Face the fact now. In 2020, Singapore will most likely go into the deepest recession it has ever experienced, worse than what we saw during the global financial crisis in 2009, the Asian financial crisis in 1998 or the Republic’s first post-independence recession in 1985.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be the hardest hit. They have the thinnest margins, smallest reserve capital, and little or no ability to cross-subsidise or pass through costs.
But they employ two-thirds of Singapore’s labour force.
For all the gloom, there is a difference between the Singapore economy going into recession and Singapore and Singaporeans going into recession.
Singapore is not a company; it is a country. It will not close and it will not retrench its citizens.
For those working in SMEs, I have a hard to hear but nevertheless important message: Your employer is probably doing all he can to keep the business going.
This is not the time to run out to chase the next higher title or extra S$50.
Your bosses very likely built the companies with their blood, sweat and tears and personal monies to create the job you hold now.
This is the time to dig deep, keep the faith with your teams and show that you can pay it forward.
For SME owners, by the same token, this is not just about you but about the responsibility of being an employer in both good times and bad.
I can empathise with you.
Your employees’ livelihoods, assets and the futures of their children are at stake.
There is no government stimulus package for the mental and emotional strain you face and no “10-year series” to find out what is the right answer to any problem.
Winston Churchill, at the dramatic height of early 1940s, after the fall of France and when Britain stood alone, and as voices within Cabinet argued for peace talks, famously thundered: “Nations that go down fighting rise again, but those who surrender tamely are finished.”
Singapore is not going down nor are we going out. What follows are the few prescriptions of how we can prevail.
First, psychological resilience. For business owners who have to close due to the economic situation, don’t let this setback define you. Stand tall. You would have done what you could and when the time comes, you can and should get back into the game.
For workers who have pay cuts, are put on leave or lose their jobs, it may not be your fault. Don’t see yourself to be worth less than you are.
Keep the faith in yourself, when the tide turns get back into the swim and it will work out, perhaps not as you intended but have confidence that it will.
Without psychological resilience no amount of monetary stimulus and assistance will ever be sufficient.
Secondly, buy local.
Singapore is an international market and cosmopolitan city. But this is the time for solidarity. If you have to choose between a local and foreign brand or supply, go local.
It may not mean much to you, but it may mean everything to a local company and their workers.
And if going local, go small. The big local brands have access to institutional funding and private equity.
They also have a global market to tap. Our local small players have no one but the personal assets of the owners to pledge and no overseas markets with which to counter balance falls in local demand.
Give them the break they need to get through another day, then another day till the skies clear.
Thirdly, stop comparing.
This is not a race. There are no trophies. By all means inspire and lead by example. Do what you can, where you can and with what and whom you can.
There is no need to go over the top or shoot for grand gestures.
What is needed are micro gestures of help, understanding, tolerance, patience and empathy multiplied by 5.6 million people and 400,000 registered businesses — repeated day after day, not just on some special day.
This is a time for extraordinary solidarity to be an ordinary virtue.
Fourthly, be empathetic and cohesive. Social distancing is a horrible term. We should be talking in terms of physical distancing while emphasising social closeness.
This is a time for us to come together culturally, emotionally and spiritually. Indeed, this is the most important thing we can and should do.
This is not a “Chinese’ virus”, “Indian virus” or “Malay virus”. To fight it, we need an SG Antidote — where we stand together, albeit virtually, support each other, encourage each other, and face whatever comes together.
Finally, let us show grit.
Linearity in thinking is a Singapore curse. We are conditioned to accept going through school, university, then find a job that helps us get a car, credit cards, condominium before getting married and travelling around the world.
There is a high degree of Yolo (you only live once) and self-indulgence involved. Covid-19 tells us that linearity and the expectation of unrelenting success and comfort is a fiction.
Use this time to think about what really matters and how hard it is to build a future for yourself and your family under conditions of protracted stress, uncertainty and even danger.
Yet this was exactly what our pioneer generations from 1819 through to the 1960s had to contend.
Today is bad, tomorrow could be worse, and the day after likely more so.
But if we keep going and do so together, we will get to the point where today is bad, but tomorrow is a little better and so on till we emerge again out of the shadows.
My wish is that when we do so, we are bathed in the sunshine of enlightenment having learnt important lessons about ourselves and who we truly are and can be as one people and one nation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Devadas Krishnadas is chief executive of Future-Moves Group, an international strategic consultancy and executive education provider based in Singapore.