Social Advocacy Case Studies (Singapore)

Case Study 4: The White Elephant of Buangkok

Green light forthe white elephant - Two and-a-half years of Lobby ng twotransport surveys, eightwhlieelephants and one police jnvesiigation later residents of Punggol South w ll finally see the openlng oiBuangkok siailon. Aaron Low tracks down the grassroots leaders rn the trenches of the batile for Buangkok

Stra ts Tlmes, The (Slngapore)-December 10, 2005

FOR the past tlvo years, whenever Madam Jenny Sim, 55, iakes her nvo-year-old grandda ughter for awaLk, she would see ihe gleamlng white and unopened Buangkok IVRT staiion iusi across the road - and ieel

It's so nea. but lcani use it. wanttotakemygranddaughteronatranridebutlcant Veryannoylngsh€ bemoans in l\,,landarln.

Untilvery recenty, her disappoiniment was a stock senlimeni among most ofihe 51 000 residenis in

PLrnggol South At every opportLrnity, they would g:ve ihe r [,lP Chades Chong and his grassroots eaderc an

Ai every house visit, wh ch we do once every two months, they would ask Mr Chong why like that? lt'sthere bui we cannot Lrse why, why why?" reca s [,4ada.. Tan Sa] Joo ch2lm3n ofthe PunggolAngsanaResidents Conrmitree (RC).

But come nert rnonih ihe S80-mllion staUon, which siis along ihe 54 6-bilion Norih-Easi Line (NEL)operaied by SBS Transit. will open

The grassroots leaders of Punggol Sol]th, which js n Pasir Rls'Punggol GRC, are planning a huge bash toconrriemorab ine opening day. They are ihlnking of a carnival, get ng resldenis io cut a ribbon to open thesra'ron gates and even ho ding a parade

;fier all, ihey have every reason to celebrale because theirs was a hard-won campaign, one that began onJUne 17. 2003. ihe day SBS dropped the bombshe lthat ihe statjon would not be openlng.

Even Transport l\,4lnisterYeo Cheow Tong, who announced the station's opening lasi month noted theirireless appeals: There have been a lot of requests and appeals so we've asked SBS to consider again.

Wh3i moiivaied the grassroots leaders to obby in a way few have done before? Are there Lessons from ihe

Embarrassing abo!t-t!rn

i\.4R CHONG and his 30 grassroots Leaders insist the unreent ng campa gn was driven by one singulardeslre:to make ihe residents wish come irue

I'tt is not about tieedom of speech, democracy, constiiutional rights...We just wanted ihe transport operator

to open ihe stalion,'he says.

Butwhat drove lhen'r can perhaps be iraced also io the circumslances by which ihey discovered the bad

Back in January 2003, a resrdent heard a rumour ihai Buangkok, along wjth Woodleigh station, was notgoing to be opened. A groundswell of protest ptompted the leaders to e-mailthe SBS.

The SBS replied on l\,4arch 25, assuring them ihat only Wood eigh would remain closed.

'So, we went around ielling residents ihat ihe rumourc werejusi thai _ rumours - and ihat Buangkok wouldbe opened citing SBS'repy,'Mr Chong recounts

ButonJunelT,threedaysbeforeiheNELbeganrunning SBS did an abouliurnr Buangkok willstay shui.

The reason: nadequate demand as lhere was no residentialdeveloprnenl within 400m ofihe station.Potentiallosses would be in the millions ofdo lars.

They said ihat based on their experience as a transpori ope€tor, 'very tew commlrters are willing io !!alkbeyond 400m'to use transport faciliUes.

To rub salt into ihe wound, [,lr Chong and his aides found out aboui it only in the newspapers.

We were flabberqasted. Our credibility iook a blow,'he says.

The residents were implacable. At lift land ngs cornmon corridors and ai the comrnunliy centres theycomplained bitierly to their grassroots leaders, calling lt a bekayal

Waging the campaign

WITHIN a monih oithe shocking no-show, they received a second blow: severalbus servi.es that rana ong the NEL were stopped or rerouted.

The PublicTransport Councilsaid then that coniinuing the services woLrld'result in the duplicatjon oftra nspod facilities that might lead to 'highet fares for commuters'.

Residents were livid. Recalls Mr Chong: li is one th ng to not open the station but another to create fu(her

On top ofthat, SBS sniffed ai the findings of a survey thal disputed its claims.

SFS officials, in one oftheir diaiogues with the gr3ssroots Leaders, mainiained that people would noi wa k

more than 400m to use the traln.

Unconvinced, i/lr Chong goi professional help from Dr l,rluhammad Faishal, a National Universiiy ofSingapore lecturerwho specialises in urban land use and transpod behavioLtral research, to design a suNey toverify it.

I\,lore than 100 PunggolSouth glassroots leaders and members spent their own time conducting ii,knocking on doors from moming iill 11 at nlght. Some live as fat offas Clementi but ihey drove up and downPunggolalmost daily to do it,'says Mr Chong.

They polled 1 728 homes, out of lhe 6,726, sited wiihin 700m ofthe staiion. The survey was done in three

Thefindings showed that almost seven in 10 people living wiihin a 700m radius would walk 1o the station,while more than nlne in 10 within 500m wo!ld do so.

SBS was !nmoved. And the Land Tran sport Authority, as regulaior, backed its siand.

