The 8 White Elephants that caused a stir...

Definition: 'White elephant' is a term used to label something that is expensive and useless...

During a ministerial walkabout at a constituency some time last month, 8 cute looking (It's really cute if you've seen them) white elephant placards were placed on a road divider outside Buangkok MRT station... Apparently, some unidentified people had intentionally placed them there, to gain the attention of the MP, to raise their concerns over the ready-made-but-can't-be-used-station... The issue was that the station has been ready-made 2 years ago, but has not been open to public use, as the transport company in control of the station felt that there isn't enough passenger volume to make the station financially viable... Residents living near the station had to alight either 1 stop earlier or after, and walk home, making it inconvenient for them... Who in the right frame of mind would want to go the long way when there is a station so near to them? And worse still, having the non-functioning station stare at you when you're going through the long way... "Enough is enough..." That lead to the residents making some 'noise'......

And they did it in a tongue-in-cheek way... Or at else from how I see it... White elephants, meaning to describe the station, were placed along the divider to gain some attention from the MP... Isn't it a creative way, to show how you feel about the issue? Even the MP himself was amused by it and vowed to give the residents concerned an answer soon... The next day, the Transport Minister himself appeared amused too, and said that he would get the authorities and transport company to make another asessment and an answer would be revealed in a month or two...

But, the cute elephants somehow did not seem to amuse all... The police are acting on a call of complaint with regards to the incident... Investigations were soon carried out and a couple of people were called back for questioning...

On the surface, from what I see, there isn't anything that the 'elephants' could have broken any laws... If there are supposed to be any, it could be that the elephants are in the nude, showing their bon-bon and smiling, cheekily, if you insist so... But what is so wrong about it?? Why must the police be called in to investigate? On something so trivial as to juz gaining attention, in a light-hearted, creative and innovative way... I was amused by how creative the residents were... But I'm even more amused at how the police and relevant authorities reacted...

Moral of the story: Point taken, but along comes many issues...

The million dollar question was: Who's the one whom made the complaint??

Looking at the case, it doesn't take long for us to point the finger at the most suspicious party...

But the transport company was quick to reply: "It wasn't us."

Then who could it be?? Could it be someone from the animal rights group whom were concerned that animals were being harmed in the process of displaying these placards??

Then the reason why the police reacted was because a call of complaint was made, and apparently the person involved in placing the placards did not apply for a permit to display in public... So now the ball is in the court of the police... Would the authorities drop the investigation and charges, if any, on the poor residents being investigated?? The residents were juz trying to raise a concern to the MP, after countless of meetings proved ineffective in solving the station issue... It is juz a creative manner to raise the issue, using creativity... And the other, providing feedback to the government and authorities... Isn't this what we are always asked to do?? Feedback and creativity?? If the relevant people were being charged for these, it would kill all the campaigns that the government had been always rallying us to do... Literally, killing two birds with one stone... So now, the show is up to how the police would respond to this issue...

The transport company argued that the reason why the station remains closed was because there wasn't enough passenger volume around the station to make it financially viable to open the station... I once read an article on The Straits Times Forum Page, where one reader wrote in... "If passenger volume is the reason why the station is closed, why then, is the Marina Bay station, serving only park goers and people to the recreation centre at marina south, open despite low passenger volume?" Secondly, there seems to be an increase in the resident population dwelling around the station, but why is there still a long delay in the opening of the station? Would the relevant authorities please stand up?

Let's juz wait and see what the 'elephants' can do...