TR EMERITUS

We are already seeing some positive results but we cannot be complacent, and this is the time now to continue to hunker down and give this a further push. First, we call on everyone to do their part to minimise movement. Remember, the virus spreads through people – through our contact with others, and when we go out and touch surfaces, and then our hands touch our faces. We can take precautions like safe distancing and wearing of masks. But the best way to beat the virus is to stay home. So if you need to go out – buy food, buy groceries – go out alone. Do not turn this into an occasion for a family outing. And, if you need to go out and exercise, exercise alone and in your own neighbourhood. Do not travel out to exercise. We call on everyone to do this because it is the best way to protect yourselves and your family members. Second, we will continue with our efforts to control people movement in popular areas like wet markets and supermarkets. In these areas, we will impose entry restrictions. For example, in certain wet markets, we will only permit entry on alternate days, and we will do this with a system based on your NRIC or your FIN number. Depending on the last digit of your NRIC or FIN number, you will only be permitted entry on odd or even days. That is one example of a localised entry restriction that we will start with wet markets, and we will do this also in other popular areas like supermarkets in order to thin out the crowds and reduce transmission risks in these areas. [Afternote: The entry restrictions currently apply to 4 wet markets as announced in the press releases by MOH and NEA. Other wet markets, as well as supermarkets, which experience crowding, may also introduce similar access restrictions. The entry restrictions are also based on even and odd dates of the month, as announced in NEA’s press release.] Third, we will close more workplaces and also tighten the list of essential services that are permitted. I mentioned this last week, and we are now ready to make this move. This is important because when we analysed the local infected cases that occurred after the circuit breaker, many of them have been working as part of essential services or have family members who are working; because, these are the people who are still out and about. We do need our essential workers. We appreciate their contributions, but we have to reduce the numbers who are working. That’s why we will make a move to cut back the workforce who still have to commute daily, from the current 20% to 15%. We will do this by making cuts across all sectors of the economy, but also in businesses that are consumer-facing including in F&B and other services. This will mean that all of us may face some degradation of services or we may not be able to access F&B or certain services that we have become accustomed to. I hope everyone understands why we need to make this important move. Overall, we are seeing results from the circuit breaker, but we cannot let up now. We have to make this strong push to decisively break the transmission chain. The measures that we’ve just announced will be in place till 4 May. Beyond that, we will continue with the circuit breaker for another four weeks to 1 June. Depending on how the situation evolves, we will adjust the measures. If there are clear improvements in our community transmission numbers - for example, if we see community numbers coming down to single digits - then we can consider gradually easing some of these measures. We’ve said from the outset that this is a prolonged fight. We thank all Singaporeans and all residents of Singapore who have risen to the occasion and done their part through this circuit breaker period. Let us all continue to go all out to stamp out the virus and overcome this together. Let me just say a few words in Mandarin. 病毒阻断措施实行至今已经两个星期，我们已经开始看到一些成效。我们 须要继续努力，再加一把劲。首先，大家必须再减少活动，留再家里，因 为这是阻断病毒传播的最佳办法。如果你需要购买食物或日常用品，自己 一个人出门就好，不需要全家一起出门。如果你需要运动，也自己一个人 就好，而且应该在自己居住的邻里范围内运动。 我们将会继续针对多人聚集的地方进行管制，像是湿巴刹和超级市场。这 些地方将会有人流管制。如果你需要上巴刹和超级市场，最好是选择星期 一到星期五，人比较少的时候。 另外，我们也进一步减少必要服务的种类，继续减少出门工作的人数。我 们非常感谢必要服务领域员工在这段期间的贡献。我们将确保继续开工的 员工保持安全距离，以及采取必要的防范措施。 我们虽然开始看到成效，但绝对不能松懈下来，所以我们决定延长病毒阻断措施，直到 6 月 1 日。我们将会持续观察情况，按照事态的发展调整措施。如果病毒传播的情况有明显的好转，我们会考虑放宽某些措施。 要成功对抗病毒，除了站在前线的医护人员，也需要你我的努力。我们希 望大家都能遵守阻断措施，让我们早日打赢这场仗。   Remarks by Minister Lawrence Wong, Co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on COVID-19, at Press Conference on COVID-19 at National Press Centre on 21 April 2020.      Read More →

It’s a distraction the country can do without. For the better part of 16 years now, the topic of Ho Ching’s salary keeps rearing its ugly head. The more determined the government is to keep the salary of the Prime Minister’s wife a secret, the more people speculate. The more people speculate, the more anxious the government gets. It’s all a vicious cycle. And to add to the mix, Ho Ching’s mishmash of social media posts that come thick and fast round-the-clock have a tendency to set tongues wagging. They have also become a distraction, to say the least. So we think of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. Because we think of a time when the Prime Minister could get on with the job of running the country without people getting into a feeding frenzy over his spouse. There’s just too much fatigue, too much quibbling that the country can do without. “I walk two steps behind my husband like a good Asian wife,” said Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. She meant it metaphorically of course. But she always had her husband’s back without intruding so he could get on with the important stuff. Privately, behind the scenes, Mrs Lee played the role of confidante and adviser to her husband. She had the intellect for it; she even bested her husband in English and Economic Science at Raffles College, topping the cohort. The most memorable thing Lee Kuan Yew said of his wife: “Without her, I would be a different man, with a different life.” Today, those words ring with a meaning and resonance we have come to appreciate. When we think of all the fuss we keep going through over one person, we think of Madam Kwa Geok Choo. More than just the woman behind Lee Kuan Yew, she was a woman who silently gave her all to the nation.   Augustine Low * The author is a proud but concerned citizen. Voicing independent, unplugged opinion is his contribution to citizen engagement.        Read More →

Yesterday's 1,426 new Covid-19 cases must come as a bombshell to many Singaporeans even as our citizens are slowly getting used to having new Covid-19 cases in the hundreds each passing day over the past 2 weeks or so. As I compose my post, the Chinese saying of "bing dong san cher, fei yi reu zhi han" came to my mind. Loosely translated, it means that ice frozen to 3 feet of thickness isn't frozen over one day. In short, the explosions of Covid-19 cases among workers staying in workers dormitories all over Singapore is an accumulation and consequences of overcrowding, cramped living environments, very, very sorry state of cleanliness and hygiene over many, many years of neglect all roll into in. After Covid-19 is effectively put under control, I strongly suggest that all isolation areas dormitory operators, their big name directors and some may be pap linked even, all Manpower Ministers and their junior ministers over the past 20 years be charged for criminal neglect. It is not difficult to imagine myself as a foreign worker being quarantined in one of those overcrowded bunks for over 20 hours each day and being subjected to extreme boredom, worries about family and finances etc day in and day out and I can't do much whatsoever. Stress, anger, helplessness and tensions must inevitably build-up. What is likely to follow will be arguments among workers, quarrels, fights or even riots. I am sounding a warning to the authorities and I hope that they can, for once, humbly heed a warning from a non-scholar, non general but a concerned Singaporean. After all, foreign workers are no less human than any one of us. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →