Howard Lee
You know the recent floods are mighty serious when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew weighs in on it.
On 22 July, Today quoted him as saying: “…whatever we do when we get extraordinary rains like we had recently, no amount of engineering can prevent flooding… Singaporeans expect everything to be perfect, which we try to do. But some things are beyond (that) – it’s is an act of God, unless you want to lose half the roads and have canals.”
We can only speculate if MM Lee is aware of the gravity of his statement. By publicly declaring that the floods are an act of God, Singapore’s most senior statesman has effectively provided the blanket dismissal of any monetary claims to be made by citizens and businesses affected by the floods, which could have been leveled against insurance companies and even the Public Utilities Board. Those affected are now pretty much on their own, by MM Lee’s inconclusive definition, since there is still no clear indication of on the cause of all the flood incidents to date.
Indeed, the “act of God” statement was challenged immediately. Today carried three letters in its Voices section on 22 July, each with a different suggestion on possible solutions to the flooding. The nation seems more interested in solving the flood problem than MM himself, who have so far only managed this shrug of a shoulder.
As my old geography teacher would say, while flooding is a natural occurrence, it becomes a disaster only when it crosses the path of human development. In its history, humanity’s strife has been less about preventing natural disasters from occurring, but protecting lives and livelihood from these occurrences.
MM Lee’s warning about losing roads to canals (forget the irony that, not so long ago, for a brief period, part of Orchard Road became a canal) felt more like the same extreme-ends ultimatums that Singaporeans have been constantly fed with – bear with the floods, or walk to work everyday. Perhaps it is not something for a man in his position, but the statement hardly reflected any imagination for the technical feats we can possible deploy to save lives and livelihood.
In truth, it would cost us seriously as a nation to protect us from floods, but there is really no way to defer this cost. The floods are no longer affecting our residential areas, but our central business district. Our efficient, business-as-usual, 24/7 reputation is at stake, and the longer term effect it had on our economy needs to be factored in the sums.
For the moment, the floods seem to have ebbed, but with the odd weather patterns that are knocking at our doorstep, there can be no telling when we will have to face this again. It would be more sensible for us to see it as necessary expenditure. We are faced with the reality of three options – major drainage upgrading, a comprehensive compensation plan for present and future victims to ensure a swift return to normalcy, or suffer the long term blow to the economy.
Sadly, all that seems to be the last thing on the minds of our politicians. Today reported on 20 July that 11 Members of Parliament (although the official record seems to indicate seven) raised queries about the floods, to which the Environment Minister replied with a to-do list for PUB, capped with an endnote that PUB is not the only one responsible, but residents and businesses also need to play a part to ensure that they are warned about floods and are adequately prepared to respond.
Flooding started on 16 June, and these concerns are now raised in Parliament? We should also note that the first to face public outcry was the CEO of PUB – not the Environment Minister or the MPs of the affected areas. And if these MPs have been busy on the ground helping their residents or canvassing for disaster funds since then, the media must have been really respectful of their private endeavours, since there was no coverage on them. Just as the floods are ebbing, another flood of politicians and their comments enter the fray. And of course, MM Lee deals the finishing touch. Should we ask why?
For lack of a better word, it is politicking. Votes count, and showing concern for citizens earns brownie points, even if that concern is nothing more than hand-wringing from a safe tower. So does showing a solid action plan, never mind that the plan is not based on a clearly defined problem to solve. Indeed, ambiguity helps to diffuse attention and provides space for maneuvering should the situation repeat itself. And of course, managing expectations, for the benefit of similar situations in the future, is best done out of the heat of the crisis.
Could the need for an ambiguous problem be the reason for the retraction of earlier claims about debris causing the 16 June Orchard Road flood, and that no conclusions were drawn for more recent floods? You are entitled to have your own take on that.
So, as a national issue, the floods are bigger than we thought. For the population and particularly those affected, this is the time to muster another level of determination, for odd weather seems here to stay and, by the rhetoric thrown around, most significantly by MM Lee’s decree, we evidently should not depend on our politicians to provide assistance, must less shield us from it.
And as for our politicians, God bless them all. This is a time when Singaporeans, weaned off the forced diet of ambiguous answers and dramatic ultimatums, or perhaps just plain tired of popularity posturing, will question the sincerity of every action and word. Failure to realise that might not lead to failure at the polls (feel free to wonder why), but it will surely lead to a lowering of confidence, and by unfair default, a growing impatience with the government agencies tasked to deliver the related public service.
