By Professor Tommy Koh: ASEAN’S Response to COVID-19: A Report Card

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The focus of this essay is on Asean, the regional organisation.

First, I want to find out whether Asean was prepared for the pandemic. Second, has Asean responded, in a timely and effectively manner to the pandemic? Third, did Asean try and coordinate its efforts with those of its Dialogue Partners? Fourth, was the doctrine of Asean solidarity reflected in the behaviour of the Asean member states? Fifth, what is Asean’s attitude towards the World Health Organisation (WHO)?

1: Was Asean prepared?

In 2003, the region was hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome Sars. Learning from that and other health emergencies, Asean set up five things to prepare itself.

These are: a Network for Public Health Emergencies, led by Malaysia; Sa Biodiaspora Regional Virtual Centre, led by the Philippines; a Regional Public Health Laboratories Network, led by Thailand; the Asean Risk Assessment and Risk Communication Centre, and; a rice stockpile, co-organised with China, Japan and South Korea.

Asean should consider having a stockpile of essential medical products.

With these five assets in place, Asean was not unprepared when Covid-19 arrived.

2: Was Asean’s response prompt and effective?

Asean’s health ministers reacted promptly to the growing threat of Covid-19. They met on January 30.

This was followed by the meetings of Asean ministers for defence, economy, agriculture and forestry, foreign affairs, tourism and labour. The most important meeting was the Asean Summit, held via video conference on April 14.

What are the most important outcomes of the Asean meetings?

First, Asean will not turn inward and become protectionist. Instead, Asean will remain open and continue to support a rules-based international trading system.

Second, Asean will keep its markets open. It will facilitate, not hinder, the flow of food and essential goods, especially medical products. Third, Asean will maintain its productive capacity and seek to minimise any disruption to the region’s supply chains. Fourth, Asean will exchange timely information and best practices and cooperate to fight the virus.

3: Did Asean try and coordinate its efforts with its dialogue partners?

Asean was proactive in seeking to coordinate its efforts with them. The most important initiative was the special summit between Asean and China, Japan and South Korea (Asean+3) on April 14.
Asean Ministers also held bilateral meetings with the ministers of the European Union and Japan.
Relations between China and the United States have become increasingly hostile. Asean foreign ministers held a physical meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China on February 20 and a virtual meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on April 23.

Asean’s policy is to be on good terms with the two rival powers and not to take sides in their disputes.

4: Was the doctrine of Asean solidarity reflected in the conduct of member states?

Solidarity and cooperation are two of the most important values of the Asean family. Have the Asean countries lived up to their own professed values?

I find many examples of Asean solidarity in practice. Brunei and Vietnam have donated test kits to other Asean countries. Vietnam has donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to Laos. Singapore has donated test kits to Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Laos.

Singapore has also donated ventilators and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines to the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia and Laos. Singapore has looked after the Malaysia workers stranded in Singapore. Malaysia has, in turn, helped Singapore to bring its citizens home from various countries, including, Egypt.

5: What is Asean’s attitude towards the WHO?

Asean has a favourable attitude towards the WHO. All 10 Asean members are members. It is, however, illogical for the WHO to assign three of them – Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand – to the South-east Asia region, and the remaining seven countries to the Western Pacific region. My plea to the WHO is to locate all 10 Asean countries in the South-east Asia region.

Asean invited the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to participate in the Asean+3 Special Summit, on April 14. This is a vote of confidence in him and WHO.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think that Asean led ably by Vietnam, has responded quite well to the pandemics. I want to make three additional comments.

First, Asean is an inter-governmental organisation. It is not a supranational institution. The response of the region to Covid-19 depends less on Asean than on the member states themselves.

The response of the member states has been uneven, given the disparities among them. Some member states like Singapore have world-class healthcare systems. Others do not.

Some member states, like Vietnam, responded promptly and decisively to Covid-19. Others did not. Some member states have the financial means to procure masks, test kits, PPEs, ventilators. Others did not have such means. For an excellent review of how the 10 Asean countries have responded to Covid-19, see this by Mr Choi Shing Kwok, “Covid-19 battle: How have the South-east Asian nations fared?” in The Straits Times(9/5/2020).

