By P Francis
Neil Armstong, who died last year, made world headlines when he landed on the moon and became the first person to walk on its surface circa 21 July 1969 – depending on your time zone. That was the time I landed in SAFTI (Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute) without any headline or fanfare. Not unexpected. The news was shown on black-and-white TV in the army camp canteen.
In Armstrong’s case, his call-up to the Navy arrived on January 26, 1949. The year 1949 also became significant in Singapore in that it was the start of National Service (NS) for Singaporean males born in that year and after. Public employees born earlier were also affected by the call- up, which was to fill the void left behind by the 1971 withdrawal of the British forces based in the Lion City.
Even though modern-day compulsory NS was new to Singapore, it had been around for a while. Israel enforced it on men and women – unless married or pregnant – while the US and Australia were among many countries with non-mandatory NS.
In those days, in Singapore, it was two years full time in the army and an extra year for those who attended OCT (Officer Cadet Training) and graduated as 2nd Lieutenants. There was also part-time NS in the Special Constabulary and the Vigilante Corps. The scheme was later extended to include the fire department and the construction industry, where NS personnel were taught fire-fighting skills, a building trade or were just labourers.
The first year of NS recruits were under the expert tutelage of Israeli instructors – renowned for their tough training regimen and tactics after the successful Six-Day War in the West Bank from 5-10 June, 1967 against neighbours Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
NS 1969-1971
My NS stint was from 1969 to 1971 after being deferred from the initial batch because of studies. The army pay then was $90 a month when a STC (Singapore Traction Company) bus ticket was capped at 25 cents. Being a civil servant, the army pay was deducted from my monthly salary – a princely sum of $220. My platoon comprised two non-Chinese – a Malay and myself. Some of the Chinese, probably, had never been so close to a non-Chinese before; eating, sleeping, training together – a new experience.
My company included those earmarked for admin duties, pay clerks, drivers, cooks, storemen and medics. The training sergeant, Sgt Tan, claimed he was a gangster from Chinatown, who had joined the PDF (People’s Defence Force), which also had women in admin and store positions with the quartermaster. Sgt Tan said he had undergone training with the Israelis. His bellowed commands – Semulah (do it again) or Belakang pusing (about turn) – were all in Malay and were punctuated by colourful expletives. The Malay language was a problem for the Chinese-educated recruits.
Punishments were meted out by Sgt Tan and his contemporaries mercilessly – one of their favourites was for the recruit to ‘frog jump’ around the parade square, sometimes with rifle held up. Other penalties were running a stipulated distance in full battle order with rifle held high over the head or “give me 50 push ups!”
Starched Temasek green khaki uniforms and polished boots were the order of the day. Hard, heavy helmets, inherited from the British, covered a lighter inner helmet. Rubber-soled combat boots were for daily wear, while the leather-soled boots (had to be highly shined – Kiwi polish sales went up!) were reserved for parades, where the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) ruled the square and even told officers off for not marching across it – “you are not walking with your girlfriend at the pasar malam (night market)!” would be the reprimand.
Stand-by bed was a discipline to ensure recruits kept their cupboards and beds clean and orderly. Then there were the ’jee siau’ (naughty) fellows who carried a sleeping colleague out onto the parade square at night with a ‘toothpaste treatment’ on his body. The poor guy awoke at 5 am to find the sergeant screaming down at him because that was the time to assemble for 5BX (5 am exercise routine) at reveille (wake-up call).
Basic training
Although training was not as intense as for combat troops, we still had to run up and down Pengkang Hill in full battle order; we had to complete a route march, also in full battle order and camp overnight in Choa Chu Kang cemetery among graves and tombstones.
At basic training, we were taught to treat our heavy, wooden British SLR (Self-Loading Rifle) rifle as our wife – it had to follow you everywhere. Later, the lightweight, semi-automatic American AR-15 was introduced. Grenade-throwing exercises involved the use of dummies – with some calling out ‘nenek’ instead of grenade – until the test when each recruit had one live grenade to throw. Officers were on alert to prevent mishaps by some ‘clowns’ as grenades were sometimes thrown skywards only to land back behind the sandbags!
During the three-month basic training, we were confined to base. However, I was able to obtain a 24-hour leave pass after Saturday training to attend Sunday mass at my parish church and return to camp before dusk. Thank God for that – it was great to be home and sleep even for one night in your own old bed! Recruits had to wear their uniforms home and I saw my neighbours pointing and whispering as I walked down the street. Funny thing about the uniform – you felt fearless when you walked down the street at whatever time of night and you were not even armed!
A very close mate of mine, Lim Ko Koh, who has retired from the public service, was in the artillery during his NS days. He recalled fondly: “I remember my first day in the School of Artillery – we were told that once in artillery we would die in artillery. There was this slogan on the wall of the dining hall: Man of steel you must be, anything less will have no place in the School of Artillery.”
But there were those who were against NS and claimed exemption on varied grounds. The most curious was that of being a Seventh Day Adventist and he could not carry a gun. “How about driving a ‘three-tonner’ (truck) or cooking meals, which did not need a gun?” a smart-aleck mate asked.
Then there were rumours of suicide – hanging from the shower – by those who could not stomach the first few weeks of army life. They did not know that things would improve after basic training. Like them, I was from a ‘protected’ lifestyle: school, home, study, dinner, reading and bed. Roaming the streets and sports activities were frowned on by my parents as the focus was on academic goals. But, I did not want to be different from the rest, so I welcomed NS as a way to ‘escape’ and develop and become a real macho man like everyone else. Alas, I was a little disappointed that there were no martial arts classes or any bulging muscles after the three-month course!
