The Independent-Singapore self-exposed!

Well, The Independent-Singapore did a self-exposed and confirmed that they are not independent after all. Haha

Time for a name change?

Pritam Singh's being misleading about transfer of Sinking Fund from PRPTC to AHPETC

Looks like Pritam Singh of WP also did the 'suppressio veri suggestio falsi'

Omission of details to give a false impression. Tsk tsk !!

He said that after the Punggol East by-election in January 2013, PRPTC transferred S$10 million a few months later. The final instalment of Punggol East’s sinking funds was transferred to AHPETC in September 2014, some 20 months after the by-election.

By omitting details of the transfers, he gave the impression that the transfer was slow and in many instalments over 20 months period.

The truth is that EIGHTY PER CENT (80%) of the Sinking Fund was TRANSFERRED WITHIN 4 MONTHS OF HANDOVER DATE.

It's been more than 4 months since handover by WP after GE2015, and Workers' Party's AHTC has only transferred back $10 million in sinking fund to Punggol East.

See also: https://www.facebook.com/S.Zainal/posts/10209662716543850

Still not credible after more than 20 years

Mr Low Thia Khiang said at the start of the 13th Parliament that no political parties can transform itself into a credible party overnight.

We can agree on that.

Except that Workers' Party is older than independent Singapore. It was founded in 1957. And Mr Low has been a Parliamentarian since 1991.

"More than 20 years" is a long time. It is definitely not 'overnight'.

After more than 20 years running a town council and making Sinking Fund transfers, Workers' Party still does not know how to compute the correct amount to transfer to the Sinking Fund, nor does it know the correct use of monies in the Sinking Fund.

Workers' Party still needs to be shown the ropes.

The PAP was formed in November 1954. Five years later it formed the government and proved itself again and again.

End of the Blame Game?

For the past few years since WP-run town council failed their first financial audit, it had been one blame game after another by WP.

First it was AIM's fault, then it was the fault of CPG, the previous managing agent, then MND's fault, HDB's fault, and not to forget, PAP's fault.

But eventually the game came to an end and it all boils down to WP's lack of competence, lack of due diligence and lack of honesty.

But while the game was still going on, the then chairman of the town council, Sylvia Lim had gone from one lie to another and it's just amazing how a person can lie so often with such a straight face.

In their first monthly progress report on AHTC, KPMG identified a number of root causes for their troubles.

These are:
AHTC’s governance framework and policy management;
AHTC’s accounting practices;
AHTC’s Finance Department’s capability and management personnel retention;
The Accounting System used by AHTC to record and account for its transactions.
The root causes cover practically everything - from governance to practices to people to system.

 http://www.ahtc.sg/links/2016/04/201604-KPMG-Monthly-Report-on-Progress.pdf

Shocking when simple things like monthly closing of accounts are not done.

Workers' Party ought to be really thankful to MND and HDB for their insistence on independent accountants from one of the Big Four to straighten out their accounts for them instead of putting up such a huge resistence in the beginning, wasting time and taxpayers' money, playing victim and calling it politically motivated.

Sylvia Lim had declared at that time that they did not see any need for independent accountants.
If you read the 42-page first monthly progress report by KPMG on AHTC, you will have to conclude that Sylvia Lim is really clueless. 

More than a year after the AGO Report on AHPETC was released in Feb 2015, NOTHING MUCH WAS DONE to improve the situation despite Sylvia Lim repeating to media that they had put safeguards in place.

It takes accountants from KPMG to go in before AHTC finally co-operates and things get started.
This makes you wonder if WP see the seriousness of the financial mess at their town council. Did they recognize that there is a mess, in the first place? It also makes you wonder at their lackadaisical approach in handling public monies. Where's that sense of responsibility and accountability?

It is disclosed in the first monthly report from KPMG that monthly closing of the accounts was NOT PERFORMED. Isn't that shocking?

Monthly closing of accounts is required of all small businesses to ensure that financial records are balanced before the start of a new month.

And at the start of KPMG's commencement of their work at AHTC, there was no Finance Manager!

 http://www.ahtc.sg/links/2016/04/201604-KPMG-Monthly-Report-on-Progress.pdf

Safeguards in place. MND to release grants.

WP-run AHTC is the first town council in Singapore that cannot be trusted with public funds and requires independent accountants to co-sign large payments.

MND says it will release the grants to the town council because it is satisfied that safeguards are now in place to ensure the proper use of the money.

The safeguards include appointing independent accountants, setting up segregated bank accounts to receive the grants, and getting the accountants to sign off on large payments from the accounts.
The independent accountants are from KPMG.

Meanwhile Punggol East SMC has not received the full amount of sinking fund due to them from AHTC.

MP Charles Chong said $22.5 million in sinking funds had been handed over to the WP-run town council in 2013, after the opposition party won Punggol East in a by-election that year.

But AHTC has so far transferred back only an "interim amount" of $10 million in sinking funds.
The exact amount owed is still being worked out, he said.

WP declines invitation to attend a public hearing on the Elected Presidency

What kind of party is Workers' Party? A party that is interested in working with the government to better the lives of Singaporeans or a self-serving party?

It is in their manifesto 2011 to abolish the Presidency.

Yet when invited by the Constitutional Commission on the Elected Presidency to attend a public hearing where they can make oral representation and provide clarifications on their written submission, they DECLINED.

They intend to debate the matter in Parliament instead.

They could attend the public hearing to make oral representations and clarfy their position which will be very helpful in the review of the Elected Presidency AND STILL debate the matter in Parliament.

So why does WP not want to attend the public hearing on such an important matter?

One is reminded of how Sylvia Lim also declined to attend 'Our Singapore Conversation' to share their ideas for a better Singapore. At that time she said that WP had a different platform to air their views and that platform was Parliament.

Workers' Party expect to debate in Parliament, to ask questions and to be given answers. Yet in Parliament, they refused to answer questions. Pritam Singh famously said that he would answer only to his residents. And Chief Low Thia Khiang had risen to Pritam's defence and said that he did not see any need for his MPs to answer questions in Parliament.

During the general election in 2015, Workers' Party was invited to a free flow spontaneous unedited election debate organized by 'inconvenient questions'? The debate was attended by PAP, SDP and SPP. Inconvenient questions went out of their way to invite WP but WP declined to join this no holds barred debate.

WP is at its best when it comes to taking credit, this time benefits for single mothers.

Staying true to taking credit. That's what WP and their proxy The Independent-Singapore just did. Tsk tsk

Others have gone before you, planted and watered, and time has given the increase! It is the collective effort of many.

We must ourselves be good role models before we can teach others about ownership and taking responsibility for our environment.

Daniel Goh wants R&D distributed in heartlands

 THIS is the best that university professor and NCMP from WP Daniel Goh can do.

He said that science parks run the risk of becoming “enclaves”, with innovation taking place separated from the rest of society, and are “mega-ivory towers” surrounding universities such as the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

He thinks that Jurong Innovation District, by virtue of its exclusive urban design, would become a high-tech island detached from the rest of Singapore.

Therefore he asked that R&D labs etc be decentralized and spread all over Singapore in the heartlands. In that way, innovation will be all over Singapore.