How the tax payers' monies are mis-spent

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Letter of the week: Clear, proper control of government accounts needed​

A worker outside the National Archives of Singapore along Canning Rise on Sept 7, 2020. PHOTO: ST FILE


SEP 19, 2020

The Auditor-General's Office's annual audit on government accounts released last week was appalling (Auditor-General flags lapses in IT controls, procurement and contract management in public agencies; NLB exceeded renovation budget by $1.72 million, JTC potentially sublet to 26,000 unapproved entities: AGO, both ST Online, Sept 7).
These show a lack of proper governance and internal controls to ensure consistency in accounting practices.
Among the lapses flagged by the AGO were gaps in the management of business grant programmes.
Earlier this year, Mr Liu Fook Thim in his Forum letter wrote of the need to figure out, of the myriad government initiatives rolled out, what worked and what did not, and hold grant recipients accountable (More analysis needed ahead of Budget 2020, Feb 18).
When we have too complex a web of grants for companies, it becomes more challenging to keep track of them all.
The public service, along with political appointees, need to set clear and proper internal control and governance practices.
Policies are meant to serve citizens well and ensure that everyone can benefit as much as possible.

Greater clarity in the administration of the various grants and schemes by the public service would go a long way in ensuring that taxpayers' money is put to its intended use and that the initiatives properly fulfil the objectives they were set up for.

Gerald Ong

 

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Parliamentary watchdog urges Government to fix root causes of lapses in public agencies​

Parliament's public accounts watchdog consists of eight MPs. PHOTO: ST FILE

Rei Kurohi
Tech Correspondent


FEB 8, 2021

SINGAPORE - Parliament's public accounts watchdog has urged the Government to examine the root causes of lapses and weaknesses identified in various public agencies, so that the problems can be fixed across the public sector.
In a report released on Monday (Feb 8), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said: "It is important for agencies to examine and investigate the root causes for the lapses so that appropriate remedial actions can be taken at the whole-of-government level and by the respective public sector agencies."
The committee, consisting of eight MPs, reviewed the report by the Auditor-General's Office on the public sector audit for the financial year 2019/2020.
The AGO had highlighted lapses in procurement and contract management at the National Library Board (NLB) and gaps in the management of business grant programmes at Workforce Singapore (WSG) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG), among others.
The PAC wanted to know if there was a framework in place at the whole-of-government level, and within the respective agencies, to examine the problems and ensure that remedial measures are effective.
To this, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said the departments which oversee the policies, whether on procurement or information technology, for instance, regularly work with government agencies to get to the bottom of lapses identified by systemic audit, and to ensure compliance.
It added that a grants management review was completed in 2019 to thoroughly examine lapses relating to the management of grants, and an inter-agency committee was set up to put in place measures to prevent such mistakes.

MOF had also issued a new grants governance framework to all agencies in July last year - which sets out rules on the management of business grants from start to end - and aims to ensure that all agencies acquire a baseline level of capabilities in this area by the end of the 2021 financial year.
Meanwhile, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group has also worked to strengthen IT governance and enhance IT security at the government-wide level.
On the specific lapses identified by the AGO, the PAC said the NLB's internal review had found that "weakness in duty of care on the part of NLB officers" had contributed to the lapses.

NLB was found to have poorly managed its revamp of the National Archives of Singapore building, resulting in the project exceeding its approved cost by $1.72 million. Approvals were given for variations without compelling reasons or cost estimates provided, among other things.
The Ministry of Communications and Information, which NLB comes under, told the PAC that disciplinary actions have been taken against the officers found to be negligent in discharging their duties.
The NLB has also stepped up briefings and enhanced guidance on the roles and responsibilities of officers involved in each stage of the procurement cycle.

The WSG and ESG, meanwhile, had been found to have mismanaged six business grant programmes which disbursed a total of $333.40 million between April 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019.
In some cases, there were double claims and double funding across different WSG grants. The WSG also did not recover unused grant money in a timely manner.
In ESG's case, the funds disbursed for certain grants were not in line with guidelines, resulting in either an excess or a shortfall. Its officers also had inconsistent practices when assessing companies' eligibility.
The PAC called for the review and monitoring of the grants to be strengthened, especially when the administration of such grants is outsourced to external programme partners.
It also stressed that the need to process and disburse grants timeously must be balanced with proper controls and governance.
The Ministry of Manpower, which is the parent ministry of WSG, said the WSG has developed a new guide for its professional conversion programme partners to ensure consistency of practices, and these partners will also have to comply with new guidelines from this year.
The MTI, which ESG comes under, said the ESG has strengthened its checks to ensure programme partners like trade associations and chambers comply with grant conditions.

 

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Lapses found in govt financial records: MOF says there's no tolerance for fraud, corruption​

The statement followed the Auditor-General's Office yearly report issued earlier on July 22. PHOTO: ST FILE

Hariz Baharudin
Indonesia Correspondent


JUL 22, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday (July 22) said it takes a serious view of irregularities in records that public agencies submit for audit, and stressed that the Government has no tolerance for fraud and corruption.
The statement followed the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) yearly report issued earlier in the day, which found possible irregularities in records furnished by public agencies for audit, among other things.
MOF said every case will be thoroughly investigated, and any officer involved in such crimes will be dealt with.
"People are at the heart of our public service enterprise. We are disappointed with the instances of public officers fabricating or altering documents for audit that AGO had flagged, such as in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the People's Association.
"We take a serious view of irregularities in records furnished for audit. Such actions weaken the system of public accountability," the ministry said.
MOF added that it will "throw the book at officers involved in suspected fraud and corruption, including lodging police reports for criminal investigations to be conducted".
Meanwhile, the heads of agencies will continue to strengthen governance and controls, as well as intensify internal audits to look out for any wrongdoing. Any such issues detected will be dealt with, the ministry stressed.

"We will not waver in ensuring public accountability in the use of public funds as we continue to serve Singaporeans to the best of our efforts," it said.

Facilities management lapses​

MOF said that the AGO had conducted a thematic audit on facility management contracts under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs. It found that both had policies and procedures in place to manage their facility management contracts.
But even though the AGO observed a number of good practices in these agencies, it suggested areas for improvement. These include strengthening the controls and supervision of contractors' compliance with contractual requirements.


MOF said that it has started working on measures to consolidate facility management and improve how agencies manage such contracts. These measures aim to drive the sharing and adoption of good practices, standardise processes and deepen capabilities across public agencies, it said.
"By 2025, about 70 per cent of public agencies will have consolidated their facility management to achieve economies of scale and better outcomes. The Building and Infrastructure Centre of Excellence led by JTC is supporting these efforts by providing advisory services and training on facility management," added MOF.

Procurement and IT lapses​

MOF said improvements are needed to address lapses in procurement and contract management, as well as in IT controls and operations, areas which were highlighted in the AGO's audit report.
The audit revealed weaknesses at the Accountant-General's Department and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, among other agencies, over the management of privileged operating system user accounts - computer accounts that give access to more secure parts of an agency's systems.

MOF said the heads of the agencies that were singled out by the AGO have reviewed each case carefully and are taking steps to address the lapses identified and enhance their agencies' systems and processes.
The Government is also implementing government-wide steps to address these issues. MOF has recently set up the Government Procurement Function Office to review policies and strengthen capabilities in procurement.
To improve IT controls, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group and relevant agencies are on track to implement technical systems to automate the review of privileged users' activities for 800 high-priority systems by December 2022, and all systems by December 2023.
With regard to operations management, MOF said it will ensure that regular post-payment analytics are conducted. It added that a new human resource and payroll system with better controls will be rolled out later this year.

 

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AGO finds heritage items improperly deleted from NHB records, tender bids not evaluated​

Both the National Heritage Board and the National Arts Council have pledged to do better and review their processes. PHOTOS: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD/FACEBOOK, NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL SINGAPORE/FACEBOOK

Clement Yong

JUL 22, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Auditor-General's Office (AGO) on Thursday (July 22) flagged to the President key lapses by the National Heritage Board (NHB) in record keeping and the approval of tenders.
Heritage items were missing from the records, bids in tenders were not evaluated, and purchases were often made from the most expensive option.
Another statutory board, the National Arts Council (NAC), had not done enough in the regulation of premises, with non-tenants using its spaces, including for activities unrelated to the arts.
Both statutory boards have pledged to do better and review their processes.
Referring to the NHB, the AGO said it conducted test checks of 18 tenders and found lapses in two of them. Both are period contract tenders where a list of goods and services are offered at pre-determined rates by contractors to the NHB for a specified time.
The nature of these contracts is such that the NHB can directly make purchases from any one of the appointed contractors without having to call for open tenders or quotations for each service thereafter.
The AGO found that in awarding these, the NHB had not properly considered tenderers' submissions, evaluating the price bids of only some of the items on the full schedule before making a decision.

For instance, NHB went through price bids for only 28.2 per cent of the items under the period contract for exhibition design services.
It also evaluated price bids for only 54.7 per cent of the items under the art handling and transportation services contract before awarding it.
The AGO added that even after the award of the contracts to a panel of contractors, the NHB's decisions regarding which contractor among them to buy individual services from was often far from economical.