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We were swift to respond to other countries disaster (such as Tsunami) and now we were slow and helpless in solving ours (flood). What has become of our leaders?
Is LKY telling his engineers not to waste time since it cannot be helped, so don’t waste effort thinking of a solution? Very bad publicity for everyone who trusted them all these years.
I see repeated pattern:
i) Blame or pointing fingers to incidents which pops up in recent events. First: complaceny of citizens (big escape), then the general public (MRT) now Act of God instead of accountability and taking up actions to eradicate root causes with solutions. The fingers are pointing higher and higher. Does it mean no more capable leaders to come out with ideas/solutions. What a irony on recent statement that civil servants must be also predict events instead of just solutions.
ii) MM Lee will come to speak out whenever there is a general public outcry and no public servant/politician is able to soothe these outcries. Remember the decision on casino, great escape, foreign affaris screw-ups etc. For how soon, how long can he last? Does it mean it is still on one man show? Where are the capable, convincing, dependable multi-millions ministers that the machinery has been trying to delveop?
Who says engineering cannot solve flooding problem? Tell that to the Dutch. After Katrina, New Orleans is spending US$1 billion to protect itself. Not just against a flash flood, but against the ravages of hurricanes.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33605574/
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/hps2/#
Actually I can accept that we have drainage problems due to over construction or some engineering inadequacies in the pump design of the Marina Barrage, but I cannot accept that no one is to be responsible for the flooding except God and the intense rain that he brought upon on our nation.
can do nothing except hand out sandbags? good luck to YOG and F1 when roads get flooded again. act of God indeed! no engineering solutions – who said so? PUB did not even do enough.
why is lky coming out to defend the incompetency of the environment minister, on the basis of his engineering expertise (or lack thereof)???
is this how singaporeans are taught to solve problems? what happened to “think-out-of-the-box”, innovation, creativity etc etc.
if all else fails, at least Temasek has loads of money to engage foreign REAL talents to solve this problem.
I found it interesting that MM Lee said that there is limited space underground for us to dig to make canals to drain the rainwater, but MBT once said that we could always dig underground to create housing and businesses when we expand our population to 6.5 million!
I don’t know about you, but I rather live in a dry 5-million-population country than a 6.5-million-population country that turns into a fish tank every time it rains.
When things go wrong, blame it on others. That’s how our leaders handle any situations.
First, it was chokage. Then it was the citizens for throwing rubbish into the drains. Then deny all allegations that the barrage may have cause it. Then say it is localised flash floods only and happen in some areas only not the entire island. Then say it is because the rain was simply too heavy. Then if all else fail to convince, get the guru to just blame it on God.
What happen to saying that the drains were not upgraded to meet heavy rains. what happen to there were no early advance warning to those staying in low lying areas. What happen to saying that we fail to have deeper and wider drains. What happen to building regulatory requirements not adequate to prevent floods. What happen to poor town planning? Poor drainage planning ?
Too difficult to answer these tough questions ? Yeah, just blame it on God. What a crock !
Well, those affected by the floodings were not sleeping when the floods happened!!
You all were wide awake with your eyes wide open when the act of GOD strikes!!
Here is my two cents worth and I cannot bring myself to bother with the rhetoric of a senile old man, never mind what he was in his younger years. He is now a very senile and detached old man. What a pity! What a shame that he is still regarded a mentor to his obedient subordinates when it is clear he has outlived his use-by date.
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Anyway, if he finds it apt to blame God then he might wish to understand that he is regarded a god by many of his followers. So you see, the blame comes round to him – by his own words.
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Now, to get to the bottom of the flood issue there is only one question to ask. Why was the last 50 years flood-free while we are seeing floods everywhere in recent times?
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The answer lies in what was done within the last 50 years. What was done to our roads and drainage system. I have this observation to share.
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When flood was rampant in the 60s and 70s, the problem was that there was no drainage system in place. So the government set out to create canals and drains, both big and small. The small drains would carry rainwater into the bigger drains and the bigger drains carry it into the canals that led to the sea.
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Everywhere you went, you would have noticed thousands upon thousands of small drains at the side of every road and footpaths to catch rain water whenever it rains.
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Alas, dengue became a concern at some point in time and some smart Aleck decided that covering these drains would solve the dengue problem. So off they went to cover the drains.
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Unfortunately the covered drains brought with it another set of problems. Rubbish caught under cover remained there to build up and finally choked the drains. What solution did the smart Aleck have?
