be wrong if he never say sorry.
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funny, if the caterer has not apologies, why should the organizing committee apologies first? things come in a sequence.
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Most useless PAP government since independence.
Ha ha ha!
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dog food, tickets sold out but empty seats during the games and now food poisoning causes volunteer to fall sick. where are we going to hide our faces. the whole world is watching. very sad !!!
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Faber Castell:
August 19, 2010 at 10:04 pm
You know what “tribalism” means? Any sequence of “DNA” in them, perhaps?
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Vivian doesn’t say sorry. Many years ago he labelled Malaysian journalists as “animals” and refused to apologise and almost caused a diplomatic crisis.
Many years since, he continues to screw up on the National Stadium (remember how he forced the restaurants at Oasis to close?) and the old stadium still stands today with the new one nowhere in sight.
Why would he apologise over 30 Singaporeans who got food poisoning?
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Seriously… we are tired about the YOG already… lets start a new fresh topic….
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in my opinion and experience, NS meals served by SFI are the worst! Recently some YOG volunteer comprained about SFI menu also. No surprise!
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Imagine if Lao Lee was under the collapsed roof, what color do you think his face will be? Will VB dare NOT to say SORRY? Imagine if the Dragon Boy ate the dirty food, will VB dare NOT to say sorry? He will get a famous slap from the Dragon Boy!
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White horses eating tainted food and falling sick? OMG wont some heads have to roll if this really happens?
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MINISTER VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN IS A LIAR.
Quote-
“If you were a poor person, anywhere on this planet, Singapore is the one place ………,
where you will have food on the table. EVEN IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT, WE WILL HAVE MEALS DELIVERED TO YOU.” (VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN)
http://zh.sgforums.com/forums/10/topics/394784?page=1
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YOG IS A GOOD EXAMPLE.
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Say sorry for what? Din he say they found nothing wrong with the food, so the food is not to blame and that they are still investigating ? So what for they malulah singasorry when they are still looking for scapegoat to blame ,oops sorry sorry, I mean when they are still investigating.
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Sorry seems to be the hardest word, isn’t it?
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What to do? It happened!
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Since 1965 (This year singapore 45 birthday),we NEVER hear a word SORRY from the PAP gov.In other country,sorry mean step down.PAP is the highest paid gov. in the world.Who want to said sorry?
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PAP MCYS minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan in charge of YOG has come out with a classic blanket excuse that any negative incident or glitch are unavoidable.
So from now on, according to the ruling party, no amount of enginnering can prevent glitches that are never totally “unavoidable”.
Hence our PAP regime plundering our state funds to reward themselves multi-million dollars salaries and further increments for their inept and incompetent ministers are also “unavoidable” being the dominant ruling party.
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