Chee Hong Tat grateful to Khaw Boon Wan for building 'strong foundations' for MRT problem-solving

Close to a year since transport minister Chee Hong Tat took on the portfolio, how would he rate his own performance?

When asked to review his own handling of what is commonly described as a "hot potato" portfolio during a year-end review with the media recently, he only said:

"I think how I perform so far is for Singaporeans to decide. I will do my best."

"You are right that transport is a tough portfolio, and there are many challenges," he said.

"Somebody has to do this job, and since it's been given to me, I'll do my best."

Lessons from "incidents"

Chee, who oversaw recovery efforts for the five-day disruption that immobilised a section of the East-West Line in September, also shared three lessons that he has learned from handling "incidents" in the Transport Ministry.

"The first is, you've got to remain calm, because if you — as the Minister, you as the team leader — you are not calm, you won't be able to maintain stability within the team.

You won't be able to make decisions that are sound, and there will be repercussions"

These repercussions will be magnified as they go down the chain of command, he added.

@mothershipsg Transport minister Chee Hong Tat also thanked the workers for doing their best to restore full train services as quickly and safely as possible, and for conducting the necessary checks and testing to ensure the safety of commuters after the resumption. #tiktoksg #fyp #singapore #mrt ♬ original sound - Mothership

Chee's second lesson is to "maintain the unity and the cohesion, so that everyone's focused on solving the problem, not finger-pointing, blaming each other, which makes things worse".

Transport issues cannot be resolved "single-handedly"; they require cooperation across government bodies and tripartite partners, Chee explained.

Here, Chee expressed his gratitude to former Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan for "putting in place this system that we have and the trust between the tripartite partners".

"So I thank Mr. Khaw for the strong foundations and the legacy that he has left behind," said Chee, adding that he told his team to "keep up" what Khaw had helped to build.

Khaw worked closely with transport unions and industry partners

During his tenure as the head of the Ministry of Transport, Khaw worked closely with transport unions and industry partners to launch several tripartite initiatives.

One was the 2018 Land Transport Industry Transformation Map that prepared the public transport workforce for a soon-to-be expanded bus and rail network as well as a more technology-enabled industry.

Another initiative, the Public Transport Workers' Appreciation Day, was launched in 2017 to encourage commuters to cheer on public transport workers. Khaw himself was known to visit the train depots and bus interchanges to share durians and nasi lemak with the workers on occasion.

Chee said that Khaw left behind a legacy of strong teamwork and trust between tripartite partners which will be crucial as the MRT network continues expanding.

Need for clear and timely updates during disruptions

The Transport Minister also gave a third personal lesson: the need to provide timely updates and clear communications to our stakeholders, especially the public.

He specifically highlighted the communications at stations during a disruption, calling it a "ongoing learning process to see how we can do better".

Top images: Mothership file photo, Khaw Boon Wan/Facebook