23. Singpass

16. Attached message to email forwarded to MPs on 19 Sep 16:

I couldn't get through to their superior at Singpass.

15. Email to Singpass and forwarded to MPs on 19 Sep 16:

I pointed out the fault in your previous two emails.

You did not give the previous officer and your designation when I asked for it the second time.

My last email is surely not for you to reply.

Please refer the matter to your superior.

14. Email to Singpass on 16 Sep 16:

You have not given the previous officer and your designation as requested.

Your next sentence "Yes, she will be able to update her account details online and also set email as her preferred mode of contact, but she will still need to updates her account with a mobile number." is vague.

There is no mention of the need to update account details with a mobile number in the official document of 5 Jul 2015. I also remember at the website either mobile number or email is only required.

I mention the document of 5 Jul 2015 many times because we should be able to log-in, update account details and change password. For some reason, you and the other officers avoided bringing it up.

Please ask your superior to give a reply.

13. Email to Singpass on 16 Sep 16:

Are you the superior to the previous officer? What are the designations?

If you read my previous emails, I have some questions.

Could my mother update account details online follow by a change of password?

Does the website automatically prompt update of account details on first log-in?

Could my mother select email as preferred mode of contact?

If my mother change her password, will an email notification be sent?

According to the official document of 5 Jul 2015, the answers are in affirmative.

Please refer the matter to your superior.

12. Email to Singpass and forwarded to MPs on 14 Sep 16:

From your sentence "Please do note that for changing of password, Singpass requires the user to update their account details with their mobile number (mandatory) and/or their email address (optional).", does it mean that my mother could update account details with an email address follow by a change of her password?

If it does, then it is in accordance to the official document of 5 Jul 2015. If it doesn't, then do you have a later document to support your explanation given in your previous letter.

Please ask your superior to give me reply as I had the previous officer.

I could see that it isn’t getting anywhere.

11. Reply to the email from Singpass dated 15 Aug 16 and forwarded to MPs on 10 Sep 16:

I have not been checking the email since my last email on 29 Jul 16--there was no reply past the 5 working days as stated in your auto-reply.

Your explanation is not in accordance with the official document dated 5 Jul 15, which you could refer to in my email of 28 Jul 16.

Also refer to my email of 25 Jul 16 and 26 Jul 16 on "Singpass via mail".

We should be able to change my mother's password online.

Do you have any official document to support your explanation?

10. Email to MPs on 5 Aug 16:

Please refer to my emails of 28 Jul 16 and 29 Jul 16 to Singpass, there is no reply to the last email.

I could not update my mother account details, which the website automatically prompted on first log in, and therefore could not change password.

I have asked for your assistance but my email to sun_xueling@prpg-grc.sg on 28 Jul 16 and SXL-Admin@prpg-grc.sg on 30 Jul 16 were failed delivery.

9. Note to the email below to area’s MP asking for assistance on 30 Jul 16:

"I need your assistance again.

Users could change password or reset password at Singpass website.

Where users do not have mobile phone, email is only required.

The officer just would not reply to the problems."

The above message was sent to Mr Teo and your address at sun_xueling@prpg-grc.sg on 28 Jul 16 but the mailbox was full.

8. Email to Singpass on 29 Jul 16:

We are able to access Singpass website using Singpass password and OneKey OTP except that we cannot update "Update Account Details".

There is no need for us to provide contact number for you to guide us through the process.

The problem with the updating of account was mentioned in my email of 23 Jul 16, 25 Jul 16, 26 Jul 16 and 28 Jul 16, yet you did not reply to it.

Please ask your superior to give me a reply.

7. Note to the email below to MPs asking for assistance on 28 Jul 16:

I need your assistance again.

Users could change password or reset password at Singpass website.

Where users do not have mobile phone, email is only required.

The officer just would not reply to the problems.

6. Email to Singpass and forwarded to MPs on 28 Jul 16:

You still have not reply to my emails in any way.

