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The Big Mess of Saw Phaik Hwa
Strange things happen every year in every corner of the world. For no reasons, strange things can also happen in multitude at any time. However, if it comes to bizarre, the complex relationships amongst Singapore Government, LTA and SMRT is more than a fairy tale, which causes such a suspense that is worth pondering about.
In the aftermath of the MRT paralysis causing a high degree of public grievances, Saw Phaik Hwa decided to resign after considering it overnight and said that her resignation was for the sake of the smooth operation of the Company.
In the face of this huge scandal due to a layman leading an infrastructure company resulting in such a big blunder, Saw Phaik Hwa’s resignation is no longer important. On the contrary, the focus should be on why an incompetent woman like Saw Phaik Hwa is deemed capable to assume the position of the President and CEO of SMRT?
Singaporeans know that this is a question that will never be answered because everyone knows that Saw Phaik Hwa is a close friend of Ho Ching.
This is exactly the same situation regarding Ho Ching assuming the position of the President of Temasek Holdings. Yes, until today, less than a handful of Singaporeans can understand Ho Ching possesses what qualifications so as to ascend to the pinnacle of her career.
However, a close friend of Ho Ching is not a Deity after all. During the financial turmoil where Temasek having tens of billions of Singapore dollars vanishing into thin air, Ho Ching still could weather the ups and downs of the turbulence to sustain her great career as Temasek President, making large personal fortune in silence. However, Saw Phaik Hwa having disturbed the beehives in SMRT, was not so lucky.
Let us review the outstanding performance of Saw Phaik Hwa during her nine years in SMRT. According to Saw Phaik Hwa’s own words, under her leadership, the Company showed growth in financial performance thus avoiding any substantial increase in MRT fares.
In order to solve the problem of dramatic increase in operating costs and slow growth in profit, she decided to expand the retailing areas in MRT stations and to increase advertising revenue. Her decisions led to the company’s business profit having increased from $ 28 million to $100 million in order to avoid a drastic hike in MRT fare.
This incompetent woman is probably unaware that she had deteriorated to such a poor level that she could only think about making money. In the aftermath of such a huge failure and paralysis of the MRT, she was even devoid of any reflection on her incompetency in management. Not only unaware of the need to review her own fault, she instead relishes her own ability to make money. Has she no sense of shame?
However, the money she had earned for SMRT was only at the expense of scarifying the public space of MRT stations, resulting in more congested space for passengers in a station. The talk of avoiding a drastic hike in fares is nonsense.
For ordinary people, a fare rise of 5 to 10 cents is already causing great pain as bad as cutting off a chunk of flesh from the heart. How could Saw Phaik Hwa ask for substantial fare hike?
In fact, the most serious mistake is that Saw Phaik Hwa only knew to set her mind completely on making money and churning money, while ignoring the maintenance and safety of the railway system. This is the most inexcusable management mistake.
The departure of Saw Phaik Hwa is a great fortune for MRT passengers.
However, the operation of the MTR is not going back to normal because of her departure. Instead, endless faults begin to surface. At this time, some mentally retarded persons proclaim that Saw Phaik Hwa is now suffering injustice.
However, they did not comprehend that precisely because of Saw Phaik Hwa’s mismanagement that the mess she left behind is so widespread in scope. The lack of long-term proper maintenance of the rail tracks and all its components is now manifested like a newly discovered cancer.
However, the disease has reached such a late stage that the patient in any case cannot be revived by any treatment, but to wait for his own demise.
Is this not the present situation of the MRT? News report titled “The MRT system will cost 900 million dollars to update” said that “the cost will be borne by the SMRT enterprise and the Land Transport Authority. The two entities are discussing the cost sharing details.”
These 900 million dollars is the cost of the mess caused by Saw Phaik Hwa. However, I cannot understand the rationale. SMRT as a private enterprise is happily earning money when it is profitable and has brought great returns year after year to its shareholders.
So why the expenditure it will incur in providing a safe transportation service has to be borne by the people of Singapore?
Such strange thing can only happen in Singapore, a country of peculiar uniqueness, right? Is SMRT actually a public or private entity?
Regardless how the Government and SMRT explain it, the people of Singapore will never quite get to the bottom of it. If SMRT is a private entity, then why the huge costs of constructing the subway system is paid by the State and the Singapore taxpayers’ money?
Especially now facing the major challenge to revamp the rail system, such expenditure has to be shared between SMRT and the people of Singapore.
If SMRT is state-owned entity, then why does SMRT act like a real private enterprise earning abundance of money year after year bringing huge profits to its shareholders only?
What so special about Saw Phaik Hwa’s skill? Monopoly business like SMRT has a large group of government experts pre-determine how much money it could make before SMRT develop how much it could collect from train fares.
Who could not do such sure-win-no-loss business? Under the support of LTA and the Government, SMRT making money is the only natural and easy outcome.
However, with respect to doing a good job in public transport so that the public can have a trusted transport system, Saw Phaik Hwa’s endeavour is certainly a negative example.
Saw Phaik Hwa has now stepped down. In the coming days, there is still this doubt whether the mess which she left behind can be cleaned up or not. It seems that the Government and Lui Tuck Yew must carefully review and understand how Saw Phaik Hwa was able to take charge of SMRT.
They must bear in mind the lessons learned from such mistakes to avoid their recurrence. Only then, perhaps there is still hope for the future.