Second, I refer to an article, written by my good friend, Nicholas Robinson and Christian Walzer, “How Do We Prevent the Next Outbreak”, in the Scientific American (25/3/2020).

The authors wrote: “The health of all life on the planet is connected. The Covid-19 outbreaks starkly remind us of a basic fact that cannot be ignored: human, animal, plant and environmental health and well-being are all intrinsically connected and profoundly influenced by human activities.”
Third, I refer to a paper written by Sharon Seah, the Coordinator of the Asean Studies Centre at the Yusof Ishak Institute of South-east Asian Studies: “Asean Covid-19 Pandemic Response: Practical Next Steps”, May 18.

In her paper, Ms Seah calls on Indonesia to ratify the Asean agreement on the establishment of a Coordinating Centre on Animal Health and Zoonoses. With Indonesia’s ratification, the agreement will come into force.

Why is the agreement important? Because it will facilitate cooperation among Asean member states and between Asean and such international organisations as the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health.

It will also speed up regional coordination for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases (which can be transmitted from animals to people). Covid-19 is not the first, nor will it be the last zoonotic disease.

By Professor Tommy Koh: 7 Silver Linings in COVID-19 Dark Cloud

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The Covid-19 pandemic is like a big black cloud which has descended on earth, bringing with it death and destruction. However, without minimising the seriousness of the situation we are in, I see some silver linings in the black cloud.

First Silver Lining

It is hard to believe that COVID-19 began as an animal virus. Scientists believe that it was probably a bat virus. It succeeded in infecting a human.  There are different theories about its origin, but the disease was first reported in the city of Wuhan, in the province of Hubei, in China. The Chinese, as well as some other Asians, have the bad habit of eating the meat of wild animals. I recall that the virus which caused severe acute respiratory syndrome or Sars, in 2003, was believed by scientists, to have jumped from a civet cat to a human in the city of Guangzhou. As a result of COVID-19, the Chinese government has decided to ban the trade of wild animals for consumption, and the eating of the meat of wild animals. This is the first silver lining I see. I hope that other Asian governments, especially those of Vietnam and Indonesia, will emulate the example of China.  It is time for all Asians to stop eating the meat of wild animals as well as cats and dogs.

Second Silver Lining

The second silver lining I see is the elevation of the importance of international organisations, such as, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). There is a misguided attempt by some countries in the West to degrade such multilateral institutions. The WHO is one such victim. Its budget has been progressively cut during the past decade. This has reduced its capacity to intervene in an emergency, such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. The current pandemic is a good reminder of the indispensable role played by the WHO in maintaining international public health. In the absence of US leadership, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of WHO, is leading the global battle against the pandemic. The economic impact of the pandemic is global and devastating, as countries around the world close borders and quarantine entire cities to avoid infections, leading to closures of businesses. Many workers have lost their jobs.  Whole industries, in some sectors like aviation and tourism, have been shut down, as leisure travel drops to near zero. As a result, many countries are in financial difficulties. The Director-General of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, has warned that we are faced with a global recession which is worse than the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis. She also said that over 80 countries have applied to the IMF for help. I think the pandemic has given the world a wake-up call. The message is that we truly live in one inter-connected world. What happens in one country, such as China, will inevitably affect other countries. In this situation, international cooperation is an imperative. There is therefore no alternative to multilateralism and to multilateral institutions, such as, WHO and IMF.

Third Silver Lining

The third silver lining I see is a reminder to us of the importance of public health and of the need by every country to develop a comprehensive, affordable and effective healthcare system. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, have high standards of public health. They also have good healthcare systems. This is one of the reasons for their effective response to the pandemic.

