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New home offers dignity and comfort to the elderly

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$15m facility offers cosier, interactive setting for patients with dementia
By Kok Xing Hui, The Straits Times, 13 Feb 2015

A NEW nursing home for elderly dementia patients, set to open in the second half of next year, is designed to offer them "autonomy, dignity and a sense of well-being".

Jade Circle, a $15 million extension to the Salvation Army's Peacehaven home at Changi, will offer a cosier set-up than the typical ward setting.

This means patients will be housed in single or twin rooms with en suite toilets.

Work on the project, which was announced yesterday, is scheduled to start in the third quarter of this year.

The home will cater to 60 residents, grouped into clusters of 12. Each cluster will have its own dining area and kitchen.

Smart technology will be used to enhance patient care. Examples include sensors installed under the bed to check the patient's vital signs, and a care watch that can call nurses and track movements, intended for residents with a tendency to wander.

The home will also feature a rooftop garden with dining area, a hair salon and a grocery store.

Patients will have an open schedule and the flexibility to plan their day and access social and shared spaces whenever they wish.

Peacehaven director Low Mui Lang believes this will allow patients to prompt one another to take up activities.

"We want to rethink and review how we can care for our elderly," she said.

"Instead of giving top-down care from the perspective of care professionals, why not reform our care model from the perspective of the elderly, who are often powerless at the receiving end?"

The home will cater for residents who are mobile, with moderate to severe dementia, and will take in both full-paying and subsidised patients. Fees before means testing and subsidies will range from $2,800 to $3,500 a month.

A spot in the current Peacehaven Nursing Home, which houses about six residents per room, can cost between $2,400 and $2,800 before means testing and subsidies.

The Jade Circle extension will house a training centre for medical professionals working in dementia care, as well as a day-care centre for 30 clients.

The training centre will offer courses, practical attachments, workshops and seminars, in addition to diplomas and degrees through tie-ups with institutions abroad such as Australia's University of Tasmania.

The Lien Foundation and Khoo Chwee Neo Foundation are contributing $5 million each to the project. The remainder is likely to come from Government funding.



Potential pitfalls of CPF changes

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Changes to the CPF may give the impression that the new Basic Retirement Sum of $80,500 is enough for basic retirement needs. It is not.
By Hui Weng Tat, Published The Straits Times, 13 Feb 2015

THE recent recommendations by the Central Provident Fund Review Panel are intended to provide greater flexibility in CPF savings and withdrawals - and help Singaporeans better understand what is in store for them in retirement.

However, the new terminology used for the different retirement sum options poses potential pitfalls, as it could lead to the wrong perception of what is required to support retirement living.

Currently, the Minimum Sum totals $161,000, which contributors are required to set aside in their Retirement Account (RA) at age 55.

The panel proposes that impending retirees choose one of three retirement sums: the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS), the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) and the Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS).

The BRS is set at $80,500 for 2016, and is for those who have used their CPF funds to purchase a property.

Existing CPF rules already allow a contributor to pledge property up to half the Minimum Sum, but what has changed is that there is now an explicit mention of the expected CPF Life payout for those doing so: $650 to $700 a month.

The FRS is the renamed version of the Minimum Sum amount, which previously provided contributors with a monthly income of $1,000 to $1,200 from the age of 65 to support a "basic standard of living" in retirement.

The ERS allows contributors to retain 1.5 times the FRS in their RA and is intended to help those in the median income group achieve higher payouts to improve adequacy in retirement living.

But amid all this renaming, a problem emerges - it may unwittingly convey the misimpression that the Basic Retirement Sum payout, going by its name, is nevertheless enough for basic retirement living.

The expected BRS monthly payout of $650 to $700, meanwhile, is pegged to what the CPF panel anticipates a retiree in a lower- middle income retiree household would spend 10 years after the start date of BRS in 2016, that is 2026.

The public may perceive this amount to be sufficient for basic retirement living. This would be mistaken, as I will show in this article.

The monthly payout from the FRS of $1,200 to $1,300 could be easily mistaken to adequately provide for full retirement living, but it may well not be the case.

Worse, if more people gravitate towards keeping only the Basic Sum for retirement, the outcome would be significant undersaving for retirement and increased angst in the future when retirement-adequacy expectations are not realised.

Another factor weighing on retirement adequacy is the proposal that at the start of the payout eligibility age of 65, contributors will have the option of withdrawing a lump sum of up to 20 per cent of the RA balance - even though this will only serve to aggravate the issue further.

To better appreciate how the recommendations affect actual retirement adequacy or perceptions of it, it is first useful to examine what the BRS payout would provide for a retiree.

Basic payout too low for basic needs

ALLOWING for an average inflation rate of 3 per cent per annum, the expected $650 to $700 BRS monthly payout in 2026 would be equivalent to only $470 to $506 per month in today's dollar value.

Statistics from the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2012-2013 indicate that spending on food typically takes up 37 per cent of total expenditure (excluding imputed rental) for the lower-middle quintile group which the BRS is benchmarked against.

The lower-middle quintile refers to the group in the 21st to 40th percentile by expenditure.

This means a person from this group can expect to spend about $183 per month, or $6 per day, on food. By today's standards, such amounts are hardly enough for any retiree aiming to sustain a simple lifestyle. And living standards and costs do rise at a faster pace over time.

The CPF Review Panel noted that HES data showed expenditure per head has been increasing at an annual rate of about 5 per cent between 2002/2003 and 2012/2013. This means the average expenditure of $518 per member in retiree households in the lower-middle quintile in 2013 should increase to about $976 in 2026.

Yet, retirees who set aside the BRS stand to get a monthly payout of only $650 to $700. In other words, spending is projected to exceed the BRS monthly payout by $276 to $326 per person.

How would this shortfall be met? The Government has indicated that it will introduce a Silver Support bonus for the elderly without family support or assets. Will it undertake to top up the accounts of retirees who set aside the BRS, to a level adequate to meet their daily needs?

Retirees' spending

TO GET a better sense of how retirees are coping today, it is instructive to further examine the income and expenditure pattern of retirees in HDB households, which formed more than 83 per cent of all the 77,481 retiree households in Singapore in 2013.

The HES defines retiree households as "those comprising solely non-working persons aged 60 years and over".

The HES data records that among the retiree households in HDB dwellings, an average of 36 to 42 per cent of their income was derived from contributions from relatives and friends not living in the same households as the retirees.

But, as shown in the table, even with this additional income support, about 60 per cent of these retirees were still unable to meet their monthly expenditure.

Average monthly income-expenditure shortfall per person ranged from $106 for those living in five-room and executive flats to $154 for those living in four-room HDB flats.

The average expenditure per retiree household member living in HDB dwellings was already $819 in 2013. For retirees living in one-room and two-room flats, it was $624 in 2013 - which translates to $1,176 in 2026 and which clearly would exceed the expected BRS payout of $650 to $700.

The HES data includes income from many sources, such as rental income, (excluding imputed rental of owner-occupied accommodation); investment income; contributions from relatives and friends not living in the same household; annuities and payouts from CPF schemes, income from pension, social welfare grant, regular payment from insurance protection policies and regular government transfers. In other words, it should capture most income received by retirees.

Given these figures, it is imperative that discussions on what is considered reasonably modest or basic living standards for future retirees should not be focused on meeting the BRS but, at the very least, on meeting the FRS or the Minimum Sum.

It might be that the recommendations of the CPF Review Panel stem from its narrow terms of reference - to study "how the Minimum Sum should be adjusted beyond 2015, in order to meet the objective of delivering a basic monthly retirement payout for life and how to enable CPF members to withdraw more as a lump sum upon retirement, and the circumstances for their doing so, taking into consideration the impact on retirement adequacy for different groups".

The Minimum Sum is presumed to be associated with "basic retirement living". Hence, any lump-sum withdrawal must necessarily mean depletion of savings to a level which provides below- basic retirement living in years after the withdrawal.

The CPF Review Panel has done its work according to its narrow terms of reference. The Government has said that it will also look at ways to improve retirement adequacy for the large majority of CPF members.

Meanwhile, following up on the panel's proposals, the Government should send a clear message to Singaporeans that setting aside the BRS of $80,500 will not be enough to fund basic retirement needs.

Setting aside $161,000 is good, and $241,500 is even better.

Nomenclature affects behaviour, so the sum of $80,500 under the proposed BRS should be renamed the Partial Retirement Sum.

The writer is an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.


Parliament Highlights - 13 Feb 2015

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MPs unanimously endorse motion on audit finding lapses at Workers' Party-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC)







Unanimous support in House for tougher standards on TCs
But calls from ministers for WP to take action against managing agent go unanswered
By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY, 14 Feb 2015

The two-day debate in Parliament on the accounting lapses by the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) ended yesterday the same way as it began, with fireworks and trading of barbs.

But calls by Cabinet ministers and a People’s Action Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the Workers’ Party (WP) to take concrete steps to resolve the matter, such as mounting a forensic investigation and pursuing legal action against the town council’s managing agent, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), went unanswered by the opposition party.

Nevertheless, there was unanimous support from all the 85 MPs present — including all the WP MPs in attendance — for the motion tabled by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan which, among other things, called on town councils to uphold higher standards of accounting, reporting and corporate governance to safeguard residents’ interests. It also sought MPs’ support to strengthen laws governing town councils in order to “hold those responsible for their good management to proper account”.

The division bell — called by Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa — was rung at the end of yesterday’s debate, which lasted about thee-and-a-half hours. In a division, the vote of each MP is collected and tabulated through an electronic voting system to ascertain whether the motion has the support of two-thirds of the total number of elected MPs. “This is a matter on which it is important for each (MP) to take a stand explicitly,” Mr Khaw said.

Wrapping up the debate, Mr Khaw expressed his disappointment with the response of the WP MPs over the two days. “I was initially cheered by (WP chief) Mr Low Thia Khiang’s declaration that WP would support the motion. I thought, finally, they have acknowledged the mess they are in and their residents can look forward to being out of the hole,” said Mr Khaw.

“But my optimism was short-lived. He went straight into a political speech, playing the victim of an unfair political world created by the Government and calling for the depoliticisation of the transition process.”

He added: “Soon after, (WP chairman) Sylvia Lim and its other MPs spoke, repeating their objections to the Auditor-General’s Office’s (AGO) findings, objections, which were rebutted explicitly by AGO and documented in the AGO report.”



The AGO audit report on AHPETC, which was made public on Monday, had found major lapses including a failure to transfer monies into the sinking-fund bank accounts as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules, inadequate oversight of related party transactions, not having a system to monitor arrears of service and conservancy charges accurately, poor internal controls and no suitable system to safeguard documents and keep proper accounts and records as required by the Town Councils Act.

Reiterating that the motion was not about “PAP versus WP”, but about the residents of the opposition wards, Mr Khaw said the WP MPs had “made light” of the AGO findings when they asserted that there was no evidence of loss of money or fraudulent activity.

This was a misrepresentation of the AGO’s conclusions, he said. “In fact, with so many documents missing and the accounts unreliable, who can be sure that there was no wrongdoing?” Mr Khaw said.

Instead of making such an assertion, Mr Low and Ms Lim should “just roll up their sleeves and do real work”, he added. Among other things, the WP leaders should start a serious forensic probe and pursue all the AGO findings, clean up the accounts and put right the flawed structure. They should also institute a robust system, discipline errant officers, get FMSS to return the money and explain the matter to residents, Mr Khaw said.

He also called on AHPETC to submit a clean set of accounts for FY2013 and FY2014 to Parliament by June 30 and Aug 31, respectively. “It can’t be just lip service, a convenient way of sliding past this debacle, to live and fight another day. Demonstrate your sincerity through real actions,” said Mr Khaw. “These are not high hurdles … Every town council has been able to do this, including those run by opposition MPs in the past. This is what supporting the motion means.”

Mr Khaw made reference to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) saga in 2005, where monies were found to be misused by its then-CEO T T Durai. “The new NKF Board was able to sue the old board and T T Durai in the civil court. I am not sure if this may happen in the case of the town council,” he said.

Apart from Mr Khaw, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar also urged WP to take concrete steps to get its house in order. “You can outsource work, you cannot outsource responsibility,” said Mr Heng. “The responsibility (to supervise the managing agent) lies squarely with the MPs.”

Apart from a forensic investigation, Mr Hri Kumar said WP should procure an undertaking from FMSS to make available all documents for investigations and conduct a legal suit to recover damages. “It is not enough for the WP to simply say it supports the motion. If it means what it says, it must folllow through by doing everything it can to ensure that all the questions raised in this House are answered and this mess is cleared up once and for all,” he said.







WP arrogant over lapses instead of being remorseful, says Khaw
Minister urges Workers' Party to recognise gravity of town council's situation
By Kelly Ng, TODAY, 13 Feb 2015

Throughout the two-day debate on the audit findings on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), the Workers’ Party (WP) has been in denial and has shown no remorse for the lapses that were uncovered, charged National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

Instead of acknowledging the mess they are in, he said they chose to play the victim and recycle their objections to the troubling audit findings in the House, even though these had been rebutted explicitly by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) report, which was at the centre of the parliamentary debate over the past two days.

“This consistent pattern of evasive behaviour gives us cause to doubt the sincerity of the AHPETC Members of Parliament (MPs) when they come to this House to declare their support for the motion and assure that they will make necessary changes,” said Mr Khaw. “I am a forgiving man and I listened very carefully to their speeches, hoping to find some dose of sincerity and genuine remorse. Sadly, I found none.”

On the contrary, the WP town councillors took a defensive stance, even showing “a certain arrogance (and) disdain” for having to address the House and answer to the AGO’s adverse findings, he added.

The report, made public on Monday (Feb 9), flagged major lapses in the WP-run town council pertaining to standards of accountability and governance, such as non-disclosure of related party transactions and failure to transfer required monies to its Sinking Fund.

Citing AHPETC vice-chair Pritam Singh’s refusal to answer specific questions directed at him by Law and Foreign Minister K Shanmugam yesterday, Mr Khaw said: “If there is no remorse, there can be no genuine acceptance that one is at fault and that one is morally if not duty-bound to make things right.”

Urging AHPETC to “come out of denial” and recognise the situation’s gravity, Mr Khaw argued that the lapses the AGO found in the town council are symptomatic of a systemic failure. How can a town council safeguard public monies, he questioned, if it does not have proper controls and a reliable record and accounting system.

All political parties aspire to run the Singapore Government. If they cannot even run a town council well, how can they be entrusted with the even more critical responsibility of running the country?“ he asked.

Given that elected MPs, as town councillors, have significant authority to set and enforce by-laws and a platform to demonstrate to the residents their ability to govern, a dysfunctional town council can have “grave consequences” for the lives of residents, said Mr Khaw.

At the core of AHPETC’s “tragic saga” is the incompetence and “murky” operations of its managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), he added. A married couple, Mr Danny Loh Chong Meng and his wife, How Weng Fan, who are AHPETC office-bearers, set up FMSS seven days after the 2011 General Election and the company was appointed without a tender to undertake estate maintenance services at precincts managed by the then Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

Despite being paid a handsome sum — up to three times more than managing agents of other town councils, based on figures from the Ministry of National Development — it could not even administer accounts in a reliable way, said Mr Khaw. The lack of such a system creates opportunities “for crooks to make money” at the expense of residents, he added.

But beyond FMSS’ incompetence, Mr Khaw pointed to the AHPETC leaders’ dereliction of duty as the root cause of the town council’s state of affairs. “(The town councillors had) condoned this, allowed it to happen and made excuses for it when uncovered, instead of putting things right,” he charged. “Only they can unwind this mess.”

But rather than make amends, the WP MPs made light of and misrepresented the AGO’s findings by asserting that it did not find evidence of monies lost, Mr Khaw said.

“AGO pointed this out in (its report) when WP tried to put such words in the AGO’s mouth ... In fact, with so many documents missing and the accounts unreliable, who can be sure that there was no wrongdoing?”







WP’s pattern of deflection, denial betrays public trust, says Heng
Minister accuses WP MPs of lack of transparency, avoiding residents’ queries, making empty promises to gain votes
By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY, 13 Feb 2015

The Workers’ Party (WP) has betrayed the people’s trust by failing to act in the best interest of residents, by not living up to its promise and for displaying a “consistent pattern” of denial, deflection and protection of the managing agent owned by its supporters.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat today (Feb 13) levelled these charges at the opposition party as he weighed in on the debate about the Auditor-General’s Office’s (AGO) report on the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) — the third Cabinet minister to do so.

Mr Heng pointed out that compared to anywhere else in the country, the residents in the estates managed by AHPETC were charged the highest fees by its managing agent, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS).

He added that S$12 million were also missing from the town council’s sinking funds, which are meant for long-term maintenance work, before a partial sum was belatedly recovered. Mr Heng said residents’ well-being would be compromised further when there are insufficient funds for infrastructure repair work.

