After Malaysia announced on May 23 that it would ban the sale of chicken to Singapore to ensure sufficient supply for its own citizens, TISG went around asking a number of people how a chicken shortage would affect them, and can they cope without one of Singapore’s best-loved dishes, chicken rice.
The short answer, at least for many people, seems to be “Yes.”
The announcement of the ban, which took effect on June 1, appeared to cause some to resort to panic buying or even hoarding, especially since Malaysia supplies one-third of Singapore’s fresh chicken needs.
At one point, a photo of a S$72.27 bag of chicken at FairPrice even went viral online. However, FairPrice issued a clarification that the package consisted of organic kampung chickens from one of its concessionaire counters.
Fortunately, the ban has been partially lifted. Live kampung chickens may be exported from Malaysia beginning on June 14, and black chickens may come in starting on Saturday (June 18).
Still and all, we wanted to know if Singaporeans felt that they were affected by the chicken ban from Malaysia, with the possibility of their beloved chicken rice being not so readily available.
Surprise, surprise, most people were like, “Meh”.
When asked, “Does the chicken export ban into Singapore affect you?” most people said, “No”.
One woman pointed out that Singapore gets chicken from other countries aside from Malaysia, while another said she does not believe the issue will be long-term.
“We just have to bear with it for a while,” she added.
“It does not affect me lah,” answered another woman, but adding that it may affect some Singaporeans who are “very particular about their chicken.”
One young man said, “I don’t really eat chicken rice,” which meant that the ban doesn’t affect his daily life and diet.
An uncle told TISG bluntly, “I prefer beef. I’m more into steaks. It does not affect me at all. I believe they are going to lift the ban at the end of this month because Singapore has a backup plan.”
However, several of the people we interviewed said that even if they’re not personally affected by the ban, they said they felt for the vendors who sell chicken or chicken rice.
As a follow-up question, we asked if people would be affected if there is no chicken rice.
Again, a majority answered, “not really”.
Some said, there are other things they can eat, such as duck rice, or vegetable dishes.
“We’ve got other varieties to eat,” said one woman. “We won’t die without the chicken.” /TISG
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