Why did you keep referring to resetting of password? That is not what we asked for.

According to document from Singpass, users who log in for the first time will automatically be prompted to update their account starting from 5 July 2015. So why couldn't my mother update under "Update Account Details"?

Also, users are to select their preferred mode of contact (SMS or email) so that they will receive SMS or email notifications whenever changes are made to their SingPass profile (e.g. password, mobile number, SingPass ID).

Please refer my emails to your superior. Your replies have been confusing.

5. Email to Singpass on 26 Jul 16:

When could my mother's account be updated?

She should be able to change password online without mobile phone number after the update, isn't it?

If I am not wrong, password via email is to reset password which is different from change password. The password via mail, which is not working for us anyway, does not serve our purpose.

Why the need to process at the counter when there is 2FA to access the website?

4. Email to Singpass and forwarded to MPs on 25 Jul 16:

Your reply for my mother to provide NRIC front and back would seem that we do not know how to key in Name, NRIC, Date of Issue of NRIC and Postal Code as required in "Get Singpass via mail".

Another problem is the web page my mother accessed with OneKey OTP. We could not change password nor update account details each time we clicked "Submit".

As stated in my email earlier, we preferred to change the password online.

You have not given a reply to the problems.

3. Email to Singpass on 23 Jul 16:

Although I keyed the correct details into "Get Singpass via mail", the next screen stated that I had entered incorrect details. I have checked it several times.

Also, details keyed into "Update Account Details" could not be updated.

2. Email to Singpass and forwarded to MPs on 22 Jul 16:

Singpass web page showed to change password my mother could select email and key in OneKey OTP. Is there a security concern here that do not allow us to do so?

According to your email, she would have to register her email address at the counter and could reset her password at available counter. But we preferred not to do it at the counter.

She will require my assistance anyway, and we preferred the registration of email address and change of password with 2FA online.

We went to Tampines Branch to obtain the Singpass a few days ago on 19 Jul 16 just before closing time and activated 2FA the next day. Is there a need for further verification?

1. Email to Singpass on 21 Jul 16:

I am helping my mother, Mdm Lim Gek Noi, to change her Singpass password but is unable to do so at the website.

I selected email (as she does not have a mobile phone), keyed in a email address (this email from- address) and OneKey OTP. Upon "Submit" the next screen stated that mobile phone number or email address was required.

Need your assistance here.

Observation

The owner could not help his mother changed her password at Singpass website because he was blocked. As this was her first log-in, upon submitting user name and password the next screen was the updating of account details. He selected email as preferred mode of contact and filled in two security questions, but when he clicked “Update” it was back to the same screen. Nothing happened.

He tried “Get password via mail” as indicated by an officer, but again nothing happened. Although “Get password via mail” reset password, which is not what he wanted, he was blocked too.

Two of his emails to an MP were failed delivery, in other words, also blocked. He would have to visit to an CPF Office with his mother to ask them to unblock the website since the officer who corresponded with him had repeatedly avoided giving a direct reply.

23. Assurity

8. Contact number as requested by Assurity and email to Assurity on 13 Jul 16:

Contact No:________

I prefer an email on what is needed for the pin mailer to be sent to me.

Please refer it to your superior.

7. Note to the email below to MPs asking for assistance on 10 Jul 16:

I need your assistance.

Problems elsewhere is the cause of delay here.

6. Email to Assurity and forwarded to MPs on 10 Jul 16:

1. I sent my request to Singpass for the pin mailer on 2 Jun 16.

2. Gave name, NRIC and phone number as requested by Singpass on 12 Jun 16.

3. Sent email from Singpass that referred me to Assurity together with my email to Assurity asking why neither Singpass nor Assurity would send me the pin mailer on 22 Jun 16.

