Transportation BOO HOO...

Well well, it has been very long since i last blog about event in singapore, well have been really busy but this event that happened in the last few days give me the urgency to blog about...well it is the you know SMRT issue. Or rather the transportation issue.

Starting of the week we have the new BS from Comfort Delgro the biggest cab company in Singapore and they started this BS 15hours of surcharge for taking a cab. Well it was claimed that commuters can't get a cab in those mention time, so it was created to give extra incentive for the cab drivers to pick up passengers. But I don't see the importance of the surcharge if you want to charge us for every single hour you deem as a peak hour then you might as well give it 24hours..as every minute there are people looking for cab, waiting for cab and best of all frustrated especially for those who refused to pick up just waiting for calls or even still for peak hour.

Then we have a LOST bus driver, well not totally his fault as he was taking instruction from the Control Centre. BUT did they tell the driver about plan B or was there even a plan B in the first place? Well the bus driver was lost for about 2 hours.

Then we have the newly opened circle line having problems, well it claimed to have affected 1400 people...are you guys serious about this...? How many people takes the train from 6am to 1145am where the service full resume..? Are you sure the figures released here is correct..?

If this is not bad enough, the following day, one of the BIGGEST BOO HOO in 24years of Mass Rapid Transport..the so call darling of Singapore transportation. THE WORLD CLASS TRANSPORTATION so to say...train disruption for like huh 5hrs...we have like 11 stations on the North-South Line disrupted on Thursday...as the working crowd in the Central Business district were making their way home...4 trains stall...some trains managed to make its way back to the station, others? Walked to the nearest station loh...but now let see the response during the train disruption, was SMRT staff complacent? Many seems not to be able to react to the situation, as it was claim in the papers BLIND by the situation, did they have adequate training..? Answer is no, if no why? Is it too expensive to conduct the training so that the staff are better equipped or better sense of awareness when this situation arises. Maintenance...did they do a good job in doing whatever they are supposed to do? Dont tell me that the track was damaged by the 280 trains that passed by that section on thursday or damaged overnight. So this raised the question...Where did your 42.1million dollars profit you gathered in the second quarter goes to..? Your pocket..? How much of this money is channeled to the maintenance or even training?and such it became an "INCOME OPPORTUNITY" for the SMRT Taxis as it happened to be the peak hour and at the same time the peak hour of the year...where shoppers are out in full force to get all the Xmas gifts...

Now with poor communication between the Staff and the communters and especially with many communters feeling unwell a gentleman actually did the heroic act by smashing the window yet SMRT claimed that is vandalizing and said you shouldnt have the train ventilation system can last 45mins, and passengers are usher out of the train after 44mins, so who is bullshitting? Thousands of people stuck in the train or your so call system specs? And you should have evacute the people like 30mins into the situation and NOT last min just before your backup system about to fail. It need not a rocket scientist to tell you this.

And wat about the "Income Opportunity" well we follow template ah...is wat was explained by SMRT...well template here template there...how about train delay so there will be a delay, we operate 9am - 6pm monday to friday, 9am - 12pm on Saturday and No service on Sunday And PH on TWITTER...wow...template again...so SMRT you are earning truck load of money and let see 1 quarter u earn 40million at least in profit...so no money goes to your corporate communication i think...or to someone to review your templates and wait...yeah...i think you guys do not spend a single cents on your communication department at all...as seen from the recent events, communication between SMRT and the passengers were bad...so yup...
On Friday, the SMRT CEO MS SAW released the statement that SMRT is working very hard to MAKE SURE THAT THIS THING WILL n i repeat WILL NOT HAPPENED AGAIN...Guess what...? It happened the VERY NEXT DAY...well done Ms Saw...fare hike..? Seems that Singaporean do not deserved to pay world class fare for 3rd class transport management..?

On Saturday, many people were badly affected by the train situation and thus making SMRT our WORLD CLASS TRANSPORT provider to shut the train service on Sunday till 10am to FIX the problems...well till 11am many still havent board a single train...so are you sure train service resumed..? But anyway the problem was resolved right...? Then start blaming the MRT has been goin too fast thus causing the damaged....ok...so there have never been trains disruption for the pass 24yrs unless you are telling me that the train suddenly speed up...hmmm....ok...who are you trying to kid...?