Of the 435 service items bought from one contractor under the exhibition design services period contract, prices for 294 items, or 67.6 per cent, were the highest among the four experienced contractors awarded the period contract, and in one case was as much as 124 times the lowest offer.
Between June and December last year, this contractor received 52.9 per cent of the total value of purchases made under this contract, totalling $476,500.
Some $53,000 could have been saved from just four purchases the NHB made from this contractor in the same period, the AGO said.
It was a similar situation with the art handling and transportation services contract, with 213 of the 256 items awarded to one contractor being higher than the prices quoted by the other experienced contractor who also won the tender.
This contractor received 91.9 per cent, worth $727,400, of the total value of purchases made under this contract between November 2019 and October 2020.
Test checks of four purchases made by the NHB from this contractor showed that the same services could have been bought for about $131,000 less from the other.
The AGO did not name the contractors.

The NHB said factors other than cost were considered in its decision-making, as museums would consider the requirements of the projects and whether the contractor was capable and available.
For example, the quality of the contractor transporting artefacts is crucial to their protection so that donors and lenders will continue trusting the NHB, it told the AGO.
For the design of some exhibitions, museums had also asked for comparative quotes to ensure cost reasonableness, even if not all unit prices among those awarded the period contract were evaluated.
Following the AGO's findings, the NHB will review the items in the two period contracts and seek approval to remove those with rates assessed to be high. Future tenders will also be more carefully designed. The quality component of the evaluation criteria will be better set out.
As for the NHB's records of heritage materials - which it reported to be worth about $500 million - the AGO found hundreds of discrepancies between entries in NHB's manual and automated records, which are spread out over three systems.
At least seven items were not recorded, indicating that the records were incomplete, while the locations of 63 of 295 records that the AGO checked were wrongly logged.
In addition, 3,464 records were deleted from the Singapore Collections Management System (SCMS), used to process and track acquisitions, without supporting documents.
"AGO's view is that without supporting documents, there was a lack of assurance that the updating and removal of records from SCMS were authorised and valid," the report said.
"Good records management is important as the records of heritage materials are relied upon for tracking, stocktaking and reporting in financial statements."
The NHB said the deletion was part of a data cleaning exercise of invalid or repeated records, and only those with the appropriate authority would have been able to review and delete them.
It said its control over heritage materials was not solely through stock counts, but also through other means such as restriction of physical access to materials. It conceded the need for better documentary evidence.

The NHB is in the process of streamlining its systems and manual records into one platform, and will further review its processes, it said. As many heritage materials lack information, including those that date back to the 1880s, researching into and documenting them is a resource-intensive process and takes time.
The NAC, meanwhile, was found to have lapsed in the rental management of its 37 arts housing premises. The AGO said 74 entities which are not NAC tenants or sub-tenants either used the address of one of its premises as their registered address or possibly operated there.
Seven of these non-tenants were also using the space for activities unrelated to the arts, such as construction and logistics.
The NAC has since conducted a review and said it had found that most of these entities were related in some way to its tenants or former tenants, although it could provide documents to show this in only 10 of the 74 cases.
It has told the AGO that it will, from now on, require tenants to seek its approval before letting their related entities register using NAC addresses.
It will further conduct annual checks against records of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and the Registry of Societies, deregister non-tenant entities, and make sure tenants know they should not use its spaces for non-approved uses.
It will perform checks to make sure rules are followed and carry out enforcement actions.
In addition, the AGO noted that NAC's guidelines to tenants on subletting left much to be desired. There were no requirements to declare conflicts of interest for bid evaluation by tenants when subletting their spaces. Evaluation criteria also did not need to be finalised before open calls for rental applications.
In one case, sub-tenancy agreements set out by the tenant were two to three years longer than what NAC had approved. NAC also did not check that sub-tenants fulfilled their end of the bargain, such as completing renovations amounting to at least $200,000.
NAC said it has started to review its subletting policy to make sure the process is fair, while tightening its oversight of such spaces.

 

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$5.39m in public funds wasted in unused fitness trackers at HPB​

Hairianto Diman
Multimedia Correspondent

JUL 22, 2021
The Health Promotion Board was found to have wasted $5.39 million of public funds due to unused stocks of fitness trackers purchased for a nationwide fitness challenge.
The annual report, published by the Auditor-General's Office, also highlighted lapses in other agencies, such as the Public Service Division for possible overpayment of erroneous claims, and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth for irregularities in records submitted for audit.

 

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Auditor-General's Office report: Overpayments, altered records among some lapses found​

The Auditor-General's Office highlighted key lapses by various ministries and public agencies. PHOTO: ST FILE

Rei Kurohi
Tech Correspondent

JUL 23, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Auditor-General's Office (AGO) released its report on Thursday (July 22) highlighting key lapses by various ministries and public agencies.
Here is a summary of its findings.

Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY)​

The AGO found that some records could have been photocopies with alterations made to the dates and duration of services rendered while others had pre-printed signatures or showed other signs of weak controls.
Six attendance records were fabricated specifically to meet the AGO's request for missing records.
The MCCY said it took immediate steps to address the issues, including recovering all overpayments.
It also took disciplinary action against the two officers who had fabricated the documents.

Ministry of Defence (Mindef)​

Mindef overpaid 323 bills totalling $84,300 to a national healthcare institution between September 2019 and March 2021.

The healthcare institution had incorrectly billed Mindef at the private non-subsidised rate instead of the government-subsidised rate.
Mindef said the error occurred because staff at the healthcare institution had wrongly removed the government subsidy for two tests during a fee review in 2019.
It added that it would complete recovery of overpayment by July and implement checks to scrutinise bills that do not include government subsidies before making payment.

Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)​

The AGO noted that improvements were needed in MOE's and MHA's management of facility management contracts.
It also found instances of supporting documents that were created or backdated to satisfy AGO's queries at both ministries.
AGO also noted weaknesses in MHA's integrated logistics management system.
Both ministries said they would improve their facilities management processes. They also made police reports on the possible fabrication or falsification of records.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC
AGO finds heritage items improperly deleted from NHB records, tender bids not evaluated
People's Association files police report over possible irregularities flagged by AGO

National Library Board (NLB)​

The AGO found various lapses in NLB's procurement of a digital film projection system worth $4.75 million. There was inadequate assurance that principles of value for money, fairness and transparency had been adhered to, AGO said.
NLB said it would remind its staff of its internal guidelines and maintain proper documentation of various tender processes in future.

Singapore Polytechnic (SP)​

SP did not put up required reports to the central government authority concerning two tenderers who had withdrawn their bids after the close of tenders, but before the tenders were awarded.
This is a serious matter and is ground for debarment from being awarded government tenders for a period of time, said the AGO.
SP said it has since informed the Standing Committee on Debarment of the cases and would review its processes to ensure future compliance.

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra)​

The AGO flagged weak controls over the operating system (OS) user accounts with the highest system access privileges in Acra's online filing and information retrieval system, BizFile+.
Acra said it has since modified the configurations of its security software and started logging all commands executed by administrators with root privileges, or full access to the OS.

Health Promotion Board (HPB)​

About 341,000 fitness trackers not put to use for the HPB's National Steps Challenge resulted in $5.39 million of public funds being wasted.
Some of the units had become mouldy and the warranties for all the excess trackers will expire at the end of the year.
HPB said it had overestimated the demand for trackers and pre-emptively topped up its stock each season based on the observed interest from the public.
"For future seasons of the National Steps Challenge, HPB will be more conservative in our projections."

Health Sciences Authority (HSA)​

HSA's total expenditure on small value purchases between April 2018 and June 2020 was substantial at $8.02 million.
AGO found that HSA had been buying required items like chemicals, laboratory devices and consumables on an ad hoc basis instead of aggregating its requirements and purchasing them through tenders.
There were also lapses in outsourced IT contracts and IT application controls.
HSA said it would step up its use of data analytics to identify frequent small value purchases that should be aggregated. It also said it had reviewed its IT systems.

Housing Board (HDB)​

Housing grants totalling $405,000 were disbursed to ineligible applicants.
The AGO also found that quotations for some items could have been created or altered to give the impression that they were obtained from other suppliers.
HDB said it would improve its controls and recover the wrongly disbursed grants. It added that it will take action against applicants who had suppressed any relevant information.

Land Transport Authority (LTA)​

The AGO found 36 instances where LTA had delayed refunding advance payments to individuals or companies that requested works such as shifting of streetlights or bus shelters.
The delays ranged from 11 months to 12.6 years after the works had been completed.
Following the audit, LTA refunded all the cases in March. The highest refund amount was $232,000, and 12 cases involved refunds of more than $50,000.
LTA said it would tighten its monitoring controls and carry out quarterly reviews of advance payment accounts.

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)​

Following a complaint, the AGO conducted checks on a $430,000 tender for event and venue management services for a 2018 MPA event and found several lapses, including significant errors in the tender evaluation report.
The MPA officer in charge had also engaged in detailed discussions with the tenderer that was later awarded the contract before the Tender Approving Authority had made a decision.
Some changes made to the event were also not reflected in the report.
MPA acknowledged the lapses and said it has appointed a panel to investigate the tender and past similar tenders handled by the same team.

