Hougang by election

Hougang by election

By election is a special election held between general elections to fill a vacancy, as for a parliamentary seat. The results of the by election held in Hougang is finally out, worker's Party (WP) candidate Png Eng Huat has won by 62.09 per cent with 13,447 votes and People's Action Party 's (PAP) candidate Desmond Choo gained 37.91 per cent of the votes that amounted to 8,210 of the votes from a total vote cast of 21,951. By-election in hougang was taken place due to the dismissal of Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong of his MP’s position. Rumours of Mr Yaw’s  alleged extra-marital affairs has shocked the entire nation, it became the headline news for a few weeks. I felt that it was very irresponsible of Yaw Shin Leong. Being the leader of the country, I believe that he should be responsible of his actions and set a good role model for the citizens to follow. Without good leadership, how is he going to lead the country? How is he going to gain the trust of his citizens? This is really disappointing.
chiewling



I felt that this incident wasn't managed properly. When Mr Yaw know about the rumor of him having extramarital affair , he didn't deny it nor did the Worker's Party said anything. There was a conference where netizen asked about it , comments was denied and Mr Yaw  offered: "My wife has been through a lot with me over the last few years. She's very understanding and has been a pillar of support to me." Mr Yaw also had a very short affair with his translator. When the press contact the women of the affair , neither the husband nor the women give comments. Till now all netizen know is Mr Yaw left Worker's Party but the real reason was not made known yet except for the rumored affair. However i am sure Hougang netizen was glad that WP won the election again.
Eudice 


This whole situation is nothing but speculation by fussy netizens. Yes, Mr Yaw had rumors about him having extramarital affairs and even took it to the press, but did Worker's Party and his wife commented on it in anyway? In my opinion it was a personal mistake that should be left personal instead of netizens coming in and giving comments. There is a fine line between having a personal life and a public figure, but then again Mr Yaw should have known that himself. He probably left Worker's Party to ease the people's minds and I am positive the people of Hougang will be confident with Mr Png Eng Huat than his predecessor.
Khairi


To me, i think that this whole incident is Mr Yaw's personal matters that caused it. Rumors about Mr Yaw's extra-marital affair probably left everyone at the scene appalled. He himself could have settle and close this rumor before the incident. Besides affecting his personal life, he is also showing to the public that he is a leader who wants face. In my personal opinion , i agree with him leaving the worker's party to relieve the people of their concern. With Mr Png Eng Huat being the leader of the worker's party, Hougang citizens will be much more comfortable than Mr Yaw Shin Leong.
Nicholas

SMRT can seek help from poluce and SCDF during emergencies

SMRT can seek help from police and SCDF during emergencies: Lui Tuck Yew

In Saw Phaik Hwa’s previous interview, she said that the operator could not call for help from external agencies in a major rail incident, hence causing long delay during the breakdown in December last year. However, Lui Tuck Yew disagreed with her sentence and said that SMRT can seek help from police and SCDF during emergencies It was the first major disruption that had occurred in Singapore and it has caused much anxiety and inconvenience to many Singaporeans at that point of time as no one would have thought that this would happen to the MRT of Singapore, which everyone has taken granted for. If Miss Saw had called the police, the disruption and delays would not be too serious as they would help to control the flow of traffic and could have quicker access to passengers stranded in MRT stations, the situation will not be as chaotic either. The breakdown of the MRT has indeed taken the whole nation aback.  The LTA said external agencies can be called in even for Level 3 incidents, which includes minor incident isolated to one or two stations.
chiewling


After reading this article, I felt Ms Saw was a little irresponsible. This MRT situation actually happened first time and lead to some rather bad handling of it. After reading a related article, "We had no power" i felt that what Ms Saw Phaik Hwa said was logical. She state that 45 minutes was too long however it was because it was a first time situation and there was totally no procedure to it. She then gave a car analogy, 'If your car stalls, what do you do? You don't call a tow truck straight away. You try and start the car.' and that was why it took 45 minutes. However many neitizens was very unreleased with this as when this took place, many was actually on the way to work and was angry that Ms Saw didn't called the police for help as it was not according to the protocol and thus many had to deal with this delay. Back to this article, Mr Lui actually pointed out that SMRT could have called for external help like the police if there was a fatality and also state that police could then helped redirect traffic so that stranded MRT passengers could have better access to the bridging bus services. 

Eudice


Having read through both articles, the MRT situation is a rather complex one. For this article, I felt that Ms Saw was daft to not have called in aid from the SCDF and Police during the major rail incident. It would have been much helpful if the traffic was managed by the police and the SCDF controlling the crowd during peak hour. However, after reading her interview in "We had no power", I cannot exactly blame her for not doing so. It was an unpredictable turn of events for SMRT when the trains could not move - it was the first of its kind. When it happened it could have been a moment of panic for Ms Saw and instead of asking directly for the Police and SCDF, she wanted to put matters into her own hands. She argued this as a human instinct reaction "If your car stalls, what do you do? You don't call a tow truck straight away. You try and start the car." Thus, in my opinion, amidst the major disorder and chaos of peak hour, I feel that she has a point in trying to put matters into her own hands instead of calling for aid. Looking back and talking about what she should have done does not do any help but generate further debate as I am confident she did her best at that moment. However, let bygones be bygones and I am sure for future incidents like this, the SMRT would definitely use the aid of the Police and SCDF to handle the matter more efficiently and effectively.
-Khairi