I COULD not disagree more with the points raised in the letter, "Passengers, give foreign bus captains a break" (my paper, April 3).

The issue is not whether it is easy or difficult for foreigners to understand Singaporean English in a short time.

It is whether anyone employed to provide a public service should be required to be sufficiently competent in spoken English.

Such a requirement should be formally enforced.

As a side note, I do not think Singaporean English is difficult to understand.

Non-Singaporeans I interact with understand me just fine.

The letter writer argued that, in the case of Mandarin-speaking bus captains, Chinese Singaporeans could learn and use the Chinese names of streets and buildings.

Why do Chinese Singaporeans have to do something that may not be within their comfort zone?

Singapore is multi-racial and English is the long-established language of administration and commerce, while Malay is its national language.

Therefore, Singaporeans of any ethnicity should have the right, when using a public service, to be served in English or Malay.

I commend the letter writer for pleading the case of foreign bus captains who work long hours and do not have an easy life, and for calling on passengers to do their homework before boarding a bus.

However, as much as I empathise with foreign bus captains, the interests of my fellow countrymen, many of whom also work long hours and live a stressful life, come first.

Whenever their stressful life affords them no time to check the necessary bus-route information prior to boarding, they should be served by a bus captain who has sufficient local knowledge and is able to communicate vital information without difficulty.

Mr Michael Ang York Poon

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