by Jasmine Tan
I refer to the latest measures taken by the Government to halt all religious services and leisure at public entertainment outlets, up to 30 April to curb the uncontrollable spiralling infection rates in Singapore and worldwide.
The new measures, however, still stubbornly refuses to suspend schools and workplace activities where spreading of the virus mainly occurs as we have already witnessed new clusters unfolding at People’s Action Party’s (PAP) own PAP Community Foundation (PCF) centres and international schools.
The reason for not proclaiming DORSCON Red remains unclear at best and vague at worst, yet yesterday’s parliamentary sitting was more focused on explaining the rationale for calling a General Election (GE) sooner rather than postponing it to December 2020 when all other countries are doing just the contrary. The public remains baffled and confused; hence they resumed hoarding of essential goods after announcement across the causeway that their lockdown will extend to 14 April.
It remains unclear where we stand in this pandemic and how we will emerge after that as past measures have proven to be largely ineffective; thus these thoughts will no doubt be evidently on all the minds of Singaporeans when GE is called on April amidst this semi-lockdown.
What is the genuine status of our reserves and how much will the Government draw down on Thursday (26 March)? What policy measures will the Government undertake to trim over reliance on foreign labour for Singaporeans who have lost their jobs to this virus – whether permanently or temporary? How will the Government restore the confidence of our present recessionary economy which will directly impact our livelihood beyond 2020? Will policy curbs and limitations be relaxed for Social Service Offices (SSOs), ComCare, and Ministry of Finance (MOF) to distribute much needed aid to relieve those in desperate need? How much will we have to pay back for this drawdown of the reserve to bailout businesses? And will GST increase still be withheld until 2022?
We need answers to these burning questions and hope our sole oppositional representation in parliament will boldly press it on behalf of all other PAP wards.
This pandemic should serve as a stark reminder to our 4G leaders of the human frailty, and it should have brought out the best in our character, caring and looking out for one another instead of dirty politicking and arranging to fix those whom the Establishment disagrees with!