Says Punggol South ciiizens' Consullaiive comm:itee cha rman Sunny Leow: We were so sure sBS had

based iis decision on fawed lnformation and w ih a more accurate one, they would reconsider' They didn i'Worse, they even expressed doubts about ii

The grassroots leaders feli it was i me for a more drastic approach

Wed joke aboui sendlng white elephanls io SBS as a message among other lhings says ['lr Chong

On-^ idea they dld consider serious y was to hold a non-official non opening ce.emony by lnveil ng a ife-

siz€ white eiephani stai!e outside Buangkok station on the same day ihatthen-depuiy prime mlnisier Lee

Hsien Loong was to officially launch ihe NEL, on Aug 28 2003

'No no, no, I iold them i don i think S;ngapore is ready for that kjnd of statement ' s ays Mr Chong.

ln faci he had notwanied to go io ihe offclalopening eiiher'

But Mr Lee met h m ln Parliament House and showed him the tie he panned to wearto ihe eveni' a white

tie wiih dark b ue elephants

'Inr not sure if [,4r Lee had heard abolt the rumor.rrs aboutihe non opening ceremony but when he showed

me the tie I was delighied,' he says

'I found a red ile wlih whlte elephants, so I turned up 3i ihe offlcial opening' seat€d dght behind wLth a

Residents discontent d ssipaied somewhai last year slthough they continued to grumble during their

house visits, says Mr Leow.

Also. wiih more new fais be ng builtwithln ihe 4O0m radir.rs ofihe siation, hope was growing that the

station would open soon

lur Lee did say atthe Launch that the station wotrld open ln iwo to three years and Naiional Deve opment

Min stei Mah Bow Tan also p.omised new flais, so al of ihis pointed to the opening The question then was

how soon?' says Mr Chong.

Butthe grumblings grew louder agaln this vear whenthepubLictransportiaresvr'eniuponJuyl

'They got really upset especialy after they saw that ComfortDe GTo SBS Transit's parentcompany, had

made a iidy profii, says l'rr Chong.

The surge ol anger prompied l\,lr Chong and his g€ssroois leaders to once agaln call for SBS io open the

siation with another suNey

This ill..e, about a dozen of them, ncLuding lrr Chong siood at P!nggol IURT station from about six in themorning iorabout three hours over flve days. to poll495 commuters there ifthey had wa ked more than 400m

They found ihat 363 ofihem walked more than 400m io it and that 295 d d so at least {ive tirnes a week'

The SBS insisted thai ii was unclear how nrany would do the same ai Buangkok.

Whiie elephanis on the march

THE most rnemo.able effoit holtever, was when €lght'white elephant' cut-ouis greeted Communliy

Development Youih a nd Sports M in ister Viv an Bala kds h nan d uring his consiiiu ency vlsit there on Au g 2 8

None of the grassroois leaders could be dlawn to d scuss the incident li's still a 'very sensitve lssue with

sonre hlgheFups, says one who spoke on condltion oianonymity There was'a loss offace'forthe pady

However, sources close to tne gro!p say the operation was meticulo!sly planned to caich the eye of Dr

Balak.lshnan who was seen as more receptive to altetnative views.

So nre eighi €ieohai'i a-:'o!is went up on the road divider outside the staiion a few hours before ihe

minisier arrived ihat fateful Sunday momlng.

D. Balak shnan assured residents it would be 'a matter oftime'before ihe siation was opened.

Says the source:'Many of the grassroots leaders were really happy ltilmed outwel The ministerwas noloffended and people were laughing about it.'

The cufouts were removed almost immediately Butamemberofthepubicwasnotamusedandcalledthe police, who arved to find the evidence gone.

It had everyone talking. l\,lany felt the Governmentwas again coming down hard on politicalexpressionand hot sparing even its own suppoders.

The poLice said, however, thai a law tequiring people to obtain a permit for posters or exhibiis for publicdisplay had been broken.

ln the end, an unidentifed grassroots leader, believed to be '\,{t

Leow, took ihe rap and received a sternwarning from ihe police.

Lessons learnt

NOW thal the siaiion is opening, grassroois eaders want no accolades They say, however, they wouldsr'c\ rre . 1ec(s oJl a over aga 1 '! tley 1ad Io

But lesson one is ihis: They would make sure ihey stayed withln the law. This was a miscalculation thatcould have backfired.

Lesson two: Grassroois leaders and lVPs rnust be w lling to speak !p for residenis

For lv4r Chong, li has meant al tirnes ihe sk of being seen as openly chaLlenging his po iUcal seniors.

But he says: Ive always told the MPs under mytuielage overthe yearsthai ifyoute hereto malniain thestaius quo, there is no point foryou to be here.

'You have to make a difference in whatever smallway you can, io benefit your constitu ents, They electedyo! to be their volce and it is your duty to adiculate their views, but it should always be within the law.'

Lesson three: Homework js impodant. The grassroots leaders are convlnced thatwlihout the surueys andd alogues, iheir case would have been weaker.

Lesson four: Good humour can work to one s advaniage ln lobbying for change

The law notwiihstanding, ihe cheeky white elephants gained them brownie po;nts with residents.

The clever lightheaded manner ofthe'proiest also made ii dlfilculiforthe Govemmenl to come down tooherd, says Institute of Policy Studies.esearchet Jeanne Conceicao.

'ltwould have setihe Government back many years in lts efforts to create a more open, kinder society if ithad been rcmoiely harsher,'she adds

lfthere s a lesson in this iorthe Governmeni, polllical analysi Ho KhalLeong believes ii is ihls: Peoplehave a voice and the Governrnent must listen.