Fourth Silver Lining

The fourth silver lining I see is the lesson that we need political leaders who are rational and who listen to expert advice. The countries which have done better than others in this pandemic are led by leaders who make their decisions, based on facts, science and reason. An example of an irrational decision is the abandoned policy of the British government to allow for the community spread of the virus so that the British people would develop “herd immunity”  against the virus. According to experts at the Imperial College, such a policy could result in 250,000 fatalists. The British government later changed its mind and tried to contain the spread of the virus – but it was too little, too late. Some countries have done badly in the pandemic because they are led by irrational leaders, who do not listen to expert advice and who are primarily interested in their own popularity and political survival. We also need leaders who are honest and who will not cover up bad news. Honesty and transparency engender trust. Without trust, the people will not comply with the advice and instructions of their governments.

Fifth Silver Lining

The fifth silver lining I see is the importance of social capital. Social capital means people having a shared sense of identity and solidarity. It means having shared values, such as, trust, cooperation and reciprocity. I see many examples of social capital at work in Singapore and other countries affected by the pandemic. In Singapore, doctors and nurses have volunteered to work at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, in spite of the danger to themselves. Many Singaporeans have volunteered to work at frontline jobs. Workers in frontline jobs have put in very long hours without complaint. I see neighbours looking out for one another. I see Singaporeans doing acts of kindness to strangers, such as looking for Malaysian workers who are stranded in Singapore, without accommodation, and bringing them to hostels. I see students volunteering to deliver food to people under quarantine.  I see a group of restaurants delivering free food to healthcare workers.  I see Singaporeans complying willingly with the social distancing rule. I see that most Singaporeans have refrained from panic buying at our supermarkets. For me, these are all examples of our social capital. It is just as important for a country to develop its social capital, as its economic capital, cultural capital and natural capital.

Sixth Silver Lining

The sixth silver lining I see is a reminder for each country to examine its food security. No country should depend on a single source for its rice, wheat, meat, fish, egg and vegetables. There is a Global Food Security Index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and Corteva Agriscience. The Index analyses 113 countries for: (a) how affordable food is; (b) whether people have physical access to food; and (c) how safe and nutritious the available food is. I am pleasantly surprised that, for the second consecutive year, Singapore is ranked first, in the index.

Seventh Silver Lining

The seventh and final silver lining is the fact that, because of international trade and globalisation, we have become deeply inter-dependent economically. Manufacturers locate their plants and procure components from different locations, to benefit from the law of comparative economic advantage. In an emergency, such as the present, borders are shut and supply chains are disrupted. I fear that the prophets of economic nationalism and protectionism, will take advantage of the current situation, to attack free trade and globalisation. I am not sure whether the post-Covid-19 world will be more insular or open and more free or more protectionist. We must however not lose faith in our beliefs. To borrow an analogy from Star Wars, we must fight against the Dark Side. The world will have a bleak future if it retreats from free trade and globalisation.

Conclusion

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. In the dark cloud of COVID-19, I see seven silver linings. We must work hard and intelligently to save lives and our economies. We must stay strong. We must keep faith with our ideals and beliefs. We must help the vulnerable in our countries. We must also help the less developed countries, especially those in Africa. The truth is that no one is safe unless the whole world is safe.

NUS BBA and Tembusu College Alumnus – Ong Kah Jing

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An alumnus of NUS BBA and Tembusu College, Ong Kah Jing is a documentary storyteller. He has garnered a Best Documentary (Open Youth Category) award in the 2019 National Youth Film Awards, won first place in the AIC Video Competition 2019 organised by the Agency for Integrated Care, and was a semi-finalist in the 2018 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival. At Tembusu College, he joined the inaugural student-run STEER Expedition to Komodo National Park.

More information can be found here: https://outside-in.nus.edu.sg/nus-business-school-a-foundation-to-realise-my-documentary-dreams/

Free Public Talk by Dr John Van Wyhe–“The First Female Tourist – The Amazing Ida Pfeiffer”

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John van Wyhe Friday, 24 April 2020, 7 pm Ngee Ann Auditorium, Asian Civilisations Museum.

In the 1840s it was considered utterly impossible for a woman to travel alone. Modern tourism had not yet emerged. This meant no transport accommodation, or restaurants for travellers. Despite all this, one woman decided to go her own way anyway. Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858) was the first woman to travel and then circle the world alone.

She displayed incredible courage, endurance, and perseverance. Along the way she survived storms at sea, parched deserts, plague, malaria, a near-drowning, earthquakes, robbers, murderers, headhunters, and cannibals. Singapore and Southeast Asia were perhaps her favourite destinations. As a result of her incredible exploits and her best-selling travel books, Pfeiffer became one of the most famous women in the world in the 19th century. Her tale culminates in spies, intrigue, a botched revolution, and a remarkable career cut tragically short by one voyage too many.

About the speaker: Dr John van Wyhe is a historian of science at the National University of Singapore who specialises in the explorers and naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He is also founder and director of the award-winning Darwin Online project and has published 14 books. Dr van Wyhe has lectured and broadcast on these topics worldwide.

This lecture is free. Seats are available on a first come first served basis. No registration is required.

Opportunities Abound at Tembusu & NUS

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Imaan Rowter graduated from Singapore Polytechnic and enrolled in NUS Mechanical Engineering. At Tembusu College, he picked up latte art, photography and table tennis, and learned about climate change. Now, he is helping the NUS Centre for Additive Manufacturing achieve certification to create ground-breaking 3D-printed metal implants to help patients.

By Professor Tommy Koh: Time to put Mental Health high on List of National Priorities

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I have been thinking and worrying about the mental health of Singaporeans. I am the Rector of a College at NUS. One of my responsibilities is to look after the welfare and well-being of the 600 students who stay at the College. The report of a Visiting Committee, on the College, highlighted the need for the College to pay greater attention to the mental health and pastoral care of our students. In this essay, I wish to make five points.

Mens Sana In Corpore Sano

There is wisdom in the Latin saying, “mens sana in corpore sano”, which means, a healthy mind in a healthy body. The first point I want to make is that mental health and physical health are two sides of the same coin. There is an inextricable link between mind and body.
Let me tell you a story. When I was living in New York, I befriended the distinguished editor of a weekly magazine, Norman Cousins. He fell ill after returning from a work trip to the Soviet Union. His doctors diagnosed his condition as ankylosing spondylitis, a crippling connective tissue disease. He was told that the prognosis was very bad, with a one in 500 chance of recovery.

Norman Cousins was a fighter and he refused to accept the prognosis. He checked himself into a hospital and designed his own recovery programme. It consisted of massive intravenous doses of Vitamin C and laughter induced by watching comical movies and television shows. Miraculously, he recovered. His 1979 book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by a Patient, was a best seller. It also got him an appointment, as an adjunct professor, in the Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences, of the University of California, at Los Angeles, Medical School. His research interest was the connection between attitude and health.

Like Cousins, I believe that a happy, optimistic and positive attitude helps one cope better with illness than a sad, pessimistic and negative attitude. A positive attitude may even aid recovery. I commend the Readers Digest for publishing a regular column, entitled, Laughter Is The Best Medicine.

Irrational Attitude Towards Mental Illness

My second point is that we need to change our attitude towards mental illness. We have a healthy attitude towards physical illness. A person who is physically ill, evokes our sympathy and support.

In contrast, a person who is mentally ill, evokes fear, suspicion and hostility. We call persons with mental illness by such pejorative terms as “mad” and “crazy”. We should recognise that our attitude towards mental illness is not rational and is not supported by science or the facts.

An example of the discrimination which persons with a mental illness suffer, compared to persons with a physical illness, is the attitude of our insurance companies.

Persons suffering from depression or anxiety have been rejected by our insurance companies, when they apply for medical insurance policies. I call on our regulators to end this discriminatory practice.  I wish to salute the NMP, Anthea Ong and the Straits Times’ Singaporean of the Year 2019, Angie Chew, for their admirable work in championing mental health.

State Of Our Mental Health

My third point is that the statistics on the mental health of Singaporeans probably under-report the incidence of mental illness in Singapore. In a survey carried out by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in 2016, 13.9 percent or 1 in 7 persons in the survey, said that they suffered from mental illness. The global average is 20 percent.

