According to state media Straits Times, SMRT CEO Desmond Kwek will be fired. The propaganda state media published in article today (Jan 18) claiming that “observers” are expecting his resignation as the new Chairman, Seah Moon Ming, is taking on an “active” Chairman role.
Straits Times then engaged a few human resource “experts”, who sang along the same tune suggesting that Desmond Kwek will need to resign in order to “build trust” in SMRT.
The 154th-ranking state paper also revealed that the key spokesperson of SMRT, Vice-President for corporate communications Patrick Nathan, has tendered his resignation and serving out his notification period. However, when contacted, Patrick Nathan slammed Straits Times as fake news calling it “rumours”. Straits Times wrote that they did not know the exact date Patrick Nathan will quit, and neither did it reveal it’s sources.
It is however not uncommon of the Singapore government-backed newspapers to engage in rumour-mongering and fake news – all done in the sole purpose of forwarding the government’s agenda. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan has made clear that he is not responsible as a regulator, over several corruption cases and train incidents at the state-owned train company. It appears the Minister is cutting loose Desmond Kwek to not affect his own political reputation.
In recent months, SMRT CEO Desmond Kwek and his fellow military lieutenant second SMRT CEO Lee Ling Wee has been silent on train incidents. The two ex-military generals had no private sector experience, or even a day of rail engineering knowledge to talk about. SMRT under the two CEOs hit it’s worst-ever performance in 2017, with more breakdowns plaguing the system than ever.