Saktiandi Supaat on Singapore’s COVID-19 response
As an import-dependent economy, Singapore faced some difficulties early in the COVID-19 pandemic as other countries imposed protectionist policies to restrict the export of essential medical supplies. Many nations, including Singapore, also saw panic buying and hoarding of essential goods such as food and household items. In view of this, MP Saktiandi Supaat asked several questions in Parliament on Monday (Mar 20) related to Singapore reviewing its stockpiling strategies. They included whether the Government will publicly disclose a revised comprehensive list of critical items, how it will determine the level of redundancy needed for each resource and how much it is willing to pay for such “insurance” rather than buying “just enough” and most cheaply, and whether Government procurement guidelines have to be adjusted to facilitate this aim. In terms of infrastructure, Mr Saktiandi brought up the COVID-19 outbreaks and subsequent shutdowns at Jurong Fishery Port and Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. He said Singapore may have to look at preventive strategies to manage disruptions at such bespoke hubs and assess if there is sufficient capacity at alternate distribution ports and centres. Finally, he highlighted the need to enhance manpower resilience by nurturing the transferability of certain competencies to ensure staff can be rapidly and effectively redeployed where needed. He also called on the Ministry of Manpower to study data on foreign workers and pass holders pre- and post-pandemic to assess and mitigate Singapore’s manpower vulnerabilities.
As an import-dependent economy, Singapore faced some difficulties early in the COVID-19 pandemic as other countries imposed protectionist policies to restrict the export of essential medical supplies. Many nations, including Singapore, also saw panic buying and hoarding of essential goods such as food and household items. In view of this, MP Saktiandi Supaat asked several questions in Parliament on Monday (Mar 20) related to Singapore reviewing its stockpiling strategies. They included whether the Government will publicly disclose a revised comprehensive list of critical items, how it will determine the level of redundancy needed for each resource and how much it is willing to pay for such “insurance” rather than buying “just enough” and most cheaply, and whether Government procurement guidelines have to be adjusted to facilitate this aim. In terms of infrastructure, Mr Saktiandi brought up the COVID-19 outbreaks and subsequent shutdowns at Jurong Fishery Port and Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. He said Singapore may have to look at preventive strategies to manage disruptions at such bespoke hubs and assess if there is sufficient capacity at alternate distribution ports and centres. Finally, he highlighted the need to enhance manpower resilience by nurturing the transferability of certain competencies to ensure staff can be rapidly and effectively redeployed where needed. He also called on the Ministry of Manpower to study data on foreign workers and pass holders pre- and post-pandemic to assess and mitigate Singapore’s manpower vulnerabilities.
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