This coming 1 May Occupy Singapore at Hong Lim Park Speakers Corner is a nation-wide event.
One of my friend, KKH, told me not to protest. I am now having a stable job. If there is press media and they interview me why I am protesting or holding up a protest card, my employers may sack me for having an opinion.
Here are 2 good reasons why despite having a stable job and high income, you should also join in the Protest.
1) When I was young, I had this hobby of collecting first day covers of stamps. That was in the 1990s when XYZ Post Office was not corporatized yet. At that time, I remember this auntie whom I affectionately know as Fatimah.
Whenever she saw me in the queue, she more or less knows that I was there to buy first day covers. I still remember that I was a secondary school student and Jurong Point had just opened in 1994. XYZ Post Office was located at Basement 1.
Present day 2012, The XYZ Post of today is now no longer the same as before.
Since the Post Office was privatised, they employ quite a lot of China people as their front line service staff. They also made their post office into a little whore house selling financial products, loans and shopping products.
When I saw Fatimah that day, I could see that she was despondent. She was downgraded from being a Branch Supervisor to a Financial Consultant, peddling everything. She told me that once she hit her 50s, she was deemed 'top heavy' by the greedy shareholders and pushed her into sales peddling loans and financial instruments.
When I didn't see her in 2013, her colleague told me that she was asked to resign for failing to hit the quota.
When we hear stories like that, we feel a sense of indignation and unjust.
Fatimah was a loyal worker and when she was repaid with this kind of unfair treatment from her own company.
Even if I am rich and high status, it repulses me just to think of this greed that breaks families apart. If Fatimah is the sole breadwinner, it will only create more unrest in Singapore families.
2) In August 2010, I shed tears in front of a taxi driver.
At that time, I was heading for a job interview in National Parks Board. NParks HQ is in Botanical Gardens and as I had sweating issues, I usually take a cab inside to go attend an interview.
At that time, I was desperate to change my present job. My present job had a real psychotic boss from hell, Abigail Chua (whom I shall name her publicly coz she is a real wicked lady and everyone deserves to be wary of her and know her name).
I was trying my best to change job in case she would one day snap and sack me.
At that time, I alighted at Orchard MRT and took a cab to Nparks. The taxi driver was quite young and spoke in perfect excellent English when he asked me my location.
Curious, I asked him what he was doing as he sounded educated enough not to be a taxi driver.
He said that he was a software engineer from Motorola Singapore. The factory in Ang Mo Kio was retrenching people because consumers were buying Apple products and other brands of Smart phones. The only people who remained were those that manufacture walkie-talkies.
When I asked him if he could find other jobs, he said he was laid off for a few months and had one mother to support. His mother had disabilities and needed a maid to look after her. Out of desperation, he took a job as a taxi driver.
When I further asked him if he was confident of finding a job in the IT sector, he said he was scared too, as IT is a sunset vulnerable industry and very prone to foreigners invasion and volatile to uncertain economic forces.
At that time, I was very scared for myself too. The thoughts of me facing the psychotic boss Abigail Chua only put fear in me and if I don't get t Nparks job soon, I might become just a taxi driver too.
My thoughts on that is that this taxi driver could well be your friend, father or your spouse.
This is the time for you to stand up and make a difference on 1 May.
Don't be scared.
When adversity stares at your face, you stare back.
CJ