 

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MCCY officers issued warnings, PA staff suspended for document irregularities uncovered by AGO​

Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah said more central IT infrastructure and common services are being deployed to improve processes and officers' capabilities. PHOTO: MCI

Grace Ho
Senior Political Correspondent


SEP 13, 2021

SINGAPORE - Two Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) officers were issued official warnings and their performance assessments affected after they admitted to fabricating claims records.
In separate cases, People's Association (PA) staff who may have falsified quotations and doctored documents were suspended from duties.
Irregularities in contractors' records provided to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) led to one contractor being charged in court and the other given a 12-month conditional warning. Two officers are also undergoing internal investigations for a lack of due diligence, said Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah on Monday (Sept 13).
She added that investigations are ongoing at two other agencies - the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Housing Board (HDB).
Ms Indranee was responding to questions by Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh and Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) on recurring lapses uncovered by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO).
The five agencies were flagged by AGO for irregularities and possible falsification of documents, in its July report on government accounts for the 2020/2021 financial year,
The AGO had noted that some supporting documents for claims in MCCY appeared to have been photocopies, with alterations made to the dates and duration of services rendered.

At MOE and MHA, there were instances of supporting documents possibly created or even backdated to satisfy queries.
For the HDB, quotations for some items could have been created or altered to give the impression that they were obtained from other suppliers. At the PA, possible irregularities suggested falsification of quotations, alteration of hard-copy payment supporting details and the creation and backdating of documents.
Ms Indranee said two MCCY officers have admitted to fabricating claims records for services rendered by external parties.

The officers could not locate the records when requested by the AGO. But the investigation showed that the claims were valid, and services were in fact rendered.
"While the claims were real, the conduct of the officers in fabricating the claims records was wrong," she explained.
MHA had three cases of possible irregularities in records furnished by contractors. One contractor was charged in court and the other was given a 12-month conditional warning.
In the third case, action was taken against the contractor for not complying with contractual requirements.
"There was no fabrication of records by public officers in any of these three cases. However, two officers are undergoing internal investigations for the lack of due diligence," she said.
She added that human errors and process gaps will happen from time to time, given that there are 150,000 officers in the public service handling hundreds of thousands of transactions each year, and more than 2,000 government information technology systems built over the years by different vendors and using different technologies.

Recurring lapses have typically been in the areas of procurement and contracts management, IT controls and grants management. These share common factors like the scale and complexity of operations, a constantly changing operating environment, high volume of transactions and multiple touch points.
What is important is having the means to pick up such lapses and address them in an upfront and transparent manner, said Ms Indranee.
To improve processes and officers' capabilities, she said more central IT infrastructure and common services are being deployed, which facilitate regular reviews at the whole-of-government level.
The Smart Nation and Digital Government Group is also implementing central tools to automate agencies' review of privileged users' activities and management of user accounts, she added.

The former will be implemented for some 800 high-priority systems by December next year and all applicable systems by December 2023, while the latter will be implemented for all applicable systems by December 2023.
Agencies regularly review and strengthen their own processes and systems to mitigate agency-level risks, she added.
The Ministry of Finance has established the Finance and Procurement Academy in partnership with the Civil Service College to better equip public officers with relevant competencies.
Officers involved in finance, procurement and contract management receive refreshers and updates on policies and practices.
"We will step up our efforts as the recent audit findings pertain to more complex types of procurement and contract management, particularly in the areas of IT and development projects," she said, adding that officers involved in IT roles are actively engaged in audit findings, as well as learning points and ways to prevent lapses.

Responding to Mr Singh's question on the "unusual" number of incidents of falsifying documents in this year's report, Ms Indranee said the key to resolving process problems is to pick them up as quickly and as efficiently as possible, by automating processes to minimise human error.
But it is also important to build people's capabilities, she added.
"(It means) impressing upon public officers the importance of doing this well...so that in fact they internalise it.
"(We) will continue to emphasise to the officers that misconduct is viewed seriously and will not be condoned, and will also remind them that there are internal avenues to report wrongdoing and fraudulent acts - if these occur, and if the reporting is made in good faith."
The heads of agencies will also prioritise and intensify internal audits to look out for any such wrongdoing and deal with them decisively, she said.
She stressed that integrity is a core value of the public service, and it will continue to uphold strict standards to ensure accountability in the use of public funds.

 

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HDB to automate grants system for flats after monies were wrongly disbursed to 12 applicants​

The updated system will be able to accurately assess eligibility even when applicants fail to declare material information to HDB. PHOTO: ST FILE

Michelle Ng
Housing Correspondent

SEP 13, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Housing Board's grants disbursement system - which, among other things, determines an applicant's eligibility - is being automated.
The updated system will be able to accurately assess eligibility even when applicants fail to declare material information to HDB, such as ownership of property or alternate income streams, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said in Parliament on Monday (Sept 13).
His remarks were made after the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) in July found that housing grants totalling $405,000 were disbursed to 13 ineligible applicants.
Mr Lee said HDB has taken immediate steps to recover CPF housing grants that were erroneously given to 12 ineligible applicants.
A 13th applicant that was flagged by AGO was correctly assessed, he added.
AGO's findings came after it carried out a data analysis of resale flat buyers who had applied for and obtained either the Family Grant or Singles Grant from April 1, 2018, to Sept 30 last year.
Of the 22,627 who had applied for a total of $807.77 million in family or single grants, AGO noted that 1,152 applicants might not be eligible for either of them.

AGO test-checked 97 of these applicants and found 13 ineligible applicants among them. The eligibility status of the remaining 1,055 applicants flagged by AGO is being verified by HDB. Checks should be completed by the end of the year and results will be reported, said Mr Lee.
The Family Grant gives up to $50,000 to married or engaged couples and families who are buying a resale flat for the first time while the Singles Grant gives up to $25,000 to single applicants aged 35 or above.
On Monday, Mr Lee said grants were wrongly disbursed to 12 applicants who had failed to declare material information to HDB, such as their actual income and private property ownership.
The omission was not detected in the verification checks.
In response to questions by Workers' Party's (WP) Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC), Mr Lee said the non-disclosures in each case will be looked at individually.
"We'll look at the facts and circumstances behind each case. Some of the suppression of material may have been deliberate and some may have been a misunderstanding, we'll have to look at it case by case," he said.
HDB assesses each grant application by manually verifying, among other things, the declared incomes against the documents submitted by the applicants and their occupiers.
These include pay slips, employers' letters, commission statements, CPF contribution histories and notices of income tax assessment.

For ownership of private property, HDB verifies documents such as the notice of transfer, transfer instrument, and sale and purchase agreement.
"The verification process is often complex, especially when flat buyers and their occupiers have multiple sources of income or property ownership, both local and overseas," said Mr Lee.

 

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Internal review by People's Association uncovers further lapses following AGO report​

The People's Association is also doing a full review of remaining contract variations for Our Tampines Hub and Heartbeat@Bedok beyond those audited by the AGO. PHOTOS: LIANHE ZAOBAO, ST FILE

Rei Kurohi
Tech Correspondent

SEP 13, 2021

SINGAPORE - The People's Association (PA) could have overpaid contractors by an estimated $60,000 for two construction projects, it found during an internal review.
This is on top of the estimated $2 million it may have overpaid for building materials for Our Tampines Hub (OTH), which the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) flagged in its annual audit of public agencies in Singapore.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong gave an update in Parliament on Monday (Sept 13) on remedial steps and internal investigations by PA following the AGO's findings on two large development projects that it manages - OTH and Heartbeat @ Bedok (HBB).
He told the House that the Government requires agencies to adopt full price fluctuation adjustment for developments with a contract value of more than $5 million. This refers to payment adjustments to account for the changing prices of key raw materials like concrete and steel reinforcement over the course of the project.
Responding to Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC), Mr Tong said PA reviewed 31 public construction developments after the AGO report, which revealed that two projects had erroneously adopted a 70 per cent cap on price fluctuation adjustments in the past seven years - similar to OTH's main construction contract. He did not name the two projects.
PA has since ensured that the provision in all such standard construction contracts is clear and fixed, he said, to ensure greater clarity and compliance on how price fluctuation adjustments should be made.
Mr Singh, Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast GRC) and Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir) also asked about lapses related to contract variations during the construction of OTH and HBB, as well as irregularities which arose during the operations and facilities maintenance phase at OTH.

Contract variations are mutually agreed changes to the terms of contracts that are already in effect.
Mr Tong also said PA has looked into all 252 cases of lapses related to contract variations for OTH flagged by the AGO, and is doing a full review of the remaining contract variations for both OTH and HBB beyond those audited by the AGO.
"PA is doing so to ensure that the other contract variations were carried out with appropriate approvals and proper documentation, and if not, then to take the appropriate remedial actions," he said.

Replying to Mr Singh, Mr Tong said PA will give an update once it completes its review.
On the irregularities in documents related to payments and lapses in managing contracts at OTH, Mr Tong said an internal investigation confirmed the AGO's findings.
A task force has been set up to strengthen existing processes and improve oversight of contractors and managing agents, he added.

Ms Foo said the lapses uncovered by the AGO were "disturbing", and asked if lapses in contract management are systemic across development projects for the 788 community facilities managed by PA.
"The lapses, as far as we can tell, were not systemic," Mr Tong replied.

PA has appointed an external consultant from Ernst & Young (EY) to examine its governance system and oversight functions, and will share the findings with the public when ready, he added.
The consultant will conduct an audit and business process review on PA's contract management of its development and facility management projects in recent years, examine the governance structure for similar integrated community complexes, and provide recommendations to strengthen the oversight of all development projects.
"The external consultant will have a broad mandate to review. It will make practical recommendations to rectify control weaknesses or any lapses noted, as well as identify areas of improvement in terms of efficiency, economy and effectiveness," said Mr Tong.
"PA will take in these recommendations, improve processes when needed and also implement better oversight."