4. Kelvin replied on 25 Jun 16 stating only that your system had already activated my account.

5. Your office did not reply to my email of 22 Jun 16 and did not refer my email of 28 Jun 16 to your superior.

6. I do not see why you still require my full name and NRIC to process my request.

7. Please ask your superior to give me a reply.

5. Email to Assurity and forwarded to MPs on 1 Jul 16:

The forward messages are my previous two emails, the later email is missing from your reply in the follow-up. Please refer it to your superior as requested.

4. Email to Assurity and forwarded to MPs on 28 Jun 16:

I received a returned email from Kelvin on 25 Jun 16 that your system showed that I have already activated my account and OneKey Token and no further actions were required.

But that could not be a reply to my email below and the email from Singpass that I forwarded at the same time. I need the mailer to access Singpass and Singpass wrote that I obtain it from Assurity.

Please ask your superior to give me a reply.

3. Officer’s reply on 14 Jun 16 and 16 Jun 16 and email to Assurity on 22 Jun 16:

I forward an email requiring registration with Assurity from Singpass.

I therefore sent an SMS on 17 Jun 16 but, all the same, no mailer was received.

Could you tell me why Singpass and Assurity did not send the mailer when in both cases it was indicated in the returned SMS that the mailer would be sent within a number of working days?

2. Email to Singpass providing name, NRIC number and mobile phone number as requested on 12 Jun 16.

1. Email to Singpass on 10 Jun 16:

I have not received the mailer.

The SMS was sent on the 2 Jun 16.

Observation

From Assurity’s email auto acknowledgement if pin mailer for Singpass 2FA (two factors authentication) is not received, it will take within 3 working days for verification of mobile phone number, NRIC number and registered address before the sending of a new pin mailer. But it took him 7 weeks to activate Singpass 2FA after he informed that no mailer was received because of dodging by officers. The delay was the result of an email to MPs in Defect (23), Item 17.

In Item 8, after having written to MPs, he wrote that he preferred an email on what was needed for the pin mailer to be sent to him because the pin mailer was required as showed in “SMS ‘Activate Token NRIC Pin Mailer Password One-Time Password’ to 78111”. There was no returned phone call or email, but he managed to activate Singpass 2FA through Singpass website using the OneKey token without the need for the pin mailer. He did the same for his mother who does not have a mobile phone. Although mobile phone number is mandatory, she could fill in later when she has one. Why didn't an officer inform him when it was indicated in their email they would call? The matter resolved itself only because insider accommodated him when he found out that Onekey token was only required by accident.

In Item 3 he SMS “Resend pin mailer NRIC postal code” to 78111, and the returned reply was they were processing the request for a new mailer and confirmation SMS would be sent in two working days. When he again wrote that no mailer was received, there was no direct reply on what to do.

In Item 2 it would seem that Singpass could have re-sent the mailer upon receiving name, NRIC and mobile phone number they requested.

23. Defect

23. Defect

18. Fifth reply to the senior estate manager and forwarded to MPs on 9 Jul 16:

I ask you a number of times that your superior give me a reply, yet you continue to write to me.

If you intend to address the issues in my email of 9 Jun 16 to the MPs which you refer to, you are require to give the MPs a reply too. You did not do that either.

My email dated 25 May 16 in reply to your General Manager is why I could not accept your second inspection.

17. Fifth email to MPs on 9 Jun 16:

No reply from HDB after my email of 25 May 16 to General Manager, Branch Office.

My complaint to Punggol, Branch Office in 2016 has a parallel in my complaint to Pasir Ris, Branch Office in 2007. In both cases, the person-in-charge (Head, Branch Office then and General Manager, Branch Office now) would either reply without addressing the issue or not reply when they should be referring it to their superior.

In the case of Pasir Ris there were evidence the neighbour was working a trade in their flat and in the case of Punggol there was an installation defect causing a fluorescent fitting to drop in studio apartments.

The evidence exposed in the case of Pasir Ris led to other cases where officers from other government agencies caused problems for me. While in the case of Punggol, a number of the fluorescent fittings was later found to have dropped from the ceiling.

