TEMASEK REVIEW
The MRT graffiti saga which rocked the entire nation took
another twist yesterday when it was revealed that SMRT took more
than 48 hours to lodge a police report.
A Swiss FT was hauled up to Court yesterday for trepassing into
a MRT depot at Changi and vandalizing one of the trains by spraying
graffiti on one side of the carriage.
It also transpired that he had an accomplice with him Briton
McKoy Banos who has since left Singapore.
The security breach allegedly took place on 16 May 2010, but a
police report was made only on 19 May 2010 which contradicts an
official statement by SMRT that it “reported the breach to the
police immediately when it was discovered.”
When queried by the Straits Times, SMRT Head of Security Mr Choy
Kin Chong declined to comment on the time lapse, saying that “more
security staff had been deployed to increase patrol at its
depots.”
Singapore’s biggest security lapse since the dramatic escape of
famed terrorist Mas Selamat Kasteri two years ago drew widespread
concerns from both law-makers and Singaporeans who wondered what
the consequences might be had the vandals been terrorists
instead.
GPC chairman for Home Affairs and Law, Mr Alvin Yeo was quick to
jump to the defence of the Swiss FT:
“MRT trains are potential soft targets. I dare say that the
suspects probably did it in the spirit of fun and adventure and not
for something more sinister. But this could have been something
more harmful than just graffiti,” he was quoted as saying in
the Straits Times.
Netizens were equally flabbergasted at how SMRT could allow the
security breach to go unnoticed for so long.
Eddie Chin commented:
“This is a real security concern. If someone can sneak into
an MRT depot and spend a sizeable amount of time spraying the
graffiti, he would have enough time to plant bombs on many
different trains. I wonder what our Minister for Home Affairs going
to say about this, that he’s doing a harmless prank so it’s
ok?”
Salihin added:
“Worse of all is that SMRT actually deployed the vandalized
train with the huge graffiti. Let’s not ask how they actually
secure their depots when their staff cant even notice a huge
graffiti on their train.”
There are no immediate comments from the Home Affairs Ministry
or its Minister Wong Kan Seng yet.
Maybe they are keeping a distance as far as possible from
the incident out of fears of re-igniting Singaporeans’ memories of
Mas Selamat.
