Media release: Govt must come clean on MRT security blunder

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Thursday, 10 June 2010

Singapore Democrats

The recent break-in into the train depot allegedly by a Swiss national to spray-paint graffiti on carriages is yet another stupendous breach of public security. This latest incident comes on the heels of the Mas Selamat escape in 2008.

While the Minister for Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng kept the Mas Selamat breakout silent for four hours allowing the suspect to make headway in the escape, the MRT break-in was not discovered until 48 hours later.

A terrorist act could have been planned on the trains and the public would have been completely in the dark and at the mercy of the authorities who were, like the Mas Selamat fiasco, asleep at the switch.

It is already three weeks since the break-in took place at the Changi depot and Mr Wong has yet to say a word about the matter. The Minister is charged with safe-guarding of key installations around the country. While he makes a show of deploying armed guards at the MRT stations, he has failed to deploy security personnel to guard the most vulnerable nodes of the MRT system. Why was this so?

The terrorist bombing of a train in Madrid, Spain in 2004 where 191 people were killed and 1,800 wounded point to the seriousness of the MRT breach that could have resulted in a catastrophic disaster in Singapore.

Mr Wong must take responsibility for the security lapse and tell the public what went wrong. The Government must be completely transparent about the matter. The Minister's silence, like his silence in the Mas Selamat, is indicative of the the confusion and/or lack of transparency at the Ministry under his charge.

Pushing the responsibility to the SMRT management is equally unacceptable. While the SMRT has issued a public statement, it still does not absolve the Minister from his role in the latest blunder.

The Singapore Democrats demand an immediate response from the Government.

Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party

Subway graffiti case stirs up Singapore
AFP

Oliver Fricker, a 32-year-old Swiss software consultant working in the city-state, is on trial for allegedly breaking into a depot and leaving an elaborate work of aerosol art on the side of a carriage in May.

Police have launched an international manhunt for his alleged British accomplice, Lloyd Dane Alexander, who managed to slip out of Singapore before being found out.

The incident raised questions about the security of key facilities in Singapore, a staunch US ally that sees itself as a prime terrorist target, and the authorities are indignant.

Only last month, Indonesian officials said they found a map of Singapore's MRT train network in the home of an Islamic extremist shot dead in Jakarta.

Singapore has long considered vandalism a serious crime and punishes culprits with jail terms, fines and caning, and reports of terrorist plots against the island have given the subway graffiti case an added dimension.

The suspects should not expect leniency -- an American teenager, Michael Fay, was caned in 1994 despite US appeals for clemency after he vandalised cars and public property.

The defaced MRT train has been scrubbed clean but a clip taken by a commuter can still be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CV4JYKBEQo, attracting over 113,000 hits so far.

Some comments posted on YouTube praised the graffiti as a work of art and one hailed the two Europeans as heroes for daring to defy the government.

Others demanded that the two men be caned, a controversial penalty dating back to British colonial rule.

Martyn See, a Singaporean filmmaker who has been in trouble with the authorities for political documentaries, said he and his friends "admire what Oliver Fricker did" but wondered why the Swiss man stayed after the act.

"He is courageous but stupid at the same time," he told AFP.

See said the government was "more concerned about the embarrassment" rather than security.

John Harrison, a homeland security expert with the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the vandalism case has both legal and security dimensions.

"There is a real legal issue here. This individual committed an act in Singapore that is very serious," he said.

"But there is a broader question, there are security implications for this, that somebody was able to penetrate a depot unnoticed and then commit damage."

Harrison added: "This is not something to be taken lightly and I think the Singapore authorities are acting responsibly in this situation."

He told AFP that Singapore was a "Tier One" target for terrorists and the MRT network would always be a key area for any attack.

Last month, Singapore sent a security team to Jakarta after a map of the MRT was discovered in the home of Ahmad Sayid Maulana, an alleged member of an extremist group who was killed by an anti-terrorist squad on May 12.

The opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said Wednesday that the incident was "yet another stupendous breach of public security" two years after an alleged extremist leader, Mas Selamat, escaped from custody.

Mas Selamat was recaptured in Malaysia last year.

The SDP said the government was "asleep at the switch" during the security breach at the train depot.

Singapore's metro operator apologised for the "serious security lapse" and promised to install more surveillance cameras and reinforce the perimeter fences at the system's five depots with razor wire.

