tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post1922869998845917914..comments2024-01-25T21:40:29.232+08:00Comments on Siew Kum Hong: The fiasco that distracted us from the bigger SMRT fiascoUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-88992716443515766882011-12-31T22:58:53.315+08:002011-12-31T22:58:53.315+08:00HI Kum Hong,
I did ignore the part on "SMRT...HI Kum Hong, <br /><br />I did ignore the part on "SMRT's unpreparedness" as it is a given because reality has shown us the answer. The question then was "what is the reason?", and TOC's headline suggests that SHT say that it is due to language issues (regardless of what he referred to, as he did mumbled off just before he said "I think we can accept broken English". <br /><br />Point was SHT did NOT say that. However, it captured the imagination of the public, and the story went on from there. <br /><br />... and so you talked about my interpretation focusing only on certain part, ignoring the rest. I have explained why I ignored the rest. Can you explain the part which I chose to focus on? <br /><br />p.s TOC's selection of headline is right on some parts and wrong (from my perspective) on others. I say this to show I am not trying to nitpick but want the 'whole picture' perspective as it were.<br /><br />p.s I am not sure what kind of pull you have, but wondering if you can get me off TOC's blacklist. (I have conclusively tested this, posting identical messages using diff nick/ip/email)lobohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613401572475647603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-52081756110816858742011-12-31T01:22:23.561+08:002011-12-31T01:22:23.561+08:00Hi Kum Hong,
Good of you to write about it after ...Hi Kum Hong,<br /><br />Good of you to write about it after what Sham said. I'm glad that your piece makes sense to me.<br /><br />If only PAPies are sensitive to the sensitivities of others (instead of walking all over the less endowed), this hullabaloo would not have come this far.<br /><br />Pardon my crazy fetish over the French Football Duo of Barthez and Laurent Blanc but I'm grateful to have rubbed your Botak head!<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Keep keeping it up!<br /><br />Happy New Year!FeedMeToTheFishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16902334687931140509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-68843852914956429042011-12-29T23:29:16.016+08:002011-12-29T23:29:16.016+08:00@lobo Thanks for pointing this out. I'm not su...<b>@lobo</b> Thanks for pointing this out. I'm not sure that "SMRT’s unpreparedness also due to ... staffs English language inefficiency" = "bad English is a problem", because this headline would have 2 parts (viz. SMRT's unpreparedness, and SMRT staff's poor English). Your suggested interpretation focuses only on the latter part, and ignores the former.TPG-iTechttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09509459045445405985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-74197309529701056782011-12-28T22:55:51.285+08:002011-12-28T22:55:51.285+08:00Hi, just wanted your opinion on TOC's selected...Hi, just wanted your opinion on TOC's selected headline "MP Seng Han Thong: SMRT’s unpreparedness also due to ... staffs English language inefficiency" and what do you understand from it?<br /><br />I removed the part on race, because that conclusion on that part is obvious and I don't want you to be distracted. <br /><br />To me, the headline says SHT says bad english IS a problem. SHT evidently didn't, since he says 'we accept broken english'. This is regardless it was to be for annoucements or whatnot as mentioned in your post.lobohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613401572475647603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-14953025756691052802011-12-28T22:42:37.629+08:002011-12-28T22:42:37.629+08:00This comment has been removed by the author.lobohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613401572475647603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-89856907336749423762011-12-28T14:27:41.972+08:002011-12-28T14:27:41.972+08:00SMRT crisis management failed because:
(i) SMRT ...SMRT crisis management failed because: <br /><br /><b>(i) SMRT management</b> failed in its Contingency and Evacuation Planning and values in its Corporate Culture, <br /><br /><b>(ii) LTA</b> failed to regulate rigorously in testing the rigour and comprehensiveness of SMRT plans, and <br /><br /><b>(iii) Transport Ministry</b> failed in its oversight authority over LTA.The Pariahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14725490396019425388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-46356863050504365032011-12-28T14:21:52.986+08:002011-12-28T14:21:52.986+08:00Great posting, Mr Siew Kum Hong.
Law Minister Sha...Great posting, Mr Siew Kum Hong.<br /><br />Law Minister Shanmugam's "defence" of Seng Hang Thong exposes the perturbing and continuing penchant for Form Over Substance in PAP's ministerial cadre. <br /><br />Post-GE 2011, PAP remains transfixed, rather than transformed! <br /><br /><i>Shanmugam and the PAP once again has missed the forest for the trees. Ditto for Cherian George.</i><br /><br />It's NOT about Mr Seng being racist or speaking broken English himself.<br /><br />It's also NOT about the pin-point accuracy of TOC editorial.<br /><br />It's about the LACK OF POLITICAL SENSITIVITY of <b><i>(1)a seasoned grassroot MP</i></b> who singled-out <b><i>(2)Malay and Indian minority races</i></b> and attributing their <b><i>(3)poor command of English as one of the contributory causes of the failed SMRT crisis management</i></b>. <br /><br />3 HITS = OUT. But not so to Minister Shanmugam and NTU Assoc Prof Cherian George, eh?The Pariahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14725490396019425388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-35707678806741560742011-12-28T12:20:05.124+08:002011-12-28T12:20:05.124+08:00@yeelong Because I'm late to the game, having ...<b>@yeelong</b> Because I'm late to the game, having just come back. I wasn't going to post on this until Minister Shanmugam made his remarks.<br /><br /><b>@alan wan</b> That's possible. But I think more than just SOPs, SMRT drivers need to be empowered (and trained) to think and act independently, since SOPs can never be all-encompassing. Same goes for singapore and singaporeans more broadly.TPG-iTechttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09509459045445405985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-78208630020011440312011-12-28T12:00:43.224+08:002011-12-28T12:00:43.224+08:00ummm , why is this article still focused on what S...ummm , why is this article still focused on what SHT said or didn’t say, mean or didn’t mean , or whether racism matters here or not; from the headline i would think this article was going to talk about what i been saying for the past week – SMRT has a much bigger problem in its lousy maintenance record than whether SHT is racist or notYeeloonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07004942348320439835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-58748678849518559142011-12-28T10:58:43.240+08:002011-12-28T10:58:43.240+08:00Perhaps Sham thought TOC was being political or he...Perhaps Sham thought TOC was being political or he was trying to rein in what the govt saw as even more potentially very damaging adverse publicity for a PAP member who already has had more than his fair share of controversy. <br /><br />The choice of Sham, the law minister, making the point on behalf of the govt is of course not coincidental bearing in mind that TOC had been compulsorily made to registered as a political entity by the govt. <br /><br />This is the sort of 'back alley, I meet you with knuckle dusters' tacit threat philosophy so famously enunciated by a founding father!Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14240714679371017671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950101483476071934.post-15249613481759826432011-12-28T10:46:34.971+08:002011-12-28T10:46:34.971+08:00I think the issue at hand was that the train offic...I think the issue at hand was that the train officers were made the scapegoat of the whole MRT breakdown, whether consciously or unconsciously by their PR or the MP SHT himself.<br /><br />Just ask SMRT whether it was ever part of the SOP for any train officer to make a public announcement in case of any breakdown? If yes, what is allowed and if it wasn't, then how can their standard of English be an issue for the lack of communication to public commuters now ?Alan Wanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09407006166656379509noreply@blogger.com