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Auditor-General finds 'major lapses' in Workers' Party-run town council accounts
- Thread starter JohnTan
- Start date
Re: Aljunied residents believe in WP and they said " Let move on"
that fucked up prostitute CNA had even allocated a special program at 10.30pm on this rubbish just now...switch off tv...whahahahahaBytheway, did the ministars stand up in parliament to criticise one another whenever the AGO had negative comments on any ministry?
Just wondering.
Re: Pap's conflicts of interest are even worse than ahpetc's problems
What about pigs in white living in ivory towers?
What about pigs in white living in ivory towers?
Re: Aljunied residents believe in WP and they said " Let move on"
that program is for papig supporters to feel shiok only... who the fark watch sbc productions when can watch hbo, discovery channel on pay tv.
that fucked up prostitute CNA had even allocated a special program at 10.30pm on this rubbish just now...switch off tv...whahahahaha
that program is for papig supporters to feel shiok only... who the fark watch sbc productions when can watch hbo, discovery channel on pay tv.
Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
AHPETC debate in Parliament not about partisan politics: Heng Swee Keat
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.
“What has been troubling is the pattern of denial and the pattern of deflection of these very serious lapses. And therefore, it was necessary to have this debate in Parliament. So it is not about partisan politics.
“It is really about how we must work as elected Members of Parliament (MPs) to serve our residents and to serve our residents sincerely, wholeheartedly,” Mr Heng said.
Over the past two days, MPs debated the Auditor-General’s findings of lapses at the Workers’ Party (WP)-run AHPETC. The motion calling on MPs to uphold high accounting, reporting and governing standards was unanimously endorsed by all MPs in Parliament yesterday. Mr Khaw had urged the WP to take “real” action, including mounting a forensic investigation into the town council’s records and pursuing all the findings of the Auditor-General’s Report.
Today, Mr Heng repeated calls made in Parliament for WP to be “sincere” in rectifying the issues that gave rise to the lapses.
“They have acknowledged the lapses, but at the same time what we need to do going forward is for the Workers’ Party to show that they are indeed sincere about making the changes, making the improvements,” he said.
Mr Heng also noted that the issue is a broader one of “how elected Members of Parliament must act with integrity and must act to serve the interests”.
Residents living in constituencies run by WP have mixed reactions to the party’s explanation on why the lapses occurred.
Hougang resident Angel Loy, 47, said: “Being in power and being in charge, you should be accountable to the people and explain. But I also think that Mr Low Thia Khiang has stepped up to explain and also to clarify certain things that were not up to standard.”
Serangoon resident James Liew, 47, said: “Everything happened for a reason and those in charge and the managing agent should have the responsibility to be more transparent. And if it’s a mistake, we learn from mistakes and we move on.”
Mr Heng said that this episode highlighted the need to strengthen the governance of the town councils to ensure the interests of residents are well-served.
AHPETC debate in Parliament not about partisan politics: Heng Swee Keat
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat. “What has been troubling is the pattern of denial and the pattern of deflection of these very serious lapses. And therefore, it was necessary to have this debate in Parliament. So it is not about partisan politics.
“It is really about how we must work as elected Members of Parliament (MPs) to serve our residents and to serve our residents sincerely, wholeheartedly,” Mr Heng said.
Over the past two days, MPs debated the Auditor-General’s findings of lapses at the Workers’ Party (WP)-run AHPETC. The motion calling on MPs to uphold high accounting, reporting and governing standards was unanimously endorsed by all MPs in Parliament yesterday. Mr Khaw had urged the WP to take “real” action, including mounting a forensic investigation into the town council’s records and pursuing all the findings of the Auditor-General’s Report.
Today, Mr Heng repeated calls made in Parliament for WP to be “sincere” in rectifying the issues that gave rise to the lapses.
“They have acknowledged the lapses, but at the same time what we need to do going forward is for the Workers’ Party to show that they are indeed sincere about making the changes, making the improvements,” he said.
Mr Heng also noted that the issue is a broader one of “how elected Members of Parliament must act with integrity and must act to serve the interests”.
Residents living in constituencies run by WP have mixed reactions to the party’s explanation on why the lapses occurred.
Hougang resident Angel Loy, 47, said: “Being in power and being in charge, you should be accountable to the people and explain. But I also think that Mr Low Thia Khiang has stepped up to explain and also to clarify certain things that were not up to standard.”
Serangoon resident James Liew, 47, said: “Everything happened for a reason and those in charge and the managing agent should have the responsibility to be more transparent. And if it’s a mistake, we learn from mistakes and we move on.”
Mr Heng said that this episode highlighted the need to strengthen the governance of the town councils to ensure the interests of residents are well-served.
Re: Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
Mr Heng
As minister for education, should you not take a stand against bullying? Surely, you know that being complicit in bullying sets a bad example for those cowards in schools to do the same.
Mr Heng
As minister for education, should you not take a stand against bullying? Surely, you know that being complicit in bullying sets a bad example for those cowards in schools to do the same.
PAP has been trying to fix WP since they lost GRC
Every well-informed person is fully aware of what PAP has been trying to do – to fix AHPETC, in order to by hook or by crook regain the three parliamentary seats they sorely lost.
Ever since WP wrangled these parliamentary seats from them, EVERY ACT AND MOVE OF PAP betray this objective of theirs:
1. Scheming and selling Town Councils’ residents-paid $2.8 IT management software to PAP-owned $2 company A.I.M. – to sabotage AHPETC’s administration, operations and accounting.
