TR EMERITUS

I read with mixed feelings of sympathy and puzzlement for the “Rental S$300 per day” — Netizen shares plight of hawkers at pasar malam (The Independent News Singapore, July 11) It is very sad to notice that the rental of one pasar malam (night market) or bazaar stall has cost between S$300 and S$666 per day depending upon the location of the pasar malams or bazaars being organised. For example, one pasar malam stall along the Jurong East Avenue 1 or Jurong West Avenue 1 could cost a stall owner between $150 and $300 per day. But, some kebab stalls at Batique Geylang Ramadan Bazaar had rocketed to S$666 per day. That is why some netizens have done their maths, and shocked to conclude that these are insane amounts - “A kebab costs like S$4 for the chicken one, and about S$5 or S$6 for the beef. How many does one stall owner need to sell per day to even recoup that rental?”. As a lot of shopping malls, neighbourhood shophouses and restaurants/eateries spread across the island city, and the stretch of stalls of pasar malam/bazaar was confined to a small street/location, and you can easily notice that the vendors were waiting for customers to patronise their stalls most of the time. Recently, at the Batique Geylang Ramadan Bazaar, a litany of complaints from stallholders worried about high rents, low visitorship and steep competition had surfaced. For examples, some people paid $16,000 to rent one stall, another Ramly burger seller in the tent paid $20,000 each for four stalls. Although the organisers of the Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar said that the rental costs of its stalls are within market rental rates. But, they did not seriously take into consideration of the stallholders’ plights, consumers trends, consumers spending habits and purchasing power. Anyway, all the potential or interested individuals who wish to bid/tender for any pasar malams/bazaars stalls should thoroughly do their homework prior to jumping into an “unclear/muddy” water, so that they won’t make a loss in their small business.   Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)      Read More →

I’ve never been much of a salesperson. My main issue is the fact that I grew up in a family that took pride in being “professional middle-class” and the “sales” was regarded as something that was a little less than classy. I was told that I was the “academic” one in the family that was my destiny to do things that required great thought rather than “sales.” My Dad’s biggest panic moments in my professional development was the time I told I was going to sell ads for the Old Rogue. In his words, “Space salesmen were the type of people ran away from.” My aversion to selling meant that while I was good at telling stories, I never quite had that instinct to “close” deals. It even went into my personal life, where I often quip that I was always a nice guy whom lots of women wanted as a friend or future husband but few were drying to jump into bed with me. Couldn’t close the deal so to speak. The aversion to “selling,” kind of ended when I started working. I was the guy who couldn’t hold a steady job in an PR agency, which was where everyone said my talents were. So, since I couldn’t hold a job, I had to look for my own jobs and somehow, with no brand name to speak of and no “agency” experience, I had to convince people to hire me. It wasn’t just a case of doing the job (which is what most employees do), I actually had to get the job and ensure that I got paid. So, I had to avoid the aversion to sales and actually sell myself well enough. I’m still not a great salesman but the experience of having to hustle for around a decade of my working life made me appreciate certain things that I probably would not have had, had I had the conventional more academic career that everything thought I would have. I appreciate hustlers. I will even go so far as to say that my sympathies are with people on the streets rather than with people in offices. I think of it as the difference between being a wife and a prostitute. The wife has one man who is in theory obliged to look after her. It’s a more “respectable” and more “secure” path. Some of the most well to do that I know have been good and “loyal” wives to their employers. Being a prostitute is a different story. It’s in a way, the rougher life because you understand that you our only looked after if the client is pleased and you are only valued as long as you are useful. As such, your mindset changes because the guy is feeding you today may stop feeding you on a whim during the next. You have to learn to be self-reliant and always have something on the side because you could be thrown out on the street the next day. In this situation you have to consistently manage relationships well because today’s enemy could be the person feeding you tomorrow. Constant selling is essential if you want to live the life of a prostitute. You need to be sharper than the wives about who you trust and who you don’t. Its easy to get f***** without getting paid, so you got to know what you are doing when you live off the streets. These days, when I go into meetings, I do things like observe non-verbal ques and I try to identify decision makers because I came from the “prostitute” path where doing such things was an essential part of life. Now, one of the most essential parts of being a prostitute if that you got to have the ability to recognize your own kind. The reason for this is simple, if you’re both selling the same products, you’re not going to be able to sell to each other and you may end up becoming very bitter competitors for the same target. This was a lesson that I was trying to get though to my newest trainee. Told him to take advantage of his good looks and youth. He then proceeded to tell me that I was also good looking in a different way (him being pretty and me being rugged) too. Had to tell him that what worked for his previous boss (a good wife to all her employers) wasn’t going to work with me. I’ve had to hustle and I recognize the signs of someone trying to hustle me. However, I know where he’s coming from and I’ve told him that we can work around things. I see where he’s coming from and I probably would have tried the same in his position. I think of the time the Old Rogue met Pam (an older black woman I was seeing). They “fell in love.” She waxed lyrical about how he was sweet old timer. He declared that she shouldn’t teach art – she was a “work of art.” Yet, they never worked together. Proposed that Pam work for him selling ads for his magazine. His instant reaction was “I don’t think Indian and Chinese school owners would take too kindly to a black woman visiting them.” How did two people who professed love for each other not work together? The answer was simple. They recognized they were the same kind and knew that they’d react in certain situations and so they avoided any possibility of getting into awful situations. If there’s anything that I hope this young man gains from working with us, it is the ability to recognize people who share his outlook and approach to life. It will, I believe save him a lot of grief in later life.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able to meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.          Read More →

