The Dutch company which transport operator SMRT joined hands with two weeks ago to provide automated shuttle services may be in financial difficulty.

Checks by The Straits Times revealed that 2getthere and its driverless freight-moving unit, Frog, had applied for insolvency in April 2007.

The company, led by Mr Carel van Helsdingen, has since been looking for financial backers.

In 2014, United States-listed engineering company Oceaneering International acquired Frog.

Even so, the financial status of 2getthere remains murky. The company did not respond to queries from The Straits Times.

But SMRT Services managing director Colin Lim said it was Frog that had financial difficulties and “2getthere was not part of it”.

Following a restructuring, 2getthere was formed as an independent company in 2008, Mr Lim added. “Based on 2getthere’s records, the company has been profitable,” he said, adding that SMRT had conducted its due diligence.

Mr Lim also said 2getthere has managed to secure soft loans from Abu Dhabi’s United Technical Services (UTS), and “that has kept the company going”.

Indeed, 2getthere reported on its website in January that UTS had “taken a stake” in the firm, but it gave no details about the size of the stake or worth of the investment.

Observers reckon the Dutch company may well be selling a stake to SMRT too. SMRT would not comment when asked this week if it had injected cash into the company.

At its post-results briefing last week, SMRT said 2getthere Asia, its new venture – of which it owns 51 per cent – with the Dutch company, will not have any immediate contribution to its bottom line.

It added that the venture was “part of a larger national push for first- and last-mile initiatives”.

But the application of such driverless systems – broadly termed as PRT or personal rapid transit – has been confined so far to semi-controlled environments such as airports, business parks and in Masdar City, an artificial city in Abu Dhabi. In Masdar, 2getthere’s US$10 million (S$13.6 million) project has not progressed beyond the pilot stage, purportedly because of the high cost of laying the buried guideways that the driverless pods travel on.

Even its maiden project in its home country got off to a patchy start. Just days after the official launch of service at the Rivium Business Park in Rotterdam in December 2005, two empty pods collided.

Many transport experts say PRT systems are not feasible, which explains why they are not popular at all. Professor Vukan Vuchic of the University of Pennsylvania described them as a “totally unrealistic ‘Buck Rogers’ concept for which there are no applications where it would be operated efficiently and economically”.

SIM University Adjunct Associate Professor Park Byung Joon said PRTs may work in an airport but he is “less convinced whether they work as part of public transport”.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng was more optimistic. “Technology-wise, I do not foresee major issues. However, the business model and administrative support require further clarifications.”

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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SMRT has settled a lawsuit brought by a woman who was paralysed from the waist down after falling into an MRT escalator gap more than three years ago.

Ms Azlin Amran, 31, sued SMRT Trains for negligence, and sought about $3 million in damages following the mishap at Tanah Merah MRT Station on Jan 28, 2013.

Neither party disclosed the final payout, if any.

“I miss being spontaneous,” said the once-sporty business studies degree holder last night.

She was making her way out of the station that day, when she fell into the escalator shaft on the third step of a descending escalator undergoing maintenance.

Ms Azlin remained trapped in the escalator mechanism for more than 30 minutes until Civil Defence officers rescued her and took her to Changi General Hospital.

She suffered spinal cord damage among other injuries, which has left her a paraplegic and needing to use a wheelchair to get around.

Medical reports from various specialists were tendered to support her claims and attest to her serious condition.

Then an administrative cum operrations executive, she is now severely handicapped in the labour market, according to the suit.

Through lawyer Nadia Moynihan, she alleged SMRT had failed in its duty of care, and sought special and general damages to pay for medical treatment, caregivers and loss of earnings, according to court papers filed in September last year.

SMRT, in defence papers filed by lawyer Anthony Wee, had contested the claims, arguing she had caused or contributed to her injuries by failing to keep a proper lookout, among other things.

A High Court case management conference was held yesterday before Assistant Registrar Janice Wong.

SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan told The Straits Times the case had been amicably settled out of court. “We deeply regret the injuries that Ms Azlin sustained from the accident,” he added.

Mr Nathan said following the incident, station staff have been reminded that safety barricades installed around maintenance areas must be fastened securely and checked regularly.

“In addition, maintenance staff must deploy lookout men on the upper and lower levels of escalators when these undergo maintenance tests. The safety of our passengers will and always continue to be our top priority,” he said.

For Ms Azlin, who is now working at SPD, formerly known as Society for the Physically Disabled, as an employment support specialist, the mishap marked a sea change from her previous active and outdoor lifestyle.

She used to trek, swim, cycle and play badminton. Almost daily, she would climb 11 storeys to her flat in Sengkang as exercise and regularly travel abroad with her mother.

She told The Straits Times yesterday that she still takes the MRT to work in Tiong Bahru.

She said: “I still suffer a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder and have bits and pieces of flashback, especially in instances when I fall out of my wheelchair and can’t get up. It’s a reminder of everything I’ve lost.”

She added: “Now, I have to plan every detail of my life. When I go out, I have to take note of whether the place is wheelchair-accessible.