As in life, not everything was palatable in the army. Meals, in those days, were mediocre although the officers and cooks had better fare. If you wanted something better, you paid the price at the canteen. But this was not always possible just like when I discovered a small cockroach in my cabbage at lunch in between training sessions. There was no time to throw out the food and queue up again or to run to the canteen and buy food before training resumed. So I removed the offending insect, ate the food and survived.
CO I want to go home!
Make no mistake — army life was not as exciting as Private Benjamin (1980) starring Goldie Hawn or The General’s Daughter (1999) with John Travolta and Madeline Stowe of TV series Revenge fame. Apart from occasional movie nights, we did entertain ourselves with sing-a-long sessions, especially when there was someone handy with a guitar – whether there was a campfire or not. One of the favourite songs was:
They say in the army, the food is mighty fine
You ask for curry ayam, they give you putu mayam!
Oh, I don’t like the army life
CO I want to go, OC won’t let me go
CO I want to go home!
They say in the army, the girls are pretty fine
You ask for Brigitte Bardot, they give you Frankenstein!
Oh, I don’t like the army life
CO I want to go, OC won’t let me go
CO I want to go home!
They say in the army, the pay is mighty fine
They give you hundred dollars, and take back ninety-nine!
Oh, I don’t like the army life
CO I want to go, OC won’t let me go
CO I want to go home!
Twice I was called for OCT tests at the CMPB (Central Manpower Base) and failed them intentionally as I did not want more runs up Pengkang Hill unless I was prepared to sign on as ‘tan chia’ (regular). When the colonel interviewed me and asked why I failed deliberately, I told him I was already serving Singapore as a civil servant and he accepted my explanation. However, a disgruntled Nanyang University graduate, who had failed with an obvious very low score, simply walked out of the interview rather rudely when his turn came. No, he was not charged under Section 42 (or any other section) of the Singapore Army Act (SAA) as far as I was aware.
Simon Camp
Being in the service sector, I was assigned to Simon Camp – the transport base in Upper Serangoon just 10 minutes ‘march’ from home. No more staying in barracks. The posting was as a clerk in the RSM’s office. Wow! I was almost untouchable. First there was WO1 Encik John Chai, who was succeeded by WO1 Encik Shafie. These army ‘terrors’ were really very nice to me since their written education was low and they depended on me to run their office. I was in charge of the daily Company Routine Orders and compiling the guard duty rosters. Even when a sergeant complained that he was on duty on Sunday and again on Friday, the RSM defended me, saying “What do you expect when there are only five sergeants available? Do you prefer Saturday?” No more complaints from sergeants after that day.
Life was easier, more 8 to 5, and I lived at home. I even walked home for lunch! The Commanding Officer Major Zee often gave me a lift in the morning as his driver took a short cut along my walking route to camp. Again, my educated background helped as I chatted with the CO on the short drive to camp and the bewildered RP (Regimental Police) on sentry duty saluted. It was one of the RPs who instigated a charge against me for jokingly knocking his cap off his head while travelling in an army Land Rover. In my defence, I told the presiding Captain Chooi that the RP had joked at my expense previously. The wise captain said: “It takes two to clap – case dismissed!”
Quest guitarist Admin Officer
After full-time NS came the Reservist training until age 40 or 50 for officers. As company clerk, I reported to the Admin Officer Lieutenant Henry Chua. Does the name ring a bell? He was a bass guitarist and founding member of top Singapore band The Quests, who left the band to study and become an engineer. Yes, Chua was laid-back and trusted me to do the job. Leave passes were no problem, lah! It was during such training – some called it holiday camp – when I met and made fast friends with Richard Chan and Jugjeet Singh and their respective families.
One down side to NS, however, was that boys who went overseas with their families had to return and do their NS. A Melbourne dad told me: “My son was willing to go back and do his NS after completing his degree here, but he was arrested at Changi airport when he returned voluntarily, charged and sent to detention before being allowed to do his NS.” Perhaps some tweaking could iron out the problem.
‘From Boys To Men’ was an article I wrote for the SAF’s Pioneer magazine in the 1970s with the pseudonym Citizen Soldier – before becoming a journalist. When I google those words today, I notice how the title has been used in variation over the decades – even a blockbuster Singapore production of army days!
In retrospect, I still hold the view that NS makes men out of boys and exposes them to the real world with a difference – they are under the governance of the SAA, which does not tolerate any indiscipline. They learn teamwork, responsibility, loyalty and how to live with other races. That strict grounding makes them better citizens when released into the civilian world and some smart employers know it.
P. Francis is an English tutor in Melbourne, who has more than 20 years’ journalism experience with newspapers, books and magazines in Singapore and Australia.
My army days
So rich, so what?
By Augustine Low
Conventional thinking is that a Third World country has much to learn – even copy – from First World countries.
The contrast between Third and First is huge. Take Myanmar, the poorest country in Asean, with GDP per capita of about $700. While the International Monetary Fund’s 2013 estimates show that Singapore is the world’s richest country, with GDP per capita of $61,567, and projected to rise to an astounding $77,000 by 2018.
But Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while in Singapore this week, has given a sobering reminder. Perhaps Singapore can learn from her country too – about human warmth, about the value of kinship and family ties.
This reminds me of remarks by Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament a couple of years ago that Bhutan was not the happiest of places, the Shangri-la on Earth, that it’s often made out to be. When he visited the country, he “saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products.”
