Nobody:

Literally nobody:

Curtain-twitching, self-righteous, snitching Singaporeans:

Well, it’s day 8 into our lockdown. And folks have scurried to report on each other to the authorities for “flouting circuit breaker measures”.

A national climate of surveillance, fear, and denunciation has thus emerged.

At the top, the ruling classes have instructed us to look out for "non-compliant" behaviours.

Law enforcement have been empowered to issue hefty fines (in an income-collapsing pandemic, no less). Apps have also been repurposed to enable smoother snitching.

At the bottom, many have heeded the call, accepting snitching as responsible citizenship.

Take, for example, the FB group unironically named “SG Covidiots”. There, almost 6,000 rats play out their fascist & voyeuristic fantasies. We see similar reports across social media too.

To be fair, several governments have encouraged pandemic snitching. But existing research on snitches & informants show that such acts are technically ineffective & morally corruptive.

Most often, they're motivated by spite, rather than an interest in public & communal welfare.

Look, we’re all scared.

Official comms & aid remain insufficient & convoluted, and infection rates are rising.

Public behaviors will reflect that instability. Still, to their credit, S'poreans are practicing social distancing (which is the expressed aim of "circuit breaking”).

Yet, confronted with complexity, the PAP government has responded in the only way it knows how to.

It’s begun to punish the masses (eg. fines, restrictions, surveillance). It's also shifting the burden of pandemic control onto the individual, onto you.

But that’s just a reckless, tai chi move.

Viruses alone cannot cause pandemics. Instead, their spread is determined by socio-political systems & historical narratives.

In one-party states like S'pore, the ruling party has control over that, not you. https://twitter.com/waresinfoshop/status/1247554761705926657

In our helplessness, it’s tempting to accept the PAP’s offer to snitch & victim-blame. Indeed, modern S'pore is a surveillance society.

We’ve also been conditioned to critique everything but the government. In 2000, a rare SPH study showed that 93% of folks believed just that.

But we can’t direct our frustrations & horror to our own communities and neighbors.

We also cannot assume that folks “leave” or “loiter” because they're selfish & stupid. Not when vulnerable groups are being pummeled by the lockdown & a long history of government ineptitude.

Basically, snitching threatens public health. It incites communal distrust & increases disease transmission.

Patrolling cops & bureaucrats can be potent viral spreaders. Moreover, on-the-spot crisis policing tends to produce erratic, biased enforcement. https://twitter.com/verkur/status/1249932490480836609

We understand folks want to help contain this virus.

Well, you can do that by exploring the options that you have before sending the authorities onto "non-compliant" people.

Community-based solidarity and mutual aid are better, impactful alternatives. https://give.asia/campaign/covid-19-response-fund/353130/ornp5#/

Furthermore, it’s more constructive for you to hold the government accountable than your fellow, everyday man.

For example, it was public anger & pressure that forced our leaders to address the state-made humanitarian crisis of migrant viral clusters.

And let’s be honest. In this lockdown, it’s been politicians & state media that have acted like clowns.

In one week, they’ve provoked a petty international spat; published a racist letter; portrayed migrant workers as pest; and conducted an actual election walkabout.

So yes, when you snitch, you’re not whistleblowing against state injustice or some criminal omertà.

You're just punishing innocent, struggling folks, while absolving the systems & agents responsible for such social & virological misery.

Resist that urge. "Humanize yourselves".

Re: The new mandatory mask rule. Yes, mask-wearing should be championed.

But it's just stupid policing if we stain that with crushing fines. Remember, COVID-19 will cause as much suffering from the virus itself as it will from its tangential effects. https://twitter.com/lee_junlei/status/1250025476283723779