The double whammy of the coronavirus and deep recession

Much has been said about the incompetence of drollish PM Lee Hsien Loong and his mercenary ministers in handling the coronavirus and now a second whammy in the form of a deep recession is going to descend on Singapore. This is going to be a devastating disaster especially on the lower-income and poverty-stricken Singaporeans in trying to find where their next meal is coming from whilst the wealthy PM Lee Hsien Loong and his equally affluent ministers will be luxuriating in their livelihood. The easiest solution is to dip into the reserves to help the impecunious Singaporeans but this is like taking the people's money to help the people themselves. At least this will still show that they have some conscience in helping the people in their dire straits although with their own money. This is like a sleight-of-hand with the people's money and can make George Soros look like a novice.

The coronavirus is already making the PAP leaders look like a bunch of novices and with the advent of as deep recession will be so overwhleming that it would be a miracle if the PAP charlatans can emerge unscathed. But the people can watch with amusement if they can withstand the severity of these two whammies.

Singaporeans can expect a long period of calamity occasioned by the coronavirus and the deep recession while the incompetent PAP leaders grapple with the intractable problems. There may be a general election in the midst of all this turbulence as a distraction of the people's mind so that the PAP charlatans can get a new mandate from the people to govern for another five years. They are very likely to be returned because of the disunity of the opposition and the people will face another five years of PAP patriachal rule.

I think the PAP leaders are gradually heeding the admonishments of discerning sSingaporeans in dealing with the coronavirus and may  a good sign that we may see a curbing of the spread of the virus. But it may be a long time, maybe until next year, before we may be able to see a cessation of the disease. I think that is the opinion of world experts and in the meantime we will first have to bear with the torturous effect of the crisis.

America is the hardest hit country by the coronavirus and President Donald Trump's antics in dealing with the crisis is a reflection of his maverick character. We may be lucky in having a reasonably sane character like PM Lee Hsien Loong at the helm but whether his anointed successor Heng Swee Kiat will be a more or less competent prime minster will be left to be seen.

The Coronavirus a mortality incarnate

The azure sky is now covered by a lethal coronavirus mist that looms large like a spectre in the people's mind.And while Rome is burning the million-dollar PM Lee Hsien Loong and his venal ministers are fiddling in their incompetence in combating the virus.When they are paid millions of dollars from the taxpayers' money there should be corresponding competency in dealing with the crisis compared to the less money-minded leaders in the larger countries in the West and Asia.

They belatedly introduced their brain-wave circuit breaker measures which they hoped to be an antidote to the spread of the virus but to the people's dismay the incidence of the virus seemed to inflate to the staggering extent of 924 cases yesterday which could instill fear in the populace. But this is like a zugzwang to the PAP government n their desperate effort to come up with a life-saving plan to combat the virus. Perhaps they can take a leaf out of Taiwan's book to deal with the crisis if they have the humility to do it.

This is a time that the PAP government cannot afford to lose the confidence of the people of Singapore and they must do everything possible to convince the people that they have their interests at heart and deserve the millions of dollars that they were forced to invest in them. PM Lee Hsien Loong and his equally avaricious spouse are worth something in the region of a hundred million n their assests and this could be something to be sniffed at.

There is quite a considerable amount of recrimination between the United States and China over the origin of the coronavirus that will never be resolved. It is a fact that it originated from Wuhan in China but how this was evolved is something which even world renowned scientists have no answer to. So could it be a pestilence imposed by God to punish sinners as believed by some devout Christians is a moot point and could be thought-provoking.

The world economy is in a shambles arising from the coronavirus and that it could be dragged into the next year is staggering but which must be faced and mentally prepared. At least the PAP government shows a conscionable degree of benevolence in introducing generous emergency budgets to lighten the hardships of Singaporeans badly impoverished by the crisis. This will go down as a redeeming factor in favour of the PAP government and cannot be ignored. They will likely benefit from this to enhance their chances in the next general election.

While PM Lee Hsien Loong and his affluent ministers are living in luxury they must not forget that there is a multitude of poverty-stricken homeless Singaporeans who sleep in the open and more who live on the poverty line. Until the PAP government could find a holistic solution to this social stigma there can never be any utopia-like existence in Singapore.

A prognosis of the coming general election

The so-called ciruit breaker measures have not contained but instead increased the intensity of the coronavirus to the dismay of the PAP government. But this does not deter the drollish PM Lee Hsien Loong to contemplate a general election in the midst of this crisis and it is possible that the window for the GE could be in June this year.So Singaporeans may be in for some excitement when they have also to brave the coronavirus when they go to vote.

It may tickle the imagination to try to visualise the kind of scenario which could emerge in the GE. To begin with I think the opposition is a disparate group which may not be able to sink their differences to form an alliance strong enough not only to dent but to demolish the armour of the invincible PAP. The devil in the wood-pile may be the Workers' Party which is obsessed with self-aggrandisement to join the alliance. This may mean that they will participate in a three-cornered contest to the detriment of the alliance. The most decisive problem of the alliance may be the lack of a charismatic leader who could command the unity of the alliance. There is no longer a leader like the late legendary Lim Chin Siong to lead the opposition. He was so charamistic  that he could command the absolute support of the Chinese masses with ease and could have been a prime minister of Singapore if not for the intervention of Special Branch.

So the next best thing for the alliance is to form a brain-trust unit to promote the unity of the opposition to face the PAP. This may be an unenviable task which requires the self sacrifice of each opposition member but with unselfish resolution there is no reason why this cannot be accomplished. This will be a golden opportunity for the opposition to show their prowess.

The political situation is in favour of the PAP. There are the seventy percent of the electorate who vote for the PAP for their selfish end of preserving their livelihood. Singaporeans can never emulate their Malaysian counterparts in their revolutionary fervour because they just do not have the fighting spirit to cause a change. So depending on what damage the Workers' Party will inflict on the opposition unity will decide the degree of victory the PAP will garner at the GE. Singaporeans will willy-nilly face five more years of PAP patriarchal rule.

The Circuit Breaker

There should really be adulations for the so-called magnificent efforts of PM Lee Hsien Loong and his cohort of mercenary ministers in introducing draconian measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus but instead they invoked extensive flaks from many Singaporeans for their so-called flaws in thei presentation which was incredible and  distressing. Why call the measures a  circuit Breakker when they have all the makings of a Dorscon Red is beyond imagination. Does the word circuit breaker lightens the severity of the crisis? Does the government think that this will distract the discerning Singaporeans from the severity of the crisis?

Another flaw is that the government has acted too slow and too late. The people think that these measures should have been introduced much earlier when the situation was not so life threatening. This shows that PM Lee and his minister are not so competent, if not mediocre, when they pay themselves so astronomically from taxpayers' money and perform so mediocally. It is a irony that they are voted in in every general election by seventy per cent of the electorate who fear that they would lose their livelihood if they did not do so. Another pertinent point is the lack of political talents among the Opposition to form an alternative government and is dogged by serious disunity.

Whether the measures introduced by the government will be able to contain the spread of the coronavirus is left to be seen because of the lateness of the introduction of the measures. But anyway I think it was an act of God that the government finally  became awaked from their slumber to seriously consider measures to combat the spread the virus which has reached a state of acute calamity. It will not be too late to rename the code to Dorscon Red as this will really impress on the people the severity of the crisis.

I think Singaporeans will watch the situation with unabated anguish and will only be able to breath a sigh of relief when the situation is under effective control, if not completely resolved.

May God bless all of you.