A Bhutanese responded: “Those people you saw in the fields weren’t unhappy, if you have gone closer you would have heard them singing and enjoying social life. Perhaps you won’t understand that. If you had spent a little longer time watching them, you would have seen a woman with basket on her back and holding arms with several children coming with steaming food – we don’t have McDonald’s or KFC. Then everybody will sit down to eat their lunch, laughing and joking, feeding babies, for over an hour – you wouldn’t have had so much time to sit and watch, I know. Time means money in your country. But we have the luxury of time.”
Singaporeans are rightly proud of our shining metropolis, but we need a reality check from time to time to remind us that GDP and world-class airport, port, casinos and F1 are not the be-all and end-all of being exceptional.
Not long ago, a Filipino asked me: “Singapore is so rich, why are there so many old people working as toilet and food court cleaners?”
Indeed, look around and we see Singaporean elderly in their 60s, 70s and even 80s – sometimes hunched back, often physically infirm – toiling as cleaners for public toilets and clearing dirty tables.
We have been told that Singaporeans should be prepared to work longer and harder. That self-help is the best form of help. That there should be no over-reliance on social welfare and public assistance.
But backbreaking work for the elderly? In a country teeming with wealth?
I was told by another foreigner that it is a stain on the family honour if a grandmother has to resort to cleaning toilets to support herself. So the family network invariably chips in to help out.
Are Singaporeans so lacking in filial piety that we refuse to support our parents and grandparents? Are we more inclined to spend lavishly on tuition for the children than give allowance to dependent elderly?
Or is there a shortage of social safety nets for our poor elderly, who helped in building the nation?
Aung San Suu Kyi may well have a point. A First World country can still learn a thing or two from a Third World country.
Augustine Low is Director of Strategy at a communications consultancy.
Do not solve problems one election cycle at a time: DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam
By Kumaran Pillai
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam outlined the global economic risk and opportunities in the years ahead in his keynote address at the SALT conference held for hedge fund managers at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre this morning.
He enumerated four risks in his speech that may affect the global economic outlook: The danger of cyclical unemployment in Europe and America becoming structural; China’s structural deceleration; Supply side risk of the emerging economies; and stagnation of the middle class in mature economies.
Stagnation of the middle class
The generational tension in the middle class of mature economies, he said, is a cause for concern for policy makers. He added that policy makers have been responding to these challenges one election cycle at a time.
Short-term policy shifts to cater to the growing demands of the electorate only compounds the issue of global economic instability and may manifest themselves in the socio-political arena. What is required is a major political reform, he said.
The feedback from these tensions may become more significant if the mature world does not address these issues adequately.
Risk in emerging markets
He also highlighted the opportunities in the emerging markets and said that each market was unique and should not be lumped together. However, the challenges facing these economies include political instability, structural gaps and policies that protect local industries. He warned the investment community that these problems can turn into huge frustrations for them.
Tharman added that opportunities abound in these emerging markets but the labour force in these countries often lagged behind and this may result in a supply-side risk.
Deceleration of China
The deceleration of the Chinese economy was also another risk factor affecting the global economic outlook. The world economy may be severely impacted should China’s GDP grow at less than 6.5 per cent per annum. He added that there is a danger that the GDP figures reported may be lower or higher than the actual GDP numbers.
The transitioning of the Chinese economy from an investment-driven to a consumption driven model also poses a major risk to investors worldwide. It is a major undertaking and investors should not expect the Chinese government to get it right straightaway.
America and Europe performing below potential
Tharman said that both the American and the European economies were performing below potential and highlighted the danger that cyclical challenges may become structural if the policy makers do not respond adequately now.
There has also been too much focus and reaction to Federal Reserve’s tapering of interests rates. The withdrawal of monetary accommodation is never an easy process and there are uncertainties in the interaction between markets and policy makers – the central bank can only shape cyclical changes and can’t alter structural problems.
The real problem that we face in the world today is that the challenges are globalized while the policy reactions to them have been largely local. No country is immune to the perils that lurk in this inter-connected world and how our world would be in the years ahead is determined by the socio-political conditions both locally and worldwide.
Ask the Prime Minister, mind the tweets
By Abhijit Nag
Did you watch Ask the Prime Minister on Channel NewsAsia last night? I was following the comments on Twitter at the same time – and it was a parallel universe. The tweets running from the jokey to the sarky were a lot more unruly than the ones TV presenter Sharon Tong cherry-picked for reading out to the Prime Minister.
The first tweet I saw said: “That’s a nice shirt. Where did you get it? Or did your wife get it for you?” It was utterly off-topic and not PM’s ear-worthy, so Ms Tong was right to ignore it. But if like me you watched the TV show and had Twitter open at the same time, you saw how Channel NewsAsia filtered the comments.
And even the selection was not flawless. Channel NewsAsia showed a tweet from Joyce Chng who asked: “I hope these policies are not reactionary, but truly well-thought out and sensitive to the needs of a diverse society.” She meant “reactive”, not “reactionary”, I think, but how do you edit tweets? You either ignore them or use them, even if the teacher screams “English!”
That’s the problem with social media. It’s beyond control. Prime Minister Lee admitted as much. When Ms Tong asked if governing had become more difficult; yes, he said, and one reason was social media. He recalled Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News and outgoing mayor of New York, who said social media was an instant referendum on everything and could make governing more difficult.
PM Lee said it with a smile, but it was clear the 24/7 digital flak occasionally touched a nerve. The government is expected to do everything, he said, when asked what is it about Singaporeans that he would like to change.
