Tag: Singaporeans

Ex-SMRT Engineer Speaks Out About The Frequent Breakdowns

Singapore’s Mass Raid Transit (MRT) network experienced its largest disruption on 7 July 2015, with the total breakdown of the East West and North South Lines, lasting over three and a half hours. An estimated 250,000 commuters were inconvenienced by the breakdown, which happened during the evening rush hour.

Since its inception in 1987, the Singapore MRT system, a project spearheaded by former President Ong Teng Cheong, has served commuters well, providing an affordable and efficient mode of transportation for everyone.

However, in recent years, breakdowns from the MRT system have been growing in frequency, even for the lines that have only been in service for a few years. Many of the breakdowns would not have been reported if not for social media.

A press statement released by the SMRT on the recent breakdown said that the company would be seeking assistance from retired engineers to address the situation.

“SMRT is working with external experts to review the design robustness of the power network, and to find ways to further segment it in order to avoid a similar network-wide power failure. We have also brought in a number of retired SMRT staff with experience in network power issues to assist in the investigations. At the same time, we have advanced the procurement of additional condition monitoring systems that were being developed jointly with R&D agencies.”

So is there need to bring in retired engineers who may not be familiar with newer technology? And why are existing engineers unable to fix the system, given that over time, engineers employed by the company would have been more experienced and better trained in the train network?

And why are breakdowns more frequent these days despite promises by the government to fix them since the last General Election in 2011?

Are they not putting in enough effort in doing so or are they unable to do so without addressing a far more serious problem about the transport company.

A resignation letter dated 10 September 2004, written by a former assistant engineer (AE) more than ten years ago may shed some light on the deep rooted problem of the transport company.

This was what the letter said:

“I would like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to work here at SMRT for so many years, I have truly enjoyed my time here, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to stay on. I have always tried to do my best, even in the last year or so, and I wish that I could stay on until my retirement day. I had never wanted to leave the company, but unfortunately, in life, sometimes one is forced to make difficult decisions that have less to do with what one actually desires, and more to do with what one feels is necessary. In view of everything that I have heard, everything I have seen and everything that I have personally experienced in EPL (Escalators, Platform screen doors & Lifts) in the last three years or so, I cannot, with good conscience, continue to work here any more. I greatly fear if the current working practices continue, a serious incident may happen in future, and I have no desire to be a party for the occurrence.

I have compiled here a few examples of the problems plaguing EPL, problems that I believe have led to two other long-serving Assistant Engineers, XXX and XXX to resign before me. I have tried hard to change the system from within by raising issues to the EPL management that I think are important and should be looked into urgently, and I have tried to offer concrete suggestions on how to deal with some of these problems, but it appears to me that many of these problems were not, and are not, being dealt with seriously, if at all.

The apparent lack of interest in resolving problems by the EPL management have led to a serious fall in staff morale, with the inevitable drop in staff discipline as well, for verbal and even written letters of warning have been issued widely to many of the men. There also appears to be no consistency to the enforcement of disciplinary standard, for warning letters have been issued to some men for certain incidents, while no disciplinary action has been taken against some other staff for incidents of a similar nature. Orders are often issued verbally, with no follow-up memo, so that it becomes difficult for a staff member to check and clarify on any order he does not quite understand.

Often, when something goes wrong, the men have no way to defend themselves as there is no documentary evidence to back up their assertions.

We have even been ordered to alter reports to suit the EPL management’s view.

As the conditions that the EPL rank and file staff have to work under, it is no surprise that there have been so many resignations as the conditions I have outlined in the preceding few lines make it difficult for us to continue working here.

I have compiled this dossier here in the hope that the relevant authority will read it and hopefully come to understand the problems that have led to three long-servicing AEs to resign in the very short space of six months.

I hope the relevant authority will take this report seriously and look into the issues I have raised, for there are several; other EPL staff who have privately confided that they are seriously considering resigning should matters come to a head.

Please note that what I have expressed here are based upon my own experiences and observations, and that the opinions raised are entirely my own opinions, and that nothing I have written here is intended to cause any reflection on the organization or on any person.”

In the dossier which this former SMRT engineer has compiled, it can be seen from email conversations how AEs were being asked, for example, to “downscale” the status of incidents from “incident” to “routine maintenance” in records; and also the sharp increase of escalator breakdowns in the year 2003 in comparison to 2001 and 2002.

Sharp jump in number of incidents

The AE shared how his colleagues had thoughts of leaving the company given the lack of regards to maintenance by the company and how double standards were practiced on matters such as disciplining staff.

After the investigations into the 2011 December breakdowns, members of the public were appalled when they found out that SMRT had been skiving on maintenance despite a heavier load on the system due to an increased population.

