Lessons from the Haze
The haze crisis in Singapore reminded me of a fable about a man, his young son and their donkey.
The man and his son were taking their donkey to the market. As man and son walked by the donkey’s side, a passer-by scoffed at them and criticised them for being fools to not ride the donkey. So the man put his son on the donkey and they went on their way.
Not long after, another passer-by chided the son for being unfilial, letting his father walk while he sits comfortably. Guilty, the son insisted that his father should ride the donkey and the father did.
Yet later, a group of passers-by jeered at the man, saying that he ought to be ashamed for letting his young son trudge along while he rode the donkey.
Bewildered, both man and son decided to carry the donkey on their shoulders to avoid any further criticism.
Unfortunately, the donkey struggled as they crossed the market bridge, fell over and drowned.
Although a tad hilarious to some, the purpose of the fable was to show that everyone has an opinion and to try to please everyone, one ends up pleasing no one.
As I reflected the last week, I cannot help but notice similarities between this fable and our many varied responses to the haze crisis.
a. When Singaporeans complained against the Indonesian plantation fires that caused the haze, Indonesian ministers responded by calling us ‘children’ and tried to shift the blame back to Singapore.
Many of us Singaporeans were understandably upset; and our responses ranged from indignation to anger. Some of us want justice done immediately; and others advised to stay calm and heed what Indian political activist, Gandhi once advised, “An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind”.
Foreign Affairs and Law Minister Shanmugam will hopefully help us find platforms for the appropriate redress under the framework of international law.
b. When the recommended N95 masks went out of stock and government stockpile from MOH was made available, there were again different responses.
Some predicted that none of the masks will be given to the public. Some proposed priority should be granted to more vulnerable Singaporeans - the poor, needy, elderly, sick, and the young. A handful objected and advocated that those who don’t get the free masks should remember not to vote for the ruling government come 2016.
What PM finally decided was to give priority to the more vulnerable. Each lower-income household receives 4 free N95 masks; covering all rental flat tenants; those aged 40 and holding the blue CHAS cards and households with less than $900 income per family member.
In addition, Singaporeans who are ill and have difficulty finding the masks are also entitled, regardless of income level.
As for others who do not qualify for free masks, NTUC Fairprice was asked to quickly stock up these masks and make them available at their numerous outlets; and at controlled pricing, to protect consumers from the profiteering practices of some unscrupulous suppliers.
Such were the many varied responses to the haze situation and all over a span of barely a week.
As I reflected over the last week, I was reminded of several life lessons for myself:
a. The surest way to fail is to try to please everyone. Good leaders must:
i. Take their place;
ii. Clarify and stand by the principles they believe in;
iii. Be humble and big enough to at least consider the inputs of its people and finally ;
iv. Have courage enough to decisively do what they believe to be right.
In the haze situation, it is clear that one of the fundamental principles for decision-making by Government was that it will look after our vulnerable first. I support this and I hope even more of us in the Singapore family will support it.
b. Though hindsight is often 20/20, let us learn from it.
Cynics often say that hindsight is 20/20 and people are usually great at offering advice, after the fact. This appear to be so at the onset of the haze problem.
Quickly, agencies were blamed for not anticipating and preparing for the haze problem; notwithstanding that many of us honestly too did not expect the haze to be this bad this year; and some amount of preparation was in place (check the MOH stockpile of the masks).
Nonetheless, cynicism aside, there is space for Singapore to quickly learn what we did well, where we need to better enhance, and design a better and faster way of responding to national problems of this nature, especially those which are recurring.
c. No one person has all the answers.
Issues of the day are so complex that it is rare that anyone alone has all the answers.
I was especially heartened by the constructive suggestions that came in through the various channels.
In fact, it was a couple of friends of mine (at work n from FB) who had proposed that the vulnerable gets the free masks and for NTUC to jump in quickly to cap the N95 price and to make them available island-wide. These were some of the ground suggestions that was conveyed to and favourably considered by the Prime Minister and his team.
d. No one person can do it all.
Whether in logistically moving the government stockpile of the N95 masks; or in mobilising medical clinics to provide cheaper medical help; or in distributing free masks to the needy and sick – it is obvious that no one person or even organisation can do it alone.
Helen Keller, the blind and deaf writer is right when she said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”.
Finally, my friends, the haze is not yet over; and neither is it going to be the biggest national crisis we face as a country.
But the haze episode is a reminder that we are not as strong as we like us to be yet, internally and externally.
As Roman historian, Plutarch, once said, “It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place – that is a work (that is) extremely troublesome (difficult).”
In times of national challenges especially, let us choose to be united and constructive in our quest to produce a better response. Majulah Singapura.
Denise Phua Lay Peng/ My Paper’ Fortnightly Column/ 25 Jun 2013