How the Ruling Party twists the courts to their favour

Health MInister Khaw Boon Wan said quite a good number of times that he “welcomed debate with the opposition on this issue” and that they “can have a thorough discussion of this”. By this of course we mean the NKF and this gross mismanagement of public funds for self-gain.

Prime MInister Lee Hsien Loong says that he is “disappointed with the opposition parties’ position so far” and that “their unwillingness to spar on issues is a letdown”.

Choice comments from 2 select elite from the upper echelon. Might I ask, what exactly does PM Lee mean when he, on one hand instigates the courts to initiate proceedings against TT Durai and gang and thus evoking sub judice, while on the other hand lament the lack of discussion on the issues?

Isn’t the mismanagement of NKF an issue? Didn’t Mr Khaw say that he wanted discussion on the issue? Now that PM Lee has spoken and sub judice is in effect, Mr Khaw is strangely quiet and PM Lee is firing with all guns, seemingly in an attempt to provoke the opposition to slip up and get sued.

As MSM has vividly shown, SDP has already taken the bait but is soldiering on. WP, SDA, NSP and SPP have wisely decided to sidestep the issue, by not commenting on the issue just yet. Suffice it to say, most of them are currently in the huddle to decide what can or cannot be discussed, or at all.

Read www.todayonline.com/articles/113678.asp, TODAYOnline’s take on the NKF sub judice issue for a clearer picture on the matter. According to Mr Shashi Nathan, head of criminal department at Harry Elias Partnership, “general comments on the NKF saga can still be made during the run-up to the elections, although specific references to allegations or to people involved in the case should be avoided at all times”.

It appears that the letter of the law is so vague it leaves everything to chance, tantamount to literally a blank cheque if sub judice is violated. Yet another masterstroke by the ruling party. It’s quite doubtful if any opposition party will mention NKF by its most glaring aspects without running afoul of the law. SDP, MM Lee and PM Lee have already shown the way, charting the path of ash and cinder for those who dare tread the NKF path.

http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=430

KMPG Report: Findings of corporate misconduct

Breaking news reveals that an independent financial investigation/audit conducted by KPMG found NKF (headed by the ex-CEO TT Durai) committed acts of corporate misconduct.

KPMG found that there were instances where staff and volunteers were given contracts or projects for various inexplicable reasons; some staff were given matrimonial or bereavement packages for “whatever reasons”, some were given exit bonuses (the titular Golden Parachute) of sometimes up to ten months salary.

Durai himself was awarded 6 months bonus for his work in getting a record donation haul one time of about $16mil. That year he earned more than a million in salary alone.

Yes, there are calls not to mistake the previous NKF for the current NKF. That I agree. However, the results of the KPMG report basically spell misconduct. In countries where huge corporations have fallen due to misconduct (Enron, WorldCom, etc), their CEOs were trialed and convicted of corporate misconduct and jailed!

This isn’t a witchhunt, but one of culpability. The guilty cannot be allowed to run away scot free. The public needs it. Nay, demands it.

http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=391

Private public service fiscal reports must be made public

Surely a misnomer if there was one, but yesterday it struck me like a lightning bolt of common sense and indignation. According to print media, SMRT and SBS Transit have daily ridership of 2mil and 2.5mil per day respectively. Now, this is likely old news to me but it was new to me!

Why the concern? Yeah, sure, we Singaporeans need these Private Public Services. But a rudimentary maths exercise easier than PSLE Maths reveals a few interesting figures. First off though allow me to quote (albeit outdated) some figures given by SMRT and SBS Transit to justify their price hikes circa 2002-2003.

SBS Transit said, “its operating expenses went up 5.6 per cent to $501 million“.

SMRT said, “its expenses went up about 26 per cent to almost $320 million“.

Ok. Now, my maths. Based on a conservative average paid fare per ride of $1.20, SMRT’s and SBS Transit’s daily revenue are $2.4mil and $3mil respectively. Over a fiscal year, this equates to $876mil and $1.095bil respectively.

Hmmm… that means SMRT’s gross profit is $556mil and SBS Transit’s gross profit is $594mil. What the…

This again presses home the need for transparency and reiterates the question: “Should public services be made private?” And if it should, shouldn’t such private companies work like normal private companies and answer or come clean to Singaporeans, since the analogous shareholder to a private public company is the citizen?

Give us the yearly fiscal report! Justify ride prices and price hikes!

http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=377

Bad News Good News

Whoa, after a brief stint overseas I’m finally back to this balmy land we call home and I’m raring to go! Was catching up on the local news scene and one particular issue stuck in my head like a painful thorn up my arse.

I was intruiged (at best) to read that GLCs like MediaCrap and Media(doesnot)Works have merged. SPH (the parent company of MediaWorks cited “big” losses in the TV (Channels U and I) and small print (Streats) business. Other GLC news include yet again SPH posting huge $500 mil profits for the last fiscal year (I think, or was it quarter?) and Temasek Holdings coming out of their shell to post financial figures for the last 30 years.

You know, everytime I read news about our GLCs posting profits, I never feel a sense of pride or joy, which should have been the proper (or patriotic?) emotions. Instead I shake my head. It’s been a seemingly Singaporean thing to do this two-step mambo: step one, announce cutbacks, price increases, layoffs, bad news; step two, announce huge profits, print pictures of grinning CEOs, write platitudes on the financial genius of the running manangement, good news.

I caught a glimpse of this new comedy series called The Office, where the boss is this sex-maniac loser called Brent. In this trailer I saw him announcing, “The bad news is, some of you will be getting the sack. The good news is, I’m getting promoted!” This follows a sheepish grin from Brent, camera pans to the employees’ glum faces then he continues, “You’re still thinking about the bad news aren’t you?”

Hell yeah!

As a supposed commercial entity, SPH made $500mil but lost $40mil on the TV and free-print biz. 10%. As a whole I feel it’s a pittance. As Singaporeans we desperately want variety in our TVs and news print. 10% doesn’t seem like a very strong justification for selling off the bad bits to MediaCrap. However, as a supposed commercial entity it makes financial sense to sell off bad bits, like what most real big companies do.

Unfortunately this brings into the fray the whole idea of commercialising all our essential services like TV, print, transport, etc. Singapore is just too small to even contemplate this, much less create fake competition amongst the GLCs. Please stop the fat-cat privatisation business, bring back government-run services with balanced fiscal sheets. Return government fiscal/budget surpluses to the masses instead of annually fattening the bank accounts of the super-rich.

http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=162

Unanimous vote

The Straits Times (1st June 2004) reported that 10 ministers endorsed DPM Lee as the new PM. Please, what a joke and a farce. When asked for alternative nominations, who in their right mind will voice out their opinions, with our Mr ISA Wong Kan Seng and Dragon Prince sitting right in front of them?? Throw away a lucrative PAP career because of a few ill-chosen words?

Then a “caucus” was opened to the PAP MPs. Erm, first off, what about the other PMs? NMPs? NCMPs? Why only PAP MPs? Also, these white-laced yes-men will react similarly to the closed meeting above rite? Again, which joker with lucrative PAP careers will want to wreck it this way? Also, if they are already in PAP, why would they talk against the ruling decision so openly?

DPM Lee as PM is fait accompli and moot. Mr Goh, whom IMO was a great leader, was merely a seat-warmer, sad to say.

And while I’m at it, Straits Times shows once again that it’s a mere political device of the PAP. Sensible readers need only read between the lines to see how one-sided the reporting was.

The concept of MP nominations for PM is silly, perfunctory and serves zero purpose. It merely serves as yet another political device to assuage the stupid masses that there is a veneer of transparency and democracy.

http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=73