Singapore — Longtime opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, who has been very active on the ground at Bukit Batok for a number of years now, again drew attention to a potentially dangerous problem in the area.
Moreover, he criticised the management there, calling it “shoddy.”
On Wednesday (Dec 23), Dr Chee, who is the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party posted photos that he said a resident had sent him, showing wires strung in front of Block 107.
“The Town Council might want to take a look at it quickly if it hasn’t already for obvious reasons,” he wrote, adding, “This is not the first time that exposed wires have posed a danger to residents. The last time I reported such a matter was over several lampposts with decrepit wiring.”
However, when that occurred, the posts were fixed, Dr Chee wrote.
He did not hold back on his criticism, especially as there had been an untoward incident at Toa Payoh this year.
“The problem is that such shoddy management should not have happened in the first especially right after an incident where two boys were electrocuted in Toa Payoh after coming into contact with lampposts.”
Aside from lamp posts and faulty electric wiring, Dr Chee has also called attention to other issues in the area, such as a proposed linkway from the sitting PAP MP Murali Pillai across a passageway at Blk 642 Bukit Batok Central, last January.
He called it “a sinful waste of public funds in Bukit Batok,” because “fifteen steps away, there is an existing linkway already,” leading to the same bus stop that Mr Murali’s proposed project also leads to.
In March, he wrote that a vehicle ‘knocked into’ woman due to a missing sidewalk in Bukit Batok.
“Build the sidewalk already,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Mar 1.
Dr Chee highlighted the experience of Madam Chen Jin Yan, whom he said told him a vehicle had “knocked into” her as she was walking on the service road near Block 190 in Bukit Batok.
“Residents in the area have been asking the Jurong-Clementi Town Council (JRTC) to build the sidewalk, and many of them signed a petition which was submitted to the TC on Saturday (Feb 27),” he added.
And in September, he commended Bukit Batok residents for having spoken up on an issue, which brought about improvements to the area.
Dr Chee posted photos of the flyover at Bukit Batok Ave 1, which links to Jurong East, from Sept 2020 and this year.
Some Bukit Batok residents talked to him about the flyover last year, he wrote.
“Their concern is that the walkway on the sides of the flyover was too narrow which made it dangerous for pedestrians especially when cyclists are also frequent users of the passage.”
Dr Chee then brought up the issue to the authorities “on a couple of occasions.”
And when he visited the walkway again recently, he saw that it was being widened. /TISG
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