Under the order of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, a group of 76 ruling party supporters calling themselves a “Citizens’ Jury” (CJ) made 12 “recommendations” to “help the government’s ongoing War On Diabetes” according to a state media report.
With a group theme of “We are many Ideas, One Jury”, the farcical antic was accompanied by Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor today (Jan 13) at the government’s Lifelong Learning Institute. The fake CJ, selected by the Ministry of Health in October 2017, claimed that they worked over 7 weeks “including three full day sessions over weekends” to come out with 12 “recommendations”, including “drink plain water” and “walk 10,000 steps a day”.
State media CNA wrote that the “inaugural” CJ invented “drink plain water”:
“Among them is the citizen-led #drinkplainwater campaign, which aims to reduce a person’s intake of liquid calories by making plain water more accessible by having more water coolers installed. Another idea was to incentivise Singaporeans to take the stairs more often, encouraging them to go beyond clocking 10,000 steps a day by walking on flat ground.”
PAP Minister Amy Khor joined in the theatrics singing praises for the CJ:
“Over the past seven weeks, you sought advice from subject matter experts, deliberated and debated ideas to come to a consensus on the recommendations that you want to put forth. I will convey your recommendations to the Ministry of Health unedited and unchanged.”
In other countries, citizens’ jury are formed to prosecute governments for corruptions and malpractices. Dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong came out with the “idea” of forming a CJ to praise his government, to create a fake image of a democracy in the regime.