On June 23, Singapore’s elections department announced the country’s next general election will be held on July 10. Six days later, the department revealed that preregistered overseas voters can vote at 10 polling stations in Beijing, Canberra, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, New York City, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo and Washington DC. 

While a significant number of Singaporean citizens overseas reside in these cities, those cities, states or even countries away from the nearest polling station feel sidelined in this election. 

In many parts of the world, overseas Singaporeans like Faizah are unable to cast their vote. Many have to brave the pandemic, travel to a different state, or even country, serve a 28-day quarantine to make their ballot count. And for those who are working, their overseas employers would never give a 28-day leave. 

Said is an international relocation specialist residing in Dallas  and the nearest polling station for her is San Francisco, at least a three  hour flight and 28 days of quarantine away. Apart from the time and inconvenience that comes with voting, exposure to Covid is also stopping Said from voting. 

“Right now, America is almost the epicenter of the pandemic,” he said, As much as I am patriotic and I want to do my part as a Singaporean citizen, to vote, do I want to expose myself to the virus? And come back to Dallas to expose my wife to the virus?” 

Singaporean postgraduate student Heidi Gay who lives in Toronto, also shared similar concerns about traveling to the polling station in New York.

 “I can and will happily spend the money to travel to vote, but this already speaks to the degree of financial accessibility overseas voting involves,” Gay said. “With the pandemic I believe it is extremely unwise to be getting on a plane to the US, given how the situation has been handled there to this point.” 

But both Said and Gay believe in the importance of their vote. Said had wished to vote for more diversity to represent minority voices in parliament. The 44 year-old identifies as a transman and Malay Muslim and to him, neither of his community is well represented by the current government. 

“I’m not saying that my one vote can immediately say, hey, Singapore’s legalizing gay marriage now,” he said. “But I’m saying my one vote can make a difference. It might be the vote that sways things to the right direction.” 

Said served 10 years as a police office in Singapore. 

 “Yet I have to leave my beloved country to find happiness in another country,” he said which has added even more desire to cast his vote.

Said had expected an election since last year. Under Singapore’s Parliamentary Elections Act, the prime minister calls a general election before the five-year parliamentary term ends in January 2021. Unlike presidential elections in the US, the polling day of Singapore’s most important election is only announced when the prime minister dissolves parliament. 

Since 1972, election periods, only during which parties can campaign, go up to 11 days. While there is no polling day irregularities, the Freedom House notes that “numerous structural factors impede the development of viable electoral competition.” 

Gay was set to vote in one of the only two constituencies previously held by an opposition party. 

“It goes without saying that I take this responsibility very seriously and this ( the decision to forgo her vote) was not an easy decision to make,” Gay said. 

Without the options of online and mail-in voting, Said now finds his only opportunity for equal representation thwarted. 

“It’s almost akin to the president here, Donald Trump, saying that there’s no mail-in voting because it might be rigged,” he said. 

Inability to vote due to their location and the pandemic is not the only obstacle for overseas Singaporeans to practice their voting rights. A technical “glitch”, according to the immigrations and customs authority’s statement on July 4, failed to process 101 voter registrations overseas. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, changes can no longer be made after the voter lists are certified. 

The Authority said in the statement, that it is making efforts to contact these 101 overseas voters. But some members of a private Facebook group started by overseas voters fear an undercount of affected voters and an impact on election results in key constituencies. 

Along with these overseas voters, another 350 eligible voters in Singapore, Covid-19 patients and those issued a legal quarantine order, usually a close contact of a Covid patient, will not be able to vote. Whereas overseas returnees quarantined in hotels can vote with polling agents bringing ballot boxes from door to door. 

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 Since January, Singapore’s government has conducted three rounds of mask distribution for its residents. During the first 10-day collection period in February, each household could collect up to four disposable surgical masks. 

On April 3, the country’s government reversed its policy discouraging the use of masks after seeing a surge of community cases and a change in WHO guidelines. Qualms over surgical mask shortage after the announcement was quickly dismissed by a new round of mask distribution. This time, reusable and washable. 

