This Grab driver's S$60-a-week refreshment gesture is winning hearts in Singapore
SINGAPORE: When Ann Hansen stepped into her Grab ride just after noon on May 26, she expected a typical journey home. Instead, the American expatriate was greeted by a car interior transformed into a mini haven - complete with snacks, bottled water, charging cables, and even potted plants.
'I was really hungry and going home for lunch,' Hansen, a communications trainer in her mid-40s and mother of two, told The Straits Times.
'I thought I could find something that could hold me over because he had many treats.'
Neatly arranged shelves behind the front seats were filled with snacks - one side for adults, the other for children. She picked a semi-dried fruit from the adult section and a strawberry chewy candy from the kids' side.
Her 15-minute ride, following a half-day training session at work, quickly became one she wouldn't forget - thanks to her driver, Pang Tze Wei.
'I said, 'Whoa, you must be a really famous Grab driver!' And his response straight away was, 'No no no, not famous, not famous, always humble.' That immediately struck me,' she recalled.
During the journey, Pang, 75, shared nuggets of wisdom rooted in simplicity and humility.
'Downgrade your house, downgrade your career, downgrade your lifestyle,' he said. 'Stay humble. Always number two. Then you stay safe. Everyone goes after number one.'
'It was a breath of fresh air,' said Hansen. 'He was dishing out these pearls of wisdom the entire ride. It felt like he was sent into my life at that moment for a reason.'
Moved by the experience, she shared it on Facebook and LinkedIn. The response was overwhelming - her posts garnered over 4,000 interactions, with her Facebook post shared more than 240 times.
Others who had encountered Pang also chimed in on the comment section of those posts. 'Took his ride last week,' wrote Jessie Tan. 'A happy-go-lucky driver… had a wonderful and safe journey.'
Facebook user TP Tay commented: 'The best is he sets his own KPIs and pace of work… he lives what he is doing - driving!'
Pang told ST that he left his telecommunications job nearly a decade ago to drive full-time.
His value-added service stems from observing the needs of passengers.
He began by offering passengers the use of phone chargers, and then started dispensing bottled water for those waiting under the hot sun. For longer rides, he thought of snacks - and eventually, the idea expanded into a full set-up.
He spends around S$60 a week to stock his car, mainly with dried fruit, candy and small snacks - all bought from major candy shops in Singapore. The items, he says, are not cheap, noting that 'one lollipop is $2'.
Pang said he usually restocks snacks and bottled water in his car twice a day. The snacks are suitable for both children and older passengers, and he changes the offerings periodically.
Water is the most popular item - he gives out about 10 bottles a day. To maintain a clean car, he sticks to dry, bite-sized snacks that will not flake or spill and vacuums the car every evening.
'I don't restrict passengers from taking too many, as long as they are hungry,' he said.
For Pang, it's not about tips, ratings, or fame.
'I never link customer service with money,' he said. 'If I can do a good deed a day, it will brighten people's day.' - The Straits Times/ANN
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Thomas later published an article entitled 'The Form of a North Borneo Nativistic Behaviour'. Note, however, the American researcher and author never used the words '2nd Death March' which was later coined by author Maxwell Hall but the number of deaths was apparently so big or the survivors so drastically reduced, that it didn't escape his attention while more famous British historian like Owen Rutter avoided it completely. Vivid account by American on what happened Here it is, Williams' writing, quoted verbatim: 'On Dec 17, 1941, the Japanese invaded North Borneo with a force of 25,000 men. The main centres of occupation was established in Murut area at Tenom, Keningau, and Pensiangan. For three years large patrols of infantry regularly moved from these points through Murut territory, conscripting labor for construction of airfields, women for army prostitution centres, commandeering rice and other foodstuffs, imposing head taxes, fines and punishing offenders. In late 1943, allied guerrilla agents, parachuting into the area, enlisted Muruts in a force for raids on Japanese Patrols and outposts. Reoccupation of North Borneo by the Australian 9th Division led to heavy fighting through Tenom and Keningau. The 6,000 Japanese stationed in Pensiangan were ordered to stack arms and marched 150 miles to the coast and Beaufort to surrender. Australian army records show (only) 400 Japanese reached Beaufort. The remainder were killed by Muruts along the line of March (Tregonning 