PAP town councils owed S&C arrears as high as 50 per cent?

[Confuseous]

Back in 1987, the chairman of the Ang Mo Kio West Town Council, Lim Boon Heng, had “expressed his concern in the amount of arrears in his council”, according to a Straits Times report then.

The newspaper reported:

“He [Mr Lim] said one in 11, or 4,000 residents, owe his council. Although the number of residents in arrears have [sic] dropped slightly, the amount owed has increased, from $246,000 in December last year to $328,000 in April.”

It thus makes one wonders why Mr Lim would find it fit to criticise the WP’s town council for the arrears owed by the residents.

“I’m personally quite disturbed,” Mr Lim said in November of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) S&C arrears. “To be in arrears by so much means that things are getting out of control. If it’s less than 10 per cent, you can probably manage. But once you go beyond that, you have to worry. And beyond 20 per cent, I think, is alarming.”

Well, perhaps Mr Lim was similarly alarmed when the town council in the PAP-run Bedok estate incurred a reported 50 per cent in arrears in 1989.

The Bedok Town Council then was reported “to have the single largest figure of $500,000” owed to it in S&C arrears, The New Paper reported in October 1989.

“This figure is about half the $1.1 million collectible by the council every month,” the paper said.

It reported that “about 20 per cent of the account-holders” in Bedok were “responsible for the arrears of the council” that year.

In brief, the Bedok town council had incurred what appeared to be a 50 per cent arrears rate, owed by “20 per cent of the account-holders” in the constituency.

Mr Lim had said of the WP town council, that if arrears “go beyond a certain tipping point, you’ve lost control”.

He added: “And if they can’t even manage a simple thing like a town council, then it begs the big question: If you put them in charge of the country, what will be the outcome?”

One wonders if Mr Lim had asked the same question of the Bedok town councillors at the time as well.

But Bedok and Ang Mo Kio West town councils were not the only ones which had incurred such high S&C arrears.

The Bo Wen town council was also owed $397,200 in arrears in 1987, reported the Straits Times....http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/12/pap-town-councils-owed-sc-arrears-as-high-as-50-per-cent/

 

[bakkuttay]

did demon lee look back at pap tc??

no or blind or plain ignorance or clearcut stupidity??????

 

[Kuailan]

All these happening in the ruling ward were swept under the carpet..
as thou nothing happened.

On a contrary opposition ward the ruling party will making a lot of noise
and create ParLeement debate and make a mole hill into a mountain!!

Look at the Yang Yin case, Intan who highly recommend the PRC to get PR status
what happened? no ParLeement debate? no shitty News Leeport?? all the pictures taken
were deleted buried and swept under the carpet!!

If these happened with the opposition, the ruling party would scrutinize all the details and
Shitty times front page, ParLeement debate Por Lum Bar will bring the matter up!!

 

[xingguy]

Source: The Online Citizen

PAP town councils owed S&C arrears as high as 50 per cent?
DECEMBER 15, 2014 BY HOWARD LEE IN GOVERNMENT, MAIN STORY · 1 COMMENT

By Andrew Loh

The People’s Action Party (PAP) has been attacking the opposition town council of the Workers’ Party (WP) these past weeks and months over the latter’s alleged “30 per cent” arrears in service and conservancy charges (S&C) owed by its residents.

The WP has been accused of being inept in running the town council, allowing such a high rate of arrears in S&C charges.

Ruling party Ministers have been leading the attack for weeks now, with their accusations geared towards trying to discredit the ability of the WP town council, and by extension those who run it.

But a check with past reports reveals that the WP does not seem to be the only one, or the first one, to have been owed such high amounts of S&C charges.

Back in 1987, the chairman of the Ang Mo Kio West Town Council, Lim Boon Heng, had “expressed his concern in the amount of arrears in his council”, according to a Straits Times report then.

The newspaper reported:

“He [Mr Lim] said one in 11, or 4,000 residents, owe his council. Although the number of residents in arrears have [sic] dropped slightly, the amount owed has increased, from $246,000 in December last year to $328,000 in April.”​

It thus makes one wonders why Mr Lim would find it fit to criticise the WP’s town council for the arrears owed by the residents.

“I’m personally quite disturbed,” Mr Lim said in November of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) S&C arrears. “To be in arrears by so much means that things are getting out of control. If it’s less than 10 per cent, you can probably manage. But once you go beyond that, you have to worry. And beyond 20 per cent, I think, is alarming.”