2. Big fuss – thanks to their stooges – over market cleaning and trade fair in WP’s wards.
3. Finding faults with AHPETC’s annual accounts (sabotaged by stooges).
4. Finding faults with AHPE management of arrears in S&CC.
5. MND’s “investigation” into AHPETC’s management and financial affairs.
6. Akan datang (more to come)
Even an idiot can see through these cunning, devious acts and moves.
JUSTICE
* Comment appeared in: Khaw withholds $7M S&CC subsidies from AHPETC residents
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/02/15/pap-has-been-trying-to-fix-wp-since-they-lost-grc/
Every well-informed person is fully aware of what PAP has been trying to do – to fix AHPETC, in order to by hook or by crook regain the three parliamentary seats they sorely lost.
Ever since WP wrangled these parliamentary seats from them, EVERY ACT AND MOVE OF PAP betray this objective of theirs:
1. Scheming and selling Town Councils’ residents-paid $2.8 IT management software to PAP-owned $2 company A.I.M. – to sabotage AHPETC’s administration, operations and accounting.
2. Big fuss – thanks to their stooges – over market cleaning and trade fair in WP’s wards.
3. Finding faults with AHPETC’s annual accounts (sabotaged by stooges).
4. Finding faults with AHPE management of arrears in S&CC.
5. MND’s “investigation” into AHPETC’s management and financial affairs.
6. Akan datang (more to come)
Even an idiot can see through these cunning, devious acts and moves.
JUSTICE
* Comment appeared in: Khaw withholds $7M S&CC subsidies from AHPETC residents
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/02/15/pap-has-been-trying-to-fix-wp-since-they-lost-grc/
PAP commits hara kiri with the latest attack on WP
The overpaid PAP would rather devote limited public resources to attack the WP in a vain attempt to score political points rather than serve Singaporeans.
Although the majority of Singaporeans are unhappy with the WP for not addressing the issue of transparency (where are our CPF invested? how much is Ho Ching, PM Lee’s wife, paid as Temasek CEO?, etc), we are more unhappy with PAP’s bullying tactics using public resources.
The whole AHPETC issue could have been resolved with a call to the CPIB. By not doing so, the PAP has again made a wrong assumption – Singaporeans have remained as daft as during LKY’s time. But it should not assume the WP is as stupid as Singaporeans. Would anyone immediately set out on a crime spree after winning an election in full view of the dominant party?
Why waste tax dollars on meaningless parliamentary wayang with Minister Shanmugam acting like as if he was an Aljuneid GRC MP? Or Khaw Boon Wan, increasingly perceived as an overpaid clown, who for no rhyme or reason brought up Japanese “good old days”?
As the Law Minister, Shanmugam should not be acting blur because if there was clear evidence of any wrongdoing, investigations would have already been under way. In 2013, Minister Vivian had also accused WP of lying but since talk has proven to be cheap, Vivian’s attempt to gain political mileage backfired.
Even without Sylvia’s explanation in parliament, citizens are acutely aware that the PAP would stoop to the bottom of the abyss just to perpetuate its hold on power. PAP has lost all credibility because it had ‘misAIMed’ and sold town councils’ computer software to a $2 PAP company. Both issues are related.
Despite all the obstacles put in place to trip the WP’s town council, chairman Sylvia Lim has said she “bear personal responsibility, as I was Chair of the evaluation committee”. Her future apologies could then be tallied and voters will be able to assess her performance objectively. By putting on record an instance of her mistake, she has displayed exemplary conduct.
Contrast this with PAP’s actions in the columbarium saga where the HDB did not bother to apologise to thousands of affected buyers. After siding with Life Corporation Pte Ltd, URA and HDB, , Lam Pin Min, Sengkang SMC MP and MOS for Health, refused to acknowledge any error on his part even after Minister Khaw’s U-turn in parliament. Worse, as the big boss of MND, Khaw acted more like a clown by...
https://likedatosocanmeh.wordpress....mmits-hara-kiri-with-the-latest-attack-on-wp/
The overpaid PAP would rather devote limited public resources to attack the WP in a vain attempt to score political points rather than serve Singaporeans.
Although the majority of Singaporeans are unhappy with the WP for not addressing the issue of transparency (where are our CPF invested? how much is Ho Ching, PM Lee’s wife, paid as Temasek CEO?, etc), we are more unhappy with PAP’s bullying tactics using public resources.
The whole AHPETC issue could have been resolved with a call to the CPIB. By not doing so, the PAP has again made a wrong assumption – Singaporeans have remained as daft as during LKY’s time. But it should not assume the WP is as stupid as Singaporeans. Would anyone immediately set out on a crime spree after winning an election in full view of the dominant party?
Why waste tax dollars on meaningless parliamentary wayang with Minister Shanmugam acting like as if he was an Aljuneid GRC MP? Or Khaw Boon Wan, increasingly perceived as an overpaid clown, who for no rhyme or reason brought up Japanese “good old days”?
As the Law Minister, Shanmugam should not be acting blur because if there was clear evidence of any wrongdoing, investigations would have already been under way. In 2013, Minister Vivian had also accused WP of lying but since talk has proven to be cheap, Vivian’s attempt to gain political mileage backfired.
Even without Sylvia’s explanation in parliament, citizens are acutely aware that the PAP would stoop to the bottom of the abyss just to perpetuate its hold on power. PAP has lost all credibility because it had ‘misAIMed’ and sold town councils’ computer software to a $2 PAP company. Both issues are related.