黑马非马
Translated from this Chinese Article: 苏碧华的烂摊子
Strange things happen every year in every corner of the world. For no reasons, strange things can also happen in multitude at any time. However, if it comes to bizarre, the complex relationships amongst Singapore Government, LTA and SMRT is more than a fairy tale, which causes such a suspense that is worth pondering about.
In the aftermath of the MRT paralysis causing a high degree of public grievances, Saw Phaik Hwa decided to resign after considering it overnight and said that her resignation was for the sake of the smooth operation of the Company.
In the face of this huge scandal due to a layman leading an infrastructure company resulting in such a big blunder, Saw Phaik Hwa’s resignation is no longer important. On the contrary, the focus should be on why an incompetent woman like Saw Phaik Hwa is deemed capable to assume the position of the President and CEO of SMRT?
Singaporeans know that this is a question that will never be answered because everyone knows that Saw Phaik Hwa is a close friend of Ho Ching.
This is exactly the same situation regarding Ho Ching assuming the position of the President of Temasek Holdings. Yes, until today, less than a handful of Singaporeans can understand Ho Ching possesses what qualifications so as to ascend to the pinnacle of her career.
However, a close friend of Ho Ching is not a Deity after all. During the financial turmoil where Temasek having tens of billions of Singapore dollars vanishing into thin air, Ho Ching still could weather the ups and downs of the turbulence to sustain her great career as Temasek President, making large personal fortune in silence. However, Saw Phaik Hwa having disturbed the beehives in SMRT, was not so lucky.
Let us review the outstanding performance of Saw Phaik Hwa during her nine years in SMRT. According to Saw Phaik Hwa’s own words, under her leadership, the Company showed growth in financial performance thus avoiding any substantial increase in MRT fares.
In order to solve the problem of dramatic increase in operating costs and slow growth in profit, she decided to expand the retailing areas in MRT stations and to increase advertising revenue. Her decisions led to the company’s business profit having increased from $ 28 million to $100 million in order to avoid a drastic hike in MRT fare.
This incompetent woman is probably unaware that she had deteriorated to such a poor level that she could only think about making money. In the aftermath of such a huge failure and paralysis of the MRT, she was even devoid of any reflection on her incompetency in management. Not only unaware of the need to review her own fault, she instead relishes her own ability to make money. Has she no sense of shame?
However, the money she had earned for SMRT was only at the expense of scarifying the public space of MRT stations, resulting in more congested space for passengers in a station. The talk of avoiding a drastic hike in fares is nonsense.
For ordinary people, a fare rise of 5 to 10 cents is already causing great pain as bad as cutting off a chunk of flesh from the heart. How could Saw Phaik Hwa ask for substantial fare hike?
In fact, the most serious mistake is that Saw Phaik Hwa only knew to set her mind completely on making money and churning money, while ignoring the maintenance and safety of the railway system. This is the most inexcusable management mistake.
The departure of Saw Phaik Hwa is a great fortune for MRT passengers.
However, the operation of the MTR is not going back to normal because of her departure. Instead, endless faults begin to surface. At this time, some mentally retarded persons proclaim that Saw Phaik Hwa is now suffering injustice.
However, they did not comprehend that precisely because of Saw Phaik Hwa’s mismanagement that the mess she left behind is so widespread in scope. The lack of long-term proper maintenance of the rail tracks and all its components is now manifested like a newly discovered cancer.
However, the disease has reached such a late stage that the patient in any case cannot be revived by any treatment, but to wait for his own demise.
Is this not the present situation of the MRT? News report titled “The MRT system will cost 900 million dollars to update” said that “the cost will be borne by the SMRT enterprise and the Land Transport Authority. The two entities are discussing the cost sharing details.”
These 900 million dollars is the cost of the mess caused by Saw Phaik Hwa. However, I cannot understand the rationale. SMRT as a private enterprise is happily earning money when it is profitable and has brought great returns year after year to its shareholders.
So why the expenditure it will incur in providing a safe transportation service has to be borne by the people of Singapore?
Such strange thing can only happen in Singapore, a country of peculiar uniqueness, right? Is SMRT actually a public or private entity?
Regardless how the Government and SMRT explain it, the people of Singapore will never quite get to the bottom of it. If SMRT is a private entity, then why the huge costs of constructing the subway system is paid by the State and the Singapore taxpayers’ money?
Especially now facing the major challenge to revamp the rail system, such expenditure has to be shared between SMRT and the people of Singapore.
If SMRT is state-owned entity, then why does SMRT act like a real private enterprise earning abundance of money year after year bringing huge profits to its shareholders only?
What so special about Saw Phaik Hwa’s skill? Monopoly business like SMRT has a large group of government experts pre-determine how much money it could make before SMRT develop how much it could collect from train fares.
Who could not do such sure-win-no-loss business? Under the support of LTA and the Government, SMRT making money is the only natural and easy outcome.
However, with respect to doing a good job in public transport so that the public can have a trusted transport system, Saw Phaik Hwa’s endeavour is certainly a negative example.
Saw Phaik Hwa has now stepped down. In the coming days, there is still this doubt whether the mess which she left behind can be cleaned up or not. It seems that the Government and Lui Tuck Yew must carefully review and understand how Saw Phaik Hwa was able to take charge of SMRT.
They must bear in mind the lessons learned from such mistakes to avoid their recurrence. Only then, perhaps there is still hope for the future.
黑马非马
Translated from this Chinese Article: 苏碧华的烂摊子
