8 New hires to get SMRT on track - 4 from military

[Confuseous]

SMRT Corp's new chief executive Desmond Kuek has hired eight key managers in a bid to steer the beleaguered transport operator back on track - and there are more to come.

Four of the new arrivals were once high-ranking officers in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and all eight have experience relevant to their new roles in the Temasek-owned publicly listed company.

SMRT announced the new appointments to its staff last week. They are as follows:

Director of rail infrastructure Simon Tang, 35, who was previously with Hong Kong's MTR Corp and Kowloon Canton Railway Corp.

Deputy director of workers liaison and industrial relations Michael Chua, 48. Lieutenant- Colonel Chua has 27 years' experience in the SAF dealing with special operations and industry relations.

Director of buses Tan Kian Heong, 45. Colonel Tan spent 15 years with the SAF, with his last appointment as head of its land operations faculty.

Vice-president, legal and corporate secretariat, Jacquelin Tay, 44. Ms Tay was previously senior legal director at SingTel.

Director of human resources Gerard Koh, 42. Col Koh spent 16 years with the SAF, with his last post as head of national service affairs.

Director of train operations Alvin Kek, 45. A 14-year SAF veteran, Col Kek's previous position was formation commander, chief engineering officer.

Vice-president of corporate communications and customer services Kalaiselvi Natarajan, 40. Ms Natarajan spent 17 years in public relations, with her last job at Ogilvy.

Deputy director of Thomson Line Leow Onn Wah, 40. Mr Leow was previously with the Dubai Roads & Transport Authority.
With the exception of Ms Natarajan, who replaces SMRT spokesman Goh Chee Kong who left in October, the other new appointees are additions to beef up the management ranks.

Mr Kuek, who assumed the helm barely three months ago, said the new executives "come from all walks (of life)".

"Yes, some were from the military... but they have been selected because they have the right attributes and experience for the tasks at hand," he added.

He told The Straits Times that the eight formed "the first tranche" of changes, with the next one coming soon.

Mr Kuek said there will also be some "internal reshuffles" in the current management team, as "part of an ongoing process to gear up to meet higher operational performance, reliability and customer service standards, better workforce engagement and more sustainable growth into the future".

Mr Kuek added: "The new additions to the management team will fill organisational gaps and increase our capacity to meet new challenges."

 

[scroobal]

He should also take the opportunity to replace his wife. She has the most artificial smile that I have seen of anyone.

 

[iamhere]

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_545212.html

Highest paid SMRT CEO



MS SAW Phaik Hwa, 55, was paid $1.67 million last year, including stock options, making her the highest-grossing chief executive that public transport operator SMRT Corp has ever employed.

Her deputy, Mr Yeo Meng Hin, 46, whose responsibilities include safety, emergency planning and security, took home $970,272 - making him the second best paid executive onboard. where is this mr yeo now?

The remuneration details were listed in SMRT Corp's latest annual report. Compared to the year before, Ms Saw's package was 7.1 per cent higher while Mr Yeo's grew by 13.3 per cent. Their compensation includes bonuses, benefits and company shares.

Remuneration for the company's top five executives, excluding Ms Saw's, totalled $3.2 million - 17.2 per cent higher than the previous year's. SMRT's total wage bill grew by 6.3 per cent to $294.8 million over the same period.

While previous annual reports did not provide detailed breakdowns of top-level remuneration, Ms Saw's predecessors - Mr Boey Tak Hap and Mr Kwek Siew Jin - were paid around $570,000 before share options.

Before share options, Ms Saw's package last year came up to $1.43 million. This compares favourably with what her counterpart at transport giant ComfortDelGro Corp got. Its chief executive, Mr Kua Hong Pak, 66, was paid between $1.75 million and $1.99 million last year, excluding options.

.


and that mr yeo was paid 970, 272 to be responsible for safety, emergency planning and security when....


http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_535937.html
Jun 5, 2010
More twists to the MRT tale
By Maria Almenoar, Sujin Thomas & Teh Joo Lin

A screen grab of You Yuan's 27 second video of the train in service. As of last night, the video had garnered over 26,000 view on YouTube. -- PHOTO: YOUTUBE
THE tale of the security breach at an MRT depot here took several twists yesterday: Police were told of it only two days after it occurred, and the Swiss national who left his mark on a train might not have been working alone.
In a statement last night, police said the breach took place on the night of May 16 or early the next morning.
It added that police were informed only on May 19, at 7.15pm.
The Straits Times reported yesterday that a YouTube video of the incident was posted online on May 18.
That timeline of events meant the graffiti on the train, and the breach, went unnoticed for close to 48 hours.
In its statement yesterday, police said the 33-year-old Swiss national who was arrested on May 25 will be hauled to court today to face charges of vandalism and trespass.
It did not say why there was a time lapse between the breach and the police report.




http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%...19-295140.html




my paper
Friday, Aug 19, 2011
By Joy Fang

GRAFFITI found on a north-bound MRT train on Wednesday morning is believed to have read: “Jet Setter’s”.

my paper understands that the words were spray-painted in blue on one side of a train carriage . It is said to have measured between 8m and 9m in length and 1m in height.

