Saturday, May 30, 2009
Returning from Indonesia
After my recent trip to Indonesia, I am thoroughly impressed with the locals and upon my return back to this miserable and materialistic country have seriously begun to despise Singaporeans more and more. Oh I don't hate this country at all, I thoroughly respect the leaders and the country, it's the local populace that I have a grouse with.
Let's start with an experience with the local security guards.
The Indonesians earn pittance compared to the salaries that Singaporeans earn, though their standard of living is lower than Singaporeans, their quality of life is much higher. They are happier and more contented, they take their jobs seriously and have a great sense of responsibility and pride in whatever line of work that they do. A typical security guard earns about 500,000 – 600,000 rupiah per month depending on rank and importance of the facility. That's a mere S$75 - $90 in Singapore!!! In contrast, a security guard here easily earns ten times that amount for a less demanding nature of their work.. Which is to park their lazy ass in a booth and grow fat paying close attention to their nails.
The profession of the security guards over there are held in high regard, and throughout my visit, I have only met with very competent and helpful security guards. They are great! Unlike that fat lazy security guards we have in Singapore only concerned with their coffee breaks, taking great interest in their nails, and only capable of bothering playful harmless children crossing their compounds under their guard, in fact security guards here have a constant black face as if the world owes them a living, they are rude, irritating, incompetent, obnoxious, impatient and downright annoying for perfectly legitimate activities by innocent staff or visitors to a compound.
I seriously doubt a security guard in Singapore is able to withstand a dedicated punch or a physical assault in the event of a real scenario or threat. They are definitely not competent in close-combat nor are they trained in martial arts or unarmed combat techniques.
I doubt they are fully trained to respond to a threat scenario, crowd control, fire or natural disaster situation amongst others. Do you truly think a security guard who spends the whole day sitting in a booth staring at his fingers will be able to respond to a threat when the situation arises accordingly? Hell they'll piss in their pants.
Do you have faith in a Singaporean security guard? Do you feel safer with a Singapore security guard? Are you confident in their competence to guard the facility? The recent article in a local university's Chronicle has highlighted the fact that security guards on the school campus are using their service walkie-talkies to chat with each other, listening to music and sleeping on duty!!! The more competent ones are fat, unfit and have trouble hauling their own weight, lumbering about like oversized balloons.
But over there it's a very respected and dignified job, they are highly trained, fully armed (yes some of the guards there are armed with .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolvers), they look like fully armed policemen instead of security guards. They are constantly on their feet, ready with a metal detector, or a baton, or a mirror to inspect the underneath of a vehicle, or a signaling light-stick to guide traffic, and ever-ready with a whistle to stop traffic for a tourist to cross the road or to hail a taxi for a tourist.
The guards are no push-overs, not skinny nor scrawny, neither are they fat and obese. In fact they are trained for several months in a security guard academy before becoming fully fledged security guards and I believe they are trained in a variety of skills including close-combat, fire-arms and definitely courtesy and language courses in human communication.
They are burly, physically intimidating (look like bouncers in a club) yet courteous, despite the physical nature of their job, they don't put on a constant frown on their faces, their faces are stern and firm but they are always ready to help it is always done with a smile.
They don't sit on their ass-es in a booth, but are always patrolling the premises and standing on guard at the gates of the compounds that they are protecting. Even though they are serious in their line of work, they don't harass nor irritate passer-bys or tourists, and in fact extend a helping hand very willingly and unconditionally when the request is genuine. They can tell if you are there to make trouble, or genuinely asking for directions or wanting to cross the road.
Such situational awareness and courtesy is non-existent in Singaporean security guards. They assume that everyone is here to make trouble and harass or delay a perfectly legitimate request and giving trouble rather than preventing it. And the guards here have poor communication skills, can hardly speak English or communicate effectively at all.
I guess the Indonesians learnt their lesson after two bomb explosions in Bali perpetrated by terrorists. I am in awe and complete respect of the security forces back there, and utterly disgusted with the quality of the guards back in Singapore.
Posted by MK at 12:36 PM
