SO RARE is industrial action in Singapore that the government and press seem to be hazy about the vocabulary. When 171 bus drivers employed by SMRT, a government-owned firm, refused to go to work on November 26th and staged a sit-in at their dormitory, the Straits Times, a pro-government daily, termed it an “action”, “protest”, “episode” and “wage dispute”. Only later was the “s” word dragged out of the dictionary. After dozens of drivers stayed away from work for a second day, the front-page headline on November 28th was: “Govt moves against illegal strike.”
“Mr Brown”, a local blogger, noticing the reluctance to call a stoppage a strike, asked his Twitter followers for suggestions for other options. Among the ideas were “unhappy gathering”, “disgruntled sit-in” and, in a dig at the government’s much-touted effort to reconnect with its people, “the national bus drivers’ conversation”. Full story
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OPINION: Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin takes cover under semantics
