SMRT plays the Chinese card

I only heard the new Mandarin announcements for the first time when I was riding the MRT yesterday. Realizing that it is currently one of the hot topics in newspaper forums, I believe that the announcement has been present for some time.

SMRT looks really determined to end a year with controversy. It had two major breakdowns in December last year and for this year, there's the bus drivers' strike plus this Mandarin announcement saga. So, why the need for the extra language?

Did SMRT and Desmond Kuek, the company's CEO and former chief of defence force, take into consideration the reactions of the non-Chinese population when implementing this change? Is it due to the fact that it is catering for senior citizens? Then how did they manage to survive train rides for the past 25 years?

Nobody would have an opinion if English remained as the only king or Malay and Tamil joined in the party. With the inclusion of Mandarin, SMRT is clearly stating that it prioritizes the Chinese (and possibly the PRCs) more than commuters of other race.

But making announcements in all four languages might not be practical as some stations are barely two minutes away from each other. Plus, there's still the "suspicious article" reminder which fortunately is in four languages. With so much talking going on, can commuters enjoy a peaceful journey engrossed in their smartphones and tablet computers?

Anyway, I decided to google the mrt map and see how many stations could I (not) name in Mandarin. Fortunately, I was able to translate most of them including the crucial ones like Tanjong Pagar and City Hall. However, stations like Lavendar, Khatib and Promenade (seriously, does anyone knows this one?) got me killing lots of brain cells.

Oh yeah, and it was only today that I realized how blunt Bouna Vista's Chinese name is. Bō nà wéi sī dá. I remember that Bouna Vista is an Italian phrase and after a little research, discovered that it means "good view". So, shouldn't it be named as hǎo jǐng sè (好景色) instead?

Now that the damage is done, all eyes will be on SMRT to see how it handles this issue. It can either stick to two, make it four and revert to one, but all three options will still cause some unhappiness among certain groups of people. But there's one thing for sure, smartphone users will continue to revel in the world of their devices once they board a train.