To my dear, fellow Singaporeans;
Think you have it tough?
Yes, quarantine might be a bore. You’re sick of the scent of your home. You just want to go outside, take in the scenery and maybe go bungee jumping while you’re at it.
You just wanna, you know, go outside and have fun.
But the Circuit Breaker’s denying it, and you’re losing your mind.
“How can anyone go through this?” you splutter as you wrap your hands around the back of your head. “This is insane.”
I want this thing to be over already, you plea.
But here’s the thing. If you think you’ve it tough;
You’ve something coming, my dear fellow Singaporean.
Because elsewhere in the same country, there are people languishing in even more cruel territory. Foreign workers, who’re stuck in cramped dormitories and getting infected by the truckload, are one.
And Malaysians, who’ve had to stay in Singapore because of the respective quarantine measures, are another.
Vice News Just Did a Touching Video About M’sian Workers in S’pore Who Had to Choose Between Job & Family
Lest you’re unaware, VICE News is a platform that concentrates on humanitarian issues all around the world. And it seems that on 30 April 2020, Singapore has assumed the honour of being the designated location…
With stranded Malaysian workers forming the subject/humanitarian issue in question.
According to VICE News, around 40% of Singapore’s workforce are foreigners…
With hundreds of thousands crossing into the city state every morning from Johor Bahru.
When Malaysia closed its borders on 18 March in a bid to stall the spread of the Covid-19, many commuters chose to shift temporarily to Singapore in an attempt to make more money.
After all, Singaporean currency is three times the weight of Malaysian ringgit, and some of them were under the impression that the lockdown would be lifted in due time. For the family, they thought. It’ll just be for two weeks.
They were wrong.
One such example is Yumi Chia, a factory worker who initially thought that the lockdown would only last for two weeks. When she learnt later on that the lockdown will be extended, and that returning commuters will have to be forced into government quarantine, she realised that she had a difficult decision to make:
Stay in Singapore for her job, or return at a later date and risk getting infected at a government quarantine facility?
It was either her job or her family. There was no both.
Yumi would eventually opt to cross the Causeway and reach Malaysia just before the mandatory quarantine rule was set in place. In order to do so, however, she had to make the journey all alone, on foot.
Thereafter, Singapore would respond to its own spike in cases and implement the now iconic Circuit Breaker, a lockdown that’s not quite a full lockdown. Which leads to the second example in question:
Nicole Lim.
Working for a small interior design firm in Singapore, Nicole strived to keep her job in Singapore, even as her three daughters across the Causeway pined for her return.
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When it was announced that the Circuit Breaker will be extended till 1st June, several Malaysians were prompted to cross back to Singapore, in a bid to salvage their jobs. For Nicole, however, it wasn’t even a decision:
Nobody was working back home in Malaysia, and so she had to keep her job in an effort to feed her beloved family across the Causeway.
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You can view the full video down below:
Netizens Weighed In On The Issue At Hand
After the video was released, Netizens turned up in droves to air their sentiments.
And as one might’ve surmised, many expressed sympathy for the Malaysians’ plight.
Though admittedly, there were several comments about how the women in the video looked “richer” than the average Malaysian.
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But if the following comment’s anything to go by…
It’s that family time is really valuable aspect of life…
And that one should not take it for granted.
And so, to my fellow Singaporeans who’re able to earn money from home with the support of your family, I implore you;
Do you genuinely think you have it tough?
Because compared to the foreign workers in Singapore, as well as all those who’ve lost their jobs in the wake of the ongoing crisis, I would say;
You’re having it a lot better… than a significant percentage of the local population.
