Caring about happenings in other countries.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Having prepared for my recent chinese current affairs on the viability of nuclear power plants in Singapore, my speech was muchly on the recent fukushima nuclear fallout. This made me realise that happenings in other countries are actually muchly relavant in Singapore.Most young people have the misconception that foreign affairs do not affect Singapore at all, not socially or economically. That is the delusion of confined people, who have not seen the world. Although Singapore is 5400 km from Japan, the triple-calamity of a tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown is a prime example.
Singaporeans are affected in many ways. Other than socially and economically, we are also getting limited in choices. Japan, as a technically advanced country, produces many cars in the world, including both Toyota and Honda, the top 2 brands of cars in Singapore. Both companies have allegedly stop manufacturing in Japan. Moreover, eleven food manufacturers' products in Japan have been banned according to Singapore due to radiation fears. Besides, government policies are also rethought, as countries start to doubt the viability of nuclear plants, including Singapore.
Socailly, the worry for our friends and family in Japan. When my father was only 18, he went to Japan to study, with no money, he had to work and study at the same time. It was only with some help from his Japanese friends, that he has managed to pull through. As a result, he has many close friends still left in Japan, to have them disappear in such a disaster, would be a shocker and a pain etched in his heart. So, immediately after the disaster, even before the nuclear crisis, he immediately called his Japanese friends, to find out most of them were still alive. However, most of their houses were destroyed and had spend most of the time after the disaster weaving their way through the tokyo traffic on foot. Other than that, the nuclear emergency also provided cause for concern as there were initial fears that the radiation could be carried through wind and rain to affect singapore.
More importantly and significantly for Singapore as a country, is the economic impact.Other than the fact that the government has donated $500000 to the Singapore red cross society to be given to help rebuild the country and help the victims of the natural disaster, Singapore companies have been affected too. 3 days after the disaster hit and Japan started tallying the damage, two of Singapore's major companies, namely Mapletree Logistics and Saizen Real Estate, saw their stock value fall drastically. Trade with Japan fell, and flight companies such as Tiger Airways, lost money after practically all their flights to Japan were either cancelled or empty.
All these prove that happenings in other countries indirectly affect Singapore, being a import-oriented country, with small significance in the global economy, Singaporeans have to care more about foreign affiars.