It has been 20 years since town councils were instituted to take charge of the running of HDB estates. Previously, estates were run by the Housing and Development Board. Town councils were, it was initially hoped, suppose to “function as a form of local government and give residents more say in the estate they live in”, as reported in the Straits Times of 27 June 2009.
However, 20 years on, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, in an interview with the Straits Times, admits there is a “missing link” between residents and their town councils. He was referring to the devolvement of governance of the estate, “to give them (residents) a stake in the process of governance”.
SM Goh said:
I would not say that the direct link has been forged yet between residents and the Town Councils. But Town Councils have been successful in getting the grassroots leaders to understand the linkage between what Town Councils can do and what the people must do.
Mr Lim Boon Heng concurred, saying, “We have not yet imbued the sense of personal and collective responsibility in the residents.”
What are your views of your town council?
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whatever..I don’t trust them..probably a red herring! 20 years later..a post mortem? What a mockery!
Here we go again; Goh tok kok and his acolyte conveniently blaming the ‘people’ for their own shortcomings;;;Town councils, one of the major bloodsuckers of Singapore society ,are, as everyone knows, the running-dogs of the PAPies. Every Singaporean has his own story to tell concerning the arrogance, the failings and the total lack of heart and compassion of the scoundrels who call themselves town councils. Go brothers and sisters relate your stories for the benefit of the people.
So the investment losses by the Town councils should be borne collectively by the residents now?
It’s quite simple, really. A local government has to be elected. Town councils in other countries are made up of people who have stood for election at a local government level, who have had to put their ideas to the people and either be voted in or out.
A sense of disconnect. Absolutely. I didn’t vote for any members of my town council
a small nation and they took 20 years to arrive at that conclusion??? It confirmed he and his gang r useless blockheads!
We have been paying tax to town council every month, and what more does he want? Missing link will forever be there when they are unapologetic and unaccountable for the loss in minibond investment. Besides, we are told to be thankful to them for any mistakes made. So how to forge a close link relationship with TC? I find PAP people are always seen contradicting themselves when they are supposed to be helping this country with mounting jobless rate, poverty and influx of Tom,dick and harry from foreign land. GCT, please do not try to distract the citizens, we know where you came from and I can easily point out 1001 flaws in pap town.
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pls comment.
peace.
Can we really believe what SM Goh is saying? When he was PM, he said EVERY Singapore citizens should have a roof over our head, low cost public housing. And now? Look at HDB prices, they are exhorbitant and those condo like DPSS are nearly close to million.
#8,
while high HDB price (how is it set? market forces? who sets the Valuation ?)
may be welcomed by current leaseholders,
when the music stops, who is the one going to pay and pay the high price? young couple 1st time buyers? no choice queue and queue long time for new flats?
Still remember Woody saying every Singaporean should have a stock trading account.
residents >>> $$ Giro $$ >>> Town Councils
missing link found!
^.^
I feel that the town councils = company.
Hi pls allow me to ask #7,
That is just a technical error in the website server configuration.
Before they keep trumpeting that the hdb flats are being heavily subsidized for the singaporeans, when the pricing keeps going up and up all these years and when the people keep pressing for an answer, now MBT says “oh,now the pricings are according to market value????? what the fcuk you think is going on behind the people’s back? think singaporeans are all idiots? Liars and big liars all these crooks.
most residents have responsibly paid their dues to Town Councils, its now up to the TCs to maintain their precincts, no rusty railings, no leaking pipes, no mozzie breeding sites, no hoarding $$$.
why are we paying for so much to many people who cannot be trusted to do a decent job, & have responsibility “taichi” back?
all pay no say….
>.<
No link?
where was the link when the reserves were being lost in the stock markets?
did they come forward to tell the people? it took an NMP to ask the question. where are the other MPs? dare not ask !
aiyoyo
so commoners & town council disconnect for 20years???
yet fees never disconnect – keep UP UP UP leh!!!
why like that huh???
very sad story
aiyoyo
Their best link is to slap residents with high-handed punihsment for not being able to pay TC fee on due date. So much for being a caring govt.
The headlines shd read as The Missing Link Between Government And Citizens. Town councils or whatever can easily solve this problem by getting more appreciative FTs from China, India etc. True blue S’poreans can f**k off after serving NS, they complain too much, whine abt public transport frequencies, r can never satisfy their demands for perfection when these suckers have to pay for a 1st world governent with out of this world pay structure. They break bonds, break emotional ties, cut roots with this Switzerland of the East, totally unappreciative of their good lifes. No worries, they will only form half the populationin another 10 yrs time. So, let them whine and complain all they want, as long as the other half is not complaining, who cares. In the meantime, pay up on time and please do not expect any free lunches.
All those threatening Tatics doesn’t work for Singaporeans AnyMore!