Father and son
Who knows, maybe deep in his heart, he thinks his father had it easier. The old man had to face communists, who could be locked up, not bloggers, who can’t unless they fan racial or religious feelings. Sometimes, even that needs a light touch.
Singapore has changed, the PM said. That was evident in the relaxed manner he talked to MediaCorp editor-in-chief Walter Fernandez and Ms Tong. He answered questions with a smile unlike his father, who could not help looking stern.
Behind the smiling demeanour, however, is a chip off the old block. It popped out not once but twice. “I think you find happiness in achievement,” he said while talking about Singaporeans wanting a work-life balance. “If you look at other countries – Vietnam, China, even in India – they’re not talking about work-balance; they are hungry, anxious, about to steal your lunch. So I think I’d better guard my lunch.”
He sounded like his father speaking about hunger and achievement. And also while talking about politics. Ms Tong mentioned a tweet which said politics nowadays was “about perceptions, about being populist”. “I don’t think politics today is about perceptions and about just appearing good,” countered PM Lee. “I think politics has to be about serious things… you must do the right thing, that you must have conviction in what you are doing, But at one point where I disagree with the quote is that, at the end of the day, we must also make sure that we win the next election because if we can’t win the election, then you can’t do any good for the people.” Echoes there of his super-competitive father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
He even managed to pay homage to his father. Asked about the qualities needed to be the next prime minister, he said: “Ideally, we (should) have another Lee Kuan Yew (but) that’s not going to happen.” He added: “There’s only one Lee Kuan Yew in many, many generations, in many, many countries. We’ve been blessed.”
If that looks like a hyperbole in print, it was different on TV. The PM looked relaxed and confident as if talking to friends about things on which they all agreed. The interviewers never once pressed him on anything he said. This wasn’t Hard Talk. It was the head of the government talking to state television. PM Lee to his credit spoke man to man, mindful of the viewers – and voters. He might not have disarmed his critics, but he looked good on TV. Maybe he should do it more often.
In fact, he seemed so comfortable that maybe he should next do an Obama. Remember those townhall meetings? Instead of sitting next to Mr Fernandez, who nodded, frowned and smiled like a man in the know, one insider speaking to another, he could be talking to ordinary people – real, live voters who ultimately hold the keys to Istana even though they are not allowed in every day.
Some hard truths about race
Singapore’s race relations were put under the microscope in an exhaustive survey recently. The results showed that although Singaporeans are generally open to other races in the public sphere, they are not so in the private sphere. After half a century of enforcing and encouraging racial harmony, why this disharmony? Where did Singapore go wrong? Can race ever be wished away? Is race utopia ever possible? P N Balji talks to Viswa Sadasivan, former NMP and vice-president of Sinda’s executive committee.
Q. Did the results surprise you? If yes, why; if no, why?
A. Generally, the results didn’t surprise me – they were what I would expect from a survey of this nature. That is, respondents tend to be conscious of the need to be politically correct. That aside, it should not surprise us that most respondents either accepted the concept of multiculturalism. In fact, it would be odd if they didn’t.
After all, since 1965 we have been reciting the National Pledge which reminds us that, “We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves to be one united people, regardless of race, language or religion….” However, as former Mr Lee Kuan Yew reminded me in Parliament three years ago, what we recite in the Pledge is an “aspiration” – something we desire but that is unlikely to become reality in the foreseeable future.
The hard truth is that while we may, instinctively or otherwise, be persuaded to accept certain ideals at a conceptual level, our willingness or ability to act on them may be a different thing altogether. I would imagine that if we were to ask a murderer if murder is wrong – there is a decent chance he would say that it is, at a conceptual level.
It is for this reason that I was disturbed by, and yes, surprised by the findings about Singaporeans (and PRs) having at least one close friend of another race. This set of findings appears to contradict what much of the rest of the survey conveyed. 55% of those polled did not have even one close friend of another race (close friend being defined as someone you feel comfortable enough to confide in)!
If we are not at least disturbed by this, something is wrong. I found myself asking – it must take much effort for an individual who lives in a society that has embraced the ideals of multiculturalism for nearly 50 years, not to have even one close friend of another race. If indeed this is true, then instead of trying to soften the blow, we should ask inconvenient questions:
Were we always like this? Were there specific policies and structural issues that could have inadvertently contributed to this state of affairs? How could this have happened despite National Education and the multitude of PA- and CDC-driven community activities, all of which have been in existence for decades now? Or should we simply accept that this is the way things are, that is that while we may accept the concept of multiracialism we should not be expected to act on it.
Q. Maybe we are all barking up the wrong tree. Race is built into our DNA and deep down we are not colour blind. Do you agree?
A. I agree that we are not colour-blind in the sense that we can see and therefore are aware of the physical and cultural differences and that these attribute to a large extent to ethnic differences. This is where the lack of colour blindness ends. It is one thing to be cognizant of these differences and another thing altogether to impute differential values to them.
There is a distinct difference between ethnic pride and ethnocentrism. My life experience, starting in the 60s, has helped shape my faith in our capacity for not just tolerating but accepting (and in some instances even celebrating) ethnic and cultural differences. This, in turn, helps to bring down the barriers (built on ethnic stereotypes and ethnocentrism or even xenophobia) to building stronger ties across ethnic boundaries.
Unfortunately, there have been mixed signals in this space coming from the government. On the one hand, we are reminded of the virtues of multiracialism and tolerance, and at the same time we have heard senior leaders make statements that unfortunately served to legitimise stereotypes and highlight the inevitability of birds of a feather flocking together. The birth of GRCs and ethnic self help organisations such as Mendaki and Sinda are some of the products.
