TR EMERITUS

Phillip Ang * The author blogs at LikeDatOsoCanMeh.      Read More →

My question is, the Singapore PAP government now says it is trying to move migrant workers out of the dormitories to prevent #COVID19 infection. But has the PAP apologized for turning a blind eye over the last few decades, while these migrant workers were living in their dilapidated conditions? They have been warned over and over again disaster would happen, but it fell on deaf ears. Migrant workers' lives didn't seem to matter. Lee Hsien Loong only now says, "we will care" for the migrant workers. Where were they before all these happened? Did they care for the migrant workers over the last few decades? Did they ensure the migrant workers could earn higher wages instead of the S$500 or so wages they earn today? Instead, the PAP government took levies from the companies that hire these migrant workers by as much as S$950 a worker. In other words, for every migrant worker who earns S$500 or so, the government collects twice as much as what they earn for itself. If the levy goes to the worker instead, these workers could earn as much as S$1,450 each thereabouts. A higher salary to account for the cost of living and better work conditions could mean Singaporeans might be willing to do these jobs too. In Australia, construction workers can earn about S$3,000. Mind you, the S$1,450 is what companies have to pay anyway. So, why should the company pay this money to the government instead of directly to the worker, to help the worker earn into for basic living in Singapore? Also, by paying them low wages, it depresses wages across the board. Has the PAP government apologized for any of these? Has the PAP government apologized for its missteps for its management of the coronavirus? This is not even a matter of hindsight. It is a matter of basic respect to individuals, regardless who they are. It is this that the PAP could not even provide basic decency for, that has resulted in the problems we face today. Only now do we start to care because we realize the impact on our lives. But groups helping out low-income individuals in Singapore have warned us this could happen. We pretended it wouldn't affect us. And now it has. Should we still put blind faith in people who do not think long-term and broadly about the policies on our society and lives, and continue to ignore the impact it has on our livelihoods?   Roy Ngerng      Read More →

The current lockdown created a lot of stress and unhappiness to many Singaporeans. The incomes of many people were affected during this period of time. To make things worse, people may get fined for not wearing a mask or for being too close to each other in public places. [LINK] The rules are so Draconian that even a Safe-Distancing Ambassador was fined for not wearing a mask. [LINK] As a result, some people were unable to cope with the stress and vented their frustrations in different ways. LINK 1 LINK 2 There are a few points I want to highlight here. 1. To Fellow Singaporeans First, all of us are fellow Singaporeans. Since our schooldays, we have been singing and portraying that we will stand united together as one. In times like these, we need to help one another to overcome these adversaries. But what sort of behaviour are we exhibiting if we need to get each other for the slightest mistakes? Take the following Malay man, for example. LINK 1 He was just going downstairs to get a carton of soy milk and forgot about wearing his mask. (After all, it was not so long ago that the government advised that all healthy people need not wear masks.) Take a step back and look at it. It was not really a big deal. His forgetfulness is not criminal and it was not as if he was trying to infect everybody with Covid-19 virus. A good fellow Singaporean would just step up to offer him a mask, or maybe cautioned him to be more careful next time. Why would we need to video film him to record for evidences that he did not wear a mask? To ensure that he would be fined $300? Is that what we stand for as Singaporeans helping and caring for one another? Of course, he would naturally be upset. I personally do not believe he is a racist. He simply lost his cool at that moment. Going forward, I would make an appeal to all of us fellow Singaporeans. If you have the means, bring along a few extra masks when you leave the house and offer to another fellow Singaporean who happened to forget to wear a mask. Don’t aggravate the situation to video record him. That is what uniting together, standing together as one and helping each other really means. This is what a gracious society should be like. We kept on humming Singapore United. Now is the time to show how we will take care and help one another. 2. To the Singapore Government The entire purpose of the lockdown is to stem the tide of the Covid-19 infections. But this can be done by proper education and grace, not by force and punishments. By and large, Singaporeans are rational and can be trusted to behave in a proper and responsible manner. Yes, people sometimes forget to wear masks and sometimes get too close to each other. But that is not to say that they are deliberating trying to flout the rules to endanger everybody else. Instead of getting police and enforcement officers to go around issuing fines to anybody who was not wearing a mask, a better alternative is to get more Social-Distancing Ambassadors to offer free masks to those who forget them and to gently remind people to stay further apart when they get too close to each other. This will get the same effects with a happier and more gracious Singapore. We also need take into consideration that many people have lost their incomes and are facing hardship during this period of time. The government is aware of this and has numerous schemes to help individuals tide over this period. However, threatening and stressing Singaporeans with more fines and arrests only add to the general unhappiness of an already stressed out community. Take for example, this man who threw items from HDB block. [LINK] Of course, his actions were wrong and people may get injured. But the root problem is that his stress level was so high that it has pushed him to the brink of insanity. What he really needs is more assistance to help him tide over this period, not more fines or jail time. I also appealed to the Singapore Government to reveal the cases of the Social-Distance Ambassador, the Malay man the Chinese man and perhaps give all of them a chance. Finally, I will like the Singapore Government to consider relaxing some of the lockdown measures. On the surface, the number of infections has soared considerably. In actuality, the number of local population infections has stabilised. Over the past one week, the highest number of local population infection is 48. The rest of the new cases are from foreign workers living in cramped dormitories. What this means is actually very simple. The increased lockdown measures do not serve much purpose for the simple reason that the infections are NOT occurring in the general public to begin with. Yes, of course, we still need to take precautionary measures and we cannot afford to throw all caution to the wind. However, the earlier measures (prior to the lockdown) were effective enough to curb the spread of local infections. If a person has an injury on the hand, applying more medication on the foot does not help. The reason for the current high number of infections is the cramped and unhygienic living conditions of the foreign workers dormitories. Curbing the high number of infections requires focused containment of the cross-infections among the foreign workers. This includes, amongst other things, the need to ensure that their living conditions met basic hygienic standards, the dormitories are well-cleaned and well-ventilated, the foreign workers have sufficient personal spaces within the dormitories so as not to be easily cross-infected, etc. For the general public, relaxing the lockdown measures to the conditions just prior to the lockdown, with the wearing of masks, should not increase the risk of infections. This is not an empty guesswork. As all Singaporeans can observe, the number of local infections has already been tamed and is well under control. Easing the lockdown measures will help the country. Small shops and businesses will be able to generate some income and this, in turn, will help to remove the stress among Singaporeans. If these harsh lockdown measures are not removed, many small shops and businesses will be bankrupted by the time the lockdown period is over. This will create another massive social problem in Singapore. To be very clear, I am not advocating that all lockdown measures be removed. Singapore definitely needs sufficient and effective measures to stem the spread of Covid-19, but not so harsh to inflict numerous and multiple hardships onto the citizens that do not give any obvious incremental benefits. Empirical evidences have shown that the pre-lockdown social-distancing measures have shown to be effective in controlling the spread of Covid-19. As such, the additional requirement of wearing masks on top of the pre-lockdown social-distancing measures should be more than sufficient to stem the tide of the Covid-19 infections without crippling the likelihoods of fellow Singaporeans. In conclusion, one needs to understand the root cause of a problem in order to properly address the issue. Putting a blanket solution that does not target the root cause does not solve the problem. In the past, the Singapore Government threw all caution to the wind when the Singapore Government openly advised people not to wear masks unless they are sick. Now, the Singapore Government imposes severe and harsh lockdown measures on the general public even though the main infections are occurring in the foreign workers’ dormitories. Both extremes are neither healthy nor effective in dealing with the Covid-19 situation.   Celest Lee      Read More →