Desmond Kuek's Chink In the Armour
Desmond Kuek's (DK) chink in the armour was his salary. Never mind that DK did not CREATE the problem. Never mind that in his 6 years helming SMRT, DK laid the foundations for the reliability improvements of today. In 6 years, DK rescued what other people had run to the ground in 30 years. I blogged about him HERE. If you read carefully, Christopher Tan's reports were all snidely crafted to ignite popular opinion against DK and his salary.
Excerpt 1
Mr Kuek's remuneration package is also larger than that of Mr Kua Hong Pak, his counterpart at rival transport group ComfortDelGro Corp - a significantly larger company. Last year, Mr Kua, 71, drew between $1.75 million and $2 million - a remuneration band that has not changed in recent years. In its last financial year, ComfortDelGro posted a turnover of $4.05 billion and a profit of $283.5 million, while SMRT recorded a turnover of $1.24 billion and net earnings of $91 million.
...
In a recent interview with The Straits Times, Mr Kuek said: "We have made tremendous progress on many fronts... but there is much more to be done to improve rail reliability."
Excerpt from HERE.
The above report made it sound like Desmond Kuek was trying to justify why his own salary was higher than Kua Hong Pak's. Only careful readers would ask, "What exactly was the question asked in that vague "recent interview" when Mr Kuek responded, "We have made tremendous progress on many fronts... but there is much more to be done to improve rail reliability."
Such sneaky strategies to cast DK as an incompetent villain were often employed in Christopher Tan's reports. No wonder the whole country hates DK. Poor DK.
Neo Kian Hong's Chink In the Armour
Apparently, Neo Kian Hong's chink in the armour is his "inability" to keep long time and high performing staff.
Excerpt 2
In the past 8 months, about 30 executives in the Temasek-owned company's human resources (HR) department have quit. 2 senior engineers have also resigned.
Excerpt from HERE.
Many of us have worked in corporate environments before. It really is quite normal, when the boss changes, to have some sort of turnover. However, turnover in the HR Dept is not as damaging to SMRT as turnover in the engineering corps. So, Christopher Tan made it a point to state that 2 senior engineers have also resigned.
Questions are:
How many senior engineers does SMRT have? What is the actual percentage of turnover in 8 months? How does this percentage compare with other companies? Many of us not only have worked in corporate environments before, we have also managed people. We are familiar with these metrics of staff turnover. So, when information is provided like this "2 senior engineers have also resigned," we wonder why the facts given were incomplete. Was it that hard to find out the total number of senior engineers in order to report the percentage turnover of engineers in 8 months? Or was the percentage turnover so reasonable that it simply makes Neo Kian Hong look more incompetent if the report read "2 senior engineers have also resigned."
Excerpt 3
More management changes are afoot at rail operator SMRT Corp, which witnessed a spate of resignations in recent months.
Excerpt from HERE.
Implication: The incompetent Neo Kian Hong cannot keep staff. Oh my... what kind of paper general cannot command loyalty of new troops, huh?
Excerpt 4
SMRT Trains chief executive Lee Ling Wee is expected to relinquish his post, and is currently working to hand over his duties to Lam Sheau Kai...
...
"... another veteran, Ms Dawn Low... is also expected to leave. Ms. Low served under Desmond Kuek and his predecessor, Ms Saw Phaik Hwa. Ms. Low served under former SMRT Corp chief executive Desmond Kuek and his predecssor, Ms. Saw Phaik Hwa. Ms. Low helped to build up SMRT's retail arm, which eventually became the group's single biggest income earner.
... 30 HR executives... exodus..."
Excerpt from HERE.
Implication: The incompetent Neo Kian Hong cannot keep good staff like Ms. Dawn Low, who brought in so much money for SMRT. And, OMG... he also cannot keep the chief engineer who has helped bring rail reliability to what it is today! Call himself a general! What kind of paper general cannot inspire good soldiers to stay!? Huh!? Come on fellow Singaporeans. Go online and heap abuse on Neo Kian Hong's incompetent generalship.
Note the emotionally loaded terms:
(1) exodus (à la Moses and the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt... so poor thing hor... slavery leh...)
(2) spate (synonymous with flood, deluge, flurry... wah... deluge leh...)
