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14-07-2016, 07:00 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Now that the SMRT Crack Train fiasco has almost run its course, it’s time to sit back and analyze the behind the scenes political machinations and revelations by all the parties involved and by other parties that we thought were not involved.
Revelation number 1.
The PRC govt is involved in this. Some people like Scroobal thought that it took 7 days for Penang Khaw to get the facts from all the departments and get the facts before making a public statement. This is not true. The facts could be ascertained after 2 days. There are cracks in the aluminum of the trains and they have to be send back to china for fixing because it was so bad, it could not be repaired here on site. How hard is that to figure out? More then likely, when Penang Khaw took over as transport minister, he was already briefed on the crack train situation and how they had to be shipped back. So, the long delay of 7 days was obviously not for fact gathering, and could not have been a surprise to him. What then was it for? It was for consultation and advice from the PRC central govt.
The first thing that happened when the news broke, was that the PAP asked who the hell is Factwire? I asked myself the same question. I can guarantee you that they called the China govt to ask them about Factwire, how to shut them down, how to put pressure on them and how to whack them. They were probably told by the PRC govt that Factwire was also a torn in their sides, and being crowd funded and largely anonymous, they were having a hard time containing them too. This made sense to me when part of Penang Khaw’s public statement blamed Factwire as a political agitator, when he said “We are caught in a crossfire and there are factions in Hong Kong who wanted to cause some difficulties for mainland China. I have no inside information on whether that is true or not, but it’s possible. Unfortunately, we become a convenient bullet and collateral damage.”
Boy, what a shock, you would expect to hear those same words from a Politburo member in the PRC CEC. Not from the mouth of a Singaporean politician. When the Crack Train news broke, Penang Khaw must have called his China counterpart and said something like “KNN, I thought we had an agreement to keep this train exchange secret. Now one of your news outlet come out with the scoop?” And was then told that Factwire also did other exposes on the PRC govt and the HKG govt. And that they could not control them and that they trying to embarrass the HLG and China govt by digging the MSRT train incident up. Hence Penang Khaw ended up echoing China’s claims that these guys are trouble makers, and just want to create trouble for China. By making references to a crossfire, Khaw implies that this is an internal matter between Factwire and the China govt. Completely ignoring the fact that everything reported by Factwire was fact and that the trains were very defective and being shipped back in secrecy to China. So, there was an element of Chinese govt involvement in this as far as I can tell.
Revelation 2
Boy oh Boy, SAF ex scholar generals are really untouchable. When Factwire broke the news, who would speak to the public must have been like a hot potato bouncing between SMRT, LTA and MOT. Each of them must have been pointing the finger at the other one to explain to the public what was happening. Maybe Lee Hsien Loong had to play referee to all 3 parties. SMRT had a strong case for being arrowed to face the public music because after all, they operated the trains. LTA also had a strong case because they actually owned the trains and were the ones that signed the contracts to buy them. The entity with the least exposure was MOT, and but they ended sacrificing themselves and make Penang Khaw face the public. And not only face the public, but face the public with a stupid explanation.
My bet was that they would have used LTA Chief Chew Men Leong to face the music and take the public outcry. But I was wrong. They put Penang Khaw up there to do the impossible. i.e. spin the Crack Train affair in a positive light. Do you think Penang Khaw was a happy camper? Damn right he was not. He must have appealed to LHL not to be made the scapegoat over this. But too bad. It turns out that the Head of SMRT is former RSAF scholar general Desmond Quek, and the LTA is headed by former RSN scholar Admiral Chew Men Leong. I believe the debate ended being that since the SAF scholar general club sacrificed Lui Tuck Yew the last time, this time it has to be some one from the PSC side. Still this is very powerful that these 2 ex scholars did not take the fall, so I think the implication here is that in the future, all SAF scholar generals and admirals in high positions in the civil and stat board field will be untouchable. Also, this could mean that Penang Khaw is now officially on the political hotseat. His Predecessor Lui Tuck Yew was "retired" after all the train disruption screw ups, and its fair to say that Penang Khaw has gone through even bigger screws ups (deaths on the rail line of 2 workers, cracktraingate, and continued disruptions) and must be watching his backside very carefully. Lui's retirement was so complete the he was blacklisted and to this day does not serve on the BOD of any stat board or GLCs as PAP Ministers are apt to do after politics. Khaw must be watching nervously.
Political Implication 3
The Chinese and the PAP now have a joint common enemy, Factwire. My enemy’s enemy is my friend. Will this result in closer co-operation between the Chinese security apparatus and the ISD? You better believe it. Right now, the ISD is going crazy trying to figure out who are the Factwire operatives in Singapore. Someone in Singapore took those photos of the covered train being shipped off under cover and police escort. Are there Singaporeans working with Factwire to do their groundwork in Singapore? Or did Factwire operatives fly into Singapore and take the pictures? Who tip off Factwire as to the shipping date, time and location? The Chinese certainly want to know the same answers too. So, each is going to scratch the other’s back.
Who will this make nervous? Uncle Sam, of course. Any closer co-operation between China and Singapore in the field of internal security is a worry for them. They do not want the PAP to shift out of the American orbit even slightly. Only time will tell what level of increase will take place.
That concludes my 2 cents.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?232876-Crack-Train-Fiasco-The-Political-revelations-from-it&goto=newpost).