He said the WP corrected the shortfall only because it was caught.

“If not for the Auditor-General, the town councillors would have kept the residents of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East in the dark. Nothing is transparent,” he added.

The WP and AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim, however, rejected the accusation. She said parts of the sum had been put back into the sinking funds before the audit began, and the calculations had taken them “quite some time”.

Mr Heng charged that the shortfall happened because the town council was “running into cash-flow problems from their profligate management, and they put off paying into the sinking fund so that they would have money to pay the MA (managing agent)”. “That is compromising the long-term interests of residents to enrich their friends,” he said.

On how the WP kept defending FMSS, Mr Heng said: “They have a consistent pattern of denial, deflection and protection of their managing agent, which suggests a serious rot is happening.”

He also cited several examples where WP MPs went back on their words. For instance, they had said they would address Parliament on the audit report, but yesterday, Aljunied GRC MP and AHPETC vice-chairman Pritam Singh said he would only answer residents on the matter, Mr Heng noted.

He also revealed that WP Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong and a group of party supporters were asked by a resident last evening about the report.

“But he didn’t answer and walked away quickly. So is this the answer Mr Singh (and) the WP promised to residents? A WP CEC (central executive council) member and his activists meet residents, and they evade the question?” Mr Heng said.



He added that the WP MPs have shown a “pattern of behaviour of saying whatever suits them for the moment”. But what was more disturbing was how the WP had made empty promises to win votes, Mr Heng said.

For instance, at the rallies during the 2013 Punggol East by-election, WP members including Mr Gerald Giam and Ms Lee Li Lian, who was eventually elected as Punggol East MP, spoke of their confidence in managing a town council. Ms Lim had also said in May 2013 in Parliament that WP MPs are “committed to being politically accountable to voters for town management under the current regime”.

Referring to WP chief Low Thia Khiang’s comments in Parliament on Thursday, in which he said the Opposition should not be expected to run town councils, Mr Heng said: “Or were Mr Gerald Giam, Ms Lee Li Lian and Ms Sylvia Lim all misleading residents when they made these speeches, that WP had no intention whatsoever of fulfilling your election promises?”







WP criticised for making ‘flimsy’ excuses for AHPETC’s lapses
Party carefully avoided assuring the House that no public funds under its care have been lost: Hri Kumar
By Ng Siqi Kelly, TODAY, 13 Feb 2015

People’s Action Party parliamentarians came out strongly against the Workers’ Party (WP) today (Feb 13) over its running of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) and accused it of trying to dodge blame for the lapses uncovered by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO).

Describing AHPETC as a “house in disarray”, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, took aim at the WP’s “lax attitude” in managing the town council’s sinking fund, as he echoed his party colleagues’ warning that its residents will suffer in the long run as a result.

The opposition party has also thrown up excuses instead of accounting for the deficiencies flagged in the audit, said Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar Nair, adding that it had even tried to paint a misleading picture that no wrongdoing was found.

On the second day of debates on the AGO’s findings on AHPETC, Mr Hri Kumar slammed the WP for giving a “flimsy excuse” in saying its struggles to find a managing agent was why it appointed a company owned by the town council’s staff. Some of the other town councils have managed to run their towns themselves without a managing agent, he said.

Mr Hri Kumar also took issue with AHPETC’s responses to the AGO’s observations, namely that the mistakes and omissions detected were due to inadvertence, human error, IT system constraints and a lack of experience in dealing with certain scenarios.


“The AGO report does not by any stretch confirm ... that there has been no criminal or dishonest activity. Rather, it says that it does not know, because of the way AHPETC has mismanaged its operations,” he said, adding that the town council had failed to submit the documents required for a thorough audit.

Mr Hri Kumar also said that while WP parliamentarians have reiterated during the debate that they are for transparency and accountability, they have “carefully avoided” assuring the House that no public funds under their care had been lost, misappropriated or unaccounted for.

“I do not know if there is a statute of limitations for excuses, but they must have long exceeded it,” he chided.

The AGO’s finding that AHPETC was, on several occasions, late or short in transferring money into its sinking fund warranted concern, said Mr Liang, who also called for a division bell during voting on the motion, “given the seriousness of the issue”.

The consequences of a mismanaged sinking fund may not be seen in the short term, he added, but in time, residents will suffer as they are getting the short end of the stick.

Calling on the town councillors to carry out their fiduciary duties, Mr Liang also noted that AHPETC had “flip-flopped and reported wide swings in services and conservancy charges arrears numbers”, rendering its data unreliable.

He added that the processes in AHPETC were far from the practices expected from organisations such as town councils, which are funded by public monies and run by elected members.

“These are practices that would not even find their place in a Third-World Parliament,” said Mr Liang, in reference to the WP’s election slogan in 2011 of building a First-World Parliament.

Mr Liang and Mr Hri Kumar said members of the public had told them not to “attack” and “bully” the opposition party, but they said the debate was necessary because public monies were at stake.

“How can anyone in good conscience ignore or downplay (AHPETC’s lapses)? ... Why should the WP be let off easy just because they are the Opposition?” asked Mr Hri Kumar.

Mr Liang added: “What we are concerned about is public money and that the WP is bullying its own residents.”





Balancing financial viability with affordable fares
This is key as, if the industry is not sustainable, commuters may bear the brunt of higher fares
By Adrian Lim, The Straits Times 14 Feb 2015

WHILE fares must be kept affordable for commuters, the public transport business must remain financially viable so operators have the incentive to be efficient and productive, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said in Parliament yesterday.

This is because if the industry is not sustainable in the long run, commuters may have to bear the brunt of much higher fares or it will leave the Government and taxpayers to subsidise the operations. This happened in other cities with a nationalised transport system which is not run efficiently, Mr Lui added.


She had asked why public transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT could not absorb the increase since they are profitable.

To this, Mr Lui said: "The fact is that operating buses and trains is not a highly profitable business, far from it. In fact, of all the profits that are generated, roughly about 95 per cent comes from the non-fare business and, at most, 5 per cent comes from operating trains and buses."

Non-fare business includes rental of retail space, advertising sales and taxi rental.

Mr Lui said that fare revenue and income have crept marginally above costs only in recent quarters.

Although SBS Transit's profit rose from more than $11 million to over $14 million last year - a huge gain in percentage terms - Mr Lui noted that this profit margin is about 1.5 per cent when compared against the total revenue of about $1 billion.

For SMRT, the profit margin in its last financial year was 5 per cent, he added.

Mr Lui said that besides making profit to pay a reasonable return to shareholders, operators also have to pay for future capital expenditure.

SMRT, for example, has financial obligations of about $2 billion from now to 2019, which include buying over operating assets and additional trains. This figure, Mr Lui said, is more than three times the cumulative profits the company has made in the last five financial years.

Mr Lui said there was a downside to stifling every possibility for the operators to make a profit.

"Because if they run a shoddy operation, it's very expensive... and ultimately we all bear the costs," he added.

In reply to Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang's point that fares would not have to go up if public transport operators were productive, Mr Lui said this was possible in theory.

But the fact is that the public transport operators, like other public and private entities, also face cost pressures, such as expectations from their employees for wage increases, he said.





Overhead pedestrian bridges to be upgraded
By Adrian Lim, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) plans to upgrade all overhead pedestrian bridges and cover them, including those which span expressways.

Currently, about 84 per cent of these bridges are sheltered.

Pedestrian overhead bridges that have a higher usage and those that are connected to transport nodes, such as MRT stations and bus interchanges, or linked to key amenities will be upgraded first.


He was responding to questions by Mr David Ong (Jurong GRC) on the guidelines for erecting covered overhead pedestrian bridges. Mr Ong also asked about plans to make such bridges accessible to the elderly and those using wheelchairs.

Dr Faishal gave the assurance that providing for an ageing community has always been a priority for the Government. There are currently more than 510 pedestrian overhead bridges in Singapore.

In recent years, the LTA has been working towards improving the commuting experience for pedestrians, particularly for those heading to transport nodes.

In 2013, it announced that more than 200km of sheltered walkways would be built in the next five years.

The $330 million project will significantly increase the size of the existing 46km linkway network and is designed to make sure travellers can access public transport in all weather. The new walkways are to be built within 400m of MRT stations.

Some will also be within 200m of LRT stations, bus interchanges and major bus stops.





Appeals by private property owners to buy HDB flats
By Amir Hussain, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

NEARLY 40 per cent of appeals by Singapore citizens and permanent residents to buy a Housing Board flat while holding on to private property have been approved in the past two years.

Of the 1,587 appeals received, 486 came from those who owned private property in Singapore, and 1,101 from those who had property overseas.


Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee said this in Parliament yesterday in response to questions by Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong GRC).

Mr Ang also asked what criteria are used in deciding an appeal.

Mr Lee replied that HDB assesses each appeal on a case-by-case basis.

"For example, if a resident has extenuating circumstances such as financial hardship and needs to buy an HDB flat while the private property is undergoing a mortgage sale - this could be a circumstance that would be looked into," he said.





Specific resources focused on cybercrimes
Police also constantly upgrading capabilities to prevent them: Iswaran
By Amir Hussain, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

WHILE there is no dedicated cybercrime unit here, the police do have specific resources focused on tackling cybercrimes.

Second Minister for Home Affairs S. Iswaran said this yesterday when asked what the police are doing to prevent a further escalation of e-commerce crimes.

"Police are also constantly upgrading their cyber capabilities and they work closely with international partners and experts in order to track down persons who use the Internet to commit crimes," he said.

He added that the new Interpol Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore will also have a digital crime centre that will develop new solutions to tackle cybercrime.


Crimes involving e-commerce have risen sharply over the last three years - from 238 reported cases in 2012 to 510 cases in 2013, and 1,659 cases last year.

The increase, Mr Iswaran said, reflects the growth of online shopping transactions and greater awareness and reporting of such crimes.

While the number of reported cases has escalated in recent years, the number of arrests in relation to these cases has been relatively low.

There were 132 arrests related to e-commerce crimes from 2012 to last year.

Mr Iswaran said that this was because many of these perpetrators are based overseas and, therefore, harder for the police to track down.

"Investigations also take more time given the trans-boundary nature of such crimes, and the police need to work closely with their international counterparts," said Mr Iswaran.

The police also carry out public education campaigns to make consumers aware of the danger of scams when they shop online.

They work with the Media Development Authority, Monetary Authority of Singapore, major financial institutions and online shopping sites, among other partners, he said.





Projections not made for utility tariffs
By Jacqueline Woo, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) do not make projections for electricity and town gas tariffs, said Second Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran in Parliament yesterday.

But he said the EMA reviews both electricity and town gas tariffs on a quarterly basis to ensure that they "reflect the underlying costs of production, including fuel costs".

He was responding to a query by Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC), who asked how much of a reduction in electricity and gas tariffs could be expected in the next six to 12 months, given lower oil prices.

Crude prices have reached almost six-year lows in recent months as demand lagged behind rising supplies, and the impact might be reflected in the latest tariff revisions.

Mr Iswaran said the electricity tariff for January to March this year had fallen 7.9 per cent to 23.29 cents per kilowatt hour, while the town gas tariff for February to April had dropped 8.7 per cent to 19.02 cents per kWh.

He explained that the fuel cost component of electricity tariffs is based on average forward fuel oil and dated Brent prices for the first 21/2 months of the preceding quarter. It makes up about half the tariff.

The fuel cost component for town gas is based on average forward fuel oil and naphtha prices for the quarter. It accounts for about 40 per cent of the tariff.






A leg up for firms heading abroad
By Jacqueline Woo, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

MORE companies are getting help in venturing overseas, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck in Parliament yesterday.

He noted that trade agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore has helped more than 27,000 firms expand overseas under its Global Company Partnership scheme - sharply up from 16,000 firms in 2013. About 80 per cent of the firms are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The scheme, introduced in 2012, offers support for companies keen to build internal capabilities and gain access to overseas markets and financing.

"More companies are going overseas and, hopefully, we can reach our target of (having) 1,000 companies (with revenues above $100 million) by 2020," said Mr Teo, in response to a question by Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam.

Mr Giam had asked about the schemes in place to help companies achieve this target.

Mr Teo noted that the goal reflects the objective of "developing a strong base of globally competitive companies to create a vibrant corporate ecosystem in Singapore, and grow the external wing of our economy".

He also pointed to other schemes such as Spring Singapore's Capability Development Grant, a financial assistance programme for SMEs in areas such as technology adoption and staff training. It is being used by more than 1,000 companies.






More flat applicants delay collecting keys
By Amir Hussain, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THERE were about 113,000 new flat bookings from 2010 to Jan 31 this year.

During this period, there were 460 requests by applicants to delay collecting their keys. The figure has been on the rise since 2010, increasing from 30 to 50 in 2011, 90 in 2012 and 2013, and 200 last year.

Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee said this in Parliament yesterday, but he added that the increase in the number of appeals corresponds with the increase in the number of flats that were completed over this five-year period.

Appeals from first-timer applicants, he said, were mostly about four- and five-room flat types. In contrast, smaller flat types had more appeals from second-time applicants.

About three in four of the applicants who appealed have since collected their keys.

Mr Lee also said that, of the total number of bookings, about 9 per cent of the applicants, or 10,000 bookings, eventually did not complete their purchase.


Mr Ang also asked whether there was a growing number of people unable to collect their keys because of financial problems.

Mr Lee said he did not have figures for this, but added: "HDB will look at the individual circumstances of the applicant. And if they, for example, face financial hardship, we will see how best we can assist."


Png Eng Huat: Civil Servants screw up like AHPETC except that we screw up everyday

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Josephine Teo takes issue with WP MP's comparison of lapses in govt
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

SENIOR Minister of State for Transport and Finance Josephine Teo yesterday challenged Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang) to cite instances where the Auditor- General's Office (AGO) reached the same conclusions in its routine audits of government entities as in its recent audit of the Workers' Party-run town council.




Mr Png, a vice-chairman of the town council, had pointed out lapses at ministries and statutory boards the AGO had found in its annual audit of the organisations.

These include instances of overpayments, payments without evidence that goods and services were delivered and duplicate payments, which in one instance amounted to $18.6 million, he said.

"AHPETC is also found by the AGO to have erred in some of these areas, and I am certain AHPETC will not be the last as well, because good corporate governance is a work in progress.

"On any other given day, the report (of the AHPETC audit) may read like a typical AGO report on any entity under audit, but today, the spotlight is on AHPETC, and we will explain to the public," he said.

Mrs Teo pointed out that the AGO concluded in its AHPETC audit that "unless the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC's financial statements are accurate and reliable and that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed".

She asked: "I would like to know whether Mr Png is aware of any other occasion that the AGO has drawn the same conclusion for a government ministry or statutory board?"

Mr Png replied that he had not meant to compare the conclusions in the AGO's AHPETC audit with the ones in its annual audits. What he meant was that "such lapses do exist", he said.

Mrs Teo shot back that he "had suggested that ministries and statutory boards have the same problems", even though the AGO had drawn a very specific conclusion about AHPETC.

Mr Png said the examples he cited had been picked up by the AGO. "Are those not real instances where lapses happened too? I am not saying that because (the) AHPETC (audit) was tabled in Parliament, but I am just citing that AGO work is thorough, fair, and I respect that."







Related
Closing Statement by Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the Motion on AGO Report on the Audit of AHPETC
Parliament Highlights - 13 Feb 2015
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 1
Parliament Highlights - 12 Feb 2015
Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Motion on the Auditor-General's Report on the Audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council
Shanmugam: AHPETC setup designed to let friends benefit
Low Thia Khiang admits after 20 years, he still has no idea how to manage Town Councils
Sylvia Lim takes responsibility for friends with benefits in AHPETC
Chen Show Mao learns he's in a fiduciary relationship with AHPETC
Pritam Singh to AHPETC residents: Ask me where is your money?
Khaw Boon Wan on AHPETC incompetence: In the good old days, Japanese CEOs may even kill themselves
Auditor-General's Report on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's FY2012-13 Accounts
Audit of Workers' Party-run town council flags major lapses

Pritam Singh: FMSS built Chinese Wall for AHPETC

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Managing agent’s staff not privy to tender process: Pritam Singh
By Kelly Ng and Amanda Lee, TODAY, 13 Feb 2015

The couple who own FMSS Solutions and Services (FMSS), the company appointed as Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) managing agent, may hold top appointments in the town council, but they are not involved in its tender decision-making processes, Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Pritam Singh said today (Feb 13), as he addressed the conflict of interest raised in the Auditor-General Office’s (AGO) audit of the beleaguered Workers’ Party-run town council.

The AGO’s audit report had highlighted AHPETC’s failure to properly disclose and assess safeguards to address the potential conflicts before it entered into agreements with FMSS.