The metro system serves 1.5 million passengers daily and its staff are trained to handle emergency situations including chemical, biological, radiological and explosive threats.

Local media have speculated that Fricker and Alexander could be part of an underground group of graffiti artists using metro trains around the world to display their work.

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4138327

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Comments (14)

Thu 10 Jun 2010 8:25 AM | Tan Tai Wei

It was indeed a "serious breach of security", but be careful that we don't transfer that seriousness to the "crime" itself of this Swiss national abd accomplice.

Whether it was an adolescent prank or "artists displaying their art", it was what it was , and should be punished just for that.

The seriousness is about how insecure our national security has been in the light of terrorist threats, etc. The Swiss and accomplice are responsible for that, and should not be made scapegoats to absorb the public wrath.

Infact, the two have done us the favour of awakening us to the security lapse.

Thu 10 Jun 2010 9:58 AM | maxchew - WKS rewarded with 11 months' performance bonus

And this was the very same Minister whom PM LHL rewarded with the max 11 months performance bonus back in Apr 2006 or 2007...report in ST of LHL's reply to ChiamSTong's query on performance bonuses for Ministers in Parliament. PM said only 3 Ministers got the max 11 months' performance bonus. He did not reveal who they were as these bonuses payable every Apr of the year are strictly confidential and not revealed to the public/press.
There is no doubt that WKS was one of them....
What a joke!

Thu 10 Jun 2010 10:09 AM | whjho - Who found out and when and why

Quote from SMRT report : "On 17 May, staff noticed the graffiti on the train but did not sound the alarm, as it was done
artistically and mistaken for an advertisement. The alarm was raised at 1600 hours on 19
May by our maintenance staff when the train was recalled to the workshop for scheduled
maintenance. A police report was made immediately, and our own investigation led to the
discovery of the security breach of the fence."

While taking credit for finding the graffiti, it pushes out the responsibility.

Question: was it the YouTube sighting that prompt the finding or the maintenance staff which took 2 days later? Why 2 days with so much patrols (including army boys, police) at stations, MRT staff walking up and down the trains, at depots every evening and morning? Those are questions that are hanging.

Does not the cost of operations already included the security duties? So is it ineffectiveness of the entire security team or lack of focus; complacency on the aspect of the management?

Accountability, transparency and ownership once again.

Thu 10 Jun 2010 11:01 AM | | leesjuanpat - SMRT fiasco

No SANE person will sincerely admit their mistakes.
And SMRT is very sane to issue a statement, after so many days saying the staff thought it was an advertisement. LOL ! It is really embarrassing for Saw Phaik Hwa as CEO to release that trash. I always though these CEO and handpicked by PAP establishments are super-brained people !!

Well, doing damage control now but instead more damage done on the rhetorics of such stupidity of announcements in the press. Sometimes, silence can be the best answer BUT not this time. It is a national security issue.

The storm will be over sooner and Saw PH will be still sitting on her cosy office enjoying her high and mighty pay and position, thanks to the culture of S'pore "you do wrong in high places you are safe"
by the very PAP. WKS and Ho Ching is a good example of bloopers gone higher in life without a dent.

UNIQUELY SINGAPORE !!!

Thu 10 Jun 2010 11:02 AM | Cheers

The seriousness is about how insecure our national security has been in the light of terrorist threats, etc. The Swiss and accomplice are responsible for that, and should not be made scapegoats to absorb the public wrath.

Infact, the two have done us the favour of awakening us to the security lapse.

------So should the two be punished, I mean would you just say thank you or punish someone for pointing out your mistake. To him is not a crime or else he would escape like the British guy.

I believe they are in dilemma whether to punish the two guys or their CEO or Minister in charge of Transport of Minister in Charge of Security, or Minsiter of Defence after all they spent tons of money on security and defence.

Thu 10 Jun 2010 11:24 AM | stevewu77 - Wong Kan Seng should be fired

The latest security failure at the SMRT depot comes after so many wake-up calls. Escape of Mas Selamat, security blunders at the airport, fire/arson at the bus depot.

This is completely unacceptable when one realizes that the People have been supporting with additional funds (e.g. heavy airport security tax) to prepare and defend against terrorist acts. Yet we get failures in very basic security. That no major incident has occurred points to the fact that we have been lucky rather than we are well-prepared.

