It’s hard to believe, but it has been a year now since we left blighty and landed on the shores of The Island State. It is ironic then, that on the anniversary of our arrival, we are back in isolation, this time not apart, but together. How did this happen?

During the past 18 months, SG has made best efforts to keep the COVID-19 pandemic as much at arm’s length as possible until a vaccine became available which it now is. The authorities have appropriately mobilized to get as much of the population to get vaccinated as possible, as quickly as possible. The efforts have rewarded the authorities with low infection rates, low hospitalization numbers and few deaths with actually a bit of a tip of the hat from various corners of the globe struggling with their own control of population and infection rates.

You could argue that this was all possible because the place has deep pockets; is an island; has good infrastructure and a well-educated population. That’s is all well and good, but it conveniently ignores several important but often overlooked facts.

Border Control & Deep Pockets

While the borders can be somewhat controlled, the reality is that the island is very dependent on goods from outside. Very little is produced locally. All goods come either by road transport from Malaysia or by air or sea freight from all over the world.

Since truckers, mariners and aircrew cannot realistically be kept in complete isolation, there are some risks with these logistics personnel arriving in SG COVID-19 infected.

While the country does have relatively deep pockets, those deep pockets don’t necessarily mean that all citizens are wealthy. The average income may be high ($80k) but the median is much lower coming in at around $50k. Out of all the households headed by a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, 12,1% are without a monthly income from working. 8.6% are retiree households comprising only non-working adults over 60 years old. So roughly a fifth of the people have no regularized earned income.

Many social structures exist to prevent people from falling through the cracks but in reality, there is always going to be a subset of the community that will struggle financially; as true in SG as anywhere else.

Beggars are few and far between but in the more densely populated and busy parts of the city, people who are apparently on the breadline offer packets of paper tissues, particularly at food hawker venues to earn enough to buy a crust

Education & Social Status

Education is an equalizer perhaps particularly here. A lack of education will relegate you to a menial job unless your family has the economic means to set you up in business or avoid you having to join the job line.

Your family heritage, your affluence, your education; these are as important, if not more important attributes of the definition of the ‘you‘ as they are anywhere else in the world.

Doors are theoretically wide-open for Singapore born nationals, with education credentials. If you come from a family of the right breed stock different opportunities are available and of course, family connections will help. If you have money, this will trump a possible lack of education but most importantly if you have all three, you have a leg up over others in a less fortunate position.

At face value, your ethnicity doesn’t matter or at least that’s the impression one gets from the press and behaviour In public. Singapore is an ethnic melting pot as a crossroads between East Asian states, Indonesia, Malaysia and Southern Asia. Being a Singaporean and having a Parent of Indian descent and another of Chinese descent is not unusual. Lots of other combinations exist of course too but as a mixed person, you’re hardly a novelty. Caucasians and ethnic Africans in particular are less present.

This is a good thing of course. Your genetic make-up doesn’t define you as a person but your linguistic skills, your age and appearance etc all influence how others treat you. By all appearances, there is tolerant respect for all but behaviour speaks yards and it is not unusual to read of or see behaviour in public that is socially or culturally disrespectful, xenophobic or just downright dehumanizing. A mainland Chinese friend of ours, for example, has commented on how he is frequently told to “go back to China” by other passengers when they hear him speaking on public transport. That’s not good…

For the most part, the authorities are quick to neutralize this behaviour when they hear of it. But when you hear, for example, at table talk, that SG is not ready for a non-Chinese PM, you do wonder whether it is all a bit of a facade for the reality of a pretty totalitarian mindset about the right kinds of people that can be defined as authentic Singaporeans.

A long-standing connection

My Grandfather came to Singapore before the First World War, lived in Singapore and Penang for twenty years, married and had a family in the region.

My aunt was born here in the 1920s.

If she was still around and had stayed, she would likely have been deemed a colonial-era Imperialist Singaporean and so, not an authentic Singaporean as perhaps someone of more ethnic Asian roots.

People whose family has been here seemingly forever or at least since the Chinese Communist Revolution or Malayan Independence perhaps come across as being more authentic Singaporeans.

Being elderly in SG also doesn’t mean anything specific unless you are the right kind of elderly. This is evidenced by the Pioneer Generation. A generation of Singaporeans who are afforded privileges by the authorities and even the local community grocery chain NTUC. The definition of the Pioneers is institutionalized by the government.

I digressed… I guess my main point on this anniversary of our arrival is that we are back in quarantine but this time at home.

The KTV disaster

Despite the best efforts of the authorities, there has been a recent spike in the COVID-19 infection rates locally. Up until about a month ago, everything was looking brilliant until there was a flare-up at the local KTV venues.

The SG KTV businesses carry a mixed identity. While on face value they are classified as social venues, many do not have a kitchen or perhaps have bar facilities together with ‘hostesses‘. KTV denotes Karaoke TeleVision.

By their very nature, they are confined soundproof rooms jammed with people singing their little hearts out. Karaoke is of course as popular here as it is in other South-East Asian countries.

Who frequents them is a matter of debate. The exact function of the hostesses is also a point of some contention. It seems a lot of the patrons are single men. Do they just sing karaoke songs there? It is unclear.

At least for the past few months, these venues have been allowed to ‘pivot’ from just being purely entertainment venues to now being reclassified as F&B (Food & Beverage) venues.

This reclassing has afforded them additional privileges and allowed them to keep their doors open provided they adhere to the social distancing and small-group rules that the F&B businesses have to abide by as laid out by the government ministries.

Up until a month ago, nothing too untoward was identified about this repurposing of these venues until a recent spike of people reported symptoms associated with COVID-19.

The authorities acted deftly. They shut down the venues and instituted strict social distancing measures.

A virtual lockdown of all externalised activities was put in place, much to the distress and disappointment of the F&B sector as a whole which has suffered heavily from the restrictions of the past 18 months.

The hospitality industry took a hit too with staycations being cancelled. Take away, and home delivery take out was reinforced as the only way to get prepared meals and even more, rigour was applied to the track and trace program.

The flare up of the cases, now in the hundreds per day versus the almost zero cases or at least single digit cases a month ago is frustrating for all concerned with many taking to social media to vent their justified frustration.

Home Quarantine

For us personally, Mrs jones was caught up in a cluster related to a restaurant she had visited with some colleagues.

Though government-mandated tests (rapid and serology PCR) have revealed that she and I are both negative for the virus and we’re both rNA double dose vaccinated, she still has to serve a 9-day quarantine.

In order to avoid her having to be held in a Stay Home Notice (SHN) hotel or facility, I agreed to take on the mantle of her caregiver, which at least affords us the opportunity to stay in the relative comfort of our apartment. It means that we both have to stay home though.

All that said, it isn’t too awful.

We have to take our temperature several times a day, report on health disposition and Mrs J has to wear a wrist tracking device, not unlike those on a community protection notice (CPN) in the UK – basically, this is self-imposed but Singapore Ministry of Health and Manpower mandated home detention.

Fortunately, we are sufficiently mature that we don’t drive each other nuts, and we have enough space to avoid each other for some of the days and we have enough to keep us busy but when the quarantine is over, it will be good to at least get out even if only for a constitutional or a meal.

Hopefully this time next year we’ll have a few more interesting tales to tell about regional adventures.