when you’re doing well, don’t be haolian.
In the first month or so of the crisis, I also thought the HK government’s response to the then epidemic (now pandemic) paled in comparison to Sg’s “gold standard” response. HK also didn’t have someone like Lawrence Wong whose crisis comms has been truly world class—even now when Sg has a much bigger problem on its hands with the clusters at the FW dorms.
But what I found disturbing then were all these unnecessary, quite infantile and snide comments about an already beleaguered HK government and society. I understand that the minister said it during a closed-door session and that he has a certain jocular style of speaking. But in times like these, we really should not be kicking others when they’re down. Even if you disagree with what HK is doing, how hard is it for you to say “We’re different from HK; we don’t have as much access to masks from China, and so we need to prioritise and ration”?
What was worse was the deliberate and organised effort by the IBs then to applaud the minister’s “hard truths” and his way of speaking after the tape was leaked. It was an effort to create an illusion of unanimity even though many Singaporeans I know were embarrassed by the minister’s comments. My good friend, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, wrote a brave piece at the time, asking Singaporeans whether they should be feeling so smug; it’s worth reading again: https://sudhirtv.com/2020/02/23/chan-chun-sing-our-beng/
More importantly, when we’re dealing with a new and unfamiliar threat, we really should be a lot more circumspect about claiming superiority and criticising how others are dealing with the threat. The more complex or wicked the problem, the more humility we should have. Their solutions that we thought were unnecessary, even dumb (HK introduced social distancing and promoted mask-wearing right from the start of the epidemic) then are exactly what we have to do now.
I have no issue with the Sg government saying that the problem has become worse and we need to take more drastic measures that we didn’t think were necessary before. As Keynes said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” But I have a serious problem with the smug crowing, know-it-all self-superiority that some in our government displayed over the course of this crisis. And worse are those people and groups (like the IBs) who fawn over their smug arrogance and hubris, reinforcing our government’s worst instincts, while attacking those who dare to dissent or voice different opinions—opinions that have turned out to be correct later on.
I hope this crisis would teach Singaporeans two lessons. First, as Dr Li Wenliang said before he died, “A healthy society should not only have one voice”. The people who have been imploring the government to do more about the wretched living conditions of our FWs have been vindicated; we should have been listening and paying more attention to them and their suggestions. They are our Li Wenliangs, and we’re stronger as a society if we would accept them as a legitimate and necessary part of our society even if we disagree with them.
The second lesson is: when you’re doing well, don’t be haolian.
In the first month or so of the crisis, I also thought the HK government’s response to the then epidemic (now pandemic) paled in comparison to Sg’s “gold standard” response. HK also didn’t have someone like Lawrence Wong whose crisis comms has been truly world class—even now when Sg has a much bigger problem on its hands with the clusters at the FW dorms.
But what I found disturbing then were all these unnecessary, quite infantile and snide comments about an already beleaguered HK government and society. I understand that the minister said it during a closed-door session and that he has a certain jocular style of speaking. But in times like these, we really should not be kicking others when they’re down. Even if you disagree with what HK is doing, how hard is it for you to say “We’re different from HK; we don’t have as much access to masks from China, and so we need to prioritise and ration”?
What was worse was the deliberate and organised effort by the IBs then to applaud the minister’s “hard truths” and his way of speaking after the tape was leaked. It was an effort to create an illusion of unanimity even though many Singaporeans I know were embarrassed by the minister’s comments. My good friend, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, wrote a brave piece at the time, asking Singaporeans whether they should be feeling so smug; it’s worth reading again: https://sudhirtv.com/2020/02/23/chan-chun-sing-our-beng/
More importantly, when we’re dealing with a new and unfamiliar threat, we really should be a lot more circumspect about claiming superiority and criticising how others are dealing with the threat. The more complex or wicked the problem, the more humility we should have. Their solutions that we thought were unnecessary, even dumb (HK introduced social distancing and promoted mask-wearing right from the start of the epidemic) then are exactly what we have to do now.
I have no issue with the Sg government saying that the problem has become worse and we need to take more drastic measures that we didn’t think were necessary before. As Keynes said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” But I have a serious problem with the smug crowing, know-it-all self-superiority that some in our government displayed over the course of this crisis. And worse are those people and groups (like the IBs) who fawn over their smug arrogance and hubris, reinforcing our government’s worst instincts, while attacking those who dare to dissent or voice different opinions—opinions that have turned out to be correct later on.
I hope this crisis would teach Singaporeans two lessons. First, as Dr Li Wenliang said before he died, “A healthy society should not only have one voice”. The people who have been imploring the government to do more about the wretched living conditions of our FWs have been vindicated; we should have been listening and paying more attention to them and their suggestions. They are our Li Wenliangs, and we’re stronger as a society if we would accept them as a legitimate and necessary part of our society even if we disagree with them.
The second lesson is: when you’re doing well, don’t be haolian.
