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Apr 30, 2010
may day awards
I learnt to drive a bus
Minister speaks on winning workers' trust
By Kor Kian Beng <!-- by line -->
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May Day award winners. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN
TO UNDERSTAND the difficulties drivers face in reverse-parking a bus, Mr Mah Bow Tan got behind the steering wheel and learnt to drive the vehicle.
Mr Mah, a Hainanese, also learnt how to swear in Hokkien.
The Minister of National Development did it back in the late 1970s when he was a boss at then-Singapore Bus Service (SBS), the predecessor of SBS Transit. Yesterday, Mr Mah, now aged 61 and also chairman of the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF), recounted his first-hand experience and other anecdotes to drive home a point: to win trust, one has to gain respect first.
It is crucial and the swift economic rebound recently bears testimony to its sustained importance, he told about 1,800 workers, union leaders and employers at this year's May Day dinner to laud model employers and workers as well as long-time supporters of labour work in advancing the cause of workers. Indeed, the deep level of mutual trust and understanding among the tripartite partners was the 'most fundamental and abiding' reason for the recovery from last year's recession, he said.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.
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