The passing of a sergeant made me think about how we truly see one another. Sgt Uvaraja Gopal, 36, was “found lying motionless at the foot of Block 393 Yishun Avenue 6” last Friday. Our law minister attended his wake and had an intimate talk with his family members. Investigation is ongoing since in Sgt Uvaraja’s FB post, before he was found at the foot of the block, he wrote that he “had been bullied at the workplace by his superiors and racially abused by his team members.” He also wrote that he “had been denied transfer within the police force, and had sought help but did not receive any.” This goes to the heart of the law minister’s concern since the police force’s motto is “To Protect and To Serve”. And each police officer has taken an oath in office to be the “Pillar of the State“ (Tiang Negara). It is therefore one thing to keep law and order in the country, but it is another to have a death as a result of what is alleged to be the lack of law and order in your own backyard. As a backdrop, the bullying started with a racial slur. Sgt Uvaraja reported it. Nothing came out of it. He was singled out though. He then took no-pay leave to tend to his mother (who has a brain injury and wheelchair bound). He also had a surgery to remove a lump in his leg. To compound matters, he suffered from sleepless nights and anxiety as a result of being ostracised. According to a friend’s post, he was even referred to the Internal Affair Office because his superior suspected that his medical leave was not genuine. It was said that the people high up in the chain of command wanted to terminate his employment, but the request was rejected because his MC was found to be genuine. You can read the details in his former colleague’s FB (Raj Naga), who described him as a “highly disciplined police officer” and “deeply passionate about policing and fighting crime.” He has a “distinctly rigid sense of duty” and held himself up to very high standards of person conduct. He also didn’t smoke or drink, whether on- or off-duty. Mr Shanmugam said: “The police know they will lose the confidence of the people if they do not investigate such cases thoroughly and bring any off end to light.” Lesson? Just one. Can we all get along? Sure we can. But then, at what level? Is Singapore a racist nation? Omg, of course we are not. We are color-blind, right? But then, is our heart colour-blind too? Does still water run deep? Do we see people one way and act the other way? What if we are in a crowd, in a company of like-minded and like-coloured people, which side will we stand against the inconvenient minority? While we can claim to be colour-blind, Tribalism, at its core, is blind, right? And what if we are caught in a social dilemma where our reputation and/or rice bowl is at stake? Will we cross that racial line, and then justify it as a necessary exception to the rule? I recall in NDR21, our PM Lee said that it is “entirely baseless” to claim that there is “Chinese privilege”, noting that Singapore treats “all races equally, with no special privileges”. I felt that that statement works splendidly as an office wall plaque. But the heart of racism, especially in a context much larger than an individual, goes, I believe, far deeper than that. At a rally, in a sea of red and white, where you know what you say will front tomorrow’s news, you are inclined to hold up high the banner of idealism, as the nation’s guiding lodestar. That’s understandable; even necessary. But everyday reality runs a quiet stream that is often nourished by unspoken rules, implicit bias, and systemic/cultural manipulation and oppression that can be toxic when the conditions are right. Most times, biasness rears its ugly head with the inconvenient truth that we try to sweep under the rug than the openly declared truth that we nod most agreeably with. We may profess proudly to be colour-blind, but at times, all it takes is a tribal match to strike against the rough surface of hierarchical power and the pressure of majority to set aflame our embedded racist heart. Going back to the demise of a good officer, I have learned that in places of authority, places where shining plaques are hung, in particular, political, religious and public service offices, we must constantly check ourselves to look beyond the colour of one’s skin, the depth of one’s pocket, and/or the power that one wields. It takes moral courage to stand up against discrimination, in any form, shape or sizes. And staying vigilant can cost us more than just our position in that organisation. Often, racism does not stand alone. Underneath that tip of the dead-calm iceberg is a system of power, elitism and protected privilege that will gang up in a torrential tide to wash out any threat, even perceived ones, to their exclusive status quo.   Michael Han * The author is a Director at Hoh Law Corporation and blogs on Facebook.      Read More →