I agree that there must be an inquiry to plug all the systemic holes. It has less to do with why SMRT depots are so weakly protected, more to do with why no agency insisted otherwise.

I have previously called for the resignation of Wong Kan Seng as the Home Affairs Minister following the escape of Mas Selamat. Apparently, he has squandered the opportunity to redeem himself. He should now be fired.

Thu 10 Jun 2010 12:19 PM | leesjuanpat - PAP control government.

We must remember it is a PAP control government. We are powerless to demand or even just request anything regarding sacking.

just vote the hell out of them and life will be better for the average S'poreans.

This national issue is another episode in the life of PAP control (nothing will happen) mindset of the government. But when a real strike does happen, we wonder how efficient and capable the authorities will handle the situation.

PAP is living in an utopia world of their own and the ivory tower comfort of life may make them complacent.

Thu 10 Jun 2010 2:49 PM | solmyrian - Cover up?

I just want to highlight something.

It was reported that the graffiti was done somewhere between 16May-17 May during the dawn hours.

Video of the vandalised MRT was posted to youtube on 18May.

SMRT made the police report on 19May claiming the hole in the fence was left unnoticed for 2 days.Smells fishy to me.

Could the whole incident have been swept under the rug if the video wasnt uploaded to youtube causing the public to ask questions?

Thu 10 Jun 2010 4:48 PM | Kit - Horsing Around

It's quite one thing if you cannot teach an old horse new tricks, but not being able to teach an old horse old tricks....?

Thu 10 Jun 2010 10:18 PM | April Fool

Anyone calling for the resignation of our esteemed Minister must anticipate the old question - where should the witch hunt stop ? The PM will tell you since he is the boss of the Minister, do you want him to resign as well ? I know of one opposition MP who was dumbstruck by this question.

Fri 11 Jun 2010 7:41 AM | maxchew - Don't make a mockery of the performance bonus

To April Fool.......No need to resign, but for goodness sake, don't give any performance bonus, not even a month's pb, to any Minister or top civil servant who makes a significant boo-boo.

The pb system is too secretive and personalised on one man, the PM. And I have no doubt he will not penalise WKS at all for his string of national errors and mishaps.They will look for a scapegoat lower down to punish and thus clear their conscience.What a pathetic Govt we have.

Fri 11 Jun 2010 9:15 AM | whjho

To April Fool 10 Jun:

Why not if the case on hand is of sufficient magnitude and risk?

Have we not seen such cases happen before both in country and MNC?

Since PAP members seek themselves to be pay at market rate, then their performance (including the PM, MM, SM etc) and accountability should correspondly be related.

Fri 11 Jun 2010 10:35 AM | stevewu77

I feel sorry for those who thinks calling for the resignation or firing of a political office holder amounts to a witch hunt. It may be but not necessarily so.

Should Wong Kan Seng be held accountable? Well, it depends on whether, in his appointment as minister, he should have done or not omit to do the requisite expected of his appointment. Certainly, he should NOT be held responsible for things for which he has no reasonable control over. However, there are systemic problems which he MUST oversee to ensure their elimination.

Did he as minister direct and manage his security agencies properly to spearhead the requirement of homeland security? Did he as minister appoint experienced personnel to ensure such activities are carried out professionally? With the prevailing challenge of terrorism, why does the minister assign a political appointee as Director ISD? This is a disaster waiting to happen. It led to the escape of Mas Selamat. And the People were not told who approved of the design of the covered walkway in the WDC.

One is reminded of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) in the US. The director FEMA was an inexperienced political appointee during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The ineffective response killed more people in the aftermath than the hurricane itself.

Coming back to the latest incident, the minister must ensure that there is a system to conduct periodic security audits of important installation, e.g. Jurong Island, airports, seaports, bus/train facilities including depots. The fact that buses were set on fire and trains were vandalized WITHOUT anyone knowing implies that such audits are either not in place or they are not rigorously enforced.

In any case, the results speak for themselves.

Fri 11 Jun 2010 11:48 PM | Jufrie - Don't miss the point

Apart from Cheers the rest seem to have missed the point.

The two "culprits" should be commended instead of being penalised.

I propose that they be given National Day awards (Pingat Bakti Keselamatan - Security Service Medal?) for exposing the weak link in our mass transport security chain.

Do I have a seconder?