Workers’ Party should be honest about its intention behind filling the third Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat

The Workers’ Party should be honest about its intention behind filling the third Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat, Mr K Shanmugam said on Sunday (Jan 31).

Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Sunday, Mr Shanmugam said the starting point for democracy must be honesty.

"On the NCMP scheme, we all know what the truth is. The Workers’ Party should just come out and say: ‘Look, we would prefer a direct choice being given to the voters between the PAP and the Workers' Party, or some other opposition. But we don’t like the people being given an additional choice, which is you vote for the PAP and you still get an opposition candidate. Nevertheless, we benefit from it and therefore we want to fill the third seat,'" Mr Shanmugam said.

“They want to fill in this third seat because it benefits them."

Mr Shanmugam said that for Singapore's democracy to succeed, two factors are necessary: Honesty in Parliament and financial integrity – making reference to the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council case where the Auditor-General found lapses in its books.

"Go read what the High Court had to say about the Workers’ Party’s chairman suppressing the truth in Parliament and misleading Parliament. Go see what the Court of Appeal, just a couple of weeks ago, had to say about their Town Council Chairman, putting in half-truths on affidavits and trying to mislead," he said.

- CNA/cy

Sylvia Lim's shocking behaviour in Parliament

This was how WP's chairman Sylvia Lim responded to the amendment to the motion.

She crumpled the piece of paper and threw it behind her. Tsk tsk

Guess the cleaner will have to clean up after her.

Shouldn't a Parliamentarian sitting in the highest office in Singapore behave with dignity and decorum?

Will Mr Low Thia Khiang act on his conviction and reject all three NCMP seats?

Mr Low Thia Khiang said:

"What we want are people in Parliament empowered by a certain group of voters: not Nominated MPs, not NCMPs, but those given seats by virtue of a contest, according to votes."

He also warned that the opposition may become contented with just being NCMPs and become just decorative vases.

Does Mr Low feel the conviction of his words? If he does, shouldn't he reject all three NCMP seats in order to be true to his words?

Otherwise he risks sounding like an empty vase that makes a lot of noise, wouldn't he?

The three NCMP seats can then be offered to the top losing candidates from the other parties. We will still have diverse voices in parliament that come from the other parties.

But then, Mr Low had been quick to file a motion for Daniel Goh to take over from Lee Li Lian.

In fact he filed the motion on the very first day of the 13th Parliament when constitution says the party can move a motion for an alternative person AFTER Lee Li Lian has failed to take the Oath of allegiance TWICE. She failed to take the Oath once only.

Our sympathy to all the WP NCMPs who have become both duckweed and vases in one day.

Why doesn't WP aspire to sail their own ship?

Workers' Party came to parliament and told the government to shrink from the lives of Singaporeans.

Look, the ship model has to change, they said. Singaporeans have dreams and aspirations and THEY WANT TO SAIL ALONE.

Then they devote a large part of their speeches to telling the government to help the opposition develop into credible parties that can take over the government.

The government has said the number of NCMPs would be increased. But - not good enough, it seems.

'Duckweed' was how Mr Low Thia Khiang described NCMPs. They have no roots, he said.

Oh, but they do have roots.

No political muscles, he said, never mind that the government has also said NCMPs will have voting rights JUST LIKE AN MP.

When Mr Low said that the government should create a political system that is conducive to the growth of alternative parties, what he meant is that the government should help alternative parties to win elections so that they can be MPs in parliament and not NCMPs.

They want the government to help them grow and develop into a party that can take over the government. They want the government to manoeuvre their ship into parliament.

WHY DOESN'T WP ASPIRE TO SAIL THEIR SHIP ALONE like the way they said Singaporeans want to sail alone?

The Man To Watch In The House According To The Independent Singapore

How does it feel to found a news site that every so often praises the founder to the sky? Ask Leon Perera of WP and founder of The Independent Singapore.

The Independent Singapore should seriously consider changing their name to Voice of Workers' Party or something like that.

After all, it is anything but independent and lately it has been running articles that attack the government and other opposition parties while singing the praises of WP.

So Leon Perera's The Independent tells us that Leon is the man to watch in the House.

Then co-founder, Kumaran Pillai tells us Leon works so hard running The Independent, attends MPS etc he only sleeps 2 minutes a day.

2 minute of sleep a day! Can YOU beat that?

