Alternative political party Red Dot United (RDU) released a statement on Tuesday (1 June) urging the winning party at Jurong GRC to keep their promise of improving “the neighbourhood facilities and older homes, enhance sport facilities, and expand the network of paths to ensure safety for pedestrians and cyclists”.
The winning party at Jurong GRC is the People’s Action Party (PAP), and is being represented by Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Tan Wu Meng, Rahayu Mahzam, Shawn Huang Wei Zhong and Xie Yao Quan.
In the statement, RDU said in the past one year after last year’s General Election, the PAP team failed to keep up with the promises it made to the residents during the election campaign.
“For example, during our door-to-door meetings with residents in Taman Jurong, a division within Jurong GRC, we received feedback on issues regarding faulty or missing neighbourhood facilities and lack of accessibility,” said RDU.
The alternative party highlighted that residents at Taman Jurong have complained to the party that the lifts constantly break down, cannot be used for a long time due to maintenance work and some of the lifts are in dire need of an upgrade.
“In 2015, a lift accident in Block 322 Tah Ching Road saw an 85-year-old woman’s hand being severed after lift doors shut on it. Mr Tharman took responsibility for the accident and said he doesn’t ‘want people to worry about their safety when taking the lift’.
“Mr Tharman, some people in Taman Jurong are still worried about their safety when they take the lifts,” the statement stated.
Besides issues with the lifts, other concerns that were highlighted by residents of Taman Jurong include a neighbourhood that’s not wheelchair-friendly, no shelter from blocks to the bus-stop, lack of separate cycling paths which jeopardises safety of kids as well as no neighbourhood student care centres.
Additionally, RDU also noted that smaller parks in Jurong GRC are neglected and they are left in “dismal state”.
“In fact, one of the biggest concerns of many residents in a cluster of blocks in Taman Jurong is regarding the dismal state of their neighbourhood park. They feel that the town council seemed to prioritise the upkeep of bigger, flashier parks like Jurong Lake Gardens, to the detriment of smaller neighbourhood parks and fitness corners,” the alternative party said.
It continued, “Many of these residents pointed out how many of the equipment in the park are broken”.
To confirm the situation of the parks, RDU members visited one of the parks, Taman Jurong Gardens, and found that the “fitness corner is utter despair – signage on the safe use of fitness corner stations are either loose or missing, some equipment are damaged, and hazards are everywhere”.
As such, the alternative party has urged the elected MPs of Jurong GRC to keep their promise and serve the residents at the constituency with “full effort and full heart”.
“RDU will continue to work with the elected MPs of Jurong GRC and their town council for the benefit of all the residents in Jurong GRC,” it concluded.
