Divide and rule

In Sarawak Shell Bhd, senior staffs (SS) are not encouraged to mix socially with COE (clerical and operational employees). There is a clear line drawn and apartheid[16] is alive and well, especially in the clubs! Each category has their own social clubs at different locations.[17] Most new comers struggled with this caste system at first; but they soon gave up and toe the line because it was just like banging your head against a brick wall. It felt so good when you stop!

I liked sailing, but being a COE wireline operator, JG10, I was not allowed to join the Piasau Boat club! It was meant for expatriates (orang puteh). Tidak apah lah. So, I bought my own boats and I learned to sail by myself. Fortunately for me, the golf club has been returned to the Miri people and I could play golf on my days off from the rig. It would be too expensive to buy my own golf course otherwise. Smile! There was only the one golf course in Miri. These two hobbies put me in a very good position now in New Zealand because I found many sailors and golfers here. I do feel really at home at the tee or on the water.

The people in Miri town hated us as Shell employees because of our snobbish behavior. If you picked up an ikan dwai and you are a bit slow in deciding whether you can afford to eat it, the Shell employee standing behind you in the queue, is liable to make a sign to the fish monger and buy the fish even before you have put it down! Perhaps we should all read Dale Carnegie a bit more!

We also flashed our gold credit cards, some with no limit, around town simply to make the rest of the world jealous! No wonder Shell employees are becoming less and less popular in Miri. The strange thing is this. There is today a new breed of people doing exactly the same thing to the Shell employees! The weekend shoppers from Brunei!! The men came to drink beer and visit the massage parlours. The women visited beauty salons for their Botox injections, buy durians and do a little shopping at the new supermarkets and shopping malls. They stay overnight at the Righa Hotel and Holiday Inn! Miri is still a booming oil town. Actually, it is a very expensive town for pensioners to live there. The chances of my going back there to live in the Pujut house, has become more and more remote as time goes by.

[1] Lex was the drilling superintendent at the time and he was due for retirement shortly. I was not a threat to him at all. Moreover, I suspected that he was looking for young Malaysians with oomph![2] This meant that he worked for no pay the first year! Only a Foochow would do this.[3] R&B were using Americans whereas S&L used French drillers.[4] This was a very critical point as Shell owns no drilling rig in Malaysia. The position was never available![5] Identical name, not related to our Michael Ting. This is the son of the barge captain, James Ting on the Sedco A. He owns the big house on the peninsula close to hole no: 14 of the Miri golf course.[6] I was too dangerous to let loose on the oil rigs offshore because of my specialized wireline knowledge![7] I was quietly left there to recover from extreme stress. Time was a great healer.[8] The first sign of recovery from stress.[9] materials and equipment standards code.

[10]Electronic Materials Administration soft ware programme which controls every single stock item in the Miri and Labuan Supply Base. Every month the main frame computer generates print-outs called action notices. As stock analyst, it was my job to study each document and make quick decisions on the exact action required for that particular stock item[11] Ramli was my school mate in St. Joseph’s primary school many years ago. We pakat pakat lah![12] All rig equipment was powered by diesel/electric motors! (They were marking time out of sight of Petronas!) Eric Wong, our spokesman was gagged effectively.[13] All the rigs had diesel-electric power plants. Steam plant is an obsolete technology and is useless.[14] Eric came to visit me in NZ in 2000. Four families came together with him that time![15] Wife of Bill Chin, my second cousin.[16] COE, SSS and SS are socially kept apart.[17] In BSP there were three labour social clubs arranged by Shell on strictly racial lines: Malay, Chinese and Indian recreation clubs. It certainly was a case of divide and rule there!