Local News

Dear Editors,

Singapore is facing a national crisis unseen of in recent years but now the uglier side of Singaporeans are creeping out from the woodwork. This lady going by the name of Huda was extremely unapologetic and downright racist towards our migrant workers. 

She posted photos of an unnamed dormitory in Singapore, showing rubbish strewed all over the corridor while foreign workers stood by idly like it was nothing. She alleged that these foreign workers were covidiots and their disgusting personal hygiene was to blame for the uncontrolled spread of the virus within the dormitories. 

"Their personal hygiene is really lacking and all these is the upbringing of the person, how to change their habits overnight? These indian fw and banglas just cannot change their disgusting hygiene standards! no amount of cleaning up can help the situation when they dont want to help themselves????

Now I understand why in their country, their police will take a big rattan cane and smack them to make their obey instructions. Stop blaming the dorm operators and the government, you can provide the best facilities but if the user refuse to make good use, it will end up like gross slum conditions!"

Then came the racist unacceptable bit, she asked for those foreign workers with poor hygiene and refused to clean up to be deported. Its like come on, it is their culture and their upbringing, how do you expect them to change their habits overnight? It is impossible to get these migrant workers to change their social norms and behaviour right? 

Just look at Singaporeans, are you saying we are all the epitome of cleanliness? Hell no, there are still covidiots spitting on the floor and walking around in groups like a boss and they do not give two hoots about what's happening in the world right now. 

If this lady is asking for dirty foreign workers to be deported, can we also ask for dirty Singaporeans to be jailed or have their citizenship revoked? 

In times of crisis, it is important to remember our humanity and not act like a racist bigot that only care for their own well-being. Empathy and kindness will go a long way in this trying time. 

This post was contributed by Haikal, a Polytechnic student studying Communications  

Yesterday, Parliament passed the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill tabled by the Minister for Health, Gan Kim Yong. The law prohibits social gatherings of any size in public spaces and even in your own homes. 

Netizens were concerned that the law was too expansive and prohibitive. What constitute “social gatherings”? They were afraid that it may mean that they are unable to check on their elderly parents, some of whom may be living on their own. 

Fret not, here, we make it easier for you to understand what you can or cannot do.*

The law sets out a total of 12 scenarios (as well as those “reasonably connected” with these items) where you can leave your home. They are to: 

(1) work for or with an essential service provider, a specified school or an early childhood development centre

(2) procure any goods or services from an essential service provider or a specified school

(3) obtain — (i) medical treatment for a suspected Covid-19 infection at a hospital, medical clinic or any other place, designated by the Director for the treatment of Covid-19; or (ii) medical treatment that is of a pressing nature

(4) to engage in any recreational activity in an open-air stadium, public path or public park alone or with any other individual who lives with you.

(5) bring the individual’s child or children to a place where the child or children are to be cared for, in the case where the individual works for an essential service provider.

(6) assist any individual who has a physical or mental disability, or is below 12 years of age or above 60 years of age, with his or her daily needs. [This is where checking in on your elderly parents will apply]

(7) report for enlistment or service under the Enlistment Act.

(8) report to any law enforcement officer or to attend at any court in accordance with any warrant, summons or order made under any written law or order of a court.

(9) be present at any place in accordance with a requirement under any written law.

(10) seek or render help in an emergency.

(11) move to another place of accommodation.

(12) leave Singapore.

Also, wherever you may reside, you are not allowed to enable anyone to enter your residence except (but not limited to) the provision of essential services.

We hope the Act is clearer for you now. Just remember, when in doubt, stay at home.

#CircuitBreaker

*Adapted from Straits Times

Malaysia and Thailand have blocked a cruise ship carrying around 2,000 passengers, including hundreds of Italians, from docking despite the lack of coronavirus cases on board. 

The Costa Fortuna is now on its way to Singapore, operator Costa Crociere of the cruise line, or Costa Cruises, said in a statement on Saturday.

The ship was first turned away from Phuket's iconic Thai holiday island on Friday, with no reported virus cases being found aboard. Costa Cruises said on Twitter that the Thai authorities had imposed restrictions on "Italians who have transited in Italy in the last 14 days. 

On Saturday, the vessel attempted to dock in the northern Malaysian state of Penang, but also denied entry, Penang politician Phee Boon Poh told AFP. The decision was taken as Malaysia decided to limit the entry of all cruise ships to the ports of the country.

When The New Paper contacted the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore for comment, they were unable to reply by press time. Singaporeans will be watching this closely to see if the PAP government allows a twice rejected cruise ship to dock in Singapore and potentially put further strain on Singapore's COVID-19 diagnostic and medical facilities.

We hope the government will do their best to protect Singaporeans and do the right thing.  

There are now 7 confirmed cases in Singapore at the time of writing this article and they have finally decided to ban travelers from Wuhan and Hubei.

A netizen by the name of Gordon Tay, who claimed to have previously worked in one of our hospitals, gave his thoughts on the currently ongoing Wuhan virus crisis. In his Facebook post, Tay questioned why our Government is not banning the flights from Wuhan earlier. He came up with a simple statistic of populations between Wuhan and Singapore. 

"Wuhan population is 13 million, Singapore is 5 million squeezed on a small high density island."

With people coming in to Singapore through straight flights on airlines like Scoot, the chances of the virus coming to our shore and spreading is very high. Many countries took decisive actions by banning travelers from Hubei and Wuhan. So why isn't our Government as decisive when it comes to such matters? Shouldn't our Government be more worried for the lives of Singaporeans?

Tay also mentioned that our Government is asking us not to overreact and to believe in them to do the right thing. However, there are many people taking our public transport everyday. The fear is real for us citizens when we have to squeeze in the various transport systems. 

Perhaps our politicians need to take our public transport to know how scary everything is with people wearing masks everywhere. 

Our Government should be focused on saving us citizens. Stop giving us lip service.

You can read Tay's full post here:

Dr Tan Cheng Bock, leader of the newly formed Progress Singapore Party (PSP), was seen leading over 200 of his party members and volunteers doing door-to-door home visits in West Coast GRC on Sunday Morning.

With this event, some are speculating that Dr Tan will be contesting for the West Coast GRC in the upcoming election. Dr Tan did not directly answer if he the rumors are true. However, he did tell the local 151 media "The reception has been warm. Tell them: I'm coming home."

Dr Tan became the member of parliament-elect for Ayer Rajah Single Member Constituency in 1980. He held the title until he left politics before the 2006 General Elections when the Single Member Constituency was absorbed into the West Coast GRC. Foo Mee Har is now the elect for the Ayer Rajah Division.

Dr Tan has a home ground advantage if he were to fight for the West Coast GRC. But does it really matter which constituency Dr Tan is fighting for? He will definitely have many Singaporean supporters. The white dogs have to watch their backs carefully now and begin looking for new jobs. It's time for a change.

Pritam Singh and Chan Chun Sing had a spar during the latest parliament meeting. In the meeting, Pritam asked for a data breakdown for jobs going to PRs and Singaporeans. Chan, doing what the PAP does best and dodged the question entirely, asking Pritam "What is the point of the question?" 

Evidently, this is a sore spot for the ruling Government. If they were to release the statistics, many will probably not be happy with them. 

After the debate, Chee Hong Tat made a Facebook post on his page, summarizing the parliament debate. He also added his own comments saying:

The PRs in our workforce have made contributions to Singapore, both economically and socially, even though they receive lower subsidies and fewer benefits than citizens. More importantly, many PRs are family members of our fellow Singapore citizens, as Mr Singh would be aware since the Workers’ Party has joined PAP MPs in advocating for foreign spouses and children of Singapore citizens to be given priority for Singapore citizenship.

We must firmly reject all attempts to drive a wedge between different groups within our society and stand resolute against efforts to stir fear and hatred for political gain. Only then can we continue to progress together as Team Singapore.

Tldr; Chee Hong Tat claims that the PRs are making contributions to Singapore and that Pritam is driving a wedge between different groups within our society.

Does this Chee Hong even know how Singaporeans are feeling? Singaporeans have been afraid and angry at losing their jobs to PRs or any other foreigners. There was a wedge since the start of time. Team Singapore is only made up of true blue Singaporeans. Not these people who might go back to their countries after earning their keep. He should start finding out about how the ground is like by talking to true Singaporeans instead of these PRs who sing praises about him and the ruling Government just so they can continue living here.

This really shows how out of touch our ministers are. Yet they still try to make opposition parties look stupid publicly. They are the ones who look stupid when they say and do such things. We really need someone new to take over. These bunch of clowns really got to go.