Yep.

Perhaps MISS PAYING the next Town Council fee and you will get a reply….guaranteed. ;)

>>>>There is practically no individual privacy.
You are right. I was aghast when my ex-employer forwarded my contacts to other colleagues without first informing me. I was even more aghast to realise that managers are criticising job applicants right after they left, IN FRONT of other subordinates. WHERE IS RESPECT FOR PRIVACY?? What is the meaning of PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL?

The old saying will serve you well, “When living in safety, be aware of danger.”

>>>>>Even Andrew Kuan the aspiring Presidential candidate had his employment information splashed all over the state controlled media where his superiors find his work lacklustre but continued to pay him performance bonuses at the tax payer’s expense.

Good point! Why employ one when you know his work is lacklustre. Anyone can memorise a bible and still not understand what it really is about. Singaporean employers (many) fail to see that.

WU ZHE TIAN (Empress Wu Jao from 7th century China) would not hesitate to use a talented (even inexperienced) hardworking honest personnel over one who is experienced, highly-qualified but (really) inefficient or lazy.

So have you and the members of your editorial board on TOC written to your own TCs. Can you provide the general statistics of the emails sent, to which TC’s, the responses if any, etc… for the people who read your blog. You have indicated that 14 people have written to their TC’s. Doesn’t this show that there is still the fear which is pervasive under the decades of rule in Singapore?

I will be surprised if there is any credible answers that will be forthcoming. You should also keep track of these people who have written and check with them in the future if there are suddenly (i) check and/or visits to their premises if they are living in HDB’s to see if they are following the full regulations of the HDB (Mah Bow Tan has ensured that all loopholes are closed with new additional regulations recently) lest they be kicked out on a technicality (ii) problems that they never had before sending the email to the TC’s

Singapore is practically a police state. All information about Singaporeans lies with their NRIC, the digits to the government. There is practically no individual privacy. All your bank accounts, tax information, etc.. are easily accessible by the govenrment, and linked and possibly the reason that they do not want to have a second party to shadow them and have access to this. Try leaving Singapore for not paying a road traffic fine which is overdue. They will be at the immigration counter to stop you from leaving. Without the extensive information and the linking, I cannot imagine how this is possible. Even Andrew Kuan the aspiring Presidential candidate had his employment information splashed all over the state controlled media where his superiors find his work lacklustre but continued to pay him performance bonuses at the tax payer’s expense. Where is the accountability of his superiors if this has been the case that his performace was poor? Why wait till he is offering himself for the election of the President to resort to such tactics.

Would you like to forward the email to us? We’re keeping track of the emails which our readers have sent so far. We can be reached at: theonlinecitizen@gmail.com .

Thanks.

I have just sent the e-mail to my town council, and looking forward to seeing their response.

I think TOC can easily monitor how many e-mails were being sent, and from which town. This can easily be done with a petition-like format, where we can check-off the relevant box, like which town, any response etc.

“Subsequently, Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan has publicly contradicted that position, telling the Sunday Times that:
‘Each town council has the duty to explain to its residents how it invests its funds, what is its philosophy, what are the risks it takes’. (Sunday Times, Nov 23)”

how in the 1st place the investment loss issue being brought to light??

that person(s) that bring up this issue is really very helpful!!

aiyoyo

is there some qualified/registered accountants checking on the TC books?

aiyoyo

Having a template is convenient.

1) What is the exact amount of investments that have been lost to these structured products by PRPG-TC? Are there other paper losses PRPG-TC has incurred in other investments besides the material loss to structured products?

2) Will S&C fees be increased to cover for the losses made by the Town Council? If no, how will the Town Council ensure that residents are not penalised for the losses incurred?

3) If S&C fees are to be increased to cover for the losses, by how much would the residents have to pay?

4) If S&C fees need not be increased to cover for the losses, has the Town Concil been overcharging the S&C fees for the residents of Pasir Ris-Punggol?

5) Who were the qualified persons who had advised the Town Council on its investments, and how were they appointed?

6) Will the maintenance of our estate be affected and compromised in light of these losses? If not, how will the Town Council ensure that the service standards and maintenance of the estate is not affected through these losses?

7) Does the Town Council believes that it had been missold any investments (whether related to Lehman Brothers or otherwise), and if so whether the Town Council intends to take action for such misselling?

8 ) Are there any minutes or records of the Town Council’s deliberations on decisions to invest in structured products, and if so whether the Town Council intends to disclose them?

9 ) What is the average annual expenditure by the Town Council over a 10 year period as compared to the average annual revenue collected from the residents?

10) Will residents be informed beforehand in future when the Town Council decides to make investments in risky products like equities, stocks, unit trust funds or structured products?

11) Will the Town Council be implementing any controls to prevent such losses to its sinking fund in future?

So far I have only received an automated response from Dr Ahmad’s mailbox stating that he is out of office from 25 – 29 Nov. No response from the TC yet.

Internet age lah. You learn faster this way. Now where got lazy or not ? Or clever or not clever ? Or talent or not talent ? Information and knowledge have now become cheap commodities. It is the relationship that counts.

Singaporeans can formulate a lot of good questions. Somehow, the good answers are not forthcoming anyway.

if you want to query your Town Council, why do Singaporeans need a template? Are you not sure what you want to know, or is it simply a sign that you’re jumping on the bandwagon of posing questions to your TC because the others are doing so?

iT does not reflect well on Singaporeans at all. Look at it this way, you need to be given a template just to ask questions. You may not know what to ask, but there is no harm in doing some research and forming your own questions. Are Singaporeans a lazy lot?

I am just voicing an opinion, its not meant to crtisise any particular person/s. I apologise in advance if my comments have harmed you.

Thank you.

kelly thank you for your info.

I keep thinking, if TC so $$$,

why the TC surroundings dont look $$$???

I dont see the logic.

is it I never pay attention during school days,

or something amiss???

aiyoyo

Usually they have a template email reply acknowledging our email.

This time there is nothing – it seemed like the email had gone into a blackhole.

will TC hold AGMs?

(as TC do investments)

What I can imagine TOC doing is, sending a free press release stating # number of people voicing displeasure and # number of people have sent emails to their Town Councils, # of emails mailing/faxing to town councils. And zero number of replies from town councils, etc.

I sent the email to my TC address listed in TOC website and the email addr listed in my TC website, plus I cc it to all the other 5 MPs.

I’d like to thank the 14 people who have sent the email to their respective town councils.

None of the town councils have responded yet.

I’d like to urge the rest of our readers to send the template email as well.

Thanks.

Andrew Loh