Let's Talk, Singapore

Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/

In this fifth of six instalments, ST's executive editor Sumiko Tan looks back at how the government communicated its Covid 19 strategy in the first two years of the pandemic. This included bringing back the 1990s sitcom character Phua Chu Kang to persuade people to get vaccinated, and setting up a hotline call centre during the hurried switch to home recovery in late 2021 when the Delta variant raged. 

Highlights (click/tap above): (Headphones recommended)

01:13 Snippet from viral music video featuring actor Gurmit Singh playing Phua Chu Kang; Mr Daniel Lee, an officer from the Ministry of Communications and Information, explains how the video was meant to target those in their 40s and 50s

02:50 Mr Janadas Devan, Chief of Government Communications, on the importance of maintaining public trust

06:54 Learning and adapting: The biggest comms mistake? 

08:21 In 2021, the challenge was to get the elderly vaccinated; more music video campaigns rolled out in Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil

11:25 Ms Lam Wy-Ning, deputy director of the Case Management Contact Centre, on setting up and manning the Covid-19 hotline during the difficult Delta variant period; dealing with widespread fear, anxiety, confusion

14:25 Minister for Communications and Information Mrs Josephine Teo in Parliament in March 2022

Produced by: Sumiko Tan ([email protected]), Ernest Luis and Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

Audio snippets: Courtesy of MCI SINGAPORE, GOVSG YOUTUBE

Follow Singapore's War On Covid podcast series here:

Channel: https://str.sg/wuJa

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wu3n

Spotify: https://str.sg/wuJy

SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected] 

Read Sumiko Tan's stories: https://str.sg/Jbhe 

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7

ST Podcasts website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa

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Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:

The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB

Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX

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#stcovidbook

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In this week's Weekly Wrap Up, we discuss Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Lawrence Wong's announcement of a S$1.5 billion support package. One of the support is for eligible taxi main hirers and private hire car drivers who will get a one-off relief of S$150 in August. But, how much help can this support be for taxi and private hire drivers?                                                                                                                                                            Yeo Wan Ling, Advisor to the National Taxi Association, National Private Hire Vehicles Association, National Delivery Champions Association discusses with us.  
 

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In today's The Breakfast Brief, we discuss US central bank chief, Jeremy Powell's  "unconditional" commitment to reining in 40-year-high inflation and economists polled by Reuters forecasting that the Fed would deliver another 75-basis-point rate hike next month. 
 

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Have you ever wondered why shops are not using biodegradable plastic bags? Maybe it is simply because such bags are not easily available. But now companies can soon find such alternatives at a "one-stop eco-solutions" manufacturing plant that has been launched in Singapore.

Muralikrishnan Rangan, Founder of Green Lab & Group CEO, Print Lab tell us more about the new 200,000 square feet facility and the processes in Singapore's first eco-solutions manufacturing plant

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Fears are building up around stagflation and a potential recession. Francis Tan, Senior Investment Strategist, UOB Private Bank shares his views on the likelihood of this happening next year and the some indicators he is watching closely that will be the impact on markets, 

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