The train, which had been parked at SMRT’s Bishan depot, had already been plying its route when a train officer discovered the graffiti.

When my paper was at the 6km perimeter of the depot yesterday, 18 segments of brightgreen wire fencing were spotted, interspersed with worn-out segments, at a 500m stretch along the canal off Bishan Road.

It is believed that the depot was breached there, a few metres away from where the trains were parked.

At least 25 closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras were spotted on the top or sides of the depot buildings, but only about three were visible within the parking bays.
Investigations are ongoing and no one has been arrested yet. It is not known if the tresspass and vandalism was done by one or more individuals. SMRT said in a statement yesterday that it has intensified patrols at all its depots. SMRT has four depots – in Bishan, Changi, Ulu Pandan and Kim Chuan.

The spokesman added: “We have instructed our premises managers to increase their spot checks at the premises, and ensure all security personnel are performing their duties properly.”

Preliminary findings point to the “likelihood of human failure”.

In October last year, the transport operator agreed with and implemented recommendations by the Public Transport Security Committee on a fence-intrusion system for all its train depots.

The system was to be complemented with steel-welded mesh fencing, additional CCTVs and lighting along the perimeter fencing. This is being done to reduce reliance on manned patrols, and to have round-theclock monitoring.

These measures were being implemented progressively, said SMRT, but had yet to be carried out at the Bishan depot. In May last year, two men broke into SMRT’s Changi depot, cutting through the fence and spray-painting graffiti on the side of a parked MRT train.

Swiss national Oliver Fricker was later sentenced to seven months’ jail and three strokes of the cane for trespassing and vandalism, but spent less than five months in prison on account of good behaviour. His alleged Briton accomplice, Dane Alexander Lloyd, is still at large.

For its lapse, SMRT was fined the maximum of $50,000 by the Land Transport Authority. Security experts said that the second incident heightens the need for a complete plan to protect depots from terror threats. Dr Kumar Ramakrishna, head of the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said: “If relatively unsophisticated vandals seeking thrills can gain unauthorised access to our trains, trained and determined terrorists with far sinister aims could do so as well.”

Calling the latest incident “disappointing”, he added that Singapore remains an “iconic” terrorist target.

Mr Sathyaraj Rengaraju, a training and compliance manager in security firm Pico Guards, said that SMRT needs to ensure that the three crucial layers of security are in place: making physical security barriers such as fences tamper-proof, having more CCTVs and a larger number of alert security officers to increase vigilance.

 

[iamhere]

seriously i hate the color white...
self-acclaimed "white" is the mockery of singapore born singaporeans basic intelligence
self-acclaimed "elites" calling the taxpayers "lesser mortals, sheep, daft' and etc is
the awakening call for those who had "slept" for 40yrs, vote them in initially and suffered the "walkover" syndrome for the last 20yrs...
this new ethnic group "elites" (self-acclaimed) is a living stigma of human by itself, one who can't speak their own mother tongue and one who kowtow to whatever is considered "white man" or "western"
how to trust someone who forgotten their own roots and trying to behave like some western monkeys???

“interesting news”, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL Desmond Kuek Bak Chye, the former Chief of Defence Force, will soon be exploring a whole new terrain...


pay millions to lose billions
pay millions to have terrorist (physically handicapped one) to walk out of detention in eleven minutes
pay millions to have minister getting "new learning experience"
pay millions to have security BREACHED at a major public transport establishment...

and now pay millions to let ppl "explore a whole new terrain"

VERY EXPENSIVE NURSERY WE HAVE HERE on this little island south of the malay peninsula...

what and why do we need ex-military staff in non-militart establishments?

imagine how much jobs can be freed up and passed down to public if our PART-TIME MP COMMIT FULL TIME and stop hogging these appointments

having more than one appointment does not give one more than 24hrs a day...

so who did they neglect?
the taxpayers?
their own companies?
or the companies which they collecting directorship fees from?
it's a FUNDAMENTAL BREACH of their claim that they should be paid obscenely high packages as they might be getting it in private sector.
now they claim it as allowances, work as "PART-TIME MP" and still collecting $$$ all over the place...

