Defending against widespread criticisms opposing the appointment of another useless military crony who knows nothing about business and railway engineering, SMRT took to state media Straits Times and poured praises for their incoming CEO Neo Kian Hong. Addressing a Singaporean doctor’s earlier complaint which criticises the new SMRT CEO with zero experience in everything, SMRT became incoherent in it’s defence and claimed that the military crony has the “right heart to serve”.
SMRT’s new vice-president for corporate communications, Margaret Teo, wrote that the former chief of defence force was selected because he have “impressive personal values and leadership qualities”. The state-owned transport operator troubled with persistent train breakdowns said SMRT staff will be “united and motivated” by the new army general, despite his lack of business and railway engineering knowledge.
The appointment of the new SMRT CEO have been largely controversial, with the public and even SMRT staff coming out to criticise the state-owned company. Neo Kian Hong’s inexperience and similar profile to Desmond Kuek took the centre of the argument, as the former SMRT CEO have largely been useless in addressing train breakdowns. Also the former chief of defence force, Desmond Kuek led the company into massive losses that were absorbed by taxpayers after he delisted the company and sold it to Temasek Holdings.