Government or government-linked organizations have been making the news very regularly over the last few years, very often for the wrong reasons. Unsurprisingly, these failings have caused a fair amount of disquiet among the general population and have seriously undermined public confidence in the Civil Service and government linked companies (GLCs). These blunders have led to many Singaporeans wondering what has gone wrong in the country, where the Civil Service had previously been known for its efficiency, and what direction it appears to be heading.
SMRT Corporation
In the most recent incident, two expatriates broke into SMRT Changi Depot and vandalized a train. The incident was only discovered after a video of the vandalized train was posted on popular Internet video-sharing site Youtube. Laughably, the company first claimed that its staff thought that the graffiti spray-painted onto the side of the train was an officially-sanctioned work of art, which was why it was put into service. Later, in an even more ridiculous comment, company president Mdm Saw Phaik Hua stated that the incident proved that the public should maintain vigilance in the MRT system, totally ignoring (or perhaps ignorant of) the fact that Changi Depot, the scene of the crime, is not accessible to the public.
Perhaps Mdm Saw should set an example for the public and all SMRT staff by patrolling the depot herself. And perhaps she should also offer unlimited free rides on the trains and TIBS buses for all passengers, the same benefit that all SMRT staff receive since she expects them to perform the duties of her company’s staff in maintaining security for them.
Marina Bay Sands
This is just the latest embarrassment to hit a GLC or the Civil Service. In a previous incident, integrated resort (IR) Marina Bay Sands (MBS) suffered a series of humiliating power failures that disrupted the Asia-Pacific Bar Conference (APBC) that was being held there. MBS has filed a lawsuit against the APBC for non-payment of $300,000/- for hosting the seminar. In response, the APBC countersued MBS for the fiasco, not unreasonably claiming that the onus was on the company to ensure that its facilities were able and ready to host such an event. One wonders why MBS was allowed to open when it is very clear that it is far from completed. After all, construction sites aren’t exactly the safest places to be around.
On the other hand, construction sites do have lots of holes in the ground in which to hide objects one does not want found, and there’s plenty of concrete around should one feel a need to give a debtor a pair of concrete boots so that he can go sleep with the fishes…….
Resorts World Sentosa
MBS wasn’t the only IR to suffer high profile public humiliation shortly after its opening. Just two weeks after the opening of Universal Studios at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), its popular roller coaster ride Battlestar Galactica was closed down due to unspecified safety issues. There is still no word from RWS as to when the ride can reopen.
One can’t help but wonder if the Cylons have won the war against the Colonials here just like in the blockbuster TV series it was based on.
Battlestar Galactica wasn’t the only high profile ride that had to shut down because of safety considerations. On 23/12/2008, a fire broke out in the power room of the Singapore Flyer, causing a 6-hour breakdown that trapped 173 passengers. In the inquiry that followed, it was found that safety features that are standard in other observation wheels like the Flyer were missing. The Flyer was ordered shut down until repairs were completed and the safety features installed.
It is true that the Singapore Flyer is not a GLC, nor technically are either MBS or RWS. However, it is also equally true that the Flyer has the official endorsement of the Singapore government, which has also invested heavily in the two IRs. Is the government connection the reason why all three were allowed to open and operate when they clearly weren’t ready to do so?
Temasek Holdings
Temasek Holdings (TH), the Singapore government’s sovereign wealth fund lost $48,000,000,000/- dollars in failed investments, prompting CEO Ho Ching to step down. Incredibly, just five months later, she was reappointed to the post after her successor Charles “Chip” Goodyear resigned in protest over bureaucratic meddling in his work. Unbelievably, she was later assigned a highly-paid advisor to advise her on which companies to invest in despite Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s claim that he reappointed her to the post because she is the best person for the job.”
Perhaps Mr. Shanmugaratnam would like to answer this question. If Mdm Ho really is the best person for the job, then why does she need the advisor to tell her which companies to invest in? Conversely, if all she is doing is to approve decisions that were actually made by her advisor, then why not fire her and replace her with the advisor instead?
It really boggles the mind trying to make sense of Mr. Shanmugaratnam’s oxymoronic logic.
It isn’t only GLCs that have committed high profile blunders. Several ministries have also committed them. One wonders how exactly these fiascos could have happened given the government’s oft-vaunted claim that they practice meritocracy, and that the ministers and senior civil servants running the culpable ministries are the best people for the job in the country. After all, if they’re really as good as is claimed, then the question of why they failed to take actions to pre-empt these blunders should be asked, as the following cases demonstrate.
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)
2 years ago, terrorist mastermind Mas Selamat Kestari escaped from the maximum security Whitley Road Detention Center (WRDC). Despite a massive manhunt, Kestari managed to swim to Malaysia where he remained in hiding until his arrest by the Malaysian police a year later. So how did he manage to pull off his Houdini act? Why, with the unwitting cooperation of his jailers of course.
First, the commander of the WRDC repeatedly ignored warnings from his subordinates that the design of the toilet Kestari escaped from was flawed. Second, he was left alone in the toilet by his Nepalese Gurkha guards. Third, the WRDC guards obviously had never been drilled in proper procedures to deal with escaped prisoners since they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off instead of launching an immediate search party. Fourth, the search party only searched above ground even as Kestari was making his way through the country’s drainage system. Fifth, the hunt for Kestari was limited only to Singapore.
