Lion City's whimper

There seems to be a common link among the first international visitors to cancel appearances in Hong Kong because of fears over severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS: many are from Singapore.

The first to pull the plug - way back on Friday - was the Singaporean promoter of the La Guitarra performance by flamenco guitar legend Miguel de la Bastide and jazz guitarist Martin Taylor. On Tuesday morning the entire Singaporean poetry team bailed from a scheduled 'live poetry face-off' with Hong Kong poets. And yesterday we hear Hwee Hwee Tan, the young author of Foreign Bodies and Mammon Inc, has also cancelled her Literary Festival appearance.

Can it be the Lion City is a bit of a pussy cat?