TR EMERITUS

Mr Wu, a senior photographer with LianHeWanBao who went to the scene of flooding at Upper Bukit Timah Road to take pictures of the flood ended up being handcuffed by a Policeman and detained without reasonable cause for over an hour. Singapore experienced a heavy downpour early saturday morning which caused flooding in Braddell Road, Changi Road, Joo Chiat, Telok Kurau,  Geylang and Bukit Timah. According to Mr Wu, he was at Upper Bukit Timah Road around 7am taking pictures of a car that had been swept onto the road kerb. When he wanted to venture further for more pictures of other cars that were stranded in the knee deep water, a Policeman who was seated in a Police Car nearby put on his rain coat and approached him. The Policeman asked Mr Wu to leave the scene but Mr Wu politely requested that he be allowed to take a few more pictures. Without any warning, the Policeman took out his handcuff and cuffed Mr Wu's right hand and pulled him to the side of the road with the handcuff. The Policeman also threatened to bring him back to the Police Station. Mr Wu then asked the Policeman why he is being handcuffed since he is not a criminal nor did he commit any offence but got no response. He subsequently reach for his handphone wanting to record this incident but the Policeman immediately removed his handcuff and led him to a nearby condominium, forbidding him from leaving claiming an Investigating Officer will be attending to him. He was subsequently allowed to leave after an hour without any further action. Mr Wu claims that the marks left by the handcuff are still visible after 5 hours, a result of the Policeman pulling on the handcuff while forcing him to leave the scene. A senior photographer with over 30 years of experience, Mr Wu felt insulted, humiliated and is very angry.    Chinese Version Below 为了拍一张照片，《联合晚报》资深摄影主任竟然被当成犯人般铐上手铐！ 全岛今天凌晨一场豪雨，导致多个地区淹水。《联合晚报》摄影主任吴庆顺，赶往受影响地方拍摄时，在武吉知马路上段，申诉被警员被铐上手铐，在场扣留了一个小时，不获准离开。 武吉知马路上段今早淹水，有车辆被冲上路堤，吴庆顺早上7时许到场拍下现场情形。他为了取得更好的角度，上前要拍摄其中一辆受困水中的车子时，被一名警员阻拦。 吴庆顺说，警员叫他走开，他礼貌要求再拍一张照片，谁知话刚说完，警员已经将手铐掏出来，将他的右手牢牢铐起，还说要带他到警署。 吴庆顺说：“我又不是犯人，为什么要把我铐起来？” 他说，他拿出手机要拍下这一幕，对方随即将手铐除下，但却把他带到路边的公寓外，不允许他离开。 吴庆顺说：“警员说要我等查案人员过来，结果我在那里等了1个小时，才获准离开。” 右手手铐印记5小时后还未退去，《联合晚报》摄影主任感觉受到侮辱    By Wu Shao Jun   Editor's Note: Additional information updated on 17th July 2010 @ 2100 hours.  Read More →

“Freak floods that happens only once in 50 years” according to Minister for Environment Mr Yaacob Ibrahim, have hit Singapore again on early Saturday morning for the 4th time in 2 months this year, not 'once in 50 years as suggested'. Affected areas include Braddell Road, Changi Road, Joo Chiat, Telok Kurau,  Geylang and Bukit Timah, where trees were uprooted and rising floodwaters stranded several drivers in their vehicles. Parts of Kallang and Tanjong Katong were also flooded. The hardest hit areas were Braddell Road, Joo Chiat Terrace, Changi Road, Bukit Timah and Delfi in Orchard Road with water rising to waist level. According to the Straits Times, waters rose to knee-high level at the Tessarina Condo in Bukit Timah area, flooding the basement carpark. Some cars were almost submerged in water, prompting frantic residents to move them out to drier grounds. The same paper reported that 60 people were evacuated by Singapore Civil Defence Force personnel in 20 different places, including passengers who were stuck in an SBS bus along Upper Thomson Road. There were further reports by Netizens of fallen trees along Dorset Road causing traffic congestion, shops badly damaged by the flood along Upper Thomson Road and a flooded carpark at the Delfi Orchard which was hit by the worst flooding in 26 years in June just less than a month ago. Despite a public outcry over the incompetency of the PAP government to prevent the frequent floods which caused millions of dollars of losses, PM Lee remained nonchalant about the inconveniences and losses the frequent flooding have caused to ordinary Singaporeans and even appeared to chide Singaporeans for having overly high expectations. Last month, in a speech made at Lower Seletar Reservoir which was widely reported by MSM, PM Lee tried to exonerate the PAP government from any blame by coming up with the "lameretest"  excuse that it is very “costly” to keep Singapore “flood-free.” He claimed that given Singapore’s “tropical climate”, any attempt to “wipe out” flooding in Singapore would require plenty of money and land without providing any concrete evidence or statistics to substantiate his claims. In a nutshell, PM Lee deems spending Public Money on preventing floods "costly" but have no reservation whatsoever on giving a Massive Pay Rise (expected to be more than 8% this year) to Singapore’s "betteretest" multi-millionaire PAP ministers, who are already the "higheretest" paid political leaders in the world. Ironically, 66% of eligible Singaporeans voted for a ruling party thats only interested in spending Public Money to enrich themselves instead of safeguarding the life and property of Singaporeans.      Andrew Tay    P/S: As usual, Singaporeans should not expect Minister for Environment Mr Yaacob Ibrahim to appear anytime soon as he is still in the process of  "learning from previous floods".   Recent Floods: 1) 19 Nov 2009 – Bukit Timah 2) 16 June 2010 – Orchard Rd & other areas 3) 25 June 2010 – various parts, island-wide 4) 1 July 2010 – MacPherson & Tai Seng 5) 17 July 2010 – various parts, island-wide   Read More →

Dr Amy Khor's claim that the Marina Barrage helped to alleviate flooding on 16 and 24 June raises several issues. First, it appears to contradict earlier statements made by PUB that no action had been needed at the Barrage as the water in the reservoir never reached a critical level. Did somebody misspeak? Second, she implied that the Barrage made a difference because six of the seven floodgates were left open during the flooding. Well, if the opening of six gates helped, why was the seventh kept shut even when it was clear that the flooding was going to be severe? Next, Dr Khor should explain how exactly the Barrage helped alleviate the flooding on 16 and 24 June. Since both episodes occurred during low tide, the rain water would just have flowed out to the sea had there been no Barrage to hold it back in the first place. Finally, Singaporeans do still want to see those pictures of the offending clogged culvert near Cuscaden Road.     Lee Yew Moon   Editor's Note: The following was sent to ST for publication but appears to have been rejected.  Read More →