Self appointed observer of SMRT breakdown contingency plans

With the train breaking down getting to become a daily affair, it is only a matter of time before I get to have a first hand taste of what it was like being caught in such a situation. And it would be a good opportunity to see how the SMRT staff copes with the demands during a breakdown and how the commuters could be quickly transferred to the shuttle bus services to their destinations.

I boarded the train from Buona Vista on Friday evening towards Jurong East. Everything was normal. Changed to the NS train at Jurong East and was offered a seat by a young lady. Said thank you for the kind offer and waited for the train to move on. An announcement came on that an intruder on the track earlier was cleared and the train would resume normal service. Oh, I didn’t know that, and good that service was resuming.

When the train reached Bukit Batok another announcement came on apologising that there would be no service between Jurong East and Yew Tee as the intruder incident was still not settled. The train cabin light went off and all disembarked.

An intruder was on the track. Hmmm, if no explosive or fireworks, he would be apprehended in no time. Not to worry. Half an hour or so would be over. Not a technical problem. After 10 minutes the platform was almost empty with only a few hopefuls like me eagerly waiting for the train to resume service.  It was 10 pm.

The station control announced that a free shuttle bus was available from Bukit Batok to Yew Tee for commuters. Well, nothing seemed to be moving might as well. Outside the station control room a lady officer was surrounded by angry commuters. She was relieved when I budged in to ask about the shuttle bus, giving her a break. She said no shuttle bus from Batok, only from Jurong East. What the f…! Never mind, small error. Went back up to the platform. Another announcement, same as before, of a shuttle bus available. Went down again, asked the same officer who again said no. Told her this was the second announcement, asked her to check with the male officer inside the office. She checked and confirmed that there was indeed a shuttle bus at the bus terminal.

So some commuters went to the bus terminal, but no sign of a shuttle bus, no waiting point sign, no officer there, no one knew what the hell was happening, where to wait, where was the shuttle bus. The interchange office was closed and no one to ask. All trooped back to station control. Told the officer what was going on, that they must have an officer or a sign telling people where to wait for the bus. She went back into the control centre to check her files. Thought she found the SOP and went to another office trying to get the signs and whatever out. She was trying to sort things out for the next 15 minutes without anything happening while the commuters were getting agitated.

The best part, the male officer kept himself locked in the station control room and placed whatever card boards he could find over the counter window to avoid communicating with the commuters who wanted to know what was going on. He was lucky that the commuters did not throw bricks at the control station. There was a big crowd of commuters getting angrier every second.

By 10.40 pm the lady officer was still struggling to sort herself out with the shuttle bus procedures and another officer arrived to join her, but still getting no where. They simply did not know what to do. The male officer still locked himself in the station control room and looking very busy with his phone. I looked at the TV screen and saw the messages of train arriving/departing and looking normal. Told the lady officer no need to bother, the service should be back to normal soon. And yes it came back a minute later and the gantries were opened for the commuters to resume their journey.

With trains breaking down becoming a normal daily affair, it was unacceptable, and unbelieveable that a SOP was not available, or available but the staff were unfamiliar and did not know what to do. The male officer was happily making his announcements of free bus service but had no clue where and when the shuttle bus would be. And no one thought it was necessary to brief and guide the commuters to the pickup point of the shuttle bus.

Hello Sir, I think a section leader or a platoon sergeant would be able to do a better job managing the commuters and directing them to the shuttle bus pick up point. It does not even need an officer to be present to give orders. But what happened at Bukit Batok was a dismal failure.  The intruder incident started at 9.30 pm and luckily the train service could resume by 10.40 pm.

No one took charge and no one knew what was happening and where the hell was the SOP. The officers sure did not know anything about the SOP or what to do. Maybe that was the reason the male officer hid himself barricaded inside the control room from the commuters. The only plus point was the lady officer, keeping her cool despite angry commuters all over her and trying to do what was necessary. But she must be properly briefed of the shuttle bus service procedures if she is to do her job well.

What is happening, Desmond? No SOP? Or got SOP but officers not briefed or did not know what was in the SOP? Train stoppages are now a routine and the procedures must be have honed to perfection by now given so much real life practised sessions. It was fortunate that many of the commuters took their own initiatives to switch to public buses and paid extra for the journey. Some commuters were also angry for the fares being deducted and wanting to know when they could get their money back.

A degree course for politician wannabes

This is a follow up to my article If I am the PM and my good intention to make sure all the MPs are up to it to run the country. And my contention is that they are to attend a degree course in one of our top universities on the subject of government and how to run a govt. I know that some immortals are naturally gifted to have this skill set in born, born to rule, in them. So immortals can be exempted from this course since they already born with this talent. For the rest of aspiring politicians and wannabes, despite their successes in their professional fields, they must attend this course, compulsory, if they want to be qualified to stand for election as an MP. Our country must be run by able men and women who are properly trained to do the job and to be paid in the millions, more lucrative than any other profession.

The first topic to teach them is about Democracy. They must be made to know that this island republic is a democracy and not a monarchy or some dictatorship. So for the first lesson I would want them to write 1000 lines everyday. And this is what they should write.

‘A democracy is a govt of the people, by the people and for the people.’

They not only have to submit this to the lecturer everyday, they must all rise and recite this everyday before the class starts. They must be told that the political leaders of a democracy comes from the people and elected by the people to serve the people, not to serve themselves or to serve foreigners.  Repeat this everyday, of the people, by the people and for the people until it is second nature to them, that they will never forget these three phrases.