I am certain that these statements were made with good intentions, but the effect on the various audience groups have been inadvertently divisive. If we are indeed committed to Singapore being essentially a multicultural society, then we need to first acknowledge these mixed signals, and then rectify them.
In short, I don’t think we are barking up the wrong tree. Ethnic harmony, in the truest sense of the word, is not an unworthy or elusive goal.
Q. Do you think we have lulled ourselves into a deep sleep over race because we leave it to the government to handle this issue?
A. I don’t think it is fair to put the entire burden of responsibility for the state of things today on the government. In many ways, I do believe that we have the Singapore government to thank for for a society that is functioning, by and large, on the principles of justice and equality regardless of race or religion.
This is more than what our friends in some other countries in the region have. Also, the government, through educational means (such as National Education), policies and programmes (such as Community Engagement Programmes) and legislative means to protect the interests of minority communities (such as the Sedition Act and the Presidential Council for Minority Rights) continue to provide a measure of predictability that the principles of equal opportunities and meritocracy will not be suspended. This assurance is important and is something that the people – especially of the minority communities – look to the government to provide.
What is needed now, is for there to be more opportunities for open and candid discussion and debate on matters and issues pertaining to ethnicity and religion. The government needs to acknowledge that especially because of the many mixed messages one is exposed to today, especially through the Internet, there is an even more pressing need for honest and yet sensibly facilitated discussions, perhaps in closed-door settings.
What do you tell your daughter about race?
Maya is 14 and is fortunate to have parents who believe in and are committed to multiracialism. “Fortunate” because parents are a critical point of reference, especially in areas that are based on values and cultural norms. She is also fortunate that her primary school (Haig Girls) and now the School of the Arts (SOTA) provided an open and accepting atmosphere for mingling across ethnic and religious backgrounds.
As such, Maya’s school and home environment were consistent in sending the core message that while we may look different and have diverse practices because of our ethnic or religious background, each one of us should be valued for who we are as individuals based on universally-accepted values that transcend ethnic and religious realms.
There have been times when an individual’s negative actions seem to have a cultural or religious basis. In such cases, my wife and I make it a point to discuss the situation in detail with Maya, essentially to persuade her to avoid drawing conclusions that validate stereotypes that are pejorative. What helps is that my wife and I are seldom in disagreement when it comes to this subject.
Q. How many of your closest friends are of another race?
A. If we were to adopt the definition in the survey that a close friend is someone you are comfortable confiding in, I would say that out of a total of about 20 who qualify, about half are non-Indian.
Dear Singapore Girl
By Calvin Soh
I loved you the first time I saw you so many years ago. Then you were one of a kind. You were confident, brave, your ideas were ahead of its time and you had a spirit no one else had. You were my first in so many ways.
Then, you wooed me like no one else had done before, with your Kebaya, meals by famous chefs, Raffles Class, exemplary wines, and inflight service other airlines talk about. You were business “unusual”.
Then, one day, you stopped wooing me. You became corporate (robotic almost), you cut corners and stopped doing the things that meant a lot to me. I felt like a number. Our relationship became business as usual.
So I looked around and other girls appeared over the horizon. They were still mere copies of you but they were catching up very quickly.
We drifted. I started seeing other people who don’t take me for granted.
Now you’re trying to win me back. With an ad campaign, with words and with clichés.
“The Lengths We Go To”, showcasing the Airline’s unwavering commitment to putting the customer at the heart of everything it does, in all classes of travel.
Everyone from the POSB Girl to Carrier Man says that. If you don’t believe me, google it. No one says you’re not at the heart of everything they do.
“Making every customer feel at home when they fly with us has always been the cornerstone of our service philosophy. Our customers’ preferences have always been the foremost consideration in the curation process for our new products which are sourced from all over the world. This new campaign sets out to reaffirm this commitment.”
So what’s new? You mean you’ve not been doing that all along? The truth is you’re not doing enough and that’s why we’re estranged.
A tea plantation and teahouse in Fujian were selected as the setting as this is the region from which SIA sources Jasmine tea.
Renowned Glasgow-based Andrew Muirhead & Son, Europe’s oldest tannery, was used as the filming location as it is where the leather used in SIA’s Business Class seats is produced.
SIA’s award-winning KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system features films in more than 10 languages, including a selection of critically-acclaimed artistic films to cater to customers’ varied preferences.
You’re going to win me back with green tea, leather and movies? Really? No one else has them?
The Airline’s YouTube page, youtube.com/user/
Please stop now. I skip videos within the first 5 seconds and stopped reading newspapers and watching TV a long time ago. Just ask Straits Times and Mediacorp.
You can’t win my loyalty, trust and love back with mere words, especially referring to me in the third person.
No, I want action.
And it starts by understanding what I want.
For example, I hate your online booking site more than an ACS boy hates Chinese (I fathered one during our break). I feel you deliberately made it difficult to book so I don’t get to claim my hard earned points. And if by miracle the site doesn’t hang, I find the rules of using my miles skewed in your favour. It’s all you you you.
If instead of doing these ads that I won’t get to see, spend the $5mil redoing your website instead. Make it easier and quicker to redeem my miles. Then do a campaign that says this is how you put me first.
I will watch that commercial, read that ad and click that banner. I will believe the lengths you’ll go to.
And if you want me back, find a way to transfer some of my miles from other airlines over. Can I enjoy some of the perks without having to start from scratch? I have many friends who are relocating to Singapore who’d like that option too.
I know, I know. You can’t transfer miles. Once you start, everyone would want that. But in the past, you’d think outside the box and find a solution. You would invent, innovate, and at least try. You lost your business “unusual-ness”.
These days, I find you’ve become comfortable, complacent and stuck in your ways. Change can be so hard when you’re afraid of losing what you already have. But if you don’t, you will anyway. Just look at the Nokia, Tower Records,
The Washington Post and Borders of the world.
The ones that are relevant to me still have the challenger spirit, constantly reinventing themselves, like Apple, Samsung, Nike, and Starbucks.
You had that same spirit all those years ago, it’s embedded deep in your DNA.
So what’s stopping you? Is it the shareholder? Because in the past, when you focused on me, the shareholder benefited. Never vice versa, remember?
But I can’t wait. I’ve moved on. I’ve changed faster than you have.
I now live in exponential times. Nokia was worth US$132bn 5 years ago, and US$7.2bn now. The Singapore property market recession lasted a mere 18 months. My loyalty to brands also fluctuate exponentially.
I’m not the same person 10 years ago. Heck, I’m not the same person 10 months ago.
I’m surrounded by instant access to knowledge. I can find cheaper and better alternatives anywhere. I can also find out if you’re telling the truth or not.
I can block ads, deny you access to information and I have the power of choice. This is the world I live in.
I am now in control, not you. The customer is King.
I’ve changed so much while you’ve only just updated your 70s Abba blue eye shadow.
I’m the one who is far ahead of you.
I’m sorry Singapore Girl. It’s not you, it’s me.
Calvin Soh is an adman.
Finally, Singaporeans first
By Abhijit Nag
“We are putting Singaporeans first,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech on August 14, 2011, three months after the May 7 general election which returned the People’s Action Party to power with the slimmest majority since independence. Now, two years later, we are seeing the government acting at last on one of the biggest grouses of Singaporeans.
Singaporeans will have to be considered first before companies can hire foreigners. Anyone looking for a better job in this tight labour market, where unemployment is a paltry 2.1 per cent, will be familiar with the boilerplate last line in want ads: “Only Singaporeans and permanent residents need apply.” Now the rule is being tightened. From August next year, companies will have to advertise for Singaporeans first before they can apply for employment passes to bring in – is that the phrase? – “foreign talent”.
The phrase is so yesterday. Once you could not even finish the paper without coming across the phrase. Now it has become the linguistic equivalent of a persona non grata. It seems to have been banished from the vocabulary of ministers and officials.
You won’t find the expression in the official press release yesterday which said: “The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) today announced new rules that require employers to consider Singaporeans fairly before hiring Employment Pass (EP) holders.“ True to style, it goes on to list the penalties for breaking the rule: “Firms with discriminatory hiring practices will be subject to additional scrutiny and may have their work pass privileges curtailed.”
Government means business
The government means business. It is specific about the conditions that have to be met before companies can apply for employment passes:
“Firms making new EP applications must advertise the job vacancy on a new jobs bank administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). The advertisement must be open to Singaporeans… and run for at least 14 calendar days.”
Since the companies will have to advertise on a WDA jobs bank, it will be easier for the government to check if they are following the rules.
Singapore already has rules regulating the ratio of foreign workers to local workers. What MOM’s latest rule really comes down to is a leg up for young, white-collar Singaporeans. The press release says as much:
“Elaborating, Acting (Manpower) Minister Tan (Chuan-Jin) said, “What we are doing is to put in place measures to nudge employers to give Singaporeans – especially our young graduates and Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) – a fair chance at both job and development opportunities.”
Cynics might say that’s the constituency the PAP lost in the by-election in the largely young, relatively well-off Punggol East — the sandwiched middle class likely to vent online instead of just drowning their sorrows in the local kopitiam.
But, of course, you can’t please all the people all the time. There will be grumbles even about the new rules: Why August next year? Why not now?
Maybe companies still need time to adjust to the new Singapore.
Good for business?
So, yes, the government means business, but is it good for business? The SMEs’ lament about the labour shortage is well known. But start-ups have been complaining too. Generally, university graduates prefer working for multinationals like Google, Facebook or Microsoft, making it difficult for start-ups to hire people unless restrictions on foreign workers are loosened. That’s what some entrepreneurs said at the first dialogue session with the Entrepreneurship Review Committee, attended by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck, in July, reported sgentrepreneurs.com.
The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce in its annual closed-door dialogue with MOM also spoke about the need to hire and retain foreign workers, “particularly for certain industries that are in need of skill sets, knowledge and experience not readily found among Singaporeans”.
Even the former US ambassador to Singapore, David Adelman, stressed that Singapore must remain open to foreign talent in order to attract foreign capital. Commenting on the debate on foreigners in Singapore, he told The Straits Times: “American businesses and investors are watching it closely. I would even broaden it – all foreign investors are watching it very closely.”
So business-friendly, MNC-wooing Singapore is really shrugging off the concerns expressed by quarters crucial to its economy – SMEs and foreign investors.
Who comes first, who spoke first
But, of course, Singaporeans come first.
“The new rules… draw on feedback from Singaporeans who have submitted their views to MOM through MOM’s Our Singapore Conversation on Jobs and from key stakeholders such as the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and employer groups,” says the official press release.
Concerns were expressed earlier too. The Workers’ Party captured the Aljunied GRC – the first GRC lost by the PAP – in the 2011 general election on a manifesto that, among other things, claimed: “The PAP government’s immigration policies appear to be focused mainly on meeting the manpower demands of businesses, and ostensibly to grow our population in the face of declining local birth rates.”
Now the policy has changed.
Over to you, Mr Low Thia Khiang.
How did the sports boss get it so wrong?
By Tan Bah Bah
The failure of Ng Ser Miang to win the presidency of the International Olympic Committee, the most powerful position in international sport, was a fierce reality check. In more ways than one.
Sure, dare to dream. But there are also limits to what a small nation can do. The local mainstream media tried to build up Ng as a leading contender against the other candidates, including Thomas Bach, the eventual winner with 49 votes to Ng’s six. The reality is that Ng, who was nearly eliminated in the first round of voting, was at least a lap away from being a contender.
After the hooha, we want to ask: what was the whole thing all about, anyway?
One answer would be: Why not? The whole experience of the campaign is useful. We learn how to deal with powerful nations and powerful organisations and the way they work. We make new friends. We make ourselves known. We tell others who we are and we push the Singapore brand further and higher.
For a moment, we were up there with the big boys. We tried. But, as a Rolling Stones song puts it, “we can’t always get what we want…” Even China could not get what it wanted. Beijing went all out to get the 2000 Summer Olympic Games which was valued because of its millennial landmark theme. The games went to Sydney instead.
Also, Ng was already one of the IOC vice-presidents, so going for the top post was just a logical follow-up step.
And Ng did beat Sergei Bubka (five votes only), the legendary multiple-gold-medal winning world and Olympic champion pole vaulter from Ukraine, a great sporting nation.
So what?: That would be the next question. Was the spending of $300 million for the Youth Olympic Games 2010 part of the deal or game plan?
The questions should be answered as part of a wider picture – which was made clear by the IOC presidency race.
Were we so intense about getting the IOC post that we lost sight of who or what we are? Are we doing enough at home to shore up our place in this part of the world – before we take on the rest of the world?
The results of the IOC race must have an eye-opener. Ng was supposed to be Asia’s man to succeed Jacques Rogge, or so we were told. Out of the 200 plus nations voting at the IOC Session, there were so many more Asian votes than six. Yet, only six gave their votes to Singapore. The voting was secret, of course. So we do not know exactly who voted for whom.
I do not wish to guess either.
But the small number of Yes votes makes it rather easier to analyse who did NOT vote for Singapore.
There are 10 members in Asean. Maybe all the six IOC Yes votes came from Asean, maybe not. But the point is this: Not every Asean member voted for Singapore, a fellow Asean member. So much for Asean unity.
I have grave doubts that China with whom we claim so much special relationship voted for us. Australia, our good friend? Nah. USA? I think not. Good old Britain who were so excited to be awarded the 2012 Olympic Games when the announcement was made in Singapore? Good try.
What I do know is that it is time to do two things.
First, have we been alienating ourselves from our neighbours in this part of the world? If Singaporeans – and their government – do not care to cultivate generations who can speak the language to connect with, say, Indonesians and Malaysians, why should they care about us?
The second affects our ambitions to be a better sporting nation. Let us relook our whole sporting strategy.
The development of sports should not be in the hands of bureaucrats who have not the slightest idea of what the excitement of sports is all about. These bureaucrats can help to run the show but the final decisions, the overall feel of what are the right steps to take, must come from people who have always have a passion for sports. We have these people. Let them play a bigger role. We desperately need a Lord Sebastian Coe – or an Edward Barker.
Tan Bah Bah is a retired journalist. He was a senior leader writer/ columnist with The Straits Times and managing editor of a local magazine company.
Why SIA is desperate for a deal
Singapore Airlines’ third stab at the Indian market by joining hands with a partner to start an airline there shows how desperate it is in wanting to maintain its premier position. The headwinds moving against SIA are there for all to see. There is intense competition in the long-haul and medium-haul markets from Gulf carriers like Emirates and neighbours such as Garuda and Malaysia Airlines. The low-cost carriers are also squeezing the airline’s profits. One way for it to stay on top is to widen its portfolio. This is where the latest attempt to tie the knot with Tata Group comes in.
Here P N Balji, editor of The Independent Singapore, discusses the issues with Siva Govindasamy, Reuters chief aerospace and defence correspondent for Asia.
Q. What has changed in India that gives SIA the confidence that this time they will make it?
A. The regulatory environment has changed and India last year allowed foreign airlines to finally own a stake of up to 49% in an Indian carrier. The Indian airline industry remains buoyant, with passenger numbers rising in both the domestic and international sectors. The long-term growth potential, aligned with the development of airport infrastructure, is immense.
Q. Are tie-ups, like this one, the way to go for SIA as it gets crowded out?
A. It is part of a broader change in SIA’s direction. The CEO is pushing for a different direction – one that is less reliant, over the medium to long term, on the flagship carrier and instead has a slew of new subsidiaries that generate revenue in growth markets. This comes amid growing pressure on SIA from the Gulf carriers and other neighbouring full-service airlines.
Scoot, for example, is SIA’s play in the medium and long haul low-fare leisure market that the flagship left sometime back. India can be a separate revenue-generating business unit, as can future investments in China for example. So this is a change from the dependence on the flagship to a holding structure with diversified revenue streams.
Given SIA’s large cash pile of over $4 billion, the company has the ability to make these investments and the wherewithal to see them through the initial losses and hiccups. It can afford to have a long-term view with these investments.
Q. What has been the success of tie-ups like this for SIA? Do countries fear SIA? It failed twice in India, did not really succeed in Australia and New Zealand.
