• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
  • Volunteer
    • Internship with The Online Citizen
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Creating comic book figures at time of national emergency trivialises seriousness of situation and wastes state resources

by Ghui
21/04/2020
in Opinion
Reading Time: 2 mins read
4

It has been reported that the Singapore government has announced that “it has pulled mascots, collectively known as the Virus Vanguard, out of its campaign to spread the word about the country’s circuit breaker measures and good hygiene habits.”
It seems rather odd that the government would take the view that such mascots were needed in the first place? The entire world knows about the COVID-19 outbreak! It is global news!
With many countries the world over going into lock down, social distancing and incessant hand washing is surely not a message that we need a cast of mascots to help spread? Why has the government even bothered to invest resources into such a project in the first place? While the project may have been imbued with good intentions, isn’t there a better use of our country’s time and money?
The ongoing and current spike in cases in our migrant worker community has garnered international media attention with questions being asked of how we, a first world country, allowed the situation to escalate to this in the first place. As our government battles to try and salvage an earlier oversight in relation to our migrant workers, why are we investing precious resources on inventing mascots?
Singaporeans do not need cartoon figures to tell them what they need to do. The entire world is telling them what to do. As they sit at home observing Circuit Breaker rules, do you not think they are watching the news? We don’t need make belief superheros to combat this crisis. We need proactive policies to preempt the spread. Such mascots are yet again reactive measures which the government has been criticised for.
It is completely pointless to invent such mascots in the first place. This is not the Olympic games or some sort of event. It is a national disaster! Having cartoon figures here completely trivialises the seriousness of the situation. Now that the figures have been pulled, is this more needless money down the drain? Could this money not have been put to better use? Such as donated to the migrant workers for instance?
According to a Facebook post by Gov.sg on Monday night, the government has said that it is reviewing the Virus Vanguard after receiving a lot of feedback. It also apologised for any offence it caused.
It added, “As this is the first time we are exploring this content format, we appreciate your patience.” and shared that the mascots is a collaboration with the Band of Doodlers (BOD) to create a comic series to convey different aspects of the Circuit Breaker measures.
Instead of reviewing, perhaps we should just scrap it altogether. It is not necessary at this time. It is not appropriate to be spending state resources on such projects at a time of national emergency.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Tags: COVID-19
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Recent Posts

  • Allow Myanmar’s “shadow” govt to attend special ASEAN Summit, says M Ravi in petition
  • Possible Cabinet reshuffle for Indonesia in light of Jokowi’s plans to form investment affairs-related ministry
  • Rupee tumbles as COVID-19 surges threatening Singapore’s investment in India
  • Week-long lockdown in New Delhi as virus cases soar
  • 20 new cases of COVID-19 infection in S’pore; 1 case in the community
  • DPM Heng Swee Keat asks for feedback on making Changi Point more “vibrant”; netizens prefer it to be untouched
  • Japan urges release of journalist detained in Myanmar
  • US hits vaccine milestone as New Zealand, Australia open travel bubble

Trending posts

Allow Myanmar’s “shadow” govt to attend special ASEAN Summit, says M Ravi in petition

Expat returns from India and tested positive for COVID-19 after serving 21 days of SHN

Of late, the language of our current leadership has been divisive; almost everything sounds like there’s a hidden agenda

Only 1 in 5 surveyed confident of 4G leaders, Blackdot Research study finds

Rupee tumbles as COVID-19 surges threatening Singapore’s investment in India

If we can deal with the ironies of our own making, Singapore can be so much better

DPM Heng Swee Keat asks for feedback on making Changi Point more “vibrant”; netizens prefer it to be untouched

WP MP Gerald Giam’s intervention helped solve traffic congestion issue at Hougang Capeview

Public Prosecutors have nothing to fear if they do their job, says Justice Chan Seng Onn as Parti Liyani becomes first to seek compensation against AGC for “frivolous and vexatious” prosecution

39 new cases of COVID-19 infection in S’pore; 4 cases in the community

Load More
April 2020
MTWTFSS
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930 
« Mar   May »
  • About Us
  • Volunteer
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
  • Contact Us

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

wpDiscuz
4
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
| Reply