𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐤 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

By Mdm Ho Ching:

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback on the #MaskSafe DET30 masks.

The Temasek Foundation team has been most encouraged by the positive reception, and are looking into suggestions like kid size masks.

Everyone involved is very happy to have the chance to complement the government’s generous efforts to provide Singaporeans and Singapore residents with masks.

This is part of our national effort to fight covid, with different people and organisations pitching in to help in various ways.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞.

I also take this opportunity to thank the generations of Temasek staff. They have helped to grow the Temasek portfolio from its S$354 million heritage, to over S$300 billion by March this year.

This is what enabled Temasek to do its part confidently in this covid crisis.

* 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐓𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 **

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞.

What does this mean?

This means that Temasek is a taxpayer like any other taxpayer, corporate or individual. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨.

𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐏𝐅 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐤 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

** 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 **

Excluding any new capital from government, and including the dividends paid to government, Temasek has grown its portfolio at an average annual rate of 14% since 1974.

A 14% annually compounded growth means a doubling of our money every 5-6 years.

While Temasek had been contributing to various community and philanthropy projects since its founding, 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

This is why we have been able to accumulate funding which we could redirect for the fight against Covid, both in Singapore and abroad. These were community funds accumulated over the years.

This is why i thank the generations of management and staff in Temasek as well as the Temasek portfolio companies. It is their hard work and enterprise which has given us steady and sustainable results, and which has helped to fund our community donations.

** #𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 **

Will there be 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬?

Yes, the Temasek Foundation folks are working on that, and will keep everyone posted closer to the distribution date in September.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬?

Well, when we embark on the #BYOBClean to distribute non alcohol hand sanitisers to everyone to help prevent the spread of covid virus via our hands, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

Hence, we encouraged every household which wanted a kid friendly hand sanitizer, to bring their own bottles to collect 500ml of hand sanitizer.

In the same vein, we wanted to have a reusable solution for keeping our saliva to ourselves, instead of adding to the plastic waste.

Do you know that all the disposable surgical or single use N95 masks are made from plastic?

On top of an𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 reusable mask, we were also looking for antimicrobial or antibacterial property esp on the outer layer.

Why?

Have you noticed how we use our masks?

Most of us would adjust our masks, perhaps scratching our nose through the mask, etc.

We are not medical staff working in hot zones with the discipline of not touching our masks, or with the discipline of removing our masks gingerly by holding only the head or ear loops.

So 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

And for those of us with hidden infection, we are already infected, so it is not likely to matter as much.

But for the rest of us who are not infected, a mask with 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Nonetheless, it is good to get into the habit of sanitising our hands every time we handle our masks, ideally both before and after handling our masks.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐃𝐈𝐘 𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤?

All is not lost!

We just need to take extra precaution, to sanitise our hands every time after handling our masks.

And if we want to be doubly sure, we can add a face shield as well. This will protect our eyes, and keep our masks less likely to be contaminated.

So keep safe, folks, and stay masked.

And if for whatever reason we want to see each other’s faces, then put on a face shield, rather than go maskless.

And for added protection, wear a face shield on top of our masks.

Keep well, and be kind!

The fight against Covid is not over, and will last beyond 2020.

So stay cool, and be patient, be kind.