Crumbling of Singapore?

[Nice-Gook]

d I've done lot's of reading regarding the history of the trains.

Nothing in my collection of articles and books documents the building of a mass rapid transport system as comprehensive as the one in Singapore in a short space of 30 years.

.

Are you limiting yourself only to the matter of MRT in the context of crumbling Singapore?

 

[TracyTan866]

It's not to suit me. You can continue to air your "opinions" while I, in turn, will continue to post FACTS in the form of cold hard information about the infrastructure that Singapore is building to make the place even better.

If there are any errors in my information eg fake photos of infrastructure that doesn't actually exist or was photoshopped into the images, please point it out to me. I have no problems with you exposing any lies and I'm sure the rest here would appreciate it too.

I am actually quite "honoured" that you have spent so much time trying to prove me wrong...I seldom come in but cant help but feel that this is not your normal routine...you have gone out of your way to rpove or disprove your point...but alas you failed!!!

I am talking abt the future of SG but you are stuck in the present. That doesnt speak well of your analytical power nor power of comprehension.

I rest my case...bye....

 

[Leongsam]

Y I have told you abt the great Cities of Pompeii, Sodom, Gomorrah.

Will SG end up like them?

Of course it will. No great city remains great forever. Circumstances change. Oceans may rise. Krakatua may erupt again tomorrow and destroy the whole region but you can't possibly blame the the current PAP team for that. Your rebuttals are getting rather ridiculous.

You mention Pompei. The city was buried under ash and lava for goodness sake. To bring a natural disaster into the equation to support your argument makes you appear as if you're clutching at straws to counter my FACTS.

 

[Nice-Gook]

..but alas you failed!!!

...

Sam,I figure is just sharpening his argument skill gone rusty.Otherwise,it's oxymoronic for some one to have quit the country to sing it's praises.

 

[Leongsam]

short of saying - if Singapore don't make money, we are kaput.

Life in Singapore is never going to be easy. It's like being on a treadmill. You have to run very fast just to stay in the same spot. However, you have to realise that these circumstances were not created by the PAP. Singapore is a great city in an awful neighborhood. You need to know what lies just 10 km to the South and across the causeway to the North.

Do you want Singapore to continue to thrive as an independent nation or do you want the govt to let its guard down and allow the Island to become irrelevant and unable to defend itself against its belligerent neighbours?

Remember the last Indonesian bomb exploded in Singapore just a handful of decades ago which is a very short time on any historical road map. I was 100 metres away when it happened and we were sitting ducks at the time had the hostilities escalated. We had no army, air force and no navy. The British were pulling out and couldn't care less.

Count your blessings. Things could have turned out a lot worse.

 

[TracyTan866]

Sam,I figure is just sharpening his argument skill gone rusty.Otherwise,it's oxymoronic for some one to have quit the country to sing it's praises.

hahahahaha...Sam is just too egoistic...I seldom read his threads...but what I read I am not impressed...he likes to twist and turn his argument, thinking that he can bombard people here into submission with his "immaculate" english..

 

[Leongsam]

Sam,I figure is just sharpening his argument skill gone rusty.Otherwise,it's oxymoronic for some one to have quit the country to sing it's praises.

I haven't quit the country. I moved simply because I've retired and want to enjoy a slower pace of life. I didn't move because there's anything wrong with Singapore. I am full of admiration for the Singapore govt. I wish the NZ govt was just a decisive when it comes to building infrastructure and managing the economy.

 

[freedalas]

Yes, I agree with you.

Sam, like some here, dont seem to understand my point that what the pap is doing does not augur well...there are many symptoms showing that we are on the wrong track.

The MRT saga is a good lesson. Did SMRT take profit maximisation as a key performance indicator and compromised maintenance schedules, etc...causing premature wear amd tear and breakdowns? Did the pap take GDP as aKPI and compromised the future well being of SG and Singaporeans?

One incident of MRT breakdwon is not a problem...but if that was the result of poor mgmt practices, more severe damage will occur.

It seems that we are on the same track...

