Chronicles of Old Singapore | Quek Siow Kai – Shifts, Ships, Sifus & Spyros Part 1

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Quek Siow Kai relates his story as one of Singapore’s Technical Generation in the 1970s. He struggled in the Singapore Polytechnic as a Chinese-medium student, before graduating into the recession caused by the 1973-74 global oil crisis. He found a job in a textiles factory, managing an entire shift. The night shift was noisy and exhausting, and he had to wear masks for the blue dust produced when working on jeans. 00:00 Introduction 02:59 Struggles at Singapore Polytechnic 09:15 Understanding the Lecturers 16:34 Running a Whole Shift in a Textiles Factory 22:19 Shift Work was Tough 28:14 Productivity & Profit 31:00 Jeans & Blue Dust 25:58 Low Wages Inquiry Report on the Explosion and Fire on Board S.T. Spyros, 12th October 1978. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/book-detail?cmsuuid=119cee73-85f5-4555-997c-e73aa4b4ba31 I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city. Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot. Write to [email protected] if you have stories to share. YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344/ Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore