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SINGAPORE: For much of your day, Sik Kim Kee, a 71-year-old retired driver, will spend time people-watching in Chong Pang City, a neighborhood hub in Yishun.
Now that the half-day crowds are gone, as most stores have had to close, the atmosphere is calm and serene, so pleasant that it has sometimes made you drowsy.
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Except that marauders like him are likely to run into safe distancing ambassadors tasked with persuading seniors like him to go home, and stay there, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After an encounter with a security officer while sitting in a lost chair in front of a barber’s closed shop on Monday (April 27) afternoon, Mr. Sik said, “Call me to stay home? it will make me go silly and crazy. That’s why all the time, every day, I go out. “
Although he did not dare to break the orange nets or the red and white ribbons that would hit the public benches in his neighborhood and sit on them, he was upset by this particular measure of the circuit breaker.
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Waving his finger, he said, “This is too much. The cafeteria can no longer sit … Where we want to sit is our business what! ”
He then left on his bike, only to be seen prowling outside a cafeteria later.
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Increasingly, older people like Sik are returning to the streets, bored and a little crazy for about a month after the nation’s breaker measures were launched on April 7 to stem a rising tide of infections.
They remained undeterred even when authorities announced that no further warnings will be given to those trapped who do not comply with the rules starting April 12, and first-time offenders will be fined S $ 300. The restrictions include a ban on any type of gathering at home or in public spaces, including empty decks and parks.
On April 21, 2020, a corner for older people was cordoned off on Choa Chu Kang 62 Street. (Photo: TODAY / li Nadhirah Mansor)
Visits to three urbanizations found that approximately three out of four of those who remain inactive on the streets, both day and night, are older people, the same group that is considered more vulnerable to the new coronavirus.
But conversations with several of them revealed that the problem goes beyond a deliberate desire to ignore the rules. It has more to do with his sense of displacement in an offline world hit by a pandemic and his inability to exploit the online world, which has helped make the switch period more bearable for younger generations.
While the rest of the population is turning to video conferencing tools, e-commerce, and other forms of online entertainment, many seniors are finding their world suddenly encircled by the four walls of their homes, especially those who they live alone.
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For this group, their home entertainment options are limited to television and radio, or chatting with their friends on the phone.
With more than half of Singapore’s residents age 65 and older living alone or alone with their spouses, helpless members of this demographic group could get more help from society to navigate this unprecedented crisis, experts said.
A 67-year-old woman who lives alone and wanted to be known only as Madame Chia said: “Every day, I face television. Aiyo, bored until I’m going crazy! So I go out to “buy things” even though I have nothing to buy since I don’t cook. “
She spoke in Mandarin around 9:30 p.m. Monday, as she sat on a public bench near her Bedok apartment that was blocked with red and white tape, with a cup of coffee to go next to her. Two other neighbors were hanging out with her, each sitting on different benches to keep one meter away from each other.
Mdm Chia, a food court cleaner who was told to stop working after clients were no longer allowed to eat dinner, added: “I usually only work from 7 am to 3 pm. Now I feel at home with nothing to do. “
When asked if he had tried to cope by talking to his friends on the phone, he said: “People really don’t like to talk on the phone for too long. They have to take care of their children. But older people like to chat. Listen to the radio lor.
As for using the Internet to connect with friends, Mdm Chia said she had tried in vain to learn it many times before.
“At home, I don’t have any ‘networks’ either,” he said. “Those people who know how to use the Internet … can listen to music, watch programs. I just don’t know how. ”
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Even if they have learned to use certain Internet functions, there is a limit to what they would do with them, said Madam Cheong Kit Moi, 78. You started using the WhatsApp chat app late last year, but you can’t do much with it. since she cannot read.
“I am afraid that if I press wrong, then everything will be gone. I have a lot of songs on my phone, ”said the elderly man who lived alone and used to frequent the Lions Befrienders Senior Activity Center at Blk 32 Bendeemer Road before the circuit breaker measures were implemented.
You still mainly rely on your landline phone to connect with a member of your senior activity center staff and two or three friends. But he’s currently on his mobile phone more and more, sometimes checking the YouTube app to see what content is available, as he really doesn’t know how to do a video search.
READ: COVID-19: Activities for seniors suspended for another 14 days as part of stricter safe distancing measures
But there are others, like Wong Ya Long, a Yishun resident, who lost their only social network with the closure of rest areas in coffee shops.
