100 Serangoon residents signed petition against AHPETC

According to an article in TRE, a Chinese paper reported that a petition demanding the WP to explain the loss of funds by AHPETC was signed by 100 Serangoon residents. The matter must be real serious. The PWP only got a miserable 5,000 attendance at Hong Lim Park, the remisier’s petition to Tharman only had a pathetic 1,200 signatures, and my polls here even had more than 150 signatures.  They better approach Raymond and he could easily double the number of signatures with a few phone calls.

The article is receiving a lot of negative comments in TRE and they are all pointing their fingers in one direction and sneering at the 100 signatures in a GRC of more than 200,000 residents. They smell a rat immediately. The stink is spreading.

Actually they could easily get 10% of the 40% who voted against the WP to sign and that would be 8,000 signatures.  No need to be shy, walk the ground and get more signatures to prove a point, that the residents have turned against the WP and would vote the WP out in the next GE. Would they? Or have more voters starting to see the goodness of the WP and sympathise with their plight and starting to cross over to the WP camp?

This 100 signature petition is very meaningful. Read in between the lines and it will reveal many things that cannot be transparent, cannot see light, and no one would come clean on why there is such a petition and who is behind it, and many more things waiting to be revealed.

Online debate more balanced but political blogs more anti govt

This is the finding of the Institute of Policy Studies and appeared in the ST a couple of weeks ago. The IPS survey also assured the Govt that social media is not a Wild Wild West domain and discussions are quite balanced but political blogs are more anti Govt.

I would like to correct IPS on this, that political blogs are anti Govt. There is a world of difference between unhappy and critical of govt policies and being anti govt or more appropriately anti PAP. Just like the commentator ‘simple’ who called me pro China just because I wrote about the farce and hypocrisies of the West and Japan that he is probably more in tune with and agreeable. Exposing hypocrisies and telling the uncomfortable truth that happened to favour China is not necessary pro China. Speaking about the injustice against the Chinese civilization is not pro China but pro justice. If such a simple reasoning cannot be grasped then it is a waste of time trying to explain what it means.

There are many critics of govt policies. And this is not anti govt. There will be no or lesser criticisms of the govt if the policies are well received.  Citizens do not criticize the Govt as a past time, as a fad.  Is it wrong to speak up and disagree with govt policies that are seen as unreasonable or unacceptable or even foolish and against the people? Speaking up against bad policies is NOT anti govt. Hope IPS will be able to understand this subtle difference. Does IPS know what is the meaning of anti govt? Sure they know but the comment must have come about because of an obsession to see things in black and white.

Who would be hitting out against the Govt if the policies are good and well conceived and received? Neither is there a need to praise the Govt whenever good policies are made.  Only an insecure Govt needs to be praised daily. Unfortunately good policies are few and in between for a long time. You may disagree and feel otherwise. Anyway the Govt will be well rewarded when they made good policies by their self rewarding system that is one of a kind in the word. I don’t think there is any govt in the world that would reward themselves with 12 to 24 months of bonuses if they did well. A conflict of interest? Govts are expected to do well and their reward is to be reelected or be booted out if they failed.

Oops, I am criticizing another govt policy, so am I anti govt?

LKY in hospital since 5 Feb

In the news this evening, LKY has been hospitalised since 5 Feb for a severe bout of pneumonia. His condition has stabilised and doctors are monitoring his condition. He is supported by mechanical ventilation and remains in the ICU

Please do not speculate or make unnecessary comments on LKY's condition. Just take this as an important piece of news. During the CNY celebration let's be careful and discreet with what we say. It is always best to say good things about people during CNY than unpleasant things.

Spare the civil servants

Chee Hean reported that cases of abuse against civil servants are on the rise. Among the agencies affected are:

Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), Housing and Development Board (HDB), Inland Revenue Authority (IRAS), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of Health (MOH).

Why are civil servants becoming the target of public abuses? They are just carrying out their duties as officers of the ministries or govt? There could be many reasons, like people getting out of the bed from the wrong side, had a bad night’s sleep, losing money in gambling, losing their jobs, money no enough, and the list could go on and on. These reasons are not important. What is important is why the anger is being vented against civil servants.

There could always be the case of the individuals at fault, the abuser or the abused, a case of bad attitude. But to state that it is against civil servants, it meant something else. It implied that the abusers are angry with the govt and taking it out on the civil servants as an excuse.

Another major reason could be bad policies. When policies are bad, and hurt the people the wrong way, the people will be angry. But this does not lead to abuses unless it becomes a case of ‘beh tahan’.  When policies are badly thought out, contrived, when they got out of control and hitting the people badly, when the pain is unbearable, the docile and meek citizens would flare up as a last resort.

The other possibility is the politicisation of the civil service and civil servants. Are the civil servants carrying out their duties fairly and impartially or are they affected by political influence? This is difficult to determine as what is political or what is not is a matter of perception unless it is outright abuses. When the later, then anger will flow and the reaction of the people can be unpredictable, can be violent and can lead to lighting fire, causing bodily harm.

