Some friends were discussing on Twitter the recent decision by SMRT to reinforce no drinking / eating regulation on their trains. I believe this is enforced not just on the trains, but also the station platforms, and all of the ‘restricted area’ – i.e. the area leading to the platform after you tap your card.

What is interesting, is that some commuters readily embrace this, and go so far to even suggest that people sucking on a sweet (or lozenges) or drinking plain water should be punished as well.

Before I talk about these people, I would like to say the sudden decision to reinforce this regulation is the result of several conditions. First of all, SMRT has lowered fares recently and need to make up for their ‘income loss’. While they had attempted to adjust their usual ‘elastic schedule’ to try and squeeze more commuters (and thus, income) per train, this had led to an outcry from commuters. There is now a group called ‘I don’t like to squeeze on the MRT’ on Facebook.

Next, the inconsiderate commuters, such as the one who ate an apple in the station daily, and then leave the core on the platform benches, must have pissed off some SMRT staff to no end. On top of that, all the photos posted to STOMP now gave SMRT the perfect excuse / pretext for reinforcement. Of course, they need to pay also for all that advertisement with Phua Chu Kang tell people to give way to alighting passengers and to give up their seats to more needy passengers.

Thanks to these sheep, as my friend Ridzuan called them in a comment to my mei Nicole, there is now yet another thing to make our already hardly enjoyable MRT rides even worse. Though personally speaking, with the trains being so packed I would like to see how SMRT can get their staff to patrol the trains to enforce this regulation!

Anyway, Ridzuan is clearly too kind. I would have called them monkeys, because these Singaporeans reminded me of a ‘monkey experiment’ I read about a long time ago. It goes like this. Three monkeys were put in a cage, and a passage will lead to another section in which there is some food – peanuts or bananas. Whenever a monkey moves through the passage to grab the food on the other side, water will spray onto the section where the other two monkeys remained – to their immense annoyance. After awhile, the monkeys that were repeatedly sprayed, figured out that this has something to do with the other monkey’s actions. And they forcefully restrained the other monkey from doing so, at times even resorting to violence. These monkeys knew and understood why this law in place.

The scientists then removed a monkey and put in a new one, and now turned off the water spray. Without an prior experience of the situation, this new monkey quickly tried to cross the passage to grab the food, which the other two remaining monkeys promptly beat the new one up, even though no water now sprays on them. When all three monkeys stopped attempting to grab the food on the other end of the passage, yet another one of the old monkeys are removed, and again the situation repeated itself. Surprisingly, the monkey that hit the hardest is always the new joiner – which had exactly no clue why it was beaten. The experiment thus repeated itself until none of the monkeys has any idea why there’s this law in place. Now, anyone who tried to cross the passage to grab the food is simply beaten up promptly.

What is my point on talking about this experiment? The point is that there is something called the Spirit of the Law – where you understand why it is enforced, and the Word of the Law – where you understand what it says, but not necessarily the reason or the rational behind it. Neither do you give a damn why it is there and you probably enjoyed it when you see a person punished by it.

In my opinion, the spirit of the no-eating and drinking regulation was meant to keep the trains clean. SMRT will spend a lot to clean up the crumbs of food or stains from colored drinks, to prevent an infestation of ants and cockroaches. The idiots who are the usual whining STOMPERS probably have no clue about this, since I recall seeing some complaints about someone drinking a bottle of… plain water! These monkeys just whined about anyone eating or drinking on the trains – even when these people have not dirtied the trains. Granted, people will take it for granted if the regulation is not enforced, and we might soon find ourselves with a huge pest infestation on our trains, but my point is that some moderation is required when enforcing it – with the spirit of the law in mind. For example, people sucking on a lozenge because of a sore throat / cough, or a mother pacifying the baby with a bottle of milk is excusable.

Talking about wailing babies, my personal advice is that one should bring earplugs in the future, since you probably get more of them on the trains in the future, as a result of mothers not allowed to feed their babies on the trains / platform. Keep a look out for news of babies rushed to hospital because mothers tried to force them to drink more milk than necessary before they rushed onto the trains too.

By the way, since eating on trains is an offense and it deserved a fine, will there soon be an award the good Samaritan who gives up his seat for an old man or a pregnant lady, for example?

Funny Picture of the Day: