"Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew will not contest coming General Election - CNA 11 August 2015
SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew will not stand for re-election in the coming General Election, despite attempts by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several Cabinet ministers to get him to stay in office.
In an exchange of letters between Mr Lui and Mr Lee that was released to the media, the Transport Minister wrote: “It is with deep regret that I confirm my decision not to stand in the coming General Election.
“I broached this subject with you early this year. You and several senior members of the Cabinet tried hard to persuade me to change my mind. You reminded me that the responsibility of Government was a collective one, and no minister carried difficult problems like public transport alone.
“I deeply appreciate the reassurance and support. But having thought the matter over carefully, I have decided that I should stand by my original decision. I thank you for the unstinting support you have personally given to the Ministry of Transport and me.”
Expenditure on new buses and trains and the expansion of the rail network, airport and port are “higher than ever before and will continue to rise”, wrote Mr Lui, adding that the injection of more capacity on the bus and train network has started to ease congestion."
Personally I feel that Minister Lui is an earnest man wanting to do a good job. So, I will take his leaving PAP and the government as a loss to the nation.
Lessons for me are:
1. as Minister of Transportation, Mr Lui had taken TOO MUCH responsibilities for the frequent breakdown of the SMRT Rails system!;
2. to add insult to the injuries, or injustice as I see it, the Group CEO of SMRT Corp is getting paid MORE THAN Minister Lui in his last pay package!! Something is terribly wrong with the compensation system of SMRT Corp in this light!;
3. he has been courageous when he took up the Minister of Transportation post after the last election as problems were beginning to show in the aging MRT system, not help by the years of 'less attention' if not neglect by the previous Group CEO of SMRT Corp who focused to grow the business on leveraging the lands and retails space of the MRT stations.
Of course, the Bus Enhancement program merely shows that the 'let 2 or 3 "private sector" listed companies run Singapore's public transportation system is flawed as the Group CEO of SMRT Corp recently said that: the system is very old and if we want to have no or less problems, we need to change the whole system to a NEW one! YET, SMRT Corp alone will NEVER be able to make that kind of money to be able to replace the whole system with NEW one! IF it could, the public transportation expenses of the PUBLIC will be very high as the capital investment is SIMPLY too high!
One of the mysteries if you like is why the Group CEO of SMRT Corp is out of harms way while the diligent and earnest Minister of Transports felt responsible enough to decide to leave his political career behind!
Also, whatever happened to the Bus Enhancement program money invested? Did SMRT Corp and SBS Transit make PROFIT out of this government capital investment in the buses? I don't think this question was probably answered in the last Budget Debate nor any subsequent separate and specific disclosure being made?
SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew will not stand for re-election in the coming General Election, despite attempts by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several Cabinet ministers to get him to stay in office.
In an exchange of letters between Mr Lui and Mr Lee that was released to the media, the Transport Minister wrote: “It is with deep regret that I confirm my decision not to stand in the coming General Election.
“I broached this subject with you early this year. You and several senior members of the Cabinet tried hard to persuade me to change my mind. You reminded me that the responsibility of Government was a collective one, and no minister carried difficult problems like public transport alone.
“I deeply appreciate the reassurance and support. But having thought the matter over carefully, I have decided that I should stand by my original decision. I thank you for the unstinting support you have personally given to the Ministry of Transport and me.”
Expenditure on new buses and trains and the expansion of the rail network, airport and port are “higher than ever before and will continue to rise”, wrote Mr Lui, adding that the injection of more capacity on the bus and train network has started to ease congestion."
Personally I feel that Minister Lui is an earnest man wanting to do a good job. So, I will take his leaving PAP and the government as a loss to the nation.
Lessons for me are:
1. as Minister of Transportation, Mr Lui had taken TOO MUCH responsibilities for the frequent breakdown of the SMRT Rails system!;
2. to add insult to the injuries, or injustice as I see it, the Group CEO of SMRT Corp is getting paid MORE THAN Minister Lui in his last pay package!! Something is terribly wrong with the compensation system of SMRT Corp in this light!;
3. he has been courageous when he took up the Minister of Transportation post after the last election as problems were beginning to show in the aging MRT system, not help by the years of 'less attention' if not neglect by the previous Group CEO of SMRT Corp who focused to grow the business on leveraging the lands and retails space of the MRT stations.
Of course, the Bus Enhancement program merely shows that the 'let 2 or 3 "private sector" listed companies run Singapore's public transportation system is flawed as the Group CEO of SMRT Corp recently said that: the system is very old and if we want to have no or less problems, we need to change the whole system to a NEW one! YET, SMRT Corp alone will NEVER be able to make that kind of money to be able to replace the whole system with NEW one! IF it could, the public transportation expenses of the PUBLIC will be very high as the capital investment is SIMPLY too high!
One of the mysteries if you like is why the Group CEO of SMRT Corp is out of harms way while the diligent and earnest Minister of Transports felt responsible enough to decide to leave his political career behind!
Also, whatever happened to the Bus Enhancement program money invested? Did SMRT Corp and SBS Transit make PROFIT out of this government capital investment in the buses? I don't think this question was probably answered in the last Budget Debate nor any subsequent separate and specific disclosure being made?
No comments:
Post a Comment