Despite all the obstacles put in place to trip the WP’s town council, chairman Sylvia Lim has said she “bear personal responsibility, as I was Chair of the evaluation committee”. Her future apologies could then be tallied and voters will be able to assess her performance objectively. By putting on record an instance of her mistake, she has displayed exemplary conduct.
Contrast this with PAP’s actions in the columbarium saga where the HDB did not bother to apologise to thousands of affected buyers. After siding with Life Corporation Pte Ltd, URA and HDB, , Lam Pin Min, Sengkang SMC MP and MOS for Health, refused to acknowledge any error on his part even after Minister Khaw’s U-turn in parliament. Worse, as the big boss of MND, Khaw acted more like a clown by...
https://likedatosocanmeh.wordpress....mmits-hara-kiri-with-the-latest-attack-on-wp/
Re: PAP has been trying to fix WP since they lost GRC
this one even the kopi tiam uncle and aunties all know liaozzz...what is new... PAP reputation gone down the drain oredi la...
what is crucial is the run up to balloting.the last 15 critical days... dun overcheong now... just like running 2.4km ....u chiong your first 1 km...confirm punchek later...
this one even the kopi tiam uncle and aunties all know liaozzz...what is new... PAP reputation gone down the drain oredi la...
what is crucial is the run up to balloting.the last 15 critical days... dun overcheong now... just like running 2.4km ....u chiong your first 1 km...confirm punchek later...
Re: Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
I look forward to the coming erection. I hope the fap will come prepared to commitsuscide whentheyrouted
I look forward to the coming erection. I hope the fap will come prepared to commitsuscide whentheyrouted
Re: Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
Aiyah, by making the statement, it is a bald admission that it was precisely what they set out to do.
Such is the quality of the intellectual power of our ministers.
Aiyah, by making the statement, it is a bald admission that it was precisely what they set out to do.
Such is the quality of the intellectual power of our ministers.
Re: Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
yes. Cum erections, tell your ah kong and ah ma to protect the lightning logo and leave it blank, and to put a cross beside any other opposition party logo to strike them out
yes. Cum erections, tell your ah kong and ah ma to protect the lightning logo and leave it blank, and to put a cross beside any other opposition party logo to strike them out
Cutting through the smog to the facts on AHPETC
The debate in Parliament over the Workers’ Party town council, AHPETC, has been fiery with many accusations thrown at the WP.
It would thus be good to go beyond the political rhetoric and accusations and look at things factually.
In this regard, we will be presenting each main issue here, giving the facts so that Singaporeans can better understand them, and not be confused by the mainstream media and the politicians’ rhetoric to score political points.
On the issue of AHPETC giving out contracts to “related parties” without tender, the facts are explained.
In 2012, it was revealed that the 14 PAP-run town councils had sold the computer system used by them to a PAP-owned company, Action Information Management (AIM).
The system was developed at a cost of $24 million, and sold to AIM for $140,000.
When the tender was held, only AIM submitted a bid, and was successful in it.
Explaining this in Parliament then, Minister of National Development, Khaw Boon Wan (who is also chairman of the PAP), said:
On “related parties”:
“The Act by design does not prohibit transactions between the TC and party-related entities or persons. Latitude has always been given to MPs to manage their TCs according to their best judgement and be accountable to their residents politically. TCs run by MPs from all political parties have at one time or another appointed party supporters or former candidates to provide services to the TCs they run.”
On waiving tender:
“In fact, the TC Financial Rules also provide latitude to TCs or their Chairmen to waive requirement to call for tender altogether. Ms Sylvia Lim would be familiar with this because she exercised this latitude when her TC waived competition and appointed FM Solutions and Services Pte Ltd (FMSS) as its Managing Agent (MA) in 2011. MND left the appointment to her best judgement and did not object.”
And he specifically addressed the issue with regards to AIM:
“So back to the TCMS [Town Council Management System] – when it was first tendered out, yes, it cost the TCs $24 million to develop. But by the time it was hitting obsolescence, how much was it worth? Very little, nothing, probably zero, and the tender proved it. Nobody was interested in it. AIM had to step in, because if they didn’t step in, the TCs would be left in the lurch…”
This sounds rather similar to what the Workers’ Party is saying with regards to its tender for a Management Agent – no one put in a bid except FMSS.
So, what we can conclude are two things:
Giving contracts to “related parties” is not illegal or unusual. Even PAP town councils do this.
Waiving tender is not illegal or against any rules, as Mr Khaw has explained.
Khaw Dung's forked explanations....http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/02/cutting-through-the-smog-to-the-facts-on-ahpetc/
The debate in Parliament over the Workers’ Party town council, AHPETC, has been fiery with many accusations thrown at the WP.
It would thus be good to go beyond the political rhetoric and accusations and look at things factually.
In this regard, we will be presenting each main issue here, giving the facts so that Singaporeans can better understand them, and not be confused by the mainstream media and the politicians’ rhetoric to score political points.
On the issue of AHPETC giving out contracts to “related parties” without tender, the facts are explained.
In 2012, it was revealed that the 14 PAP-run town councils had sold the computer system used by them to a PAP-owned company, Action Information Management (AIM).
The system was developed at a cost of $24 million, and sold to AIM for $140,000.
When the tender was held, only AIM submitted a bid, and was successful in it.
Explaining this in Parliament then, Minister of National Development, Khaw Boon Wan (who is also chairman of the PAP), said:
On “related parties”:
“The Act by design does not prohibit transactions between the TC and party-related entities or persons. Latitude has always been given to MPs to manage their TCs according to their best judgement and be accountable to their residents politically. TCs run by MPs from all political parties have at one time or another appointed party supporters or former candidates to provide services to the TCs they run.”
