For all purposes, we are almost back to normal life. Nearly all border movements and restrictions on public activities are being eased. When the Multi-Ministry Task Force announced the reopening at its conference on March 24, most of its members were no longer showing glum faces. The general uplifted mood over the week was best captured later by a TikTok video featuring Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and his Malaysian counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin which I will come to later.
The MTF has done a good job. The number of deaths caused by Covid-19 is not small – at 1,239 as of March 25. But the vast of majority were older patients, with most being those who were not fully vaccinated and already having other health complications. At the other end of the age spectrum, Singapore’s children avoided any threat of being a lost generation. The pandemic restrictions protected them. And adequate arrangements were put in place to make sure that they continued to get their education during the peak of the pandemic.
The big blot was during the early stages. Whether the government dropped the ball and did not expect the virus to rage through the migrant workers’ dormitories it may not be fair to say. That may simply have been the sad result of the powers that be succumbing earlier to the NIMBY attitude of some Singaporeans and trying to plunk our guest workers out of sight and out of mind.
The exposed underbelly which brought much shame to the image of this society saw Manpower Minister Josephine Teo working overtime to bring the situation under control and looking very stressed whenever she had to update everyone on the latest developments.
Her successor Tan See Leng performed a strange song and dance during an MTF conference: “Please be assured that MOM will be here to walk every step of the journey with you, and work through any operational challenges that you may encounter. To our migrant worker brothers living in the dormitories, I would also like to assure them that they will continue to receive the appropriate medical care if and when they require it.”
Everyone has learnt something from the two years. The healthcare system will become better. Work systems will get more efficient and more hybrid. New economic opportunities will emerge.
Most important, countries will get more cooperative in their dealings with another as they have seen that the world is actually very small and totally inter-related.
A TikTok video sent by Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin captures the post-pandemic spirit (the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine notwithstanding) of what is possible if everyone behaves like decent and normal human beings.
He was hosting his Singapore counterpart Ong Ye Kung to dinner at the Cili Kampung Hartamas restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. He sent a video showing themselves and some officials about to tuck in some Negri Sembilan specialties. I have been to the outlet. Most likely, the delegations would probably have tried the Masak Lomak, a spicy beef dish, or Terung Goreng Belacan, full-bodied fried eggplant tossed with anchovies.
Khairy was celebrating the good news that their two prime ministers have just announced the reopening of Malaysia-Singapore borders on April 1. After Ong thanked him for treating him to dinner and said he was looking forward to going back to catch up on Johor Baru’s hawker food, Khairy then threw up his challenge: they will try to settle the issue of whether Malaysian or Singapore food is better.
The video does not look like it was an official satay party PR show.
It just showed two younger ministers (from both sides of the Causeway) at complete ease with themselves, as if any problem between the countries can always be settled – without beating the drums or threatening stupid moves.
Kudos. I also look forward to going for Cili Kampung Hartamas or JB’s hawker food.
Tan Bah Bah, consulting editor of TheIndependent.Sg, is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a local magazine publishing company.