Ex-Navy chief took on problem-riddled portfolio

SINGAPORE — Having risen to the position of chief of Navy before moving on to helm the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Mr Lui Tuck Yew’s credentials had him tipped as a potential office-holder when he entered politics in the 2006 General Election (GE).

Indeed, after he was elected a Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC in a walkover that year, he was appointed Minister of State (Education). Three years later, he was appointed Acting Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts in 2009, before being made a full minister in 2010.

After the GE that year, in which he was fielded in Moulmein-Kallang GRC, Mr Lui took over the Transport Ministry hot seat from Mr Raymond Lim.

Born on Aug 16, 1961, Mr Lui, a Singapore Armed Forces (Overseas) scholar, began his career in the Republic of Singapore Navy after graduating from University of Cambridge in 1983. He was made Chief of Navy in 1999, before becoming the chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority four years later. He joined the HDB as chief executive officer in 2005.

Mr Lui’s tenure as Transport Minister was marked by MRT service breakdowns of an unprecedented scale. In Dec 2011, two outages happened within three days of each other on the North-South Line, which led to the setting up of a Committee of Inquiry (COI) as well as the resignation of Ms Saw Phaik Hwa as chief executive of SMRT.

In 2012, after the COI concluded that the disruptions could have been prevented if adequate maintenance measures and checks had been carried out, Mr Lui told Parliament: “The December incidents were a painful lesson, but we can and will learn from them. We will improve our ability to address new challenges that arise with an expanded public transport network.” He added: “The Government is responsible for delivering a quality public transport system to Singaporeans. We take this responsibility seriously and will deliver.” However, breakdowns continued. On July 7, power trips crippled the North-South and East-West lines during the evening rush hour, leaving 250,000 commuters stranded islandwide.

During a preview of the Downtown Line 2 last week, Mr Lui said it was natural for commuters to question if MRT reliability had improved since 2011. “My short answer is yes, it has improved, but not enough,” he told reporters. TOH EE MING