On waiving tender:
“In fact, the TC Financial Rules also provide latitude to TCs or their Chairmen to waive requirement to call for tender altogether. Ms Sylvia Lim would be familiar with this because she exercised this latitude when her TC waived competition and appointed FM Solutions and Services Pte Ltd (FMSS) as its Managing Agent (MA) in 2011. MND left the appointment to her best judgement and did not object.”
And he specifically addressed the issue with regards to AIM:
“So back to the TCMS [Town Council Management System] – when it was first tendered out, yes, it cost the TCs $24 million to develop. But by the time it was hitting obsolescence, how much was it worth? Very little, nothing, probably zero, and the tender proved it. Nobody was interested in it. AIM had to step in, because if they didn’t step in, the TCs would be left in the lurch…”
This sounds rather similar to what the Workers’ Party is saying with regards to its tender for a Management Agent – no one put in a bid except FMSS.
So, what we can conclude are two things:
Giving contracts to “related parties” is not illegal or unusual. Even PAP town councils do this.
Waiving tender is not illegal or against any rules, as Mr Khaw has explained.
Khaw Dung's forked explanations....http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/02/cutting-through-the-smog-to-the-facts-on-ahpetc/
List which shows Khaw Dung should have committed harakiri years ago...
By Jentrified Citizen
There has been a firestorm in Parliament this past week with the ruling party lashing out at the Workers Party with exceptional venom and shockingly slanderous accusations. I am not going to add to the debate over the AHPETC town council matter as this has been covered in-depth online and it has been reported extensively by the mainstream media which devoted reams of pages to this over several days.
Instead, I am wondering about the sense of perspective over AHPETC, or rather the loss of perspective, by the ruling party and the MSM for them to have devoted so much time, energy, public resources and news space to it when there are many other bigger issues of concern to the citizens.
Let’s start with the 2013/2014 report by the Auditor-General (AGO) on the transgressions by the government. The contents list of this 64-page report was an eye-opener as it listed the numerous financial lapses and irregularities found to have been committed by EVERY Ministry in FY2013/2014.
The puzzling question is – Why didn’t the Ministers and MPs openly address in Parliament some of the major lapses (some repeated) committed by their agencies if they truly care about integrity, transparency and doing what is in the best interest of Singaporeans? Instead, the PAP MPS and several heavyweight Ministers like Khaw Boon Wan and Shanmugam spent a great deal of the entire Parliament time this past week harping on ONE lapse by the Workers Party – the management of AHPETC. Is it because the ruling party is gearing up for the looming General Elections which may take place this year?
Even though there were lapses in the management of AHPETC, one would have expected the MPs to at least allocate balanced time to the matter while spending precious Parliament time and resources debating and addressing other areas of great concern. This is what tax-payers expect their MPs to do and not to waste resources bombarding the opposition in Parliament in an astoundingly undignified manner.
It was shocking indeed to hear Khaw Boon Wan use the example of Japanese senior management who would resign and even commit hara-kiri (suicide) over wrongdoings. I doubt he was actually asking the WP MPs to kill themselves over AHPETC but Khaw was certainly playing to the gallery to exaggerate and sensationalise the lapses committed by WP during its learning curve of managing its first GRC.
Those who live in glass houses should be sure their homes are clean of filth before they lob accusations at others for not doing proper housekeeping. In the 2013/2014 report by the AGO, irregularities were found in various agencies under the Ministry of National Development headed by Minister Khaw who has been spearheading the Parliamentary attacks on WP.
The report said the National Parks Board’s transgressions included creating and backdating some documents relating to the development of Gardens by the Bay to give the impression that they existed at the time when the relevant transactions took place. The AGO said “creating and backdating documents to satisfy audit queries is a serious irregularity. It also casts doubts on the authenticity of other documents and information provided to AGO.”
Although MND conducted an inquiry into this, shouldn’t it still account openly to the people as to how such a lapse could have happened in the name of transparency and assure the public that such lapses will not happen again to any agency under its control? Instead it appears that its big chief has been busy expending energy on pontificating about his righteousness and taking WP to task over AHPETC.
Over at the the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). which is also under the MND, the AGO found had grossly underutilized land, buildings and facilities at several places which is to quote the AGO “tantamount to a waste of public resources”. As an example, AGO found that of the 41 buildings at the Sembawang site, 15 buildings were left vacant for periods between 2 and 14 years. Another three buildings were partially occupied for periods between 8 and 11 years. The vacant areas in these 18 buildings formed 28.4 per cent of the gross floor area of all the 41 buildings.
AGO also noted that 112,294 m or 78.0 per cent of the site was vacant land. AGO also observed during its site visit that some of the vacant buildings were poorly maintained. For example, there were termites in one building and condemned furniture and other discarded items in other buildings, which could pose pest and fire hazard problems.
And at the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the AGO found serious lapses in the National Council of Social Service which repeatedly violated procurement procedures such as by not getting the mandatory three quotes and although NCSS implemented a set of improved procedures in April 2013, the procedures did not prohibit the same officer from being both the payment approving authority and the quotation approving authority.
NCSS procedures were also lacking in requirements for ensuring proper negotiations, such as having ample representation during the negotiations and keeping proper records of the negotiation meetings. AGO’s test checks of 45 purchases made directly from the vendors or where only one or a few selected vendors were invited to bid revealed that for 32 purchases (71.1 per cent) totalling $1.72 million, NCSS gave lame reasons for not procuring through open competition.