Photo credit: Fabrications About The PAP

WP's Choices Of Accountants

Lawyer for HDB, Ms Aurill Kam asked, “Why have we spent two weeks looking for nominees that appear not to have met standards?
This all shows a lack of proper process and due care in selecting accountants."

In his closing judgment, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said:

“But this being a matter of public interest, and public funds should not be delayed further, and a process which has been without success cannot continue indefinitely... the concern should be to appoint an accountant who manifestly has the ability, experience and resources to complete the task.”

Concluded CJ Menon: “We direct the town council to appoint a team of qualified accountants from one of the ‘Big 4’ accounting firms – namely Pricewaterhousecoopers, Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young – within two weeks, in order to undertake the identified tasks.”

In closing, lawyer for AHTC Mr Peter Low applied for ACRA’s PMP documents to not be released to the public, to which the court agreed to put in place an interim sealing order, subject to HDB’s submission to unseal the documents.

The court also called for AHTC’s first monthly progress report to be submitted on Apr 15.

Both Of AHTC's Nominated Accountants Withdrew Themselves. What is WP hiding?

CJ Menon: “... there remain concerns as to whether the court has been apprised of all the facts in a candid and forthright manner and whether the Town Council has in place a system to ensure due diligence in selecting candidates to do this work.”

So, why is WP not being forthright with HDB and the court in their appointment of independent accountants?

TWO QUESTIONS:
1. The real reason for Business Assurance's withdrawal
2. When did MRI withdraw and why

AHTC's lawyer, Peter Low cited media scrutiny as the reason for Business Assurance's withdrawal.

But another reason had emerged in court that the firm’s founder Alex Chai had backed out as he wanted to keep his grading in an annual evaluation of public accountants (PMP) carried out by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Board (ACRA) private.

Hence CJ Menon noted that Business Assurance's withdrawal on account of 'media scrutiny' was 'a half story'.

After Business Assurance pulled out, AHTC approached MRI Moores Rowland LLP, which accepted the job but also did not respond to a request for details on its credentials.

CJ Menon also found it 'VERY TROUBLING' that MRI's withdrawal was not mentioned in the affidavit filed by AHTC on Monday 18 Jan.

“We were told today that MRI withdrew on Sunday, Jan 17. If this is true, we find it troubling this was not mentioned in their affidavit on the 18th – this suggests the town council was still putting forward MRI as a candidate,” said CJ Menon

On Pritam Singh's faiure to mention MRI's withdrawal in the affidavit, CJ Menon said, “Ms Kam invites us to infer that in fact MRI withdrew not on Sunday but on (Tuesday) after the town council had been told that evening that ACRA had been subpoenaed."

27 BANGLADESHI CONSTRUCTION WORKERS ARRESTED UNDER THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT

The threat is real and yet we have parties like Workers' Party calling for ISA to be abolished and SDP calling for defence spending to be cut by half.

Do they understand the reality of the world we live in?

The 27 Bangladeshi construction workers were arrested here under the Internal Security Act after they were found to be contemplating armed jihad overseas including in their homeland.

They were arrested on Nov 16 and Dec 1 last year.

Most of the arrested Bangladeshi workers were from a religious study group which urged members to return home and wage armed jihad.

Kudos to all our security agencies for their vigilance and hard work in keeping Singapore safe.

Let's stand united.

No show by Lee Li Lian

Have the lawyers in Workers' Party failed Ms Lee Li Lian? Did lawyer Sylvia Lim not try to persuade Ms Lee Li Lian to take up the appointment as elected NCMP?

Whatever happened to having not enough good women - mothers, daughters, wives, equal citizens - in politics? 

One of the reasons Ms Lee gave for not taking up the NCMP appointment is that she wanted more time with her family. 

Now there is really nothing wrong in wanting to spend more time with one's family. But if that is the driving reason, then why did Ms Lee bother to stand for election in the first place? 

After all, the commitment of an MP is much higher than that of a NCMP. 

In addition to attending Parliament, an MP also has to conduct MPS and take care of her residents and estate. 

As an NCMP, Ms Lee has no constituency to look after and no need to meet residents. 

Does it mean that if she had been elected as MP, she would be willing to sacrifice family time for residents? 

So what makes the difference between being an MP and a NCMP? 

She also said that unlike an MP it is not possible to be a full-time NCMP. 

Does it even make sense to speak of a full-time NCMP? 

The duties of a NCMP is like that of a NMP. The only difference between them is that one enters parliament through being one of 3 biggest losers in the election while the other is nominated.