One wonders why none of the elite scholars in the top ranks of the ISD, SPF and SAF ever thought of putting themselves in Kestari’s position to second guess his probable courses of action when planning the manhunt for him. Probably none of them thought that Kestari, a secondary school dropout could ever possibly outwit elite scholars like themselves (something he did succeed in doing, incidentally).
In light of Kestari’s escape, one would think that the MHA would tighten up its act in the immediate aftermath. Regrettably, it apparently failed to do so. In another embarrassing incident, a man actually managed to get through immigration and board an aircraft at Changi Airport while mistakenly using his son’s passport. He was then correctly stopped at his destination Vietnam where he finally discovered his mistake. He was then sent back to Singapore where once again he managed to waltz effortlessly through immigration with his son’s passport!!!! He later made his story public, resulting in disciplinary action being taken against the immigration officers who made the mistakes.
Considering that Mas Selamat Kestari had planned to crash an airliner into the Changi Airport Passenger Terminal Building, one only hopes that MHA has finally learnt its lessons and has cleaned up its act.
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR)
The MHA wasn’t the only ministry to have committed high profile blunders in recent years. About a year ago, more than a hundred people fell ill after eating Indian rojak at the Geylang Serai temporary market, resulting in the deaths of two elderly women. In the subsequent clean up, the press reported that more than fifty rats were captured within an hour.
Following a public outcry, the National Environmental Agency said that it was not responsible for maintaining the market since it was only a temporary one. What the NEA failed to account for satisfactorily was why its update on the hygiene status of the various stalls at the market were long overdue, and why it failed in its duty of ensuring that the market was kept in hygienic conditions.
The Public Utilities Board (PUB), the NEA’s sister agency at the MEWR scarcely faired any better in recent years. On December 19, 2006, the country was hit by one of the heaviest storms it had ever endured, resulting in widespread flooding. The hardest hit area was Joan Road, where virtually all the nurseries there suffered heavy financial losses as a result of the canal passing through them bursting its banks. MEWR Professor Yaacob Ibrahim later issued a statement explaining that the storm was a one-in-fifty year event, while the Joan Road canal was subsequently enlarged and deepened. Why the PUB never thought of doing this before is unknown, considering the fact that the canal is the emergency hugh water discharge outlet for MacRitchie Reservoir.
Just three years later, the country was lashed by another severe storm that resulted in widespread flooding. This time, the worst hit area was Bukit Timah, where the Bukit Timah Canal burst its banks. Once again, Professor Ibrahim explained that it was a one-in-fifty-year event and announced plans for the PUB to enlarge and deepen the canal. The PUB later admitted that it had been caught off guard by the fact that the large scale urbanization of the previously largely natural area had resulted in a much higher level of rainwater runoff instead of being naturally soaked up by the ground.
Two one-in-fifty-year events in three years. While a one-in-fifty-year event usually takes place only once in every five decades (hence the name), apparently in Singapore, 50 years can pass by in only three. How Uniquely Singapore!!!!
The above-listed debacles are only a sampling. There are far too many such incidents to be covered here. Taken individually, they all appear to have little to do with one another. Taken together though, and a disquieting picture emerges. Viewed together, these incidents appear to indicate that some very serious cases of apathy, indifference and complacency has set in the GLCs and Civil Service, from the lowest-ranking frontline staff to the highest-ranking senior officials.
“Deaf frogs”
Probably the best example of the sort of complacency that would lead to such debacles if left unchecked was demonstrated by NTUC chief Lim Swee Say. In response to criticisms leveled against the government’s unrestricted immigration policy made by Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang, Mr. Lim said that the government was made up of deaf frogs that simply ignore all criticisms. This is an extremely foolish attitude to say the least: nobody possesses a monopoly on wisdom, and if someone chooses to ignore all criticisms and listen only to yes-men, then one day that someone may end up making a very major blunder that could even cause the deaths of innocent people. The best example of just such a "deaf frog" was Captain E. E. Smith of the Titanic, who ignored repeated warnings to change course and slow down because of icebergs in the region. And everyone knows how that particular story ended.
Just imagine what could have happened had JI chief Mas Selamat Kestari and his merry men had known about the shoddy security at Changi Depot; in such an event, the country would probably be mourning scores if not hundreds of dead instead of being entertained by SMRT’s increasingly ridiculous attempts to explain away the vandalism fiasco. After all, if one chooses to be a deaf frog and ignore all feedback, then one would never realize one’s own mistakes. And failures to acknowledge one’s own mistakes were responsible in one way or another for the all debacles listed above.
It is about time that the government realizes that it is not omniscient, and that negative feedback is actually a good thing. Without negative feedback, one would never be able to correct one’s own mistakes and improve. The government is supposed to be made up of elected officials who are supposed to serve the needs and wants of the people and to do this, it should listen to them and not play “deaf frog” and ignore them.
If the government refuses to heed the people’s will, then a replacement should be elected instead for the good of the country. For if the country was to continue in its present path of complacency and apathy under the leadership of “deaf frogs” who actually know far less than their overbloated egos had led them to think they do, then one day the country will eventually end up becoming a giant bowl of frog leg stew. And the people of the country will be the vegetables in the stew made from the legs of the elite “deaf frogs”.
Tan Keng Leng
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