AGO also found that for 15 of these 32 cases at NCSS, the suppliers were awarded the contracts without competition for three or more consecutive years, and for one case, for 20 years.
Over at the Ministry of Home Affairs, the AGO’s test checks of 46 payments at the Singapore Civil Defence Force(SCDF) revealed lapses in financial control and instances where officers had approved purchases and contracts or certified invoices when they did not have the authority to do so.
Specifically, the SCDF approved two payments in March 2012 amounting to $217,100 for the maintenance of two IT systems before services were fully performed.
There are many more such appalling lapses where proper procedures were blatantly ignored, money was lost and public resources had been wasted. One need only read the contents page in the report to see the scale of the transgressions by the government bodies.
All these are matters involving public funds, trust and integrity and the Government must account to the people for the lapses and explain why some of these lapses have continued to recur despite them having been flagged by the AGO previously.
My point here is that there are many national issues of great importance and the MPs, who are elected and paid by the people to do a proper job, should not waste precious Parliament time fixated on slanderous attacks to fix opposition parties.
Read the full report by the AGO -http://www.ago.gov.sg/doc/ar-1314.pdf
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/02/50-shades-of-white-pap-governments-house-needs-cleaning/
By Jentrified Citizen
There has been a firestorm in Parliament this past week with the ruling party lashing out at the Workers Party with exceptional venom and shockingly slanderous accusations. I am not going to add to the debate over the AHPETC town council matter as this has been covered in-depth online and it has been reported extensively by the mainstream media which devoted reams of pages to this over several days.
Instead, I am wondering about the sense of perspective over AHPETC, or rather the loss of perspective, by the ruling party and the MSM for them to have devoted so much time, energy, public resources and news space to it when there are many other bigger issues of concern to the citizens.
Let’s start with the 2013/2014 report by the Auditor-General (AGO) on the transgressions by the government. The contents list of this 64-page report was an eye-opener as it listed the numerous financial lapses and irregularities found to have been committed by EVERY Ministry in FY2013/2014.
The puzzling question is – Why didn’t the Ministers and MPs openly address in Parliament some of the major lapses (some repeated) committed by their agencies if they truly care about integrity, transparency and doing what is in the best interest of Singaporeans? Instead, the PAP MPS and several heavyweight Ministers like Khaw Boon Wan and Shanmugam spent a great deal of the entire Parliament time this past week harping on ONE lapse by the Workers Party – the management of AHPETC. Is it because the ruling party is gearing up for the looming General Elections which may take place this year?
Even though there were lapses in the management of AHPETC, one would have expected the MPs to at least allocate balanced time to the matter while spending precious Parliament time and resources debating and addressing other areas of great concern. This is what tax-payers expect their MPs to do and not to waste resources bombarding the opposition in Parliament in an astoundingly undignified manner.
It was shocking indeed to hear Khaw Boon Wan use the example of Japanese senior management who would resign and even commit hara-kiri (suicide) over wrongdoings. I doubt he was actually asking the WP MPs to kill themselves over AHPETC but Khaw was certainly playing to the gallery to exaggerate and sensationalise the lapses committed by WP during its learning curve of managing its first GRC.
Those who live in glass houses should be sure their homes are clean of filth before they lob accusations at others for not doing proper housekeeping. In the 2013/2014 report by the AGO, irregularities were found in various agencies under the Ministry of National Development headed by Minister Khaw who has been spearheading the Parliamentary attacks on WP.
The report said the National Parks Board’s transgressions included creating and backdating some documents relating to the development of Gardens by the Bay to give the impression that they existed at the time when the relevant transactions took place. The AGO said “creating and backdating documents to satisfy audit queries is a serious irregularity. It also casts doubts on the authenticity of other documents and information provided to AGO.”
Although MND conducted an inquiry into this, shouldn’t it still account openly to the people as to how such a lapse could have happened in the name of transparency and assure the public that such lapses will not happen again to any agency under its control? Instead it appears that its big chief has been busy expending energy on pontificating about his righteousness and taking WP to task over AHPETC.
Over at the the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). which is also under the MND, the AGO found had grossly underutilized land, buildings and facilities at several places which is to quote the AGO “tantamount to a waste of public resources”. As an example, AGO found that of the 41 buildings at the Sembawang site, 15 buildings were left vacant for periods between 2 and 14 years. Another three buildings were partially occupied for periods between 8 and 11 years. The vacant areas in these 18 buildings formed 28.4 per cent of the gross floor area of all the 41 buildings.
AGO also noted that 112,294 m or 78.0 per cent of the site was vacant land. AGO also observed during its site visit that some of the vacant buildings were poorly maintained. For example, there were termites in one building and condemned furniture and other discarded items in other buildings, which could pose pest and fire hazard problems.
And at the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the AGO found serious lapses in the National Council of Social Service which repeatedly violated procurement procedures such as by not getting the mandatory three quotes and although NCSS implemented a set of improved procedures in April 2013, the procedures did not prohibit the same officer from being both the payment approving authority and the quotation approving authority.
NCSS procedures were also lacking in requirements for ensuring proper negotiations, such as having ample representation during the negotiations and keeping proper records of the negotiation meetings. AGO’s test checks of 45 purchases made directly from the vendors or where only one or a few selected vendors were invited to bid revealed that for 32 purchases (71.1 per cent) totalling $1.72 million, NCSS gave lame reasons for not procuring through open competition.
