Saturday 8 June 2019

Kinder, more caring Singapore

I am an octogenarian from Batu Pahat, Johor, and I was in Singapore recently for chiropractic treatment.

During my three weeks here, I experienced much kindness from my Singapore hosts. My daily trips to the chiropractor were filled with kind encounters.

Cab drivers helped my wife load and unload my portable wheelchair. Members of the public almost always held the lift door open for us and patiently waited for my wife to manoeuvre safely into the lift.

Singapore has come a long way since I lived and worked here as a civil engineer some 50 years ago.

Apart from your immense economic achievements, you have become a kinder and more caring society.

Vincent Chow Chee Sern
ST Forum, 30 May 2019




EXCEPTIONAL ACCESSIBILITY

Having recently returned from an eight-night stay in Singapore, my wife and I would like to commend the city's exceptional approach to accessibility.

My wife has multiple sclerosis, and in recent years, we have experienced the ups and downs of disabled travel, which can be especially difficult in busy city centres and on public transport.

We were amazed by the excellence of Singapore's MRT system, which has both excellent signage and superb lift facilities at every station.

Even at Outram Park station, where construction work was in full flow, we were able to quickly negotiate our way to and from the platforms.

On the one occasion we used a bus, the driver swiftly assembled a ramp to ensure we could board and disembark without fuss.

Singaporeans were generally very helpful, polite and respectful, not only on the MRT but also at museums, shopping malls and other destinations and facilities.

Bathrooms for disabled people were also of an exceptionally high standard and always kept immaculately clean.

Singaporeans have many reasons to be proud of their city, and our experience suggests that there is a great deal we in the United Kingdom could learn from an approach that combines efficient practicality with the essential human touch.

Andy Porter
England
ST Forum, 6 June 2019




COMMENDABLE PUBLIC ATTITUDES

I wholeheartedly support the sentiments expressed by Mr Vincent Chow Chee Sern (Kinder, more caring Singapore, May 30).

I, too, am an octogenarian, and now a partial wheelchair user.

I have visited Singapore three times in 20 years, and have never been more impressed with the public attitudes described by Mr Chow, with my wife and I among the fortunate recipients of this kindness.

John Barber
Christchurch, New Zealand
ST Forum, 6 June 2019


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