Mr Singh, who is also the vice-chair of AHPETC, said: (The) “decision-making to award the tender in such a case would ... be the sole remit of the Tender and Contracts Committee.”

None of the staff at FMSS is privy to the evaluation or the decision-making process, he said. The secretary of the town council, Mr Danny Loh, and the general manager, Ms How Weng Fan, were not involved in this process, which Mr Singh stressed was conducted in “strict adherence” to the Town Council Financial Rules.

Today, Mr Singh and his WP colleagues, Hougang MP Png Eng Huat and Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian, took turns to address some of the lapses flagged by the AGO and tried to assure the House that AHPETC was already setting things right.

For instance, the town council had, in May 2013, paid back in full about S$18.6 million owed to the Housing and Development Board (HDB) for lift upgrading work, Mr Singh said.

He added that those expenses were not recorded in the town council’s books in the earlier years because it had a dispute with the HDB over the amount that should be recognised.

The AHPETC also “duly reversed” several incorrectly stated figures in its books, said Mr Singh, including a S$110,375 figure it believed it should have received from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore — an error that was corrected last May.

After the 2011 General Election, staff of the previous managing agent in Aljunied GRC, then a PAP ward, resigned.

As they were familiar with the handling of financial documents, their resignation meant the town council lost “a lot of institutional knowledge”, Mr Singh explained.

He acknowledged that the handover of records from the previous town council management could have been better managed, but added that proper handover procedures were now in place.

To strengthen internal controls, closed-circuit television cameras have also been set up to monitor the town council’s reception area to detect unauthorised access to its mail, said Ms Lee.

All cheques received are scanned and saved on a central server and those not banked in by the end of each day are placed in a safe, she added.

Mr Png said AHPETC has made “incremental improvements” to its computer system over the years. Contrary to the AGO’s findings, he asserted, AHPETC has a “live and up-to-date” system to track every financial transaction in a resident’s account, including arrears in service and conservancy charges.

Dismissing the insinuation in media reports that AHPETC’s secretary and the general manager, both owners of its managing agent, were pocketing monies paid to the town council, Mr Singh reiterated that the recurring payments were necessary “to keep (the) town running, (or) else rubbish will pile up three-storeys high and lives will be endangered if residents are trapped in the lifts with no rescue effort carried out in the shortest possible time”.







Related
Png Eng Huat: Civil Servants screw up like AHPETC except that we screw up everyday
Closing Statement by Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the Motion on AGO Report on the Audit of AHPETC
Parliament Highlights - 13 Feb 2015
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 1
Parliament Highlights - 12 Feb 2015
Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Motion on the Auditor-General's Report on the Audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council
Shanmugam: AHPETC setup designed to let friends benefit
Low Thia Khiang admits after 20 years, he still has no idea how to manage Town Councils
Sylvia Lim takes responsibility for friends with benefits in AHPETC
Chen Show Mao learns he's in a fiduciary relationship with AHPETC
Pritam Singh to AHPETC residents: Ask me where is your money?
Khaw Boon Wan on AHPETC incompetence: In the good old days, Japanese CEOs may even kill themselves
Auditor-General's Report on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's FY2012-13 Accounts
Audit of Workers' Party-run town council flags major lapses

Hri Kumar: PAP 'cannot go easy on WP even if there is political price'

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Hri Kumar Nair (MP, Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC) speech in Parliament on the AGO report on the audit of AHPETC
13 Feb 2015





The AHPETC Saga - The WP Should Do The Right Thing

In my 24 years as a lawyer, I have investigated the affairs of a number of companies, including listed companies, and have authored a few audit or investigation reports. It has been my experience that lapses are invariably caused by human failings. You may have good systems in place, but ultimately, your systems are only as good as the people who run them. There will always be individuals who will ignore or try to get around the rules - sometimes because they are lazy or complacent, sometimes because they are incompetent and sometimes, unfortunately, because they are dishonest. Almost always, they are not questioned or challenged because of the positions they occupy. In every case, losses were suffered.

And so, the findings in the AGO Report are depressingly familiar to me. I have read a number of media and online reports which have portrayed the Report’s findings as “lapses in control”, “inadequate oversight” or “poor management of records”. Indeed, there are many such findings in the Report. But these understate the gravity of the findings.

So I had planned to come to this House to make the point that these are serious matters. But then I encountered something quite bizarre. The people I discussed the matter with kept telling me – don’t attack the WP; they will only get more sympathy; find a way to move on; you have to keep in mind the politics.

I could not get my head around that. Has it come to this? This is a matter involving public funds. How could anyone in good conscience ignore or downplay what the AGO and PwC have found? They are not partisan bodies as Mr Png accepts. Indeed, AGO routinely audits government agencies and does not shirk from highlighting lapses, and members of all parties in this House have rightly scrutinised those lapses and held the Government to account. So, why should the WP be let off easy just because they are the opposition? And why should their residents be forced to accept anything less than full accountability? This cannot be the right way forward.

And sure enough, when Mr Low and Ms Lim spoke yesterday, they tried to downplay the breaches and make excuses for themselves – we are small; we are learning; the system is against us; these are only procedural lapses. That’s playing politics and these excuses are flimsy. Mr Low says that unlike the PAP TCs, the WP cannot find a Managing Agent. But the Bishan - Toa Payoh Town Council does not have a Managing Agent. For the last 19 years, we have been managing the Town Council ourselves. We employ our own staff and ensure that they are trained and have the proper skills to do their job. We are not perfect, but we consistently score an all-green rating in the TCMRs and our accounts are submitted on time and are unqualified. Mr Low also had no Managing Agent when he ran Hougang Town Council. So this is a red herring. Mr Chen Show Mao, a very experienced corporate lawyer, then suggests the rules on disclosing conflicts are unclear and difficult to apply. But that is not correct, and he must know that. Besides, they have professionals they can turn to for advice. And if the rules are so unclear, why is the AHPETC the only TC with this difficulty?

To me, all these are deflections and distractions. What is more important is what the AGO Report actually says. And these findings cannot be brushed off as down to inexperience or a lack of resources. This entire episode raises questions about the competence, accountability and integrity of those who run AHPETC. Minister Shanmugam gave examples yesterday and some are worth re-stating.

First, the appointment of FMSS and FMSI, and their ownership by the Secretary of AHPETC and his wife, who is also the General Manager of FMSS – both hard-core Workers’ Party members. By any standard of corporate governance, the engagement of FMSS and FMSI involve a conflict of interest. Ms Lim suggests that FMSS was appointed because CPG did not want to continue as Managing Agent. But there is still no explanation as to why FMSS was formed 7 days after the election results and before CPG discontinued its services.

But that is not all. There is nothing wrong per se with an engagement which involves a potential conflict of interest, provided it is in the best interests of the organisation, the conflict is fully and properly declared and the risks are managed. The AGO Report makes it clear that all this was not done. The AGO Report notes that PwC Consulting did not see any documentary evidence that the AHPETC Town Councillors had considered the full extent of the conflicts of interests involved and the safeguards needed (para 5.11). We are still waiting for an explanation why the minutes do not reflect that Mr Loh and his wife’s ownership of FMSS was not declared.

But that is still not all. We heard the examples yesterday of how the Secretary, GM and DGM routinely issued works orders and approved payments to themselves. Mr Png says there are oversight committees. But PwC was unable to determine if the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of AHPETC adequately verified payments to related parties before they signed the cheques (para 5.13). Mr Png says most of these were for recurring payments and must be paid otherwise rubbish will pile up. But again, that’s not the point. They keep missing the point. Just because there is a contract, you pay? Where was the oversight? In other words, what assurance is there that the very people who were in a conflict did not take advantage of their position? Were they paid for actual or proper services rendered? They were petting their own backs with one hand and lining their own pockets with the other. Now they are all tied up with knots.

These are egregious breaches that demand a proper explanation, not excuses. It cannot be a question of inexperience.

Was the appointment of FMSS, the party in conflict, in the best interests of the Town Council? The Report says there was no open competition in FMSS’ appointment and therefore no assurance that AHPETC obtained competitive prices for its services (para 5.10). The Report (para 5.10(b)) then gives an extra-ordinary account of how FMSS’ fees came to be approved. It states that the AHPETC Town Councillors were assured that FMSS would charge about the same amount as the previous contractors. But this was false. The Report notes that the combined fee of the previous contractors was only about $49,000 per month. As it turns out, the fees billed by FMSS for the period from October 2011 to June 2012 averaged $67,000 per month: more than 35% per cent higher. In short, the AHPETC’s own Town Councillors were misled. Ms Lim now says all these were errors.

But such an error is so flagrant that it certainly raises suspicions and warrants a more thorough investigation. . What is important to appreciate is that it is not the AGO’s remit to determine whether dishonesty was involved. And even if we accept that a mistake had been made at the outset, it is hard to believe that 9 months of overpayment to FMSS was not discovered.

But the worse thing for me was what Ms Lim and her team said in response to the AGO Report - that it confirms that no monies are missing, nor has criminal or dishonest activity been uncovered. Mr Low repeated that argument yesterday. This is the consistent line they are selling their residents.

This is blatantly misleading on two counts. First, the Report says no such thing. In fact, the AGO responded that Ms Lim’s “broad conclusion cannot be derived from AGO’s audit”.

What does the Report in fact say? An important element of the cases I mentioned earlier involves piecing together what went wrong and tracing or figuring out where monies have gone to. By and large, this can be done because almost all transactions leave paper trails, and forensic accountants use documents to analyse and reconstruct what happened. But what does the AGO Report say about the state of AHPETC documents? I quote some portions:
- At para 5.13, “PwC was not provided with sufficient documentary evidence for it to independently ascertain the manner and extent of verification of the payments at the cheque-signing stage by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman.”
- At para 5.28, AHPETC did not have a proper system to ensure that documents were properly accounted for and safeguarded. AHPETC was unable to provide supporting documents for the period April to July 2011 to its auditor.
- At para 5.31, AHPETC also could not provide some documents required during the current audit that concerned transactions taking place after AHPETC had taken over from the previous Town Council. In response to reminders, AHPETC indicated that it could not locate some of the documents and was still looking for others, three months after the request for the documents.
- At para 4.1, “until the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC’s accounts are accurate and reliable, or that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed.”
In short, the AGO cannot say if public monies have all been accounted for because documents which AHPETC are obliged to keep are missing. So, contrary to what Ms Lim and her colleagues want the public to believe, the AGO Report does not by any stretch confirm that no monies are missing, or that there has been no criminal or dishonest activity. Rather, it says that it does not know because of the way the Town Council has mismanaged its operations. If AHPETC considers this an endorsement, then it speaks volumes about its attitude to managing public funds.

Second, as Mr Shanmugam explained and as any person knows, loss does not only occur when money is stolen. There are numerous instances of possible breach of fiduciary duties by AHPETC officers. We now also know that:
- FMSS was paid far more than other Managing Agents;
- There were substantial over-payments to FMSS, which would not have been discovered but for the audit; and
- an operating surplus of over $3.2m has become a deficit of $700,000. That money is not going to come back. This is something we still have not heard any explanation for.
Could there be more? We do not know because the accounts for FY2013 have still not been submitted.

While lapses can occur in all organisations, my experience has also shown me that what distinguishes a good organisation is its response to discovering those lapses – failings are acknowledged, systems tightened, losses made good and those responsible dealt with.

So, what was AHPETC’s response? First to brush off the many lapses as “mistakes and omissions due to inadvertence, human error, IT system constraints and a lack of experience dealing with certain scenarios.“ Second, to misleadingly spin the Report as an endorsement that there was no wrongdoing.

It was a blasé response from people charged with handling millions in public funds. They did come to this House with a different, more contrite tone. And I acknowledge their saying that they will support the Motion. But that facade fell away when Mr Pritam Singh said that he will answer to residents who ask him questions during his house visit and not to this House. Let me ask Mr Singh this: does this mean you will keep silent if no one asks? How many residents does he think would have read the Report and fully digested its contents? How many will have the accounting or legal training to know the full implications of the Report or to ask the right questions? And is your answer when asked going to be: don’t worry, AGO did not find any wrong-doing?

So, the real question is how is the WP team going to account to their residents? In fact, it is not just their residents because the funds they manage include Government grants which come from all Singaporeans. Make no mistake - if this had been any other company, the directors would have been immediately removed and a Receiver appointed to protect its assets. I do not think anyone will dispute this.

The AGO has explained why it does not know certain things because it has not been shown all the documents. Ms Lim and her colleagues attempts to play down and rewrite the findings in the AGO Report does not change its findings and certainly does not make things right.

If Ms Lim and her team are truly for transparency and accountability, they should help all of us understand what really happened, not obfuscate, deflect and distract. We should not forget that we are dealing with hard earned public funds, and ultimately, the interests and welfare of Singaporeans living in Ajunied, Hougang and Ponggol East. They did no wrong and they deserve better. The answer cannot be business as usual or to simply improve procedures going forward.

Most of all, Ms Lim, Mr Singh and their team need to assure this House that no public funds under their care have been lost, misappropriated or are unaccounted for, and that AHPETC has not suffered loss – in the real sense and not their narrow definition. They have said much in this House – but have carefully avoided saying that. And if they can give that assurance, they must tell us how they are able to, given the findings in the AGO report, the missing documents, their own auditors refusal to sign off on the audit and their own inability to say when the accounts for FY2013 will be ready, despite their claims that everything has been addressed.

And if they cannot give a complete and satisfactory answer to the highly relevant questions Mr Shanmugam posed, then something must be done. It is now close to 4 years since they took over. I do not know if there is a statute of limitations for excuses, but they must have long exceeded it.

What is the right and only thing to do? Do what any responsible company and board of directors in such a situation would do - for AHPETC to commission a complete forensic investigation, and thereafter, undertake legal proceedings to recover all losses and damages suffered by it, regardless of who the prospective defendant may be. The WP team should also procure an undertaking from FMSS and FMIS that they will make all their papers and staff available for that investigation. That is the only way to put this matter to rest. And I really hope, for the sake of the residents, that the result will be that AHPETC has suffered no loss, or will be able to recover all losses. But if WP is not willing to do this, that will say everything.

Last year, we debated in this House what constructive politics means and how we would like to see our political landscape evolve. The Motion reflects an intention and desire to do what is necessary for the good of Singapore and all Singaporeans. But it is not enough for the WP to simply say that they support the Motion. If they mean what they say, they must follow through by doing everything they can to ensure that all the questions raised in this House are answered and this mess is cleared up once and for all.







WP MPs 'have not answered all the questions posed to them'
By Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Workers' Party (WP) has not been forthcoming in addressing the accounting lapses of its town council, People's Action Party ministers and MPs said yesterday.

Several times in the debate, they described the responses by WP MPs as inadequate and insincere, and criticised their attempts to distract instead of coming clean on how the lapses occurred.

The criticism came even as the WP said its MPs took "collective responsibility" for the lapses and would put things right.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was initially cheered when WP chief Low Thia Khiang declared the party would back the motion that Parliament noted "with concern" the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) report on the audit of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).

He said that changed when Mr Low launched into "a political speech, playing the victim of an unfair political world created by the Government".

WP MPs repeated objections the AGO had rebutted, said Mr Khaw, adding: "This consistent pattern of evasive behaviour gives us cause to doubt the sincerity of the AHPETC MPs... Instead, there was a certain arrogance, a disdain for having to come and address the House to answer for the adverse findings of the AGO audit."

Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said the opposition MPs tried to "brush off" its lapses as mistakes due to inexperience and human error.

They also cast the report as saying that no funds were missing and that no criminal or dishonest activity was uncovered, when it did not "by any stretch" say so.

"Rather, (the report) says that it does not know, because of the way the town council has mismanaged its operations," he said.

He added later: "They did come to this House with a different, more contrite tone... But that facade fell away when Mr Pritam Singh said that he will answer to residents who ask him questions during his house visit and not to this House."

Mr Singh (Aljunied GRC) had said on Thursday that the WP MPs would answer any questions that residents might have.

Yesterday, Mr Nair asked several times whether the WP would come clean and answer all questions asked of them in Parliament.

Mr Singh's response: "The WP members have come to Parliament and are taking collective responsibility... We are not here to make excuses."

To this Mr Nair said: "They have not answered all the questions that have been posed to them, and they are certainly not answering the questions they don't want to answer."



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Workers' Party has betrayed residents' trust: Heng Swee Keat

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Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday joined the debate in Parliament on a motion that it 'notes with concern' the Auditor-General's report on the audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC). The report highlighted lapses in financial management by the town council, run by the Workers' Party. Below are edited excerpts of Mr Heng's speech.
The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015





ELECTED town councillors of AHPETC have betrayed the people's trust. For a start, residents cannot trust the Workers' Party to get them a good deal. In fact, the Workers' Party has gotten them a raw deal. Their managing agents, FMSS and FMSI, charged the highest rate in Singapore for their services. Compared to the managing agent (MA) fees paid by other town councils, residents paid more than $2 more a unit. One year, $1.6 million. And this went on for four years.