“In the past, I could take walks and enjoy being in the moment. Now, when I’m taking out in a wheelchair, I have to be careful about a curb or a bump.”

In March, SMRT was fined $120,000 after pleading guilty to one charge under the Workplace Safety and Health Act following a probe by the Manpower Ministry.

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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Their High Commissioner has asked them to sound the alert if they suspect extremists are in their midst. But do not expect many Bangladeshi workers to do that just yet.

Some claimed they would not know how to spot a radical. Others candidly admitted they would be uncomfortable getting their compatriots into trouble, and feared they would be implicated themselves.

But community leaders said they will try to raise awareness of the importance of vigilance, as the discovery of a second group of radicalised Bangladeshis in the space of six months threatens to tarnish the image of their countrymen.

“We will work harder to talk to them. It is important we fight this as a community,” said Mr Mohd Shahiduzzaman, president of the Singapore Bangladesh Society.

After news broke on Tuesday that eight members of the group Islamic State in Bangladesh had been detained under the Internal Security Act, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Singapore Mahbub Uz Zaman said his countrymen have a duty to report radical behaviour.

Five other Bangladeshis were deported, and possessed or had spread radical material.

Sentiments like that of construction worker Shahidul Islam, 30, were common. “I don’t want my friends to get into trouble,” he said.

Said his colleague Sabir Ahmed, 30: “I am not sure if they are extremists or just very religious. If I do not feel comfortable, I will move away.”

Like most of the 30 workers The Straits Times spoke to yesterday, Mr Sabir said his boss had already warned them not to get tangled up with radicalism after it was reported in January that 27 Bangladeshi workers were deported for radical activity. Many feel their companies and dormitories are already keeping a lookout for radical behaviour.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said yesterday that dormitory operators had been advised to engage foreign workers living in their quarters after last year’s arrests of the 27 men.

“Efforts to reach out to and engage the foreign worker population in Singapore are ongoing,” it said.

That message appears to have sunk in. Said shipyard worker Tepu Sultan, 23: “My manager said that we come here to work and earn money, so why would we want to join terrorists? Better to just work.”

Added construction worker Yousuf, 30: “Sometimes, I work night shifts and my friends work in the day. It is hard for me to tell if they pray differently from me.”

But an approachable boss helps. Said shipyard worker Alauddin, 33: “My boss is good, he warns us often about causing trouble. Of course, I will tell boss if something is fishy.”

Migrant Workers’ Centre chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said the centre will engage and advise workers “to be vigilant against threats to our peace and security”.

“(Bosses should also) orientate all new workers on the value we place on our peace and security, and the importance of social cohesion,” he added.

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan yesterday said Singapore’s immigration policy has to be tightened in the light of the discovery of a cell of radical Bangladeshi workers, and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has asked him to clarify his position.

Dr Chee’s comments to reporters came a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that eight Bangladeshi workers had been detained for plotting violent attacks back in their country.

“We need to pay a lot more attention on people who come to our shores,” he said in response to questions from reporters in Bukit Batok, where he is up against People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate Murali Pillai in a by-election this Saturday.

“You let in hundreds of thousands, millions, you’ve got to be asking yourself, there must be people there who are not properly vetted,” he added.

The men have been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial for two years in the first instance, and is a law Dr Chee and the SDP have spoken against.

Dr Chee did not respond directly to questions on whether the ISA was needed and whether he felt it should be abolished, a position SDP holds, saying the case had “nothing to do” with it and “everything to do with immigration policy”.

“Let’s get at the root cause of the problem, that is where we need to stop this problem, before something really untoward happens here in Singapore,” he said.

“The only way you can do this is when I get into Parliament. We will make sure that we raise this with the Home Affairs Minister, and ask him, give us the lowdown on who’s coming into Singapore,” he added.

Asked by reporters for his reply, Mr Shanmugam said Dr Chee’s comments suggest a lack of understanding of the nature of the problem.

The minister pointed out that some 1,000 people from Indonesia and Malaysia have gone to fight in the Middle East, and hundreds of radicalised individuals have been arrested globally and in this region, including Singaporeans in Singapore.

“So what does Dr Chee suggest? That we say no to all foreign workers? Or we say no to all foreign workers who are Muslim? I think he should clarify,” he said.

He pointed out that there were “tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers” here who work in construction and as cleaners in the town councils.

“So what do we do? Send them all back? Who is going to do their jobs? And also in the construction sector, (if) you send them back, who suffers? Singaporeans will lose their jobs too,” said Mr Shanmugam.

He also said that after the terror attacks in Paris and Jakarta and the latest arrests, it was odd to still want to abolish the ISA, which allows for detention without trial for a period of up to two years at a time.

Security matters, he added, “require careful consideration, proper thought and we should all just avoid taking cheap shots at political opportunism”.

Bukit Batok by-election rally May 3

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AsiaOne, YouTube screengrabs

By-election battle for Bukit Batok SMC

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, Lianhe Zaoabao, Berita Harian

This article was first published on May 5, 2016.
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