A good pun on the word "track" since we're talking about SMRT.

Let me try to use an analogy to illustrate what has led SMRT to totally neglect its most basic role as a rail operator. But first a little background info. When Ho Ching appointed Saw PH, she wasn't looking for someone with rail experience or for that matter, someone with any form of technical operations experience. She was looking for someone who had been in the retail business because her objective was to popularise the shops owned by SMRT such as those at DobyGhaut Xchange and the Orchard Xchange to boost the tenancy take-up rate and boost rentals of course. To Ho Ching, the efficiency of the rail in itself is of the least concern to her as she can raise fares anytime she likes. The analogy is this. A father sends his son to school. He told the boy that he wants him to excel in sport. So the son took up football in school. Everyday, the father would ask the son, not about his academic work, but the matches he played, the number of goals he scored etc. So each time the father and son met, they would only about the football in school and how the son was coming along with the sports. Nothing was ever discussed between the two about the boy's academic results. Well the boy did very well in football, he became the school's most valuable player, but he failed in all his academic subjects. Since his father was not concern at all with his academic results, he naturally focuses only on playing football and never study, perhaps only minimally. The father was non-plussed, because all that matters to him was good was his son in football, not his academic achievements or lack of it.

Picture this in SMRT boardroom. Whenever Ho Ching meets Saw PH, the former will asked how are the shops doing, how many have been taken up, how much has the rental gone up, what's the total revenue from rental income. In other words, all Saw PH needs to report to Ho Ching is on the performance of the shops, not on how the trains are performing. She doesn't have to report if the train meets the schedules, if there is any over-crowding on the platforms etc. Since Ho Ching is not interested in the train operational matters, what would Saw PH do on her job? Simple. She will just focus on the retail shops side of the business and let things on the train side run on its own. Over time, the train operations gets neglected but no one will ever be too bothered because the big boss up there is not interested at all about the trains. It's all about shops rental. So we have the situation of consecutive MRT incidents today.

 

[Leongsam]

Are you limiting yourself only to the matter of MRT in the context of crumbling Singapore?

Not at all. What else do you think is crumbling besides the MRT?

 

[Nice-Gook]

Life in Singapore is never going to be easy. It's like being on a treadmill. You have to run very fast just to stay in the same spot. However, you have to realise that these circumstances were not created by the PAP. Singapore is a great city in an awful neighborhood. You need to realise what lies just 10 km to the South and across the causeway to the North.

.

Which simply means sinkies has to die eventually.Sam,you has scored your own goal.

Talking about being surrounded by enemies?Ah so,PAP boogie man eh?Tell me Sam,if so how did Raffles manage build Singapore in the middle of enemy territory?....Or for that matter why are there more Chinese billionaires both in Malaysia and Indonesian than Singapore?....and millions more ethnic Chinese still prefer to live in enemy land than trade places to Singapore?

 

[TracyTan866]

A good pun on the word "track" since we're talking about SMRT.

Let me try to use an analogy to illustrate what has led SMRT to totally neglect its most basic role as a rail operator. But first a little background info. When Ho Ching appointed Saw PH, she wasn't looking for someone with rail experience or for that matter, someone with any form of technical operations experience. She was looking for someone who had been in the retail business because her objective was to popularise the shops owned by SMRT such as those at DobyGhaut Xchange and the Orchard Xchange to boost the tenancy take-up rate and boost rentals of course. To Ho Ching, the efficiency of the rail in itself is of the least concern to her as she can raise fares anytime she likes. The analogy is this. A father sends his son to school. He told the boy that he wants him to excel in sport. So the son took up football in school. Everyday, the father would ask the son, not about his academic work, but the matches he played, the number of goals he scored etc. So each time the father and son met, they would only about the football in school and how the son was coming along with the sports. Nothing was ever discussed between the two about the boy's academic results. Well the boy did very well in football, he became the school's most valuable player, but he failed in all his academic subjects. Since his father was not concern at all with his academic results, he naturally focuses only on playing football and never study, perhaps only minimally. The father was non-plussed, because all that matters to him was good was his son in football, not his academic achievements or lack of it.

