Disrcimination of Singaporeans Abroad

The Void Deck SG

Because of SARS, if we intend to travel overseas this coming long weekend, depending on where we are going, we might get hassled at the airport at the destinatiojn country. Fortunately Malaysia has the sense not to ban Singaporeans from going over. Besides, they have lots of people commuting here to work and it just doesn't make sense for them to bar the entry of SARSaporeans. Thailand however is a teensy weensy problematic.

"Thai Airways staff have to observe people boarding their planes in Singapore and other SARS countries if they have a high fever, difficulty in breathing or a nasty cough. These SARS-like passengers must then produce a letter from a doctor saying that they are fit to go to Thailand for shopping and shagging and suntanning. Singapore tourists arriving in Thailand must always wear a face mask. That means when you go shopping at MBK, the beaming shopkeepers immediately know you are from Singapore and charge you 10 times the price you might have gotten if you pretended you were Thai and bought stuff by merely waving your hands and shaking your head. Hey Thailand, "Mai pen rai" lah." www.thevoiddeck.org

Gun SG

I don't think the Thais or any other country are doing anything wrong here. They are just trying to protect themselves from this growing epedemic. The last thing now is to start finger-pointing and creating any further misunderstandings. See what was the reaction of the Chines authority ? They claims they had SARS 'undercontrol' and began banning their citiziens from visiting 3 of the the smaller countries in Asia. I don't know if you can call it over-reaction, or a sign of protest or simply bullying, but the such behavoiur will not improve the already tanish image of China.

Her status as a responsible and accountable great country must come into question now. It is pointless in trying to 'save face' when the world already knows how China misshandled the SARS case since Nov 2002.

The Void Deck SG

Allo Gun

The Thais are actually being careful and your are right, they are not doing anything wrong from their public health point of view. Perhaps, Singapore could have adopted such extreme measures as well earlier but I suppose Singapore would face much criticism for being paranoid. But as a Singaporean tourist, you have to admit it is a hassle. Of course people can say we can go somewhere else instead of Thailand and I can't dispute that.

The country that is most to blame is certainly China. They tried to cover up the whole matter and pretended that it didn't happen. It is only now the Chinese government is telling its people about SARS.