To survive we need to keep our borders open

COVID-19 has hamstrung and crippled us. It drives home the reality of being a very small city state. Unlike big countries with a big domestic economy, we are too small to sustain ourselves. We have to remain open and connected to the world.

As Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said, the road that we travel is not made by nature. It is carved by hand.

Together, we can forge a new way forward. 

Now, you understand why the government wanted to hold the election at the earliest possible time. A long runway, friends, is needed to deal with this crisis. The election was about Singapore's future. 

Ong Ye Kung: Changi Airport will one day be full again, SIA planes will once again soar.

We used to record over 1,000 aircraft movements a day, now it is about 150. We were the 7th busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic, but have dropped to 50th. Worse, we have no domestic air travel to fall back on. ..

As colleagues from Changi Airport told me, COVID-19 set us back by at least 40 years, to 1981 when Terminal One first opened. But there is a big difference between then and now.

In the early 1980s, many airlines had not decided to come to Changi. We went all out to secure airlines, including unilaterally opening up our skies to invite the carriers to come to Changi.

Today, the airlines are here, and Changi has grown into a world-class airport.

Our challenge is to restore passenger volume, while keeping virus transmission under control. The circumstances are different, but we need the same hunger and enterprise as we had in the early 1980s.

A good place to start are the countries and territories where the virus transmission risk profiles are similar to or better than ours. Including transfer-transit traffic, they account for about 40% of our pre-COVID-19 passenger volumes.

But passenger volumes cannot be turned on and off capriciously.

We need to take sensible measures concurrently, proportionate to the risk profile of each country, and make progressive steps as we become more confident.

For example, we can consider unilaterally opening up to passengers from certain countries or regions which have kept the virus under control.

We can proliferate Reciprocal Green Lanes for business travel, and also expand them for general travel.

Serving 14-days isolation is a major deterrent to travelers, and we may have to consider replacing this with a rigorous testing regime.

Health and economic considerations are not at odds – we will find ways to revive our air hub and keep Singapore safe.

On my second day at MOT I visited Changi Airport. The management received me at Terminal Two, closed due to COVID-19.

Beautiful bougainvillea plants used to line the entrances to the departure hall, but on that day, the plants were all withered.

I asked Changi Airport Group CEO Lee Seow Hiang why. He said the Terminal has been closed, and they had to save costs, including on plant maintenance. He added “But bougainvillea are hardy, and they will live.”

I did what a gardener friend taught me and used my nails to scratch the bark of one of the withered plants. Indeed, underneath the dried brown bark, was a bright green stem. If the plant had a heart, it was still pumping strong.

When it comes to the fate of Singapore, the following truth holds: To survive, we have to keep our borders open. To thrive, we have to connect to the world. To prosper, we have to be a hub of the global economy.

Hence MOT’s mission – building the physical connections that bring Singaporeans together, the world to Singapore, and Singapore to the world.

COVID-19 has decimated air travel and incapacitated one of our lungs, but the Singapore heart – our determination, dynamism and enterprise – is still pumping strong. Changi Airport will one day be full again, SIA planes will once again soar. This is our collective mission in the coming months and years ahead, as we await the blooming of the bougainvillea once again.

-Excerpt of Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung's National Day Message to Mot. 

Tough decisions will have to be made: Chan Chun Sing

𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

Mr Chan said tough decisions will have to be made on how to help companies - particularly those that will not see demand return in the medium term - tide over the pandemic and pivot into new product and new markets.

“For example people in the social entertainment industry, until and unless we can come up with a new model of how we can do business safely in this COVID-19 environment, it’d be very difficult for us so imagine them coming back online like what they used to do in the previous operating model.”

Mr Chan added that it can be difficult for some entrepreneurs to come to terms with the changing world after spending much time and effort building up their businesses, but he said the Government will be committed to helping them pivot to new markets and products.

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

As global companies reshuffle their global footprints of production and supply chains, we need to make sure that some of them will land in Singapore, Mr Chan said.