1958:221).' Died in the nether gloom for nothing There it is, as clear as it can be – there was actually a 'Second Death March', which I first published on February 5, 2023, in a Daily Express Sunday Special Report entitled 'Mystery of Sabah's 2nd Death March unravelled', although Thomas did not call it a '2nd death march', possibly because he wasn't aware of the first. Assuming Thomas' numbers were dead accurate, a death toll of 5,600 is far worse than the 2,434 Allied POWs dead in the 1st Sandakan-Ranau Death March, most of whom (about 1,400) actually died in Sandakan POW camp. For the eventual Japanese losers – all died in ignominy – public shame and disgrace covered up, accorded zero mention, compared to the annual heroic commemoration treatment for the Allied POWs killed in Sandakan-Ranau death march. That's war for domination, a zero sum game – losing soldiers die for nothing. Generals and emperors who order them to battle in the nether gloom of hostile distant jungles to cut down enemies for control and power, abandon them in the end. Track records: Two harbingers of death This is the sobering geopolitical lesson for serious reflection, in a world now simmering with war hawks in high places calling for a battle for national supremacy, beating up war drums and actively preparing war, instead of diplomacy for common prosperity. Since unsung Sabah had hosted the horrors and sorrows of two killer death marches, these are harbingers of death – omens, signs, symbols that foreshadow possibly a march towards worse recurrence approaching us and beyond, if the solid track records of two death marches in Sabah are not remembered and taken to heart and finally inspire no transformative impacts. So, maybe there is more value to peace-making to highlight lesson from Sabah's two death marches – two killer track records driven by relentless hostility, cruelty ending in deliberate, wilful mass slaughter. Eloquent venture capitalist Eric Li who understands investment risks best says he trusts only proven track records. Here is little Sabah, which hosted two track records of death marches where two empires take turn to lose wars and suffered. So, who won? Map on 2nd Death March route So, I was determined to dig into what this obscure 2nd Death March is all about, after being over exposed to the first. When Tham Yau Kong invited a trip to visit Tenom last Tuesday to see the little known Lanut Carved Rocks Garden yonder further down famed Sapong, somehow, this field experience magnified what was a pure academic interest two years ago. The reality of the 2nd death march escalated from what I published on 5 Feb 2023 purely as head awareness. First, like the Aussie army Mud Map which plots the whole length of the 1st death march that Lynette gave Tham in 2005, leading to a full identification of the direction of the track, Tham gave me Maxwell Hall's map from his book 'Kinabalu Guerrillas'. This map indicates main connecting dots Maxwell calls the '2nd Death March', as follows: Pensiangan-Rundum-Kemabong- Sapong-Tenom-Beaufort. Field trip to Layan Carved Rocks Garden Glad to be back to my old love as 'roving reporter', 28/5/25 headed for outback destination Layang Layang, 8km from Sapong and 28 km from Tenm town. Arriving, you see first a flourishing cabbage farm stretching far yonder, dubbed second Kundasang. Our real interest, however, was the carved rock garden – a one kilometre walk into a jungle one kilometre above the cabbage farm. Rubin Kumuah, land owner of Layang Layang, led the uphill trek. We came to a big boulder – one of a scattered dozen that was covered by green moss. Botak, Rubin's loyal decades-old Indonesian worker, cleared the mosses, carvings surfaced but they looked like abstract art to me. Straining harder for a mind of the carvers, I saw possibly a deer head and other guesses. Rubin: 'My parents reported many Japanese here' So what did land owner Rubin Kumuah had to say about Lanut Carved Rocks Garden which he owns? He cited his parents: 'Papa dan ibu saya cakap banyak Jipun berkhemah di kawasan ni.' Translated, it means 'My father and mother (Lanut) said many Japanese army camped here'. To pit camps in the rock garden, the Japanese must have walked on existing tracks that passed by here. So, even though Layang Layang is not marked on Maxwell's map, it could well be a passage or approximate track of the 2nd death march, which gives us at least a mental grip about the reality of this major WW2 episode in Sabah. Of course, the inevitable question is: who did these rock carvings? Rubin said again: 'According to my parents, the Muruts of old did it but according to my brothers, when words were out that they were treasure maps carved by passing Japanese troops, treasure hunters went digging but found nothing'. Prospects for tourism The question is, can a combination of rock carving, Japanese camp site and passage of the 2nd death march be developed into a tourism product? Tham answered: 'In 2019, Rubin introduced his Rock Carving Garden to us, it attracted a few groups of hikers but when the Covid Pandemic struck with strict movement control, hikers stopped completely.' 