A. There are many issues at play. One question is how much control over the management SIA will have – it did not with Virgin Atlantic, and that was a major factor in the failure of that venture and hence the sale of the stake to Delta Air Lines this year. In New Zealand, economic factors came into play.
SIA’s 19.9% stake in Virgin Australia, on the other hand, is to cement a partnership that is mutually beneficial. There is no reason to influence management there beyond ensuring that the alliance stays strong.
In India, it will be important for SIA to ensure it has some degree of control over the new airline’s strategic direction – and it should be able to effect a change, if needed. Otherwise, it will likely let the new airline’s management chart its own course. And that will be the best option – excessive inference from a parent has never been good in the airline industry.
Beyond that, success will depend on how the new airline’s management navigates a course around India’s bureaucracy, tax regime, politics and the cut-throat competition. There are risks, but SIA needs to take such risks if it wants to be successful and if it wants its new strategic direction to be successful. The medium to long-term rewards in an airline market like India could be immense if this pays off.
Watch the ships for signs of the economy
By Thusitha de Silva
With another economic malaise hovering over the horizon, what are we in for? Repeat of earlier crises or just a correction?
Contrary to the popular narrative, Singapore has a key natural resource, namely its location. This has helped Singapore develop as a major air and shipping hub, and keep its pulse on regional and global trade flows. The city-state’s top trading partners include the US, Europe and China, which are the world’s biggest economies. All these suggest Singapore’s economy can be regarded as something of a bellwether for the global economy.
If this is the case, the latest trade data out of Singapore indicate that not all is well in the world, despite some talk in the mainstream media of a recovery in both Europe and the US. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell 6.2% year on year in August, according to International Enterprise Singapore, accelerating from a decline of 1.9% in July. Both electronic and non-electronic exports showed weakness. In particular, exports to Europe contracted by 20.8% in August, extending a 38.5% decrease in July. This is a bad sign because Europe has been Singapore’s biggest export market in the past. It suggests that Europe is still mired in its debt troubles, and there is a lack of demand for imports.
Economists, however, see an improvement in the global macroeconomic picture based on some of the latest data from around the world. A closely-followed data set is the PMI, or purchasing managers index. This is essentially a survey of companies conducted by an authority in a country (in Singapore, it’s the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management) to see how they are doing in terms of metrics like new orders and hiring. The data has been positive of late, signalling expansions in economies. But real economies have been slow to catch up and reflect this data.
US recovery, really?
Meanwhile, a lot of data coming out of US don’t gel with the idea of a recovery there even though President Barack Obama says things are getting better. For instance, a new census report in the US. has revealed that 46.5 million Americans are living in poverty. Also one in every five households in the US were on the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, in June.
The problem that has continued to plague the US since the global financial crisis in 2008 is how to kick-start the economy. The whole world needs a healthy US economy and this hasn’t been the case for a while and doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon.
The Quantitative Easing (QE) initiatives introduced by the Federal Reserve in recent years haven’t done much to help the real economy, though it has ostensibly helped to raise asset prices. And now the Federal Reserve is in a bind because it doesn’t know when to unwind QE, which is essentially an asset purchase programme. And the Federal Reserve has unexpectedly decided not to taper its asset purchases, preferring to wait for confirmation of improvement in its outlook. The market is high on liquidity and doesn’t want the Federal Reserve to turn off the tap.
With the US and European economies still sluggish, attention has turned to Asia as an engine of global growth. The biggest economies in this part of the world are China and Japan, and both countries are grappling with serious domestic issues. China has spent so much money in the last 20 years developing its infrastructure that it is now facing overcapacity issues and is focusing on improving consumption as an engine of economic growth. Japan, meanwhile, is trying to pull itself out of a deflationary phase with its own version of QE but results are unlikely to be seen for some time, if any. The award of the 2020 Olympic Games to Japan is a positive sign for its economy, but the benefits are likely only to be seen in the years leading up to the Games.
Fend for yourself, Singapore
So, for Singapore to survive the current global economic malaise, it has to somehow create growth opportunities for itself. That’s one reason why Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited parts of China, like the Liaoning province in the west of the country, that he hasn’t visited before. It could also explain the plan to build a park in the open-air car park of Terminal One in Changi airport as well as plans to move Singapore’s port to Tuas, freeing up seafront land in Keppel for property development.
For a small country, Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) is massive–according to the World Bank, it hit US$274.7 billion in 2012, resulting in GDP per capita of US$51,709.45. This is ranked inside the top 15 in the world by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, the CIA World Factbook and the United Nations. While many believe it’s time to slow down the frenetic quest for more growth, the government’s default mode seems to be to always go for GDP growth. One of the negative outcomes of the government’s method for this is a widening income gap (see theindependent.sg article “Minding the Gap” dated September 12, 2013)
Positively though, the government has somewhat tempered down its growth expectations compared to the past as it recognises the difficulties that the global economy continues to face. We don’t hear of 5% to 7% GDP growth anymore. Even then, it showed some optimism about the city-state’s economic prospects by raising its economic growth expectations for 2013 in August. After the economy expanded by 2.0% in the first half of the year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry raised its GDP growth target for 2013 from 1.0%-3.0% to 2.5%-3.5%. Its upward revision suggests a stronger second half of 2013 on a year-on-year basis.
However, with export numbers down, there have been suggestions of a weaker third quarter. The manufacturing output data for August due on Sept 26 will give a better indication on how the economy will fare in the third quarter. If those numbers do not shine, there could be a downgrade in the government’s economic forecast for 2013.
Thusitha de Silva has been working in financial media for the last 20 years.