MP Seng Han Thong has made a statement of apology

[red amoeba]

Seng blame SMRT. SMRT blame subtly race again.

===

SINGAPORE: A statement by Member of Parliament Seng Han Thong has sparked an online furore.


It has also elicited a sharp rebuke from Minister of State for Community Development Youth and Sports Madam Halimah Yacob who said it was "inappropriate and unfair".


Mr Seng, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, has since apologised for the remark he made on Channel NewsAsia's "BlogTV" programme on Monday, where he said he was told by SMRT public relations that "some of the staff - because they are Malay, they are Indian - can't converse in English well enough".


Netizens had responded by calling for him to clarify his comments.


In her Facebook posting on Thursday morning, Madam Halimah said several friends also raised concerns. She said she was "disturbed by the remarks", even though Mr Seng was repeating what someone else said.


She said: "Having worked in the labour movement for 33 years, I am reminded of how employers in the past sometimes try to pin the blame on the lowest level workers as a way of deflecting responsibility from the management whenever a major problem occurs."


Madam Halimah also said: "It is not right to pin the blame on workers and, what is worse, Malay and Indian workers for the purported lack of English proficiency."


But Madam Halimah has urged netizens to cool down so that SMRT can focus on their task of fixing train defects to get the trains to run smoothly.


In an apology on his Facebook page, Mr Seng said he "sincerely apologises to all Singaporeans."


He said it was a "regrettable mistake, which may be misconstrued as saying that people speak bad English because of their ethnicity".


He said the remark was made "in the context of a larger discussion about how we could better and faster improve the current problems we're facing with our mass rapid transport system."


Separately, SMRT told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Seng may have misunderstood comments made at its media conference on December 16.


SMRT said its Executive Vice President Goh Chee Kong had explained that the company faces a challenge in trying to train its drivers to make announcements, as not all of them are comfortable speaking in English.


Mr Goh made those comments when replying to queries about the lack of information given to passengers, and feedback from some that they could not understand the English announcements that were made.


But SMRT said Mr Goh did not highlight any particular race in his remarks.


SMRT said it is now working to beef up its announcement to include pre-recorded messages in the four official languages.


It is also stepping up staff training so they can communicate better with passengers when a situation arises.

 

[tanwahtiu]

If this chap is in the oppo party his Chinese helicopter maybe is useful. PAP is angmoh pai and C-helicopter don't fit in.

He obviously didn't write this himself. It's way beyond him. :p

Chinese helicopters shouldn't be allowed to become MPs in the first place. They suck.

 

[halsey02]

If this chap is in the oppo party his Chinese helicopter maybe is useful. PAP is angmoh pai and C-helicopter don't fit in.

Please remind haramah that this is double standard, if this was utter by any of the oppositions in SINgapore & is a Chinese, he would be labeled Chinese Chauvinist & hounded out of the country. But this is BBQ Seng, after heating is GOld!

 

[laksaboy]

In other news the total percentage of votes gained by the PAP in GE2016 has just dropped and went below 60%.

Well done, Seng Han Thong.

Here's a song dedicated to you:

[video=youtube;Oai1V7kaFBk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oai1V7kaFBk[/video]

 

[RonRon]

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A9ksobgzmFo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Unrepented]

Tell that to MOE can?

Seng Han Thong:

................. We should all be tolerant of people of different standards of linguistic ability...........

 

[scroobal]

Agree with you. Unfortunately he is the powerful factional leader of the Chinese faction in the PAP and he is the political adviser to the old man for years on matters Chinese and also edited his memoirs. With departure of the long serving other powerful factional leader Yu Foo Yee Shoon and Gan being too young, they have little choice.

Seng Han Tong had proven to be more of a liablity then an asset to LHL and PAP. If LHL want to retain AMK for 2016, Seng Han Tong has to go or else, LHL could be Singapore's first defeated PM.

 

[hairylee]

Heh! Han Thong! Be a man.
Why apologise to the Malays and Indians.
Meet them Cul-de-Sac a la your master LKY.

 

[Unrepented]

She implying he is a bird/parrot

..................In her Facebook posting on Thursday morning, Madam Halimah said several friends also raised concerns. She said she was "disturbed by the remarks", even though Mr Seng was repeating what someone else said.


...........

 

[HedgeTrader]

Heh! Han Thong! Be a man.
Why apologise to the Malays and Indians.
Meet them Cul-de-Sac a la your master LKY.

He met Chinese Uncle Huang Feihong at cul de sac twice. Once got punch and once got burn LOL

 

[rodent2005]

Seng Han Tong said SMRT PR told him that Malay and Indian staff could not speak English well.

SMRT said they did not mention race at all.

One of them is not telling the truth. Which one?

 

[HedgeTrader]

Seng Han Tong said SMRT PR told him that Malay and Indian staff could not speak English well.