Twelve million dollars was missing from their sinking fund. It was only after the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) pointed this out, that this was put back. Even so, one year after the Financial Year had ended, they still owed a substantial sum to the sinking fund. If not for the Auditor-General, the town councillors would have kept the residents of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East in the dark. Nothing is transparent.

This is a very serious matter. It is wrong for the town councillors to argue that as long as money was put back, nothing was wrong in the first instance.

The fact is, they put the money back only because they were caught.

Why did this happen? Either the MA is totally incompetent or they deliberately decided not to fill the sinking fund. They did not forget to pay MA fees every month. They did not forget to collect S&CC (service and conservancy charges) from the honest, hard-working residents every month. But they forgot to pay large sums that were supposed to go into the sinking fund, and repeatedly. Was it because the Finance Investment Committee chaired by Mr Chen Show Mao was not doing its work? Or was it another lapse by chairman (Sylvia Lim)? No explanation has been forthcoming.

Sinking funds are for long-term cyclical maintenance. We need to replace lifts for residents' safety, do major repairs like rewiring and re-roofing, re-paint blocks. The Town Council Act lists only three offences, and the use of sinking funds for operating expenses is one of them. It is precisely to guard against managing agents and town councils acting to meet short-term interests. Sadly, this is precisely what we are seeing, short-term opportunistic behaviour.

Residents cannot trust the elected town councillors to account honestly for where their money is.

The town council cannot even keep basic accounts properly. You saw in the AGO report: inaccurate arrears, lapses in internal controls, poor records, late accounts, missing documents. These are not technical issues. These raise fundamental questions (on) whether the accounts can be trusted. If we are not vigilant, can we be sure that down the road, somebody may not be cooking the books? Why did a surplus of $3.3 million in the operations become a deficit of $730,000 in just two years? Though it may not be obvious on the surface, beneath the surface, the town council is rotting. And the rot is serious.

The second way in which the Workers' Party betrayed the people's trust (is through) a consistent pattern of denial, deflection and protection of their managing agent. Clearly the managing agent FMSS has failed. The elected members of the town council should be held responsible. They appointed the MA. They're responsible for supervising the MA, for setting up a proper structure. You can outsource work; you cannot outsource responsibility. The responsibility lies squarely with the Members of Parliament on the council.

Elected town councillors, instead of disciplining their MA and taking corrective action, defended them strongly. In 2013, they said in Parliament: "FMSS was engaged based on its directors' experience in property management, professional skills and track record in running Hougang town council."

What we have heard in this House so far is that they're inexperienced, and these mistakes happened because people resigned. But Ms Sylvia Lim told us in this House that they are professional and experienced. So who is telling us the accurate version?

And you are talking about experience. How much experience do you need to know that you cannot be handing money to your supporters at the expense of over-charging your residents? How much experience do you need to truthfully disclose information to your auditors, including your own auditors? In fact, the AGO audit would not have been necessary if they had been honest and forthright in disclosing information to their own auditors. Where's the transparency that Mr Pritam Singh has been advocating so strongly? Elected town councillors have acted in the best interest of their friends, the well-paid managing agent. They have neglected the interest of the residents of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East. All the Workers' Party MPs have said that they will take collective responsibility. They have said that they will support this motion. I hope the support is in substance, not just form. If they support the motion in substance, one would have expected that they will conduct a forensic audit, that they will take legal action against the managing agent FMSS, that they will file accounts immediately, on time, as required by the law, and any administrative action and that they will put in the checks and balances where there is a severe conflict of interest. And the residents deserve to know what had happened.

The Workers' Party's platform in the last general election was First World Parliament, and I quote, where the opposition will "function as a robust check and balance against the Government".

Now, over the last two days, we have seen clearly how they have created a system where there is no check, no balance. In fact, the real check in this instance came from the Government - the Auditor-General's Office.

What the House witnessed yesterday is unbelievable. Mr Pritam Singh, who had said "we will constantly press the Government for more information, especially since it is so selective with the information it releases". When asked pertinent questions on transparency and accountability by Mr Shanmugam, Mr Pritam Singh said he would not give a reply in Parliament - the First World Parliament which he claims he wants to build and which Mr Low Thia Khiang said he will account to.



Last evening, Mr Yee Jenn Jong and a group of his WP supporters dressed in blue were asked by a resident about what was going on in the AHPETC, but he didn't answer and walked away quickly. So is this the answer Mr Singh promised to residents?

So they won't answer auditors, won't answer Parliament, won't answer residents. Who is left in Singapore that the WP think is worthy of an answer?

Sadly, we saw in this House yesterday this pattern of behaviour - of saying whatever suits them for the moment - among the WP's MPs. Mr Low Thia Khiang claimed that it is difficult for the opposition to run TCs or get qualified people to run TCs, that they have to start from scratch. But the PAP TCs also started from scratch when they were first formed. The PAP MP town councillors had no experience in municipal administration but they had plenty of integrity and sense of responsibility.

Mr Low said that we must, therefore, depoliticise the transitioning process. Newly elected MPs should not be tested, implying that they should simply be elected to oppose the government in a First World Parliament and not to have to show that they can actually govern. This is the precise opposite of the philosophy of the town council scheme. Indeed, it is the opposite of what Mr Low Thia Khiang used to maintain - running Hougang TC for 20 years until the WP team messed up in AHPETC.



What is even more disturbing is what the WP MPs have been promising residents.

Let me just quote three examples. First quote: "The WP has over 20 years of experience in managing TCs well and not just small TCs but a huge GRC TC in Aljunied. We know the ins and outs of running a constituency. Even when obstacles were thrown in our path to trip us up, we still have managed to ensure residents' needs are well taken care of." This was by Mr Gerald Giam when he spoke to residents at a rally on Jan 23, 2013. Let me move on to a second quote. "If WP wins Punggol East, I am confident that we will manage the TC competently. WP has had more than 20 years of experience managing Hougang SMC. After GE 2011, we quickly adapted to take charge of Aljunied GRC under a very short timeframe. We will take over the TC functions with as little disruption as possible to the residents. I have the experience and know-how in running a TC."This was by Ms Lee Li Lian at the same rally to residents in January 2013.

So we have heard that you can take charge of a TC, and big ones too, under a very short timeframe. So all the explanations that all the WP members have given us so far, which is the correct version? That you have plenty of problems, plenty of challenges or that you can take charge within a short timeframe, overcome any obstacles and that you are experienced and you have the know-how. Let me mention the third quote: "WP MPs are committed to being politically accountable to voters for town management under the current regime. Whatever else is done in other countries, the responsibility for town management has been legislated to the MPs under the Town Councils Act. We accept this responsibility and have pledged during elections to manage towns entrusted to us to the best of our ability. We intend to continue keeping this promise."This is by Ms Sylvia Lim in a parliamentary session on May 13, 2013.

I was most astounded to hear what Mr Low Thia Khiang said yesterday in this House, that we should depoliticise the transitioning process. Mr Low, you're the secretary-general of the WP and have just said the exact opposite of what Ms Sylvia Lim, chairman of the WP, said in this House in 2013. Did you just change your mind when things went wrong in AHPETC or you never believed in what you were doing? Or were Mr Gerald Giam, Ms Lee Li Lian and Ms Sylvia Lim misleading residents?

Do you have any conviction or do you just say whatever is expedient for the moment, even if it means misleading Singaporeans?

What is most disturbing in this entire sorry episode is the way that the Workers' Party has sought to downplay the crux of the matter, sought to deflect the issue by playing victim of a challenging operating environment that the Opposition faced, and then claiming inexperience.

As Minister Khaw Boon Wan pointed out yesterday, a town council requires elected MPs to govern and not just politick. It's easy to shout campaign slogans and make all sorts of promises, but do you really believe in what you say whole-heartedly and walk the talk?

Running a town council in a clean, competent and accountable way is a test of the integrity of the MP and his sense of responsibility and accountability. In other words, can we trust him or her? This motion is not about partisan politics. I have no joy pointing out the many failings and questionable practices of the Workers' Party. This motion is important for all Singaporeans because it is about our long-term future. Unless elected Members of Parliament act with integrity and a deep sense of responsibility, and take the trust of the people seriously, we will not be able to maintain a system of good governance - clean, honest, accountable, competent - and pass this on to our future generations.

We must not betray the trust of Singaporeans. Singaporeans deserve better.

Mr Low Thia Khiang claimed that it is difficult for the opposition to run town councils or get qualified people to run town councils, that they have to start from scratch. But the PAP town councils also started from scratch when they were first formed. The PAP MP town councillors had no experience in municipal administration but they had plenty of integrity and sense of responsibility.

The Workers' Party's platform in the last GE was First World Parliament, where the opposition "will function as a robust check and balance"... We have seen so clearly how they have created a system where there is no check, no balance. In fact, the real check in this instance came from the Government.



Related

Debate on motion on the AGO report on the audit of AHPETC
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 1
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 2
Closing Statement by Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the Motion on AGO Report on the Audit of AHPETC
Parliament Highlights - 13 Feb 2015
Parliament Highlights - 12 Feb 2015
Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Motion on the Auditor-General's Report on the Audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council

Low Thia Khiang cements Wayang Party tag for Workers' Party with AHPETC saga
Workers' Party has betrayed residents' trust: Heng Swee Keat
Hri Kumar: PAP 'cannot go easy on WP even if there is political price'
Pritam Singh: FMSS built Chinese Wall for AHPETC
Png Eng Huat: Civil Servants screw up like AHPETC except that we screw up everyday
Shanmugam: AHPETC setup designed to let friends benefit
Low Thia Khiang admits after 20 years, he still has no idea how to manage Town Councils
Sylvia Lim takes responsibility for friends with benefits in AHPETC
Chen Show Mao learns he's in a fiduciary relationship with AHPETC
Pritam Singh to AHPETC residents: Ask me where is your money?
Khaw Boon Wan on AHPETC incompetence: In the good old days, Japanese CEOs may even kill themselves

Auditor-General's Report on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's FY2012-13 Accounts
Audit of Workers' Party-run town council flags major lapses

Parliament: Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 2

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MPs unanimously endorse motion on Auditor-General's findings of lapses at AHPETC






WP told it must act to recover public funds
Walk the talk, PAP urges WP as all MPs back motion on AGO report
By Rachel Chang, Assistant Political Editor, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

LEADERS of the People's Action Party called on the Workers' Party (WP) yesterday to take all necessary steps, including legal action, to recover public money from its managing agent company, FM Services & Solutions (FMSS).

Charging that its Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) had paid FMSS fees that were $1.6 million more each year - over the past four years - than what other town councils pay, the PAP leaders said in Parliament that the WP must conduct a forensic audit of its accounts.

These actions, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, would be the "right thing to do" if the WP truly supported the motion before the House.

This motion, which endorsed the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) findings of serious lapses at the only opposition-run town council and called for stiffening the law regulating town councils, was unanimously endorsed by all 85 MPs present, including the nine WP MPs, after a debate that totalled seven hours.

Thirteen MPs spoke over two tense days.

The AGO's scrutiny of AHPETC was the first national audit of a town council and came after the WP's own auditors could not give it a clean bill of health.

"Mr Low must walk the talk. Demonstrate your sincerity through real actions," said Mr Khaw, referring to WP chief Low Thia Khiang.

Earlier in the day, Mr Low said the WP MPs took collective responsibility for the accounting and governance lapses, and that they would rectify matters.

He said the WP had no choice but to accept FMSS' higher charges because no other managing agent company would bid for the business, for political reasons.

But PAP leaders yesterday said the debate was fundamentally about the WP's integrity.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat (Tampines GRC) said the WP had "betrayed the trust" of AHPETC residents, and rejected its argument that inexperience in running a big town council accounted for some of its lapses.

"How much experience do you need to know that you cannot be handing money to your supporters at the expense of overcharging your residents?" he asked.

In several heated exchanges, Mr Low and WP chairman Sylvia Lim sought to explain why FMSS' fees were 20 per cent higher than those of the previous managing agent hired by the PAP in Aljunied GRC.

FMSS is majority-owned by AHPETC's general manager and secretary, a married couple who are long-time WP supporters.

Building on speeches by WP MPs such as Ms Lee Li Lian (Punggol East), who told the House that contractors would not work with them when the constituency changed hands, Mr Low said only FMSS submitted a bid, making its fees the market rate that AHPETC faced when it took over the GRC.

"These rates were through an open tender. But the environment is such that there is no one tendering for the job. Nobody wants to work for me. That is the problem, Prime Minister!" he said, directing his explanation at PM Lee Hsien Loong, who was seated across the aisle from him.

Ms Lim said the WP had done due diligence into FMSS' bid. While at "the high end", it included an IT system from scratch. They also took into account that FMSS was a small company without the economies of scale other managing agents enjoyed, and thus faced higher costs, she said.


He and other PAP MPs took aim at what they described as the WP's "blase" and "arrogant" responses to the charges.

Mr Khaw wrapped up the debate by asking the WP to "take ownership and do their duty".

"If they cannot even run a town council well, how can they be entrusted with the even more critical responsibility of running the country?"







PATTERN OF DENIAL

"I am very concerned about the pattern in which the WP has betrayed the people's trust. It has a consistent pattern of denial, deflection and protection of its managing agent, which suggests a serious rot is happening."

- Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, accusing the Workers' Party (WP) of lacking integrity in dealings with managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), owned by key officers of the WP-run town council



NO GOING EASY ON PARTY

"Why should the WP be let off easy just because it is the opposition? And why should its residents be forced to accept anything less than full accountability? This cannot be the right way forward."

- Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC), on why the WP town council must be held to the same standards as other entities that have been audited by the Auditor-General's Office



LACK OF TENDERERS

"If in the public tender for our managing agent contract there is more than one tenderer, that would be easier... Unfortunately, the environment is such that there is no one tendering for the managing agent job. Nobody wants to work for me. That is the problem, Prime Minister!"

- WP chief Low Thia Khiang, on why the WP town council paid its managing agent higher-than-average rates



AGENT DOESN'T DECIDE

"In a situation where FMSS is a tenderer in a tender called by the town council, (it) is kept at an arm's length and a (Chinese) wall is built between FMSS and the town council... At no point does FMSS make a decision on who to award the contract to."

- Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) of the WP, disputing allegations about possible conflicts of interest involving the WP town council's managing agent FMSS



PAP OR NOT, I WILL TRY TO HELP

Madam, I am a reasonable man. I am also a generous man. I am also a very religious man. So, where possible, I try to help. Whoever. Doesn't matter. Whether you are PAP, non-PAP. Key point is, are you sincere in wanting to help your residents? If you are honest, you are clean, I would do my best to help you.

- Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan, responding to Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim, who had asked if the National Development Ministry (MND) would be amenable to accepting the WP town council's financial statements if the accounts still had "a few" unresolved issues. On Thursday, Mr Khaw had said MND would withhold government grants from the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council until its accounting problems were fixed.






PAP MPs seek answers on 'missing public funds'
WP's Low explains why party paid its managing agent more than others
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

AFTER two days of heated debate over questionable accounting decisions made by the Workers' Party-run town council, the party's chief finally lost his signature cool yesterday.

At the end of a lengthy exchange in Parliament with Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, Mr Low Thia Khiang (Aljunied GRC) addressed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - who was sitting directly across from him - and summed up his frustrations.

"Nobody wants to work for me," he said. "That is the problem, Prime Minister!"

In a nutshell, that was the WP's explanation for why its town council is paying its managing agent, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), the highest fees in town. The question has hung over the House since the debate began on Thursday over the Auditor-General's Office's (AGO) findings of accounting lapses in the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).


Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Thursday distributed a table showing that the managing agent fees AHPETC paid were nearly double the average fees at People's Action Party (PAP) town councils. He charged that AHPETC had overpaid its managing agent company - which is owned by some WP supporters who are also senior managers of the town council - by $1.6 million a year over the past four years.

PAP MPs yesterday continued to press the WP for answers on the high fees and potential conflicts of interest involving FMSS.

"Where did the money go?" said Mr Heng. "Why are you so protective of your expensive managing agent that messed up the town council's work? Because they are the party supporters and friends?"

Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC) also took issue with the claim by WP chairman Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) a day earlier that the AGO report found no monies missing and uncovered no criminal or dishonest activity.

"The AGO cannot say if public monies have all been accounted for because documents which AHPETC are obliged to keep are missing," he said.

"And as any person knows, loss does not only occur when money is stolen," he added, referring to "substantial overpayments" to FMSS.

Mr Low countered that the issue was not about overpaying or awarding a contract to a friend.

