President
Tony had this advice for the govt at the swearing in of the new cabinet
ministers at the Istana yesterday, ‘Singaporeans have chosen to place their
trust in you because they believed you were the most worthy of that trust…You must
continue to strive to deserve that trust. You must continue to engage
Singaporeans honestly and openly. You
must continue to speak frankly with them on the tough issues, and lead with
humility.’
16
town councils will be set up to run the 16 towns that Singapore is divided
into. No one is complaining about the need for such town councils. Their
functions were once run by the HDB. If there is no town council, similar
organizations would still be needed to assume the duties and responsibilities
of ensuring that the essential services to the residents are provided,
efficiently and effectively.
The
problems with the town council concept are basically political. The town
councils provide essential services that must be continuous and neutral from
politicking by politicians. There is no need to say more on this.
Administratively, operationally and financially the politicizing of town
councils is flawed and very costly. The flaws are too obvious and unnecessary.
The bickering over AHPETC smells badly.
With
the big mandate given to the PAP, with the trust the people gave to the PAP,
would the PAP do the right thing, return the control and management of the town
councils to HDB or a statutory board, and depoliticize the whole scheme?
This
is the best time for the PAP to show it has the confidence and sincerity to do
the right thing in this town council issue. The people have shown that they
trust the PAP, will the PAP reciprocate the trust?
Mayor of London (Boris Johnson) paid S$312,888; population 8.6 million
ReplyDeleteMayor of New York (Bill de Blasio) paid S$313,205; population 8.5 million
6 mayors of Singapore, each paid S$852,000; population 0.9 million per mayor
Traditionally, mayors oversees a city's municipal departments. So, shouldn't town councils to be taken care of by our mayors?
source: statestimesreview.com
".....would the PAP do the right thing, return the control and management of the town councils to HDB or a statutory board, and depoliticize the whole scheme?"
ReplyDeleteRB
What is the right thing? Or rather who has the credential to say it is right or wrong? PAP? Opposition? RB? Netizens? Me?
Remember, right or wrong is judgemental and hence subjective, OK? Hope RB understand this.
Don't say it is right. Say it is less wrong.
ReplyDeleteIf it is wrong for RB, it is less wrong for PAP.
After all, PAP also never exactly said setting up Town Councils is a right thing, did they?
.....and depoliticize the whole scheme?"
ReplyDeleteRB
Hahahahaha. RB must be real naive to think and write in this way.
Hence I think he also did the right thing by not joining the Sinkie opposition and stand for election, or else all his efforts will be wasted.
Ha ha. What's happening in the Aljunied Town Council. No shadow no sound.
ReplyDelete"problem" automatically solved. Election over, is it.?
If you are powerful you can easily start a fight. Truth is not necessary.
PAP had 50 years to do the right things.
ReplyDelete- what you see now is what you get after 50 years of refinement.
- what you see now are PAP's true colours
The right thing for town council to do is to help to generate more money from Sinkies .More money collected from Sinkies mean more salary for its staff and less kopi lui needed .
ReplyDeleteOne way is to let the mangkala keep all the bin in secret places so resident cannot find bin to throw cigarette butts or rubbish and throw anyhow. Get the taegoo to summon them .This are all opportunities not to be missed.
Oso save manee bekor 1 mankala enub.
The hawker center that I patronise everyday has only 1 bin seen.Should send more taegoo .
Sometimes I find it difficult to throw food wrappings etc especially around shopping centres. Where are all the 'beans'?
ReplyDeleteJust because of the fear of terrorist placing bombs in those 'beans', they practically do away with them and expect us to carry drink cartons and plastic bottles, sweet wrappings and other styrofoam bozes after eating and walk all around the shopping complez. What a ridiculous idea. I think the whole thinking is that with fewer 'beans' to take care of, they need fewer cleaners. It is warp thinking because some will just throw rubbish on the ground when no one looks.
Just because a few Indians got drunk in Little India, shops around the whole island have to suffer the consequences. What kind of ridiculous idea is that?
We have people getting drunk and becoming unruly all over the island since Raffles landed and nothing untoward ever happened.
We can talk about many more ridiculous rules that can only be found in Sinkieland, including having town councils that are so politicalised, they make you cringe.
RB
ReplyDeleteWP first has to get its act together to make sure the accounts are in order. If they cannot even handle town council issues, how to govern a country where the stakes are even bigger and outside interests are not always benign.