The civil servants must be spared from becoming the bogey man, becoming an excuse for abuses if it is not their fault. Spare the civil servants from getting into a compromising position, to compromise their integrity and objectivity. Remove whatever sources of conflict in their jobs and let them work objectively, fairly and honestly to serve the interest of the people and to serve the people, as civil servants.

Now, would there be a need to set up a committee to investigate this new development? Would the committee members be neutral people that could provide a neutral view and findings and a decent and workable solution to the problem? Spare the civil servants from being compromised or abused by all quarters. Let them carry out their jobs with dignity and respect that money cannot buy.

Roy Ngerng using Boon Wan and Shanmugam’s templates

Below are a few paragraphs extracted from Roy Ngerng’s latest post in his blog http://thehearttruths.com.

 ‘… I replaced what the PAP ministers and members of parliament had said about the AHPETC with what can also be said about the PAP’s management of our CPF. The hypocrisy of what the PAP has said will then be revealed. (The change of words are in italics.)

GIC and Temasek Holding receive large sums of CPF monies from Singaporeans. These are all public monies. As stewards of public funds, GIC and Temasek Holdings must keep proper accounts and records, and maintain adequate control over their assets. Who has paid and who has not? How is the money spent? Is it properly used? Is anybody doing anything wrong? … These and many other questions directly affect the interests and safety of the Singaporeans. They are not trivial technical issues raised merely to satisfy the accountants or the auditors, or to meet financial regulations. Unfortunately, …(there are) serious questions about the reliability and accuracy of their financial and accounting systems.

There is always the temptation, when the GIC and Temasek Holdings are financially strapped, to postpone saving, and say it will make up the shortfall later, or worse, to put its hand into the cookie jar, to draw from the savings to satisfy immediate needs. Just spend, use the savings first. Sounds appealing, but the GIC and Temasek Holdings will then be simply running down the reserves and mortgaging the future of Singaporeans away.

“GIC and Temasek Holdings did not adequately manage the conflicts of interests of related parties arising from ownership interests of their key officers”.”….

The Chairman of GIC and CEO of Temasek Holdings are, by the way, husband and wife….

 “Taken in totality, the PAP government cannot possibly adequately manage the conflicts of interest involved in related party transactions”. This means that the PAP government may not have obtained the best value for the moneys paid to these related parties. Or worse, there could be opportunities of wrong-doing or unethical practices which the PAP government may not be able to detect or prevent.

Singaporeans and taxpayers need to know that their monies are properly spent and they are getting best value for money. When these contracts are awarded to parties related to the PAP government, the PAP government needs to be upfront withSingaporeans as well as with taxpayers at large, so that there is transparency and proper scrutiny….

We do not know the exact state of the GIC and Temasek Holding’s financial position.

Something is seriously wrong with the PAP government. They paint a picture of financial mismanagement, incompetence and negligence in corporate governance….

Unfortunately, throughout this saga, we have found the PAP MPs running the PAP government to be evasive, unresponsive and misleading. In response to legitimate queries from Singaporeans, they stone-walled, deflected the queries, made false or dishonest claims, raised irrelevant excuses and sought to confuse the public with a flurry of red-herrings.

First, their lack of transparency – they failed to disclose things on time; they failed to submit reports they should be submitting. Every time we reminded them, again and again, they came up with yet another excuse.

The government  need competent, honest people and proper systems to serve Singaporeans well. Good intentions and bland assurances alone are not sufficient. Elected MPs need to supervise the work of the government, GIC and Temasek Holdings. While they enjoy wide autonomy, they also have huge responsibility. And they are accountable to Singaporeans. They have statutory duties but they are also subject to national laws….

What concerns me is that the PAP government’s actions are clearly unlawful….

The rhetoric from the PAP is always about helping the poor man, the reality is that the PAP took CPF money from the man in the street to give to their friends in the GIC and Temasek Holdings.

The PAP keep saying there’s been no loss (of CPF monies from the more than $100 billion that the GIC and Temasek Holdings lost in 2008). Maybe there was no one taking money through the back door in the dark of the night, there was no need because the money was taken from the front door in broad daylight through all this overcharging.

The second major problem arising from the facts is lack of transparency, lack of disclosure. First, the facts do not seem to have been fully disclosed to all Singaporeans. And second, there seems to have been no proper discussion of the conflicts at all.

Active, persistent non-disclosure. Obviously, deliberate. And the consequence of all of this? Of the billions that were paid tothe GIC and Temasek Holdings, who knows how much was justifiable?

The PAP have been quick to say that despite all the problems, no CPF monies have been lost. Can the PAP honestly say that no CPF monies have been lost? When the PAP ministers and members of parliament act in breach of their fiduciary duties; and pay the GIC and Temasek Holdings billions of dollars? Overpayment to a related party is not a loss?....

You can read the full article in Roy’s blog. I assure you it is pretty long as normal of Roy’s writing and with charts as well to show.