S’poreans applaud PSP candidate Lawrence Pek, who posted in support of Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow

SINGAPORE: With the number of recent train disruptions, many have expressed dissatisfaction with Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow, who was appointed to the post by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong after the May 3 polls. However, many in Singapore have also acknowledged that Mr Siow, a longtime civil servant who held a directorship at the Transport Ministry for some years, merely inherited the current issues.

However, Mr Siow recently received support online from a surprising source, Lawrence Pek, who had contested in the General Election against the Acting Minister at Chua Chu Kang GRC under the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) banner.

In a Facebook post on Sunday morning (Sep 28), Mr Pek explained that he was writing in a personal capacity, as someone who is personally acquainted with Mr Siow in a professional capacity, rather than as a political rival.

He wrote that “whatever the key causes that the new task force will unveil, it will be due to inactions, even incompetence, sometime in the past.”

Mr Pek reminded everyone that Mr Siow has only been in his job since May 21, and “In order to get to several key root causes, he will need to manage his own MOT and the 2 key train operators, namely SMRT & SBS Transit.”

Adding that the transport portfolio is one of the most difficult, not to mention thankless, ones, he urged that Mr Siow be given the “time and space to do what he has to do. He is here to serve, after winning the elections this year, so let him serve.”

This rare show of support earned Mr Pek approval online from many in Singapore.

Commenting on his post, one netizen wrote, “As per your post, as somebody who ran against the PAP and speaking up in a fair capacity as a private citizen for him (to give time and space). You earned more respect and goodwill from everyone reading than so many other folks who just find fault day and night, no matter the cause. I shall remember your name.”

Another wrote that it “would be good to have more politicians like you, regardless of which political parties. You are a good role model to us, building a more gracious society.”

On Reddit, a user on the platform shared Mr Pek’s post, and he noted that it was “Interesting to see him come out and vouch for Jeffrey when he has been under fire. It would have been easier to use the situation to score political points. Regardless of my feelings towards Siow and the content of Pek’s arguments here, my opinion of Pek has gone up a bit.” /TISG

Read also: S’porean asks: When was the last time a Transport Minister took the MRT during peak hours?