We don't speak of full-time NMPs, do we? So what is a full-time NCMP? 

She also said, "It will not be fair to my future employer to take leave from work every month." If that is a valid reason, is she expecting Daniel Goh to be unfair to his employer by preferring him to be the NCMP?

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said on Monday (18 Jan) that Ms Lee Li Lian’s decision not to take up a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat should not be taken lightly.

She was referring to Ms Lee's absence at the opening of Parliament. 

Said Ms Fu: “Like many of her constituents, I learnt first from the media and later from her absence from the opening of Parliament that she is not intending to assume the NCMP seat, despite having campaigned hard to persuade voters to elect her to a seat in Parliament.”

About 15,800 voters in Punggol East had cast their ballots for her. 

“Taking up the NCMP seat would have enabled her to participate fully in parliamentary debates, raise motions, and ask questions in Parliament,” said Ms Fu.

She added that in the event that Ms Lee is indeed declining the role and WP would like to propose an alternative candidate, they have to put it to Parliament for a decision by “moving a Motion at a sitting of this Parliament”.

States Time Review and All Singapore Stuff caught lying about what Prof Chia said about CPF

StatesTimesReview & A.S.S. carried an extensively shared article that was a deliberate MISREPRESENTATION of a lecture by NUS Prof Chia Ngee Choon.

Joe Augustin decided to interview the economist with regard to this article and found the representation in States Times and A.S.S to be the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what Prof Chia said.

Here it is:

Something didn't smell right about this extensively shared article, so I tracked down the economist referred to in this article - to clarify if this was indeed what has been opined. And guess what? As far as she's concerned it is a complete misrepresentation - not only taken out of context, but placed into a new wholly made-up context.

In response, she wrote, "Just want to place on record that I did not slam, lash out and criticise as the article suggested". In fact, the gist of her presentation is completely the OPPOSITE of what is portrayed here. (The word "SLAM" was used in another headline to promote this story on the A.S.S. and their FB page - which was quoting this article).

This is what she DID say. "Young entrant workers they can look forward to achieving an income replacement rate (an indicator of retirement adequacy) that is comparable to OECD countries as long as they work consistently and made prudent choice on housing purchase ie buying a home within their means."

Also, she said that she "highlighted that the CPF has tried to enhance adequacy of older workers by increasing contribution rates for workers age 50 and above and giving higher return - 6 percent for the first 30k of CPF monies for those age 55 and above."

"Then I presented a simulation study on the viability and fiscal sustainability of giving basic pension support to the bottom 20 to 30 percent of the elderly, subject to means testing. The results show that having a robust economic growth is key to sustain such a system."

I don't know if you find it necessary to share THIS post with your friends - but I DO hope more people will take a moment before they become inadvertent propagators of untruths.

Photo credit: Fabrications About The PAP

What is more deadly?

"Nothing could be more deadly than the enemy than words of doubt put into the mind of our own soldiers by our own people."

So do ourselves a favour. Stand united as one people.

When in doubt, go to the right channel and seek answers.
Don't spread rumours and hearsay.

Meet our PRC riggers from Pasir Ris Camp.

These are some of our Pasir Ris Camp or PRC riggers.

Their motto is "I WILL ALWAYS BE SURE".

Do you know that to drive home their motto, EVERY RIGGER MUST MAKE A JUMP WITH A PARACHUTE SHE PACKS HERSELF?

The Basic Riggers Course lasts 10 weeks - but it takes FIVE YEARS for a regular to attain the Class 1 Advanced Rigger qualification, which comes with the added responsibility of inspecting the parachutes packed by junior riggers.

Aside from parachuting in countries such as Australia, Thailand and the United States, some riggers have even completed the Military Freefall Course usually reserved for male-only elite units, where jumpers learn to exit an aircraft at heights of 3km or more, opening their parachutes manually as they approach the ground.

By their 10th year in service, many of these women will be decorated with enough wings on their uniforms to rival a Commando.

However, the achievement that the riggers cherish most is their unblemished safety record.

Since the unit's establishment in 1974, the riggers have packed more than 1.75 million static-line, free-fall, tandem and reserve parachutes, without a single one failing to open during a jump.

Such relentless pursuit of perfection keeps the riggers on their toes.

"We feel special," says MSG Wong, "because lives depend on us. We are the women behind the successful men."

Read it here:

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/rigger-no-room-error-packing-parachutes

https://transit.navitime.com/en-sg/spot/fs/info?id=4c0c3adaffb8c9b693866e61

Our PRC Riggers. Did you say PRC?

