Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Friday, 21 August 2009
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary
"寧可信苦地辛苦著，也不願沒有目的地前往目的地"
辭去實驗室工作，今天滿一週年。
365天，過得異常地辛苦。
除了堆積如山，關我與不關我事的工作，
還有從幕後走到幕前的隱私權問題，
和別人的目光與突如其來的飛刀。
母親常會念說："哎，唸了二十年的科學，
現在為做"這些事"而荒廢了，多可惜。"
但我今天特別覺得自己做的決定是對的。
因為看了一篇Alvinology的報道。
他的博客中提到一位世界著名學府
Stanford University的教授在被本地的科技學院辭退後，
不得不轉開德士維持生計。
http://taxidiary.blogspot.com
我驚覺，這位教授，是我的大二科研導師，蔡博士！
也是我在前公司的樓上科研小組的總組長！
他發表過不少大文章，
並在酵母的抗癌蛋白p53研究上有很大的國際貢獻。
我在離開時知道他快退休，
卻不知道原來他是被裁退的。
而且被裁退的原因，和他是華人，有很大的關係。
閱讀他的部落格，
看到他樂天地訴說當德士司機的苦樂，
我哭得好慘。好不心痛。
我曾任職的集團，在我走之前來了個高層大改革。
為了邁向國際化，
捨棄原本不錯的大家庭風氣，
改由洋人來做領導。
洋人老板不是不好。
他們比較relax也比較有幽默感。
最大的兩個問題是，
１）洋人比較信任洋人。
不是他們覺得華人不夠好（我天真相信），
而是溝通有差。
２）他們的薪金和津貼很多。
請一個等於請兩個華人。
聽說，我當時的薪水連還沒拿到博士學位的研究生都不如。
科研是我生命中最愛的東西之一。
現在還會不時想念。
然而當我的記性一轉到在實驗室裡被兩位洋人同事欺壓的片段時，
我便很慶幸自己離職了。
他們不是壞人，
只是本領不怎麼樣，
所以選擇用踩別人來抬高自己的手段。
我自認口才不好，選擇以退為進。
如今，我雖然辛苦，卻更開心。
這是我的國家，我是在為本地的樂壇奮鬥，
努力用流行音樂的方式提升我們的華文水平。
雖然音樂不比科學來得崇高，
但歌詞的安慰劑（Placebo)的作用至少立竿見影。
就說我在這方面膚淺吧。
能看到自己的作品在人們的眼中招來一陣淚水，
或在他們臉上拉開一個笑容，
有時比用一年的時間等一個實驗結果，
來得有滿足感。
現在的我，不能再為新加坡的科技做出貢獻，
可是我正在驕傲地為華人，我自己的民族寫歌。
PS 貼一個讓人看了火冒三丈的網站。
他的論點有點偏激，請不要太認真。
http://www.chinesetok.com/zblog/bbs/Show.Asp?ID=128
不過我的好友剛告訴我。我的前機構一位上層的義籍老板說了這句話：
"It is Impossible to Work in Singapore.
Asians Need to be Trained."
Need to Be Trained??? What? Like Animals???
cabby PhD holder now a taxi driver
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary
A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary (source: http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html)
Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope that these stories are interesting to you too.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Preface
Preface
Since the takeover of leadership by some western “big shots” a few years ago, the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of ASTAR, Singapore, a place I have worked for 16 years as a PI (principal investigator), a place that was once flourishing, promising, and pleasant to work in, has been in a mess. Bestowed with the kind of power they had never seen before, these once reputable scientists turned everything in the institute upside down. The previous democratic and consensus-oriented management system that had worked well for more than a decade in the past was thrown out of window and replaced by one that was marked by domineering, manipulation, and incompetence. What they lacked in experience of management, adequate understanding of the institute, and proper respect for fellow scientists as their colleagues, they made up for in arrogance, prejudice, and naked muscle of political power. Some PIs were sent packing, and some were promoted, all up to the new leadership’s manipulative and twisted standards. Despite my considerable contribution to building up this place into what it is today, I was among the first few PIs to be told to go. My employment contract with IMCB was terminated by May, 2008, without any forms of compensation given.
I was hence forced into a deeply difficult position. Becoming jobless at my age is perhaps the worst nightmare that can happen to any ordinary man, not to mention the loss of life-long career. Ever since I was informed of their decision sometime in 2007, when the economy was still booming, I had been trying hard to find a job. I had submitted countless CV and application letters to various places in Singapore including universities, government agencies, and private companies. Most of them, however, never responded. A couple of replies I did receive never materialized into anything positive. Later, the outburst of financial crisis world wide helped extinguish my last hope of finding a job anytime soon. By November 2008, I finally made a decision to become a taxi driver.
At the time like this, the taxi business is probably the only business in Singapore that still actively recruits people. I signed up for a training course run by a government-linked transport company in November, with a course fee of nearly $280. On paper, the Express Taxi Driver’s Vocational License Course, or TDVL, is supposed to run six days a week, five hours a day. But in reality, the daily course never lasted longer than 3 hours. The whole purpose of the course was to help you pass the test and get the license. It was divided into five sections, Rules and regulations, Routes and landmarks, Names and locations of buildings, Defensive driving, and General paper, which included subjects such as highway codes, vehicle maintenance, healthy living, etc. The instructors were either veteran taxi drivers or representatives from government agencies such as Land Transport Authority (LTA).