Well all problems seems to be fix...when the weekends is over BUT.....wait a second...why there is a train disruption on Monday...? Wait blame the rain...? OK...so like when Singapore was flooded blame the rain for raining too much so when train breakdown or stall blame the rain then what next...? Singapore's GDP drop blame the rain again...wah...mother nature i didnt know u can be blame for all these BS that happened in Singapore...and wait this disruption is in the morning what about the train disruption in the evening...eyewitnesses experienced train disruption of about 10mins in the evening at approx. 1830Hrs...the stall is in between Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall...so can SMRT explain...? Wait i know because it is raining...yeah...this should be it...am i right...? Im sick and tired of excuses...u guys are milking so much of Singaporean and we ended up being the sucker here....i guess SMRT will be saying we need to increase fare again as the operating cost went up as now we need to train our staff to handle situation and we need to increase fare so that we can hire more FT to supervise our current FT to make sure they maintain the track...and we need to increase fare for to replace the window damaged during the incident and we need to increase fare as we need to look for a new CEO and pay him/her more money and we need to increase fare to pay the fine that will be dish out by our government so who lose in the end..? Average Singaporean....

Last message to Ms Saw...You plan to fail when you fail to plan....in this situation u failed...as you have helm the SMRT CEO for quite a few years...almost 10 right...but you failed to review your emergency situation, if the MRT is in service for 1 - 5 years, well it is still excusable to have problems arises as it is not a WORLD CLASS TRANSPORTATION...but it has been 24yrs since the first train run...and since that day you guys NEVER FORESEE the train will stall...? GOODNESS....

And i guess our recent appointed transport minister RADM Lui is indeed one of the most suay person in Singapore...as he was the Chief of Navy when tt accident happened near the light house and now this...major problems seems to arise when he is at the top...haiz...

-DKR-

Dear PM Lee What are you thinking?

Good day to all, so sorry to all i have been too busy to post anything due to overwhelming work. But i guess it is a very good time to post something especially with the election round the corner.

I guess everytime when election come, there will be a lot of issue that the people will raise, and for example this year people are concern about the ever rising cost of living in Singapore and foreign workers, and of course upgrading. This are bread and butter issues that Singaporean face every other day, but what really caught my eyes are the way how our dear PM Lee response to a NUS student with a open admission that the PAP wards are favored over Opposition held wards over upgrading of HDB.

Due to the fact that we do not belongs to the ruling party does it mean that the people living in those places NOT consider a Singaporean? And they deserved to be punished by not giving them upgrading? Do those people in these ward pay taxes? Yes they do and do they pay lesser then those in the PAP wards? No they don't. Do those people in those wards serve lesser National Service time? I doubt. They are like every other Singaporean, but why are they treated like that? Are they considered SECOND CLASS CITIZEN? And lets recall most of us said these words every other day during our schooling time " to build a democratic society, based on Justice and equality" these words must be familiar with a lot of people. Yes it is from our National Pledge. What is the point of saying these words over and over again when our own government don't practice it? You guys tried to promote a progressive nation with these values but are you guys having these values in the first place? I don't see equality here do we?

And my dear PM Lee, who do you think pay for the HDB upgrades? The government? Yes part of it, but wait, where do Government get their money? National Reserve or rather Singapore Own Bank Acct in some country correct me if i am wrong. So where all the money from the Bank Acct come from? Investments? And where does Singapore find money to invest? From PAP fund, or the PEOPLE'S HARD EARN MONEY? See the point? Who do you think pay for your salary every month? Ok I think that is a bit hard to answer so i give you 3 options to choose from, A) President? B) Your Father? C) ME and every other Singaporeans out there? I think it is pretty hard right?

And 1 more issue, thinking of breaking up the PAP and make 2 parties just to make a 2 party government. Hallo, what are you trying to do? Insult democracy? If you guys really want just PAP running the show, SCREW democracy and go into DICTATORSHIP, stop talking there aren't many good candidates out there. Have you look hard enough to find 1? I have raise 2 issues here and there are many issues out there which you have to take a good look at it. And mind you if you want to win the POST-65 votes look at these stuff before you make any effort in trying to win because you will fail and FAIL BADLY. I rest my case.

NO by election in AMK GRC..?

Well as I pay my condolence to the late Dr Balaji who passed away last week, well I am expecting a by-election as someone need to take over his seat in the government and his constitution. But wait no election. Why? Well this is the 2nd time in recent years that a minister had passed away while in office. Too stress maybe. But the work of Dr Balaji will be spread among the rest of those in the GRC.

But I just have 1 question for the government, Im not stirring trouble or what but, if 2 less minister is ok with the government, then why do i need so many minister in the government? Can we have lesser ministers? If the GRC of 6 members can be manage by 5 members, why do I need an extra person? But I guess the answer is the more the merrier.