Why do I think that there is under-reporting in Singapore? In the same survey, 64 percent of the respondents said that they would feel embarrassed to admit that they had a mental problem.

Nominated MP Anthea Ong has pointed out in her excellent commentary, ”Let’s Talk about the ‘men’ in mental illness” (ST 24/8/2019) that the problem of under-reporting is particularly acute among our men.

The reason is cultural. Our society expects men to be strong and tough. Men fear that to seek help is a sign of weakness and could damage their masculinity and status. Men therefore prefer to suffer in silence. In Singapore, men are 2½ times more likely to commit suicide than women. In 2018, 283 men and 114 women committed suicide.

We should encourage our men to seek help when they are mentally unwell and not to be ashamed of doing so.

Mental Health of Young Singaporeans

My fourth point is that our alarm bells ought to be ringing about the mental health of our students and young Singaporeans. The situation is quite serious.

According to YouGov, one-third of young adults in Singapore have suicidal thoughts. The same percentage of young Singaporeans have indulged in self-harming activities.

According to one study, 18 percent of young Singaporeans suffer from depression. In 2018, 19 young Singaporeans, between the ages of 10 and 19, committed suicide. Suicide is the main cause of death of the millennials in Singapore.

Singapore is a very successful country. Singapore is also a very competitive and success-oriented society. We put enormous pressure on our students to excel in their studies. This generates stress. Some students cope well with the stress. Other students cannot cope with the stress and with the fear of not meeting the high expectations of their parents.

In the 2018 Programme for International Students Assessment (Pisa), carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Singapore came in second, after China when it came to students’ performance in math, science and reading.

However, a high percentage of Singapore’s students, 86 percent were worried about getting poor grades, compared to the OECD average of 66 percent. 72 percent of Singapore’s students expressed fear of failure, compared to the OECD average of 56 percent.

The NUS Mind Science Centre, together with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health will be jointly conducting a study on the psychological well-being of our students. We want Singapore to continue to out-perform other countries. However, we don’t want Singaporeans to be a nation of anxious, depressed and neurotic people. We want Singaporeans to be successful, healthy and happy.

Mental Health Of The Elderly

My fifth and last point is that the mental health of the elderly also needs our attention.  In 2019, persons over the age of 65 make p 14.4 percent of our population. The fact that 36 percent of the suicides in Singapore are by persons over the age of 60, should ring an alarm bell.

Why are older Singaporeans killing themselves? Is it due to poverty, ill health, loneliness or for some other reasons?

According to the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study (SLAS), carried out by the NUS Medical School, in 2012, one in five elderly persons, over the age of 75, showed signs of depression. Elderly depression was due to limited mobility, senile dementia, loneliness and financial problems.

Prof Chong Siow Ann, of IMH, is the principal investigator of a major study on the well-being of the Singapore elderly. The study will establish the prevalence of dementia and depression among the elderly in Singapore and describe the current healthcare services provided to this population as well as the unmet needs.

In his admirable book, The Colours of Ageing, Professor Kua Ee Heok discussed the work he has done, over the past 30 years, in looking after the mental health of elderly Singaporeans. He described a path-breaking programme, initiated by NUS and involving the People’s Association and the National Parks Board, called the Dementia Prevention Programme.

The programme enlists elderly Singaporean to boost their mental well-being through exercise, gardening, choral singing and group dancing. The results have been encouraging.

The lesson learnt is that preventive medicine is the best medicine. In view of this, I would encourage our educational institutions to offer their students, courses in meditation, yoga and taichi. This will help them to de-stress and to calm their minds.

I shall conclude by recapitulating my five propositions. First, I believe that mind and body are inextricably linked and a healthy mind can affect one’s physical health.

Second, we should give up our irrational and prejudicial attitude towards mental illness.

Third, we should encourage Singaporeans with mental health problems, especially the men, to seek help.

Fourth, the mental health of our students and young adults, manifested by depression, self-harming activities and suicide, has reached an alarming level and requires the joint attention of the Ministries of Education and Health.

