Singapore's Flawed Covid Approach


Sg made a big mistake pushing for vaccination. Sg had about 900 deaths per year from influenza.  But with cv19, 36 deaths in a year and a half and they push vaccination with a vaccine that was released under an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA? 

Chinese kia xi'ism doesn't bode well for rational and informed decisions.  Perhaps include more other races in the panel for different views eh.


When it was found that foreign indian workers had it in the 10s of thousands, that is grounds for plausible assumption that it was similar in the local population.  But no mass tests were done to verify that.   No consideration was given to the possibility that the indians might have gotten it from the chinese or the local population.  If they did, that would imply that it would also have spread quickly amongst the local population as well.  Given the racist history of the state, it was reflexively assumed to be an indian problem, and the 'links' to local cases were thus implied to be of Indian origin.  

When it was stated that 7 in 10 new cases were linked to the foreign Indians, there was no appreciation of the possibility that local cases could have preceded the foreign indian cases; that local cases could have been the source of transmission; that local cases, like most of the foreign indian cases, could have been mildly or asymptomatic cases, and were therefore not reported.  

It completely skipped the attention of most that the reason why the foreign indian worker cases were very high was because they were checked, NOT because they reported sick.  The same would apply to the locals. 


Just like Singapore's generally racist approach towards the non-chinese, the unstated view was, 'contain the indian, contain the problem'.  This was very similar to the approach of stating that singapore should always have a chinese majority, only Chinese PMs, the ex and late PM, Lee Kuan Yew stating that Singapore would have been better off without Malays and Indians, and containing the non-chinese problem by ensuring they always remained a minority, and were split throughout the country and not allowed to be a majority in any part of it - singapore's very own apartheid system. One can't say it is for ethnic integration if one simultaneously favours the chinese as a majority.  (* Quotes illustrating the above after the article)

It is this sort of mindset that led the government to not consider the obvious - that the locals or chinese could have been the source; that if so, it would have also spread amongst the locals at the same time or prior to it; that close quarter living amongst the foreign indian workers would have just accelerated the spread amongst them,  whilst the same would have happened in the local population perhaps at a slower rate, and before the lockdown.  Nothing was done to verify this, no mass checks were done of the local population, and assumptions ever since,  were made on the basis of this obvious an oversight.  


This gave rise to the myth that it was government measures that kept infection rates down, and which ridiculously ignored the fact that identified infection rates would always be far less than real infection rates, and that there was a real possibility that many amongst the local population would have already gotten it but were mildly or asymptomatic. 

So that gives rise to the notion that most did not get it and hence led to a rush for the vaccine.  Sg could have afforded to wait for further findings in the west with regards to the safety and efficacy of the various vaccines and told the population all that is stated here, and which i actually stated a year ago as it was pretty obvious when one looked at it objectively, scientifically. 


Hence, vaccination should have been purely voluntary instead of pushed as it was,  which was unnecessary given the aforementioned points.  The west could have been appreciated as a test-subject as they took it in droves given their exceedingly high fatality rates which was about 1800 to 2000 per million population. Sg should have awaited for these results so that the local population could make an informed decision instead of letting 'kia xi'ism' decide for them.

I know it is chinese thing to 'let the professionals think for us', but professionals are only going to think further when challenged by a population that thinks as well.  That is the best way to come to the best solutions and strategies as humanly possible.  That's logic. 

One man's vision is never perfect. But when enforced, people will become imperfect enough to view it as perfect.  It's like living living in a house with a low ceiling. After enough time, everyone will be bent enough to not appreciate the benefit of standing upright.


edX

*******

Quotes: 

In 1985, Mr Lee had said: “I have said this on many a previous occasion: that had the mix in Singapore been different, had it been 75% Indians, 15% Malays and the rest Chinese, it would not have worked.

“Because they believe in the politics of contention, of opposition. But because the culture was such that the populace sought a practical way out of their difficulties, therefore it has worked.”

In his 1998 book, The Man and His Ideas, Mr Lee echoed this sentiment. He said: “I have said openly that if we were 100 per cent Chinese, we would do better. But we are not and never will be, so we live with what we have.”

Mr Lee’s 1998 quote is among the quotes in a post that talks about negative public comments on race members of the ruling party have made in the past. Besides Mr Lee’s comment, the post also features a quote by ex-PAP MP Choo Wee Khiang who said in 1992:

“One evening, I drove to Little India and it was pitch dark but not because there was no light, but because there were too many Indians around.”

*******

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Singaporeans upset about Indonesian naming ships after their ‘heroes’? Why?

It's Chinglish, not Singlish.