In all cases, officers did not reply to the evidence as shown in my blog.

16. Fourth reply to the senior estate manager on 26 May 16:

Several times you have wrote after having spoken to me as though I have agreed to something. I have not. I have asked that your superior give me a reply instead.

I have made my reply to your General Manager yesterday.

15. Fourth email to General Manager of Punggol Branch Office on 25 May 16:

Please ask your superior to give me a reply because you have not replied to my email of 14 Apr 16 when I asked that you refer to certified professional workers whether there was an installation defect.

I doubt they would certify that there was nothing wrong with the installation after going through my emails.

That is why I asked that your superior reply and a certified professional engineer give a report after inspection.

14. Third reply to the senior estate manager on 22 May 16:

I need to know when and who will be responsible for the inspection. Again, please ask your superior to give me the reply.

13. Fourth email to MPs on 18 May 16:

I have distributed the leaflet at studio apartments and found two more units with dropped fluorescent fitting in the kitchen. There is probably more because I did not talk to those residents with their doors closed.

The two incidents happened during the defect liability period. HDB Branch Office could look into it again and the people who oversaw the building construction need to look into similar defect in past and ongoing projects.

12. Second reply to the senior estate manager on 14 May 16:

Please refer my email to your superior. I will make my reply to your superior.

11. First reply to a senior estate manager on 13 May 16:

My conversation with James is whether HDB is going with the repair as I will be distributing warning leaflet to the studio apartments in a few days time. A leaflet was given to a Resident Committee member who visited me last night.

I think a certified electrical engineer should be able to make a call whether there is an installation defect. He could go through all the correspondence, in particular my first email and the email after an inspection by James and the project supervisor, before issuing a report. Is he then willing to certify that there is nothing wrong with the installation?

Could an electrician be held responsible for a bad decision? Could you be held responsible for not doing what is right?

10. Third email to MPs on 5 May 16:

I will be distributing leaflet at the studio apartments here.

The wording in the leaflet: “Do take care when changing the 4-feet fluorescent tube in your kitchen. Should the fluorescent fitting shift, the whole fitting could drop off the ceiling.”

There has been no response from either Resident Community or General Manager, HDB Branch Office.

9. Third email to General Manager of Punggol Branch Office on 14 Apr 16:

In your email of 12 Apr you stated that it is likely to be an isolated case, but it may not be so when the fittings are beginning to work loose after a number of years.

The fitting should be installed flash to the ceiling to properly fastened it but not when the extra length of cable you refer to is pressed between the fitting and the ceiling. The additional length of concealed cable that I had referred to in my emails has already been provided for ease of maintenance or replacement of light fittings.

HDB carried out inspection of all the flats before release of key to the owners does not mean there will be no more defects and irregularities.

Please refer to certified professional workers whether it was an installation defect.

8. Second email to MPs on 30 Mar 16:

Evidence of the installation defect could be found in similar studio apartments.

Just ask a professional worker his opinion on one of the fitting in one of the studio apartment. What could cause the fitting to drop off from the ceiling as it did in mine. Whether the way to install the fitting is flash to the ceiling and whether he would clamp a cable that carry electric current between the fitting and ceiling.

Should an accident happen because of the fitting, there is likely to be a hush up. Nobody wants to be held responsible.

The problem occurred during project stage and may be better referred to the CEO or a director. It may not be under the permit of the Branch Office.

I have yet to receive a reply after your email to the General Manager, Branch Office.

7. Fourth email to the officer from Punggol Branch Office who replied instead of the General Manager on 23 Mar 16:

My email of 11 Mar 16 is to your General Manager. Let him give a reply.

6. Second email to General Manager of Punggol Branch Office on 11 Mar 16:

The officer came unprepared even after four of my emails since 30 Jan 16.

How so? The project supervisor he brought along did not take down the fitting (Model:D26-1602U 2x28W T5(T16)/G5) for an examination.