In the next report, TOC will cover one of the engineering issues faced by SMRT raised by this former engineer.

Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

July 14, 2015
Incredible That Lee Hsien Loong Kept Appointment Of Electoral Boundaries Review Committee A Secret

It is shocking that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong chose not to announce the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee when he appointed it two months ago.

He revealed the formation of the EBRC only in Parliament today. Such a non-transparent approach to elections continues to tilt the playing field heavily in the PAP’s favour.

Add to this the secretive way the constituencies are formulated and we have the perfect example of an undemocratic ruling party out to ensure victory at all cost and with little regard for the views of the people.

The SDP calls on Mr Lee to ensure that at least two months are given from the time of the announcement of the new boundaries to the dissolution of Parliament.

There should also be ample time of at least three weeks for official campaigning which is in keeping with international democratic norms.

Any less than these time frames will signal that the PAP is unrepentant of its former ways – despite the apologies and tears in the last general elections – and therefore nervous about a fair competition for votes.

The PAP may continue with its tactic of announcing the boundaries at the last possible moment and give the least amount of time for official campaigning.

This will benefit the PAP at the expense of Singaporeans for the results will not be a true reflection of the will of the people. In the long-run, it will be Singapore that suffers.

Source: http://yoursdp.org

July 14, 2015
Cheng Jun Koh: Yes We Did Speak To The Cardboard Collectors

“What you cannot defend, doesn’t belong to you”

Looking at the comments of the past 24 hours, some referred to my team through our friends, one would have thought that we had committed atrocities and transgressions of the worst nature.

It would be fine leaving the situation as it is; we came across encouraging feedback and were heartened by many who appreciated the hard work of the team. It is expected that certain perennial anti-establishment pages will misconstrue and exploit the issue for their agenda. But it is when the tsunami of negativities started to influence even neutral sources that I believe we should offer more people a glimpse into our project.

We are group of students from different JCs, polytechnics and universities, brought together by Youth Corps Singapore (YCS), a movement that supports youths keen to serve the community. Apart from our team, there were also other teams formed during the induction programme. Under the programme, we had a list of different projects to choose from; we eventually settled on cardboard collection due to its enduring presence in our society – “Why are there still cardboard collectors in our first world country? Who are these people who are slogging away under inclement weather in our neighbourhoods?”

We strived to find out more about them, and we did. This was in January, and we had already started planning about how to approach the cardboard collectors at Veerasamy Road (a scope defined by YCS together with our community partner—Social ServiceOffice @ Jalan Besar). We began with a pilot study of the situation, interviewing residents staying in the vicinity (knocking on doors unit by unit) and talking to shop owners (who provide the cardboards that collectors pick up daily).

What we gleaned from the residents included road safety concerns,and we’ve also read about cardboard collectors who had to resort to sleeping on the streets to look after their cardboards overnight. We started working onsolutions that could alleviate these perceived problems – including installation of signboards to caution drivers and providing storage spaces forthe cardboards.

All these while consistently engaging the cardboard collectors and allowing them to get accustomed to our presence.

We acknowledged the need for a long-term solution; one that would perhaps get them off the streets, but in the short-term, we wanted to respect and support them in what they are doing and making it safer for them.

It is not long after we realised that the collectors are reflecting the same sentiments as some of our previous interviewees. The collectors do not seem to welcome a storage area, or signalers that they could attach to their trolleys; they have been doing this for years and will not change their long-ingrained habits just because we tell them to. This is the moment when we realised that this community has diverse needs, each collector have their story to tell and implementing a blanket “solution” to problems we perceived to exist, would truly be an ostentatious form of “wayang”. We eventually discarded the idea and embarked on a needs analysis research as proposed by SSO.

The team talked to close to 45 cardboard collectors over a 2-month period, including many young foreigners in the trade. We eventually narrowed our interview pool to 13 collectors, on the criteria that they are Singaporeans/PRs aged 55 and above, as suggested by SSO to be the most vulnerable group. This would be the first study of its kind. The questions would focus on health, financial status, social and family support of the collectors.

These are our main findings:

1. Most cardboard collectors do it for the money (no doubts about it).

2. Minority does it for other reasons – form of leisure/exercise, recycling (small but exists).

3. Most hold another job (in orderto earn enough/have other sources of income security, depending on how you seeit).

4. Most are financially able tosupport themselves/deny the need for assistance (again, depending on how you see it).

5. Most are supported/offeredsupport by their families, including a few who do not want their families to know,as they do not approve.

