So far, I have taken quite a lot of taxis to go for job interviews.
Not that I am rich enough to take taxis but as I have sweating issues around my back and armpit areas, I usually prefer to take taxis.
Along the way, I would usually converse with taxi drivers and when the topic goes to PAP, taxi drivers usually launch into a bitter tirade against PM Lee Hsien Loong.
Let's look at some of the ways why taxi drivers have so much hatred against the PAP.
1) Taxi driving is hard work. Try imagining yourself sitting in a taxi for 8 hours. Many taxi drivers told me that they have to drink less water to make less trips to the toilet. They are also unable to stretch their legs as their feet are constantly on the brake and accelerator pedals. And they are unable to doze off.
2) Taxi driving exposes you to difficult passengers.
Some taxi drivers have told me that with so many foreigners, they meet new challenging customers from Vietnam, PRC, India with the mentality that Singapore owes them a living.
Some Malay and Indian taxi drivers told me that they have a hard time getting money from PRCs who don't speak English.
Besides the common runaway passengers who didn't pay, taxi drivers have to contend with passengers who throw up and babies who piss on their seats.
3) Taxi drivers salaries have remained stagnated with rising rental rates.
Many taxi drivers have said that most of the time, whatever they read on SPH such as good GDP growth or Medisave boost or civil servants getting 1 month bonus doesn't apply to them at all. A few years ago, a certain transport minister even said that taxi drivers can earn more than $300 per day which riles them up even more. So while PAP ministers enjoy their million dollar salaries, taxi drivers livelihood didn't improve.
4) Taxi drivers are usually the last profession you will do if you get retrenched. To qualify to be a taxi driver, you must be a Singapore citizen. So with you are retrenched in your 40s, it's very hard to find another job due to your age. The only job that you can land easily is to be a taxi driver as this is the only profession which foreigners cannot compete with you.
PAP has always put fear in Singaporeans, threatening us with chaos should PAP be voted out or take away our estate upgrading if we vote for opposition.
And yet, taxi drivers in Singapore have proven to be a resilient bunch of fearless Singaporeans who dared to speak out against PAP because they know that they have nothing to fear.
I have yet to find a taxi driver who is pro-PAP after taking so many taxi rides with them.
The closest was a taxi driver who told me that he volunteered with PAP 30 years ago when it was the Toh Chin Chye/ Goh Keng Swee era. Now, he sadly told me, that he cannot betray his own conscience.
If every Singaporean were to think along this taxi driver, PAP will definitely fear us instead of we fearing PAP.
CJ
TRS Contributor