The PMO has spoken on the hawker centre issue

Today, 12 Jul, the PMO has issued a 9 point justification on why Vivian Balakrishnan had to take the WP to task on the issue of integrity in Parliament. I just quote the second point here and to use it for a poll I set up on the top right of this page.

‘Good politics is first and foremost about integrity. Singapore has succeeded because we have honest, upright people in politics: people who can be trusted to uphold the public interest, to speak the truth even when it is inconvenient, and to admit mistakes when things go wrong. This is how we have built trust between Singaporeans and their leaders, worked together to build the nation and improved everyone’s lives.’

How many people believe that we have honest and upright people that can be trusted to do the right thing? Please indicate your take in the poll on the right.

I want to clarify here that whatever a person votes, it may be right or wrong, but it is definitely what the person perceives or thinks so. For example if everyone thinks that the govt does have honest and upright people, it can be a statement of truth. And that is good. On the other hand, the majority may not think so, and this can also be a statement of truth, which then is bad. But if this is false, and if the govt has honest and upright people but the people do not believe so, this in itself is another problem. It simply means that the people do not trust the govt and have a very bad impression of the govt. And the govt really needs to conduct an investigation as to why it is like dat.

The best result is for the majority of the people to think that the govt has honest and upright people that can be trusted to do the right thing for the people, and that this is also the truth.

So please vote accordingly on what you perceive or think.

Cheers.

Let me add further that this cleaning of hawker centre thing is really a very small issue. It is nothing compares to the AIM issue and was best put away and moves on.

And I think it is a horrible mistake for Vivian to thrash it out in Parliament thinking that he can score a winning goal against the WP. More horrible is for the whole cabinet to think that this was a good idea to throw at the WP.

What is going to happen now is that this supposedly minor issue is going to open the Pandora Box and allow the critics of the govt to dig into a can full of worms and that may become quite embarrassing and difficult to put away. It is like the proverbial saying that people living in glass houses should not throw stones. Unfortunately things are heading in the wrong direction now. Unfortunately the emperor did not know that he is not wearing any clothes and is strutting around very confidently in his new clothes.

How would this minor issue (of course some people think it is damn big issue) end eventually and who would land with more mud on the face?

Obama, please step aside

All our ministers are earning more than Barack Obama, the President of the USA. They are all carefully talent scouted, men and women of great abilities. It is a waste that they should be made to deal with petty problems like cleaning hawker centres, haze, dengue, public transportation, primary school education, problems with childcare abuses, and what else.
 
We are not making full use of our talented ministers and insulting them with such menial tasks. They are made for bigger things. If we keep asking them to solve mundane daily chores don’t be surprised that they will lose interest soon. 大才小 用。It is like putting a gifted child in primary one when he should be in the university. That was the same problem Einstein faced when he was in school and was thrown out. Boredom trying to do simple things when his intellect was meant for bigger stuff like understanding the universe.
 
I think our ministers should easily fit into the seat in the White House. Obama, please step aside. I am sure they will shine in the right environment and the right challenge. The tougher or more challenging the situation or problem, the more they will excel. In a way we are abusing our multi talented ministers.
 
There is a problem though. The Americans would not be able to pay them. What a pity.

Did anyone say the WP was sleeping and not doing anything?

The hottest issue in cyberspace these few days is not the haze or the near epidemic dengue situation with record numbers of people having dengue. The hottest issue is who should pay for the cleaning of a hawker centre’s high ceiling. And this has led to the WP being grilled by the PAP and how hard they had to work to defend themselves. And mind you, they had to work very hard and very smart and had to be very careful as the debate in Parliament would be in the air after the 9.30pm news. Can’t imagine what would be shown if the WP made a mess of it and could not defend themselves effectively.
 
For the few hours in Parliament, I believe both parties would have spent a lot of time and resources preparing their positions, how to attack or defend the points raised. For the amount of money they are getting, it is really hard work. It is a tough battle with 7 fairly new WP MPs other than Low Thia Khiang, against the full force of the PAP MPs and the veteran ministers. And the last session on the cleaning of the hawker centre must be so important that it was nearly full house in Parliament. This is quite a rare experience.
 
Let’s put our hands together for the parliamentarians on both sides for working so hard to debate on these national issues for the good of the residents.
Did anyone say that the WP MPs are not working, or the PAP MPs are not working? To be a WP MP means a lot of pressure. Doing too little for the people sure kena walloped. Saying too much of the wrong thing lagi chiat lat. Go to Parliament means one month cannot sleep, got to prepare to ward off attacks from all corners. Must wear protective gears just in case.

Japan, the international thug shouting ‘robbery!’

