To Have And To Hold

We may be living in bleak times, but young rappers Fariz Jabba and Yung Raja remain in awe of everything that’s still around us.

- Joy Ling 

The apocalyptic anxiety is understandable. Unprecedented bushfires in the outback, return of large-scale earthquakes in Eastern Europe, and Sumatran islands disappearing with rising sea levels; the new decade has not been off to a great start. Add a global pandemic to the equation and quips about the end times start to carry a wry undertone.

We’re on the final day before the official closure of entertainment venues islandwide. The new phase of tighter measures Singapore has introduced against COVID-19 towards the end of March inherently filters into the conversation about gratitude.

“Just to see how Singapore is handling it,” Yung Raja, 24, says, “is really something to be thankful for right now.” Most would agree with the rapper. The worldwide recognition of the local government’s efforts to contain the situation has made the nation an exemplar case study for other countries.

The fastidious contact tracing, strict quarantine protocols and straightforward communication meant a significantly low statistic of deaths, with recovery outpacing the infected. Even Barbara Streisand acknowledged this in a tweet.

“My parents had other options like Saudi Arabia and Dubai when they were looking for a place to move to from South India, but they chose here,” Raja reveals, much to the surprise of his fellow rapper and friend, Fariz Jabba, 23.