Going by the number of misleading headlines that come out of The Independent in recent days, Kenneth Jeyaratnam probably hammered the nail right on its head when he described Leon Perera's The Independent, the new proxy for WP, as a 'gutter tabloid'.

The latest from The Independent is the sensational headline:
SAF outsources rigger job to contractors from PRC

A netizen had posted on his facebook his concern about the packing of parachutes being outsourced to PRC contractors.

Instead of checking to verify the accuracy of the post, The Independent very quickly published it, eager for the opportunity to stir some anti-foreigner sentiment against the government. They even spelled out PRC as "People's Republic of China".

But what exactly is PRC?

It's Pasir Ris Camp.

That's right. PRC is Pasir Ris Camp.

Pasir Ris Camp consists of the following unit:

HQ 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade (HQ 10 SIB)
Commando Training Institute (Cdo TI)
Special Operations Training Centre (SOTC)
Special Operations Tactics Centre (SOTAC)
Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC)

And the packing of parachutes is done by the Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC).

And where is this Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC) ?

That's right. It's at Pasir Ris Camp.

Hence the packing of parachutes is done at PRC - Pasir Ris Camp.

Wonder what The Independent's founder, Leon Perera has to say?

The Independent Singapore and their misleading headline on healthcare costs

WP's proxy, The Independent, founded by Leon Perera posted an article with a MISLEADING HEADLINE that says "Medishield Life only paid $300 out of $5k bill".

MISLEADING because The Independent chose to ignore the FIRST LAYER OF PROTECTION and that is, GOVERNMENT GRANTS OR SUBSIDIES which begins at 50% and goes up to 65% for B2 Class wards.

If the patient concerned had chosen a C class wards he would have enjoyed higher subsidy that begins at 65% and goes up to 80%.

No one in Singapore, no matter how poor, will be denied medical treatment.

Fearmongering on the costs of healthcare in order to win votes may benefit WP but it can result in distress and medical neglect in the ill-informed and the elderly who are thus misled.

Be kind and do not mislead.

Answer to no one and respond to no email.

HDB raises concerns about AHTC's choice of accountant....

The town council wants to appoint Business Assurance - a sole proprietorship founded in 2014 - as its accountant. However HDB has raised questions about the expertise and experience of WP's choice.

HDB's lawyer said Business Assurance lacks relevant expertise and experience and does not even have a two-year operational track record. There is also no indication it has experience auditing public institutions that include town councils, and the firm lacks adequate manpower resources for the task at hand, the housing board added.

HDB suggests that one of Singapore's four major accounting firms be appointed instead to fix accounting and governance lapses at the Workers' Party-run town council.

The court ordered an adjournment and directed AHTC to file an affidavit to respond to HDB's queries because AHTC had not responded to a written request sent by HDB earlier this week seeking further information on the town council's proposed accounting agent Business Assurance.

AHTC has until Monday to address HDB's queries on Business Assurance.

MND and HDB also said that AHTC "tried unsucessfully to limit the accountants' terms of reference" and that the Court of Appeal dismissed the town council's attempt to seek legal costs and disbursements from MND and HDB for the hearings before the High Court and the appeals court. Instead, the apex court agreed with HDB and MND's submission that each of the parties should bear their own legal costs.

Kenneth Jeyaratnam: The Independent Singapore is a gutter tabloid and peddlars of lies

Prata flip: Now Workers' Party wants court to appoint accountant

In addition to being irresponsible and non-transparent in the spending of public monies belonging to their town council, Workers' Party is also a great waster of taxpayers' money as they take everyone on a merry-go-round just to appoint an independent accountant to oversee the disbursement of grants and to recover lost money for their town council.

First they mounted a rigorous defence against MND's application to the court to ask the court to appoint independent accountants.

The court then asked the town council to appoint their own independent accountant - subject to HDB's approval.

And now the town council has applied to the court to appoint an independent accountant for them.

We are right back where it all began. Sigh!

If the court decides to allow MND's choice of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the accountant, what will Workers' Party do? Fight the court's decision?

One wonders WHY appointing an accountant just to oversee the disbursement of government grants to the town council and to recover whatever money that was lost in the past is such a big issue for WP to waste so much time and taxpayers' money disagreeing over their appointment.

Meanwhile, who suffer? The residents of course.

Photo credit: Fabrications About The PAP