by Khush Chopra
What is behind people’s fear as to the COVID-19 virus that has led to so much widespread panic in Singapore?
This is my view on the subject. I have no doubt that some of the factors I have listed out will explain the panic elsewhere as well.
TRUST
The people do not trust the PAP Government and feel that the information about the COVID-19 situation especially with redirect to our food security is dubious.
When the people do not trust the Government providing information about a particular risk or the process used to assess that risk they tend to be more afraid than when they trust the officials or the process. Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear.
SOCIAL CAPITAL
I think that we should take Ministerial pronouncements about the great advantage we have in Singapore’s “social capital of trust and compliance when the chips are down in an extreme situation “ with a large pinch of salt.
It is rather embarrassing to one day make grandiloquent pronouncements on the international stage about how we have “social capital of trust and compliance” here and the very next day, be met with panic hoarding despite the constant barrage of Ministerial assurances about our food security and necessary supplies to purportedly nudge social behaviour in the right direction.
MIXED SIGNALS
Many would be reacting to the lack of a clear direction from the People’s Action Party (PAP) Government. People resort to extremes when they hear conflicting messages about the risk COVID-19 poses and how seriously they should prepare for it.
Several decisions have confused the people. Allowing the Costa Fortuna cruise ship to dock in Singapore or keeping schools open despite the outbreak, allowing several politically expedient mass gatherings to carry on and the advisory not to wear masks unless sick have all added to the growing confusion.
When people are told something dangerous is coming, but all you need to do is wash your hands, the action doesn’t seem proportionate to the threat.
Similarly we are told the situation will get worse, we need to prepare for the long haul and deaths are inevitable BUT holding a general election during the height of this crisis may be necessary directly contradicts the gravity the threat posed by COVID-19 . Trust deficits arise.
Such mixed signals are hardly assuring.
UNCERTAINTY
Events inspire more fear when we don’t know enough or when the risks are simply unknown. This is a new and dangerous virus and it is unclear if it will behave like other known viruses. A new disease that we have no known cure for breeds more dread and uncertainty.
Novel threats raise anxiety levels more than familiar threats. People tend to over react to unfamiliar threats. Unfamiliarity breeds fear. There’s a lot about it that’s still unknown and it is potentially a deadly or lethal virus after all. When highly contagious threats are invisible like a virus and therefore hard to understand, people become alarmed about the nature of the risk a new disease like COVID-19 poses and the pandemic becomes yet even more worrisome.
THE POLITICS OF FEAR AND PANIC HOARDING
It is of course natural to want to overprepare. Everyone is kiasu to some extent. The ‘fight for yourself above all else’ attitude is pervasive in Singapore. How did this happen here? This is survivalist psychology and the assumption of control by people in terms of the practicality in stocking up.
Then there would be mass hysteria to contend with. People being social creatures look to each other for cues for what is safe and what is dangerous; the herd instinct. Panic buying begets panic buying.
Why are Singaporeans so kiasu and kiasi? Why do they panic so easily? Why resort to hoarding when there is no real rational reason for this behaviour?
But it’s not our fault really is it? Who is responsible for these panic queues and irresponsible kiasu social behaviour?
I see it more as a crisis of values. We have the wrong values. We have a society that lives in fear because of years of fearmongering that has bred insecurity and distrust. Ours is not a cohesive, considerate and civil society. We are a dog eat dog society that values money and self interest above all else.
Singapore is in the middle of a moral crisis authored by the PAP’s mercenary brand of politics of fear and money.
Who should we blame for this?
A fish rots from the head down. Leadership is the root cause of societal failure and behaviour.
Singapore is ruled by fear. Fear is one of the most powerful human emotions. When in fear, rational thinking deserts us — which is precisely what the PAP Government wants to engineer. Fear is a survival defence mechanism. The PAP Government deploys the politics of fear to great effect. In fact, everything about the PAP Government is about fear. The politics of fear is the politics of repression where political leaders use fear as the driving force against the people to get them to support their policies.
The politics of fear relies on threats against the well-being of people resulting in a powerful emotional response that can override reason and prevent a critical assessment of these policies. Clearly Singaporeans live in abject fear of the PAP Government.
The overwhelming impulse at the ballot box is equally clearly an emotional one and not a rational one. That powerful and overwhelming emotion is fear; fear of change, fear of reprisal and fear as to their well-being.
This fear is deeply embedded in the Singapore psyche today.
That is why at a time of heightened fear over a viral pandemic, Singaporeans have renewed age-old narratives as to their kiasu and kiasi habits.
Singaporeans have true to form and for the reasons stated panicked and displayed a lack of civic mindedness.
Will the panic be a momentary blip or be a devastating crisis? Whatever the case it is important to understand the reasons why people are worried about this virus. There are specific factors that affect perception as to the danger of COVID-19.
