This video has gone viral - the Singlish Minister addressing China Bus Drivers' Strike in Singapore. The 'lead man' a great little actor.
The thought of striking bus workers is enough to send shivers down the spines of older Singaporeans, many of whom have memories of the Hock Lee bus riots of May 12, 1955.
The Communists had organised a series of regular strikes and disputes and on that occasion four people were killed and 31 injured in a bloody riot.
Little wonder then that the government has come down hard on Chinese bus workers who have recently staged an illegal strike. They have just announced that they will deport 29 of the mainland Chinese bus drivers and prosecute five who were apparently the instigators.
Chinese bus drivers get their one-way ticket back to China
Singapore's last strike occurred in a shipyard in 1986 and the powers that be have no desire to see it repeated, even though there is some popular sympathy for the conditions in which the Chinese drivers lived and worked. But the country did not appreciate the way they went about sharing their grievances. Nor will they tolerate any further disruptions to public transport on which so many of them rely.
44% of bus drivers in Singapore are from either Malaysia or China; about 22% from each country. So 275 of mainland Chinese drivers did not strike while 175 chose to.
"The actions of these SMRT bus drivers disrupted an essential service and Singapore's industrial harmony. While the SMRT bus drivers may have had grievances, these should have been raised through the legal and proper means available. 5 persons will face charges in court for the offences committed, and will be dealt with in accordance with the law. 29 persons who were blatant and persistent in their unlawful acts have had their Work Permits revoked and will be repatriated. Those who returned to work upon realising that this action was illegal will be issued warnings by the Police."
So the industrial harmony on which so much of Singapore's prosperity depends has been restored and the economic bus can resume its forward momentum.
In the words of the immortal duo Flanders and Swan in their Transport of Delight song "Hold very tight please, ting ting".
When I first came through Singapore in the early 1980's there were still a few of the old garrulous drivers around. If one was well dressed, or an Ang Mo, their expectation was that you would take a cab and leave their bus to the "common folk".
Fortunately this attitude is long gone. My regular bus is the 111 (or 'triple one' as it is known to the locals) and we are blessed with older drivers who are both courteous and friendly.
Some of the newer Indian drivers seem to have major problems coordinating the brake and the clutch which results in a very jerky journey. This is reminiscent of my passenger experiences in Calcutta which I had hoped never to repeat.
The older Singaporean drivers have none of these problems and they proceed with a commendable calmness.
The best of the lot is the Malay bus captain (driver) pictured. His first name begins with "S" but I did not catch his full name.
He is unfailingly good humoured and enjoys nothing more than to have his jovial greeting reciprocated. We first met each other when I caught the bus from Penang Road in 2006. Now I go the other way on the same bus from Queenstown, so we still see quite a lot of each other.
This man deserves a public service medal for his deportment and customer service. I hope someone reading this post will recommend him and I shall miss his beaming presence when I return to New Zealand in July.
It is this sort of human experience that makes living here worthwhile.
Golden Mile complex at dawn is a bustling place. It is from here that the majority of buses to Malaysia depart.
We began our third trip to the Genting Highlands from this location on December 20th and on this occasion we chose another coach line - Transtar. On past trips we had travelled with Formosa Travel which meant departing from less salubrious neighbourhoods about 6:30 am. This time there was the promise of a better bus and greater comfort.
Golden Mile at dawn
The coach turned out to be adequate with wider aircraft-styled passenger seats and air conditioning nozzles that were the worse for wear. This meant that it was impossible to switch off the icy blast for the entire journey and resulted in most of us having a case of the 'sniffles' by journey's end.
The style of the seat reminded me that these coach services are facing serious competition from the budget airlines; it is now possible to fly to Kuala Lumpur for about the same price as it is to take the bus. Flying takes an hour and the trip to Genting by bus, six and a half hours.
Even though this was a different coach line it stopped at the same diabolical refreshment centre as Formosa's buses did. The food was just as inedible as on previous occasions and the toilets no cleaner.
The journey was uneventful and we arrived at our destination at the allotted time - 3 pm.
I should point out that this time we had planned to stay at the four star Resort Hotel rather than the 3 star First World. Regrettably most of Singapore had the same idea and all rooms were taken as we had to settled for the First World once again. This time though we were promised as Deluxe Room with a View as opposed to the deluxe room we had on our last stay, which had a view of a brick wall a few metres away.
It is that point that the holiday experience takes a sharp turn for the worse.