‘Your HDB will become slam if you don’t vote for PAP”
“More Good Years!” “Swiss Standard of living 1999″
“Your pay penuts you get Monkey, so Durai is a Monkey?”
We need a more responsible Government who answer to its People, not the other way round!
by releasing this news, they set the stage for the “missing link”.
sad, i think they going to do something bad again.
missing link – sounds like putting some old fossils in place, more places for gov old guys to retire to, but no place for ordinary folks :(
#18David /////slap residents with high-handed punishments for not being able to pay TC fee on due date////;;;;Totally agree with you; just delay a few days and in a jiffy you will receive a warning letter; miss 2 or 3 payments and you will be threatened with legal action and a court date. And all over a measly few dollars .With tens of millions of the residents money in their reserves they act like the monies belong to them. Who gave you the right to invest millions and make such terrible loses? when are you going to make restitution? With their legendary high-handed treatment of residents and their merciless, unforgiving nature these crooks of the town councils are really the pits.
For the Govt sake, please tell them and make it very clear that …
… most grassroot leaders don’t have the respect of the residents of their community. They lack communication skills and view residents’ request as unnecessary burden. Others are invisible to the residents. How can they be community leaders? Community events organised by them are always attended by the same few people which are either family members or personal friends of grassroot leaders. < 3% of the zonal residents. What a joke!
So under the circumstances I've taken on the personal responsibility to deal directly with my TC on matters affecting my immediate surroundings. I've found this to be very effective and I encourage fellow heartlanders to try it. Just be professional and objective in your dealings. You'll be amaze how efffective it can be.
I would rather HDB take over everything and not let “town councils” run the towns. What’s the use of having town councils when their duties seem to be split across each other.
I’ve tried calling HDB to be directed to TCs before redirecting to HDBs again. I suppose a better approach would to be to have HDB branch offices take over the management of the entire estate
Doubt there is any difference amongst HDB, Town Councils and the Government, they are one family running the same business.
I consider this 20-year-long failure a blatant disconnect of the governing personalities with the their constituents, stakeholders and citizens of Singapore.
If this is not an example of sheer negligence and callous arrogance, of indifference and resting-on-past-laurels, and of simply drawing pays without doing much work except to tie it over year after year in the hope that no one will be the wiser.
Twenty years have wastefully gone by and we suddenly wake up to the horror that all this while (20 years of time), nobody has bothered to bring the matter to the attention of the Parliament, to the attention of those concerned, and to the conscience of the boastful heart that claims to be extraordinary, to need to be paid the world’s highest salary, and to feint infallibility all the time.
This is the result of non-accountability, non-transparency and non-responsibility which are so ingrained into the ruling ethos and mindset that they have become second nature to those who are already so habitually numbed and honestly shameless that the admittance of any wrong doing, failure or negligence of responsibility would be something out of this world.
The time must come for the people, the stakeholders, the citizens to insist on accountability, on transparency in all dealings (no cover-ups under the guise of secrecy to protect national interests), and on total responsibility for all wrong doings, failures and negligence, however minor or at whatever level of occurrence.
The top leaders must not be allowed to be cushioned and/or protected by their powerless subordinates as scapegoats to take to rap on their behalf, as can be clearly seen in the aftermath of the Mas Selamat’s easy limping escape, as can be seen in the 14 years on neglect by not putting to good use certain chalets held under their charge, as can be seen in the town councils gambling away with people’s conservancy fees in the sinking funds, and as can be seen in this particular case of town councils’ 20-year neglect and failure to accomplish what they were set out to achieve.
There are definitely many more incidents of sheer negligence, irresponsible actions and wrong doings. We need only to dig them up one by one. In time to come, accounts have to be cleared and conscience must be brought to light one way or another.
For a start, the town councils should be closed down and the people who have been running them brought to task for this blatant failure. A few years in prison would be a good wake-up call to those free-loaders who have totally shirked their primary objective and responsibility in running the town councils.
Well, when leaders failed to inspire, when the people lose their trusts of the Leadership, there can never be bond between both.
But, it is vicious and ominous when the Citizenry becomes suspicious of the ability, integrity and propriety of their leaders.
This Local Regime has started with flying colours initially and many citizens paid obeisance, respect and even reverrence to the few top men.
How slowly and steadily in the last two decades or so, the people have been throwing brickbats and curses at the Leadership, seemed not to bother the Leaders at all. They seemed so at ease with their consciences despite so many years of widespread disenchantments from the ground and this is worrying as it indicates the Leadership is unconcerned with the plights of the People. And the way they remunerate themselves go to show their only concern is their pockets and power. And it is not as though the Leaders are not awared of the ground sentiments.
How will this relationships between the Citizenry and the Leaders pan out ?
patriot
#25 Disgusted Citizen
I cannot agree with you more.
You have put it very nicely.