AGO also found that for 15 of these 32 cases at NCSS, the suppliers were awarded the contracts without competition for three or more consecutive years, and for one case, for 20 years.
Over at the Ministry of Home Affairs, the AGO’s test checks of 46 payments at the Singapore Civil Defence Force(SCDF) revealed lapses in financial control and instances where officers had approved purchases and contracts or certified invoices when they did not have the authority to do so.
Specifically, the SCDF approved two payments in March 2012 amounting to $217,100 for the maintenance of two IT systems before services were fully performed.
There are many more such appalling lapses where proper procedures were blatantly ignored, money was lost and public resources had been wasted. One need only read the contents page in the report to see the scale of the transgressions by the government bodies.
All these are matters involving public funds, trust and integrity and the Government must account to the people for the lapses and explain why some of these lapses have continued to recur despite them having been flagged by the AGO previously.
My point here is that there are many national issues of great importance and the MPs, who are elected and paid by the people to do a proper job, should not waste precious Parliament time fixated on slanderous attacks to fix opposition parties.
Read the full report by the AGO -http://www.ago.gov.sg/doc/ar-1314.pdf
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/02/50-shades-of-white-pap-governments-house-needs-cleaning/
Re: Skunk Heng Swee Keat said AHPETC debate is not about partisan politics
He wasted 20 minutes of parliamentary time repeating facts which his other patriotic colleagues had already mentioned.
He wasted 20 minutes of parliamentary time repeating facts which his other patriotic colleagues had already mentioned.
PAP designed TC saga to damage WP
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/02/14/report-from-gallery-entire-saga-designed-to-damage-wp/
To me, the error as listed above was so obvious but Mr Shanmugam was adamant on his accuracy. Only later did he admit he was only told that the figures were correct and did not check them himself. On the second day of the debate, he did not address or correct this issue and no longer did.
The above incident brought a few points to my mind. Firstly, if I were shown a table where two columns were the same figures except for the one for AHPETC, I would instinctively check if the figures were correct before presenting them in Parliament. Secondly, Mr Shanmugam had only to produce three appendices on a town council matter and one was already wrong. How would he expect AHPETC with several fronts to take care of to avoid even one mistake? Thirdly, I noticed the MSM had downplayed or blotted out this incident.
On another point, Mr Pritam made a casual remark about answering to his residents. Mr Shanmugam and Mr Sam Tan jumped to the simplistic conclusion that WP wanted to account to residents but not to Parliament. I wonder why it didn’t cross their minds that Mr Pritam could have been referring to both.
Second Day
I did not attend the second day’s debate but drew opinions based on video footages by the online channels of the MSM.
PAP MPs Liang Eng Hwa and Hri Kumar
Both PAP MPs had one common thrust in their speeches. The PAP had taken WP to task despite serving to “help” WP in the end or “reduce” PAP’s “standing” through this unpopular move. I wondered if they really believed in what they said or was this reverse psychology. By now, much of me believed that the entire episode was designed to damage the WP instead and the two gentlemen cannot be incognizant about this.
WP MP Pritam Singh
Mr Pritam’s “general defence” speech shed light on the large figures that came under the spotlight of the MSM some months ago. He pointed out that some errors were actually joint errors by AHPETC and HDB. Finally, he said FMSS was kept out of certain decisions if a conflict of interest potentially arose.
Minister Heng Swee Keat
His was the only speech that contained absolutely nothing that hasn’t been said. All the points were so rehashed that I wondered why he bothered to deliver it after more than 10 MPs from both sides have spoken. Later, it dawned on me that it was again the strategy of repetition to drive home a certain message, except that this time, a different person is used.
The only thing that stood out, and bizarrely so to speak, was his reference to WP NCMP Yee Jenn Jong walking away from a resident who asked about AHPETC matters. How did Mr Heng know about such a matter? I am not sure Mr Heng knows that citing from unverified sources without giving more details is unparliamentary behaviour, which PAP MP Lim Wee Kiak and WP MP Faisal had apologized for before. A minister should least display unparliamentary behaviour. We should await his apology in Parliament with bated breath.
WP MP Png Eng Huat
Mr Png made the second fiery speech after Mr Low and he was the only WP MP who pointed out PAP’s own discrepancies. I felt having only one MP tackle this angle was good moderation in order to avoid the “you can do it, so can I” syndrome.
Mr Png’s primary point made sense to me. As long as the AGO audits something, it would surely be able to uncover some faults. It is like a teacher telling a student “you have room to improve”. No teacher would tell the student that he is already perfect. The difference is if a party is found to have intentionally and exorbitantly benefited, such as in the cases of NKF, Ren Ci or Father Kang. Nothing was uncovered from either AHPETC or the government departments to be the case, despite Mr Shanmugam trying to paint a stigma on AHPETC.
In return, Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo asked Mr Png if the AGO found these government departments to be guilty of the same as AHPETC. Unfortunately for Ms Teo, the answer is yes, at least in some areas. If she had been listening, Mr Png spoke about 10 statutory boards not submitting annual reports on time, which was the same accusation Mr Khaw heaped on AHPETC. True, conflict of interest wasn’t an aspect, but the AGO uncovered discrepancies in some government departments not guilty by AHPETC.
WP MP Lee Li Lian
Ms Lee’s speech was a good reminder that the fear factor has to be examined at a deeper level. At a basic level, the fear of voting for an opposition candidate has significantly eroded over the years. We thought we could now rest easy and forgot about the next level. For businessmen in the service industries, voting for the opposition is a different scale from doing business with the opposition. Removing the fear of offering contracts with opposition town councils should be tackled next. Otherwise, the opposition could screw up town management with limited quality choices and once again lose the confidence of the electorate.
