Of Singapore On Minds Of Tourists.
extracted from STforums.
AFTER a fulfilling Sunday meet-up with friends on Aug 20, my
friends and I boarded a Silvercab to catch a quick peaceful ride
home. However, the journey turned out to be more than we bargained
for.
First, the speed of the cab was over the limit allowed on most
roads in Singapore. Dying to catch up on our beauty sleep for the
tiring week ahead, we were pretty glad the driver seemed to be in a
more of a rush than us to get us back home. Whatever, we didn't
really pay much attention to where the needle was pointing on the
speedometer.
What was appalling in the behaviour of the driver was his vehement
response to a simple roadworks on a stretch of the Central
Expressway (CTE), most likely a frantic government initiative in
preparation for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings
in mid-September. Hoping to strike up a friendly conversation with
the cab uncle, I made a remark on the speed of traffic on an
'expressway', asking his opinion why the CTE is always so
packed.
What ultimately resulted was verbal diarrhoea by the cab driver on
his prophesy of how 'first generation of Government make money,
second generation maintain stability, and third will eventually
waste away all that was achieved by the predecessors'. As a
'skilled conversationalist' with his passengers, he managed to
direct a conversation on roadworks and link it to CPF.
'Mark my words,' he said, 'by the time you retire, even if you have
a million in your CPF account, you'll not be able to retrieve a
single cent of it out of the Government's coffers.'
How pessimistic, I thought. What dismayed me was not just his
attempt to convince me of his thoughts, but rather, I shudder to
think that these exact same taxi drivers are the first point of
contact with many tourists visiting Singapore. They could be the
ambassadors of the nation, with such a rampant number of taxis
plying the streets of Singapore.
I was appalled by the thought that such negative impressions could
be etched on the minds of tourists even before they step into our
welcoming hotels. With or without the much anticipated
IMF-World Bank meetings just round the corner, it is such a shame
that the people with the most opportunity to rub shoulders with
tourists, have such negative views of the country they
represent.
Please, all taxi operators, do more to send drivers on courses in
communication. Perhaps National Education should be promoted in
taxi companies as well. Whatever is true or untrue, it is never too
late to change the environment and attitude of people around us. It
is only when we complain but do nothing that things start to spiral
out of control.
Audrey Tan Liling (Ms)
