Tongues are a wagging at the surprise move of top cop Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee to a watered down appointment as head of National Water Agency PUB. Why make the announcement now when he will be Chief Executive of PUB only in January 2015? Maybe it has to do with the interrupted holiday when Little India burst into flames, and the intervening months will be a good time to, say, sign up for a pastry course in France. After the excitement of law enforcement, managing once-in-50-year events must be a boring prospective.
With all the ongoing concerns about national security, one wonders if it is prudent to let the jihadist wannabes know that the highest ranked officer of the police force is playing musical chairs. Ng was Director of the Singapore Prisons Service from 2007 to 2009. 27 February 2008 was the day that Mas Selamat chose to take a leak and then led the police on a wild goose chase. Ng was appointed as Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 2010. 8 December 2013 was the night when the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road in Little India was set ablaze and turned into a battle zone. Some other loose ends during his tenure may never see the light of day: Dinesh Raman's death by positional asphyxiation (silenced by settlement), Shane Todd's weird suicide account (challenged by parents).
All that will soon be water under the bridge. Ng is a recipient of the SPF Overseas Scholarship. Under our system of meritocracy, scholars are never seen to fail in their assignments. They just mosey from one cushy job to another, immune from the threat of competitive foreign talents from abroad. Ng's predecessor, Chew Men Leong, stepped down as Chief Executive of the Public Utilities Board on September 30, only to be made Chief Executive of the Land Transport Authority. Ex-Rear Admiral Chew was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1987, and made Chief of the Republic of Singapore Navy from 2007–2011.
Ng will be remembered for his unsolicited commentary on a fellow ex-law enforcer. "Boon Gay has been found not guilty... but certainly his acts are reprehensible," he said, "He has broken every one of our values and he has tainted the whole police force by his behavior and that is very disappointing." Never mind that in January 2012, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong had said of former Central Narcotics Bureau Director Ng Boon Gay, "If he did wrong, he must be punished; if he did nothing wrong, he must be exonerated." See what happens if you don't go with the flow?
With all the ongoing concerns about national security, one wonders if it is prudent to let the jihadist wannabes know that the highest ranked officer of the police force is playing musical chairs. Ng was Director of the Singapore Prisons Service from 2007 to 2009. 27 February 2008 was the day that Mas Selamat chose to take a leak and then led the police on a wild goose chase. Ng was appointed as Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 2010. 8 December 2013 was the night when the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road in Little India was set ablaze and turned into a battle zone. Some other loose ends during his tenure may never see the light of day: Dinesh Raman's death by positional asphyxiation (silenced by settlement), Shane Todd's weird suicide account (challenged by parents).
All that will soon be water under the bridge. Ng is a recipient of the SPF Overseas Scholarship. Under our system of meritocracy, scholars are never seen to fail in their assignments. They just mosey from one cushy job to another, immune from the threat of competitive foreign talents from abroad. Ng's predecessor, Chew Men Leong, stepped down as Chief Executive of the Public Utilities Board on September 30, only to be made Chief Executive of the Land Transport Authority. Ex-Rear Admiral Chew was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1987, and made Chief of the Republic of Singapore Navy from 2007–2011.
Ng will be remembered for his unsolicited commentary on a fellow ex-law enforcer. "Boon Gay has been found not guilty... but certainly his acts are reprehensible," he said, "He has broken every one of our values and he has tainted the whole police force by his behavior and that is very disappointing." Never mind that in January 2012, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong had said of former Central Narcotics Bureau Director Ng Boon Gay, "If he did wrong, he must be punished; if he did nothing wrong, he must be exonerated." See what happens if you don't go with the flow?
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| Water as a cooling off agent |