<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>April 14, 2009
FATAL ROJAK AFTERMATH
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Questions for NEA
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the fatal tragedy involving the deaths of two customers and some 150 others falling ill after consuming food bought at an Indian rojak stall at the Geylang Serai hawker centre recently.
The stallholders should not be the only ones who must answer for lapses in hygiene standards.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) must tell the public whether it has been negligent in policing the wet market and food centre.
How was it that despite complaints by stallholders about the presence of rats throughout the market and food centre, nothing was done to trap the rodents or tackle the root cause of their presence until the tragedy?
Questions such as whether the agency's checks were at most cursory, and whether its officers had liaised with stallholders, must come to mind in the light of the apparent lack of effective measures undertaken beforehand.
To trap more than 60 rats in only one operation is mind-boggling and suggests that the rodents must have been present and breeding for quite some time.
How can such a thing happen in a small, and therefore easily policed, city state like ours, which claims to be a developed nation?
=> Not to mention that all the ministers and what-have-u-not dogs are the BEST PAID in the world! Leegally corrupt until like this!
Caroline Chee (Ms)
<HR width="50%" SIZE=1>
'This should not have happened in Singapore.'
MR RAVI GOVINDAN: 'This tragedy should not have happened in Singapore, which has an advanced public health safety system. We should ask ourselves what went wrong with this particular rojak stall. For instance, does the grading scheme of the National Environment Agency (NEA) help hawkers improve hygiene standards in their stalls? If the NEA grades a stall with a 'C', does the agency follow up to help the hawker improve on hygiene standards? Housing the centre temporarily for three years raises the question of adequate planning. So too is the lack of proper separation between the food centre and a wet market; a wall should separate the two. Finally, why did we let an incident like this happen before acting?'
'This, and overcharging, tarnish the reputation of hawker centres.'
MR LOW ZI PING: 'I am appalled by the laxity of the relevant government agencies in checking hawker centres. Singapore plugs itself as a food paradise, but this incident, and that of overcharging tourists, tarnish the reputation of hawker centres.'
'Outsource?'
MR TAN SWEE SENG: 'If the NEA does not have the manpower to strictly enforce the rules and check toilets and public amenities frequently and effectively, can it outsource these tasks to the private sector?'
=> Or since the ministers are so incompetent, why are they not FIRED?
I dare u to vote me out ah! *hee*hee*
FATAL ROJAK AFTERMATH
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Questions for NEA
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the fatal tragedy involving the deaths of two customers and some 150 others falling ill after consuming food bought at an Indian rojak stall at the Geylang Serai hawker centre recently.
The stallholders should not be the only ones who must answer for lapses in hygiene standards.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) must tell the public whether it has been negligent in policing the wet market and food centre.
How was it that despite complaints by stallholders about the presence of rats throughout the market and food centre, nothing was done to trap the rodents or tackle the root cause of their presence until the tragedy?
Questions such as whether the agency's checks were at most cursory, and whether its officers had liaised with stallholders, must come to mind in the light of the apparent lack of effective measures undertaken beforehand.
To trap more than 60 rats in only one operation is mind-boggling and suggests that the rodents must have been present and breeding for quite some time.
How can such a thing happen in a small, and therefore easily policed, city state like ours, which claims to be a developed nation?
=> Not to mention that all the ministers and what-have-u-not dogs are the BEST PAID in the world! Leegally corrupt until like this!
Caroline Chee (Ms)
<HR width="50%" SIZE=1>
'This should not have happened in Singapore.'
MR RAVI GOVINDAN: 'This tragedy should not have happened in Singapore, which has an advanced public health safety system. We should ask ourselves what went wrong with this particular rojak stall. For instance, does the grading scheme of the National Environment Agency (NEA) help hawkers improve hygiene standards in their stalls? If the NEA grades a stall with a 'C', does the agency follow up to help the hawker improve on hygiene standards? Housing the centre temporarily for three years raises the question of adequate planning. So too is the lack of proper separation between the food centre and a wet market; a wall should separate the two. Finally, why did we let an incident like this happen before acting?'
'This, and overcharging, tarnish the reputation of hawker centres.'
MR LOW ZI PING: 'I am appalled by the laxity of the relevant government agencies in checking hawker centres. Singapore plugs itself as a food paradise, but this incident, and that of overcharging tourists, tarnish the reputation of hawker centres.'
'Outsource?'
MR TAN SWEE SENG: 'If the NEA does not have the manpower to strictly enforce the rules and check toilets and public amenities frequently and effectively, can it outsource these tasks to the private sector?'
=> Or since the ministers are so incompetent, why are they not FIRED?
I dare u to vote me out ah! *hee*hee*
