AIM, mis-AIM & Punggol By-Election

[Goh Meng Seng]

http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.hk/2013/01/aim-mis-aim-punggol-by-elections.html

I have refrained from writing about AIM saga here on my blog officially because of a few reasons. First of all, I feel that both parties, are guilty of politicking without really account to what is the REAL COST to the residents of Aljunied GRC. PAP didn't come clean on how much it has cost for all the PAP TCs back in 2003 in developing the estate management software in the first place. WP didn't come clean on why they initiated the development of the new software and how much they have spent in doing so.<br />
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PAP has used AIM as a political vehicle to do politicking in the event of a loss of any constituency controlled by them. Although it is not clear whether they have actually did it explicitly right after losing Aljunied TC (we will never know if a conversation transpired between both parties might have hinted anything of this sort) but apparently there is absolutely no reason for TCs to sell the software to PAP owned AIM and it is obvious that AIM bought the software out of political considerations rather than commercial value. Of course, this is obviously a serious breach of conflict of interest and residents' interest was compromised in very sense. PAP's explanation is totally unconvincing at all and this has been dealt with many bloggers and writers already. I shall not repeat here.<br />
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As for WP, it didn't raise the red flag of such blatant conflict of interests until its competency of running the Town Council was put into question and doubt by the Town Council report. In fact, WP has gone on the record to say that the handover was smoothly done. I cannot see how AIM saga, which has been resolved back in Sept 2011 could have affected WP's performance in the whole year of 2012 or how it could delay the auditor's report until now. Apparently, this is just smokescreen of excuse for the below par performance. <br />
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Sylvia Lim has filed a motion in parliament to debate about "Safe Guarding Public the Interests in Town Council Management" and PM Lee immediately called for an inquiry by HDB into this matter. <br />
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Thereafter, PM Lee called for snap By-election in Punggol East and immediately, Sylvia Lim withdrew her motion, giving the excuse of wanting to wait for the Inquiry to be completed. <br />
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Such adverse politicking between the two parties is rather sickening to me. Many of you may not really understand the whole process here, thus I will dissect what the whole matter is all about.<br />
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The whole issue of this AIM saga has developed from the small little bickering between the two parties, PAP and WP, into something more important. If such things happen in Hong Kong, there would be an uproar of public opinion over it, on both parties. The issue is MORE THAN AIM itself. It is about REAL Potential Conflict of Interests in management of public entities and the government.<br />
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It has happened in places like Taiwan before, whereby the ruling party, has sold public enterprises or assets at dirt cheap prices to companies owned by people related to the party or directly to the party itself. The potential threat of corrupt practices is REAL if such things are not kept in check with transparency and accountability.<br />
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However, conflict of interests may not just stop at the party level. What does conflict of interests mean? A political party selling a software developed using by public money to a company it owns? A public entity giving contracts to companies owned by immediate family members or relatives of those running or managing that public entity...is that considered as conflict of interests ? Or even worse, these public entities giving business contracts to companies owned by the very people who manage or running that public entity.... is that considered as conflict of interests ?<br />
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Conflict of interests MAY NOT be illegal or criminal in nature as long as bidding processes are done with proper documentation. However the question is, is it politically ethical or correct? <br />
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In my view, Sylvia Lim was just too bold to file that motion to be debated on Monday. This is because ultimately, the debate will be focused on how to define Conflict of interests. She has forgotten that WP has been involved in running HGTC for all this while. When you are in charge of a TC for over 20 years, it is difficult to guarantee that you will have no issues of Conflict of Interests at all, regardless of whether or not there are conscious effort in avoiding it. Thus, PAP may just pull out some examples of conflict of interests that happened in WP controlled TC in the past and that would make WP look extremely and extraordinarily bad politically. Unless Sylvia Lim is 100% sure that there isn't any visible or underlying conflict of interests in EACH AND EVERY DEALINGS, CONTRACTS ISSUED etc, she is basically opening up a dangerous front for her own party!<br />
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People assume opposition like WP would be angels and above board of everything but is that really the case? For eg, since they attacked on vote buying in HDB upgrading pork barrel politicking but ended up they have done similar act of vote buying when they have that little power in hand, i.e. Lucky Draw for Voting for HDB upgrading. Such thing won't be made known to us if there is no whistle blower. <br />
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In the case of town council management, conflict of interests may not be "illegal" though politically not right. PAP has all sorts of conflict of interests and we now know that AIM is one of them but we expect opposition parties not to do such things. If one day, you found out such conflict of interests also happen in opposition parties, how would you think? It would be a total disaster on the political front, not only for WP but for the whole opposition movement. <br />
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Apparently, PM Lee took that golden opportunity to immediately draw a clear line from AIM and call for an independent inquiry. It would be unimaginable to call for a By Election immediately if he felt that the parliamentary debate on Monday on the proposed Motion by Sylvia is going to hurt PAP badly. That would be disastrous for PAP's campaign in Punggol but why did he call for the BE? I don't think the PM is that stupid after all and we should not underestimate our Prime Minister. There is no coincidence that he did the both things almost at the same once Sylvia filed that motion. It shows that he is prepared to go for scorched earth, to spill it all!<br />
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I believe that the PAP is prepared to go all out to debate on Sylvia Lim's motion and they must have something up their sleeves, they are so confident that they are willing to put Punggol By Election at stake. I guess they should have sensed the unusual courage and boldness of the predictable conservative PAP, thus finally realized that it is not a good idea after all to file that motion. Thus, just like playing the poker game, they blink and withdrew the motion. This is the whole politicking process all about.<br />
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This may not be the end of the issue if PAP decide to carry on and ask their own MPs to file the same motion on Monday.<br />
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I have long proposed not to have TC managed by MPs. You can read about the rationale here at<a href="http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=40661" target="_blank"> New Asia Republic</a> and <a href="http://kelvinteowrites.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/kelvin-teo-catches-up-with-mr-goh-meng-seng-of-the-national-solidarity-party/" target="_blank">the original write up</a>.&nbsp; A MP should focus on parliamentary and law making. This should be their core business that voters voted them while taxpayers pay them to do. They should not be expected to run the TC. Else, we will end up with these messy situation of AIM saga and all sorts of politicking that would undermine the effectiveness of the MPs in doing their core business.<br />
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As for my views about the impending By-Election in Punggol East, I shall talk about it in my next few postings, if I have the time to write.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng<br />
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[enterprise2]