6. Cardboard collectors are facing competition from younger foreigners.

Yes, we met an isolated case of one who stays in landed property. But no, we will not generalise to say that most are not in it for the money. A few shared with pride on how their children have gone overseas for studies or are enrolled into local universities, and despite their financial support and objection to cardboard collection, they prefer to continue working as they’ve been doing it for years and would like to continue seeing their friends/as aform of exercise. Not less than a handful cited flexibility and freedom of this job as the reason behind. We’ve also met one who griped about CHAS and itsinadequacies as she did not know which clinics were involved in the scheme and went to the wrong one. Some lamented about the rise in foreigners competing forcardboards.

In essence, we uncovered diverse reasons for cardboard collecting,which is a surprise as we initially thought ALL are in it for the money. Butwithout doubt, the vast majority is in it for the money. However, most are consistent in saying that they do not require assistance. We do not know whether this is due to their resilience and independent streak or there other reasons that theyare unwilling to share. This would require more follow-up investigations.

We presented the facts as it is to Minister Tan at MSF HQ, but werepleasantly surprised when he suggested visiting the scene for himself. Contrary to some suggestions online, the only “sweeping” of the place was done by Minister Tan’s lone security personnel as per the norm. The team was worried that there would be very little to none cardboard collectors on that day; the team had gone down on many occasions and on some days not found any collectors. There was no way of contact beforehand with the collectors and most of them do not have their personal form of contact or are unwilling to share. I hoped for more collectors to be present so that the Minister would have a higher chance of meeting the truly needy ones and offering assistance. The Minister checked their ICs against the record and together with briefing by SSO, had hopefully gotten a better insight into thesituation.

Throughout the process, our team served to be the bridge between the collectors and the SSO officials. The complexity of the issue meant that it took longer than expected.

It was all worth it though, and especially heartwarming when the collectors start recognising you and initiate the morning greetings.

We acknowledge that there are limitations to our research; not least self-selecting bias as those who shared may not be reflective of the entire base; results may differ for collectors in another area etc. But we hope that our research will not be swept under the carpet amidst the cacophony of noises and accusations of political posturing, just like how this social issue of cardboard collecting should not be brushed away as irrelevant, but one that inspires more in-depth studies by other interested parties. We hope that more would be encouraged to participate in looking for ways to help and not be put off by the negativities.

Perhaps it is the election fervour, or the lack of civic society institutions in the past that resulted in today’s association of all grassroots activities with the government. But as the title suggests, the research is a culmination of OUR project, a team of 7 members from various institutions, and we are not political pawns that can be manipulated for reasons other than the genuine desire to serve the community.

Thank You

Source: Cheng Jun Koh

July 14, 2015
Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council Wanted To Disrupt Water Supple On Eve Of Hari Raya

A reader Siti Saad residing in Block 136 Bishan Street 12 got a rude shock when she received a mailer from Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council that informed residents there will be disruption of water supply on 16 July 2015 between 9 am to 5.30 PM for works to replace water pipes.

Ms Siti Saad believe this is insensitive of Bishan Toa Payoh Town Council as the date of disruption falls on the eve of Hari Raya when Muslims Singaporeans will be making preparations for the festive season.

She urged the town council to reconsider the choice or date and remarked if this will happen during “Chinese New Year” or Christmas and ended her comment with hashtags #marginalizedmalays #sg50.

Fortunately, the MP in her area Mr Wong Kang Seng was informed of the incident and promptly took remedy actions. He subsequently notified her that the replacement works will be carried out at a later date.

Prior to the reply from Mr Wong, unhappy Singaporeans gave their opinions and assumptions of the incident.

Do you think Bishan Toa Payoh town council could have done better?

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

July 14, 2015
Why We Shouldn’t Take ‘Cardboard Collectors’ Comments At Face Value

How much do we know about the cardboard collectors we see on the street, pushing along loaded trolleys, backs hunched? Recently Minister of Social and Family Development (MSF) Tan Chuan-jin accompanied a group of students to meet box collectors at Jalan Besar. Yet his findings has raised eyebrows among other volunteers.

Reading his post reminded me of a cardboard collector I’d met last year. It was raining when we met her, and she wasn’t going to get very far walking alone pushing her trolley in that downpour, so she agreed to sit down with us at a coffeeshop for a chat.

She’d earned just a couple of dollars that day. She said she wasn’t one of the regular ones because she couldn’t go around collecting cardboard all the time; her husband was sick and needed to be taken to the hospital, and couldn’t be left alone too long when they were at home. His trips to the hospital had become more and more frequent, but it was being deducted from Medisave, she said. Then she dropped the bomb: the last time he’d been to hospital, they’d been told that he had less than $20 left in his Medisave account.