'When we restarted trekking in mid-2024, we discovered no less than 10 carved boulders and when Rubin suggested this site be named after his mother, we came up with 'Lanut Rock Carving Garden'. Rubin's goal: 'I wanted to conserve these carved boulders for future generations who may benefit from rural tourism development.' Tham added: 'The Layang Layang area has at least 20km of tracks used by Muruts to walk from village to village, British officers used these as pony tracks to go from Tenom to Kemabong.' Heavy presence of Japanese in Murut heartland As Thomas Phys Williams noted, the Japanese military deployed a strong presence in Tenom, Keningau and Pensiangan – all Murut heartlands. In the case of Tenom, they set up a military headquarter in Sapong, complete with an airstrip in its rubber estate into which General Baba flew into and out. To deploy 6,000 soldiers in Pensiangan, they only way then was to walk 150-mile over pony tracks or hunting trails from Tenom to Kemabong, Rundum to reach Pensiagngan and vice versa later, on the 2nd death march. In my maiden visit to Pensiangan in December 2021, local Murut leader, Ansom bin Putiang recalled Japanese military camps studded the banks of the Saliu river downstream Wreckage of Liberator bomber In the end, Tenom, Sapong, like all other owns of North Borneo were heavily bombed. Tham recalled in in the 70s, he saw near the Perkasa Hotel ¾ of wreckage of a Liberator bomber, either shot down or crashed during such bombing runs but in 2000, he saw only chunk of metal left, the rest all cut as scrap metal. The point is, given such big military deployment in deep interior of Sabah, Japan, had reasoned that as a rising industrial power , they had the right to colonise foreign lands, just at Britain, USA and all the European power had done. They had planned and no doubt expected to colonise entire Borneo long term but alas, after just 44 months of occupation, America whipped up a complete surprise – dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a hydrogen bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, and Japan surrendered abruptly on August 15. Pensiangan too far for 9th Division to attack Although Japan formally surrendered on August 15, their forces in North Borneo continued to fight and elements of the Aussie 9th Division which landed in Labuan on June 10, continued to face combat in Tenom, Keningau and Beaufort was not taken until Sept 11, 1945. Pensiangan was apparently too deep going for the 9th Division which apparently did not target it for attack. What we know is, as Thomas Williams reported, 'the 6.000 Japanese stationed in Pensiangan were ordered to stack arms to march to Beaufort to surrender' but only 400 arrived . Maxwell Hall coined '2nd Death March' Maxwell Hall was the author who explicitly called this 'a second Death March', this time involving the Japanese and Muruts '. He wrote: 'The Murut warfare continued… When the Japanese soldiers left Pensiangan to march northwards to surrender to the Australians, they marched fully armed. By this time, the Muruts were masters of the route, which extended two hundred miles from Pensiangan to Beaufort….Death and dying spread out the whole way…..When they surrendered, the survivors were suffering all forms of tropical disease. It was a death march of Japanese… Just another example of bloodshed that took place…' In a discreet conversation in Pensiangan in December 2021, one time Murut headman, Ansom bin Puntiang, told me the locals were distributed guns towards the end of the war, what they did with it Ansom declined to say. Neither did Maxwell explain what he meant 'by this time, the Muruts were masters of the route'. 'All empires become arrogant' – Commentator Has the world learnt from the horrors of wars for power and control, like Sabah's two death marches? 'Fundamentally no,' says Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies and the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra. 'All empires become arrogant, it is their nature,' observes Edward Rutterford. 'The earth is littered with empires that once believed they were eternal,' noted Percy Bessshe Shelby. On a parting note from Cliff James: 'The temple of empires comes tumbling down, the names of the mighty forgotten. Here is a parable: Power never last.' Transformative tip from the 'Good Samaritan' So what virtues and values last? When will the nations drop their hostile minds and lust for power and domination? Here's just one transformative tip from the story of the Good Samaritan, who not only lived by extraordinary kindness but radically blind to ethnic superiority and racial barriers.