Fifth, the mental health of elderly Singaporean also needs attention because of the suicide rate and the rising incidence of dementia.
Finally, speaking as an octogenarian, I want to say that for those lucky enough to live till a ripe old age, growing old is inevitable but good mental ill health is not inevitable. – we need to work hard as individuals and as a society, to maintain that.

Jeremy Fernando at Comma Space 逗号空间

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‘I’m dead’ was first performed as part of ‘I can’t, I have to go to Mongolia’ by Michael Lee at Comma Space on 13 February 2020. Each participant was tasked to come up with an excuse, with various excuses, as to why they couldn’t be at the opening, at the performance — and then were to take the stage to perform said excuse.

Interested to Apply to Tembusu College?

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Faced with too many options? Not sure which Residential College to apply to? Fret not, here are some resources which you may find useful pertaining to Tembusu College!

  • For an overview of Tembusu College: check out our college brochure
  • Wish to find out more about the kind of modules offered in Tembusu College? Check out the lovely ModBooks designed and produced by our students:
    –    Junior and Senior Seminars offered by Tembusu College in AY2019/2020 Semester 1
    –    Junior and Senior Seminars offered by Tembusu College in AY2019/2020 Semester 2
    –    Ideas & Exposition Modules offered by Centre for English Language Communication in AY2019/2020 Semester 2
  • Take a sneak peek into our activities on our College Instagram page, managed by our Tembusu Ambassadors
  • We believe in allowing our students the space to create. Check out this video produced by our students to introduce you to Tembusu College, the Home of Possibilities – with endless opportunities!
  • Here’s a tour of NUS University Town, where Tembusu College is located, led by our very own Tembusu ambassador Surya
  • Have some time to spare? More videos can be found on our youtube channel!

Come join us and let Tembusu College be YOUR Home of Possibilities!

For more detailed information about admissions to Tembusu College, click here.

Applications for Residential Assistants and Graduate Fellows Now Open

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We are now recruiting new Residential Assistants (RAs) and Graduate Fellows (GFs) to join our team in the next academic year. 

Have you ever wondered how the Residential Team assists in the running of our College? Do you want to be part of the team that strives to provide a caring community?

To find out more about this interesting and fulfilling job, and how to apply, do join us for an information session. Do note that in light of COVID-19, each session is set at only 20 attendees:

Tuesday 25th Feb, 8pm, 830pm & 9pm respectively at the Reading Room. Sign up for our info session at http://bit.ly/resteam-info-2020

Do note that applications will only open after all our info sessions on 25th Feb! You don’t have to attend the info session to apply. This application is separate from OSA’s NUS residence’s RA applications.

For further queries, please contact any of the Residential Team members, or email tembusuresteam@nus.edu.sg. Thank you.

By Professor Tommy Koh: An Appeal To Singaporeans

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The 2019 Novel Coronavirus has created fear and anxiety in the world. The fear is understandable because it has killed more than 1,000 people and infected more than 40,000 others in China. In Singapore, 47 persons have become infected. The virus originated in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province. The scientists believe that the virus was from an animal, probably a bat and had been transmitted to a human.

In this essay, I want to appeal to the better angels of our nature as Singaporeans. I want to remind us all that, as a people, we have gone through much bigger crises before. We survived those crises. We showed the world that Singaporeans are a tough and resilient people. When faced with adversity, we remained united, courageous and caring. We can do so again.

Surviving The Second World War

I was a little boy during the Second World War. My family didn’t run away. We remained in our modest home on Shanghai Road. The three and a half years of the Japanese occupation, was a period of fear, hunger and uncertainty.

The residents on Shanghai Road were a microcosm of Singapore. Some were rich, some were poor and the majority, including my family, belonged to the middle class. We had neighbours of different ethnicities. Among the Chinese, we belonged to different dialect groups. It was a very diverse community. Because the road was a dead-end road, and was not very long, we knew everyone who lived on the road.

I remember that we lived in harmony with one another. There was a high degree of trust among neighbours and our front doors were never locked. We looked out for one another.

Food was scarce and we planted tapioca and sweet potato on any piece of vacant land we could find. We caught eels from the monsoon drains to supplement our diet. When someone fell ill, the neighbours would share whatever medicine they had with the sick person. There was a strong sense of solidarity.

The lesson learnt is that by being united, by caring for one another, the residents of Shanghai Road survived the war. I am still in touch with some of my war-time neighbours.

Surviving The Shock of Independence

The leaders of Singapore had believed that Singapore could only survive if it became part of Malaysia. They believed that an independent Singapore could not survive. Singapore’s expulsion from Malaysia, in August 1965, was therefore a shock to our leaders.

Did they quit? No, after a brief moment of anguish, they decided to face the future with courage, determination and optimism. They set about the business of building a new nation. The challenges were formidable.

The economy was very dependent on trade and services and did not have a manufacturing sector. It was not generating enough jobs for the young and unemployment was high. The shortage of housing was so bad that the British had said that it was “insoluble”. The people were not in good health and tuberculosis was rampant. The different communities had their own schools and lived apart from one another. They did not feel that they were one people.

In the face of so many challenges, the government and people of Singapore did not give up. Neither did they ask the rich world for financial assistance. Instead, they embraced the value proposition that the world did not owe them a living and they must earn their living through hard work, self-sacrifice and being open to the world.

The progress of Singapore, during the past 54 years, has been nothing short of a miracle. The miracle is, however, human-made and not Heaven-made. The miracle is made by the combination of competent and honest political leaders, an excellent public service and a people who are hard-working, willing to learn and to adapt to great changes in their lives. The people of Singapore, in spite of their many foibles and idiosyncrasies, must be admired for their qualities of industry, devotion to education and adaptability. They were able to move from living in kampong to high-rise living and from working on farms to working in factories seamlessly. In 1965, the people of Singapore faced an uncertain future, with courage and determination. We must never lose the never-say-die spirit of our pioneering generation.

Overcoming SARS

In March 2003, Singapore was attacked by an invisible enemy. The enemy was a new virus which caused a serious respiratory illness. The mortality rate was 10 percent. The World Health Organization had called it, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, in short. The illness originated in Guangzhou, the capital of the Guangdong province, in China. The scientists believed that the virus was an animal virus. The virus was transmitted, probably, from bats to civet cats and to humans.

Three Singapore women, visiting Hong Kong on vacation, got infected and brought the virus into Singapore. One of them died. The other two recovered. They were treated at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). The hospital was later designated by the Singapore Government as the dedicated SARS hospital.

From March to July 2003, Singapore was at war with SARS. It was fought by the whole of government and by the whole of the people. When the war was over, 33 persons had died. The WHO described the way Singapore fought against SARS as exemplary.

The victory over SARS was due to many factors. In this essay, I want to single out two factors: the role of the people and the heroic performance of our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.

It is said that a crisis brings out the best as well as the worse in people. In the SARS crisis, the people of Singapore behaved in an admirable manner. There was no panic. The people were calm and went about their daily activities. They observed the request to monitor their own temperatures and to wash their hands frequently. Those who were quarantined, complied with the restriction. They accepted the no visitor rule for SARS patients and the one visitor per patient rule in other cases. Neighbours helped other neighbours, who were unable to help themselves. Many volunteered to take temperatures of visitors to markets or to help disseminate accurate information about SARS to residents in the HDB estates. There was a remarkable degree of solidarity among the people.

Singapore must never forget the heroism of our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers during SARS. Unlike the situation in some other places, where some healthcare workers refused to return to work, the situation in Singapore was just the opposite. Doctors and nurses volunteered to work at the SARS hospital, TTSH. They did it in spite of the clear danger to their lives. Five healthcare workers died during Sars – a hospital attendant, two nurses and two doctors.

In conclusion, I want to remind fellow Singaporeans that we have been tested by other crises before. Each time, the people of Singapore rose to the occasion and survived the crisis. We should do the same in facing the current crisis. Stay united, be courageous and care for one another.