8/01/2016

AGO versus AHPETC

Recently the pages of the main media have been filled with reports from the AGO’s office and PriceWaterhouse about the lapses in the civil service and AHPETC. I think both are great readings for those who are wondering what is happening to this exceptional island. I must confess that other than the headlines, I did not bother to read more than one paragraph of the reports. I know what they are and where they are coming. I know the agenda and motives, oops, shouldn’t use such politically incorrect words. Let me rephrase, I know the content and objectives of these reports.
 
My question, which of the revelations is more important, the AGO’s or the KPMG's report? My impression, judging from what I saw and read, with Shanmugam appearing in the media and on TV, he is looking every inch iike the oracle, in style and delivery, the one that is more important is the AHPETC. Why so? Because no other minister, not even Shanmugam, appeared to be furious about the findings of the AGO reports. Some ministers even tried to explain that these were nothing to have sleepless night over them. They are just normal, it happened everywhere, in every country, just like the outages of SGX. Nothing to worry about really.
 
What about the AHPETC, is it also normal, happened everyhere? Administrative lapses, mismanagement, failure to do the due diligence, lackadaisical attitude, these are common in big organisations, cannot be avoided. Luckily we have stringent control mechanism in place and the scourge of corruption is not there. Here is the big difference. Nowhere in the whole world would you find an elected MP being made to run a town council, to be responsible to run a town council just to prove that they are suitable to run a govt.  Not sure if Hillary or Donald Trump have had this experience to be the President of the USA. So, one cannot say that it happened everywhere and is normal. It only happened in Singapore in AHPETC, so it cannot be normal. And since it is not normal, it must be serious.
 
Please feel free to disagree with me. I think my age is getting into me and my standard of good and efficient management has changed over time.  Ageing process? Maybe it is the air, the haze, or the Newater I have been drinking, too much shit in the head and affecting my vision and thinking.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Redbean, please try not to be too picky. These are all lapses and cannot be blamed on anyone or any government department. We must understand that we are all human and allow lapses of concentration and misjudgement. just like the lapses in allowing Singapore to become the country for laundering of dirty money. Nobody saw what was happening these last few decades. Nobody knew what was happening. Now that it has been revealed the this country has become a tax haven and for dirty money, the government must be shocked and taken totally by surprise. In future if and when these dirty money gets used for terrorism, then again the government will be shocked and surprised. It will again be categorised as lapses and human errors. Nothing to worry about. Stay calm Redbean, you are in good hands.

patriot said...


Good Morning Chin Length Sir
and All.

No worry about getting old; though Sin under the Locals is only 51 year
old, it is not much younger than us.

Few of us can expect to live beyond 90, take it that everyday after 60 is a bonus. For lucky ones, like Rb
still working hard to make himself useful and keep himself lucid, great!

Be it the AGO Report or the AHPETC, their problems are just like a person prone to illness and Mishap.

To err is human.
To die is natural, if not, it is destiny. All dynasty comes and goes.

We; beings, regimes and even nations, all die.
The Important Thing is to die
in peace after having goes through
the Full Cycle of Being of been a child to being a grandparent to
others.

The Most Important Thing in life is not to abuse oneself or others. Or otherwise, be remembered for misdeed and evil that is synonymous with sin

Peace be with us.


patriot

Anonymous said...

Rb, the lapses reported by AGO every year same lar so it's a normal for many years that is why no big deal irrespective of the amount lost etc. But AHPETC is new so that is why though may be smaller amount lost is consider very big thing Lor. So even law has to be changed to tackle this serious lapses.

The thing I don't understand is why don't just let HDB takes care of the town like in the past instead of making it so complicated. Unless there is other objective Lor

Anonymous said...

Tiok, let's not be picky. Just pick on AHPETC good enough. The rest no problem, normal.

patriot said...


Chin Length Sir,

kindly do me a favour to benefit
You and me.
Do correct your Names in my first
comment and here caused by the Auto Spell.

Oh sori;
please erase this request and make
me looks good. It will appears as though me did not have made any mistakes.

Thank You very much!


patriot

Anonymous said...

Hahaha

That someone now talking and acting and reprimanding like the Oracle is exactly what I was thinking.

The only difference is that he does not know that he lacks the standing, power and cult following of the Oracle. Even the Oracle lost much of his standing in the later years and his threats seemed toothless at times. What is this upstart trying to proof?

To err is human. But to the PAP, this only applies to others, not the party, it's members and it's machinery. That says it all.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Patriot, I am unable to make amendments to posts. I can only delete them. Is that what you want me to do?