“At the same time, we must make sure that we continue to defend the regional HQs (headquarters) and factories that have been planted here so that we can retain the jobs for our people, as many as possible,” he added.

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋

While external demand and surges of infections in other parts of the world are not within our control, within our own borders, we can reopen our economy in a safe and sustainable way by not being complacent.

"If we can open safely and sustainably, we will be able to progressively recover from the third and fourth quarter this year,” Mr Chan said. 

Workers' Party: AHTC should not be allowed to have a second bite at the cherry

The INDEPENDENT PANEL acting on behalf of AHTC has applied to the Courts to add amendments to the claims against Pritam Singh and four others.

The application was made in May 2020.

WP, TOWN COUNCILLORS OBJECT TO AMENDMENTS

They said AHTC "has offered no explanation as to why these new claims could not have been made earlier".

They also asserted that the town council "should not be allowed a to have a second bite at the cherry by amending its pleadings to suit the judgment.

In this battle between Workers' Party and the town council, the judges will decide if the town council/residents will have a second bite of the cherry.

Notes:
The Independent Panel acting on behalf of the town council was appointed by Mr Pritam Singh.

Workers' Party's million-dollar salary for ministers

Our ministers' million-dollar-salary is the broad and blunt tool of many an opposition supporter who draws it out of their toolkit as a final resort to hammer and smash everything in the way when left with no other alternative response.

But hey! Hold your fire (or hammering) as the WP had also proposed million-dollar salary for ministers.

"If there were a Workers' Party government in power today, 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚 the Workers' Party minister would be paid essentially the same as what a minister today is paid. 𝐌𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭," Mr Teo Chee Hean said in parliament in 2018.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐏'𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐋?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐏 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟖𝟏 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟗 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭.

This means the WP would have paid out a higher portion of the salary - about $880,000 out of $1.1 million, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐏 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝.

In contrast, the White Paper proposed a lower fixed component of 65% and a higher variable component of 35%.

The variable component depends on the performance of the minister and the achievement of national outcomes and the state of the economy.

.
Notes:
In 2012, the WP had proposed a salary that is pegged to 5x the monthly salary of a civil servant at the MX9 grade.

In 2012, the mid-point of the MX9 salary range was $13,560. The annual salary proposed by WP would comprised 13-months fixed component and a norm bonus of 3 months.

When can you save for rainy days? Not when the rainy day is here.

When can you save for rainy days? Not when the rainy day is here.

You save when times are good. You can never save enough because you don't know how long a rainy day can last.

When times are good, it is tempting to dip into the coffers and enjoy. But it is unwise.

Think of the future and your children's future. We must always be able to focus our eyes on the present while also keeping them on the horizon.

Populism will lead you down the road to ruin. As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Keeping the healthcare system intact: Philippines reported 5000 cases in one day.

Philippines reported 5000 cases in one day.

In a letter to President Duterte, healthcare workers said, "The health sector cannot hold the line for much longer We are waging a losing battle against Covid-19."

"Our healthcare system has been overwhelmed," they said, adding that many doctors and nurses were resigning "because of fear, fatigue, and poor working conditions".

We need a consolidated action plan, they said.

Addressing them, Mr Duterte said: "We are aware that you are tired. But we don't have anywhere else to go. You were the ones who have the education, the know-how. You tell us about your agony, and you tell us you're ready to quit. I plead with you, 'Please don't'. Our countrymen need you."

In Singapore, our healthcare has remain intact because the government has responded with a strategy to build tiered care facilities, isolated the old and those with medical conditions, rapidly increased the ICU beds and more.

For all the fear mongering, more than 3 weeks have gone by since polling on 10 July and no one who voted got infected with COVID-19.

Many - from the ministerial taskforce to Singaporeans and even migrant workers - have worked very hard to keep everyone safe.

Give credit where credit is due. Kudos to all of them.

All measures are already in place. From here on, whether we succeed in beating COVID-19 depends on you and I and how we play our part.