YOG BOO HOO...

Well, YOG is over for about a month, and news of it is still making its way to our daily national newspaper, and in the negative way.

The latest 3, the wrong signature was sent to the printer for the certificate of appreciation for the volunteers mind you 45000 copy of it, 2nd the wrong timing was sent to one particular school for the entry to Universal Studio, and 3rd F1 tix. For those who were promised of the Grandstand Ticket to the 1 and only night race in the F1 calendar the Singapore Grand Prix, BELIEVE IT A NOT it arrive 1 day late or for some...have not even received it. Well F1 is over, so they need the ticket for? For a nation like us who are proud of the efficiency we have all these..translate to short of efficiency.

For the first blunder, did anyone check the signature before sending to the printer? And even after it is printed did anyone check the signature before sending out?

The second blunder, doesn't the person at MCYS know the difference between 24hrs and 12hrs clock, if unsure ASK. Trying to act smart by using 24hrs time, but ended up sending 0630 - 2300 instead of 1830 - 2300. Well if this is not a big blunder, what about the F1 ticket.

It was claimed that the tickets were sent out by MCYS latest by wednesday. But how can anyone explain the stamp on the letter shown 24th Sep 10 which is a Friday? Meaning the letter was collected and process on Friday? Lost mail? Then it is a truck load of lost mail. Anyway we all have to wait and see what Singapore Post reply so lets wait and see.

I mean people look up, what is going on? Very very disappointed with the run of events out here. Wrong timing? Maybe. But lets take a look back from the time when we got the YOG. First stadium not torn down or rebuilt into the sports hub like promised, games village changed, 3times the budget, poor allocation of tickets, food poisoning, certificates, timing, and the F1 tickets. Well all this does not add up does it. My question is who is going to bear the additional cost of printing the certificates and resending them? How are they going to please the volunteers who were promised of the F1 tickets? So at the end of the day, is YOG a success like some Doctor have say it? But I guess all these are over-shadowed by India poor preparation of Commonwealth Games, what a good timing right? Hmm..I think it is a SUCCESS if we are compared to India, I rest my case.

Singapore Sports Council pulled out of LOCAL Adventure Race...LAST MINUTE

Well well, Singapore Sports Council is settled up for a reason and the reason is to promote sports in Singapore. Correct me if I am wrong. But what I just heard was a total opposite of what they are trying to do. And it is not the first time I have seen Singapore Sports Council not putting effort into local sports scene. Especially lesser known sports.

And I bet many of you out there don't even know that 1st week of September (1st - 5th) there are a group of 7 ladies flying Singapore flag in Milan. In the 2010 I.C.F Canoe Polo World Championship. These ladies paid the trip from their own pockets and through fund raising. Mind you they are representing us aren't they? But where is the fanfare we get like mainstream sports? And the funding to help them? And in fact did Singapore Sports Council help a bit? I wonder? Or are they too crop up with YOG? Where is the publicity? Talk about wanting to make Singapore a Sports Hub. But if you guys don't even support Singapore athletes that are flying your flag don't even talk about becoming a Sports Hub.

And of course there is a Adventure Race this weekend, and Singapore Sports Council pulled out like 3days before the event. Can you believe it? So LAST MINUTE. No money? Only the person who made the decision know. And he too mention that the SSC don't want to be mis-interpreted. Well are we talking about sports here? Correct me if I am wrong. IS Adventure Racing NOT a SPORT? It is as much as a sports compare to your normal mainstream sports. Why only provide for soccer, swimming, table tennis, bowling, sailing, badminton, are they the only sports in the WORLD? PLEASE WAKE UP YOUR IDEAS SSC.

And it the news today Dr. Vivian Balakrishna mention that the government OVERLOOK and UNDER ESTIMATED the cost of recent YOG causing the total bill for YOG to overshot the budget by 3 times. Well he mention that it is "peanut" compare to the 2012 London Games. Hmm, I wonder, 2012 LONDON are hosting WORLD CLASS, WORLD FAMOUS, PROVEN, ATHLETES who are household names in their own country and even in their own continent, who do we have at the recent YOG? USA B-Swimming Team, Haiti for soccer. With all due respect these are hardly world class team. Come on, who are you trying to kid. London spending 19billion dollars is justifiable consider the fact that they are expecting world class athletes but recent YOG did we have any world class athletes? Even Sean Kingston decided to give the event a miss. So much so for trying to compare sand with rock together. So if you guys keep having this mentality, the idea of Sports Hub will NOT materialize.