Well, perhaps Mr Lim was similarly alarmed when the town council in the PAP-run Bedok estate incurred a reported 50 per cent in arrears in 1989.

The Bedok Town Council then was reported “to have the single largest figure of $500,000” owed to it in S&C arrears, The New Paper reported in October 1989.

“This figure is about half the $1.1 million collectible by the council every month,” the paper said.

It reported that “about 20 per cent of the account-holders” in Bedok were “responsible for the arrears of the council” that year.

In brief, the Bedok town council had incurred what appeared to be a 50 per cent arrears rate, owed by “20 per cent of the account-holders” in the constituency.

Mr Lim had said of the WP town council, that if arrears “go beyond a certain tipping point, you’ve lost control”.

He added: “And if they can’t even manage a simple thing like a town council, then it begs the big question: If you put them in charge of the country, what will be the outcome?”

One wonders if Mr Lim had asked the same question of the Bedok town councillors at the time as well.

But Bedok and Ang Mo Kio West town councils were not the only ones which had incurred such high S&C arrears.

The Bo Wen town council was also owed $397,200 in arrears in 1987, reported the Straits Times then.

In a 1989 New Paper report, several town councils were “owed $1m in charges”.

Besides Bedok Town Council with its hefty arrears, there was also Redhill Town Council, also run by the PAP.

The council then was “owed about $130,000.”

There was also the Cheng San Town Council which had “about $260,000 in arrears.”

“This is half the amount it collects every month,” The New Paper said.

That’s a 50 per cent arrears rate.

Cheng San GRC then was, incidentally, led by Minister Lee Yock Suan, the father of PAP Minister of State Desmond Lee, who had been leading the attack on WP in recent weeks.

The other three PAP town councils which also had high S&C arrears were Bukit Batok (about $230,000), Tiong Bahru (about $200,000), and Ang Mo Kio West (about $175,000).

It seemed that this was the second time the Ang Mo Kio West Town Council had incurred such high S&C arrears, after the first case in 1987 as mentioned above.

Even in 2004, town councils – the majority of which were run by the PAP, were owed S&C as much as $24 million, as this report by TODAY highlighted:

So, the question is: Are S&C arrears something out of the ordinary? From these past news reports, it appears that even PAP town councils had incurred rather large S&C arrears as well, with some incurring arrears rate which is much bigger than the “30 per cent” of arrears allegedly incurred by the WP town council.

Is the PAP playing politics here, picking a fight with the WP town council over S&C arrears, while knowing full well that its own PAP town councils had also incurred rather high arrears in the past?

Read also: “PAP town council “incurred huge deficit” in 1997“.

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[bakkuttay]

wah!!!! you are really KL, very good, support

 

[Confuseous]

Desmond, MND didn’t KPKB against your father in 1989

Before town councils fully took over the running of towns in May 1989, HDB itself was owed some $44 million.

“To date, about 120,000 or 20 per cent of all HDB tenants and lessees are in arrears of their rents, licence fees or service and conservancy charges,” the Straits Times reported [Link].

Even in 2004, town councils – the majority of which were run by the PAP – were owed as much as $24 million in S&CC, as revealed by TOC in its article.

In 1989, the Minister of National Development was S Dhanabalan (1987 to 1992).

Even though Cheng San Town Council was incurring large arrears at the time, Mr Dhanabalan did not accuse Mr Heng or Desmond Lee’s father Lee Yock Suan of lacking “accountability and transparency” in their dealings with Cheng San residents.

Certainly, there were no reports of Lee Yock Suan automatically coming out to explain the circumstances surrounding the $260,000 arrears of Cheng San Town Council.

So, why is Desmond Lee, Minister of State for National Development, now accusing AHPETC Chairman Sylvia Lim? Mr Lee reprimanded Ms Lim in the media on 12 December 2014:

The chairman of Cheng San town council at the time was MP Heng Chiang Meng, one of Lee Yock Suan’s teammates.

In a Straits Times article on 11 December 1989, Mr Heng revealed that in fact, about 7,400 households in the Ang Mo Kio area owed their town councils almost half a million dollars in S&CC at the end of October 1989. These 7,400 households accounted for 16% of residents served by 3 town councils at the time:

Ang Mo Kio South Town Council
Ang Mo Kio West Town Council
Cheng San Town Council
To encourage the residents to pay on time, Mr Heng tried to get them to sign up for GIRO using lucky draw promotions.