The most laughable thing is that Christopher Tan was so EAGER to set fire to Neo Kian Hong's reputation that he really became a 三姑六婆. He neglected to check facts, and hurried with fan aflutter and greasy lips quivering, to spread the salacious news.
It turns out that Lee Ling Wee and Dawn Low did not resign. See HERE.
Apparently, Lee Ling Wee was not available for comment, but surely the HR Head, Tan Kian Heong (whom the 三姑六婆 did actually manage to talk to and quote) could have answered Yes/No to the question, "Has Lee Ling Wee tendered his resignation?" No HR Head can lie in answer to such a question because time will show whether Lee Ling Wee has really tendered or not. Wait 1 month or 3 and you will know.
Facts don't matter to 三姑六婆 journalism. The 三姑六婆 merely wants to stir shit, titillate readers and create buzz in the village square. Sooooo exciting hor!? So, what did this 三姑六婆 do? He cited some vague "people close to [Lee Ling Wee]" who said that [Lee Ling Wee] is likely to leave once Mr. Lam is ready to assume the helm.
Which person close to [Lee Ling Wee]? The 三姑六婆 heard it from whom? The kopi soh? The cleaner? The night guard? Don't underestimate the kopi soh, the cleaners and such honest folk, you know. They go places no one goes and see things no one sees. I am sure my domestic helper at home knows stuff about me that I don't want people to know! The last time The Straits Times was able to report on a nationally extremely important monitor lizard in the SMRT train depot, they relied on information given by honest folk like these.
It pains my heart to see good men publicly destroyed by sleaze balls who don't come right out and say what they mean and mean what they say. Instead, they hide behind nasty innuendos hidden between
- incomplete factual statements (2 senior engineers out of how many resigned?)
- erroneous facts (Lee Ling Wee and Dawn Low resigned)
This type of reporting is not only poor quality, it is potentially damaging to KPIs. What if... what if... what if... Lee Ling Wee had some minor disagreement with Neo Kian Hong and were a vindictive person. Such reporting serves to signal to him that he CAN harm his boss by resigning. It's like a man had a tiff with his wife, and then runs into a temptress. Then, what if... what if... what if... after Lee Ling Wee resigns, something goes wrong in SMRT. Whose fault? Neo Kian Hong chased away Lee Ling Wee. It is Neo Kian Hong's fault. What if... what if... what if... the instability introduced by such staff turnover resulted in fatality?
Wah! More fuel to burn Neo Kian Hong with. What was simply a minor work disagreement escalates into a national scandal with one man to blame - the paper general Neo Kian Hong, who does not know how to command the loyalty of good staff.
That is the kind of thing 三姑六婆 people want to see. They stir shit, destroy relationships, turn people against each other. It is biblically wrong and God sees what is happening. If you are Buddhist, then darling... note that karma can be a bitch.
James 3: 5-6
5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Journalists are tongues which can be used to redress injustice or perpetuate injustice. Thanks to this 三姑六婆's reporting, a great fire arose in the hearts of the Singaporean people unfairly against Desmond Kuek.
To Neo Kian Hong: your reputation has managed to narrowly escape one pyromanic episode. Maybe you should quit before similar 三姑六婆 reporting fans another great fire to consume you as it did Desmond Kuek. And then what? Who will helm SMRT, huh? Are the interests of Singaporean commuters really best served when one SMRT CEO after another is enthusiastically burned at the stake?
To the ruling party in government: this type of gratuitous anger fanned by innuendo, using incomplete or erroneous facts disseminated by the national broadsheet does not just damage SMRT. The populace sees SMRT as an extension of the government. The common man in the street does not buy into the differentiation between SMRT and the government. Any flames fanned gratuitously against the SMRT CEO will lick at the edges of the government and burn you in slow but sure degrees.
On the surface, the only casualty is the SMRT CEO. Under the surface, like a smoking peat fire, it is the government's own credibility that is cast into doubt by such 三姑六婆 journalism.
It is one thing if full facts (and responsible journalism) show both Desmond Kuek and Neo Kian Hong to be incompetent villains. Then, the government gets burnt for good reason. It is another when half facts, WRONG facts ALLUDE to them as incompetent villains and spark unnecessary flames. Surely, you can see the covert damage this 三姑六婆 is doing to the PAP too.
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