Picture this in SMRT boardroom. Whenever Ho Ching meets Saw PH, the former will asked how are the shops doing, how many have been taken up, how much has the rental gone up, what's the total revenue from rental income. In other words, all Saw PH needs to report to Ho Ching is on the performance of the shops, not on how the trains are performing. She doesn't have to report if the train meets the schedules, if there is any over-crowding on the platforms etc. Since Ho Ching is not interested in the train operational matters, what would Saw PH do on her job? Simple. She will just focus on the retail shops side of the business and let things on the train side run on its own. Over time, the train operations gets neglected but no one will ever be too bothered because the big boss up there is not interested at all about the trains. It's all about shops rental. So we have the situation of consecutive MRT incidents today.

Good analogy...very clearly put across..

That's why many singaporeans dont understand..building an MRT is not that difficult..you have money, you can buy foreign expertise to built a rail network for you. But a wise govt will invest and build up local know how so that the rail network can be taken over by own citizens, run smoothly and not be ransomed by foreigners.

But an unwise govt goes for short term profits and neglects investing in local expertise and shortcut maintenance and servicing to produce good results...long term goals and well being have to be invested at a cost..short term profits go up at the expense of long term well being..is SMRT gg for short term profits? will the next SMRT CEO suffer the indiscretions and failings of Saw Phaik Hwa?

 

[Nice-Gook]

Not at all. What else do you think is crumbling besides the MRT?

Than why were you MRT specific?.

btw:I am more interested to know what your facts are that Singapore in not crumbling .You see I wanted to be proven wrong.That Singapore passport is still worth the paper it printed on and not abandning it for say NZ.

 

[TracyTan866]

Which simply means sinkies has to die eventually.Sam,you has scored your own goal.

Talking about being surrounded by enemies?Ah as,PAP boogie man eh?Tell me Sam,if so how did Raffles manage build Singapore in the middle of enemy territory?....Or for that matter why are there more Chinese billionaires both in Malaysia and Indonesian than Singapore?....and millions more ethnic Chinese still prefer to live in enemy land than trade places to Singapore?

Very sharp of you!!!!...you saw through Sam's contradiction and confusion

 

[Leongsam]

Picture this in SMRT boardroom. Whenever Ho Ching meets Saw PH, the former will asked how are the shops doing, how many have been taken up, how much has the rental gone up, what's the total revenue from rental income. In other words, all Saw PH needs to report to Ho Ching is on the performance of the shops, not on how the trains are performing. She doesn't have to report if the train meets the schedules, if there is any over-crowding on the platforms etc. Since Ho Ching is not interested in the train operational matters, what would Saw PH do on her job? Simple. She will just focus on the retail shops side of the business and let things on the train side run on its own. Over time, the train operations gets neglected but no one will ever be too bothered because the big boss up there is not interested at all about the trains. It's all about shops rental. So we have the situation of consecutive MRT incidents today.

Everyone is harping on the recent MRT breakdowns and extrapolating this setback to draw the conclusion that Singapore is going downhill.

While I can't change the pessimistic outlook that seems to have enveloped the nation, I can assure you that things really aren't that bad. Yes it was a mistake to hire that woman and yes she obviously has been concentrating on the wrong aspects of running a transport network but to say that Singapore is crumbling is plain ridiculous. It's like saying someone is dying because he tripped and grazed his knees. It's such a minor issue compared to the real problems the country faces.

 

[Leongsam]

Are you limiting yourself only to the matter of MRT in the context of crumbling Singapore?

I'm not. You were asking about this post http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?106287-Crumbling-of-Singapore&p=912142#post912142 where I was mentioning what a wonderful job the singapore govt has done in building the MRT system in such a short time.

 

[Windsor]

Everyone is harping on the recent MRT breakdowns and extrapolating this setback to draw the conclusion that Singapore is going downhill.

