Transport Minister post is a thankless job, Lee Kuan Yew told Raymond Lim

SINGAPORE — During his time heading the transport ministry, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew asked to meet one day, where they discussed various matters relating to transport, such as Electronic Road Pricing and Certificate of Entitlement, outgoing Member of Parliament for East Coast Group Representation Constituency Raymond Lim recounted today (Aug 27).

At the end of the discussion, Mr Lee said to him, “Raymond, this is a thankless job”. Then, in “quintessentially LKY” fashion, Mr Lee added, “but somebody has to do it!”.

Mr Lim, who was Transport Minister from 2006 to 2011, shared the anecdote today when asked about his successor Lui Tuck Yew’s unexpected resignation earlier this month.

Although Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he and other senior members of his Cabinet had tried to persuade Mr Lui to stay, his departure sparked speculation that he was made to take the rap for the persistent rail breakdowns.

But speaking during a press conference today to introduce the People’s Action Party’s electoral candidates for East Coast GRC, Mr Lim made the point that transport is a challenging portfolio, where each minister is confronted with a unique set of problems.

Mr Lim said he had “a plateful” of challenges during his time, but the key public transport issue he had to tackle was overcrowding on trains “because of the rapid rise of our resident population”. In Mr Lui’s case, it was a question of train reliability, he added.

“I believe that each transport minister, when he occupies the MOT (Ministry of Transport) seat, from Yeo Ning Hong all the way to Lui Tuck Yew, tries (his) level best to deal with the issues of the time,” said Mr Lim.

“In Tuck Yew’s case, I’m sure as he said, he gave it his utmost and I wish him well.”