Minister for Transport, Mr Lui Tuck Yew posted a status update on his Facebook last night in light of the report by Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC).
The Group Representation Constituency, which is headed by Mr Lui, is set to disappear once the parliament is dissolved for the upcoming general election.
“Regarding the boundary changes, we know that Moulmein is being divided up and it will join different GRCs. For me of course there is a sense of disappointment because I have been with the residents for so many years already and I’ve become very fond of them and I will miss them dearly.”
Surprise for Mr Lui?
In Mr Lui’s post, he shared how even party members were not consulted on the removal of Moulmein-Kallang GRC.
“I know that for the grassroots leaders, the volunteers, even the branch activists, this will come as a surprise and will also be a huge disappointment to them, but we have to understand why this is happening.
I know Prime Minister has given the guidelines to the boundaries committee to have smaller GRCs, and to create smaller GRCs, then naturally the boundaries will have to shift. In this case, Moulmein is one of the more affected constituencies.”
Leaving the political scene?
The last part of his message leaves many hanging in the air, by saying that he has some ideas of what the possible plans are but not the right time to talk about it.
“I’ve been really privileged, really blessed to serve alongside a very dedicated team. I’ve benefited much from their counsel, their hardwork, but most of all from their friendship. So I leave with a sense of sadness.
As for me, what is going to happen, well, I have some ideas of what the possible plans are but I’m sure you’d understand that this is not quite the right time for me to talk about it.”
Mr Lui has been in the news for the wrong reasons due to train service disruption especially in the case of the severe train breakdown on 7 July 2015 which had train service disrupted for over 3 hours and affected more than 250,000 commuters during peak hour.
Railway experts from overseas have been called in to try to find and solve the cause of the breakdowns, even retired service engineers are roped in to try and see if there can be any solutions.
However, with no immediate solutions to resolve the issues of the train network, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong having to already apologised in the last general election 2011 for transportation issues, the People’s Action Party might indeed consider Mr Lui as a sacrificial lamb to the angry mob.