Why have Town Councils & the CDCs ? We are less than 5millions but have 5 mayors. New York has only one, an elected one to boot and what is New York’s population ?
Anyway, we are unique.
Yes, I also sense something is in the works. GCT’s comments is a prelude to another ABC ( Authority/Board/Council).
SM Goh must be given credit for being spot on in his evaluation on this aspect of nation building.
How come the govt needed 20 years to come to this conclusion? If progressive reviews were made, say at 5 years intervals, things would definitely be in a better state today.
This review actually cost us $16mil.
The Government is shooting at its own feet…..
If there is a missing link between the Town Councils and Residents, let alone mentioning the link between the Government and its People!
The management staff of respective Town Councils (TC) should try to get closer to the HDB residents by visits, dialogues, activities, campaigns, and to make their roles and functions felt and more importantly understood by residents and their family members. They can do many things on their own efforts/programs to promote belongingness without waiting for say the MP to be available to officiate. MPs are busy. At present residents/citizens opine that TCs exist merely to collect fees and to enforce regulations. Let’s be fair to the TCs. They are doing quite a job in a changing and demanding environment.
Look at his $million smiling face!
I do not recall we were asked to get involved in the operation of our TC before. After some TC investment lost in LB been exposed, the reputation of our TC is questionable.
If you now asking residents to board the ship, I think not many people will answer the call.
Remember lately there is a suggestion to rate our TC initiated by Mr Ma BT. I was surprised and delighted that we are given a chance to rate how efficient our TC is. But later the day a MP clarified that this survey has nothing to do with the efficiency of the TC but how the people in that constituency work together and keep the envoronment clean. I am very dissapointed in the way people being forced to bare the results by the TC.
This is just to another ‘Singaporeans shunning dirty jobs’ statement.
Despite yet another ‘profound vision’ from one of our leaders, our life still goes on, the sun still rises, some people will strike TOTO, the horse still runs, 4D outlets still open, the costs of living still go up, some people still get evicted from HDBs, cars get repossessed, some people still get retrenched, some people work like dogss and still not enough to make ends meet while some people still receive millions for lips service, some people wants to retire early, some people think retirement will kill them..etc.
So what if really got missing link? What is the percentage of residents really care? Do we have the ‘gracious’ element in our ‘unique’ culture?
Again, I foresee few months later with some ‘initiatives’ to boost the links, some surveys will show how successful these initiatives are.
All BS.
Some say that Town Councils were introduced as a political tool.
Before its introduction, people living opposition wards benefited from the state’s central management of housing facilities and environs.
TCs were introduced to give the Men-In-White an extra advantage. Since the opposition has much lesser resources, they were naturally expected to do worse compared to those of the huge party. The introduction of TC binds the opposition members to town council duties so their focus would be less nation centric.
Nevertheless, opposition wards like Hougang and Potong Pasir have done extremely well despite their lack of resources.
Alas, with the billions of dollars lost by the Town Councils in the mini-bonds saga, the rest of the MIW town councils were also implicated by association.
Their golden goose has turned into an albatross round their neck.
Hence, Goh’s comments.
#9 Music Chair – Those buying exhorbitant priced flats will end up with NOTHING to withdraw from their CPF when they retire. Primarily raising CPF minimum sum and high prices of public housing is to trap your retirement funds. Everyone of us should save for our retirement, as we cant never count on that CPF. When they lose money, they just keep raising prices of commodities such as HDB, ERPs, Electricity blah blah.
Question: Government had withdrawn all pension schemes of all sort and told everyone to look to CPF for retirement. And why are they ON PENSIONS when they have million dollars of pay? We have so many ministers.. woah….
I think they should stop this pension scheme for ministers! Save us millions!!!
town councils should not be just a place to improve living environment. the town council must be a focal point to connect people living in that community.
the failure of the town council is in its inability to connect with people and people with people to create a living and vibrant community.
our town council, like many other programs and institutions, are just political facade.
Town councils, MPs and residents are closely linked. When almost all MPs enter parliament by GRC system, the MP is out of touch with the members of his constituency.
I have never seen my MP doing walk-about..
Get rid of the GRC system and let the MPs work the ground before they get elected to represent the constituents. Most current PAP MPs are out-of-touch and their performance is very mediocre.
Sometime is not because of Money but what you believe!
See Obama, do he want to be president because of only Power & Money but America values, hope and dream! Whereby all man are created equals!
Singapore Gov is all about Money and yet they can’t find sucessor to the Millions dollar Job. What an Joke!
Even RC also can’t touch its people don’t talk about town council!