Flood AGAIN...

Ok it has been a while since I last posted due to my busy schedule so here comes a short post.

Well what do we know, Singapore was flooded once again. This time around, Little India, CBD and So much so for once in 50 years. Even though the flood subside within 15mins to 2hrs, the verdict is still out there, have we done enough to prevent all this, is it human factors that cause these freak flooding? It has been about 3mths since the flooding begin, and we are experiencing 1 major flood every month. Cause? Well leaf, rubbish, and lots of bullshit but ourselves for the failure to factor the changing weather due to global warming and of course complacent, that Singapore can't be flooded. But that doesnt seems to be the case. After MILLIONS of dollars of damages, someone finally want to do something? But all he did was, well it is expensive to make Singapore flood free. Well losing all those million of dollars is worth it? I wonder.

National Service..to do or not to do...?

Well folks i guess this is a taboo topic in Singapore, but i am still going to talk about it. Why? It is because of National Service in which some people call it National Slavery(this is kind of a joke) may deprived this soccer mad country its only chance of glory in the international scene. You read it right, in fact many of you have read it in the last few weeks issue of The New Paper. And the person in the topic is non other then our last soccer golden hero, Fandi Ahmad and his 2 sons, should they represent Singapore in international or South Africa. As their mum, Mrs Fandi Ahmad or better known as Ms Wendy Jacob is born in South Africa, which automatically make the boys eligible to play for South Africa too. If Fandi Ahmad sons were to be playing for Singapore then it make it that they 2 have to serve their 2 years of the possibility of breaking through to be great players in soccer but instead they have to go through BMT and service time, highly possible of playing for two govt owned soccer team, SAF FC and HOME UNITED. But with all due respect, this are not even a fringe team in term of soccer, at most, amateur football team thinking that they can be world class team that can offer the 2 boys wonderful experience so that the boys cant miss the opportunity but hey have you heard which european team is interested in the boys? Last yr champion of England Chelsea, Arsenal and yes Reading. Are our local as good as them? I doubt.

Yes i do agree that the National Service will be a time that we offer ourselves to the nation and to defend it as we do not have a lot of human resources. So we got to rely on ourselves to defend our own nation. But my question is...how many of the guys who went through National Service willing to defend the country? As I have personally see regular, yes regular who draw a nice salary of about $2000++ a month not even willing to do his job properly, so what can you expect from normal folks like us who have a proper job outside. Mind you he is paid to defend the country where the rest of us is a service. Yes, National Service also teach us some good values, like Loyalty to country, Leadership, Discipline, Professionalism, Care for soldiers. Yes all this are good values, but how many of us forget after our BMT? I did, I spend 15mins thinking and I can only come up with 5 out of 7. So should we give the 2 boys exemption, well I doubt that is possible or see them play for South Africa and go to world cup and we claim they are Singaporean? Or simply call Fandi a Traitor? Or let the 2 boys serve NS and spend 2 years with Home or SAFFC and deprive them of stardom? Whatever happens, Singapore will not benefit.

Workers worst nightmare....NO RETIREMENT...

Well well heard someone mention There should be no retirement age in Singapore which set me thinking, should we work till we die? I agreed that if we are healthy, and fit when retirement comes at the age of 62, we can continue to work, but due to the hectic lifestyle that we have in Singapore, the among of junk food we are eating, how many people can be really that fit and healthy? And working half your life dont you want to sit down and enjoy life? My question is, why we work so hard? The answer I guess most people will give is we work hard so that we can enjoy the fruit of our hard work AFTER WE RETIRE, but if we dont retire, how can we enjoy the fruit? We are supposed to be family orientated in Singapore. But are we? We have raised the retirement age from 55 to 62 and now we will raise to 'TILL U DIE'.

Why some Singaporeans work after 62? Reason, very simple, can we(working adults) afford to provide for our parents and maybe our children at the same time with the rising cost of living in Singapore and to be a cheaper, better and faster worker.

You will work all your life. Well only slaves in ancient time work all their life. So does that make Singaporeans, staying and working in a 1st world country a slave? Well maybe the only different is that we will draw a salary.

So who will enjoy the fruit? My kids? It makes me wonder. Because my kids will work till they die too. So if I dont enjoy the fruit I work for then why work so hard?

That person also mention that "From 2012, workers who hit the retirement age of 62 in Singapore will be offered re-employment by their employers" well lesser pay? Well looks like this translate as, it give me a better reason to give you a pay cut. For those who are healthy and still have a lot to offer to their workplace may ended up having a big pay cut, yet the among of work may not decrease. And seriously who would hire someone after 62? McDonalds' and maybe some cleaning company? Where else?