The 77-year-old journalist who lives alone was almost crying when this journalist asked him what the circuit breaker had been like for him, as he walked back to his apartment with a take-out package of pork organ soup he received from the market and food from Chong Pang. Center.
“I have no one to talk to,” he said. I used to spend time hanging out with four or five other friends at a coffee shop. They didn’t have the foresight to exchange phone numbers before the circuit breaker, he lamented.
Mr. Wong Ya Long, who lives alone in Yishun, used to spend time hanging out with friends in the cafeteria but with the automatic switch, he said, “I have no one to talk to.” Photo: Wong Pei Ting / TODAY
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/big-read/big-read-digitally-estranged-seniors-struggle-sense-displacement-pandemic-hit-offline-world
Then there’s Madame Koh Oh Yan, who used to be busy with activities at a Kreta Senior Activity Center Yesterday, but now spends much of her day sitting in the footsteps of Blk 51 Chin Swee Road, with her mask tied to the chin. from over your nose and mouth.
When approached, the 80-year-old Hokkien-only woman said she was waiting for her daughter, who she said was over 50, to pick her up after work and bring her meals.
When asked why she doesn’t want to stay home where it is most comfortable and there is a television to keep her entertained, she replied, “I don’t know how to turn on the television. I only watch when (my children) are at home.”
Mdm Koh wasn’t really sure why everyone needs to mask and keep their distance. She seemed confused when told that the government’s warning is for the elderly to stay home.
She could only answer: “My daughter told me to sit down and wait here.”
“DO NOT MAKE THE HOLIDAYS GREATER”
Since the circuit breaker measures went into effect, there have been viral video clips showing older people not adhering to the rules, drawing criticism from this group as “stubborn”, “ignorant” and “socially irresponsible”.
However, interviews with the older generation showed that there could be underlying problems that require some attention.
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One of the first incidents to go viral online involved a 71-year-old man who was arrested by police for disorderly conduct on April 7, after he insisted on eating on an empty terrace in Bendeemer.
On April 12, an elderly woman yelled at a man who reminded him that he had to wear a mask at the People’s Park Center. In the video that was posted on Facebook, he was heard responding: “If I die, that’s my problem.”
Then, on April 18, an elderly woman was heard confronted for eating her uncle kway at the Teban Gardens Road Food Market and Center, exclaiming that the new measures “have gone overboard” and are “people intimidating. “
When told that she could be fined S $ 300 for not cooperating, she replied, “Orh gong then orh gong (good and good), what am I afraid of?”
As of Wednesday, about 2,900 people were fined S $ 300 for not complying with the high measures of safe distancing, and another 800 were fined the same amount for not wearing masks when they went out, the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources said (MEWR) in response to inquiries
More than 100 of them repeated their offense and received higher fines, he added.
MEWR said it could not provide a breakdown when asked about the proportion of older people among offenders.
READ: COVID-19: More than 7,000 High Clearance Distance Violations on Day 1 of ‘Circuit Breaker’
Social scientists interviewed found that many senior citizens are not as smart as others who head to a connector or field in the park, for example, to get their dose of fresh air. Instead, they prowl their neighborhoods.
They are also less able to evade enforcement efforts, compared to their younger, more mobile counterparts. Sociology professor at Singapore Management University (SMU) Paulin Straughan said: “Unfortunately, the elderly place too much emphasis on the group of those who remain ignorant (of the new rules). Why? Because they are very slow. They catch them.
After finding the video of the elderly woman who insisted on eating her friend Kway, Professor Straughan wrote to the Minister of Social and Family Development, Desmond Lee, to record his discomfort that “scapegoats” are forming with vulnerable groups in name of keeping the community safe.
“It is a class differential,” he added. “You have the poorest and most hard-working class that is trapped in the heart. And those (areas) are very surveillance … And then, on private farms, in places where you have to drive to get there, there are the richest who are not caught. ”
Pointing to the old woman’s case, Professor Straughan said the problem is rooted in how “it is more difficult for some to obey.”
“She is old, has mobility problems and just wanted a simple meal. Is there something we can do for older people like them? Professor Straughan said.