He reiterated that AHPETC had awarded FMSS the managing agent contract in an open tender, and had done due diligence on the fees proposed. It did not help that FMSS was the only bidder in AHPETC's tender, Mr Low said.

"Unfortunately, the environment is such that no one tendered for the managing agent job."

It was a common refrain among the seven WP MPs who spoke during the two-day debate, often to outline the extra challenges AHPETC faced as a town council run by an opposition party.

Ms Lee Li Lian (Punggol East) said a cleaning contractor for Punggol East ran into "issues" with the Manpower Ministry shortly after she took over the ward in 2013, and had to quit. A subsequent tender call drew two bidders who later withdrew from the process "without any valid reasons".

Her fellow WP MP Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) recalled an exodus of former Aljunied Town Council staff after the WP took over Aljunied GRC in 2011. This led to difficulties in ensuring the continuity of accounts and was a factor in the town council's accounting lapses, he added.

As for FMSS, Ms Lim said the town council had done checks on its fees in 2012 and found that they were not much higher than the rates charged by Pasir Ris- Punggol Town Council's managing agent.

AHPETC had taken into consideration the fact that FMSS managed only one town and did not have the same economies of scale as larger companies running the other town councils, she added.

"It is possible that the (other) managing agents have reduced their rates since then. The information that we had in 2012, the rates were at a higher level than what was circulated in the table (on Thursday)," she said.

In a statement yesterday, a Ministry of National Development (MND) spokesman said the rates were based on the latest contracts the town councils had signed, and were submitted to MND last year.

The spokesman added that Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council was paying $6.20 for residential units and $11.50 for commercial units in 2012, "much lower" than AHPETC's rates of $7.01 and $14.08 respectively.

Mr Low went on to add that the WP had also decided not to manage Aljunied GRC on its own as it was a much larger ward than Hougang.

"At the point in time, we were very concerned about taking over a much larger GRC," he said, adding: "We thought it would be better" to hire experienced staff who are "prepared to form a company to manage the town council".

Mr Heng argued that the WP's justification of having to scramble to learn the ropes of town council management also did not hold water.

PAP MPs also had to start from scratch when town councils were first set up in 1986, he said.

"But they had plenty of integrity and sense of responsibility," Mr Heng added.

Responding to the WP's argument that it had no option but to hire FMSS as the only bidder in its tender, Mr Nair said town councils could choose to hire and train its own staff.

"For the last 19 years, we have been managing the town council ourselves," he said of Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. "Mr Low also had no managing agent when he ran Hougang Town Council. So, this is a red herring."









Residents' trust was 'betrayed in three ways'
WP MPs fallen short of lawmakers' standard of integrity: Heng Swee Keat
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Workers' Party MPs have betrayed the trust of their residents in three ways, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament yesterday.

They did so by failing to act in the best interests of their residents, by consistently evading questions and by promising one thing and doing another, he said.

Mr Heng, speaking on the second day of a heated debate on the governance and accounting lapses at Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), said that integrity must be a hallmark of all elected MPs as residents have placed their trust in them.

"Running a town council in a clean, competent and accountable way is a test of the integrity of the MP and his sense of responsibility and accountability," he stressed.

The WP, which runs AHPETC, has fallen short of this standard of integrity in three ways, he said.

First, on the point of failing to act in their residents' best interests, Mr Heng said that the WP had "gotten them (the residents) a raw deal", as the fee paid to their managing agent was the highest among all town councils.

He also charged that the WP was compromising the long-term interests of its residents by not having regularly contributed to AHPETC's sinking fund, which the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) flagged in its report.

Mr Heng said this happened because the town council had cash flow problems, "and they put off paying into the sinking fund so they would have money to pay the managing agent".

Moreover, AHPETC cannot account for where the residents' money is, he said, pointing to its poor records and late accounts.

Second and worse, said Mr Heng, the WP's "consistent pattern of denial, deflection and protection of their managing agent" suggests that "beneath the surface, the town council is rotting". "And the rot is serious."

The responsibility for these failings "lies squarely with the MPs on the council", he said.

"They appointed the managing agent. They are responsible for supervising the managing agent, for setting up a proper structure (of governance)," he said.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, in his closing speech, agreed with this charge.

Mr Khaw said MPs set the standard of corporate governance in their town councils, and that "if the leader sets a bad example or condones bad behaviour by his senior staff, the other subordinates will likely follow suit".

The primary cause of the AHPETC's failings was "the dereliction of duty by the town councillors, condoning this, allowing it to happen, and making excuses for it when uncovered, instead of putting things right", he said.

Likewise, Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said the entire episode raised questions about the accountability and integrity of those who run AHPETC.

Mr Heng, too, criticised AHPETC for repeatedly defending its managing agent instead of taking it to task.

The third way the WP had betrayed its residents' trust, said Mr Heng, was that it repeatedly did the opposite of what it promised.

For example, it had promised, during its campaign in the 2011 General Election, to provide checks and balances on the Government, said Mr Heng. "They have created a system where there is no check, no balance. You can't even check yourself. Or you are not willing to check yourself... In fact, the real check in this instance came from the Government, the AGO," said Mr Heng.

The WP's actions were not isolated lapses but "a troubling pattern of dishonest and misleading behaviour", he said.

"This is wrong. This is a serious problem of integrity."

Calling the WP MPs' speeches in Parliament "a big wayang" (a colloquial word for staged), Mr Heng said: "Ordinarily, such a wayang would have seemed comical. But in the context of how important integrity and trust is in how we govern our little red dot, I am so disappointed and so saddened by this entire sorry saga."

The integrity of elected MPs is important as good governance is critical to Singapore's future, said Mr Heng, who warned that countries where elected officials act without integrity - by putting their cronies' interests first - fail to grow and develop properly.

In these cases, it is the man in the street, the young and future generations who suffer the most, he said. "Unless elected MPs act with integrity and a deep sense of responsibility, and take the trust of the people seriously, we will not be able to maintain a system of good governance and pass this on to our future generations."

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) said of the MPs' duty: "We must not let any errant practices erode the public confidence, trust and integrity of the finances of town councils."





Facing off over $12 million
The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

PEOPLE'S Action Party MPs Heng Swee Keat - who is also the Education Minister - and Hri Kumar Nair squared off against Workers' Party (WP) leaders Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim yesterday over $12 million that the WP-run town council failed to transfer into its sinking fund on time.

The WP's view is that the money was kept in its bank accounts and was not lost even if it had not been placed in the sinking fund, but the Auditor-General's Office (AGO), which conducted a special audit of the town council, said it could not draw that conclusion.

Low Thia Khiang: Madam, I have a clarification. I remember minister (Heng) mentioned that there is $12 million lost. May I clarify whether he meant $12 million lost from the town council's account?

Heng Swee Keat: Madam Speaker, I said that if you look at the (town council's) accounts, that the $12 million was missing from the sinking fund, and this was caught by the Auditor-General.

Low Thia Khiang: Missing from the sinking fund? Was it missing or lost from the town council?

Heng Swee Keat: I said that it was missing. I hope that you have read the Auditor-General's Office report because it was very clear that the $12 million that ought to be put into the sinking fund was not there, was missing from the sinking fund, and the Auditor-General had to say you have to put this back.

The rules are very clear as to when you have to put (money) in the sinking fund. And even despite the reminders from the AGO, you were late and even now, not all of it has been put back.

Low Thia Khiang: Thank you. So, $12 million ought to be put into the sinking fund, and the $12 million is in the operating fund account? But it is not missing from the town council.

Heng Swee Keat: As I said, if not for the AGO doing this audit, Singaporeans and the residents of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East would be kept in the dark about what happened to your sinking fund.

Low Thia Khiang: Madam Speaker, I disagree. You will never be kept in the dark. You have to submit the audited accounts anyway.

Heng Swee Keat:That is indeed so, that you have to submit the audited accounts, but you didn't. Your audits were late for two years in a row, the first audit had four disclaimers, and the second had 13. So, from year to year, it got from bad to worse.





'Transfers were late, and should not have been'
The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

Sylvia Lim: Madam, first of all, I would like to clarify that what minister (Heng Swee Keat) said about us not transferring monies into the sinking fund until we were caught by the AGO is not correct. We actually made some transfers before even the AGO audit commented.

Of course, it is true that we did not make the transfers on time. It was not done deliberately.

And, as I mentioned in the House yesterday, we thought that it was acceptable to keep the monies in the operating fund, pay sinking fund expenses out of there and then net the thing off. So, there was some misunderstanding on our part of that, but we admit that the rule, read strictly, is clear and that we should have done the quarterly transfer.

Hri Kumar Nair: Can I just clarify with Ms Lim that last answer? She said that some monies were transferred back to the sinking fund before the AGO came in and, therefore, they must know what the rules are.

They would have only transferred back because they knew what the rules are. So, the question is why they didn't transfer everything back before the AGO came in.

Sylvia Lim: Madam, as I mentioned earlier, we were doing the calculation as to what sinking fund expenses have been paid out of routine funds. So, it took us quite some time to net off the thing, and AGO advised us that anyway. Later on, they advised us that this is a complicated way of doing things. So, it took us some time to do that. But as I mentioned earlier, we do agree that the transfers were late, and it should not have been done late.





How $3.3m surplus turned into deficit
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Workers' Party (WP) yesterday sought to explain how its town council went from an operating surplus to a deficit in two years.

One key reason was a lift malfunction that sparked an overhaul of lift maintenance procedures in the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), said Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC).

This resulted in a large increase in operating expenses.

Another reason was the town council's bigger population base, after Aljunied's town council was merged with Hougang's when the WP won the GRC in 2011.

Mr Singh was responding to Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC), who had asked how the former Aljunied Town Council's operating surplus of $3.3 million in financial year 2010 turned into a deficit of $734,000 in financial year 2012 under AHPETC.

"That money is not going to come back. This is something we still have not heard any explanation for," said Mr Nair.

Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan had also raised this point in Parliament on Thursday. He noted that the town council's income rose 14 per cent over the two years, but its spending "shot up disproportionately" by 30 per cent.

Part of this was because Aljunied had absorbed Hougang "and its bad finances", Mr Khaw added.

He also attributed the deficit to "the abnormally large fees" that AHPETC paid to its managing agent, which was owned by some key town council officers.

Yesterday, Mr Singh responded that the town council's costs had risen partly because of its larger population.

Payments for cleaning work rose by $1.6 million in the two years, while water and electricity bills rose by $1.2 million.

But the largest increment was in lift maintenance costs, which jumped $2.2 million in that time. This was deemed necessary as a resident who had been in a lift when it malfunctioned had a "very jarring experience", Mr Singh said.

"We were quite concerned about safety issues involving lifts and... decided to invest a bit more money and try and ensure that our lift maintenance procedures and contracts are up to the mark and satisfaction of the MPs."

In his speech, Mr Singh also went into detail to account for the more than $20 million that the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) had said it could not explain after conducting its recent audit.

Included in this sum was money that was recorded as having been received, but without the necessary supporting documents.

Mr Singh also noted that the AGO had said the HDB and National Environment Agency still owes AHPETC about $376,000 - some of it for more than two years now.

He added that the town council is now regularly monitoring and following up with its debtors. "This due diligence will have a positive knock-on effect ensuring that receivables owed are captured in the accounts to accurately reflect the transactions and state of affairs in AHPETC."





Josephine Teo takes issue with WP MP's comparison of lapses in govt
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

SENIOR Minister of State for Transport and Finance Josephine Teo yesterday challenged Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang) to cite instances where the Auditor- General's Office (AGO) reached the same conclusions in its routine audits of government entities as in its recent audit of the Workers' Party-run town council.

The exchange happened during the second day of debate on the AGO's findings of accounting and governance lapses by the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).



Mr Png, a vice-chairman of the town council, had pointed out lapses at ministries and statutory boards the AGO had found in its annual audit of the organisations.

These include instances of overpayments, payments without evidence that goods and services were delivered and duplicate payments, which in one instance amounted to $18.6 million, he said.

"AHPETC is also found by the AGO to have erred in some of these areas, and I am certain AHPETC will not be the last as well, because good corporate governance is a work in progress.

"On any other given day, the report (of the AHPETC audit) may read like a typical AGO report on any entity under audit, but today, the spotlight is on AHPETC, and we will explain to the public," he said.

Mrs Teo pointed out that the AGO concluded in its AHPETC audit that "unless the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC's financial statements are accurate and reliable and that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed".

She asked: "I would like to know whether Mr Png is aware of any other occasion that the AGO has drawn the same conclusion for a government ministry or statutory board?"

Mr Png replied that he had not meant to compare the conclusions in the AGO's AHPETC audit with the ones in its annual audits. What he meant was that "such lapses do exist", he said.

Mrs Teo shot back that he "had suggested that ministries and statutory boards have the same problems", even though the AGO had drawn a very specific conclusion about AHPETC.

Mr Png said the examples he cited had been picked up by the AGO. "Are those not real instances where lapses happened too? I am not saying that because (the) AHPETC (audit) was tabled in Parliament, but I am just citing that AGO work is thorough, fair, and I respect that."





WP MPs 'have not answered all the questions posed to them'
By Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE Workers' Party (WP) has not been forthcoming in addressing the accounting lapses of its town council, People's Action Party ministers and MPs said yesterday.

Several times in the debate, they described the responses by WP MPs as inadequate and insincere, and criticised their attempts to distract instead of coming clean on how the lapses occurred.

The criticism came even as the WP said its MPs took "collective responsibility" for the lapses and would put things right.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was initially cheered when WP chief Low Thia Khiang declared the party would back the motion that Parliament noted "with concern" the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) report on the audit of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).

He said that changed when Mr Low launched into "a political speech, playing the victim of an unfair political world created by the Government".


Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said the opposition MPs tried to "brush off" its lapses as mistakes due to inexperience and human error.

They also cast the report as saying that no funds were missing and that no criminal or dishonest activity was uncovered, when it did not "by any stretch" say so.

"Rather, (the report) says that it does not know, because of the way the town council has mismanaged its operations," he said.

He added later: "They did come to this House with a different, more contrite tone... But that facade fell away when Mr Pritam Singh said that he will answer to residents who ask him questions during his house visit and not to this House."

Mr Singh (Aljunied GRC) had said on Thursday that the WP MPs would answer any questions that residents might have.

Yesterday, Mr Nair asked several times whether the WP would come clean and answer all questions asked of them in Parliament.



Mr Singh's response: "The WP members have come to Parliament and are taking collective responsibility... We are not here to make excuses."

To this Mr Nair said: "They have not answered all the questions that have been posed to them, and they are certainly not answering the questions they don't want to answer."





PAP 'cannot go easy on WP even if there is political price'
By Rachel Au-Yong, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

PEOPLE'S Action Party (PAP) MPs said yesterday they cannot go easy on the Workers' Party (WP), even if it means paying a political price.

Instead, it was more important to ensure that residents are not short-changed.

This came after Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) and Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC) received feedback that the PAP's harsh criticism of the WP over the Auditor- General's Office (AGO) audit report on the Aljunied-Hougang- Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) could backfire.

The report had found major lapses in governance.

Mr Nair, chairman of Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council, said: "The people I discussed the matter with kept telling me, 'Don't attack the WP, it will only get more sympathy. Find a way to move on; you have to keep in mind the politics.'

"I could not get my head around that. Has it come to this? This is a matter involving public funds. How could anyone in good conscience ignore or downplay what the AGO and (PricewaterhouseCoopers) have found?"

Mr Liang said the PAP was more concerned that the WP was "bullying its residents with malpractices", even if such a concern "hurts us politically and (causes) the perception that the PAP bullied the WP".

He criticised the WP's failure to transfer funds to its sinking fund on time or in full. "If there are no regular and diligent contributions to the sinking fund, it will soon run out of money, and there will be no cyclical maintenance to talk about."

Likening the sinking fund to the national reserves, Mr Liang said timely contributions reflect "the type of government we want in Singapore, which is to do whatever is right and for the long-term good of Singapore and its people".

But the mismanagement and wrong use of the sinking fund shows "a short-sighted and populist government", he said.

On AHPETC's decision to employ a managing agent that charged significantly higher fees than others, Mr Liang said it was among the "worst practices that may not even find their place in a Third World Parliament" - a reference to the WP's goal of a "First World Parliament".

"Our politics must not be about accepting mediocre performance and substandard practices. Singaporeans deserve better."





Sharp questions, half-answers and what's truly at stake
Serious concerns raised about 'Gang of Four' AHPETC officers
By Zakir Hussain, Deputy Political Editor, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE debate in the House over the Auditor-General's Office's (AGO) report on the troubled accounts of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) may seem municipal to some and, to others, a politically calculated move by the ruling People's Action Party.

But it took almost seven hours of intense exchanges over two days before Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday set out the broad context of what was really at stake in the motion on the deficiencies in the Workers' Party (WP)-run town council's systems and accounts.