To have a retirement age is like setting a target for yourselves. To have a goal in life. Well if you dont have a goal in life we will be like robot or slave? So which category you belongs to, slave or robot? You make the choice.

Think before you talk. But lets give the person a benefit of doubt. Maybe the person saying it is old and senile, not knowing what is really going on in Singapore.

YOG

YOG is just round the corner, most people in Singapore should be happy about it. But wait, there is no hype about if other then the expressway in Singapore painted YOG lane, and many signboard put up to say resident of whatever town is celebrating YOG. But a quick poll by TNP, it shows that more then 59 per cent of those polled said they would not be watching the YOG at all, not even on TV. As it is not exciting enough to grab their attention. Some even complained that the venue is too hot, and some on the pricing of the ticket. So are we celebrating YOG, I wonder.

Well since Singapore get the hosting rights to YOG, I saw a lot of promises was made to International Olympic Committee, but how much of it is fulfilled? Tearing of National Stadium to make way for a World-Class Sports Hub, but wait, after 3years why I still see it standing? It was officially CLOSED on 30th June 2007. Why staged another 11 more soccer matches and a MAYDAY concert after the supposed closing of the stadium. Where is the Sports Hub?

And in the past year, International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials and the Singapore organisers have gone on about how the world's best athletes will converge in the Republic in August for the inaugural YOG. Expect world records and world-class athletic achievement, they said.

But a lot of world best young athletes are not coming. Like swimming powerhouse USA and Canada preferred to stay in North America and compete in Pan-Pacific Championship then travel all the way to Singapore. In football, Reigning World Cup and European Champion Spain, S.America giants Argentina and Brazil and other favourites like Holland and Germany will all be absent. Instead we will see minnows like San Marino (yes that team that was whack 13-0 by Germany on 6th Sept 2006), Cuba, Vanuatu(a island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean). With all due respect but all this countries are anything but world class athletes.

.And it is a known fact that Singapore is going to make a lost of about $250 million in hosting the YOG as we have over spend, well if this money can be better used in making Singapore flood-free. To make it worst during YOG if any vehicle is caught driving in this lane and not give way to the YOG bus, will be fine a hefty sum and entice people to give way to the traffic by giving gift if they are seen giving way. But the chances of not giving way seems to be higher further more the fine is even a higher then the gift.And I have heard someone from my workplace saying that if he is fined he might as well park his car in the middle of the expressway. Maybe it is a way to reduce the $250 million of deficit.

And has anyone heard the 'You are the one Singapore' song by JJ Lin? I believe it is one of the most hatred song on the airwave with the radio stations in Singapore trying to promote it. Well the moment I hear it on the radio, I would always hit for the next station. There is even a online facebook group, 'No offence, but the YOG song by JJ Lin sounds retarded.' And after 3 days it was started, it hit 10000 people who like the page, and to date, it has 15788 people who is in this page and it was featured in TNP on 16 July 2010. Now then the Singapore Sports Council said if anyone can come up with better cheer then come forward, well they should have done it earlier instead wait until 3 weeks before the Games. Now there is 2 more songs coming up, I dont even dare to hear them. Praying hard that they will not play this retarded songs during the Games, such an embarrassment.

Well this is what I feel about the upcoming "WORLD-CLASS" Youth Olympic Games.

FLOOD...

Well well various parts of Singapore is hit by flood (again) after a torrential downpour in the early hours of Saturday morning. Didnt we heard our someone said last month that the freak flooding is cause by choke drain and we shouldnt expect any other freak flooding like that terrorized the poor people in Orchard Road as it was a once in 50years freak flood. But after the supposed clean up, we are hit by another 2 freak flooding. And causing millions of dollars in damages. And someone also mentioned it is very costly to make Singapore flood-free then compare to losing 10 millions dollar in 2hrs of rain is worth it? I believe this 10 millions dollars can build more drainage to filter away more water then go down the drain. And I guess 100years has past since the first freak flood in Orchard Road. Was anything done to prevent all these flooding other then clearing up the drain? This is a very bad publicity to Singapore especially we are gonna host the YOG next month. And we are expecting a high number of tourists coming to Singapore, with our shopping chain submerge in waist deep water, and with more rain expected in the next few days, or even weeks, and if the flooding continue, I think I will open a shop in Orchard Road selling SAMPAN.