“It’s not easy for an older person like her (to use food delivery services) … so the only way to (have) this hot meal is to walk there, and by then older people believe that if they Food gets cold, you better not eat it because it is no longer nutritious. “
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For Rashid Rahman, a 65-year-old apartment rental resident in Bedok, it was the lack of entertainment options and the warmth at home that led him to meet up with others in an open area between Blk 25 and 26 New Upper Changi Road On Monday.
“It is super boring because there are no programs to watch … You (turn on) the television, it is also all ‘Channel 19’ because it is all about COVID-19,” said the former sailor.
To keep seniors like Rashid, local broadcaster Mediacorp, pay-TV operators Singtel and StarHub and other content providers busy, they have increased their programming during the circuit breaker period.
Mediacorp, for example, has extended its time belts for the Tamil-language channel Vasantham and the Malay-language channel Suria, with streaming for both channels now starting at 9 a.m.
CONFUSION ON EVOLUTIONARY RULES
Dishwasher Narayanasamy Rajasheker, 59, had been fined S $ 300 for meeting with three others under a block of flats in Jalan Kukoh, after social gatherings of any size were banned.
He said, “I am staying in a rental house with so many bedbugs. I’d rather run away from bedbugs … than go home. ”
Now he spends the day on a ladder near his apartment, constantly searching for law enforcement officers.
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Narayanasamy added that the rules are changing too fast for him to keep up.
“I thought this time they say meetings of no more than 10 people are allowed. We were only four people, but still kena (I suffer the consequences), ”he said.
Quek Swee Ann, a 65-year-old Chin Swee Road resident who relies on welfare payments for a living, also has trouble keeping up with frequently-updated rules.
“If we sit 1 meter away, why can’t we?” he said. “Chairs were built for the elders to sit. Why do they have to (cord off everything)?
Mr. Quek was unaware that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) had worked with municipalities to close public spaces, including empty decks, to improve compliance with circuit breaker measures.
He added: “Sitting at home for a long time will give us dementia. It is also a disease. ”
Mr. Quek, who uses a mobility scooter, now plays a cat and mouse game with police officers. “If I see them, I will circle the area and come back,” he said.
However, he said he had heard Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s “special appeal” to Singapore seniors to stay home on April 10, the fourth day of the circuit breaker, which would originally end on May 4, but now it has been extended to June 1)
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Prime Minister Lee, 68, said: “I am one of you, so I know how you feel. When we are locked up at home, we feel restless and frustrated … But please understand: we are telling you to stay home for your own safety. Older people are more vulnerable to the virus. If we catch COVID-19, it’s serious business. Our chances of dying are much higher. “
To date, the 16 people who have died in Singapore due to the coronavirus are over 55 years old: the youngest is a 58-year-old woman and the oldest is a 95-year-old man.
Dr. Tan Ern Ser, associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said that those like Mr. Quek are a “small but highly visible minority” who see the government’s attempt to provide some degree of normality. , which allows people to exercise. and buy food, such as “creating gray areas” that can explode.
Also, since community broadcasting in Singapore is not as pronounced as in other countries, Nanyang University of Technology (NTU) assistant professor Saifuddin Ahmed said these people may have a “false sense of optimism” that the Viruses are not that harmful and they will not. Be affected.
“They don’t want to live in fear of the unknown, they overcompensate with optimism,” said Professor Asif Saifuddin, from NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI). “This seriously skews his risk assessment of the situation,” he added.
Still, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan acknowledged that these non-conforming citizens may be trying to regain an appearance of normalcy and stability in their lives that has been affected, without the intention of breaking the law.
“Many of us may not fully understand the depth of their sense of displacement,” he said, noting that the changes had been rapid and significant, requiring dramatic behavior change in a short period of time.
HELPING THE ELDERLY TO FACE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT
Mental health professionals noted that non-compliance by some older adults could be the result of various states of depression or anxiety, in part caused by a one-month extension of the circuit breaker.
They noted that everyone’s resilience is now being tested, but while more working adults have stepped forward to seek help, not many older adults have.
“This is an indication of how much our elders need help. They don’t know where to go and they won’t step forward, “said Dr. Lim Boon Leng, a psychiatrist in private practice.
Clinical psychologist Joel Yang, who runs the Mind What Matters clinic, observed that some feel that “there is no point in living” now that their freedom is stripped away. Some even think that “if you keep me at home, it’s as good as ending my life too,” he added.
