Singapore, My Country by Nilanjana Sengupta

Author:Nilanjana Sengupta [Sengupta, Nilanjana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, History, Asia, Southeast Asia, General, Business
ISBN: 9789813141315
Google: qVe2DAAAQBAJ
Publisher: World Scientific
Published: 2016-06-29T22:19:58+00:00

Even Wider Horizons Beckon: UK

The separation of Singapore as a Crown Colony, though not supported by the majority of its residents because of the impending threat of separation from Malaya, also had positive ramifications. It meant the British paid more attention to Singapore with the intent of building up local loyalties. As a part of such interventions the British government made known its intention of training members of the local populace for higher echelons of the Singapore Civil Service. And to his surprise, in December 1948 Bala came to know that he had been one of the first to be chosen to go to the UK under the Singapore Government Departmental Scholarship Scheme. It would be a two-year course in advanced postal training and Bala gladly accepted the appointment. This meant that the initial years of the Malayan Emergency would pass him by. Emergency would be declared in the Federation on 16th June 1948 and within a week, extend to Singapore.

It was time to pass on the baton of the Singapore P & T Workers’ Union to a colleague and Bala ruminated on this with some sadness. He had helped establish the union and the last few years had been spent in ceaseless attempts to place it on a strong foundation. It was particularly sad because it was only of late that the union had seen the first signs of success with not only its international affiliation but also with the Singapore Government finally accepting to review the time-scale salary pay plan and the increase of the initial salary of women workers to match that of the men. The prickly issue of the cost-of living allowance had been broached by the union as early as in January 1947 and then there had been the matter of the arrear payment of wages as well as protests over low initial pay and an annual increment of $5. Initially the union’s recommendations had been submitted to the Salaries Commission. But the Commission’s decisions had not been acceptable to the union and it was only in 1948 that the proposal had gone up for review to the joint Singapore and Federation of Malaya Committee and the union was hopeful of better justice.10

After some deliberation the stewardship of the postal union as well as of the Postal Services Joint Council was handed over to G Kandasamy, Bala’s old friend from the Japanese Occupation period and one who had worked closely with him as the Assistant Secretary of the P & T Workers’ Union. In the subsequent years Kandasamy would of course play a vital and high-profile role as a trade unionist, coming in close contact with the future President of Singapore, S R Nathan, when in the 1950s the latter was Welfare Officer of the Seamen’s Union. In 1952, Kandasamy would invite the Cambridge-returned young lawyer Lee Kuan Yew as the P & T Union’s legal advisor and the ensuing legal case between the government and the union would receive substantial coverage in local newspapers and finally succeed in obtaining better pay and conditions for the postal workers.

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