The following is the press release from the Workers’ Party on the recent TCMR report by the Ministry of National Development.
I refer to Senior Minister of State Grace Fu’s response to my comment that opposition Town Councils which had never received either IUP, MUP or CIPC funding to improve and rejuvenate the estate would be in a disadvantaged position compared to PAP TCs.
She was quoted in today’s press report to have said that “criteria for HDB’s upgrading programmes are clear and not all PAP wards qualify too.” And that “upgraded estate also faces maintenance issue as covered walk-way, for example, could need more effort to maintain than a clean patch of grass”.
SMS Grace Foo is sidetracking the issue I raised and attempting to mislead Singaporeans to believing that the PAP government is fair to all Town Councils including those managed by opposition parties. Is she saying that upgrading programmes has no impact and implication on estate maintenance?
Upgrading programmes such as IUP and MUP do not just build additional facilities like covered walk-ways as she mentioned. The upgrading programme also include upgrading of common areas like re-screeding of common corridor and replacement of lift lobby tiles as well as upgrading of playgrounds etc. One will not expect to find missing or worn off screws, nor floor mat being ripped off in new playgrounds. If the staircase railing is replaced with stainless steel railing instead of the existing mild steel railing inherited from the HDB as part of the upgrading program, one will not expect the railing to become rusty and corroded to become a maintenance issue.
SMS Grace Foo also said that “not all PAP wards qualify for upgrading programme” and that “how much a town council gets from the government depends on the number and types of flat, not whether it is run by PAP or the opposition.” The funding she is referring to is SC/CC grants. What I am referring to in my statement is funding received by the PAP TCs via upgrading progamme.
I have filed questions for written answers in Parliament twice, one in November 2009 sitting and another in April 2010 sitting asking for the amount of funding each benefitting PAP Town Council received from the various upgrading programmes. The answers given were the number of precincts upgraded at each PAP TCs and the estimated cost of the upgrading per unit. I am puzzled by this.
It is time the Ministry of National Development let the public know how much additional funding each PAP TC has received through the various upgrading programmes funded by the national budget or has benefitted from the programme up to the financial year 2009 so that Singaporeans can have a clear idea of which PAP TC did not qualify for the upgrading program as mentioned by Grace Foo. The public should know how much additional funding is given to PAP TCs via the upgrading programs and hence can judge for themselves whether it could affect the outcome of town management.
On the issue of SCCC arrears where the opposition TCs had exceeded the criteria set by the MND on TCMR. I noted that although MND had issued a “guideline” on writing off of SCCC arrears in 2008. PAP TCs had written off SCCC arrears. When SCCC arrears are written off, it is incomes written off and it will affect the bottom line. PAP TCs can do it perhaps they have more surpluses and are in a better financial position due to additional funding received through upgrading program? This is also why some PAP TCs are then able to use their own TC funds to help residents to pay SCCC arrears to reduce the number of months in SCCC arrears by way of offering part time employment. However, the more serious question is whether this is fair to other residents who pay promptly.
I would suggest two more criteria for TCMR for MND’s consideration. They are funding either directly received or indirectly benefitted from government programmes to improve and upgrade common areas managed by town councils; and amount of SCCC arrears written off by town councils. Band 5 being for most funding and SCCC amount written off.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, when he was the Prime Minister once threatened voters not to vote for opposition candidates as opposition wards would become slum overtime. Both Potong Pasir and Hougang have not become slums today after more than a decade managed by opposition parties and the PAP must be rather disappointed with the outcome. The result of TCMR is a consolation prize to them.
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Picture not from WP press release.
The Workers’ Party website: http://wp.sg
Picture from Straits Times.
graceFOOL is no fool..just a blamin TOOL..when all the town councils lost the sinkin funds…no report was bein done..yet the 2 town councils that didn’t lost any sinkin fund is none other than poton pasir and hougang…
yet do you see this 2 MPs..pat each other backs for savin the peasants funds?
graceolebloominFOOL..if YOUR town council in dire straits..don’t you used the pasar malams rentals to offset the sinkin funds @ all? who controlled the pasar malams permits funds? don’t tell us its temasek expenses accounts AGAIN?
last but not least..would you be kind enough to explain why the pap controlled town councils needs aroun 50 or more chiefs to run 1 town councils? who is payin all this 50 managers their monhLEE slaries?
should have been prize not price…
good points !
What happened to the supposed economies of scale the PAP GRCs are supposed to enjoy over opposition SMCs?
If the difference between level 1 and level 5 is not significantly visible, then what’s the point of all these scorings?
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I would expect, with all the funds available to the PAP, its TCs would be head and shoulders above the Opposition TCs.
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I would also expect that those ranked level 1 would be spicky and spanky while those ranked level 5 would be the extreme opposite.
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Does anyone see such a vast difference between the two?
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Let us not make a mountain out of a molehill. Grade Fool is trying to fool Singaporeans with her foolish gradings.