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He decided to lay pvc pipes into these drains with a small opening by the sides of the roads to catch the flowing waters. Presto! No more dengue.
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Unfortunately, the ‘catching’ of rain water is now limited to the opening gaps at the sides of roads. When the rain is heavy, the water moves faster and thus cannot be ‘caught’. It continues to flow downward and that’s why the low lying areas become flooded, just like old times.
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Believe me, it is something so simple that is causing all these floods. Unfortunately, again, the million dollars brains are too complex and difficult for such simple thinking.
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It has nothing to do with canals and tunnels being too small. I refuse to believe that the rain of these past weeks were that big to see gushing waters in these tunnels with no space to spare.
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Bring back the uncovered drains by the sides of footpaths and roads and you will thank me for this miraculous solution. Believe me, it’s that simple.
It is amazing that a government with consistent pathetic performances can pay its ministers the highest in the world.
They are not leaders but fire fighters, just waiting for incidents to happen before they act.
We are heading towards damnation, thans to this totally incompetent govt.
Also for aesthetic and first world reasons, they cannot leave the small drains uncovered lest the tourists will see all the dirts and rubbish inside the drains.
When so much money is spent uselessly to monitor the citizens, it still cannot the odd ones to become a homegrown terrorists, nor even securely keep a limping terrorist locked up and to escape the clutches of the authorities attempting to clamp down on a Little Red Dot.
Can these self-acclaimed super talents – rewarding themselves millions in annual wages – continue to be effective compared to the meagrely paid talents of the 1950s through the mid-1980s, who laid the foundation of modern Singapore ?
If engineering cannot prevent the flood – as claimed by MM LKY – the Dutch should begin to despair as the Netherlands is almost THIRTY METERS BELOW SEA LEVEL.
Closer to home, will Hong Kong be able to compete globally when its economy is constantly interrupted by the perenial typhoons that lashed the city repeatedly throughout the year ?
The flood situation in Singapore was not as extensive as that occurring during the typhoon seasons in Hong Kong – which can be at least 3 to 5 times a year, and lasting for as many days at a stretch.
Neither was the Singapore flood as bad as that threatening China over the last week that swept whole villages down the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
Still we have not even seen any of our Ministers or Members of Parliament at the scene of the flood, nor set any standards for the “officials” that are suppposed to be responsible for maintaining public amenities to prevent such flooding.
It is ironic that the Prime Minister of China and the Government of China being unelected – in the manner and process familiar to us – will be personally involved with the flood situation, and will even give assurance of compensation, as well as punishing officials not up to the standards of performance which result in the effects of the flood worsening.
Clearly, the Singapore Government has become soft with their well padded positions in an iron rice bowl environment, and is no longer able to respond to situations that the First Generation Leadership would have taken.
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Ref 1 – Wen Jia Bao at the scene of the floods
http://english.eastday.com/e/100725/u1a5352269.html
Ref 2 – China PM Wen Jiabao makes new flood warning
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10749892
Ref 3 – Hong Kong’s engineering solutions to urban flooding
http://www.chinawater.net.cn/cwsnet/meeting-fanghong/v10110.pdf
Singaporeans expect everything to be perfect, which we try to do. But some things are beyond (that) – it’s is an act of God, unless you want to lose half the roads and have canals.”
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did the GODs talk to you? on what toned?
they shout they even send in the jedi laser right on you icon forehead the merlion… what did you LEEKINGYOU do?
you act blurred..you act dumb..you even act stupid..yet every month on the 9th..you DEMANDed a full salary…when mas sala escape..what did you do? you fired the junoir gurhkas guards..did you even bothered to pay the gurkhas 1/2 their salaries?
so what talkin you?
by the way..there is no such words as TRYtoDO..thats phrase is for the promQueen to get LAID…(as spoken by seanconnery)
quick solution to floods – just uncovered all the covered drains !!
Hey LKY, care to comment on that ?
or are you sticking to act of God. God, you must be some old fool to be taken in by the comments these civil servants prepared for you to speak.
what a idiot you are !
I thought LKY and his son are Gods???
Too bad his house is not flooded else he would sing a different tune.
You all draw Extraordinary pay, is it asking too much for you guys to solve extraordinary problems as well.
Hey! high pay high expectations that is what Singaporeans expect.
we all singaporeans low pay but they expect high on us and high bills to pay high gst, high taxes and more. then what they go to say? it is god who wanted this?
lky should just please step down together with his familees…,it is over sooner or later. if you still clinch on then you might face humiliation and all kind of words on your face. so better step down while singaporeans have their respect for him.
