Maintaining industrial harmony is very important to Singapore, particularly because public transport is one of the essential services so we have to take it in a very serious manner,” she added.
The bus drivers have a genuine concern: their Malay colleagues have a different contract than them. Yet, they are doing the same job with the same job description. This is discrimination by race / nationality. It means bus drivers’ contracts are neither equal nor equitable. Yes, SMRT should step up and ensure these complaints are handled in an appropriate manner via appropriate channels. But I genuinely wonder: is “industrial harmony” — that is, ensuring that public transport is running — more important than equality between humans? Is it more important than racial harmony?