The Hunt for Masks Continues

People checking out prices of masks at pharmacies in Causeway Bay

 

Last night after work I saw people standing around pharmacy shops nearby and went to take a look.

There were boxes and boxes of masks, some from Indonesia, some from Japan and Korea.

The prices? The most expensive ones I saw were HK$498 for a box of 50 masks. It should really cost around HK$80.

Children's masks were more expensive than adult ones

Another shop had face masks for children that were made in Thailand. They cost a whopping HK$528 for 50 masks.

These pharmacies used to gouge mainlanders for milk powder, vitamins, shampoo, toothpaste and so on. Now they were gouging Hongkongers.

Oh they also had packs of 10 masks for HK$80. I did buy a pack, just so that I would feel less anxious about not having enough masks.

Then this morning my hairdresser told me not to buy masks in pharmacies because they could be fake or from China. She suggested that the quality was not very good, supposedly for use only in China.

The paranoia that has gripped this city is too much, but the government has done nothing or hardly enough to quell people's fears.

Singaporean PM tries to tell residents not to panic buy

At least Singaporean leader Lee Hsien Loong posted a video of himself trying to reassure his fellow citizens that the city state has enough supplies of everything, medical staff are prepared, and that everyone should do their part in staying free of the coronavirus by washing hands often and not going to crowded places.

He appealed to people not to worry and stock up on cup noodles and toilet paper, which is what happened yesterday with panic buying similar to Hong Kong.

By the way the shelves still haven't been restocked yet, though some stores now finally have packs of rice again...

As for Hong Kong forcing people to self quarantine, it's a complete joke. Travelers who have arrived into the city are not escorted back to their homes, even taking public transport to get back and potentially infecting others along the way.

Medical masks above, beauty masks below

There is no enforcement of their quarantine, just random phone calls to see if they are home, no tracking equipment they have to wear.

Meanwhile the government is scrambling to find volunteers (Scouts anyone?) to help check on these quarantined people and handing meals to them. Not thought out through at all.  Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung appealed to civil servants and medical students... now he's down to the Scouts... wonder who offered.

The coronavirus is on track to have more deaths than SARS in 2002-2003 because of the sheer numbers of people infected. There is a high recovery rate, but we are seeing higher numbers of cases and deaths each day. Now it is at just under 35,000 confirmed cases, 724 deaths and over 2,100 recovered.

Singapore's Sibling Feud

Lee Hsien Loong's siblings accuse him of betraying his father's legacy

A curious feud has erupted among family members of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew's three children.

It emerged earlier this week that Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's two youngest siblings spoke out on Wednesday online, saying they were being harassed so much that "Lee Hsien Yang feels compelled to leave Singapore".

"Since the passing of Lee Kuan Yew, on 23 March 2015, we have felt threatened by Hsien Loong's misuse of his position and influence over the Singapore government and its agencies to drive his personal agenda," the siblings said in a Facebook statement.

Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang say they are harassed

"We feel big brother omnipresent. We fear the use of the organs of state against us and Hsien Yang's wife Suet Fern," they said in a six-page document.

They added: "We feel hugely uncomfortable and closely monitored in our own country. We do not trust Hsien Loong as a brother or as a leader. We have lost confidence in him."

The issue is that the two younger siblings are the executors of their father's will, and in it, Lee Kuan Yew wanted the family home, which is near the Orchard Road shopping district, to be demolished after his death, or after his daughter Lee Wei Ling, who had been living with her father for years, moved out.

They claim Hsien Loong is planning to preserve the home as that "would enhance his political capital", though Lee Kuan Yew did not want the public to "trudge through" his family home after he died.

At stake is the family home Lee Kuan Yew wanted demolished

And now the government has admitted there is a secret committee evaluating the future of the property.

While Premier Lee has claimed to recuse himself from government decisions regarding the home his father lived in for seven decades, Hsien Yang said his brother's actions contradicted his position.

"He [Premier Lee] goes to the cabinet committee and says, 'Oh, my father wasn't quite so unwavering in his wish. You know, he would have accepted that the government has a right to do what it does'. What is all this sophistry? What, are you quibbling and trying to play with words, to try and say that it might be all right?"

This public airing of the spat between the siblings is very unusual but also reveals cracks in the ruling family's fabric. Singaporeans may be embarrassed or intrigued by the seemingly acrimonious fight.

Lee Kuan Yew didn't want his home to be a tourist site

If and when Hsien Yang does go into self-imposed exile, it will be a strong vote of non-confidence for Hsien Loong. How will Singaporeans feel about their city state now? Or have they lost respect for the ruling party, the People's Action Party?