April 30th, 2010 TEMASEK REVIEW
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who had come under
fire of late from Singaporeans for his failure to control
sky-rocketing HDB flat prices, now tries to woo the man in the
street by revealing his “common roots” during his younger days.
Mr Mah was a boss at the Singapore Bus Service in the late
1970s. Speaking during this year’s May Day dinner, Mr Mah revealed
that he once learnt to drive a bus to understand the difficulties
drivers face in reverse-parking a bus.
He did not elaborate more on whether his “experience” served any
useful purpose to the workers or SBS.
In order to win trust from the workers, he also learnt how to
“swear” in Hokkien though he did not mention the expletives he had
picked up.
Mr Mah claimed that “the deep level of mutual trust and
understanding among the tripartite partners was the ‘most
fundamental and abiding’ reason for the recovery from last year’s
recession.”
“If anyone thinks that was easy, just look at the situation
in many other countries, where government, employers and unions
were locked in conflict, unable to take difficult decisions because
they simply did not trust one another,” he was quoted as
saying in the Straits Times.
The “tripartite partners” refer to the government, employers and
workers. Mr Mah forgot to add that there are no independent trade
unions in Singapore who truly represent the interests of ordinary
Singapore workers.
The largest trade union NTUC is a pseudo-PAP organization which
is always led by a PAP minister. It has limited power or influence
to fight for higher wages and better working conditions on behalf
of the workers.
For example, many Singaporeans were forced to accept a wage
cut during last year’s recession, but when the economy improves
this year, their wages have yet to increase despite repeated
exhortations by NTUC on employers to do so.
Fortunately for Mr Mah, he is expected to receive a hefty 8.8
percent pay rise this year on top of his $2 million dollar annual
salary, which is more than four times that of U.S. President Barack
Obama.
