When 250,000 commuters are affected for over 3.5 hours by the latest MRT fiasco, which they still have not discovered the cause, its criminal negligence. One understands if the LTA and SMRT were run by experienced mass transportation people appointed to their positions after a lengthy world wide search. If the PAP had done a thorough job and hired a professional head hunter and said "look, these are the best people in the world we could find for these positions", and these MRT cock ups happened, i can understand and accept it. Why? because the PAP had done a best effort, no stones unturned search and if cockups happened, I know they did their best to appoint competent people to prevent this.
But when the PAP knowingly and deliberately with great forethought appoint an Ex Admiral Chew Men Leong to run LTA and an ex general Desmond Quack to run SMRT, fully knowing they have no experience whatsoever in their jobs, then it becomes a criminally negligent act. Its negligent because they hold a fiduciary duty to the people and their high paid salaries to find the best person for the job. Its criminal because 250,000 lives were affected. Parents were not able to be with their kids because they were stuck in a train. Kids could not make it home to have a meal for the same reason. People on their way to work or night shift could not report in. Many lives were inconvenienced and many hundreds of millions $ of lost economic output were suffered, as well as 875,000 man hours wasted stuck on the trains. The PAP had to know that by appointing these incompetent people to such high posts, the risk of a major event like this happening will be higher then if real professionals were used. Logic simply says that if you appoint people who know not what they do, and have utterly no experience in their jobs, it will be only a matter of time before disaster happens. Does one appoint a carpenter to fly a plane? No, because the odds of him crashing the plane is high even with the help of all the plane's instruments and even with a co-pilot. Whoever appoints a carpenter to fly a plane would be criminally negligent. By the same logic, To knowingly and deliberately appoint a general who has spend over 20 years in the army and before that was a student, to run a mass rapid transit company and the main source of an entire country's transportation needs, is simply criminally negligent. Amos and Roy have been sued for much less. What is the punishment for such a mass deliberate act to 250,000 people?
But when the PAP knowingly and deliberately with great forethought appoint an Ex Admiral Chew Men Leong to run LTA and an ex general Desmond Quack to run SMRT, fully knowing they have no experience whatsoever in their jobs, then it becomes a criminally negligent act. Its negligent because they hold a fiduciary duty to the people and their high paid salaries to find the best person for the job. Its criminal because 250,000 lives were affected. Parents were not able to be with their kids because they were stuck in a train. Kids could not make it home to have a meal for the same reason. People on their way to work or night shift could not report in. Many lives were inconvenienced and many hundreds of millions $ of lost economic output were suffered, as well as 875,000 man hours wasted stuck on the trains. The PAP had to know that by appointing these incompetent people to such high posts, the risk of a major event like this happening will be higher then if real professionals were used. Logic simply says that if you appoint people who know not what they do, and have utterly no experience in their jobs, it will be only a matter of time before disaster happens. Does one appoint a carpenter to fly a plane? No, because the odds of him crashing the plane is high even with the help of all the plane's instruments and even with a co-pilot. Whoever appoints a carpenter to fly a plane would be criminally negligent. By the same logic, To knowingly and deliberately appoint a general who has spend over 20 years in the army and before that was a student, to run a mass rapid transit company and the main source of an entire country's transportation needs, is simply criminally negligent. Amos and Roy have been sued for much less. What is the punishment for such a mass deliberate act to 250,000 people?
