The first time around, they gave us bad advice like don’t wear mask and go jalan jalan. We followed and got burned.
They turned around, gave new advice and turned everything into law. Anyone who don’t follow will get burned.
So whether we follow or don’t follow, it’s the same result: we get burned.
After they let the virus slip away, they go all out to catch people. It’s incredible how efficient and methodical they are at making people pay for flouting circuit breaker rules.
Day after day, we keep reading about all kinds of punishment being meted out to people.
No one-metre safe distancing. No wearing of mask. Eating out instead of taking away. Feeding and watching wild boars. Fines! Fines! Fines!
Thousands of fines are likely imposed by now for many kinds of offences.
It gets worse. For work pass holders who flout the rules, permits have been revoked and they have been permanently barred from working in Singapore.
They say prevention is better than cure.
For the government, it’s the other way around. After failing to prevent the virus from spreading, they leave no stone unturned to come up with a cure – punish people until pants drop, in some cases until permits revoked.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in one of his updates earlier this week that “regrettably, nine will face a fine of $1,000 for committing these offences a second time.”
What is he regretting? That the fines are too big or that enforcement action is too strict?
We even have people like Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, watching from the sidelines and giving advice in his Facebook post.
He said: “The young should be “kiasu” and the old “kiasi”. Old or young, we should “tia chenghu” (listen to the government) when it comes to complying with the laws and regulations on fighting Covid-19.”
It’s easy for him to say now. Where was he when Singaporeans were getting burned for bad advice? Does he know that we are damned if we listen, damned if we don’t?
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