My class started on 1st of December, 2008, which consisted of more than 30 people. There were three classes running at the same time and all were about this size. The course was very easy. Every day, the instructors told us what to highlight on the manual and asked us to memorize them because these were the materials that were going to be tested. As long as you did that, it was impossible to fail the test. Even if you fail, you still have one year to take an unrestricted number of retest. With such ease, no wonder there are nearly 100,000 people possessing taxi driver’s license today in Singapore, almost 3 for every 100 Singapore citizens, children and infants included.
By the end of February this year, I finally received my taxi driver’s license, and thus began my new taxi driver’s career. This blog records some of the events that I have experienced as a taxi driver. They are all actual events and are presented as truthfully as possible. Special precautions have been taken to avoid revealing any specific information which may help in any way the identification of the persons described in these events. The purpose of this blog is to provide readers with the first hand accounts of my experience of converting from a veteran scientist to a rookie taxi driver in today’s Singapore. The views and encounters described in this blog may be insignificant, isolated, or biased. Nevertheless, I am sure some readers will find this blog interesting and helpful in widening their general perspectives on Singapore.
Finally, I want to thank my family for their trust and support, and for always being at my side to endure with me the trauma, the distress and the anxiety caused by my job loss. I also want to thank all of my customers, especially the ones who have shown their grace, kindness, and understanding to me when I made mistakes during my work. They are the important factor to encourage me to carry on.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:58 PM
Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope that these stories are interesting to you too.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Preface
Preface
Since the takeover of leadership by some western “big shots” a few years ago, the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of ASTAR, Singapore, a place I have worked for 16 years as a PI (principal investigator), a place that was once flourishing, promising, and pleasant to work in, has been in a mess. Bestowed with the kind of power they had never seen before, these once reputable scientists turned everything in the institute upside down. The previous democratic and consensus-oriented management system that had worked well for more than a decade in the past was thrown out of window and replaced by one that was marked by domineering, manipulation, and incompetence. What they lacked in experience of management, adequate understanding of the institute, and proper respect for fellow scientists as their colleagues, they made up for in arrogance, prejudice, and naked muscle of political power. Some PIs were sent packing, and some were promoted, all up to the new leadership’s manipulative and twisted standards. Despite my considerable contribution to building up this place into what it is today, I was among the first few PIs to be told to go. My employment contract with IMCB was terminated by May, 2008, without any forms of compensation given.
I was hence forced into a deeply difficult position. Becoming jobless at my age is perhaps the worst nightmare that can happen to any ordinary man, not to mention the loss of life-long career. Ever since I was informed of their decision sometime in 2007, when the economy was still booming, I had been trying hard to find a job. I had submitted countless CV and application letters to various places in Singapore including universities, government agencies, and private companies. Most of them, however, never responded. A couple of replies I did receive never materialized into anything positive. Later, the outburst of financial crisis world wide helped extinguish my last hope of finding a job anytime soon. By November 2008, I finally made a decision to become a taxi driver.
At the time like this, the taxi business is probably the only business in Singapore that still actively recruits people. I signed up for a training course run by a government-linked transport company in November, with a course fee of nearly $280. On paper, the Express Taxi Driver’s Vocational License Course, or TDVL, is supposed to run six days a week, five hours a day. But in reality, the daily course never lasted longer than 3 hours. The whole purpose of the course was to help you pass the test and get the license. It was divided into five sections, Rules and regulations, Routes and landmarks, Names and locations of buildings, Defensive driving, and General paper, which included subjects such as highway codes, vehicle maintenance, healthy living, etc. The instructors were either veteran taxi drivers or representatives from government agencies such as Land Transport Authority (LTA).
My class started on 1st of December, 2008, which consisted of more than 30 people. There were three classes running at the same time and all were about this size. The course was very easy. Every day, the instructors told us what to highlight on the manual and asked us to memorize them because these were the materials that were going to be tested. As long as you did that, it was impossible to fail the test. Even if you fail, you still have one year to take an unrestricted number of retest. With such ease, no wonder there are nearly 100,000 people possessing taxi driver’s license today in Singapore, almost 3 for every 100 Singapore citizens, children and infants included.
By the end of February this year, I finally received my taxi driver’s license, and thus began my new taxi driver’s career. This blog records some of the events that I have experienced as a taxi driver. They are all actual events and are presented as truthfully as possible. Special precautions have been taken to avoid revealing any specific information which may help in any way the identification of the persons described in these events. The purpose of this blog is to provide readers with the first hand accounts of my experience of converting from a veteran scientist to a rookie taxi driver in today’s Singapore. The views and encounters described in this blog may be insignificant, isolated, or biased. Nevertheless, I am sure some readers will find this blog interesting and helpful in widening their general perspectives on Singapore.
Finally, I want to thank my family for their trust and support, and for always being at my side to endure with me the trauma, the distress and the anxiety caused by my job loss. I also want to thank all of my customers, especially the ones who have shown their grace, kindness, and understanding to me when I made mistakes during my work. They are the important factor to encourage me to carry on.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:58 PM
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