Mr Heng said that if threats and harsh measures were needed to solve the problem, it would show that Singapore was still an “immature” society.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/12/15/desmond-mnd-didnt-kpkb-against-your-father-in-1989/

 

[makapaaa]

Fap is also guilty of the s&cc arrears it accused the wp of

[h=1]PAP IS ALSO GUILTY OF THE S&CC ARREARS IT ACCUSED THE WP OF[/h]
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15 Dec 2014 - 12:22pm





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The ongoing PAP attack on the WP is backfiring hard on the PAP, as it is being exposed that the PAP is also guilty of what it accuses the WP of.

The People's Action Party (PAP) has continued to make the Worker's Party (WP) suffer under its hands, as it continues throwing accusations at the WP.

For the past few weeks, PAP ministers have continued to accuse the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), which the WP manages, of mismanaging its funds and in not reporting on the service and conservancy charges (S&CC) arrears.

But it has been exposed that the PAP itself has also committed the grave charges that it is accusing the WP of.

Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee called the AHPETC's S&CC arrears rate, "shocking".

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong also accused the WP and said, "Something is seriously wrong."

He also said, "But so far, all we have got from AHPETC are prevarications, non-answers, and sweeping assurances that things will be all right."
Ex-minister without portfolio and ex-PAP chairman Lim Boon Heng also attacked the WP and said, "I’m personally quite disturbed. To be in arrears by so much means that things are getting out of control."

But Mr Lim has perhaps the least right to criticise the WP.

In 1987, when he was the Chairman of the Ang Mo Kio West Town Council, he also badly managed his town council funds.

“He (Mr Lim]) said one in 11, or 4,000 residents, owe his council. Although the number of residents in arrears have dropped slightly, the amount owed has increased, from $246,000 in December last year to $328,000 in April," The Straits Times reported then.

By Mr Lim's own admission, not only should he be "disturbed" by his own failings, it is clear that "things were getting out of control" under his management.

But a string of PAP town councils have also had also badly mangled S&CC arrears.

In 1989, the Bedok Town Council also had “the single largest figure of $500,000” in S&CC arrears.

The New Paper reported that, “This figure is about half the $1.1 million collectible by the council every month,"

That was “about 20 per cent of the account-holders”.

According to Mr Lim, "(arrears) beyond 20 per cent, I think, is alarming.”

If so, isn't what the PAP-run Bedok Town Council did alarming?

Why was the PAP-run town councils not been gunned down like how the WP-run town council is?

But that's not all.

In 1989, the PAP-run town councils “owed $1m in charges”.

Cheng San Town Council had “about $260,000 in arrears," which is "half the amount it collects every month".

Again, "alarming" by Mr Lim's standards.

Still no attack on the PAP-run town councils.

Not only that, one wonders what Mr Lee would say to his father, ex-minister Lee Yock Suan, who was leading the Cheng San Town Council then.
As late as 2004, the town councils altogether owned as much as $24 million in S&CC.

"Shocking", Mr Lee exclaimed.

"Something is seriously wrong," Mr Wong would remark in horror.

But if it were a PAP-run council, would the PAP ministers have turned against the PAP as well?




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"What is important is AHPETC's lack of transparency and Ms Lim's and her fellow MPs' failure to be accountable," Mr Lee accused the WP.

"Instead, the WP's credibility and integrity are slowly but surely draining away," Mr Wong fired.

Mr Lim added: “And if they can’t even manage a simple thing like a town council, then it begs the big question: If you put them in charge of the country, what will be the outcome?”

It cannot be more crystal clear that the PAP is waging a war against the WP, but where the PAP has committed even graver deeds than the WP, and the PAP has done worse than what it is today accusing the WP of, then the question to ask is, is the PAP in a position to criticise the WP for something it is even more shameful of?

Not only that, why did the PAP only start highlighting the issue of S&CC arrears when its own town councils manage to escape such glare in the past?

Why did the PAP want to "fix" the WP and kill off the competition?

As WP and AHPETC Chairman Sylvia Lim said, "Seeing such responses from the government is regrettable."

Perhaps Mr Lim should direct his question back at the PAP: "If you put them in charge of the country, what will be the outcome?”

One wonders if Singaporeans would appreciate a government which would actually look into "fixing" the country's problems more, than one that keep "fixing" an opposition which is trying to warn Singaporeans of the issues in Singapore.

As Ms Lim said, "We will leave it to the public to make its own judgment."

 

[jw5]

Re: Desmond, MND didn’t KPKB against your father in 1989

Perhaps it was the year 1997 that is affecting him now, and not the year 1989.