While I can't change the pessimistic outlook that seems to have enveloped the nation, I can assure you that things really aren't that bad. Yes it was a mistake to hire that woman and yes she obviously has been concentrating on the wrong aspects of running a transport network but to say that Singapore is crumbling is plain ridiculous. It's like saying someone is dying because he tripped and grazed his knees. It's such a minor issue compared to the real problems the country faces.

One thing for sure we can agree that Singapore really do have language problem. There is no commonality in any one language, but a hotchpotch of different languages in addition with different dialects. Some old people only speak dialects, some Chinese cannot speak Mandarin and other races speaks English and their own language. Here is where LKY failed miserably.

 

[Nice-Gook]

I'm not. You were asking about this post http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?106287-Crumbling-of-Singapore&p=912142#post912142 where I was mentioning what a wonderful job the singapore govt has done in building the MRT system in such a short time.

Agreed,you were on the topic of MRT whereas my first question was how worldly wise you are .....Ok,on the question of MRT.Let us be specif .What exactly you mean by that ,'singapore govt has done in building the MRT system in such a short time'.Are you saying such a time span is impossible by any government?

 

[red amoeba]

Life in Singapore is never going to be easy. It's like being on a treadmill. You have to run very fast just to stay in the same spot. However, you have to realise that these circumstances were not created by the PAP. Singapore is a great city in an awful neighborhood. You need to realise what lies just 10 km to the South and across the causeway to the North.

Do you want Singapore to continue to thrive as an independent nation or do you want the govt to let its guard down and allow the Island to become irrelevant and unable to defend itself against its belligerent neighbours?

Remember the last Indonesian bomb exploded in Singapore just a handful of decades ago which is a very short time on any historical road map. I was 100 metres away when it happened and we were sitting ducks at the time had the hostilities escalated. We had no army, air force and no navy. The British were pulling out and couldn't care less.

Count your blessings. Things could have turned out a lot worse.

you are mixing the issues up. I am not saying Singapore is defenseless. I am only saying - in making every single dick & pussy living on this island part of the money making equation, the government is losing the "soft" side of the affairs. yes, the threadmill is running, and the speed is ever gaining....more and more will fall off the theadmill.

What is then the outcome? I see PAP changing their stance after the last elections, the speed of the threadmill has stopped increasing for now....

 

[TracyTan866]

The core of PAP Gvot was rotten and that contaminated other parts around it.
The autocratic PAP Govt filled with yes-men ministers enabled it to cover up its massive failures and losses for the past decades.Well done Singapore Citizens!

There is a Chinese saying that :" the wealth of a family does not go beyond three generations".

Looks like this is so true for SG:

1st Generation PAP leaders (1965 to 1980) - build SG
2nd Generation PAP leaders (1981 to 2000) - consolidate SG
3rd Generation PAP leaders (2001 to 2021) - squander away SG?

With LHL at the helm, will the crumbling of SG happen within the next 10yrs? we are seeing the decay and destruction of many good SG institutions and lifestyles.

Will the Opposition Parties be able to reverse this trend in 2016 and avoid the crumbling of SG?

 

[freedalas]

Everyone is harping on the recent MRT breakdowns and extrapolating this setback to draw the conclusion that Singapore is going downhill.

While I can't change the pessimistic outlook that seems to have enveloped the nation, I can assure you that things really aren't that bad. Yes it was a mistake to hire that woman and yes she obviously has been concentrating on the wrong aspects of running a transport network but to say that Singapore is crumbling is plain ridiculous. It's like saying someone is dying because he tripped and grazed his knees. It's such a minor issue compared to the real problems the country faces.

Please give the forummers here some credit. They are not so naive to draw such conclusions simply from one incident. It's so happen that this MRT incident the latest in a series of mis-steps by the government and so forummers are using it to express their views that had been accumulating all these years of PAP failed policies. To use your analogy of concluding one is dying simply because he tripped and grazed his knees. It's more than that. That someone had tripped many times before and with each fall sustained various injuries. The cumulative effects of various injuries will lead to his deteoriation of health and if more serious injuries occur when he trips again, then it may lead to eventual death. Or the next time he trips, he may fall off a block of flats to his death... .....