Our original idea for a short break was to go to the Cameron Highlands but the thought of a nine hours bus journey put us off. The irony was that having spent more than six hours on a coach to Genting we had to wait in a crowded group tour room for a further three hours while staff processed our reservations and handed out room keys. It would have been as quick to go to the Cameron Highlands.
We had requested a non smoking room on a non smoking floor when our booking was accepted. When we finally got to the reception counter however there were no Deluxe Rooms with View on non smoking floors left in the more modern Tower Two. We therefore had to accept Tower One, which is in need of major renovation. There were holes where fittings had been and some deluded former occupier had even attempted to prize the perfectly hideous art print out of its frame. Unfortunately they had not succeeded.
The same old problems of people smoking on these non smoking floors re emerged and the staff chose simply to ignore it. Hotel security spent most of their time slouched over the morning newspaper or conversing on their personal mobiles.
Our room was indeed a room with a view and the view was.... cloud. To be more precise cloud with rain, which is not so surprising given the altitude.
On the third day there was a glimpse of the theme park below but it wasn't until the morning that we left that the sun broke through.
Click on the book for the larger images
The inclement weather meant that the hordes of children on their summer holiday were unable to spend much of it outside and had to be content with the video and games arcades within the complex.
The rain also meant leaks and buckets in the 24th floor lobby. As we were on the highest floor I can only presume that the roof immediately above was less than weather proof.
One final observation about our Genting experience and the First World hotel; at meals we had a choice watching China tour parties spitting their bones and lemon pips directly on to the table, or fighting off the Indian tour parties who attempted to commandeer our chairs at every opportunity.
Following three weeks of high temperatures and humidity the last couple of days have brought a welcome respite. The sound of thunder drawing ever nearer is most welcome although some times the heavens are all sound and no action.
Not so this morning, when we had a refreshing rain and the temperature during the night had dropped to a relatively comfortable 25 degrees.
The is the time that many of my colleagues from Britain head home for their summer holidays. The few Kiwis that head south on vacation do so with some trepidation, as the winter temperatures in New Zealand will take some getting used to after Singapore.
My job means that I will be confined to travel in East Asia for the next few months; Taipei early July followed by Tokyo mid-August. Their summers are renowned for heat but I am hoping that three years in Singapore has acclimatised me to such extremes.
Mojave Desert - from the shady side of the bus
I recall a trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where our bus broke down in the middle of the Mojave desert (above). Now that was hot, but it was a dry heat not the energy-sapping Singapore variety which we have been experiencing for most of June.
"Killem Pest, Simply the Best" proclaimed the T shirt. It was worn by a slight man on his way to work on the MRT.
The slogan reminded me of two things. Firstly the Papua New Guinea pidgin language that I was used to hearing in the Highland of that country where a similarly sounding word to "killem" is deployed, usually in the context of "kilim tru" i.e. make sure he, she or it is truly dead!
Not a very reassuring phrase if one is being chased by a kukakuka tribesman with the pig tusks through his nasal septum turned skywards.
The second thought that came to me is about the pests that one finds in the tropics - the cockroaches of various sizes and hues, ants of every scale and description and not forgetting the ever-present mosquitoes which carry a variety of nasty diseases.
Pest control is a growth business in Singapore and at certain times of the year 'fogging' is all the rage with large clouds of presumably noxious chemicals smoking out the hiding places of every creepy crawly.
I am not sure what the chemical make up of this 'fog' actually is, but what continues to surprise me is that very few of the operators wear protective masks as they apply the mixture.
Seeing the pest control man on the MRT yesterday was part of a final journey to Buena Vista MRT station and onwards on the 95 bus to my former place of work, the National University of Singapore. I will not miss this trip.
If I got to my Queenstown station by 7 am then the journey was reasonably comfortable. Afterwards the crowds packed the carriages especially in recent times where more and more people have been leaving their vehicles at home and turning to public transport. The wait for the 95 bus at the Buena Vista bus stop was the worst part of the journey - hot, sticky with little moving air, one often was left feeling in need of a second morning shower.
Now I am temporarily a man of leisure, with a couple of week's annual leave to use up before commencing my new job with the British Council, based in Singapore.
Quite apart from the new Director's post, I am looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with an old favourite - the 111 bus - which will transport me to the British Council in the Tanglin area.
But this is three weeks away and in the interim I have a holiday in Taipei to look forward to.