UNIQUELY SINGAPORE???

 

[Seee3]

..Director of rail infrastructure Simon Tang, 35, who was previously with Hong Kong's MTR Corp and Kowloon Canton Railway Corp.

Hope this guy can proof me wrong. To-date, haven't met a good technical guy from HK. All conman with big mouth.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

SMRT will introduce stand-by bed for the employees living in dormitories.
SMRT will also introduce stand-by train for the train drivers.
SMRT will also introduce stand-by pay checks for its overpaid executives.

 

[1sickpuppy II]

These are the shit clean up crew to clean up what Ho Jinx GF left after her shit hit the ceiling?

 

[blackmore]

Hope this guy can proof me wrong. To-date, haven't met a good technical guy from HK. All conman with big mouth.

Probably not, newer generation of HKs better educated and more affluent compare to smooth talkers of yesteryears.Whether this fella would fit into our culture is another question as HKs tends to be forthright and critical.

For SMRT's direction. I forsee it will run like clock work as the KPI is efficiency of the transport system.This is the jab that SMRT needed to get their act together. Comparing Saw's objective in revenue generation to efficiency of a transport system. Kuek's mindset is still military and the team he assembled could actually pull it off in time.

 

[halsey02]

He should also take the opportunity to replace his wife. She has the most artificial smile that I have seen of anyone.

Maybe he chose the wrong "mangoes"?? with more time spent outside , he will have time to choose...

 

[Company]

Four of the new arrivals were once high-ranking officers in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and all eight have experience relevant to their new roles in the Temasek-owned publicly listed company.

i also company orhuicer and company manyjer. can? ay sai bo?

 

[blackmore]

He should also take the opportunity to replace his wife. She has the most artificial smile that I have seen of anyone.

Guess you have not seen Penny Low's smile ; I puke every time I walk around the estate when their banner were hung.

 

[wendychan]

don't like anything, will just be "crushed"

 

[Raiders]

If these people were good, they would never have been in the armed forces in the first place.

 

[Logisex]

Hope this guy can proof me wrong. To-date, haven't met a good technical guy from HK. All conman with big mouth.

He's only 35 and there is no mention about his previous post in HK MTR so you don't even know whether he's a technical guy.

 

[Logisex]

If these people were good, they would never have been in the armed forces in the first place.

The CEO spent all his life in SAF so these are the only 'good people' he knows.

 

[snowbird]

The so call new culture will also be the regular standard army standard - wait and wait!
And of cos ,they will not make the same mistake again but just make new mistakes and there'll be also the usual regular "cock up" army style.

 

[Logisex]

Just the other day, I saw one Angmo security guard at Raffles Place MRT. He caught everyone's eye because these so called security guards are usually retired ah peks.

Maybe this is part of the new culture - outsource security to Blackwater Security Consulting

 

[jw5]

Not that long ago when Saw was still the CEO, I posted here that the SGX announcements page were inundated with news of SMRT departures and promotions.

Looks like there will be another round of news to announce these new arrivals, possibly a few departures or promotions too.
The public transport commuters and their ordinary minority shareholders are not interested in seeing who comes, who goes or who goes up the ladder. They simply want either more efficient transport services or better returns on their investment, in some cases both.

 

[Boliao]

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_545212.html

Highest paid SMRT CEO



MS SAW Phaik Hwa, 55, was paid $1.67 million last year, including stock options, making her the highest-grossing chief executive that public transport operator SMRT Corp has ever employed.

Her deputy, Mr Yeo Meng Hin, 46, whose responsibilities include safety, emergency planning and security, took home $970,272 - making him the second best paid executive onboard. where is this mr yeo now?

Mr Yeo is now SVP, HR at DHL but seriously.. look at his CV http://sg.linkedin.com/pub/meng-hin-yeo/4/835/53. This is another bugger like Teo Chew Hoon who should never be hired.

Well, now SMRT is run by CBL... oops, I mean COL. I'm not too sure if swapping out idiots for clowns is a good thing. SMRT looks dark and gloomy.

[video=youtube;9VCcvdrhn3M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCcvdrhn3M[/video]

 

[rusty]

4 from the military enough? More to come when the retailing business starts.
Btw how come they can afford these expensive intakes without raising the fare?
When it comes to the lowly paid drivers they need to....why?