He cited the issue of integrity on the part of elected MPs - to underline how critical this was for Singapore.

"We have seen how in many countries, when elected officials engage in self-serving practices, when they put their interests ahead of the public interest, when they do not act with integrity and when they put the interests of their cronies first, the country fails. And it is the man in the street and the young, and the future generations, who suffer the most," he said. "As a little red dot, good governance is critical to Singapore's future."

For this, elected officials must act with integrity and responsibility.

The shambolic state of AHPETC's accounts, PAP backbenchers Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) and Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said, calls these very values into question on the part of the WP and its MPs.

One major area the AGO flagged in its audit was the conflict of interest in related party transactions.

The questions that PAP MPs had for the WP were simple: Why did they allow millions to be paid to related parties? Why they did not fully disclose and discuss this conflict of interest? Did the town council incur losses?

Mr Liang had serious concerns about the "Gang of Four" key AHPETC officers - who were owners and directors of FMSS and FMSI which the town council hired as managing agent and contractor respectively - and who approved payments to their own companies.

WP MPs did not engage these questions. They instead provided a slew of often technical responses to points the AGO had made in its audit. Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang), an AHPETC vice-chairman, said payment cheques had to be co-signed by AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim or one of the vice-chairmen, and oversight committees ensured that proper work was done before payments were made.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC), the other AHPETC vice-chairman, said no FMSS staffer was involved when tenders by the company were evaluated. The AGO also did not flag criminal wrongdoing on the part of any town council staffer. He added that AHPETC would use the findings to improve things.

Mr Nair took issue with such half-answers. There was still no explanation why FMSS was formed seven days after the 2011 General Election results and before then managing agent CPG discontinued its services.

He also refuted claims by Mr Singh and Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) a day earlier that the AGO report found no monies missing, and uncovered no criminal or dishonest activity.

This was blatantly misleading, as the AGO had said such a broad conclusion could not be derived from its audit.

Mr Heng sought to draw WP leaders out on key questions at the heart of the AHPETC audit: Why did elected MPs allow a structure involving FMSS to be set up in the first place?

"What is most disturbing in this entire sorry episode is the way WP has sought to downplay the crux of the matter, sought to deflect the issue by playing victim of a challenging operating environment that the opposition faced, and claiming inexperience."

There were feisty responses from Mr Low Thia Khiang (Aljunied GRC) and Ms Lim, which left the House no more enlightened.

Mr Low said the WP had explained how only FMSS responded to the tender, and the due diligence the MPs had taken.

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong interjected from across the aisle, Mr Low, with raised voice, snapped: "Nobody wants to work for me. That is the problem, Prime Minister."

When it was clear that little more would emerge from grilling the WP, Mr Heng said the House had heard many technical explanations, but the issue was not a technical one.

"It is about integrity, trust, our conviction that as elected MPs, we are here to serve the people of Singapore, not our friends," he said.

The WP did not give a clear statement on the allegations cast upon its integrity in Parliament these two days, but people are likely to press its MPs for their position on the issue in person. Hopefully they can get clearer answers beyond a replay of the technicalities the House heard.



Related
Debate on motion on the AGO report on the audit of AHPETC
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 1
Closing Statement by Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the Motion on AGO Report on the Audit of AHPETC
Parliament Highlights - 13 Feb 2015
Parliament Highlights - 12 Feb 2015
Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Motion on the Auditor-General's Report on the Audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council

Workers' Party has betrayed residents' trust: Heng Swee Keat
Hri Kumar: PAP 'cannot go easy on WP even if there is political price'
Pritam Singh: FMSS built Chinese Wall for AHPETC
Png Eng Huat: Civil Servants screw up like AHPETC except that we screw up everyday
Shanmugam: AHPETC setup designed to let friends benefit
Low Thia Khiang admits after 20 years, he still has no idea how to manage Town Councils
Sylvia Lim takes responsibility for friends with benefits in AHPETC
Chen Show Mao learns he's in a fiduciary relationship with AHPETC
Pritam Singh to AHPETC residents: Ask me where is your money?
Khaw Boon Wan on AHPETC incompetence: In the good old days, Japanese CEOs may even kill themselves

Auditor-General's Report on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's FY2012-13 Accounts
Audit of Workers' Party-run town council flags major lapses

Low Thia Khiang cements Wayang Party tag for Workers' Party with AHPETC saga

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Education Minister Heng Swee Keat joined the debate in Parliament (13 Feb 2015) on the Auditor-General's report on the audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC)

He proceeded to list the signature act of the Workers' Party.





First quote:"The WP has over 20 years of experience in managing town councils well and not just small town councils but a huge GRC town council in Aljunied. We know the ins and outs of running a constituency. Even when obstacles were thrown in our path to trip us up, we still have managed to ensure residents' needs are well taken care of."This was by Mr Gerald Giam when he spoke to residents at a rally on Jan 23, 2013.


Second quote."If WP wins Punggol East, I am confident that we will manage the town council competently. WP has had more than 20 years of experience managing Hougang SMC. After GE 2011, we quickly adapted to take charge of Aljunied GRC under a very short timeframe. We will take over the town council functions with as little disruption as possible to the residents. I have the experience and know-how in running a town council."This was by Ms Lee Li Lian at the rally to residents on Jan 22, 2013.


So we have heard that you can take charge of a TC, and big ones too, under a very short timeframe. So all the explanations that all the WP members have given us so far, which is the correct version?

That you have plenty of problems, plenty of challenges or that you can take charge within a short timeframe, overcome any obstacles and that you are experienced and you have the know-how.


Third quote:"WP MPs are committed to being politically accountable to voters for town management under the current regime. Whatever else is done in other countries, the responsibility for town management has been legislated to the MPs under the Town Councils Act. We accept this responsibility and have pledged during elections to manage towns entrusted to us to the best of our ability. We intend to continue keeping this promise."This is by Ms Sylvia Lim in a parliamentary session on May 13, 2013.


I was most astounded to hear what Mr Low Thia Khiang said yesterday in this House, that we should depoliticise the transitioning process. Mr Low, you're the secretary-general of the WP and have just said the exact opposite of what Ms Sylvia Lim, chairman of the WP, said in this House in 2013.

Did you just change your mind when things went wrong in AHPETC or you never believed in what you were doing? Or were Mr Gerald Giam, Ms Lee Li Lian and Ms Sylvia Lim misleading residents?

Do you have any conviction or do you just say whatever is expedient for the moment, even if it means misleading Singaporeans?




Related
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 1
Debate on AGO's audit report on AHPETC, Day 2
Workers' Party has betrayed residents' trust: Heng Swee Keat
Hri Kumar: PAP 'cannot go easy on WP even if there is political price'
Pritam Singh: FMSS built Chinese Wall for AHPETC
Png Eng Huat: Civil Servants screw up like AHPETC except that we screw up everyday
Shanmugam: AHPETC setup designed to let friends benefit
Low Thia Khiang admits after 20 years, he still has no idea how to manage Town Councils
Sylvia Lim takes responsibility for friends with benefits in AHPETC
Chen Show Mao learns he's in a fiduciary relationship with AHPETC
Pritam Singh to AHPETC residents: Ask me where is your money?
Khaw Boon Wan on AHPETC incompetence: In the good old days, Japanese CEOs may even kill themselves

Auditor-General's Report on Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's FY2012-13 Accounts
Audit of Workers' Party-run town council flags major lapses

Volunteers help elderly patients stay out of hospital

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By Kok Xing Hui, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

RETIREE Low Buck Chua was admitted to Changi General Hospital three times in 2013.

Last year, he was placed on the Neighbours for Active Living programme, which gets a volunteer to check on him every week to make sure he takes his medication and keeps his doctors' appointments.

He did not need to be admitted to the hospital at all last year.

Early findings from the community programme, which was launched in 2013, show that it has helped keep the elderly out of hospital.

Out of 314 clients who have been on the programme for at least six months, 54 per cent went from an average of 1.9 hospital admissions in six months to 1.2. Those who were hospitalised saw their length of stay fall from an average of 8.4 days in six months to 6.4 days.

Mr Low - who has suffered a stroke and also has a severe skin allergy, hypertension and diabetes - is one of the 1,400 residents of eastern Singapore identified as vulnerable due to multiple hospital readmissions, and placed on the programme.

He and his wife are cheered up by visits from volunteer Joanna Fang.

"I feel like she cares for us," he said in Mandarin. "Friends say hi and ask if you've eaten but they don't call and remind you to take your medication."

To date, the programme - jointly developed by Eastern Health Alliance (EHA) and the South East Community Development Council - has recruited 150 volunteers.

EHA group chief executive officer T.K. Udairam said the helpers make the patients feel better in a variety of ways. "It can be from taking the medication and therefore there's less likelihood of their condition flaring up. It can also be because they are psycho-socially better, therefore they feel better and their whole system improves," he said.

Dr Maliki Osman, Mayor of South East District, added that the volunteers have "access to a wealth of information on resources".

The programme started in Bedok, Siglap and Marine Parade at first, and has since expanded to 12 neighbourhoods. By next year, it is hoped that all of the eastern region will have Neighbours for Active Living in place.


Love letters, made the good old way

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By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

A SWEET, slightly singed fragrance lingered in the air as rows of young students and seniors stood hunched over charcoal stoves at a void deck in Marine Parade yesterday.

Curious onlookers who paused for a second look saw young and old standing shoulder to shoulder making love letters the traditional way - pouring batter into cast iron moulds and flipping them intermittently over a smoky fire.

Love letters, or kueh kapit, is a popular Chinese New Year snack.

"You've got to roll it fast and tightly before it cools down and becomes brittle," said Madam Mah Yeok Hin, 77, in Mandarin to her disciple of the day, Jason Tedjasasmita, 16, of Victoria School.

Several of his attempts failed and the egg rolls turned out as fat as his thumbs.

Montfort Care, a charity, had organised this gathering in a bid to bring back the community spirit, encourage bonding between generations, and pass down traditional skills.

When residents heard about the project, neighbourhood hawkers pitched in to donate flour and sugar for the rolls. Elderly residents took out antique moulds long relegated to the storerooms and lent them to the charity.

About 60 senior citizens taught 80 secondary school and junior college students to make the light, crispy rolls, which were later delivered to 300 elderly residents who live alone in rental flats in the area.

Madam Mah said she volunteered to help because she hopes to keep the skill alive among the young. She recalled that every festive season since she was eight, she would squat by the charcoal stove with her mother and seven siblings in their kampung backyard to make the snack.

"I want to pass down this legacy and let the young enjoy the satisfaction of making them, which could be rare in today's culture of consuming ready-made products," said the former hawker.

Said Jason: "These traditions are inspiring and I could see how they are closely linked to individual and community identity through the kind of pride the elderly show when they painstakingly make them."


Special needs people pitch in for CNY

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Beneficiaries make festive goods such as cookies and cards, which raise funds for programmes
By Benson Ang, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

This Chinese New Year, the hongbao you receive and the pineapple tarts you eat might have been made by someone who is intellectually disabled.

The hampers and goodie bags you receive may have been packed by someone with physical disabilities.

Chinese New Year is boomtime for disability groups which let their beneficiaries produce festive goodies such as pineapple tarts, cookies, hongbao, greeting cards, e-cards, as well as pack hampers and goodie bags.

Demand for such products allows these organisations to raise money, which in turn can be used to fund programmes or pay allowances to their beneficiaries.

For example, the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) has already sold 150 sets of handmade hongbao envelopes this year to organisations or individuals, five times more than it did last year.

It has also sold 300 tubs of pineapple tarts made by its beneficiaries this year, 100 more than it did last year.

Each tub costs $18 and contains 26 tarts.

Ms Ng Rei Na, senior manager for social enterprises at MINDS, says: "We had to turn down some customers as everything is made by hand and we don't want to do a rushed job and compromise on quality."

In all, sales of red packets, pineapple tarts, and other goodies such as cookies and packaged nuts are estimated to raise more than $12,000 for MINDS, which go towards paying allowances to beneficiaries at its employment development centres.

Bizlink, a non-profit organisation which provides employment services to the disadvantaged, especially to people with disabilities, has sold more than 200 Chinese New Year hampers packed by its beneficiaries this year, 10 times as many as it did in 2013.

The hampers, priced at $38 to $188, range from simple ones with eight mandarin oranges and a box of chocolates to bigger ones consisting of cans of abalone and eight treasure soup, boxes of almond cake and chocolates and packets of flower mushrooms and golden raisins.

This year, Bizlink has also sold more than 20 customised hampers, worth up to $888 each.

Ms Carol Heng, senior manager of Bizlink's floral and hamper social enterprise, says: "More manpower is required during Chinese New Year season.

"We usually need three to five extra beneficiaries to help with packing the hampers."

SPD, an organisation which represents Singapore's disabled, sees increased demand for its packing services during the Chinese New Year festive period.

For example, this year is the first time SPD's beneficiaries are packing 50,000 goodie bags for the Chingay Parade later this month.

About 35 beneficiaries started packing last Wednesday and the job takes about eight days to complete.

Its executive director, Mr Abhimanyau Pal, says: "For us, Chinese New Year is one of the busiest times of the year. It's really all hands on deck.

"This year, we even got 15 volunteers to help with the Chingay project. But we are grateful because the income generated will go towards funding our programme to provide training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities."

Businesses that engage disability groups say they want to support people with disabilities and provide them with employment opportunities.

The Soup Restaurant, for example, bought 100 sets of hongbao - at $8 a packet - from MINDS last month to distribute to customers buying a reunion dinner take-away set from the restaurant's booth at this year's Takashimaya Chinese New Year fair.

The restaurant's business development head, Mr Ang Kian Peng, 37, says: "It's meaningful to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and we want to encourage them to keep contributing.

"Their hongbao are also very beautiful and we hope giving out handmade hongbao will make our customers feel special."

Engineering and repair company SWTS bought 32 hampers - each costing about $168 - from Bizlink this year to give to its business associates.

Its general manager, Mr Peter Lim, 61, says: "We want to promote the products made by people with disabilities, to give them jobs and help them be employed. Their hampers are professionally packaged."

Beneficiaries are happy with the additional work opportunities available during the festive period.

MINDS beneficiary Jenny Lim, 37, who has Down syndrome, has been decorating hongbao with festive messages and designs for five hours a day since last month. In a day, she can decorate up to 50 hongbao.

She says: "I like the work. It's fun and I can be around my friends."

Bizlink beneficiary Agnes Tan, 51, who lost a leg to bone cancer, has been packing Chinese New Year hampers for eight hours a day since last month.

She says: "Working keeps me busy and useful. I also imagine how happy others will be when they receive the hamper and this makes me happy too."


Rise in ADHD among kids here

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New MOH guidelines aim to help doctors diagnose and manage the condition more effectively
By Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

More children in Singapore are being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And the Health Ministry (MOH) has come up with guidelines to help doctors better manage the condition.

Last year, 550 new child and adolescent patients were seen at the Institute of Mental Health's (IMH) Child Guidance Clinic, up from an average of 350 new cases treated in the early 2000s. In total, its doctors saw 1,802 young patients for ADHD last year.

The impact that the condition - characterised by hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattention - has on academic and social performance is increasingly being recognised, said a spokesman for MOH.

For instance, the Singapore Burden of Disease Study in 2010 found that ADHD was the fourth highest contributor of disease burden, or the number of years lost to disease, in children aged 14 and below.

That is why the Academy of Medicine and MOH came up with a set of guidelines late last year to ensure that the condition is being diagnosed and treated accurately. It informs doctors on the assessments required before diagnosing ADHD, and about various medication and non-drug options.

Associate Professor Daniel Fung, chairman of IMH's medical board, said the guidelines enable doctors to discuss with teachers how to help students with ADHD in the classroom; and with parents on which treatment is best.

Prof Fung attributed the rise in ADHD cases to greater awareness among parents and teachers of the condition. ADHD results from an imbalance in brain chemistry, though its exact causes are unclear. Generally, such children suffer academically, as they cannot concentrate well, and have lower self-esteem. Others have poor relationships with peers. Prof Fung said only about a third of children recover completely. Another third learn to cope with ADHD while the rest get worse if the condition is not identified.

Doctors estimate that 3 to 5 per cent of children here have ADHD. This means that at least 1,500 children in every cohort have the condition, with two-thirds remaining undiagnosed.

IMH, together with other partners, initiated a community-based mental health-care service in 2007 to work with schools, voluntary welfare organisations and general practitioners to identify and help affected children early. Last year, the service was rolled out to cover all special education schools as well.

A clinical trial to train children with ADHD to be attentive will also be completed next year. It uses technology to measure a child's attention span by analysing brain waves.

