Tele-Metaphysics | Or: Journalist Concludes for Independent Committee
From Today:
Residents did not make complaints
Zul Othman
zul@mediacorp.com.sg
WHEN news of a seven-year-old girl’s four-storey fall through a broken railing first made headlines, many wondered why complaints from residents months earlier had gone unaddressed by the town council.
However, it has now transpired that neighbours other media had quoted as calling up the town council didn’t in fact make the calls. [Nonsense. They have stopped claiming that they made the calls. This doesn't mean that they really didn't. There's simply no proof that they did.] This is according to the independent committee appointed by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council to look into the incident.
The panel has completed interviewing all the parties involved, chairman Johnny Tan told Today, and the only party that maintains it had called up the authorities about the broken railing is the family of victim Siti Nur Aini. [One more time: just because people who do not maintain (initially claim, but later stop claiming) that they called up the authorities, it does not mean that they didn't do so. Perhaps they are not maintaining their claim because they do not want any real or perceived trouble.]
But the family is not certain when they placed the call, so tracing the records has not been possible. [And so this means that no one made the call?!?!? If no one remembers my existence, I don't exist. Why is tracing the records not possible anyway? Maybe someone can check the telecom company records to see if the family made a call to the Town Council on any occasion, and then check the records based on the dates found. Or if the telecom company has no such records, but the Town Councul has records of calls, it is still not really impossible to trace the records. Just plough through everything, no? Or check at least the December records since Siti Nur Aini's uncle, Mr. Muhammad Syukur Johari, claimed in March 2009 that he had informed the Town Council of the damaged railing three months before.*]
Added Mr Tan, principal partner of LT&T Architects and an accredited adjudicator: “At the moment, without any final conclusion, we have not done any assessment as to the accuracy of what the witnesses have said.” [Ah, I see. So who's making conclusions? Journalists?]
The committee - appointed by Town Council chairman Koo Tsai Kee last month - includes Mr K Anparasan, a lawyer and deputy managing partner at law firm KhattarWong, and Mr Teh Hee Seang, an engineer and senior adviser at T Y LIN International.
“We have interviewed all the people involved, investigated the inspection regime of the town council and are now in the process of analysing the information,” said Mr Tan. The report will be released to the town council by the end of next month. [Still in the process of analyzing the information? Bah! Local journalists are more efficient, I think!]
The Blangah Rise Primary School student’s grandfather, retiree Johari Mohd Siamu, told Today Siti was discharged from hospital on April 6 and is now “quite active”. She had suffered multiple fractures and bleeding in her abdomen from the fall on March 8. The medical bills were paid by the town council.
“She will be going for check-ups, but it looks like she will be going back to school on April 20,” said the 69-year-old.
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*According to a March 18 report in The Straits Times, "Mr Muhammad Syukur Johari, had told the media that he informed the Town Council three months ago about the damaged railing, there were no records of such a call being made to its service provider, the Emergency Maintenance Service Unit (EMSU). The question: is it that they records could not be found (the Town Council's problem) or that the family could not remember when they made the call (read: "Not the Town Council's problem. Blame the family!")?
Residents did not make complaints
Zul Othman
zul@mediacorp.com.sg
WHEN news of a seven-year-old girl’s four-storey fall through a broken railing first made headlines, many wondered why complaints from residents months earlier had gone unaddressed by the town council.
However, it has now transpired that neighbours other media had quoted as calling up the town council didn’t in fact make the calls. [Nonsense. They have stopped claiming that they made the calls. This doesn't mean that they really didn't. There's simply no proof that they did.] This is according to the independent committee appointed by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council to look into the incident.
The panel has completed interviewing all the parties involved, chairman Johnny Tan told Today, and the only party that maintains it had called up the authorities about the broken railing is the family of victim Siti Nur Aini. [One more time: just because people who do not maintain (initially claim, but later stop claiming) that they called up the authorities, it does not mean that they didn't do so. Perhaps they are not maintaining their claim because they do not want any real or perceived trouble.]
But the family is not certain when they placed the call, so tracing the records has not been possible. [And so this means that no one made the call?!?!? If no one remembers my existence, I don't exist. Why is tracing the records not possible anyway? Maybe someone can check the telecom company records to see if the family made a call to the Town Council on any occasion, and then check the records based on the dates found. Or if the telecom company has no such records, but the Town Councul has records of calls, it is still not really impossible to trace the records. Just plough through everything, no? Or check at least the December records since Siti Nur Aini's uncle, Mr. Muhammad Syukur Johari, claimed in March 2009 that he had informed the Town Council of the damaged railing three months before.*]
Added Mr Tan, principal partner of LT&T Architects and an accredited adjudicator: “At the moment, without any final conclusion, we have not done any assessment as to the accuracy of what the witnesses have said.” [Ah, I see. So who's making conclusions? Journalists?]
The committee - appointed by Town Council chairman Koo Tsai Kee last month - includes Mr K Anparasan, a lawyer and deputy managing partner at law firm KhattarWong, and Mr Teh Hee Seang, an engineer and senior adviser at T Y LIN International.
“We have interviewed all the people involved, investigated the inspection regime of the town council and are now in the process of analysing the information,” said Mr Tan. The report will be released to the town council by the end of next month. [Still in the process of analyzing the information? Bah! Local journalists are more efficient, I think!]
The Blangah Rise Primary School student’s grandfather, retiree Johari Mohd Siamu, told Today Siti was discharged from hospital on April 6 and is now “quite active”. She had suffered multiple fractures and bleeding in her abdomen from the fall on March 8. The medical bills were paid by the town council.
“She will be going for check-ups, but it looks like she will be going back to school on April 20,” said the 69-year-old.
------
*According to a March 18 report in The Straits Times, "Mr Muhammad Syukur Johari, had told the media that he informed the Town Council three months ago about the damaged railing, there were no records of such a call being made to its service provider, the Emergency Maintenance Service Unit (EMSU). The question: is it that they records could not be found (the Town Council's problem) or that the family could not remember when they made the call (read: "Not the Town Council's problem. Blame the family!")?