Why call for SMRT CEO to resign? Remember Saw Phaik Hwa

Another major MRT disruption, another call for the SMRT CEO to resign.

In the wake of tonight's massive MRT fiasco, will SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek be forced to eat his words or resign?... http://t.co/d0cLgQWfzd

— All Singapore Stuff (@allsgstuff) July 7, 2015

Two MRT lines in Singapore broke down simultaneously. Someone need to resign? Lol

— alvin boey (@alvinboey) July 7, 2015

I understand the desire to hold someone accountable, but really, how would the resignation of the SMRT CEO help? (Besides providing the satisfaction of seeing someone pay for making thousands of commuters suffer.)

Remember the previous SMRT CEO, Ms Saw Phaik Hwa?

After The Great Train Breakdown of 2011, people even demonstrated at Hong Lim Park demanding that she quit.



A month later in January 2012, she did (although SMRT claimed that her resignation was planned before The Great Train Breakdown of 2011).

The Ferrari-driving Ms Saw was eventually replaced by Mr Desmond Kuek, a former army chief.

So those Hong Lim Park demonstrators got what they wanted, but did it stop the stoppages?



As you can see by the helpful table above, it didn't.

So would replacing Mr Kuek make a difference when replacing Ms Saw didn't?

As The Who sang: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.



Let's say Mr Kuek is replaced and the train breaks down again. Are we going to call for the new CEO to resign as well. This could go on indefinitely as the MRT disruptions are likely to continue.

Maybe it's the LTA CEO whose head should roll. But Mr Chew Men Leong, a former navy chief, joined LTA only less than a year ago, so you can't blame him for the train disruptions... or can you?

Or maybe it's the transport minister who should resign and indeed some have suggested that.

Lui Tuck Yew should be forced to resign to take responsibility for the massive breakdown. #SMRT

— Red Dot Oz (@RedDot_Oz) July 7, 2015

Mr Lui himself had replaced Mr Raymond Lim as transport minister in May 2011. Then came The Great Train Breakdown of 2011 in December.

Wait... I just realised ... all the train disruptions happened after Mr Lui became transport minister.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

I guess I still have a soft spot for the guy (also a former navy chief) after shaking his hand at his navy farewell dinner.

Anyway, I'd be surprised if Mr Lui is actually replaced because of The Great MRT Breakdown of 2015, not that it would do much good. (AUGUST 2015 UPDATE: He has announced he will leave politics. So he will no longer be Transport Minister. I was very surprised.)

This tweet pretty much nails what will likely happen after this.

Everyone who is affected no need to get angry. Smrt ceo will still his 2 million pay. LTA will fine them. Then fare will increase.

— Anthony Ong (@AnthonyOng0309) July 7, 2015

EARLIER IN MARCH: Risky business: Winning award leads to losing streak on the tracks for SMRT


UPDATE

Tuck Yew tucks off: What exactly does a Transport Minister do anyway?

LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong quits

Free Amos Yee protest versus LKY queue

Large turnout at Hong Lim Park today. Disappointing to see few young people, however. #FreeAmosYee pic.twitter.com/lr1STg4BxG

— Glendon Giam (@blueproto) July 5, 2015

"Large turnout"?

See below for a really large turnout.



Where's my Yellow Submarine T-shirt?




UPDATED: Amos Yee freed after getting backdated four-week jail sentence

My beef: Free barbecue? Bo jio!

A barbecue is like sex.

The idea of it is enticing, but the reality is messy and not always as satisfying as you thought it would be.

And both involve a lot of raw flesh.

Even as Americans celebrated their Independence Day yesterday with a barbecue, a barbecue in Singapore served up some controversy last week.

Actually, it was 50 barbecues held in 22 locations around the island last Sunday organised by the Australian High Commission to celebrate 50 years of bilateral ties.



Ten thousand beef and lamb steaks were promised, but a number of people also had a beef of their own with the event.

It was supposed to be open to the public, but I found out about it only when I read online complaints that the People’s Association (PA) was hogging the free tickets.

It was a major case of “bo jio”.



“Bo jio” is Hokkien for “Why you so selfish? You didn’t invite me!”

Hokkien is such an amazing dialect that it can pack all that into just two words.

The event was my chance to sample authentic Down Under cuisine besides the Aussie fries at Outback Steakhouse (which is really an American restaurant with an Australian theme, I know) and I missed it.

On the day of the 50 BBQs, the Australian High Commission posted on Facebook: “Many locations are ticketed by the People’s Association to ensure there’s enough food for all. But we’ve been told some spare coupons are set aside for those who just show up.”

This is IT. Tonight's the night of our long awaited '50 BBQs'!Sorry we haven't been able to answer all your private...
Posted by Australia in Singapore on Saturday, June 27, 2015

Still, some visitors were reportedly turned away. A Straits Times reader said that many “were left disappointed and confused”.

Following the complaints, the PA explained: “We issued tickets to manage the crowd, and to assure (sic) ticket holders that they would be able to enjoy the food. In total, 4,800 tickets were available and given to residents on a first-come-first-served basis.”

Were they afraid that people would sell the free tickets on Carousell like NDP tickets?

Despite the good intentions, in terms of public relations, the event was a bigger disaster than Crocodile Dundee 3. (Yes, there was a Crocodile Dundee 3.)



As someone who lives for free food, I should be more upset by this. But then I’m not a big fan of barbecues. I even avoid Korean barbecue restaurants because, hey, if I wanted to cook my own food, I would have stayed at home.

My distaste for barbecues probably started in secondary school. I remember my classmates would talk about going for a barbecue at East Coast during the weekend like it was the funnest thing in the world.

Sure, the anticipation was fun. So was shopping for ingredients and other stuff for the barbecue.

But then what usually happened was that it would take longer than expected to get the fire started.

So people would get hungry and cranky. You had to make a choice: Should you wait for the barbecue and starve or go to McDonald’s, which would defeat the entire purpose of having a barbecue?

Maybe just some “pre-food” like potato chips to tide you over.



When the fire finally got going, it still took a while to cook the food.

At first, you would be fighting over every morsel that came off the grill until you discovered that the insides of those morsels were still uncooked after biting into them.

Pwee! Who asked you to be so impatient?

Eventually, the food would come at a constant flow until you couldn’t eat any more. Just the sight of the leftover grilled chicken wings and satay made you ill.

But the food kept coming.

Maybe you shouldn’t have “pre-eaten” the potato chips.

Or gone to McDonald’s.

And I don’t know about you, but every barbecue inevitably ended with me getting diarrhoea.

The only time I ever really enjoyed a barbecue was on a beach on Tioman Island during my national service in the navy at the end of a multinational military exercise called Starfish.

With the navies of five countries taking part, it was a massive cookout. Size matters. I had never seen a whole animal carcass roasting on a spit over an open fire before or since.

I believe it was contributed by the Australian navy, even though it wasn’t a kangaroo carcass.

Since then, if I don’t see an animal carcass roasting over an open fire at your barbecue, your barbecue is not happening.

Even though last Sunday’s 50 BBQs were organised by the Australians, I’m guessing there was no animal carcass roasting over an open fire. I would be very sad if I had missed that.

The diarrhoea would have been worth it.

- Published in The New Paper, 5 July 2015