Time To Abandon Ship

The body language says it all: someone has to pay

When Ng Eng Hen said election season was officially on, it was as good as declaring open the hunting season - it's time to lock and load. Cecil the lion was not the only one caught in the cross hairs. Unlike gentlemen of the naval tradition, Rear Admiral Lui Tuck Yew was not prepared to go down with SS Sampan 2.0. Not for him the ignominy of suffering a kamikaze mission like George Yeo was assigned in 2011.

Lui's letter of resignation mentioned a promise of reappointment as a Cabinet Minister if he was re-elected. He knows too well about empty promises from horrible people. Like the promise to return one's life savings upon attaining age 55. And what about Lui's recent promise of a 1.9% decrease in public transport fares in December? Will that disappear too with his hasty departure?

Raymond Lim, Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng, all had at least 5 years of member of parliament allowances to tide over to the new income tax bracket. Poor Lui will just have to go cold turkey. Hope the wife won't have to work overseas as a dometic help. Fortunately Lui won't be clinking champagne glasses with businessmen who demand to drink only with millionaire ministers they can look up to.

Supporters of Lui will likely point out that the appointment of a (retrenched) DFS sales girl as CEO of SMRT was not his doing; ditto the bungling bunch of army general staff currently derailing the public transportation system. However, the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) opening screw up was definitely all his undoing.

"You reminded me that the responsibility of Government was a collective one," wrote Lui, knowing full well the hollowness of those words, having witnessed at first hand others being thrown under the bus. Namely those once in charge of transport, housing and homeland security. Better to walk away with head held high, instead of leaving it at the chopping block. He did tell the press, his departure “has nothing to do with family or health reasons”.