SMRT said they did not mention race at all.

One of them is not telling the truth. Which one?

They should sue each other. Otherwise that means both are liars LOL

 

[rusty]

Singapore is now in the "Sorry" & "Crying" era.

 

[halsey02]

He met Chinese Uncle Huang Feihong at cul de sac twice. Once got punch and once got burn LOL

Seems that he never learnt his lesson, maybe tempting his master to meet him at the cul de sac with the hatchet, this time, there will be no return.

 

[Kohliantye]

Seng Han Thong:

Statement of Apology In my interview with blogtv.sg, I made a regrettable mistake in my language, which may be misconstrued as me saying that people speak bad English because of their ethnicity. I sincerely apologise to all Singaporeans, who have been offended by this error. Singaporeans of all ethnicities and backgrounds speak varying standards of English. My own Chinese-educated background gives me a special empathy for the non-English-speaking sections of our society. We should all be tolerant of people of different standards of linguistic ability. The point I was trying to make is that this should not prevent people from trying to communicate, especially in times of emergency. The remark was made in the context of a larger discussion about how we could better and faster improve the current problems we're facing with our mass rapid transport system. Let us once again focus our minds and our public discussion on this issue.

Mr SHT,
Your bombascity, complexity and perplexity is beyond my capacity of apprehension.
In short "Wa Liak Bo Kiu" , "Saya Tak Tau" or "I don't Understand"
You have so much of money from pay as MP and other allowances from directorship, why don' t you employ one of us to teach you stupid bumpkins proper English

 

[freedalas]

Seng Han Thong got to where he's today simply by being the greatest balls carrier of LKY. When he became conscious enough following the burnt incident to speak to reporters, he told them that it was one person who gave him the will to fight for his life and that it is because of this person that he could recover quickly. That one person he was referring to was LKY who visited him perhaps 2 to 3 times. He said while still in semi-conscious state, the only voice he heard was that of LKY who told him to get well. When the reporters published this in the newspapers, there were immediate public outcry because this sycophantic king did not mention his wife who was by his side since he was warded right till he recovered. He did not mention his wife at all. About 2 weeks later, the media carried another interview with him and this time the story was about how he's grateful to his wife for keeping vigil and looking after him. It was an afterthought, in response to anger directed at him for not being appreciative of his wife. It was not his wife he thought of first, it was LKY!!! So u see what sort of low-down character Seng Han Thong is. He knows he is actually a nobody and became somebody only because of LKY. He talks to taxi-drivers like LKY talking down to us, so is it any wonder that he got burnt.

 

[cslewis1962]

Hi all, my virgin post here.
Is there such term as "faster improve"???? His england too powerful for me.

 

[ssrrvv11]

In her Facebook posting on Thursday morning, Madam Halimah said several friends also raised concerns. She said she was "disturbed by the remarks", even though Mr Seng was repeating what someone else said.


She said: "Having worked in the labour movement for 33 years, I am reminded of how employers in the past sometimes try to pin the blame on the lowest level workers as a way of deflecting responsibility from the management whenever a major problem occurs."


Halimah mocking wong kan seng

 

[halsey02]

Seng Han Thong got to where he's today simply by being the greatest balls carrier of LKY. When he became conscious enough following the burnt incident to speak to reporters, he told them that it was one person who gave him the will to fight for his life and that it is because of this person that he could recover quickly. That one person he was referring to was LKY who visited him perhaps 2 to 3 times. He said while still in semi-conscious state, the only voice he heard was that of LKY who told him to get well. When the reporters published this in the newspapers, there were immediate public outcry because this sycophantic king did not mention his wife who was by his side since he was warded right till he recovered. He did not mention his wife at all. About 2 weeks later, the media carried another interview with him and this time the story was about how he's grateful to his wife for keeping vigil and looking after him. It was an afterthought, in response to anger directed at him for not being appreciative of his wife. It was not his wife he thought of first, it was LKY!!! So u see what sort of low-down character Seng Han Thong is. He knows he is actually a nobody and became somebody only because of LKY. He talks to taxi-drivers like LKY talking down to us, so is it any wonder that he got burnt.

Where was his God? he heard the voice of another god, not the voices of the Angels? not even his wife. If I were his wife of so many years, I would be terribly disappointed.

 

[halsey02]

In her Facebook posting on Thursday morning, Madam Halimah said several friends also raised concerns. She said she was "disturbed by the remarks", even though Mr Seng was repeating what someone else said.


She said: "Having worked in the labour movement for 33 years, I am reminded of how employers in the past sometimes try to pin the blame on the lowest level workers as a way of deflecting responsibility from the management whenever a major problem occurs."


Halimah mocking wong kan seng

She forgot to mention, the brown coloured, the dark coloured ones, that is where the 'pins' will be poked. If you reverse that in another land, the yellow skinned ones, the dark skin ones, will be poked.