 

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Auditor-General's Office report: 8 key findings​

The Auditor-General's Office highlighted key lapses by various ministries and public agencies for FY 2021/2022. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Chin Soo Fang
Senior Correspondent

JUL 20, 2022

SINGAPORE - The Auditor-General's Office (AGO) released its report on Wednesday (July 20), highlighting key lapses by various ministries and public agencies for FY 2021/2022. Here is a summary of its findings.

Health Promotion Board (HPB)​

The AGO performed audits on Covid-19-related procurement and expenditure of three agencies: HPB, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
The three agencies generally had in place processes and controls and good practices for a timely response to the emergency situation while reducing costs for the Government, but the AGO noted areas for improvement.
For HPB, AGO's test checks of 134 swab personnel it engaged through external partners found that job applications and evaluation documentations for all of them could not be located for audit. HPB had also continued to pay the salaries for 51 swab personnel for one to six months after their contracts had ended.
HPB said the high volume of work and frequent staff turnover resulted in gaps in record-keeping. Given the urgent need to ramp up testing capability, formal written agreements were also not prioritised during the emergency.
Since September 2021, it has transitioned to acquiring manpower services from commercial agencies and no longer enters into individual contracts with swab personnel.
On the salary overpayments, HPB said it conducted a review in January 2021 - before AGO's audit - and found 868 cases with overpayments totalling $1.60 million. Of these, 657 cases have either repaid in full or are on instalment repayment plans, while 211 cases totalling $480,000 were outstanding.

Singapore Land Authority (SLA)​

The AGO found lapses in six contracts totalling $147.19 million to set up accommodation facilities for individuals affected by Covid-19.
In all six contracts, there was inadequate assessment of the reasonableness of prices quoted by the contractors, which meant insufficient assurance that SLA obtained value for money for the procurement.
In four of the contracts, the AGO found that the prices quoted for items such as Wi-Fi and utilities were signficantly higher than other comparable sources.

SLA said it faced challenges sourcing manpower and materials then, and it had limited expertise and knowledge relating to the retrofitting of properties into temporary accommodation facilities.
There was also a pressing need to have the sites up and running in time to meet urgent operational requirements, it added.

Ministry of Manpower (MOM)​

There were instances where the same security personnel was deployed to two different sites for the same shift. PHOTO: ST FILE
The AGO found that 53 payments totalling $72.78 million that MOM made for manpower services had inadequate checks.
These included instances of the same security personnel being deployed to two different sites for the same shift, and duplicate records of the same security personnel being deployed for the same shift.
The AGO also found a case where a senior approving authority in MOM decided not to extend a $2 million contract for manpower services, given that other contractors had submitted lower quotes.
However, MOM officers subsequently sought approval to extend the contract with the incumbent contractor with a quote that was the lowest compared with the other contractors.
Information on when the revised lower quote was provided by the contractor and information about the senior approving authority's earlier decision not to extend the contract were omitted from the tender submission.

MOM said controls over payments checks could have been tightened, and that it has fully recovered the overpayments. It has also strengthened the payment verification process for current manpower services contracts.
The ministry has also made a report about the discrepancies and omissions relating to the contract extension.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)​

The AGO found lapses in the management of contract variations for two development projects totalling $333.24 million.
It found inadequate assessment of cost reasonableness in 198 of 199 star rate items totalling $4.61 million. These are items for which rates are not listed in the contract.
There were also lapses in valuations of contract variations, and no supporting documents to substantiate some payments.
The AGO also flagged concerns over the authenticity of quotations provided to MHA, with possible irregularities in quotations for 531 out of 752 star rate items it test-checked.
MHA said it has taken immediate steps to strengthen contract monitoring processes. It will be recovering the overpayments from the contractors and issuing warning letters to the consultancy firms.
It will also implement additional measures to ensure that contracted building works are carried out in accordance with contractual requirements and prevailing regulations.
It has lodged police reports about the possible irregularities.

Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)​

Arising from complaints, the AGO audited the Whole-of-Government Period Contract and Framework Agreement (WOG PCFA) on creative services for communications campaigns administered by MCI. Period contracts let public sector agencies procure goods and services at pre-determined rates for an agreed period of time.
The AGO found a lack of clarity on units of measurement for certain items that tenderers had to quote for. For the same service item, one tenderer submitted a bid of $900, while another submitted a bid of $82,800.
MCI did not ascertain whether the tenderers had quoted on a like-for-like basis for items where quotes varied significantly, and proceeded to appoint the tenderers to the panel.
MCI also did not monitor the spread of contracts awarded to vendors. As at Dec 31 last year, the top vendor was awarded $124.06 million, or 38 per cent of the total procurement of $322.74million.
MCI said it would ensure that future tender bids were evaluated on a like-for-like basis, and that it would look into how future tenders could be structured to build up players in the creative services industry.

SkillsFuture Singapore Agency (SSG)​

SSG was lax in collecting Skills Development Levy from employers, with an estimated $43 million outstanding. PHOTO: ST FILE
The AGO noted lapses in the management of grants by SSG, resulting in estimated overpayments of $4.22 million. There was inadequate monitoring by SSG and its outsourced service provider to ensure that grants disbursed were valid, correct and in compliance with grant terms and conditions.
SSG was also lax in collecting the Skills Development Levy (SDL) from employers, with an estimated $43 million in SDL outstanding as at April 2022. SSG was also tardy in its enforcement action, with gaps of up to 17 months between payment reminders, said the AGO.
SSG said it would strengthen its rules to ensure consistency and robustness in its grant disbursement. It has also undertaken a comprehensive review of the enforcement of SDL collections.

Ministry of Finance (MOF)​

The AGO identified 5,120 instances where GST Voucher U-Save rebates amounting to $864,500 could have been given to 3,166 ineligible households. The majority of the cases were instances where the registered Singapore citizen flat owner or occupier had died.
The cases arose mostly due to time lag issues in the data used for determining eligibility, noted AGO.
MOF said it would work with HDB and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to ensure it is relying on updated living and citizenship status data, and would review the feasibility of recovering the rebates given to ineligible households.

Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF)​

The AGO found lapses in control over cash and supermarket vouchers at two social service offices (SSOs), as officers had signed off on logbooks, indicating they had performed required checks even though they did not do so.
Closed-circuit television footage showed instances where officers were not present to witness the opening and closing of safes or count the cash and vouchers to ensure they tallied with the books, yet the logbooks were signed off.
There were also weaknesses in the management of IT accounts in MSF's Social Service Net (SSNet), which is used to administer ComCare assistance schemes.
These include delays in removing 376 accounts that belonged to users who had left MSF, and a system administrator account that was no longer needed by an IT vendor.
MSF said it would strengthen the onboarding and training of SSO officers, and has terminated unneeded accounts that were still active.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Auditor-General finds SkillsFuture Singapore overpaid $4.22m, has yet to collect $43m in levies​

SkillsFuture Singapore overpaid an estimated $4.22 million due to lapses in the management of its grants, said the Auditor-General's Office. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Hariz Baharudin
Assistant News Editor

JUL 20, 2022

SINGAPORE - The government agency in charge of lifelong learning here had overpaid an estimated $4.22 million due to lapses in the management of its grants, said the Auditor-General's Office (AGO).
In its annual audit of government accounts, the AGO also flagged that SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) was lax in enforcing the collection of Skills Development Levy (SDL) funds from 2015 to 2020, resulting in an estimated $43 million owed to the agency as at April this year.
The AGO detailed these and other findings in a report released on Wednesday (July 20) on government accounts for the 2021/2022 financial year.
It issued an unmodified audit opinion on the government's financial statements, as well as those of three statutory boards, four government-owned companies and two other accounts. This means it was satisfied with the financial statements audited, and that the statements met requirements and were prepared in accordance with accounting standards.
The AGO also carried out selective audits of four statutory boards and three government funds whose books were audited by external parties.
In the case of SSG, the AGO pinpointed several reasons for the lapses in grant management, including inadequate monitoring to ensure grants were given out to those eligible and insufficient checks by service providers on claims filed by training providers.
Grants were also disbursed to individuals and companies that were not allowed funding due to reasons like suspected fraud.

The AGO also said it "observed laxity" in enforcement by SkillsFuture in collecting skills development levies - a compulsory levy that all employers have to pay for all employees here to support workforce upgrading programmes.
"AGO is of the view that SSG was tardy in its enforcement actions and did not put in adequate effort to conduct audits of employers which potentially owed significant amounts of SDL," it added.
AGO also said it had audited the whole-of-government period contract and framework agreement on creative services for communications campaigns that was administered by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), after it received complaints.

Under the agreement, public sector agencies can procure creative services from a panel of vendors, and at prices evaluated by MCI.
The AGO noted that MCI did not get approval from the appropriate authority for variation in this contract – the agreement had been approved at a value of $174 million for three years from October 2018.
The contract was subsequently extended by six months, but the total procurement made under the agreement as at Dec 31, 2021 was $322.74 million, nearly twice the initial approved value.

