SINGAPORE: A local Reddit user, “stuck near the entrance of a packed MRT”, used the time to ask when a Transport Minister last rode the MRT during peak hours.
At the moment, Singapore has no full Transport Minister, but Jeffrey Siow was appointed as Acting Minister after the May 3 polls. Mr Siow, who had a long career in the civil service, including a stint as a director at the Ministry of Transport, was part of the ruling People’s Action Party slate at Chua Chu Kang GRC at this year’s General Election. He has come under fire after multiple train disruptions in the past few weeks, though many acknowledge that the problem is one that he merely inherited.
But back to the Reddit post and the question U/visualnumbers asked on Thursday (Sept 25) on r/askSingapore. The post may have been inspired by the circumstances the post author found themselves in, lamenting, “People are not moving and the aircon is non-existent.”
Past Transport Ministers
As the post author pointed out, shortly after he had taken the role of Transport Minister in 2011, Lui Tuck Yew was seen on a Monday morning peak-hour MRT ride. A Stomper, who identified himself as Nat, wrote: “I snapped pictures of him on the train this morning at 7:45 a.m., on the North South line heading towards Jurong East at Bukit Gombak. Welcome to the crowd!”
Side note: In case anyone’s wondering where he is today, Mr Lui has been a diplomat since 2017, serving as Singapore’s Ambassador to Japan (2017 to 2019), China (2019 to 2023), and the United States (2023 to the present).
Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore’s Transport Minister from 2015 to 2020, was known to conduct on-the-ground checks during peak hours at different locations during his term.
More recently, former Transport Minister S Iswaran was said to have been seen taking the MRT on November 7, 2022, according to a “deeper search” carried out by the post author.
What about Jeffrey Siow?
As it turns out, Mr Siow did take the MRT on his first day of work, according to his social media post from May 26. One of the pictures he posted showed the gantry at 10:27 am, which means that peak hours were over by the time he took his ride.
However, a commenter on the post wrote, “I was in school with Jeffrey Siow. We sometimes took the MRT or the number 13 bus together after school. So he at least grew up understanding how important good public transportation is for ordinary people.”
The post author replied to this by writing, “Honestly wish him all the best man, tough position to be in.” /TISG
Read also: Why doesn’t Singapore have a full Transport Minister yet?