This third round of mask collection was announced three weeks before collection started, when the country’s government announced plans for gradual reopening in May. The new reusable masks “are made of at least three layers of material, with a filtration efficiency of at least 95%, even after 30 washes,” according to the government’s website. 

“All the reusable masks, although is reusable, is not reusable for eternity,” trade and industry minister Chan Chun Sing said during a video interview on May 6. The durability of the earlier version of government distributed reusable masks was not mentioned in April. 

Aside from manual collection booths manned by government organized volunteers and staff, 24-hour vending machines are also installed for collection. Residents in Singapore, including foreign workers and students, can collect one reusable mask each using local identification.  

In more densely-populated communities, volunteers and staff are deployed near vending machines to assist residents. Residents had to first go through temperature screening and contact tracing before collecting their masks either manually or from vending machines. 

Meanwhile, reusable and washable masks are also sold in Singapore’s supermarkets. Razer, a US tech firm, also gave out surgical masks to adult users of Razer Pay using 20 vending machines set up across the island.

A row of mask distribution machines at Tampines Hub, Singapore. May 29, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Data collection and exchange policy disclaimers before a row of machines. May 29, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Two of the machines lie within a newly-built public housing complex, next to a temporary location of a community club. Bilingual signs directing residents to the machines are pasted on the ground level of several flats in the complex. May 28, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Some Singaporeans or permanent residents collecting masks on behalf of their foreign family members, younger children and domestic helpers face difficulties at the machine. They turned to manual collection after collecting their own masks. May 28, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A woman selects her mask from the mask distribution machine. May 28, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A woman scans her IC (national identity card) for collection. May 28, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A sheltered set-up of machines outside a community club in Simei, Singapore. 29 May, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A staff member from the community club assists a resident with mask collection. 29 May, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A staff member from the community club assists a resident with mask collection. 29 May, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

The machine display and instructions attached to the machine at Bedok, Singapore. 28 May, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

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Paying visits to supermarkets and food establishments liberates many, including me, from confinement. But once out, liberation comes at full speed – there is no time to pause, legally, in the public space. Benches are cordoned off by tapes and most shops no longer open. Coronavirus has taught us a lesson: even this is a luxury.

Life is not the same for essential workers, who aren’t given a real choice between eschewing health risks and maintaining a livelihood. Busy operations continue at food establishments, like a blessing to those working in related businesses.

The pandemic has torn away veils of inequality. What next?

Only direct paths in the parks remain open in Tanah Merah, Singapore, May 3, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Dine-in is no longer allowed under Singapore’s Circuit Breaker. Ann, employee at a restaurant in Tanah Merah tells customers not to sit on the chairs in the restaurant, April 25, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Employees at Haig Road Putu Piring making putu piring, or kueh tutu, for delivery or takeout orders. The traditional Malay street snack made of rice flour and gula melaka (palm sugar) is usually consumed immediately, April 15, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Stone bench, where families or couples would sit for after-dinner walk, is cordoned off, May 3, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Employee at Syed Cafe says he makes 500 roti pratas, known in the US as roti, everyday. Photo by Yifan Yu

Employees at Syed Cafe clean up after completing an order for 2000 people. The employees said that the government has placed 4000 orders per day from April 19 to June 1 for staff catering. An entire side of the kitchen is used for these orders and employees work from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. to complete the orders, May 2, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

A Western food restaurant separate lines for deliverymen and customers ordering takeouts. There is little communication between deliverymen and restaurant employees at this line, May 2, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Benches are usually extra space for a crowded hawker center. They are now cordoned off next to the empty hawker center, April 14, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Wang’s fruit store is one the few stalls open in a neighborhood wet market. But noticeably more customers make their purchases at a large fruit store opposite Wang’s. April 29, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Row of shops that have closed as they are not “essential service”, April 29, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Huang (left) and Liu (right) are employees of SKP, a container store. The store selling plastic food containers remains essential for food delivery. Large boxes of containers from SKP are seen near Syed Cafe, April 29, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

Playground in condominium on March 27, 2020. Photo by Yifan Yu

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