Pls, can some brave soul challenge the old fart in Tanjong Pagar GRC and save us some millions, and more importantly, save us from getting crappy headlines in ST!
This govt of our is getting to be more and more disappointing due to their cover up and lack of responsibility.
Even MM is giving us craps. He is getting senile and should retire for good. Just pure wasting of public fund having so many ministers and no solution to the flood
Is it true that all Cabinet Ministers, upon serving 2 terms, gets Pension (2/3 of last drawn pay) when they reach the age of 55 yrs old regardless whether they are still drawing a Minister’s pay?
When MM Lee was PM, he issued a challenge to PUB. Clean up Singapore River and I will award gold medals to those who succeeded.
Now, his son is PM who is unable to take up the challenge of making Singapore flood free. Hence, his father has to protect him and blame God for the floods.
I am quite certain that if MM Lee is still PM, he will issue the same challenge to PUB to make Singapore flood free.
you know what? sick of telling lots of story. old man please step down! your days are over! sick old fart full of greed!
hmmm, next time got flood & if items were floating out of the stores towards me, can i see it as God’s Gift to me as i help myself to the goods?
how does the law define such God’s act then? MM what is your answer har?
:D
to mice is nice.
lky: flood is god problem. items is mine. you touch it i charge you. how many years you want? 20year 40years? sorry i don’t give 1 to 2year coz i kiasu one.
mm lky: you can see flood but you cannot speak up.
you can see the items but you cannot touch.
you can see yourself being flood away but you cannot ask for help.
you can see your money but you cannot say it is yours.
all is mine and only mine.
look at the photo above of the f@#k old fart! so full of sh!t
why mm lee eyes looks so swollen like get a punch on the eyes?
the face is so round and fat guess he is been eating well and well taken care of.
very health man. i like the way he pampered himself. very nice and easy. but still the punch eyes bother me coz year after years really hard to see his eyes, it is like hidden in the bum of his eyes.
the eyes can hardly be seen due to punches he had been taking during the japanese war time hahaha
now singaporeans turn la.
m&m, 27 July 2010
quote:-
“you touch it i charge you. how many years you want? 20year 40years? sorry i don’t give 1 to 2year coz i kiasu one.”
hahaa, lky is not a judge. this reply very the LEEgime woh… i guess our legal system is not as independent as it should be.
anyway the unseen hands of nature seems to be on the ALTernative parties side this time. it has revealed the failings of the often trumpeted worldclass infrastructure, in this city state. would he be as kind if its not his dear son’s party, but that of another?
:p
“No amount of engineering can prevent the floods”? How we hope the floods will one day overwhelm Oxley Road and we will see whether engineering will solve that flooding! I will even bet NParks is now scrutinizing every tree, even scrub along Oxley Road to ensure that they don’t fall at the wrong place at the right time!
he has a big tunnel under his home and multi pump to support a heaviest flood.
no worries on that. his home is been build like steel and unbreakable, avoidable to disaster. that’s why he is MM LEE.
what happen to MM LEE eyes on the photo above? can anyone explain? i can hardly see his eyes but a big swollen ball.
Blame it on GOD and now GOD punished them!
Frustration….wait till the people excersice the contract on the PAP govt as well soon.
#gemami
agree with you, a taxi uncle was telling me the other day…where is the big drain behind Specialist Ctr.
(Somerset MRT)
Its no more there.
Now this is the recent gossip I heard…
Liat Towers is so pissed off, they placed sand bags making Orchard Road look silly. Thus, yesterday NParks gave them a shocker cutting off 2 trees next to their building.
Looks like people are truely pissed and Act of God does not appease everyone.
#curious toad
did you see his left eye twitch away and the words were slurring.
super doper medication, just to come out.
I think there is very little energy left in lky.
IF orchard road is a place in USA and it has that flood, and numerous expensive and cheaper cars get engine damaged by the flood, what could have happened?
Would these 1st world Democratic citizens have launched a Class Action suit and demand for answers and compensations?
You tell me after thinking about it.
We must be the most stupid lot to pay a man with one foot in the grave millions to utter rubbish statements. If keeping him and all the old farts in employment is not cronism I wonder what is. No wonder he calls us ignorant & daft
Sheesh, seems to be a lot of angst in the comments. Not my intent to stir it up, tho… :)
Personally, I can accept that PUB might have made some errors – they are human after all. Fess up, promise to do better, and the public will let it go.