In response, MCI said part of the increase was due to the surge in communications campaigns such as for the Merdeka Generation Package and Covid-19 related communications on vaccination, jobs and safe management measures, which could not have been accounted for in 2018.
AGO also said that when MCI called a tender to appoint the vendors, it did not clearly state the unit of measurement for certain items that tenderers were supposed to quote for.
This led to different vendors using different units of measurement when public agencies procured their services – for instance, some vendors used “per man-hour” to measure manpower services instead of “per person” as MCI had intended.
During the tender evaluation, "MCI did not ascertain whether the tenderers had quoted on a like-for-like basis for items where quotes submitted by tenderers varied significantly", said AGO.
It flagged how the highest rates submitted by tenderers were 43 times to 92 times the lowest rates for some items. For instance, one tenderer submitted a bid of $900 for an item while another put in a bid of $82,800, or 92 times more, for the same item.
AGO added that the ministry did not monitor the spread of the $322.47 million worth of contracts awarded to the 39 vendors on the panel.
The top vendor was awarded 38 per cent of the total value, or $124.06 million, and the next two highest vendors getting 7 per cent ($22.90 million) and 6 per cent ($20.04 million) respectively.
For the top six public sector agencies by procurement value which tapped on the MCI framework, AGO noted that the same top vendor in the panel accounted for 14 per cent to 95 per cent of the awards made by these agencies.
The AGO stressed the importance of having a good spread of contracts to encourage vendors to bid for future tenders, and in turn ensure public agencies can continue to enjoy competitive prices in the long run.
MCI had consulted the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on the concentration risk, said AGO. "MOF’s view is that the inclusion of multiple vendors in demand aggregation contracts is to cater to the wide variety of needs that public sector agencies may have.
"If the high concentration of awards to a particular vendor on the panel is a result of the vendor being able to provide goods/services at a suitable pricing that best meet public sector agencies’ needs, this is not a negative outcome."
However, MCI has agreed that it was important to have a good spread of business opportunities in the creative services industry and to build up the experience and expertise of more industry players in government communications.

National water agency PUB also had lapses in how it assessed cost reasonableness of third-party items for campaigns, among others, the AGO said.
In its audit of the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) Community Care (ComCare) Endowment Fund, the AGO found lapses in control over cash and supermarket vouchers at two social service offices.
Officers there did not carry out the required checks on cash and supermarket vouchers, but signed off the logbooks indicating they had done so.
The checks were important as they served as independent checks on another officer, who had sole custody of the key and passcode to the safe containing the cash and supermarket vouchers, said AGO.
The AGO also uncovered management lapses in MSF's social service network system, which is used to administer ComCare assistance schemes.
It said there were delays in removing unneeded accounts for 60 per cent of the accounts that it test-checked.
"Not promptly removing unneeded accounts and their access rights may result in unauthorised activities such as changes to quantum of assistance given to applicants," said AGO. "Information on ComCare applicants and beneficiaries could also be compromised."

MOF, SSG respond to AGO​

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Wednesday said it takes a serious view of AGO’s observations, and the leaders of the agencies concerned have reviewed each case to identify what caused the lapses and are taking steps to address them.
“The relevant agencies have initiated remedial steps, such as to recover excess funds disbursed and strengthen the management of contracts. We will also continue to share good practices to improve standards in public agencies,” MOF said.
It also stressed that the Government has no tolerance for fraud and corruption. A spokesman for SSG said the lapses resulting in overpayments had occurred between April 1, 2018 and June 30 last year.
SSG had determined the eligibility of applicants and training providers for grants and made payments based in part on declarations they made, she said.

Some of these declarations were wrong or inaccurate, and not all were picked up by internal checks, she added.
The spokesman said other errors had occurred during the manual processing of grants, including those made by SSG’s service provider.

SSG has since taken “immediate corrective action” and all cases highlighted by the AGO have been followed up on, said the spokesman.
The agency has reached out to affected training providers, companies and individuals to recover 93 per cent of the overpaid amount, she noted. Pending internal checks, the agency will contact the rest of the entities by the end of the month.
On the SDL funds, the SSG spokesman said the gap between the estimated levy payable and the actual payments has fallen from 18 per cent of the overall levies collected in 2008 to the current 3 to 4 per cent. But it added that a more effective system is needed to ensure that employers pay SDL promptly and accurately.
She added that all public sector agencies have paid in full their estimated underpayments to companies.

 

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Auditor-General flags areas for improvement in HPB, MOM and SLA’s Covid-19 processes​

The Changi Exhibition Centre was repurposed into a community isolation facility for recovering or early Covid-19 patients. PHOTO: ST FILE

Hariz Baharudin
Assistant News Editor

JUL 21, 2022, 6:10 AM SGT

SINGAPORE - The Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) has flagged inadequate controls and checks by three government agencies in relation to their spending on the nation’s Covid-19 fight.
In its annual report released on Wednesday (July 20), the AGO said the Health Promotion Board (HPB), Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) generally had processes in place for procurement and contract management, but highlighted areas for improvement.
The AGO had conducted a thematic audit on samples covering 18 per cent of the total Covid-19 expenditure by the three agencies, which spent $1.51 billion on manpower services, accommodation facilities and meal catering from January 2020 to March last year.
It found that there were lapses in the evaluation of contractors’ proposals and how the agencies determined if prices were reasonable, as well as discrepancies and omissions in submissions to the approving authority for contract award.
The AGO also observed that the three agencies had delays in obtaining approvals for contract awards and weaknesses in payment processes, such as inadequate checks on validity of payments. There were discrepancies in payment claims and a lack of supporting documents as well.
For instance, AGO found that HPB could not locate job application and evaluation documents for 134 personnel hired to conduct swab tests.
Out of these, documents pertaining to the contract offer and the acceptance of offer for 131 of them were not found. AGO also observed that eight swabbers were appointed despite not meeting one shortlisting criterion.

There is also a need to improve on the documentation of assessments carried out, for example on price reasonableness, said AGO.
In checks it conducted for 26 direct contracts worth more than $530 million, AGO found lapses in SLA’s evaluation of six contracts that totalled about $147 million, involving six sites including a hotel.
There was insufficient assessment to determine if the price quoted by the contractors was reasonable, it noted.

In four of the contracts – awarded to the same contractor – there were no details in the tender submission report to back SLA’s assessment that the contractor had the expertise and experience to manage these sites as accommodation facilities.
For three of them, SLA did not detect or follow up on possible overlaps in work items or inconsistencies in work scope, resulting in possible overpayments, estimated to be at $350,000.
In a joint statement on Wednesday after the report was published, the three agencies acknowledged the observations made by the AGO and said they have taken immediate steps to rectify instances of inadequate controls and checks.
Noting that the AGO had pointed out areas where controls could be improved in procurement and contracting processes, such as in the evaluation of proposals and documentation of assessments carried out, the agencies said that they will review their emergency procurement procedures.
“These will have strengthened controls and processes to cater for urgent operations, while adhering to the Government’s procurement principles,” they said.

MOM has fully recovered about $150,000 of overpayments and made good on about $51,000 of underpayments, said the statement. AGO had test-checked 108 payments by the ministry totalling $87.7 million for manpower services, and found 53 payments amounting to $72.78 million where there were inadequate checks before payments were made.
SLA has reviewed the potential overpayments listed by the AGO and after conducting a payment verification exercise, has confirmed that there were no overpayments for most of the highlighted contract sums.
“SLA has taken the appropriate actions to recover about $25,000 of overpayments, and the total potential overpayment for remaining contracts that are still being reviewed is approximately $10,000,” it said.
After AGO’s audit found that HPB had overpaid 51 staff members $580,000 due to delays in the keying in of termination dates into the human resource or finance system, the board has been clawing back outstanding overpayments.

A Covid-19 screening centre set up by the Health Promotion Board. PHOTO: ST FILE
In its report, AGO said that the agencies generally had in place processes and controls across the four stages of procurement and contract management.
These four stages are: planning and establishing needs, procurement and contracting, managing contracts and closure or renewal of contracts.
“The agencies had also implemented several good practices to facilitate timely response to the emergency situation and to reduce costs for the Government,” said AGO.
It highlighted several good practices that helped the Government reduce costs as well as better manage operations and uncertain demand.
For instance, HPB had established a group to handle swab personnel on the ground, noted the AGO, adding that the board developed a training standards and compliance framework for swabbers in June 2020.
SLA reduced costs by conducting a requote exercise with hotels for isolation about five months after it procured the first batch of rooms, to obtain better rates.
It also implemented a retainer basis model from December 2020 to January last year, where hotels were paid only when they were activated to provide accommodation facilities.

 

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MOF to review how agencies buy, contract and pay for services in emergencies after AGO report​

The AGO had flagged lapses in payment and assessment of costs during Covid-19 from various government agencies. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

Clement Yong

JUL 20, 2022

SINGAPORE - How government agencies buy, contract, and pay for services during future emergencies is being reviewed, after the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) flagged lapses in spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Responding to the AGO's report on Wednesday (July 20), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said it is studying how to improve such procedures in scenarios where services need to be made quickly available amid fast changing conditions.
"Drawing from the lessons learnt, MOF is reviewing our emergency procedures to provide better guidance to agencies in managing procurement, contracts and payments," MOF said, adding that the review should be completed by the end of the 2022 financial year next March.
An advisory will also soon be sent out to all agencies on good practices to adopt for future emergencies, such as better supervision and documentation of decisions.
The AGO, in its annual report, had flagged lapses in payment and assessment of costs during Covid-19 by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB), which spent $1.51 billion in total on manpower services, accommodation facilities and meal catering from January 2020 to March 2021.
During the pandemic, government agencies had to quickly make decisions on these services, which the AGO said were mostly done using short-term direct contracts that had to be swiftly evaluated and approved.
While the AGO highlighted good practices by the agencies, it recommended that the Government look at the whole life cycle of the buying, contracting and payment of services in an emergency so agencies have better guidelines on how to manage these in the future.