Ms Pauline Tan, a mother of an eight-year-old who has ADHD, said it has been a tiring journey caring for her son Justin. Even as a baby, he was extraordinarily active and would refuse to sleep at night. When he entered school, he would walk around in class barefoot, singing, and was often bullied by classmates.

He was eventually referred for professional help in Primary 1 after he punched a classmate in the face after being provoked. Currently on medication, his behaviour has improved slightly.

"I hope there will be more awareness of the condition so that his teachers and friends won't simply label him as 'naughty'," said his 37-year-old mother, who works as a manager.





Adults' Group Therapy
By Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

Putting a bunch of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a room together may sound like a bad idea to some, but it has actually worked wonders in getting them to sit still and focus.

"Meeting others who face similar challenges is fascinating and we can usually sit, listen and speak to one another for hours," said Ms Annelaure Vuillermoz, 37.

She facilitates the first support group here for adults with ADHD. It is run by Psalt Care, a charity that focuses on mental health and addiction issues. The group, made up of 20 adults in their late 20s to 50s started monthly meetings last year to share their experiences and come up with ways to help one another.

More adults with the condition are seeking help at the Institute of Mental Health. The facility saw 115 adults with ADHD last year, up from 63 in 2012. Many of them have had ADHD since childhood, said doctors. Some were diagnosed late.

Adults with ADHD are usually mentally restless and may have problems with attention and memory. One 30-year-old IT developer has switched jobs six times in the last five years because he gets bored quickly and cannot deliver work. "They often procrastinate or have difficulty organising themselves when tasked with routine work, but when their projects are challenging and require interaction, they may perform above expectations," said Ms Vuillermoz.

A young woman mustered the courage to quit her sales administrative job for an entrepreneurial one after realising that the others in the support group were facing similar issues of boredom, forgetfulness and anxiety when tasked with repetitive work.


NKF to raise subsidies to encourage home dialysis

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Peritoneal dialysis is more convenient and healthier, but many patients still averse to it
By Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

It is more convenient and healthier to undergo dialysis at home - yet kidney patients in Singapore are reluctant to embrace this.

And that is why the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) intends to further raise subsidies to encourage patients to choose home-based peritoneal dialysis - commonly known as water dialysis. Of its 3,400 kidney patients now, just 328 - less than a 10th of the total - are on peritoneal dialysis.

In 2013, the NKF came up with a bag of goodies to encourage home dialysis. It offered vouchers, paid for home renovations and got nurses to do home visits. But only about 100 new peritoneal dialysis patients came on board last year.

At the Kidney Dialysis Foundation (KDF), peritoneal patients have dropped from 70 in 2010 to 38 last year.

NKF senior nurse clinician Tang Woon Hoe said the slow uptake is due to a "confidence issue".

In an NKF survey of 2,000 patients who receive treatment at its centres, the top reasons given for not wanting to make the switch to home treatment was the belief that they could not manage the procedure on their own, or had nobody to help them. There was also a fear of infection.

"But actually, infection rates are low and they can call our staff on standby if they need help," said Ms Tang.

The treatment patients get at centres is called haemodialysis. It involves being hooked up to a machine, which acts like an artificial kidney and filters the patient's blood. It takes up to four hours each time, and patients typically undergo the procedure three times a week.

Peritoneal dialysis involves filling and draining dialysis fluid into and out of the abdominal cavity either four times a day - 45 minutes each time - or overnight.

Not only can patients save the trouble and expense of travelling to a centre, they can also drink and eat more as their dialysis is done more regularly on a daily basis.

It is considered to be gentler on the body as waste materials do not build up but are discharged more frequently.

"It has proven to be as good as haemodialysis, but awareness of it in the community is not very high," said Ms Tang. "Patients should not feel alone in this journey and we want to be there to give them the confidence to help themselves."

Currently, both haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are subsidised by the NKF and the Government. Patients get an average of $600 in subsidies a month, depending on their financial situation.

Haemodialysis costs about $2,000 a month while peritoneal dialysis costs between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on whether patients opt for the day or night treatment.

More details of the increased subsidy for home dialysis will be released next month at the NKF's charity musical.

The NKF also intends to beef up its community support teams of nurses to include doctors, medical social workers and dieticians who will visit the homes of those on this form of treatment to monitor and advise them.

The push towards home dialysis is also based on the simple reality that building more dialysis centres is unsustainable in the long run because of space and monetary constraints, said the NKF.

Its 26 centres are currently running at near-full capacity.

It intends to open four more centres this year to cater to another 1,000 new patients expected to need dialysis in 2020, but they will not come cheap. It costs $2 million to set up a new centre and another $2 million to run it every year.


Places facing a space crunch, such as Hong Kong and Thailand, already have a "peritoneal dialysis first" policy. In Hong Kong, only one fifth of kidney patients are on haemodialysis.





Less tiring at home
By Janice Tai, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

Kidney patient Radhiah Rashid used to swallow the 15 tablets she needed daily to control her cholesterol levels and diabetes with barely a gulp of water.

"I went to the dialysis centre only three times a week so I could not take too much fluid or it builds up in my body," said the 49-year-old housewife.

The taxi fares home from a dialysis centre were also eating too much into the little income that her husband brings home as a petrol pump attendant. "I had to take a taxi back because I get cramps and feel giddy when I stand up after sitting for so long for dialysis," she explained.

After seven years of haemodialysis, she decided to give home dialysis a try late last year. Each time she does dialysis at home, she first cleans her hands with alcohol swabs. Next, she inserts a water tube into another tube permanently inserted into her stomach in a prior surgery. Fluids from her stomach then take about 20 minutes to drain into an empty water bag. When that is done, dialysis fluid from another bag gushes in to replace the fluids lost.

She does the dialysis four times a day, about 45 minutes each time.

Initially, Madam Radhiah was afraid of getting an infection. So her husband helped by making sure the house was spick and span, vacuuming and cleaning the tabletops every day.

Compared to being hooked up to a machine for four hours at a time at a dialysis centre, her current regime is far less tiring, she said. "Last time, it was so draining to sit there for hours at a go that I had to sleep after I came home. But now once I finish with it, I can go outside and jalan jalan (walk) or cook and do housework."


World War II atrocities recalled at new exhibition at National Museum

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Records of war crimes in S'pore go on show
New exhibition sheds light on prison horrors and efforts to convict WWII criminals here
By Melody Zaccheus, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

They were kicked and slapped around by Japanese soldiers.

At night, the prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians interned at Singapore's Outram Gaol were given nothing more than wooden planks, a wooden block for a pillow and soiled blankets that were never washed, to sleep with. They were also deprived of food and, often, the chance to bathe.

The squalid and unhygienic conditions meant that scabies - an itchy skin disorder caused by parasitic mites living under the skin - festered within the facility's walls.

War survivor Samuel Dhoraisingam, 90, a former secondary school principal, said: "They were tortured terribly and many were killed. My brother-in-law, George, an electrician in charge of the Sembawang Naval Base, was one of those who died in jail."

By the end of the war on Sept 12, 1945, 39 detainees had died.

The conditions within the gaol were so appalling that it led many to nickname it the Belsen of the East - after the notorious, disease- riddled Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany.

These war-time horrors that played out in the largest prison facility in Singapore are on display at a new exhibition, called Case Files From The Singapore War Crimes Tribunal, at the National Museum of Singapore.

They were extracted by National Heritage Board (NHB) researchers, who were given access to copies of records of the War Office at the National Archives of Singapore. These documents included transcripts of court proceedings and interrogation reports.

"We wanted to showcase a lesser known aspect of Singapore's war history, and highlight the efforts expended to bring war criminals to justice in Singapore," said the board's group director of policy, Mr Alvin Tan.

The exhibition is part of the board's efforts to commemorate the 73rd Anniversary of the Battle for Singapore and the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Singapore. It opens today, and ends on April 5.

Also on show are records of the horrors that took place at Alexandra Hospital, Selarang Barracks and Oxley Rise, as well as the Sook Ching massacre.

They also detail the physical abuse of Allied soldiers and civilians who helped in raids and operations against the Japanese forces.

The abuse ranged from being beaten with iron bars and wet, knotted ropes, to being given electric shocks.

Several weapons and ammunition, including a Japanese machine gun, and POW belongings, such as a handmade radio, are also on show at the exhibition.

The tribunal, run by the British, heard a total of 131 cases over two years. The accused included high-ranking Japanese officials, rank-and-file soldiers and members of the Japanese military police or Kempeitai.

Life sentences were rolled out, and many of them faced the firing squad or death by hanging.

Mr Samuel believes the exhibition will help shed light on a trying time when many were gripped with fear.

He said: "The exhibition shows the brutality of the Japanese troops... It can also inform current generations of the suffering the POWs and civilians went through which aren't fully detailed in textbooks."





Over 1,000 attend war memorial service for civilian victims of Japanese Occupation
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 15 Feb 2105

Mr Teo Hong Mong lost his father when he was just one year old. His father, then a 26-year-old volunteer fighter with Straits Settlements Volunteer Force, was rounded up by the Japanese soldiers, driven off on a lorry and brought to Changi to be shot.

"I grew up not knowing my father and not experiencing the love of a father," wrote Mr Teo, 73, on a wreath he placed near the memorial column. "I pray that such cruelty and slaughter of civilian victims will never happen again," said the former engineer, who also handed over his dad's certificate of commendation for serving the country during the Japanese Occupation to a war historian at the service.

Mr Teo was among the more than 1,000 people who attended the 47th War Memorial Service, organised by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday morning, to remember civilian victims who died during the Japanese Occupation. Held at the War Memorial Park in Beach Road, representatives - including those from schools and religious organisations - took turns to lay wreaths at the foot of the 67m high war memorial. Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong was the guest-of-honour at the service.

Singapore fell to the Japanese on Feb 15, 1942. Built 25 years later, the memorial has four vertical pillars symbolising the shared war experiences of the four races here. Underneath the structure lay the remains of unknown war victims. The Japanese occupied Singapore for more than three years before surrendering to the Allied forces and returning Singapore to British control in 1945.

On Saturday, which is also Total Defence Day, the ceremony began when the Singapore Civil Defence Force sounded the "all clear" signal from the Public Warning System. The signal is used in an emergency to inform the public that danger is over and life can return to normal. Participants then said prayers, observed a minute of silence, and paid their respects to the dead at the memorial.



Major archaeological dig underway at Empress Place

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Dig into past uncovers 700-year-old artefacts
Excavations at Empress Place unearth 400kg of relics of ancient inhabitants
By Melody Zaccheus, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE old shoreline of Temasek, stretching from Empress Place to Beach Road, is a treasure trove of 700-year-old artefacts once owned by ancient inhabitants of the island we now know as Singapore.

An archaeological dig - the largest since such excavations started in the 1980s - is now under way at Empress Place.

Among the things uncovered so far: A headless porcelain Buddhist figurine, red-orange coloured carnelian beads from India and a broken celadon bowl with a double-fish motif.

They form part of a 400kg haul dug up by archaeologists from the archaeology unit of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) since the dig started on Feb 2.

These finds are significant, said lead archaeologist Lim Chen Sian, as they help paint a more detailed picture of the Temasek period (1300s to 1600s), of which there are no text records.

"If we find more Buddhist figurines, we may be able to suggest that Buddhism could possibly be one of the religions practised in ancient Singapura," said Mr Lim, 40.

The media was given a preview of the excavation in front of Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall yesterday. Costing $70,000, the operation spans 1,000 sq m, or roughly the size of 10 four-room HDB flats.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is developing an integrated arts, culture and lifestyle precinct there, gave project organiser, the National Heritage Board (NHB), the nod to conduct the dig before works to pedestrianise the area start later this year.

The area around Empress Place is historically and archaeologically significant, said NHB's group director of policy, Mr Alvin Tan.

For one thing, it is located near the once-thriving port along the Singapore River. It is also ensconced near other historic sites such as Fort Canning and Parliament House - all of which have thrown up archaeological gems.

Mr Tan believes the project can help "strengthen Singaporeans' understanding of the country's pre-colonial past".

Other highlights unearthed include a broken clay figurine in the shape of a bird, Song and Yuan dynasty Chinese coins, and the base of a flower vase or spittoon.

The four-man-strong archaeological team also found a colonial sewage pipe which used to discharge into the Singapore River.

A preliminary report of the discoveries will be provided to NHB after the project ends on April 9.

Mr Lim said it could take years thereafter to clean, sort, catalogue and analyse the finds. He expects the site to produce about three tonnes of artefacts. The state owns these items as they were found on state land.

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, who visited the site yesterday, said he is encouraged by the growing interest in Singapore's history and heritage.

"This (dig) is timely as we celebrate our golden jubilee, and crucial as we continue in our journey as a nation," he said.







'Singapore respects us as few nations do'

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Couple, resigned to a live-in relationship forever, gets a chance to start a family
By Sourav Roy, Published The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

A FEW days ago, I participated in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's Facebook chat session. My wife and I had just finished arranging beautiful origami lanterns for our three-year-old toddler, given to him by "Uncle Thomas Lau" from the FairPrice supermarket at Clementi Mall.

I wanted to let Mr Lee and every Singaporean in that chat session know why my wife, a German national, and I, an Indian, had decided to make Singapore our home.

After having worked with the BBC, Al Jazeera, Glasgow Herald and the United Nations across different parts of the world, I decided to shift base here in 2009 from Doha, Qatar. There were many factors that made us move here.

The Middle East, despite its Arabian hospitality and great food, was immensely challenging. We enjoyed material comfort there but we missed the normalcy of a so-called ordinary life. We were desperately yearning for systems that would make our life easy rather than making us go around in circles and beg to appellate authorities.

The constant answer to ordinary life situations, say asking when a leaking tap would be repaired, or when you could clear an administrative bottleneck for an appointment with an official, for instance, was almost always "Yallah, Habeebi. Bukra bukra". Loosely translated from Arabic, it means "Yes, my friend, tomorrow, tomorrow".

Tomorrow never arrived. It's a beautiful part of the world that decided to turn at its own pace.

When it was time to get married to my lovely fiancee, we hit a huge roadblock as there were no provisions for free-thinkers to wed. Getting married in Europe, where my fiancee was from, was also fraught with bureaucratic hassles of epic proportions because my fiancee had left Germany when she was 16 years old to grow up in the United States.

India, my home country, with all its cultural beauty and charms, was not much of a help either. I was marrying a "white woman" who was not born into the religion that my family was born into. Let's just say not too many people were used to the thought of it. Besides, getting married to a non-Indian in India came with its own set of hassles if you wanted to get the marriage legalised in the respective countries of the marrying couple. Europe is super- strict when it comes to marriages of Indians to Europeans solemnised in India.

My fiancee and I had resigned ourselves to being in a live-in relationship forever, until we moved to Singapore. My fiancee was again not too optimistic, given the challenging start we had to our wedding plans.

One day, I went to the Registry of Marriages website, chose a marriage solemniser with a happy name, "Elize Ho Ho Ho", and voila, got married in less than a month of landing in Singapore. We couldn't believe that no one asked us our nationalities, religions or belief systems. All we got back was a confirmed wedding date and congratulatory messages. Singapore gave us a chance to start our family.

Our son, Chetan, was born in 2011 and daughter, Anasuya, arrived a few weeks ago. We knew from the get-go that life would be fun here. Singapore was a well-mannered, courteous society to begin with. People reciprocated respect and love to us, magnanimously. Neither we nor our mixed kids got queer looks or were asked funny questions. My wife and I have lived in places where people have asked us strange questions such as, "So what do you guys eat when you are together?" We fell in love with Singapore for the respect it bestowed upon us.

Over the last six years, Singapore has shown us much love. I have lost count of the small mercies of life which one takes for granted here but which I know would be a rarity elsewhere.

Episodes such as cabbies honestly returning our left-behind belongings, people offering their cabs on call to my pregnant wife standing at the end of the queue, my former students from Singapore Polytechnic honestly pointing out my calculation error when I granted them more marks, and the police successfully tracking down the miscreant who stole my laptop from a restaurant and keeping me informed of every stage of investigation.

That cops could be friendly and helpful to immigrants was a new experience for us. If you have been an immigrant in any other country, even advanced ones, you will know what I mean when I say that as an outsider, it's a challenge to get your plea considered by cops.

But I have found that here, cops treat you on a par with citizens and deal with you respectfully and justly. They are completely unbiased and fair. For an immigrant, this is a huge relief and a sign he's in a place where his voice would not go unheard.

Once in a while, I have been the target of online haters but they are not the Singaporeans that my family knows. My wife and I would trade in anything for the love that our son gets from Uncle Thomas and his origami figurines.

Singapore does not need my backhanded panderings. It also has its own share of struggles and challenges, both internal and external. I am cognisant of its growing population as well. I am sure a solution could be carved out, keeping the needs of Singapore in mind. 

