As nations all over the world struggle to deal with their battered economies, Singaporeans are emphasizing the need for self-sustenance at a time where countries are prioritizing the needs of their own citizens over trade.
That’s why so many countries are banning food and medical exports.
If we can survive without the help of other countries, what will we do if they abandon us?
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing addressed this issue in a virtual interview with local media.
In the interview, Minister Chan stressed that while Singapore can aim to increase local production, we are still heavily reliant on trade.
How are we supposed to get cotton, for instance, when there are no sheep running around in Singapore?
Wait, wait?
A Cotton Mistake
Giving the example of manufacturing face masks, Minister Chan explained that it’s impossible to manufacture certain products locally without any foreign imports.
“Let’s be very frank and ask ourselves, even for a simple surgical mask that has only 6 parts, which of the 6 parts will we be able to produce ourselves… independent of foreign resources?”
The minister then went on to list the various materials required to make a face mask, and how most of these materials cannot be found in Singapore.
Cotton, for instance, has to be imported from other countries because we “don’t have too many sheeps in Singapore” to produce cotton.
He also said that- wait, a minute. Did he just say what I think he did?
Sheeps? He incorrectly pluralised the word sheep. The plural of sheep is sheep, not sheeps.
How could he make such an erro-
Editor: Hey, idiot, the focus of this article is his mistaken belief that cotton comes from sheep, not some grammatical error that no one cares about. Your lucky I’m still paying you.
It’s “you’re”, actually, not your.
Editor: You little shi-
As my very kind and generous editor pointed out, Minister Chan also said that cotton comes from sheep, which is also wrong.
The minister probably confused cotton for wool, which does come from sheep.
Minister Chan realised his mistake and clarified his error in a light-hearted post on Facebook the next day.
The minister said he “had a good laugh” at his own mistake yesterday, and clarified that cotton comes from cotton plants, not sheep.
“To any one (especially young children) watching the video – cotton definitely doesn’t come from sheep, it comes from cotton plants!”
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He also explained that he had confused cotton for wool while he was thinking of material substitutes for the manufacturing of masks.
“In my mind, I have been thinking for weeks of all kinds of substitutes (including wool from sheep and other animals) that we can use for the various parts of the masks that we produce here. Unfortunately in Singapore, we have neither cotton nor sheep.”
“Meanwhile, I should catch up on some sleep,” the sleep-deprived minister said.
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Started A Philosophical Debate
Evidence of his sleep deprivation is abundant in his virtual interview, as he also started philosophizing at one point.
Talking about Singapore’s desire to farm more chickens, the minister said that in order to grow chickens, we need eggs.
But, as he asks viewers, “Where does the egg come from?”.
“Hens!” we answer, but where do the hens come from?
“Don’t tell me eggs,” he says while laughing.
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At this point, I’m surprised he didn’t look up to the skies and wonder aloud “Actually, where do any of us come from?”.
Minister Chan ended the video reiterating his main point, that we need foreign resources to survive.
“Yes, we… can strengthen our resilience by… producing some things locally. But we must not go to the other extreme and think that we can produce all things locally”.
Unlike many big countries, he says, trade is important for Singapore.
Thankfully, there are many cats and dogs roaming about in Singapore, so we have more than enough fur to make coats.
(That was just a joke, please don’t report me.)