It also suggested that the Government better organise its inter-agency capabilities such as finance and human resource management to better support such future efforts that involve the whole of government.
MOF said it will learn from the past three years and review how resources can be better organised across agencies to support their finance, procurement and internal audit functions. The Public Service Division – the Government’s central human resource agency – will also provide more central guidance in leading and coordinating the surge in manpower during future emergencies.
The ministry noted that while there were lapses, the AGO had concluded that MOM, SLA and HPB had in place the necessary policies and processes, and had cited good practices like MOM making an open call after the emergency eased to invite food caterers to submit quotations for migrant workers' meals, leading to a reduction in costs.
"Many good practices were maintained even in an emergency, but some lapses occurred. Efforts have been made on the recovery of overpayments, putting in place documentation to reflect decisions taken, and reviewing past transactions to ensure accuracy," MOF said.
It added that public agencies had to act quickly to shift from their pre-pandemic roles to new emergency roles in the last three years, which often involved a quick surge in their operations.
HPB, for instance, had to increase the number of its swab personnel from 650 to 5,100 within two months from May to July 2020.

"The past two years of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic were an extraordinary period for Singapore and its public officers. Despite the challenging conditions including the time criticality of some functions, public agencies and officers strove to maintain high standards of integrity, service and excellence," said MOF.
On other lapses identified by the AGO, MOF said the relevant agencies have taken steps to address those issues after identifying the causes. It will also continue to strengthen the competency of its officers and establish career paths so its talent pool does not erode.
The ministry also reiterated that it has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and that potential offences are thoroughly investigated. Where wrongdoing is found, disciplinary actions are meted out, it said.

 

[sbfuncle]

LOL basically is a corrupted sg

 

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Auditor-General flags lapses in govt agencies, including transfer of official funds to personal bank accounts​

In its annual audit of government accounts, AGO cited instances of giving excessive IT access rights and over-disbursing support grants. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Goh Yan Han
Political Correspondent

JUL 19, 2023

SINGAPORE - The People’s Association, Public Service Division, Ministry of Communications and Information and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore were among the government agencies flagged for lapses and weaknesses in a report released on Wednesday.
In its annual audit of government accounts, the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) cited instances of awarding contracts to debarred contractors, co-mingling official funds with staff’s personal funds, giving excessive IT access rights, and over-disbursing support grants.
It also highlighted possible irregularities in the records provided to AGO by the State Courts and Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
Both agencies have lodged police reports following AGO’s audit observations.
For the State Courts, there were possible irregularities in the quotations provided for 110 out of 295 items, whose rates were not listed in the contract, for a development project.
AGO had concerns over the authenticity of the quotations provided and whether value for money had been obtained for the items.
For SFA, there were possible irregularities in some quotations for ad-hoc works at facilities it managed, resulting in concerns over the authenticity of the quotations.

The AGO report was submitted to the President on July 4, and presented to Parliament on Tuesday.

People’s Association (PA)​

The AGO found that three grassroots organisations (GROs) had awarded contracts to or renewed them with two debarred contractors during their debarment period.
The GROs had either not checked the contractors’ status, or awarded the contracts despite knowing of the debarment.

Contractors may be debarred from taking on public sector projects for reasons such as withdrawing tenders before they are awarded, poor performance, or violation of safety regulations or requirements.
PA had paid about $410,000 to the two contractors for providing lift maintenance and security services.
The report said PA acknowledged the lapses and informed AGO that it would review its guidelines and update its procurement checklist to check on debarment status during bid evaluation and contract renewal.
AGO also test-checked 11 welfare assistance schemes managed by five GROs between April 1, 2019 and May 31, 2022.
It found that the money management practices for these schemes at two GROs were “inappropriate and risky”.

One GRO had transferred $707,000 from its bank account to the personal bank accounts of two staff members in seven instances, in sums ranging from $10,000 to $200,000. This was to enable them to withdraw monies for cash disbursements to welfare assistance recipients at festive events.
The other GRO transferred $334,500 to a staff member’s personal bank account for the person to reimburse hawkers and merchants under a voucher assistance scheme.
This was done in 46 instances between July 2020 and November 2021, with transfer amounts ranging from $500 to $21,200.
According to PA, these practices were implemented due to operational needs. AGO said that for proper accountability, monies of GROs should not be co-mingled with staff’s personal monies, and such practices were inappropriate.
While the checks did not find evidence of monies being lost or misappropriated in those two cases, such practices pose significant risk of loss or misappropriation, said AGO.
Both GROs have since stopped the practices.
PA said it would conduct briefings and training on managing monies in welfare assistance schemes, and implement digital payments for disbursements to reduce cash handling.
It would also pilot having selected GROs start using the Government’s electronic voucher system.
AGO also found in its checks on eight GROs that two did not enter into formal agreements with external service partners when implementing community projects for residents that had started many years ago.
The report also flagged that PA had either not deactivated, or deactivated late, more than 3,000 user accounts in its volunteer management system, Grassroots E-Mart System and Grassroots Financial Accounting System – after the users had left PA, or stepped down from their GRO appointments.

Of these, 16 users had logged into the volunteer management system and accounting system after their last day of service, and one of them had created six payment transactions worth $624.85 after his last day.
PA said the staff member returned his laptop six days after his last day of service, deviating from PA’s procedures. He had used the laptop and accessed his account in those six days to clear work, and there was no ill intention to misuse access into the system.
AGO also found significant lapses in the evaluation and award of two maintenance services tenders, and one cleaning services tender.
In a statement on Wednesday, PA said it is committed to resolving and improving its governance, procurement and oversight processes.
It has set up a review committee to look at the latest AGO findings, together with existing and planned remedies, and will recommend any further interventions to its board.
Both the AGO report and PA statement did not specify the constituencies where the lapses occurred. The Straits Times has contacted PA for more information.

Public Service Division (PSD)​

An IT general controls audit was conducted for the PSD’s human resource and payroll system, which serves more than 186,000 users across the Government.
AGO said it found weaknesses which may compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the system and data residing in the system.
These included weak controls over the most privileged operating system and database accounts, and weaknesses in the review of accounts and administrators’ accounts in the system.
Excessive access rights were given to IT vendor staff, which would allow them to modify or delete data files.
Excessive access rights to the keys used for encryption or decryption of data files were also granted to vendor staff.

Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)​

In 2022, the AGO reported lapses in MCI’s administration of the Whole-of-Government Period Contract and Framework Agreement (WOG PCFA).
After the first WOG PCFA expired, MCI established a second one in April 2022.
AGO’s review of the tender recommendation report for the second agreement found that out of 108 tenderers appointed to a panel, MCI had appointed five that did not meet the evaluation criteria.
MCI informed AGO that it viewed this as a serious lapse, and that all five vendors had since been removed from the panel.
MCI has also set up a dedicated procurement team.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)​

The CAAS had administered several grants to support the aviation industry amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between Sept 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022, $114.52 million was disbursed under one of the schemes.
AGO found over-disbursements amounting to $1 million, indicating that CAAS’ checks and controls were inadequate in ensuring grants disbursed were valid, accurate and in compliance with grant terms and conditions.
These over-disbursements were due to erroneous claims made by companies which had included ineligible employees who did not meet criteria such as citizenship or having a valid professional licence during the period of claim.
The report also said that for the same grant, certain eligibility criteria were either stated inaccurately or not stated in the grant agreements.
CAAS said each company receiving the grants had been required to appoint an external auditor, who did not flag the errors. The authority said it would tighten its controls and processes for future grant disbursements and follow up to recover the over-disbursed amounts.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Lapses in documentation, controls of Covid-19 schemes: AGO​

On the Singapore Rediscovers Vouchers scheme, the AGO found inadequate controls on the inclusion of merchants or products. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Tham Yuen-C
Senior Political Correspondent

JUL 20, 2023

SINGAPORE - The Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) has flagged lapses in the documentation and controls of the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), which it said made it difficult to determine if risks were properly assessed and resulted in grants being wrongly disbursed.
This was one of the findings by the AGO, which conducted a thematic audit on four Covid-19-related grant schemes managed by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras), which comes under the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which comes under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Besides the JSS, the AGO found issues with the Rental Cash Grant (RCG), Rental Support Scheme (RSS) and Singapore Rediscovers Vouchers scheme (SRV).
The audit looked at how the grants were designed and set up, how they were evaluated, approved and disbursed, and subsequently reviewed.
For the JSS, RCG and RSS, the AGO found that MOF did not adequately document key considerations and decisions relating to risks. This meant there was inadequate assurance that a proper risk assessment had been done before the schemes were implemented, it said.
Having sufficient documentation to support key decisions made is critical for effective governance, especially since JSS payouts amounted to $29.38 billion and involved automatic disbursements, added the AGO.
The MOF had also fallen short in documenting evaluations and approvals for JSS appeals. The AGO’s test check of 73 appeal cases revealed a lack of documentation in 48 cases, with disbursements totalling $79.7 million.