Comparative roles of opposition politicians in Parliament

Singapore and Malaysia inherited the same template for a democratic govt and parliament from the British. Both have evolved and made amendments to alter the nature of govt and parliament but the principles and fundamentals are still in tact.  Now, am I making a naïve statement on this?

Observers of the politics and politicking on both sides of the causeway cannot miss the stark difference in the roles being played by the opposition parties. Up north, the politicians seem to have all the time in the world to check on the ruling party, to investigate their misdeeds and wrongdoings, to form parliamentary committees to investigate the ruling party and their cronies. They are very busy doing that. As worthy lawmakers and as checks and balance to keep the ruling party and govt on their toes.

Down south, the opposition parties or shall I say party, are also very busy, not with checking the govt and lawmaking, but in running town councils and being checked by the ruling party/govt. The WP is now up to their neck, trying to shake off the demands placed on them to meet the deadline or no subsidies for AHPETC. They are working like crazy, to comply with administrative procedures and processes of a town council. Do you think they have time for other things, to keep the govt in check, to go checking on the govt and its agencies?

And with the GE around the corner, I don’t think they even have time to prepare for it or know that the GE is going to be held tomorrow. See the difference, the opposition lawmakers in the north have all the time to fire questions at the ruling party. In the south, the ruling party has all the time firing questions to the opposition party and keeping them very busy trying to ward off the blows and no time for anything. It is the ruling party that is doing the checks and balance against the opposition party.

Funny isn’t it?

Singapore got only one banking and finance talent

When the CEO of Stanchart’s position was vacant, one name came up as a suitable replacement. When the CEO position of the SGX is empty, the same name came up as the worthy candidate for the job. And the candidate is already sitting pretty and happily as CEO of another big bank.
 
It seems that Singapore has only one citizen that is good enough to fill the position of CEO in a bank or a big financial organization. And he is not even a Singaporean 2or 3 years back. He is a new citizen, taking up the citizenship after being offered the lucrative and plum job of CEO of DBS.
 
Is this a happy thing or a sad thing? Where have all the native Singaporean bankers gone, or is there any left? What kind of silly country is this when it keeps bragging about being the financial centre of Asia but got no native talent good enough for any top banking job? In fact most of the CEO jobs in the banking and finance industry are filled by foreigners and the next native that could be good enough or would be trained for it would be one in the late twenties because the Minister of Finance realized recently that there is a dearth of talents among the natives in the banking and finance industry.
 
I bet the CEO of SGX would probably come from a little village somewhere in SE Asia or Asia, a village bumpkin, as the real talents can only be found in little remote villages where the top banker is likely to be a money lender without a shop front. And the good thing, maybe they are beefing up the 3 top local world class universities to equip them with the resources and academics to start to train native Singaporeans for the future CEO positions in finance and banking, and be ready in 30 years time.
 
We are always planning way ahead of our time, so they quipped, a lot of foresight and aftersight, or backside, 30 years ahead but forgot that we need these talents today. There is no top native talent in the banking and finance industry in the financial centre of Asia!
 
What is happening? Ya, no skills set in banking and finance among the natives in the island. The best local talent available was recently appointed to be the Chairman of Temasek while another sitting pretty in the Istana. The local banking and finance talents have either gone the dinosaur way, extinct or fossilized!
 
A huge hot air balloon has been floated into space calling for a foreign talent to fill the job in SGX if the best and only ‘local’ talent in DBS does not want the job.

50 years, still a little tart

Immediately after SGX announced the impending departure of Magnus Bocker it followed up with another piece of news, that it had appointed a foreign recruitment agency to hunt for a replacement worldwide. This is like a reflex action. No one good enough in SGX or in Singapore, or there must be a better foreigner out there. Go, get me a foreigner quick. Shouldn’t it be looking for a Singaporean first, in house or within the industry or from the pool of brilliant scholars in the govt and if that yields no result then go hunting elsewhere? Why must it be that the SGX must look elsewhere first and not in house?
 
After 50 years, the little tart is still a little tart, looking for the shoulder of a foreigner for security. She probably feels very safe and comfortable hiding behind a foreigner. If a foreigner were to stand in front of the little tart, she would probably wet herself, urinating controllably and trembling in fear. Would it help if she pastes a million dollar on her face for that façade of paper thin dignity?
 
When the pioneering leaders came on board, it was all about self reliance, about independence, about our ability to run our own country with our own people and talent. And they made it a point to stand shoulder to shoulder with the foreigners, as equals. Today, things have degenerated so far that the little tart, instead of growing up, is highly dependent on the foreigners to hold her hand and to lift her head high. The insecurity and lack of confidence are hard to miss. Look over the shoulder and you will see a little tart grabbing the hands of a foreigner tightly, so afraid to let go, like the security blanket.
We don’t have good students, we don’t have good professors. So to make our universities look good, we import the professors and the students, lock, stock and barrel. Nice one, tart.
 
Initially I thought it was a colonial handover of sort. But today, any foreigner will do, even from the 3rd world countries. The little tart has lost all self respect and confidence of herself and her ability. What is the point of paying her million dollar salary when she continues to behave like a clueless little tart? Would she need another 50 years to grow up?
 
It cannot be a fetish craze for foreigners after 50 years of growing up unless it is a kind of degenerative trait, premature ageing and getting senile prematurely. Would the little tart be asking for a foreigner to be the PM or the President when the incumbents vacate their seats? Would it have to take another 50 years to grow up and be on our own? What are we celebrating SG50 for? For more good years and forever as little tarts?
 
What is wrong with our native Singaporean talent? Singapore got no talents? Yes, I am asking you, little tart.