The gist: East-West Line disruption discussed; new Bill passed to deal with election deepfakes
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The six-day East-West Line disruption was one of the worst to hit Singapore’s MRT system in its 37-year history.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
SINGAPORE - Plenty of detail about the East-West Line disruption in September was given to members of the House on Oct 15, as Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat delivered a ministerial statement about what went wrong and took questions over a span of two hours.
Parliament also passed a Bill to counter digitally manipulated content during elections, making it likely for the newly proposed measures to be in effect for the next general election, due to be held by November 2025.
Here are the key takeaways from the latest sitting:
500,000 of 2.8 million MRT journeys affected daily during East-West Line disruption
About 500,000 out of 2.8 million train journeys were affected each day during the East-West Line disruption, with services halted between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations from Sept 25 to 30.
In a ministerial statement on Oct 15, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat set out the key facts of the disruption and its impact in response to questions from 21 MPs.
He said the Land Transport Authority will impose penalties should investigations reveal any lapses, and rail operator SMRT will bear the costs of the disruption regardless of the outcome of the probe.
Why it matters:
The six-day disruption was one of the worst to hit Singapore’s MRT system in its 37-year history, and raised questions about the reliability of the network.
Mr Chee said the incident was a setback, but also noted that Singapore’s public transport network, with six MRT lines and a sizeable fleet of about 5,800 public buses, is more resilient and better able to cope with disruptions than before.
While significant progress has been made in improving reliability over the past decade, this continues to be a work in progress, he said.
Mr Chee noted that the MRT network has maintained a mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) of at least 1 million train-km since 2019, which he said is comparable with the most reliable overseas metros.
In comparison, the MRT network here had an MKBF – a measure of rail reliability – of 67,000 train-km in 2012.
New Bill passed to counter digitally manipulated content during elections
A Bill that puts in place measures to counter digitally manipulated content during elections was passed in Parliament on Oct 15.
The Bill will prohibit the publication of online election advertising that is digitally generated or manipulated to depict a candidate saying or doing something that he or she did not in fact say or do, and is realistic enough to deceive some members of the public.
Such content will be illegal from the time the Writ of Election is issued to the close of polling.
Candidates should themselves step forward to clarify and debunk content that they believe misrepresents them, while the Government will use a range of detection tools to assess if the content has been generated or manipulated through digital means.
Why it matters:
During the debate on the Bill, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said the proposed measures are a carefully calibrated response to augment Singapore’s election laws under the Parliamentary Elections Act and the Presidential Elections Act.
It ensures that the integrity of Singapore’s elections will be upheld, she said. The move comes ahead of a general election that must be held by November 2025.
“It does not matter if the content is favourable or unfavourable to any candidate. The publication of such prohibited content during the election period, including by boosting, sharing and reposting existing content, will be an offence,” said Mrs Teo.
READ MORE HERE: Bill passed to counter digitally manipulated content, deepfakes during elections
S’pore must balance worker protection with business flexibility to keep jobs here in long term
The Straits Times
Even as Singapore sets out to protect workers from unfair treatment during retrenchment exercises, it must also provide business flexibility that preserves and creates good jobs here for the long haul, said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad.
Flexibility allows businesses to adapt to market conditions and transform their business models, he told Parliament on Oct 15, responding to questions from MPs in the wake of recent retrenchments at consumer electronics giant Dyson.
“There are other countries where the labour market is more rigid, or where there is a more confrontational relationship between the unions and the employers,” said Mr Zaqy. However, these make a country less attractive for companies to invest in, he said.
Why it matters:
Mr Zaqy stressed that Singapore has to get the balance between protecting workers and business flexibility right.
“If we do not get the balance right, we may think that we are protecting our workers in the short term.
“But in the longer term, the good jobs for our workers may be reduced as we become a less attractive place for companies to invest in, and firms may choose to site the operations or even outsource the jobs elsewhere,” he said.
If you have a few more minutes
About 6% of DSA students come from lower-income families; MOE to review scheme
About 6 per cent of students admitted to secondary schools by direct school admission (DSA) in the last five years received financial assistance,
They either received financial assistance from the Ministry of Education (MOE) or the MOE Independent School Bursary, and had a monthly gross household income of $3,000 or less, or monthly per capita income of $750 or less.
In addition, some DSA students receive school-based financial support, he said.
Mr Chan said MOE will also be reviewing the DSA scheme with three aspects in mind: ensuring that schools focus on students’ development, the selection process remains objective and transparent, and the scheme continues to be accessible.
Mr Sharael Taha (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) had asked if the scheme had shifted from its intent of identifying students with talents to those who can afford enrichment and preparatory programmes.