Minister Khaw’s closing statement
Mr Khaw closed the debate by regurgitating whatever that has been said. What I was waiting for finally came when, while explaining the original intent of town councils, he said that if WP could not run a town council well, how they can be entrusted to run the whole country. I get the feeling this was the ultimate theme, intention and the picture the PAP wants to paint of the WP all this while, because WP (and the opposition) had been closer to capturing power than ever before.
One of his final sentences was that “this motion is not about PAP versus WP”. It sounded out-of-place when the whole debate appeared to be about this to the man-on-the-street.
Major difference of opinion
A major difference of opinion came in the form of Mr Shanmugam asking why AHPETC had allowed CPG to be released from an iron-clad contract. Ms Lim replied that CPG requested to be released and AHPETC was unwilling to retain a reluctant managing agent. Both sides of the argument have their validity, although in this context, I would go with Ms Lim’s point because if CPG were to do a bad job, would PAP accuse AHPETC of landing in this state because they had refused to release their managing agent? Then it becomes damn if you do, damn if you don’t.
Two different stories
According to the PAP, FMSS had approved payments to themselves. WP said all cheques used to pay service providers have to be signed by the AHPETC chairman and one of the vice chairman. So who is accurate? Again, I would go with WP’s explanation because I am aware that in MCST buildings, the signatories come from key council members of the management corporation. The condo manager or managing agent staffs are never made signatories.
An unanswered question
I also felt that in the course of the whole debate, a question did not come up. Was the remuneration of the FMSS directors, who were AHPETC employees, at market rates? Not withstanding any conflict of interest, this question was important because if there was any attempt by any persons to benefit financially, they would have financially benefitted by this time. Perhaps the PAP wasn’t too interested to question this point because there was nothing much to dig here, although they did question the managing agent fees.
Conclusion
On the whole, the PAP made their position too absolute, which was risky. With two prime ministers in history being father-son and the head of the government has a spouse heading the government’s investment body, I remain unconvinced that the PAP could take a moral high ground without really standing stability on this ground and fire all that salvo without compunction. Even though there is no impropriety, not all the PAP speakers were faulting the impropriety in AHPETC or FMSS but on the conflict of interest, links and manner of declaration, which PAP was guilty of.
We have all seen some observers claiming to be neutral criticizing WP over this episode. Ironically, I think they have more grounds to criticize the WP than the PAP itself. The problem in this case is that PAP had done most and the loudest of the criticizing.
WP, on the other hand, took the approach of “you have your position, I am here to explain mine”. It did not portray this matter as an “angel vs devil” showdown by painting themselves as an angel and the other as a devil, although they may be accused of trying to milk sympathy votes. And based on all the WP MPs speeches, it seems like most of the problems had already been rectified and furthermore, WP turned the tables on PAP by actually supporting PAP’s motion. According to the final tally, all 82 MPs who were present in the house supported the motion.
My conclusion, with biased pleasure or otherwise, is that WP has won this round. Not hands down, but with a noticeable advantage.
Melvin Tan
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/02/14/report-from-gallery-entire-saga-designed-to-damage-wp/
To me, the error as listed above was so obvious but Mr Shanmugam was adamant on his accuracy. Only later did he admit he was only told that the figures were correct and did not check them himself. On the second day of the debate, he did not address or correct this issue and no longer did.
The above incident brought a few points to my mind. Firstly, if I were shown a table where two columns were the same figures except for the one for AHPETC, I would instinctively check if the figures were correct before presenting them in Parliament. Secondly, Mr Shanmugam had only to produce three appendices on a town council matter and one was already wrong. How would he expect AHPETC with several fronts to take care of to avoid even one mistake? Thirdly, I noticed the MSM had downplayed or blotted out this incident.
On another point, Mr Pritam made a casual remark about answering to his residents. Mr Shanmugam and Mr Sam Tan jumped to the simplistic conclusion that WP wanted to account to residents but not to Parliament. I wonder why it didn’t cross their minds that Mr Pritam could have been referring to both.
Second Day
I did not attend the second day’s debate but drew opinions based on video footages by the online channels of the MSM.
PAP MPs Liang Eng Hwa and Hri Kumar
Both PAP MPs had one common thrust in their speeches. The PAP had taken WP to task despite serving to “help” WP in the end or “reduce” PAP’s “standing” through this unpopular move. I wondered if they really believed in what they said or was this reverse psychology. By now, much of me believed that the entire episode was designed to damage the WP instead and the two gentlemen cannot be incognizant about this.
WP MP Pritam Singh
Mr Pritam’s “general defence” speech shed light on the large figures that came under the spotlight of the MSM some months ago. He pointed out that some errors were actually joint errors by AHPETC and HDB. Finally, he said FMSS was kept out of certain decisions if a conflict of interest potentially arose.
Minister Heng Swee Keat
His was the only speech that contained absolutely nothing that hasn’t been said. All the points were so rehashed that I wondered why he bothered to deliver it after more than 10 MPs from both sides have spoken. Later, it dawned on me that it was again the strategy of repetition to drive home a certain message, except that this time, a different person is used.