Errrr GMS, what r u trying to say.... 2 wrongs make a right?? Pinky cannot say that AIM conflict of interest is OK if he can find dirt on Hougang?? This is not about WP, this is about AIM.

 

[ChaoPappyPoodle]

Do not be surprised to find out that PAPzi town councils have higher, per-resident or home costs than the opposition. The introduction of a mayor and their support staff has actually added to costs rather to reduce costs as one would expect from economies of scale. Layers upon layers of staff and bonuses are added to increase the burden on Singaporeans. All this talk about economies of scale are impossible with the way the PAPzis structure themselves.
AIMgate is only a single representation of how wasteful the town councils are with residents money which is likely symptomatic of how citizens money is handled by the PAPzis at the country level.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

That's not for me to decide but I guess, if WP carries on like that, it will self destruct, bringing the whole opposition movement with it.

Goh Meng Seng

Errrr GMS, what r u trying to say.... 2 wrongs make a right?? Pinky cannot say that AIM conflict of interest is OK if he can find dirt on Hougang?? This is not about WP, this is about AIM.

 

[jw5]

That's not for me to decide but I guess, if WP carries on like that, it will self destruct, bringing the whole opposition movement with it.

Goh Meng Seng

Did you collect the nomination forms for yourself?

 

[mojito]

Wise words GMS. Conflicts of interests are more serious than which political party has been victimised by unfair practices. This applies to WP as much as it does to PAP. Plus rep!

 

[Bigfuck]

I now know why good making shit is doing this. By being an arse, GMS has become ostracized by all political parties and he is too poor to run for elections and donate money. It is sour grapes.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

That's not for me to decide but I guess, if WP carries on like that, it will self destruct, bringing the whole opposition movement with it.

