I'm in the middle of a snow-blighted wasteland, and everything is white. It would be hard to tell day from night if not for the fact that night is much colder. My only source of heat is some threadbare clothing recently issued to me. I'm exhausted and starving, but carrying precious little food. My school is not all that far off, but the last time I tried to take shelter there, a mob of criminals tried to kill me. There is a world of safer, warmer places I could go, but I am on foot in this blizzard, and I don't think I would survive the walk.

The pandemic is proving to be the ultimate test for Singapore, the tiny city-state that has a reputation for reinventing itself during times of crises. Dismissed in the past as just a "little red dot" on the map, dwarfed by larger neighbors like Malaysia and Indonesia, and with no natural resources to speak of, Singapore has nonetheless transformed itself into one of the richest and most competitive economies in the world. As Singapore's leaders now grapple with what's turning out to be its worst slump since independence in 1965, the ruling party is looking to extend its mandate in Friday's election to help reinvent the economy once again. They're already positioning for a post-COVID-19 world with planned investment in health and biomedical sciences, climate change and artificial intelligence. Crises have been a catalyst for change in the past.