Singapore’s Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Critical Assessment

• Author: Soojin Kim,Walid Jumblatt Abdullah
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942454
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Comparative Governance During COVID-19: Lessons From Around the WorldComparative Management & Learning Techniques

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020942454

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 770 –776

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942454

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Comparative Management & Learning Techniques

Introduction

Over the past few months, the world has struggled desperately

with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,

which has caused untold damage in terms of both health and

economic welfare. Compared with previous pandemics such

as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003

and the H1N1 influenza in 2009, starkly higher rates of

COVID-19 (re)infection, along with an alarming death toll

among patients older than 60 years and those with chronic

health conditions, have reinforced the need for much stronger

and strategic government intervention to ensure effective pub-

lic health-related initiatives (Koo et al., 2020). In turn, govern-

ments around the world have sacrificed major economic

activity to implement a series of measures including intensive

temperature screening, travel bans, contact tracing, and stay-

at-home (quarantine) orders, not to mention compulsory

mask-wearing and social distancing policies.

In view of the worldwide nature of this public health

emergency and subsequent financial crisis, Singapore has

not been spared. To manage the crisis, “learning” will be

especially important for the city-state, both to measure the

success of the crisis response and to inform new policies and

procedures that may be applied to future incidents (Pearson

& Clair, 1998; as cited in Moynihan, 2008, p. 350). We thus

suggest that Singapore’s strategic response to the COVID-19

outbreak be classified into three phases of learning: in-

between learning, trial-and-error learning, and contingency

learning. This three-way classification reflects the extent to

which the capacity-building efforts of a responding govern-

ment and policy actors react to changing situations to man-

age and minimize potential disruptions or even suspension in

public service delivery (see Supplemental Appendix A for a

timeline of Singapore’s key chronological responses). Given

that public policy choices hinge on the benefits derived from

resource distribution given the various political forces at

play, Singapore’s responses—and concomitant successes

and failures—must be placed in the context of its unique

political system and bureaucratic culture.

Singapore’s Political System:

Understanding Its Structural

Advantages and Disadvantages

The political system in Singapore has been described as a

competitive authoritarian state or an illiberal democracy

(Levitsky & Way, 2010; Mutalib, 2000). While regular elec-

tions take place, they differ notably from elections in the

West, primarily in that various institutional impediments are

put in place, such as the Party Block Vote system in the form

942454ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020942454The American Review of Public AdministrationAbdullah and Kim

research-article2020

1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Corresponding Author:

Soojin Kim, Assistant Professor, Public Policy and Global Affairs

Programme, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University,

48 Nanyang Avenue, HSS-05-02, Singapore, 639818.

Email: sjkim@ntu.edu.sg

Singapore’s Responses to the COVID-19

Outbreak: A Critical Assessment

Walid Jumblatt Abdullah1 and Soojin Kim1

Abstract

This article reviews how Singapore has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, from late-January to early May, 2020, through

the three-phase approach to “learning”: in-between learning, trial-and-error learning, and contingency learning. Given its

unique political system dominated by the People’s Action Party (PAP) and bureaucratic culture, the Singapore government

has progressively implemented numerous control measures including strict travel bans, contact tracing, “Circuit Breaker,”

compulsory mask-wearing, and social distancing policies, along with financial relief to businesses and workers, in a very

top-down fashion. Although the health and treatment issues of foreign migrant workers in dormitories continue to be the

subject of ongoing debate among many scholars, it should be noted that the mortality rate in Singapore still remains very low

compared to that of many other countries. Singapore’s case points to an important lesson that learning-driven coordinated

strategic approaches matter for effective crisis management in the long term.

Keywords

COVID-19, crisis management, learning, Singapore