Anonymous said...


Yes! Not only you! We are oso drinking tooooooooo much shit water!

Yes! Continue to "Yam Seng" with shit water!

"Yam Yam Yam Seng......."!

Anonymous said...

AHPETC is one big issue as it concerns only the residents of Hougang and Aljunied. Bringing this up again and again will divert attention away from other issues, like in this instance, the defective MRT trains issue. That is already water under the bridge. Forgotten, brushed aside cheerily with a few irrelevant answers in the MSM and Singaporeans travel happily on the MRT.

The issues raised by AGO concerns the whole of Singapore's tax payer's money but is cheerily reported as if it is a non issue or issues and will be brushed aside and forgotten in no time. Not the AHPETC issue, I can bet with you. It will be raised time and again when other problems surfaced. What else can there be to divert attention from the short span memory of Sinkies?

Anonymous said...

They need to do a study on the effects of drinking too much shit water. The intelligence of the people has fallen and the people are getting more daft than before. Is there a correlation?

Anonymous said...

The rot in Singapore didn't happen overnight.
The rot probably started while the old fart was still around but happily oblivious.

Of course Singaporeans contributed to the accelerating rot by our continued support of the "correct" political party at every single general elections.

patriot said...


Chin Leng Sir;

Neverending about it.

Think me am guilty of
making a storm in a teacup.
Or
making a mountain out
of a molehill.

I apologize.


patriot


patriot said...


'Nevermind' to correct

Neverending in my above
comment.

My apology


patriot



Anonymous said...

Some people don't know when to stop flogging a dead horse, ala CP Snow.

The KPMG report was given a short paragraph in ST with emphasis on WP's wrongdoing. Sure knew how to belabour a point to its exhaustion.

Anonymous said...

What about the AHPETC, is it also normal, happened everyhere?
RB

Depend on who you ask lah. If you ask minister Shanmugam, of course he will say not normal lah.

And if I were minister Shanmugam, I will also say not normal what.

And if I were PM Najib, I will say I am serious about good governance. Hahahahaha.

This is politics mah, understand RB?

patriot said...


'Nevermind' to correct

Neverending in my above
comment.

My apology


patriot



Anonymous said...

Dear PAP Millionaires & PAP Aristocrats;
What part of the National Pledge that you swear every year to uphold during National Day Celebration ... what part you don't understand ah?

Does the National Pledge include "uniting" with Foreign Talents or Aliens or Foreign Scholars?
Does the pledge include being faithful to the "democratic" process?
Does the pledge include the principles of "justice" and "equality"

Do you know that a Pledge" means an oath or solemn promise?

"We the CITIZENS of Singapore.
PLEDGE ourselves as one UNITED people.
Regardless of ....
To build a DEMOCRATIC society
Based on JUSTICE and EQUALITY
.....

Anonymous said...

$520millions given to foreigners free of charge is small sum to the deepest reserves Singapore has had. What is WP making noise for?
"Expressing its concern, WP noted that Ministry of Education (MOE) has recurring lapses taking place in the ministry. In the latest AGO report, more than half of the scholars selected by the AGO for test-checks failed to fulfil their scholarship obligations to Singapore.

WP writes that S$511.49 million of tuition fee loans and study loans were given out to students of institutes of higher learning are outstanding as at 30 June 2015."

Made slow payment to contractors, WP also complained. What for? Let the contractors run into problems so what.
"Moving on to the Ministry of National Development, WP noted that AGO found the Housing Development Board (HDB) having long delays in making final payments to contractors, with some final payments delayed by up to 3.3 years. NParks was also flagged by the AGO for late payments in 2011."

Got preferential procurement? How to get it? WP sour grapes lah. Only WP cannot do that kind of thing. Better understand it.
"WP also noted another worrying trend about MOE's pattern of lapses in procurement, tender, and giving preferential access to a Related Party across several institutions.

It pointed out that the AGO found lapses at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in 2012, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic in 2013, and now Nanyang Polytechnic too."

Anonymous said...

S$512 millions cannot get back because the money was given already. These people dont eat at hawker centers. They will not have spare cash to return back. If citizens ask for the money, they must answer eat what? hawker food, food court food or restaurant food. Want restaurant food from scholars, they will tell them, get my foot first. Foreigners must not eat at hawker centers, they go for the restaurant food, this is standard. Foreigners deserve it, citizens are spur not stuck onto the hides, far out, they still have a lot of rooms to improve, take hawker food is already very good, $100millions subsidy is too much a year.

Anonymous said...