Now that the SMRT Crack Train fiasco has almost run its course, it’s time to sit back and analyze the behind the scenes political machinations and revelations by all the parties involved and by other parties that we thought were not involved.
Revelation number 1.
The PRC govt is involved in this. Some people like Scroobal thought that it took 7 days for Penang Khaw to get the facts from all the departments and get the facts before making a public statement. This is not true. The facts could be ascertained after 2 days. There are cracks in the aluminum of the trains and they have to be send back to china for fixing because it was so bad, it could not be repaired here on site. How hard is that to figure out? More then likely, when Penang Khaw took over as transport minister, he was already briefed on the crack train situation and how they had to be shipped back. So, the long delay of 7 days was obviously not for fact gathering, and could not have been a surprise to him. What then was it for? It was for consultation and advice from the PRC central govt.
The first thing that happened when the news broke, was that the PAP asked who the hell is Factwire? I asked myself the same question. I can guarantee you that they called the China govt to ask them about Factwire, how to shut them down, how to put pressure on them and how to whack them. They were probably told by the PRC govt that Factwire was also a torn in their sides, and being crowd funded and largely anonymous, they were having a hard time containing them too. This made sense to me when part of Penang Khaw’s public statement blamed Factwire as a political agitator, when he said “We are caught in a crossfire and there are factions in Hong Kong who wanted to cause some difficulties for mainland China. I have no inside information on whether that is true or not, but it’s possible. Unfortunately, we become a convenient bullet and collateral damage.”
Boy, what a shock, you would expect to hear those same words from a Politburo member in the PRC CEC. Not from the mouth of a Singaporean politician. When the Crack Train news broke, Penang Khaw must have called his China counterpart and said something like “KNN, I thought we had an agreement to keep this train exchange secret. Now one of your news outlet come out with the scoop?” And was then told that Factwire also did other exposes on the PRC govt and the HKG govt. And that they could not control them and that they trying to embarrass the HLG and China govt by digging the MSRT train incident up. Hence Penang Khaw ended up echoing China’s claims that these guys are trouble makers, and just want to create trouble for China. By making references to a crossfire, Khaw implies that this is an internal matter between Factwire and the China govt. Completely ignoring the fact that everything reported by Factwire was fact and that the trains were very defective and being shipped back in secrecy to China. So, there was an element of Chinese govt involvement in this as far as I can tell.
Revelation 2
Boy oh Boy, SAF ex scholar generals are really untouchable. When Factwire broke the news, who would speak to the public must have been like a hot potato bouncing between SMRT, LTA and MOT. Each of them must have been pointing the finger at the other one to explain to the public what was happening. Maybe Lee Hsien Loong had to play referee to all 3 parties. SMRT had a strong case for being arrowed to face the public music because after all, they operated the trains. LTA also had a strong case because they actually owned the trains and were the ones that signed the contracts to buy them. The entity with the least exposure was MOT, and but they ended sacrificing themselves and make Penang Khaw face the public. And not only face the public, but face the public with a stupid explanation.
My bet was that they would have used LTA Chief Chew Men Leong to face the music and take the public outcry. But I was wrong. They put Penang Khaw up there to do the impossible. i.e. spin the Crack Train affair in a positive light. Do you think Penang Khaw was a happy camper? Damn right he was not. He must have appealed to LHL not to be made the scapegoat over this. But too bad. It turns out that the Head of SMRT is former RSAF scholar general Desmond Quek, and the LTA is headed by former RSN scholar Admiral Chew Men Leong. I believe the debate ended being that since the SAF scholar general club sacrificed Lui Tuck Yew the last time, this time it has to be some one from the PSC side. Still this is very powerful that these 2 ex scholars did not take the fall, so I think the implication here is that in the future, all SAF scholar generals and admirals in high positions in the civil and stat board field will be untouchable. Also, this could mean that Penang Khaw is now officially on the political hotseat. His Predecessor Lui Tuck Yew was "retired" after all the train disruption screw ups, and its fair to say that Penang Khaw has gone through even bigger screws ups (deaths on the rail line of 2 workers, cracktraingate, and continued disruptions) and must be watching his backside very carefully. Lui's retirement was so complete the he was blacklisted and to this day does not serve on the BOD of any stat board or GLCs as PAP Ministers are apt to do after politics. Khaw must be watching nervously.
Political Implication 3
The Chinese and the PAP now have a joint common enemy, Factwire. My enemy’s enemy is my friend. Will this result in closer co-operation between the Chinese security apparatus and the ISD? You better believe it. Right now, the ISD is going crazy trying to figure out who are the Factwire operatives in Singapore. Someone in Singapore took those photos of the covered train being shipped off under cover and police escort. Are there Singaporeans working with Factwire to do their groundwork in Singapore? Or did Factwire operatives fly into Singapore and take the pictures? Who tip off Factwire as to the shipping date, time and location? The Chinese certainly want to know the same answers too. So, each is going to scratch the other’s back.
Who will this make nervous? Uncle Sam, of course. Any closer co-operation between China and Singapore in the field of internal security is a worry for them. They do not want the PAP to shift out of the American orbit even slightly. Only time will tell what level of increase will take place.
That concludes my 2 cents.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?232876-Crack-Train-Fiasco-The-Political-revelations-from-it&goto=newpost).