Hi all, I followed the thai teenager incident at our MRT station
closely. The manner that the young soul reacted to her mishap was
admirable. The way on how anonymous singaporeans stepped forward
and donate generously was in no way less commendable. To see the
case going to court however, is truly unfortunate.
Many talked about the $5K that SMRT gave, and the subjectivity
of the appropriateness of the sum caused many debates. Should we
put things in perspective and examine the case objectively, since
it is now a high court case, i cannot see how SMRT can be
successfully sued for any negligence. I am eager to find out the
findings from the CCTV, and I guess that will put an end to many
emotional ranting. I believe the police have seen it, and I read
from the papers that the father had seen it. Very soon, we will
know the integrity of the whole incident. Personally I feel that we
have a solid public transport system that has not improve enough
over the last 5 years to meet the rise in population and commuting
demand. This shows how effective the communication was between the
ministries and hopefully with the recent cabinet shake-up, things
can finally progress faster.
coming back, I do understand from a Law term - occupiers'
liability, that SMRT can be sued if it has not taken good care of
its premises. People falling off from faulty escalators within the
station, slipping over puddle of water that was left behind by the
station cleaners, or hurt from spalling ceiling tiles can sue SMRT
with valid reasons. IF the CCTV footage shows the thai dame falling
over the yellow line like someone who suddenly lost consciousness,
I'm afraid we do not have much of a case here.
