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Magoichi Saika
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SMRT puts missing person posters programme 'on hold'
by Leong Wee Keat
05:55 AM Jan 07, 2010
Mdm Zhang Xiang Yun standing outside Tampines MRT station on Tuesday to appeal for information for her missing daughter, Han Yanfei.
SINGAPORE - When the SMRT first started working with Crime Library in 2006, allowing posters of missing persons to be placed at all bus interchanges and MRT stations, it was hailed as an endorsement of the non-profit group's efforts.
But Crime Library's publicity efforts to help families find their missing loved ones have hit a bump recently. SMRT had told it in August that the partnership had ended and Crime Library founder Joseph Tan's attempts to revive the tie-up has not succeeded.
No "real reasons" were given, he said, except that it "was put on hold". He has not heard from the SMRT since. When contacted by MediaCorp, an SMRT spokesperson said the arrangement "lapsed some time last year". "We're currently reviewing requests to use the notice boards at our premises due to high demand from various organisations for the space," she said.
The explanation is scant consolation for Crime Library, which Mr Tan claims has an "85 per cent success rate" in tracking down missing persons. "We felt lost," he told MediaCorp. "We lost one network that could help those who do not want to publicise their stories through the mass media."
Mr Tan has not ruled out approaching public transport operator SBS Transit, which partners the police in appealing for information on missing persons. But he hopes SMRT would reconsider its decision. He cited the current case of Ms Han Yanfei, whose mother, Mdm Zhang Xiang Yun, 48, has resorted to walking around the island the last two days to distribute posters.
Mdm Zhang, who wore a sandwich board showing photographs of her missing daughter in her search for information, admitted it was tedious, but she said she would not stop till she finds her daughter. "I'm not allowed to paste posters. I have no other way but to rely on myself," she said.
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