Japan is accusing China of not playing by international law and becoming more aggressive in its actions in the Diaoyu Islands dispute. The Japanese Defence Ministry said, ‘China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law.’ The Japanese are also infuriating the Koreans by blaming them for heighten tension in the Korean Peninsula.
 
How far from the truth is this Japanese lie? In the first place China has not resorted to force to retake the islands seized by Japan in violation of international law in the late 19th Century. They took the islands from China by force. China could retake the islands by force too but refused to do so and sought to settle the issue by diplomatic means. It is the Japanese that have been resorting to the use of force, ramming Chinese civilian ships, arresting Chinese fishing boats and scrambling fighter aircraft against Chinese surveillance ships and aircraft in the area. More than 300 such missions were flown against 41 times when Chinese surveillance ships were in the area, including Chinese aircraft. Such acts of provocation could easily lead to a breakout of warfare.
The Japanese even mocked the Chinese by enacting a bogus sale of the islands from one Japanese to another when the the islands are Chinese territory. The provocations and aggressive show of force by the Japanese were hostile in all counts and they are blaming the Chinese for raising tension in the area.
 
Did the Japanese obey international law and international norms when it aggressively took advantage of Korea and China in the 19th and 20th Centuries leading to its seizure of the Chinese islands? After it has violated Chinese territories, taken Chinese islands, it is demanding that the Chinese must accept the fait accompli and observe international norms.
 
And it is rattling its sabre daily, even siding with the Philippines in the latter’s dispute with China, promising military assistance against China. It is rearming itself by increasing its military expenditure using the Chinese as the strawman.
Who is the aggressive country and who is not following international laws and norms in international relations? The Japanese under PM Abe is on a war path, raising tensions and provoking the Chinese to retaliate militarily.
 
Japan is following the path of the Americans. After seizing the North American continent from the Red Indians and committing the biggest genocide in the history of human kind, it preaches human rights and rule of law. Not forgetting the scale of slavery against the African blacks, it called itself the protector of human rights.
 
Japan had violated all the international laws and human rights against Asians and Southeast Asians but is accusing the Chinese and Koreans for not observing international law. Why should they when their territories are still in the hands of the Japanese. But the Japanese and the Americans will keep shouting China is bad, Korea is bad. And you have unthinking media willingly printing such news on the front page, to support the claim, to make the unthinking readers to believe a white lie.

Hawker centre cleaning – The mysterious quotation

In Parliament, Vivian referred to a quotation by the AHPETC’s contractor, ATL Maintenance Pte Ltd to the market association as evidence that the Town Council is asking for double payment for the cleaning of the ceiling of the hawker centre.


 “The first irregular event is ATL’s quotation delivered by hand on the 19th of February 2013… the hawkers have never asked for a quotation. Mr Low (WP’s chief, Low Thia Kiang) has met with the hawkers. They have told him the same thing. Secondly ATL is your own private contractor. When your own contractor issues a quotation for $7,200 to the hawkers asking for payment for work which you say is already covered by your contract – that amounts to a demand for double payment for the same quantity of work.,” Balakrishnan said, adding that he also had witnesses from meetings who could verify events. Quoted from YahooNews Online

Sylvia Lim said the quotation was requested by the market association:
“This quotation was requested by the market association and does not coincide with their annual obligation to clean the high areas under the town council contract.” Quoted from YahooNews Online.
What is the main issue here? A quotation by AHPETC’s contractor, ATL Maintenance Pte Ltd delivered by hand to the market association. Why did ATL send a quotation to the market association? Was it a request for quotes by the association or ATL voluntarily sent them a quotation? Sylvia Lim said the quotation was requested by the market association.
What is the truth? Is this so difficult to prove? Did or did not the market association asked for the quotation? If yes, why? If not, why should ATL send them a quotation? Who instructed the ATL to send an unsolicited quotation?

Could someone provide the answers to solve the mystery of this red hot quotation? Who asked for it or who instructed for it to be sent to the market association?

One possibility, ATL sent it under instruction from AHPETC which could lead to the assumption that AHPETC is expecting the hawkers to pay for it. And this is likely to be Vivian’s position.
The second possibility is that the market association asked for it. This will mean that ATL just responded to a request for quotes and this has nothing to do with the AHPETC’s intent to demand for payment unless they have already told the market association and this gave them the reason so ask for a quote. One point to ponder, the market association can ask for quotes from other maintenance company as well. Is this the only quote they asked for and received?

A third possibility, nobody asked or instructed ATL to send the quotation to the market association. They just sent the quotation without knowing why? And they know who to send the quotation to. This will be another mystery to solve.

The above questions would be an interesting puzzle for Sherlock Holmes to solve. Let’s see who is the first to come up with the full answers to complete the puzzle.