If the supervisor had he would have seen that, besides the length of cable pressed between the ceiling and fitting, there was an additional length of concealed cable that would unwind once the fitting dropped.

He saw that the supervisor took some time to remove the end cap and the slot openings allow the fitting to drop from the anchor bolts. The supervisor also shook the fitting to show it was firm, but only because I had tightened it after it had dropped.

The officer seemed to have forgotten that the fitting did drop down about a metre all at once. He seemed unconcerned about the likely causes.

Please refer to my previous emails on likely causes and danger of falling object.

5. Third email to the officer from Punggol Branch Office on 9 Mar 16:

I still require a written reply as to your intention, state of investigation, and whether you need to refer to your superior.

Is the building contractor a licensed electrician?

Please come along on the appointed time and date.

4. Email to MPs on 4 Mar 16:

I require your assistance.

Punggol HDB Branch Office has avoided a direct reply to my three emails below.

If and when the fluorescent fitting dropped from the ceiling during the replacement of fluorescent tube, there is a danger the fitting could cause the person to fall from the ladder.

3. Second email to the officer from Punggol Branch Office on 2 Mar 16:

Thank you that you have arranged for a building contractor on 25 Feb 16 at 4pm after my email the day before. As it would be late in the day, I asked if you could rearrange the appointment in the morning at 11am to 12pm.

What is of concern here is not so much the repair of the fitting in my studio apartment but also the fitting in the other 187 studio apartments.

However, what I received is your system-generated reply on 6 Feb and 1 Mar that your office needed more time and would reply as soon as possible.

How do you intend to resolve the problem and whether you need to refer to your superior?

2. Email to an officer from Punggol Branch Office on 23 Feb 16:

You called for an inspection on 4 Feb 16 but I suggested you come with workers and ladder since the fluorescent fitting needs to be taken down and opened up for inspection. (In the incident, the fitting dropped by about a metre from the ceiling.)

I asked if it could be repaired at the same time and you said you would check with your superior.

With falling object, it should be urgent. What is the state of investigation now?

1. Email to Punggol Branch Office on 30 Jan 16:

HDB Branch Office

80 Punggol Field

Punggol 21 Community Club

#B1-02

Singapore 828815

Dear Sir

Installation Defects: Fluorescent Fitting at Kitchen of Studio Apartment

I was trying to place back the end cap of the fluorescent fitting when the whole fitting dropped off from the ceiling. Thanks to the attached cables between the ceiling and the fitting, I was able to hold on to the fitting while on the ladder.

The base of the fitting was not fastened flash to the ceiling. The concealed cables from the ceiling run part of the way on the base before entering a hole into the fitting. As such, when the two anchor bolts were tightened, the cables were pressed between the base of the fitting and the ceiling. The fitting moved a little either from removing/replacing the end cap or by itself till the fitting worked loose and hung from the two anchor bolts instead.

The fitting dropped off because the fitting slided along two slot openings at the base of the fitting, which hung from the anchor bolts, until the openings in the slots larger than the head of the anchor bolts allowed the fitting to slip out from both anchor bolts at once.

It is an installation defects similar in a way to a structural defects in that it was not obvious until a number of years later when replacement of fluorescent tube is required.

The defects: 1) The fitting could not be fastened flash to the ceiling because of the concealed cables under the base of the fitting. 2) The fitting should not be allowed to slip out from the anchor bolts.

Could your office look into it?

Sincerely,

Observation Installation defect caused the fluorescent fitting to drop in the owner’s studio apartment. As the accident could happen in the other studio apartments, the owner presented his case to Punggol HDB Branch Office. The area’s MP also wrote to the General Manager of the Branch Office with copy to the Resident Community, but there has been no appropriate response.   

In a separate case (CPF/HDB [78]), the Branch Office charged a fee of about $200 to include the owner’s mother as co-owner of his studio apartment all because of an application form that was concealed from him.

Also refer to Observation under Foolproof (50).