The social worker at the hospital had offered to help them apply for financial assistance to pay for future medical bills, but her husband had refused. We made the offer again to her at the coffeeshop that rainy afternoon, but the little old lady hunched over the table was stubborn and resolute. “My husband doesn’t like this sort of thing,” she said. “If you apply they will go through all your private things and ask you so many questions.”

She left us to hurry home the minute the rain ceased, leaving us worried but with no way to contact her. She had a phone number at home but didn’t want to give it to us; she said she didn’t want to inconvenience us, but she probably meant that she would prefer privacy to help from volunteers she barely knew. “It’s okay, we can manage,” she said as she pushed her little trolley home.

It’s okay.

“The normal perception that all cardboard collectors are people who are unable to take care of themselves financially is not really true,” wrote Tan on his Facebook page. “There will be some who do this as their main source of income. Some do so to supplement what they have. Some prefer to earn extra monies, treat it as a form of exercise and activity rather than being cooped up at home. They do this to remain independent, so that they can have dignity and not have to ask their families for help.”

There are terms and standards that we need to be mindful of when we speak to people – very often our different life experiences give us very different concepts of what things mean. “Okay”, compared to what? “Prefer”, but what are they preferring this to?

It’s like when we ask migrant workers if they are “satisfied” with their time in Singapore. To us, satisfaction probably means a steady income, comfortable lodgings, an occasional Koi bubble tea or llaollao yoghurt.

But a worker from India once told me that he was “satisfied” even though he earned only $450 a month, with $50 of (totally illegal) “savings” deduction, worked long hours with compulsory overtime and only had one day off a year. But he was satisfied because at least he was getting $350 to send home to his family (saving $50 for himself for a whole month) – it was better than being back in his village with little to no work at all.

Yes, I’m satisfied. It’s okay. This is good exercise for me, better than staying at home.

It’s important to be able to make the distinction between people actually being treated with dignity, and people trying to maintain their dignity while in a bad situation.

Nafiz is the founder of the Happy People Helping People Foundation, a group of volunteers who regularly organise Extend the Feast, which provides cardboard collectors as well as other elderly poor with food and donated rations such as rice, Milo and biscuits.

“In Toa Payoh Lorong 8, the box collectors are earning just 10 cents per kilogram,” he said. “And that’s considered a good rate, because we know of a box collector who pushes her trolley of cardboard boxes from Whampoa all the way to Toa Payoh Lorong 8 just because in Whampoa, the karung guni man is only offering eight cents per kilogram. And how much does she earn per day? On some days, $4 to $5.”

“These people are resilient. They want to earn their own money, despite their age. But if given the choice, of course they want to spend their remaining days not having to work so hard doing such jobs. Unfortunately, many have no choice. Singapore is a very very expensive place for most of us, what more those of their age,” Nafiz added.

There’s pride involved, too. The elderly cardboard collectors I’ve met were willing to admit that it was a tough job, but few would admit to needing help.

“If you are an old box collector, would you, when interviewed, openly say that your own son is not giving you food that’s why you need to scavenge for boxes? I doubt so. Mothers will still protect and not shame their children openly to strangers. These people are very resilient. They do not want to show that they are too old and need help,” Nafiz said.

Yes, we should open our minds and learn more about the cardboard collectors who toil day after day under the Singaporean heat to pick up newspapers, tins and scraps of cardboard. Yes, they are deserving of respect and admiration for their strength. But we shouldn’t romanticise their self-sufficiency, absolving ourselves of all responsibility at the same time.

Just because someone says he or she is all right, managing, satisfied, doesn’t mean we don’t examine the conditions in which they live and work. Just because an old lady might say she is doing all right and just pushing this trolley with 10 kilos of cardboard “for the exercise” doesn’t mean we don’t ask ourselves why, in a country as prosperous as Singapore, an 80-year-old is doing this at all. How likely is it that cardboard collecting was her first choice in daily exercise?

Social welfare has thankfully been extended over the years in Singapore. Yet there are core presumptions that remain unquestioned, from the dignity of self-sufficiency to the need to rely on family and relatives first, leaving state support as a last resort.

But the state can provide support without reducing the dignity of those who need it, particularly by creating structures that help everyone even before the situation gets dire. Provisions like universal healthcare would lessen huge burdens and anxieties – the husband of the little old lady mentioned at the beginning of this article would not have had to feel humiliated by means-testing or justifying his need for financial support to a social worker, because his healthcare needs would already have been taken of.

It was good of the minister to reach out to the cardboard collectors. But he shouldn’t be so quick to take their comments at face value. There is much that we can still do to help the vulnerable in society, and we shouldn’t wait for them to ask.

Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger, journalist and filmmaker. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

July 14, 2015