Missed Lee Hsien Loong’s May Day speech? Lucky you.
In his May Day rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong just wasted everybody’s time talking nonsense and telling the obvious. The world’s highest-paid dictator said he will ease the lockdown measures if the new infection cases go down:
“After we bring down the number of new Covid-19 cases, we can ease the circuit breaker measures and progressively restart our economy. This will not be straightforward… we must proceed cautiously, with safeguards, so infections do not flare up again.”
The corrupted PAP leader gave no detail when he will lift the lockdown. There is also no response to Singaporeans’ call for additional help after the S$600 cash handout in April. The PAP government did not extend the financial assistance despite extending the lockdown for a month from May 4th to June 1st.
There is no new announcement, and Lee Hsien Loong only dragged out his speech repeating the same message. You may read the rest of his speech here:
“While the Government has kept essential services going, the rest of the economy will have to open up step by step, and not all at once. Some industries will open up earlier than others and recover sooner. For example, those critical to keeping our economy going domestically. And those that keep us connected to the world and to global supply chains. Other sectors will have to wait, especially those which attract crowds, or involve close contact with other people, such as entertainment outlets and large-scale sporting events…
In the longer term, Covid-19 will result in many changes to the global economy which, in turn, will lead to major structural changes to Singapore’s economy.
Around the world, the movement of goods and people will be less free and countries will strive to rely less on imports for food and essential items like medicines and face masks. Companies will have to change their business models to survive. Some jobs will simply disappear. Workers in these industries will have to reskill themselves to take up jobs in new sectors. But there will also be new opportunities and new jobs created, too.
Some of these new opportunities will arise out of the lifestyle changes that Singaporeans have had to adopt amid circuit breaker measures. We have learnt to telecommute and work with others virtually. Students are getting used to online learning. And more people are buying things online and making e-payments.
We will not go back to status quo ante, after the circuit breaker ends. And that will mean opportunities in these new ways of doing things.
Meanwhile, industries such as medical services, biotech, food production and delivery, and information technology are still growing in Singapore, while other emerging industries will be new to the Republic and it will have to build up its expertise and workforce.”