In some cases, there were no documents to show how MOF determined if a company was eligible for JSS grants. In other cases, the documents seeking approval for appeals and approvals of appeals were missing.
MOF was also tardy in recovering disbursed grants that needed to be clawed back, the AGO found.
For instance, though the ministry had decided in July 2020 to recover JSS grants from government-funded entities such as hospitals and autonomous universities, there were delays in following up, and inaccurate records to monitor those cases.

In all, 130 entities with existing government funding had received JSS payouts amounting to $1.6 billion. The amount to be recovered depended on the existing funding arrangements of each entity. As at Dec 31, 2022, the MOF had not followed up on a total of $1.07 billion paid to 38 entities.
The AGO also said Iras could have done more to follow up on the return of RCG and RSS grants. There were 7,458 cases of RCG and RSS payouts being returned from Jan 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022, coming up to $88.59 million.
Iras did not have a process to automatically block an ineligible entity from receiving the RSS, even though the entity had been rejected for the RCG for the same reason, AGO noted.
Proper monitoring of grant returns to detect possible systemic issues is important as there is a higher risk of grants that are automatically disbursed being given to unintended recipients, it added.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore could have done more to follow up on the return of RCG and RSS grants, the AGO said. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

On the SRV scheme, the AGO found inadequate controls on the inclusion of merchants or products.
STB had disbursed $178.27 million under the scheme, with eligible Singaporeans receiving vouchers to spend on local attractions, hotels and tours.
In its checks of 80 merchants, AGO found that 12 were included despite there being inadequate documents to show that they had met one of several eligibility criterion. The 12 received a total $17.84 million from the scheme.
AGO’s checks also found that 950 products sold by 37 merchants were included in the scheme, even though these were not submitted for eligibility checks. These accounted for $4.81 million of disbursements under the scheme.
Taken together, there was inadequate assurance that STB had a robust process to ensure only eligible merchants and products were included, said AGO.
The AGO also found some people had made false declarations to get subsidies for children and youth, totalling $119,800, when the tickets were not used by people under 18.
In response to the AGO report, MOF said in a statement that Singapore was dealing with a major disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Government had to mount an unprecedented response in terms of size, scope and speed to support businesses and workers.
“Public agencies operated under tight timelines and had to manage overlapping waves of policy planning, implementation and review. They also had to take on new roles and functions in addition to their usual operations, redeploy and stretch manpower, repurpose IT systems and available data to respond effectively to the crisis,” added MOF.
“Despite these challenges, the public service officers rallied and implemented the Covid-19 grant schemes in a timely manner.”
MOF also said that though the documentation of processes and risk assessments may not have been complete due to fast-moving developments and time constraints during the pandemic, “each decision was duly deliberated”.
The ministry added that the $86.2 million in total that it had to claw back – after it reassessed the schemes following the audit – make up less than 0.5 per cent of total payouts across the JSS, RCG and RSS.
“We have recovered about 99.7 per cent of overpayments, and will continue to work with the entities to recover the rest,” added MOF.

In a separate statement, the STB said it was “firmly committed to good corporate governance and the responsible use of public funds”.
It noted that the SRV scheme was launched within four months amid the pandemic.
“Given the urgency of supporting local tourism businesses and jobs, and the complexity of designing the Government’s nationwide digital-only voucher scheme for the first time, we are heartened by AGO’s findings that STB had thought through the scheme design and put in place the necessary controls to ensure proper management,” it said.
STB also said that it had taken steps to review and tighten its processes based on the audit observations.
The AGO noted in its report that the Government had to develop and implement new grant schemes rapidly during the pandemic, and public sector agencies had to work within tight timelines and highly fluid conditions.
But it is important to identify and document key risks involved in rapid implementation of grant schemes to help agencies make informed decisions, the AGO added.
The AGO also stressed the importance of proper governance of scripts and datasets, which are used in data analytics.
Both IRAS and STB had harnessed data analytics to sieve out those who might try to game the system and check on disbursements respectively. The AGO said the scripts and datasets used in such checks were updated, but there was a need to ensure proper authorisation for the changes.
It added that there is room for improvement in the level of documentation and communication of key matters during crises.
As multiple agencies are involved in designing and implementing various Covid-19 grant schemes, better documentation would ensure all agencies are on the same page, as well as greater accountability and transparency, the AGO said.

 

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MOF has begun recovery of GST Voucher U-Save rebates given to ineligible households​

One eligibility condition for the rebate is that the household must have a living Singapore citizen. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Goh Yan Han
Political Correspondent

AUG 1, 2022

SINGAPORE - The process of recovering rebates given out in the last financial year to ineligible households has begun. These payouts by the Ministry of Finance were identified by the Auditor-General’s Office in its report released in July.
The report had found 5,120 instances where GST Voucher U-Save rebates amounting to $864,500 could have been given to 3,166 ineligible households. One eligibility condition for the rebate is that the household must have a living Singapore citizen.
Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah told Parliament on Monday (Aug 1) that a time lag issue affected about 3,100 households, or about 0.3 per cent of all households living in Housing Board flats.
These were cases where the sole Singapore citizen household member had already passed away as of the date used to determine eligibility, and the error arose as there was a time lag in some deceased citizens' living status data, due to legal processing of records after their deaths had taken place.
"There were another 23 cases of U-Save rebates given even though there were no Singaporean citizens in the household, due to errors in agencies' databases," said Ms Indranee.
She was responding to questions from Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) and Workers' Party MP He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) about reasons for disbursement to ineligible households.
Ms Indranee added that the Ministry of Finance is working with agencies such as HDB and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to tighten operational processes and ensure the use of latest available data to administer the GSTV - U-Save scheme.

In response to a further question from Ms He on the action taken to claw back the monies and the timeline for it, Ms Indranee said she did not have the exact figures at the moment as it was still in process, but added that the ministry is doing it as soon as it can.

 

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SSG acknowledges gaps in levy collection, is updating its IT system: Gan Siow Huang​

SSG will develop more efficient processes to resolve differences in companies and SSG's estimates, said Ms Gan. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Ng Wei Kai


AUG 1, 2022

SINGAPORE - The gap between estimated and actual payments collected under the Skills Development Levy (SDL) has fallen from 18 per cent in 2008 to between 3 per cent and 4 per cent today, said Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang.
This is due to SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) improving its IT system and through reminder letters and calls, Ms Gan said in reply to MPs' questions about lapses flagged by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) in its annual report last month.
She told Parliament on Monday (Aug 1): "Nevertheless, SSG acknowledges that more needs to be done to actively reconcile the remaining gap and help all employers pay the correct amount of SDL."
In its report released on July 20, the AGO had found SSG lax in enforcing the collection of SDL funds from 2015 to 2020. This resulted in an estimated $43 million owed to the agency as at April this year.
The SDL is a levy which companies pay every month for foreign and local employees in Singapore, which is about 0.25 per cent of their monthly wages.
The report also found that SSG, which is the government agency in charge of lifelong learning, had overpaid an estimated $4.22 million due to lapses in the management of its grants.
Responding to questions from MPs Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) and Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) on the AGO's findings, Ms Gan said SSG uses existing government data, such as data from the Central Provident Fund, to estimate how much in levies companies should pay.

This means that SSG's estimates may differ from the actual amount paid by employers, due to factors like fluctuations in workers' actual wages every month.
SSG is working with GovTech to roll out an IT system by the middle of next year that can more accurately estimate and track such payments while also helping employers better estimate their SDL liabilities, she added.
Ms Gan, who is also Minister of State for Manpower, said SSG has started engaging affected employers and will contact all of them by the end of the financial year, and that they will be given time to validate the amount owed.

SSG will send payment reminders and develop more efficient processes to resolve differences in companies' and SSG's estimates, she added.
"For the few recalcitrant employers who do not pay the outstanding levies despite reminders, SSG will take decisive punitive action," she said.
Addressing the overpayment of grants by SSG, Ms Gan said the agency was still investigating and had not yet determined if they were due to fraud.
"We have not used that term yet because, as I explained, there is a lengthy verification process with the individuals and the companies and training providers involved," she said in reply to a follow-up question by Ms Lim.

The bulk of these claims occurred before November 2020, when SSG's IT system was using a declaration-based approach, noted Ms Gan.
Errors had also occurred during manual processing of grants, including human errors made by a service provider contracted by SSG, she added, without naming the provider.
Ms Gan said SSG is now looking at the service provider's contractual liability.
"The root cause we have identified is the massive volume of manual processing that makes it very difficult for all the verifications to be done fully and hence, there needs to be more upstream changes in the policies and business rules," she said.