What I don’t like is a bunch of vote mongers, rather than take the op to do something humanitarian at the very least, seize the chance to (MPs) boost profile and (MM) downplay seriousness of issue and make it seem like it is our fault for kicking a fuss. Pure crap.
And while there are technical limits to what we can do (kixes, we can’t dig any deeper before reaching sea level, whereupon the point will be moot), it is the everyday citizens who are more keen to solve the problem. tsk tsk tsk…
we should do something to stop the PAP man. no one came up and hold responsible on this issue, pushing the blame on one another and then end up on us, saying its our fault for littering.
Obviously there is a problem on their flood control system, and they treat us like a fool giving stupid excuses. those minster are just helping each other to keep their job because of the high legal corruption salaries.
we need a minster that step up and point out the real problem and solution to us whenever there is a problem and not chilli and onions
It take a flood to see the worms that coming out of the PAP woodworks…
stay tuned…more to come.
SINGAPORE IS SINKING.
Hi Prettyplace & Joe,
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What I am about to share is not rocket science but an experiment so simple that anyone can try at home. It will show without the slightest doubt how easy it is to solve this flood problem.
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What you need is two pails of equal size, one empty and the other filled with water, and a plastic sheet.
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Step one: Pour the pail of water into the empty pail. What happens? All the water goes into the empty pail without a drop spilling onto the floor, right?
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Step two: Now cover the empty pail with the plastic sheet and poke some holes on the lastic sheet.
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Step three: Again, pour the pail of water over the empty pail covered with the plastic sheet with holes. What happens? How much of the water goes into the empty pail and how much of it spills over the floor.
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That is the flood we are seeing. The water missing the holes by the sides of our streets and roads is what is causing the flood. The logic is so simple.
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Do we need brains that cost multi-million dollars for this?
this old man need to retire. he is too old for this. his brain is not functioning well. as he practice greed from very young now he is stuck with how to MAKE MONEY is his priority non more then that.
singapore is only a business ground for him to use for how many generation he could to set his business going and share it among his familees, he has build singapore this far and would he even listen to singaporeans? he go thru all the troubles and pain to build singapore and not singaporeans. the foreigners help him to build it so what we singaporeans got to say?
so singaporeans just appreciate it and live your life
TO: MM LEE
you are a very kind man with a good heart. we singaporeans thanks you for your sacrifice that you made for us singaporeans.
you had sacrifice alot more then your life o make us now live a better life.
we would pray that you will live even longer to hold singapore in your hand.
you are the greatest man we ever seen compare to all the country. you are an angel in disguise. may god bring you to heaven and build you another singapore there for you to run as MM LEE.
LKY…please desist…you are driving yourself to an earlier grave…and for what…aren’t you tired of it all?
Always having to come out in the public view to defend your PAP ministers…many of them still wearing diapers and refusing to grow up and accept their mistakes and responsibilities…
These sayang sayang babes in “diapers” are becoming an embarrassment to singapore and the world and to you also lah.
Xianz.
Why MM Lee copycats the Law Minister by
passing judgement before the verdict is out.
First he said investors of minibonds went in with their eyes open, so deserved to lose money, now he said the floods arer acts of God, in order to pre-empt victims from claiming huge compensations from insurance companies.
Ever since when he has become so wicked and selfish. Unbeliveable a person could really change his character, in order to protect himself snd those associated with him.
When he gave the go-ahead to invest in UBS just before the financial crisis two years ago, he did it also withn his eyes opened, now GIC has lost money, who deserved the loss, GIC or MM Lee himself.
Forever he has no blame, the fault is always somebody else, or worse putting the blame on, of all things, God’s doing.
Any idiot could govern Singapore by blaming God when things go awry. Easy job, even easier when the job comes with astromical high pay.
So Foreigners please note too! You and and we Singaporeans ALL Pay-And-Pay HIGH COEs for our cars. Public AND private transport buses too. Although the COE of GCT & ERP of MBT were meant for controlling vehicle growths AND traffic congestion in the CBD for cars! Argument was that on average passengers per car per road area occupied for cars are low compared to buses.
Also pay high priced buy and rent due to high development charges for buildings for business or residence.
And after that when they failed big, he tells us we have to bare with BIG FLOODS because it CAN’T BE WITHOUT! Of cause he can’t say why to right for his brand of COCKY COCKSURE politics right! FAKED top talent from self praise!