@ August 01, 2016 2:28 pm

If we don't give better treatment to foreigners;
The foreigners will not want to become citizens.
Then how is LHL going to achieve his target (mental masturbated from thin air?) of 6.9 million?

How does a 6.9 million population benefit Singaporeans?
How does a 6.9 million population target remain faithful to our National Pledge?

Anonymous said...

If we don't give better treatment to foreigners;
The foreigners will not want to become citizens.
3:05 pm

Tiok.

But if PAP don't give better treatment to Sinkies, majority Sinkies will still vote for PAP, tio bo?

Anonymous said...

How does a 6.9 million population benefit Singaporeans?
3:05 pm

6.9 million population, just like NS only for male Singaporeans, benefit Singapore, but not necessary benefit Singaporeans

Does NS benefit male Singaporeans?

Always remember, what benefit Singapore and PAP not necessary will benefit Singaporeans, especially those who are daft.

Anonymous said...

"They need to do a study on the effects of drinking too much shit water" unquote

The ill effects of drinking too much shit water must surely have already been studied to the total satisfaction of the rulers of red dot and the answers are already there for all to see. The most obvious effect is going to be the improvement in the winning votes for the PAP in future elections.

That has been proven in the last election, will be solidified by the next election and will be cast in solid shit from then on. No waste at all of the shit and urine.

Anonymous said...


What are the long term effects of drinking shit water?

Will it be the case of......种瓜得瓜! 种豆得豆!

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:05pm
U paid tax, i am very very very sure. U buy from anywhere, cars or commercial properties, u must pay GST. That sum is used to pay to foreigners. U like it?
I rather the money is used on hospital bills to help the patients. Now u go to emergency at sgh, foreigner or citizen pay the same amount. No advantage for citizen. Waiting time is 5hours minimum, from afternoon wait until 10pm before patient can meet the first doctor.

U want to help LHL to get 6.9millions another 1.5 millions more?
I guarantee patients must wait for 15 hours before being treated. Emergency illness can wait for 15 hours? U better not hoping for it as any of your family member can be in such emergency.

Citizens must save themselves when the government is not helping them. They vote for citizens,a and government is working FOR foreigners. Citizens must not continue to vote for the same government. They must try to save themselves.

From AGO s reports, we know, the money of $512millions were given free of charge to foreigners. The sums given to foreigners are not just this kind of study grants, there must be more than that. But foreigners will not pay back. Yet the government is still giving money to more foreigners students free.

I hope voters can have dignity and courage to vote against the Pap. Voters must do their duties to stop Pap from increasing the population to 6.9millions to work against citizens and voters jobs opportunities, children s chance of education, and increasing the chances of increasing GST to higher rate eg 12% when Pap cannot afford to pay for foreigners free.

Who pay for the foreigners? The money is from citizens. The must not vote for Pap any more. LHL is already 64 yr old. He is still thinking he can be PM for another 15 years to 2030. Good luck to our voters who believe in him.

Anonymous said...

"LHL is already 64 yr old. He is still thinking he can be PM for another 15 years to 2030."
August 01, 2016 8:37 pm

Maybe LHL is thinking of promoting himself to Senior Minister in GE 2020?
Maybe he was hoping HSK can be promoted to Prime Minister?

Do you think LHL's career path will be from Prime Minister ---> Senior Minister ---> Mentor Minister ---> Founding Son?

Do you think LKY will be promoted posthumously from Mentor Minister to Founding Father in GE 2020?

Anonymous said...

Saudis Slash Oil Prices For Asian Markets

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-01/saudis-slash-oil-prices-asian-markets
-----------------

Do you think the Singaporean car owners will now enjoy (ha ha) lower petrol prices?
What part of "They fuck you long time" don't you understand?

Anonymous said...

Those in the civil service will know that this is not uncommon. How often have we heard of a 5mm+ consulting fee to develop this program or trademark, where the eventual outcome simply gets filed away; unimplemented.

Of course, there would be a ceremony to trumpet the completion of the project, how else to show your bosses you have achieved something.

What about the endless overseas study trips organized conveniently in the country the boss' son or daughter is studying in? How better to curry favor your boss with other peoples money? We, singaporeans have this superiority complex that somehow we less corrupt, our education or healthcare is more superior than our cousins in Malaysia or indeed the rest of the world. We also like to think we work harder than the rest of the world and are more productive.

And if you are waiting for an official response, wait long long. Again, those in the trade will know how much our leaders love the television spotlight or microphone. I mean, they really love the attention, even though they seldom if ever write their own speeches. But when there is trouble, see them disappear Houdini like.