 

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From overpayment of Covid-19 support to ineligible voucher redemptions: ST looks at other findings from AGO report​

The 98-page AGO report released on July 19 uncovered weak controls and financial lapses at the courts, and eight ministries and statutory boards. PHOTO: ST FILE

Ang Qing

AUG 4, 2023

SINGAPORE - When the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore paid out funds to support the aviation sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, it mistakenly paid out $1 million more than it had to.
This is just one of several lapses uncovered by the latest Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) report.
On Thursday, Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, in a parliamentary written reply to a question from Hougang MP Dennis Tan from the Workers’ Party, said the sum mistakenly given out is likely to be recovered within the next three months. Mr Tan had asked about the likelihood of recovering taxpayers’ money from these firms.
The 98-page AGO report released on July 19 uncovered weak controls and financial lapses at the courts, and eight ministries and statutory boards. Among the agencies flagged for lapses were the People’s Association and the Ministry of Communications and Information. The report also found lapses in the controls for Covid-19 schemes.
The Straits Times looks at three other issues involving government bodies listed in the annual assessment of the nation’s spending.

1. Redemption of SingapoRediscovers Vouchers for the dead​

Several people had redeemed SingapoRediscovers Vouchers worth $119,800 for those who were ineligible, like the dead.
It also included redemptions for subsidised child or youth tickets, except that the applicants were not under 18.

The SingapoRediscovers Vouchers scheme was launched in August 2020 to rejuvenate the ailing tourism industry during the pandemic. Under the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) scheme, $100 in vouchers could be redeemed by Singaporeans aged 18 and above to spend on local attractions, hotels, and tours.
The AGO found that $2,600 was dispersed through 35 redemptions using the Singpass accounts of 30 people who were dead at the time of redemption.
Seventeen redemptions were done on the day the person’s death was registered. Another 18 redemptions were made between one day and nearly eight months after the day the Singpass account holder’s death was registered.


STB said four of the redemptions were due to the oversight of SingaporeRediscover Vouchers ambassadors, who did not conduct proper facial verification checks at NRIC scanning counters.
The remaining redemptions were due to delays in deactivating the dead persons’ Singpass accounts, which opened the door for others to misuse their Singpass accounts.
Meanwhile, 5,718 Singaporeans used their vouchers for tickets with subsidies totalling $117,200 for 6,506 people who should not have benefited from the subsidies, as they were not aged below 18.
This included redemptions for 10 people with invalid identification numbers.
STB said the lack of checks to validate the ages of children and youth, due to the short lead time to implement the voucher redemption system, was among the reasons for the lapses.
There were also challenges in implementing effective checks, such as difficulties in verifying the identities of residents through MyInfo, as they did not have Singpass accounts.

2. Wrong contributions deposited by Mindef in servicemen accounts​

More than 1,210 cases of incorrect contributions to servicemen’s Saver and Premium Plans were found to have taken place, most of which involved overpayment.
The plans – managed and administered by the Ministry of Defence – support the financial needs of military officers, warrant officers and specialists at different stages of their life and career.
AGO checks on the contributions made to servicemen’s Saver accounts between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2022, found four instances of excess contributions.
They comprised a sum of $405 to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Top-Up Account of two servicemen and excess contributions of $282 to the Retirement Account of another two servicemen.
Mindef said the errors arose from system misconfigurations after a policy change to the plans in July 2021 and that it had earlier rectified incorrect contributions detected by its own checks after the change.
However, the AGO said Mindef did not detect the four cases of wrong contributions, which sparked fears that there could be other cases of wrong contributions.
After the AGO audit, Mindef found another 360 cases of overpayment of contributions to servicemen’s CPF Top-Up Account, amounting to $164,200, and another 853 cases of incorrect contributions to servicemen’s retirement account.
The wrong contributions comprised 809 cases of excess contributions amounting to $90,800 and 44 cases of contributions amounting to $9,400.
Mindef has since taken action to rectify all incorrect contributions and said that there have been no other errors linked to the system misconfigurations, the AGO report said.

3. Inadequate monitoring of agents managing fishery port and wholesale centre​

The AGO also found lapses involving agents contracted by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to manage Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre and Jurong Fishery Port.
Management was outsourced to different managing agents, and they were paid $6.15 million for the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31.
During visits in December 2022 and January, the AGO discovered a slew of lapses. These included 13 cases of unauthorised addition and alteration works, cluttered corridors, blockage of fire equipment and the unauthorised use of 10 out of 21 vacant units test-checked. The report did not specify what the units had been used for.
The AGO said the lapses indicated inadequate contract monitoring by the SFA to ensure that the managing agents had fulfilled their contractual obligations and that the SFA had received the full value of services paid for. It also highlighted the need for the SFA to ensure that its tenants abide by the terms and conditions of their tenancy agreements.
The SFA informed the AGO that it had taken action in April to recover payments from the managing agents for the non-performance of work.
The SFA had also enhanced its contract management regime, stepped up inspections, conducted repair works as well as taken immediate remedial and enforcement actions following the AGO’s audit.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

SG government offered the foreign students tuition grants, tuition fee loans, and study loans.
And offered them permanent residencies when they started working.
Depriving Singapore citizens of places in the universities and job opportunities.

Career opportunities drive young Indonesians to take up Singapore citizenship, work in the Republic​

Indonesia’s immigration office in early July said that 3,912 Indonesians had gained Singapore passports from 2019 to 2022. PHOTO: ST FILE

Linda Yulisman
Indonesia Correspondent


AUG 10, 2023,

JAKARTA - Nearly 4,000 young Indonesians have taken up Singapore citizenship in the past few years, driven by scholarships offered by the Singapore Government and better career opportunities in the Republic.
The brain drain has alarmed the Indonesian authorities, who are concerned that the loss of talent may dash hopes of South-east Asia’s top economy becoming a developed nation by 2045.
Indonesia’s immigration office in early July said that 3,912 Indonesians – most of whom were degree holders and aged 25 to 35 – had gained Singapore passports from 2019 to 2022.
Director-general for immigration Silmy Karim told The Straits Times that it is an “individual’s right” to change citizenship, especially to pursue better job prospects and achieve a higher standard of living.
But he noted that this trend was something Indonesia’s government “should pay attention to”.
Mr Silmy revealed the figures at a youth festival in Jakarta on July 8, adding that Indonesia was racing against other nations to find great talent.
In a separate interview with Metro TV, he said that although the figures were small, the Indonesians who had renounced their citizenships were “excellent human resources” of “productive age”.

“This serves as an alarm for us to make efforts so that our excellent human resources continue to stay in Indonesia,” he said.
“We need them in the areas of technology, finance, digitalisation and others as required by a country to compete with others. We don’t want to face a shortage of experts in some fields.”
One factor drawing talent to Singapore is the quality of its education system and availability of high-skill jobs.


“There are rare job opportunities in my field In Indonesia,” said 40-year-old software engineer Michael (not his real name) from Sumatra, who became a Singapore citizen in 2022.
He first went to Singapore in 2002 to study electrical engineering at Nanyang Technological University, helped by a tuition grant from the Singapore Government, a tuition fee loan and a study loan from a Singapore bank.
The grant stipulated he had to work in the Republic for three years after graduation, or he would have to repay it.
After completing his studies in 2006, the Singapore Government offered him permanent residency on the condition that he worked in the country.
He joined a semiconductor company as an embedded software engineer, and in just a few months he became a permanent resident after getting an invitation from the Government, which accelerated the process, he said. He has worked at several other companies in the same field since 2013.

Michael, who works to develop microcontrollers widely used in electronics from gadgets to vehicles, told ST he would have faced a “skills mismatch” in Indonesia, as the semiconductor industry there is still underdeveloped, with jobs available mostly in the manufacturing side.
Other factors that he considered before giving up his Indonesian citizenship include how safe Singapore is and the ease of travel using a Singapore passport.
He also plans to have children, and hopes that as a Singapore citizen, he can get the “enormous” support for childcare and their education.
Dr Siwage Dharma Negara, a senior fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said that through various scholarships, grants and loans, Singapore lures Indonesia’s bright talent.
He added that Singapore universities have connections with prestigious schools in the archipelago, allowing them to recruit prospective students.
“Singapore always seeks potential talent to work here. If these people have academic achievements or excellence in other fields, they will find it easier to become citizens,” he said.
But Dr Siwage said human capital flight should pose no harm for Indonesia, as it has a big talent pool, which, if managed well, could contribute to its development.
In addition, he said, the government must also provide “strong incentives” for Indonesians studying overseas to return and work in Indonesia, including offering clear career pathways and opportunities for professional growth.
One such measure is Indonesia’s Education Endowment Fund, which was rolled out in 2011.
The scheme, which currently has government funds totalling 139.1 trillion rupiah (S$12.3 billion), pays for Indonesians to further their studies and conduct research projects at home and abroad, with the aim of having them take up leadership positions in Indonesia.

Indonesian authorities are concerned that the loss of talent may dash hopes of South-east Asia’s top economy becoming a developed nation by 2045. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Meanwhile, many Indonesians who have lived for years in Singapore still keep their Indonesian passports instead of applying for citizenship.
Mr David Gani, a research and development director in a semiconductor company who has worked for 19 years in Singapore and is a permanent resident, is among them.
“The main reason why I don’t return to Indonesia is my job. My skills are quite specific,” the 46-year-old father of two told ST.
The family, including his Indonesian wife, reside in Singapore.
“But I would still like to have the option of returning if there are jobs matching my skills, and that’s among the reasons I haven’t renounced my citizenship,” he said.
While he loves the efficiency of the public services in Singapore, he also acknowledged the high cost of living. He still dreams of enjoying life at a slower pace in a remote region in Indonesia once he retires.
“It’s highly competitive in Singapore. Once we are not competitive any more, let’s say when we retire, we may feel alienated,” he said