I think all town councils will revert back to the authority of HDB and they are going to make the Resident Committee (RC) the area estate management committee to be responsible for the area estate status of upkeeping and cleanliness and upgrading. HDB only provides the resources , funding and manpower. MP may have to give up their advisory or chairman role in the town council management (Elected Opposition MPs will lose their only tangible foothold on their constituency). PAP will unscrupulously make their MPs advisors to all these RC cum Estate Managemnet committees. The RCcumEMCs report to their MPs who report to Ministers for National Development for resources, contractors and funding of upgrading. HDB will now have controlled of all sinking funds do not have to provide a huge provision and chanelled the extract funds for other uses.
Do you all notice that for every 10 to 15 blocks of flats there is an RC , so RCs are a very good existing mechanisms to establish this link between town councils and the residents if given the expanded role. In the end, as long as PAPs are in government , they can easily establish control over all constituencies whether the constituency is under their MPs or not. Their defeated candidates shall become the advisors to this RC cum EMCs.
GCT has always been the first person to sound some good reasonings to the public for things that they are planning to lauch. He is always a soft launcher.
to put it bluntly..the entire government is out of touch with the people long time ago..not just the town councils!
35) Town councils, PAP MPs and GRC system on June 28th, 2009 8.55 pm
[ Town councils, MPs and residents are closely linked. When almost all MPs enter parliament by GRC system, the MP is out of touch with the members of his constituency. ]
Though you have a VERY STRONG and VALID concern there,
the Majority Consciously Knowingly Decidedly made their decision which should remain the same if not increase in number in the next round.
sometimes, i feel like interviewing singaporeans on video why they are what they are.
I actually asked 2 friends of mine recently and I was really shocked and disturbed and disappointed, discouraged about their mentality. Almost hopeless case. All local uni grads from JC background and study very well ones.
Yeah I agree! The Town Councils are heartless people who charge residents money, and for what? I have a few suggestions, so that we don’t need to pay the stupid SC/CC Charges.
1. Town Council people so cruel sia. They should work for free! Monday to Friday, 8-5 only what!
2. The company that installs the playground equipment and maintains them, also so heartless! They should do it for free!
3. The people who sweep the HDB void decks, common areas and clean the lifts every morning, they should do it for free!
4. I can’t stand the people who plant and prune the trees and shrubs around the HDB estates. Why charge money? They should do it for free!
5. We should all vote the Opposition into power! Then they can use our reserves and make everything free!
Yeah! Everything should be made free. Why should any of us pay for anything? We should all work for free too!
Goh tong tong. Please go to chiam see tong estate to look for your missing link! Or it is because you sight is being obstructed by the stacks and stacks of cash in front of you that you can’t see anymore?
Maybe it would help by bringing some of these cash back to the Singapore people. Yah?! Thanks
Must it take 20 years to realise a major error with
the organisational set up of town councils! It
shouldn’t be structured in that manner in the first
place
Town Councilllors has to be elected to office and
be accountable to the local residents.
In fact this should also applies to the office of the
Mayors. All such appointment system must be
done away for good!
43) XGGX on June 28th, 2009 11.45 pm
I think you mistaken that people disagree to pay and pay the S&CC. They are more concerned about the huge reserves in the fund and how much of that is spent on HDB dwellers aka leaseholders (people who hold a lease) and how its invested or was invested. People more than understand the need to pay s&CC. Their concern is the amount they pay and the amount kept in the fund.
There are many things can improve HDB dwellers lives using some of the S&CC held in the fund.
[i]SM Goh said:
I would not say that the direct link has been forged yet between residents and the Town Councils. But Town Councils have been successful in getting the grassroots leaders to understand the linkage between what Town Councils can do and what the people must do.
Mr Lim Boon Heng concurred, saying, “We have not yet imbued the sense of personal and collective responsibility in the residents.”[/i]
you TWO
yes you 2 ministers
what are you mubblin about forgin?
you haven’t even tell your consitunes
how much were lost in the dbs investment lehman brothers fiasco
you still have the cheek to sink songs?
beside robbin the citizens in broad daylight?
PAP, please stop telling us you’re listening. We know you shut your ears every time the truth is told.
PAP, please stop telling us you care. We know you close your heart every time we show you the reality.
PAP, please stop telling us you’re opening up. We know you clench your fist every time we really expose you.
Missing link? Missing manners more likely. Until town council officials and in fact, all civil servants, as well as those elected to office, believe that they are there to serve the people, this arrogance on their part will continue.
“But Town Councils have been successful in getting the grassroots leaders to understand the linkage between what Town Councils can do and what the people must do.”
So what if the grassroots leaders understand the linkage? Did they do anything about it? Did they build a bridge with this understanding or did they form a filter system? If grassroots leaders are supposed to be the bridge and after all these years, there is a missing link, can we conclude that grassroots leaders are redundant in this aspect? How then should TC and residents connect?
Anyway, did anyone spot this, i.e. Is there any difference if the statement has been changed to “… what Town Councils MUST do and what the people CAN do.”