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Praveen Nair, a psychologist at the Raven Counseling and Consultancy, said the restrictions are affecting the largest demographic groups. He also considered that the gradual intensification by the Government of the COVID-19 measures has increased frustrations and created anxiety among some people.
“When people are in times of crisis, they want a managerial approach … You tend to want someone to give you the answer,” he added. If that is absent, “it creates a lot of psychological problems.”
However, WKWSCI associate professor Benjamin Hill Detenber noted that, like Singapore, most countries have also opted for a phased approach in response to the coronavirus.
“What is different about our case is that several measures have been implemented since January, and as the situation changes, so does the rigor of the measures,” he said.
“Some may find it confusing or difficult to maintain, but that is the nature of an adaptive response.”
A woman at the Geylang Serai market trying to buy groceries through a makeshift barrier on April 24, 2020 after she was denied entry because she did not have her identity card. (Photo: TODAY / Wong Pei Ting)
Still, experts suggested reducing dependence on crude legal sanctions such as fines, or supplementing sanctions with more nuanced monitoring of social activities in neighborhoods.
“It would be great if current measures of social distancing were tailored to the needs of different Singapore districts rather than one-size-fits-all,” said academic researcher Liew Kai Khiun, who recently left his position as an assistant professor. at WKWSCI.
Professor Straughan added: “In cases where there is clearly an information gap or a knowledge gap, simply throwing a book at them will not solve the problem. Filling the knowledge gap is important … (Similarly,) we need to exercise compassion where there are gaps. “
In fact, Mr. Nair suggested that they encourage positive behaviors.
“If you really want people to follow something, it’s better to give a reward,” he said. “For example, if we create a national lottery system that gives people who stay home for a certain number of hours the opportunity to win a prize of S $ 100, people will stay home.”
A COMMUNITY EFFORT
Mr. Kavin Seow, senior director of the senior group at Touch Community Services, felt that the community should view older people with “greater understanding, patience and empathy.”
“While some older adults understand the need for firm action, others may have difficulty with the growing sense of isolation as they are locked in their apartment,” he said. This is especially true for older people with underlying conditions like depression or dementia.
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He suggested making more frequent phone calls to communicate with the less connected elderly living alone.
Communicating with lonely seniors and running 10 senior activity centers across the island, Befrienders Lions also rely on phone calls to monitor seniors, some of whom also call the center every day to ask if you have resumed operations.
“We will have real conversations and find out how they are doing … we will also make sure their needs are met and find out how we can help them,” said their spokesperson.
The center also suggests activities, games, and crafts that older adults can do by spreading the information through multiple phone calls so as not to overwhelm them with too much information at once.
Regarding older adults who are alone on the streets, Seow said that other community members, such as street vendors, cafeteria workers and younger neighbors, can play a critical role in being the “eyes and ears” of groups. support. on the floor”.
“They can provide timely help to struggling older people,” said Seow, who noted that the majority of Touch staff are teleworking and supervising older people remotely.
When asked if authorities are meeting his approach by involving older people on the streets, MEWR said the government has been looking for “specific approaches” to reach various groups in the community.
For example, to better engage vulnerable groups, such as older people who may need more assistance and support, HDB has been collaborating with Montfort Care social service agencies and the Fei Yue Senior Activities Center to advise older people who frequent areas like Chinatown, Redhill, Bedok and Chua Chu Kang to stay at home.
He added that some who required more support were also referred to the Integrated Care Agency or the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
NOT ONLY SENIORS WHO BREAK THE RULES
While older people are often emphasized for not complying with circuit breaker rules, due to the amount of viral videos circulating, they are definitely not the only group.
Some younger Singaporeans interviewed had little qualms about the risk of fines, and their health.
A 23-year-old student, who admitted to having violated the rules twice so far to meet her boyfriend, said she had tried to evade detection by dressing “super casually” as if she were at home when she visited her home.
However, she has established some “ground rules” with her 25-year-old boyfriend, including minimizing physical proximity to their respective family members and leaving the house alone to buy food.
A 26-year-old woman, who had driven to her 27-year-old boyfriend’s house last Saturday to bring her some cheesecake, said she would have given him the excuse to deliver food if she had been confronted by a police officer.
“I thought it wouldn’t be a problem, as some people who deliver food don’t wear (a uniform),” said the design firm’s employee, who declined to be identified.
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