[h=1]SYLVIA LIM: WE WERE PROACTIVE IN SEEKING INFORMATION FROM NEA AND ENSURING WE COMPLIED[/h]
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Post date:
18 Oct 2014 - 9:21am
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In the court case into the Aljunied Hougang Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), Workers’ Party Chairman Sylvia Lim explained that her town council was completely above board and had been the one to proactively seek information and approval from NEA.
However, during this process, the town council had received mixed information and inapplicable forms, making the process unnecessarily difficult.
Ms Lim explained that it was the WP town council which approached NEA on Dec 20 last year to seek information on whether a permit was required. She explained that "I decided it was important for the town council to initiate communication with NEA. This was to show that we didn't mean to hide anything."
NEA had informed them at that time that AHPETC would indeed need to apply for a permit and sent them the application forms.
However, the forms which NEA sent the AHPETC did not indicate that a town council could hold a fair and the applications forms were for a trade fair. The town council indicated that it was a community event or a mini-fair and was more for the community and not for commercial purposes.
When AHPETC told NEA that it was the one holding the fair and not an appointed fair operator, they replied that the town council would need to apply for a permit but they failed to give them appropriate forms for this.
The original forms had needed approval from the grassroots CCC but Ms Lim said that "Since my colleagues and I were elected to manage the town council under the Town Councils Act, we do not see how the town council should be required to get a supporting letter from the CCC for something held in the common area under our charge."
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Despite the forms not being suitable, because NEA failed to provide any other forms, the AHPETC went ahead and filled them up where relevant and sent them back anyway to avoid any conflict.
To make matters even more confusing, during the communication between NEA and AHPETC, it was never indicated that the town council could not hold a fair. Instead, they simply said that they would need a permit.
But, once the fair started, AHPETC received a letter from MND saying that town councils were not allowed to hold fairs at all but they failed to point to any policy or law stating this.
It seems that MND is just making up rules to ‘fix’ the WP town council and NEA is going back on their words by failing to give any appropriate forms and them claiming that the original forms were not filled up properly by the town council.
What do you think?
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Post date:
18 Oct 2014 - 9:21am
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In the court case into the Aljunied Hougang Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), Workers’ Party Chairman Sylvia Lim explained that her town council was completely above board and had been the one to proactively seek information and approval from NEA.
However, during this process, the town council had received mixed information and inapplicable forms, making the process unnecessarily difficult.
Ms Lim explained that it was the WP town council which approached NEA on Dec 20 last year to seek information on whether a permit was required. She explained that "I decided it was important for the town council to initiate communication with NEA. This was to show that we didn't mean to hide anything."
NEA had informed them at that time that AHPETC would indeed need to apply for a permit and sent them the application forms.
However, the forms which NEA sent the AHPETC did not indicate that a town council could hold a fair and the applications forms were for a trade fair. The town council indicated that it was a community event or a mini-fair and was more for the community and not for commercial purposes.
When AHPETC told NEA that it was the one holding the fair and not an appointed fair operator, they replied that the town council would need to apply for a permit but they failed to give them appropriate forms for this.
The original forms had needed approval from the grassroots CCC but Ms Lim said that "Since my colleagues and I were elected to manage the town council under the Town Councils Act, we do not see how the town council should be required to get a supporting letter from the CCC for something held in the common area under our charge."
<ins id="aswift_1_expand" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: currentColor; width: 336px; height: 280px; display: inline-table; visibility: visible; position: relative; background-color: transparent; border-image: none;"><ins id="aswift_1_anchor" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: currentColor; width: 336px; height: 280px; display: block; visibility: visible; position: relative; background-color: transparent; border-image: none;"><iframe name="aswift_1" width="336" height="280" id="aswift_1" frameBorder="0" marginWidth="0" marginHeight="0" scrolling="no" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="left: 0px; top: 0px; position: absolute;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></ins></ins>
Despite the forms not being suitable, because NEA failed to provide any other forms, the AHPETC went ahead and filled them up where relevant and sent them back anyway to avoid any conflict.
To make matters even more confusing, during the communication between NEA and AHPETC, it was never indicated that the town council could not hold a fair. Instead, they simply said that they would need a permit.
But, once the fair started, AHPETC received a letter from MND saying that town councils were not allowed to hold fairs at all but they failed to point to any policy or law stating this.
It seems that MND is just making up rules to ‘fix’ the WP town council and NEA is going back on their words by failing to give any appropriate forms and them claiming that the original forms were not filled up properly by the town council.
What do you think?
