In the latest propaganda article to assuage public dissatisfaction over public transport, state media ChannelNewsAsia (CNA) claimed that the high profile failures of SMRT were just blown out of proportion. CNA engaged several “industry experts”, a Dr Lawrence Wong from local government university NUS described the MRT flooding incident as “storm in a teacup”. The “industry expert” also advised that Singaporeans to give SMRT at least 3 years to sort out the “right” company culture.
Another fake expert from local government university SIT, Dr Zhou Yi, literally spoke nonsense repeating official statements and made no “expert-level” commentary:
“I think the operator and government side tried their best to minimise the disruption to commuters as much as possible. But I think due to the incident of the Joo Koon collision, it really warned us that maybe we should play it in a more safe way rather than be too brief. If there is really another accident, I think it would be much more painful to the country…With much more choices or alternative lines in operation, then it should ease or relieve some of the load in the traditional or old lines. With much more choices or alternative lines in operation, then it should ease or relieve some of the load in the traditional or old lines. By the middle of next year, we are expecting the resignalling project to be complete and maybe we give it one or two months for teething issues … I am very positive to see by end of next year, we would see much better reliability in our system.”
Singapore state media often engage fake experts and government-paid academic to speak up for the Singapore government. The Singapore government often remind Singapore-based scholars to speak favourably of the government or face unofficial punishments like relief of duty or reduction of research funding.