Numerous foreigners like my wife and I have deep gratitude for this country. We want to be a part of you, not for what we can take from you but for what we can share with you. To begin with, love and respect for your wonderful country and its beautiful people. 

My son was born here and will grow up here defending his Singaporean brothers and sisters. Trust me, not just while doing his national service but also when he spots one in any other corner of the world. Meanwhile, here's an open invitation to you all to come try some German cakes and sweet jalebis at our place. We add a dash of nonya kaya to it as well. Awesome, lah!!

Sourav Roy is a media and marketing professional. He moved to Singapore in 2009 with his wife Katharina Muller Sang, a trained media producer who is on a sabbatical. They have two children, Anasuya and Chetan Julian.





Windsor Nature Park in Upper Thomson to open late next year

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By Feng Zengkun, Environment Correspondent, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

The 75ha Windsor Nature Park in Upper Thomson will open its doors to residents late next year.

The park is one of four that will be on the perimeter of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

They are meant to reduce the number of visitors to the reserve, to minimise the impact on its vegetation and wildlife.

The Windsor site, where work is expected to start by the middle of this year, is home to many creatures, including frogs, squirrels and dragonflies.



Yesterday, Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee kicked off reforestation efforts there by planting a tree. The reforestation will be carried out at the entrance and along nature trails, and the entrance will also look rustic and have a wetland that expands the existing aquatic habitat.

The three other nature parks are Springleaf park at Nee Soon Road, which was officially opened last November; Chestnut park near Bukit Panjang, which will be completed next year; and Thomson park, which is still being planned.

Mr Lee yesterday also launched a new coffee table book, Rainforest In A City, which was written by National Parks Board volunteer Chua Ee Kiam.

The book showcases the rich biodiversity in the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserves, and contains 477 photographs taken by Dr Chua and a team of more than 100 photographers and contributors.

To mark Singapore's 50th birthday, a chapter is also devoted to flora and fauna in the reserves which are found only on the island, and native ones which are named after the nation, such as the Kopsia singapurensis plant - better known as the Singapore Kopsia.






Bukit Timah reserve's flora and fauna to be surveyed
Findings of two-year project will guide management of ecological oasis
By Feng Zengkun, Environment Correspondent, The Sunday Times, 15 Feb 2015

Nearly 20 years after the last major survey of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, one of Singapore's most important ecological oases will come under scrutiny again.


The findings will be used for the long-term management of the reserve, which has at least 40 per cent of Singapore's native flora and fauna despite occupying only 0.2 per cent of the island.


The new effort is timely as the last time the reserve was surveyed on a similar scale was almost 20 years ago, between 1993 and 1997, said the National Parks Board (NParks).

The reserve is home to more than 840 species of flowering plants and more than 500 species of animals, including rare and native ones like the Singapore freshwater crab.

Public access to the reserve has been limited since last year for workers to carry out repair and restoration works.

The survey will focus on key groups of animals and plants that are crucial to the rainforest ecosystem.

It will also involve researching the reserve's primary forest, which includes one of the largest forest patches in Singapore that has never been cleared by people.

The project will involve NParks staff, scientists from academic institutions and people with expertise in some of the wildlife.

Researchers and experts involved in the 1990s survey will be roped in. They include Mr Khew Sin Khoon, an architect who is an avid butterfly enthusiast and photographer. He is also author of the Field Guide To The Butterflies Of Singapore.

Nature Society president Shawn Lum, who helped to survey primary forest tree species in the reserve in the 1990s work, plans to study the younger trees and saplings this time around to see if the forest is regenerating itself. He has already been doing this work as part of his own research with the National Institute of Education.

"This survey will be better than the last one as there are more people involved, and those returning have also become more experienced. The 1990s project was more of a warm-up," he said.


Liak Teng Lit: 5 million people, 70,000 cleaners... that’s ridiculous!

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ticked off Singaporeans earlier this month over the trash left after the Laneway music festival. Cue Mr Liak Teng Lit, 61, chairman of the Public Hygiene Council, which leads the Keep Singapore Clean Movement. The group chief executive of Alexandra Health System tells Rachel Chang that his interest in cleanliness started out as a fear of communicable diseases spreading. Now, he fears that the disease is in Singapore's societal values.
The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015


Earlier this month, the Prime Minister, referring to trash left behind by festival-goers at Gardens by the Bay, said that Singaporeans had to strive to be a "clean" city, not just a "cleaned" one. You were the one who first came up with that phrase. How did you feel about the episode?

The reality is we actually look clean because we have 70,000 cleaners cleaning up after us. Singaporeans don't think much about cleanliness because it looks okay. But, ironically, it hides our problem.

Your neighbour dumps something at the lift lobby, you saw the guy do it, but (you think), "never mind lah, the cleaner will come and pick it up". Now it's very different if this were in Japan or in Taiwan. Your neighbour dumps something, nobody is going to clean it and when you come back from work it's going to be there, the next day it's there, by the third day it will start smelling. You're never going to forgive a neighbour who does that.

But here, if the place is not clean, it's not your neighbour's fault, it's the cleaner's fault. "Town council no good."


When did Singaporeans' standards on cleanliness start to drop?

My memory of the 1980s was that Singapore was perfect. And we truly could be proud of being a clean city. Things were by and large okay for the next 10, 15 years. But slowly, it gradually deteriorated. My own impression is that the last couple of years were particularly bad. Behaviour began to shift, people no longer worried about being caught for littering.

The lack of enforcement (in catching litterbugs), or the sharp decline in enforcement, probably has escalated the problem but it's also the whole society changing. There are a lot of people who take it for granted that people will pick up after you.

A couple of years back, when they started having cleanliness as a Key Performance Indicator for town councils, it became that every time (one) didn't do a good job picking up litter, they got a scolding.

And the public started gaining experience (on how public servants reacted). You litter because you say, "Oh, I can't find a dustbin". And some public servant actually responded by saying, "I will go and put more dustbins". It is like (when) somebody gives an excuse, however unreasonable, you accept it and you start responding to it. So after a while that excuse sounds reasonable.

I like to ask, have you been to Japan? Korea? Taiwan? Name me one city that has got more dustbins than us. We probably have the highest density of dustbins anywhere in the world and still there are Singaporeans who claim they litter because there are not enough dustbins.






Who's at fault for this state of affairs?

I blame some of the parents. I have seen it more than once that the kid drops something and he wants to pick it up, the parent says, "No. Dirty. Let the cleaner do it".

So they are teaching the children the wrong thing. I think the self-awareness is a problem. First, we don't even see the rubbish. Then when we see the rubbish, we don't see it as our problem. We see it as the cleaner's problem, we see it as the foreigner's problem (for littering), we see it as education system's problem.

But the fundamental problem is a lack of consideration for one another. In health care, we say a rash on the skin is a symptom. This is a symptom. The disease is actually our values and our lack of consideration for one another.


Do you think we have to bring down the number of cleaners in Singapore?

I certainly think so. Taipei, with a few million people, has 5,000 cleaners. Singapore, we have five million people and 70,000 cleaners. That's two Singapore armies. It's quite ridiculous.

Productivity is not just about sweeping very productively. Real productivity is when people don't throw rubbish around.

Today, Singapore is rich, Singapore can spend. Singapore today is where Japan was 20 years ago. But what happened to Japan is that they splurged. And you know what is dangerous? The age profile of Singaporeans is almost what Japan was 20 years ago. So we will get older. Can we be so rich (forever) as to be able to afford this large number of foreign cleaners? Singaporeans will demand a higher wage.

No First World country serves you a cup of coffee for $1 (like here). Can we pay the cleaner $1,500 to $2,000 a month and then keep the service & conservancy charges (for residents) as it is?

So if we want to keep the charges low, we'd better clean up our act. It is a fairy tale that you can pay the cleaners more, have the same number of cleaners and not increase the charges. Anyway, why do we need so many cleaners to begin with? Other countries are not like that.


Do you think Singapore can ever reach a Japanese or Taiwanese level of cleanliness?

I hope so. But we should do it soon. There are people who say, "Oh, you've to wait for another generation". But another generation will be even worse.

Look at the Taiwanese. Their background is similar to ours, immigrants from the southern part of China. (The Public Hygiene Council) went to Taipei recently to see how they do it. We went to three schools and it was the same: There are no cleaners in the school. The children clean it three times a day - in the morning before they start, midday and then after classes.

And (the principals and teachers) were adamant it is part of education. It's character education, teaching yourself to be self-reliant and teaching you to use your hands. And to respect labour, to respect people who use their hands. So, in Taiwan, the cleaners are not seen as doing a "low-down" job. Many are graduates. It is a profession. So, I totally agree that schools in Singapore should be bolder. I'm trying to persuade some of the principals to do it here and remove most of the cleaners.

Don't have cleaning as a punishment for students (as it is done now). Cleaning is part of life. After all, you use the classroom, you clean the classroom.


Most Singaporeans will say, I don't litter! The problem is not with me.

The most important thing is that the majority of Singaporeans, who don't litter, set that good example. But there is also the sin of omission. Which is that when we see people litter or we see people behaving badly, we choose to keep quiet. That itself allows ugly people to behave badly. So here's the problem. If we choose to say nothing, you are the problem.

Whenever I see people leave a mess or litter, I make it a point to give a big smile and say, "Excuse me, Sir, I hope you don't mind, I don't think you should do that". Out of every 20, 10 or 12 will be embarrassed and say, "Sorry, sorry", and they will pick it up. About six or seven will give you a dirty look and ignore you. And one in 20 will give me a scolding: "Who are you to tell me that?"

But it's okay because you're able to influence people. Let's face it, the problem is us, it's our problem.



MOM: Bid to make Thaipusam a public holiday will stir competing claims

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By Amir Hussain, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

ANY move to make Thaipusam a public holiday again could see other communities make similar demands.

But Singaporeans should be able to make arrangements to observe their religious festivals, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) said yesterday, and urged employers "to make it possible for Singaporeans of all faiths to observe their respective religious festivals".

There has been a call from some Singaporeans to reinstate Thaipusam as a public holiday, which it was until 1968. A petition launched by educator Sangeetha Thanapal on campaign site change.org has already attracted nearly 20,000 signatures.

A planned Hong Lim Park rally supporting this tomorrow has been cancelled after police rejected organiser Gilbert Goh's application for a permit.

A police statement said: "The planned event runs a significant risk of public disorder and could incite feelings of hostility between different racial and religious groups in Singapore."

The call to make Thaipusam a public holiday has attracted debate online. Some argued that Hindus here should have another public holiday on top of Deepavali, because the Chinese, Christians and Muslims have two each.

MOM, in a letter to The Straits Times, gave the historical context to the 11 public holidays in Singapore which, it said, is "neither high nor low" when compared to the number of holidays other countries had.

In 1968, with the British planning to pull out its forces and as a new nation trying to find its economic place in the world, the Government decided to cut the number of holidays from 16.

But this was done only after "careful consultation with various (religious) groups", MOM said.

"Muslims chose to give up Prophet Muhammad's Birthday as well as an extra day for Hari Raya Puasa. Christians chose to give up the Saturday after Good Friday and Easter Monday. The Hindus had to choose between Thaipusam and Deepavali as a public holiday, and chose the latter.

"The Buddhists, who comprised the largest faith and had only one public holiday to begin with, Vesak Day, were not asked to offer cuts."

To change the current status quo "will immediately invite competing claims and necessitate considerable renegotiation with all communities", MOM said.

Meanwhile, Mr Goh posted on Facebook that there will not be another rally to replace tomorrow's.

On Thursday, Ms Sangeetha posted her decision to pull out as a speaker for the event, saying that too many of those due to speak were not from the Indian-Hindu community.





Thaipusam as public holiday: MOM replies

WE APPRECIATE the perspectives shared by many Singaporeans on Thaipusam.

As many have noted, Thaipusam was a public holiday until 1968.

Faced with the British withdrawal and the need to compete in global markets, the Government decided to reduce the total number of public holidays, among other things.

The decision on which public holidays to give up was reached only after careful consultation with religious groups.

Muslims chose to give up Prophet Muhammad's Birthday as well as an extra day for Hari Raya Puasa.

Christians chose to give up the Saturday after Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Hindus had to choose between Thaipusam and Deepavali, and chose the latter.

Buddhists, who comprised the largest faith and had only one public holiday to begin with, Vesak Day, were not asked to give it up.

Some groups continued to celebrate their important religious occasions, such as Vesakhi for the Sikhs and Lao-Tzu's Birthday for the Taoists, without these being public holidays.

The 11 public holidays that we now enjoy is neither high nor low when compared with other countries.

New Zealanders, Canadians and the French enjoy the same number.

Malaysia and Indonesia enjoy more days, but we have a few more than developed countries like Holland, Britain and Germany.

But beyond numbers and economics, our calendar of public holidays is a reflection of our multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.

There is much value and meaning attached to each of our festivals, including Thaipusam, both among that particular group and Singaporeans generally.

But any move to reinstate any one festival as a public holiday will invite competing claims, and necessitate considerable renegotiation with all communities. Balancing the wishes of each community will not be a simple matter.

Neither can we simply re-allocate public holidays by ethnic group, as among both Chinese and Indians, we have citizens of different faiths.

While we will ensure that all Singaporeans can practise their faiths freely, we cannot make all important festivals of all faiths public holidays.

But it must always be possible for Singaporeans to make arrangements to observe their respective religious festivals, and we encourage all employers to show understanding and flexibility in this regard.

We have learnt to live harmoniously with one another, with everyone making some compromises for the greater good.

This has served us well for five decades and remains the best way for Singapore.

Alvin Lim
Divisional Director
WorkPlace Policy and Strategy Division
Ministry of Manpower
ST Forum, 14 Feb 2015


Wanted: Views on Thaipusam procession
Feedback sought by Hindu bodies; MHA reiterates reason behind music ban
By Amir Hussain, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

VIEWS on the Thaipusam procession are being sought by Singapore's two top Hindu bodies.

The Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) and the Hindu Advisory Board will hold feedback sessions, details of which are being worked out, the HEB said yesterday.

The issue of whether music instruments can be played during the procession came into the spotlight after three men were arrested following a scuffle with the police during Thaipusam two weeks ago. The incident was sparked when organisers asked a group to stop playing traditional Indian drums.


It revealed that another man was arrested in this year's event after he was found carrying weapons. In 2013, nine were arrested after they were seen to be shouting secret society slogans and playing drums despite being advised not to do so.



In its statement, the ministry added: "The playing of musical instruments also slows down the pace of the procession, sometimes causing friction between participants, which in turn could lead to public order issues and disruption to other members of public."

The HEB, a statutory body that jointly organises the annual Thaipusam procession with the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, said that over the years, it too has received complaints of disorderly behaviour impeding the progress of devotees.

But it insisted that "contrary to public misperception", it has never urged the authorities to tighten the rules further, believing this is not necessary. Instead, it has been been requesting "the authorities to adjust the rules to take into consideration the importance of music to our religious rites".

"In 2012, in response to our appeal, the authorities allowed static music points along the procession route for the broadcast of religious hymns," the board said.

Two such static points were allowed that year, and a third was added for the most recent procession, the MHA said yesterday.

The HEB, which has asked those interested in participating in the feedback sessions to contact it at admin@heb.gov.sg, also pointed out that music has always been allowed at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road, where the procession starts, and at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in Tank Road.

The board explained that it has been issuing a set of guidelines to Thaipusam participants since 2011 "to provide greater clarity and guidance on the dos and don'ts for the procession". These guidelines are also put online, and kavadi bearers are told of the police permit conditions two weeks before the procession.

"But some participants still engage music groups to accompany them on the procession route," the HEB said.

Police were asked to assist at times when temple marshals or volunteers had difficulty dealing with the groups.

Law Minister K. Shanmugam last week stressed that the Hindus here are the only group allowed to hold religious processions, including the Panguni Uthiram and Thimithi (the fire-walking festival), on major roads since 1964, when a general ban was imposed following racial riots that year.

It was a point reiterated by the MHA yesterday.

It said: "Applications for other religious foot processions have generally not been allowed, with seven such applications from various religious groups rejected in the past five years."

As for comparing the Thaipusam procession to the Chingay and St Patrick's Day parades, the ministry said the nature of these events are very different, because they are cultural and community events, and are of a smaller scale and locality.

In contrast, Thaipusam "presents unique challenges for maintaining law and order" because it involves about 9,000 to 10,000 devotees carrying kavadis or paalkudams (milk pots), attracts thousands of supporters and onlookers, and goes through major roads in the heart of the city, stretching over 26 hours and around 3km.

The MHA also warned that there have been misrepresentations made regarding the Thaipusam issue, both online and offline.

It said: "If such activities are deemed to incite enmity between different communities and races, the police will investigate and take firm action against anyone responsible for such offences."



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