Lui not squarely responsible for transport woes, says Opposition

SINGAPORE — While they acknowledged that Singapore’s public transport woes do not fall squarely at the Transport Minister’s feet, some opposition parties felt Mr Lui Tuck Yew should not have bowed out before the General Election, while others felt his departure would not solve the problems at hand.

People’s Power Party chief Goh Meng Seng said there were problems with the public transport system that were not within Mr Lui’s control. These include the stress on the system due to the growing population and the management of public transport operator SMRT, he said.

“Of course, he has most of the responsibility to ensure that there’s a reliable transportation system,” said Mr Goh, adding: “He should fight to the end ... let people decide.”

Singapore People’s Party (SPP) chairman Lina Chiam declined to comment beyond wishing Mr Lui the best. But SPP member Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that while it was commendable of Mr Lui to take responsibility for the transport network’s failures under his tenure, important issues remain to be addressed.

“Regardless of who the next Transport Minister is, we need to elect robust Members of Parliament to ask probing questions about national policy and hold our Government to account,” said Mrs Chong-Aruldoss, who plans to contest in Mountbatten.

Reform Party secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam noted that there appeared to be little improvement to the system since 2011, as evidenced by the July 7 North-South and East-West line breakdown. “The minister bears part of the responsibility for failing to ensure that there was sufficient maintenance standards applied after the previous debacle in 2011. His resignation is not going to solve the problem,” he said.

Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) chairman Desmond Lim said the transport system does not rest on the shoulders of one man.

“The entire system should take responsibility for glitches (or) shortfalls,” he said. “SDA hopes that the under new leadership, the woes may be better addressed and a permanent solution can be introduced to ensure that as we grow as a nation, our resources grow along with us.”

Democratic Progressive Party secretary-general Benjamin Pwee said during a walkabout at Bishan MRT on Tuesday: “I’m surprised. I think it would have been wonderful to see him stand and contest in an election to gain the votes of the people for at least the work that he’s done over the past term.”

He added: “The biggest test of a politician’s success in office is always at the ballot box, and no better way to give him a scorecard from the people than if he stood at the elections.”