The only thing that stood out, and bizarrely so to speak, was his reference to WP NCMP Yee Jenn Jong walking away from a resident who asked about AHPETC matters. How did Mr Heng know about such a matter? I am not sure Mr Heng knows that citing from unverified sources without giving more details is unparliamentary behaviour, which PAP MP Lim Wee Kiak and WP MP Faisal had apologized for before. A minister should least display unparliamentary behaviour. We should await his apology in Parliament with bated breath.
WP MP Png Eng Huat
Mr Png made the second fiery speech after Mr Low and he was the only WP MP who pointed out PAP’s own discrepancies. I felt having only one MP tackle this angle was good moderation in order to avoid the “you can do it, so can I” syndrome.
Mr Png’s primary point made sense to me. As long as the AGO audits something, it would surely be able to uncover some faults. It is like a teacher telling a student “you have room to improve”. No teacher would tell the student that he is already perfect. The difference is if a party is found to have intentionally and exorbitantly benefited, such as in the cases of NKF, Ren Ci or Father Kang. Nothing was uncovered from either AHPETC or the government departments to be the case, despite Mr Shanmugam trying to paint a stigma on AHPETC.
In return, Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo asked Mr Png if the AGO found these government departments to be guilty of the same as AHPETC. Unfortunately for Ms Teo, the answer is yes, at least in some areas. If she had been listening, Mr Png spoke about 10 statutory boards not submitting annual reports on time, which was the same accusation Mr Khaw heaped on AHPETC. True, conflict of interest wasn’t an aspect, but the AGO uncovered discrepancies in some government departments not guilty by AHPETC.
WP MP Lee Li Lian
Ms Lee’s speech was a good reminder that the fear factor has to be examined at a deeper level. At a basic level, the fear of voting for an opposition candidate has significantly eroded over the years. We thought we could now rest easy and forgot about the next level. For businessmen in the service industries, voting for the opposition is a different scale from doing business with the opposition. Removing the fear of offering contracts with opposition town councils should be tackled next. Otherwise, the opposition could screw up town management with limited quality choices and once again lose the confidence of the electorate.
Minister Khaw’s closing statement
Mr Khaw closed the debate by regurgitating whatever that has been said. What I was waiting for finally came when, while explaining the original intent of town councils, he said that if WP could not run a town council well, how they can be entrusted to run the whole country. I get the feeling this was the ultimate theme, intention and the picture the PAP wants to paint of the WP all this while, because WP (and the opposition) had been closer to capturing power than ever before.
One of his final sentences was that “this motion is not about PAP versus WP”. It sounded out-of-place when the whole debate appeared to be about this to the man-on-the-street.
Major difference of opinion
A major difference of opinion came in the form of Mr Shanmugam asking why AHPETC had allowed CPG to be released from an iron-clad contract. Ms Lim replied that CPG requested to be released and AHPETC was unwilling to retain a reluctant managing agent. Both sides of the argument have their validity, although in this context, I would go with Ms Lim’s point because if CPG were to do a bad job, would PAP accuse AHPETC of landing in this state because they had refused to release their managing agent? Then it becomes damn if you do, damn if you don’t.
Two different stories
According to the PAP, FMSS had approved payments to themselves. WP said all cheques used to pay service providers have to be signed by the AHPETC chairman and one of the vice chairman. So who is accurate? Again, I would go with WP’s explanation because I am aware that in MCST buildings, the signatories come from key council members of the management corporation. The condo manager or managing agent staffs are never made signatories.
An unanswered question
I also felt that in the course of the whole debate, a question did not come up. Was the remuneration of the FMSS directors, who were AHPETC employees, at market rates? Not withstanding any conflict of interest, this question was important because if there was any attempt by any persons to benefit financially, they would have financially benefitted by this time. Perhaps the PAP wasn’t too interested to question this point because there was nothing much to dig here, although they did question the managing agent fees.
Conclusion
On the whole, the PAP made their position too absolute, which was risky. With two prime ministers in history being father-son and the head of the government has a spouse heading the government’s investment body, I remain unconvinced that the PAP could take a moral high ground without really standing stability on this ground and fire all that salvo without compunction. Even though there is no impropriety, not all the PAP speakers were faulting the impropriety in AHPETC or FMSS but on the conflict of interest, links and manner of declaration, which PAP was guilty of.
We have all seen some observers claiming to be neutral criticizing WP over this episode. Ironically, I think they have more grounds to criticize the WP than the PAP itself. The problem in this case is that PAP had done most and the loudest of the criticizing.
WP, on the other hand, took the approach of “you have your position, I am here to explain mine”. It did not portray this matter as an “angel vs devil” showdown by painting themselves as an angel and the other as a devil, although they may be accused of trying to milk sympathy votes. And based on all the WP MPs speeches, it seems like most of the problems had already been rectified and furthermore, WP turned the tables on PAP by actually supporting PAP’s motion. According to the final tally, all 82 MPs who were present in the house supported the motion.
My conclusion, with biased pleasure or otherwise, is that WP has won this round. Not hands down, but with a noticeable advantage.
Melvin Tan
Re: PAP has been trying to fix WP since they lost GRC
LHL was not the ideal man for PM leadership but from mother's love 最毒妇人心, old fat know it very well.
Henpeck LKY has to take her order if he want to keep his wealth and PMship too.
LKY PAP pack of cards has start to fall in domino.
Self-destruction of PAP has just began after losing 1 GRC.
LHL was not the ideal man for PM leadership but from mother's love 最毒妇人心, old fat know it very well.
Henpeck LKY has to take her order if he want to keep his wealth and PMship too.
LKY PAP pack of cards has start to fall in domino.
Self-destruction of PAP has just began after losing 1 GRC.
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