Goh Meng Seng

So WP is the villain? WP is the one who was non-transparent about funds? WP sold public property to its own private company?

 

[scroobal]

Let me summarise for those who do not have the time.

1) PAP and WP is at fault
2) WP is at fault
3) WP is at fault
4) WP is at fault
5) In conclusion WP is at fault.

ps. I am criticising WP because I want them to do better.

 

[zhihau]

ps. I am criticising WP because I want them to do better.

bro,
is GMS insinuating that WP is guilty of cronyism and it's akin to pots calling the kettle black?

 

[Fook Seng]

So WP is the villain? WP is the one who was non-transparent about funds? WP sold public property to its own private company?

It is a surprise that with the recent shocking proposal from Dr Chee ( I do not use SDP because I am not sure it was SDP that was proposing it) there is a not a single word from GMS.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

It is a surprise that with the recent shocking proposal from Dr Chee ( I do not use SDP because I am not sure it was SDP that was proposing it) there is a not a single word from GMS.

CSJ has outdone GMS.

Step aside GMS, you've met your match.

 

[mojito]

bro,
is GMS insinuating that WP is guilty of cronyism and it's akin to pots calling the kettle black?

You see, GMS is a courageous man unafraid to say it as it is. He would put his name and personal reputation to say the WP must uphold the same standards demanded of the PAP. Especially for one particular instance, the replacement system for the one AIM terminated with AHTC. Personal liabilities from lawsuits mean nothing to him. You cannot ask for a braver soul than that of GMS!

 

[tanwahp]

It is a surprise that with the recent shocking proposal from Dr Chee ( I do not use SDP because I am not sure it was SDP that was proposing it) there is a not a single word from GMS.

You're surprised? Not me.

 

[Fook Seng]

You're surprised? Not me.

Why are you not surprised? If it were WP, he would have a lot of things to say.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

I hope one day people here will see the light.

WP is just a party and nothing exclusive about it that we should believe everyone in it are angels. Democracy is built upon the distrust of human nature because human beings can be easily corruped by power. That is why we need separation of powers as the fundamental basis of democratic system so to exert internal checks and balances.

It seems that there are many blind supporters out there not able to see the light and they will be disillusioned totally one day if they have this fantasy.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[mojito]

Trust no one I say, not even the PAP. But you must understand this - the WP remains the only party credible enough to be considered a proxy for a vote of no confidence against the PAP. They would have to do more than a Chee to be thoroughly discredited. Pritam's "coalition with the PAP" comment not so distant in the past was the closest thing to that, and it needed LTK's clout to bail him out of his silly antics. We are also spared the agony of having to be reminded of this in every subsequent WP press release. Really, WP post-LTK would be terrible to imagine if Sylvia could not do the same to bail out some hubristic newbie in the future. Will voters still have a choice then? Much as I find some of their words and deeds cringeworthy, they are a necessary backup and one simply does not cut off his nose to spite his face.

 

[TopSage]

1. TC under political appointees natural result in many "conflict of interest" situations. Same as govt being linked to business. This AIM thing is tip of iceberg. I agree.

2. Since WP also runs a TC, they might have their own "conflict of interest"...they are not angels and conflict of interest is hard to avoid. For this I agree.

3. Slyvia file the motion then used the inquiry called by PM Lee to withdraw because they fear they have loose ends. This assertion is too far fetch why would they call for the motion in the first place then take cover...what happen if there was no opportunity to back off. This one I disagree.

4. Agree with you that TC council shouldn't come under political appointees. Estate management should be decoupled from a legislator's role.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

another crap article from mr Got More Shit,,all he does is sprout shit and support the pap...another asshole

 

[rodent2005]

Do you have a conclusion about what you have written? Because after all the rumblings, what are you really trying to tell your readers? Or is the piece is just for entertainment?

Of course you don't have to bother whether your piece is comprehensible to your readers or not. But I believe you want people to read what you write, don't you?