The telephone pager
The then principal of Gongshang Primary School, Mr Wee Fui Twee, was a very practical man. Whichever gadgets which could make him feel convenient he would purchase them and used. He was the first in Gongshang to have a pager and I think among the first few principals to have one. In the 80s, carrying a pager was a status symbol. But later it became a necessity. Those men who had one would tuck it in the front trousers’ mini-pocket or hook onto their belts. When one’s pager rang, he would dig out his pager to find out who had paged him. If it was important he would rush to the nearest telephone to respond to the pager call. I remember the very first pager was from Telecom – a brown coloured set with the word ‘Telecom’ printed on it. When the pager was first introduced in Singapore, some people were skeptical about it. A lawyer once said that the introduction of pagers would lead to increase of wives suing men for divorce due to the easy tracking of men’s extramarital activities behind the wives’ backs.
There were few women who owned pagers. I asked my wife to get one in her name. We went to a shop in Balestier. It happened that Ericson was advertising its pager and each purchaser was entitled to a lucky draw. The First Prize as an Ericson handphone. I asked my wife to get that Ericson pager. I said, ‘Nothing to lose. Who knows we would get that handphone in the lucky draw.
As soon as I got it, I clipped it onto my belt and began telling everybody in school of my pager’s number as I was in charge of the school’s daily teachers’ relief time-table. Should emergency arise at home and cannot get to school, they should page for me. Some of the teachers jokingly said that I looked like a renovation contractor with the pager hooking onto the belt. I could not but to agree as most building contractors carried their pagers that way too. I became the first teacher of the school to carry a pager.
When the result of the lucky draw for the handphone was out, I was told to collect a prize. It was a $3000 plus Ericson handphone. I was among the few lucky ones of get it.
As for handphone Mr Wee was the first principal to carry the very first handphone - the huge ‘tai-kor-tai’ handphone. It was a status symbol at that time. Those who had it usually when at a coffee shop, the first thing they did was to put the handphones on the table making thud sounds a little louder than the others, most likely to let those around know that they were around.
During the school appraisal team visit, they were housed at the AVA Room. The AVA Room was not install with a telephone line. Mr Wee put his handphone there for all those in the team to use.
When slim handphone was introduced, Mr Wee upgraded to the new slimmer handphone. After I received my prize, I became the second person in the school to have a handphone. When teachers wanted me to call a relief, it was most convenient. I could get a relief while I was on the go. I need not get it at a stationary phone.
By and by the handphone became more sophisticated and more features were added. Today ‘one cannot do without it’.