What ever happened to mahboktan? as minister for national development. He seems out of the picture making grace the scapegoat.
I think this ‘study’ is a whole truckload of crap, parked beside a mountain of sh1t.
While I am glad to see most netizens recognize this fact, my concern is with the ‘majority’ who suck ‘truth’ from the mainstream media.
What a Fool… The last paragraph is very taunting. I like it.
Dear Mr Low, you said it well indeed. Just can’t wait to attend the WP rallies again….
“how much a town council gets from the government depends on the number and types of flat, not whether it is run by PAP or the opposition.” – Grace Fu June 2010
“All things being equal, we have always put the PAP wards first.” Mah Bow Tan 8 Oct 2009.
The junior minister has just contradicted the the minister. For the record, the PAP government practices pork barrel politics (despite it being unconstitutional) but chooses on selected occasions to deny it.
It is easy to compile evidence for instances like 13-year-old estates (e.g. in Toa Payoh) going ahead in the LUP of the estates older than 25 years old (e.g. in Potong Pasir and Hougang). These instances are WITHOUT merit and are not isolated. The estates are not even equal to be begin with.
For mismanaging national resources alone, Mah Bow Tan and Grace Fu should both be fired.
of late, it seems that the ruling party has been accused by the opposition of attempting to mislead people, either with statistics, graphs, surveys or statements. i’m worried if one day i’ll really get misled.
should i continue to read the Straits Times?
Another brilliant rebuttal by WP.
PAP can go suck the collective asses of us Singaporeans.
Such letters/information should reach the masses, the shitty times will not publish this. The reach of the alternate media(internet) is limited. We need to make sure that this letter gets to every resident in all the TCs for them to decide. If it is in four language than the better. But the question is how? Anyone has ideas.
‘I have filed questions for written answers in Parliament twice … asking for the amount of funding each benefitting PAP Town Council received from the various upgrading programmes.’
I think Mr Low’s sentence is too long for Grace to understand. Mr Low should try to speak in short simple sentences, in case it is too much for Grace’s mind to handle. After all, she is not a big time minister, she is just an SMS. and SMS needs to be kept short and sweet.
Mr Low should just use simple words, like “tell me, from 1990 to 2010, all the different funds that this constituency received. and that constituency. and the other constituency. all funds. i don’t care what funds. jambun funds is fine too. you show me yours. and i’ll show you mine. and i’ll ask my friend in potong pasir show you his. i dare you.”
Like that, even an SMS cannot claim she doesn’t understand the sentence.
Dear Mr. Low, no need to take on a clown out to please the COURT where her MASTERS are watching.Stay FOCUS on next GE.There is sufficient ammo to sink them if properly planned.More CLOWNS will be showing their ANTICS whilst the Masters with their mistakes glaring at them remain SILENT.
The PEOPLE are no longer the SHEEP but LIONS and the PAP LIONS leading a flock of SHEEP as claim by GCT are no better than WOLVES as in Little Red Riding Hood,picking on the OLD and the CHILDREN.
Low Tk is a very intelligent opposition and he has managed to come thus far is a quite a feat. His rebuttal is quite solid and he seems to know what he is doing.
I am glad that the opposition fight back on this issue. This will keep the public aware of all the dirty chicanery that is been used by the incumbent party against the opposition to hold unto power.
In the past this method works well for the PAP because the population consist mainly of low to averagely educated people who finds complicated issue hard to understand. With the new breed of educated people this could really backfire and they could boot themselves out.
During this coming general election, there will be a lot of people who will be using the Internet to listen to alternative news and that is where the PAP will really see their party slumped.
I think mah will retire soon. Nowadays Grace appear more often on media. A Glc Ceo post waiting for mah.
Contrary to popular myth, MOST Singaporeans ARE aware of our blatantly corrupt administration. The problem is not awareness. The problem is some fractions choose to ass-lick, some choose to support due to fear and jobs and some choose to retaliate and some choose to be just plain stupid.
zzz dun bother
All these ‘survey and rankings’thingies initiated by this Grace Ful are all rubbish and waste of the taxpayer’s money.
At the end of the day, this type of ‘surveys and rankings’ will not lead us anywhere and our estates will not be any cleaner as a result of these ‘surveys and rankings’
All these are ‘wayany’ shows to distract
Singaporeans from the real issues of the day, especially the one where the TC have lost $millions of the residents’
monthly contributions towards the maintenance of the estates itself!!
Why is she so ‘bent-on’ to continue to have these type of ‘surveys and rankings’? knowing damn well that they will not serve any real purposes in the end??
Come on!! get REAL!! All the Town Councils are duty-bound to upkeep their
respective estates in cleaniness and safty
etc. to the satisfaction of the residents,
be they PAPs or the Oppositions!!
The residents’DEMAND’ no less, cos they are paying good money every month without fail!!
When any residents who are late or default in the monthly S&SC payments,they are issued with lawyer’s letters!!
Cut out all these craps about rankings, and spend more time in keeping the estates clean and safe with the minimum
expenditure!!
The residents do not benefit one iota as a result of this stupid rankings.The residents will benefit if more time and efficient manpower are put to manage the estates as they are ought to be managed in the first instance!!
The residents don’t want to see politics
being dragged into their estates,rankings and whatnots!!
The residents want a job done and somebody has been paid to do it!!
So get on with the damn job!!!
Yes, they are using taxpayers’ money for their own benefits, to put up wayang shows like this one.
Whether it works or not, they have nothing to lose.
And guess what, many daft Singaporeans actually believe them!
That’s what I call “genius”!
All Singaporeans are taxpayers and everyone in any precint should be given equal treatment and benefits.
Marginalise the opposition wards will bring the MIW down very quickly.Let’s see.
1. Any case of failure of public institutional check-and-balance?
2. Has the Civil Service failed the citizens of Singapore?
Using public funds for upgrading or maintaining heartland estates that coincidentally happens to advance one political party’s agenda is UNACCEPTABLE.
NEXT STEP: Singaporeans need to ensure adequate checks-and-balances in the next Parliament.
The Pariah, http://www.singaporeenbloc.blogspot.com
Dear Mr Low and Mr Chiam. Please do this.
Show Singapore what you do with the fees collected every month and the sinking funds and ask the PAP wards to do the same, Singaporean will then judge for themselves.Better still show us how those who cannot pay for the SSC fees are helped through the instalments plans and whether anyone has been taken to court.
that is why Transparency is So important when it comes to no one’s money but the People’s hard earned money.
But if only the majority has woken up already. sigh….
grace should see the lecturer for accounting lessons.
mai kai tan should see the dog, for training on how to bark.
lim suay suay have to see woodbridge doc for frequent lies and out of this world speeches.
as for the rest, please go harikiri.
Grace you are scared of releasing the additional funds to other PAP TC This report is biased and untrue AGAINST opposition
I am sick of the ministers and pap MPs when they open their mouth,really sick of them . Can’t wait to vote them out.No eye see !!
“Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, when he was the Prime Minister once threatened voters not to vote for opposition candidates as opposition wards would become slum overtime.” LTK, above.
“how much a town council gets from the government depends on the number and types of flat, not whether it is run by PAP or the opposition.” – Grace Fu June 2010
“All things being equal, we have always put the PAP wards first.” Mah Bow Tan 8 Oct 2009.
The 3 ministers keep contradicting each other. For the price that we are paying for them, why can’t they get their act together? And if they have to disagree with each other can’t it be done in private instead of in the full glare of the public? The 3 of you should meet in a kopitiam, order a few rounds of Tigers, discuss this issue, and come up with a united stand to confront LTK. Right now your combined stand is full of holes and leaking like a sieve! No wonder LTK and the netizens are laughing straight up your faces at will.
Why should we be listening 2 this “Bloody Fool” -who is n’t any Graceful at all -full of shiit
Every TC must also be transparent of each MP total income including MP big allowances, directorship, chairmanship and all other ships they are holding.
cham liao… mah bow tan kenna embarassed by grace fu’s contradiction, simply reveals that they say whatever it is convenient for them to say, to achieve their ulterior motive.
should we, as a people, as them to clarify clearly, which minister has misled us? was mah’s statement the misleading one, or grace fu’s? can we accept grace fu as the next hdb minister after mah fails to get relected, if she is found to be misleading?
Psychologically speaking, those that willing want be rebellious would tend to be messy.
I say, don’t try to conform to the rules PAP is trying to impose. If they say its a messy estate, so be it. Live and let be. The opposition can defend their ward on ideals like a strong social cohesion unit, happiness, belonging and a sense of freedom of choice to make life better for one’s self as well as the people in the estate.
These are issues straight from the heart that are of a higher order and purer than statistical analysis or money. Don’t bother to play the game if its rigged. Make your game. Show your perceptions.
The more the pap tries to glorify its own town councils and thumb down the opposition through this ranking exercise, the more pissed off I get. For a party that was once highly regarded, it’s cheap and low of them to have to resort to such tactics to undermine the opposition.
“Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, when he was the Prime Minister once threatened voters not to vote for opposition candidates as opposition wards would become slum overtime. Both Potong Pasir and Hougang have not become slums today after more than a decade managed by opposition parties and the PAP must be rather disappointed with the outcome. The result of TCMR is a consolation prize to them.”
Excellent ending. Thank you Mr. Low. Come to Jurong and we will vote for you.
Grace Fool is indeed a NITWIT !
She is nothing but a Pee&PEE boot-licker and butt kisser.
I thought women in politics will make a difference. I guess not.
They are the same, each protecting their rice-bowl and a YES MAN !
The bottom-line is still Singapore needs a two-party political system so that everything is done above-board. We want to see a full justice system as spell out in the Singapore Constitution!
Singapore is our home!
the only way funds can be preferentially diverted to PAP wards
(as Mah says, PAP wards have priority, though his junior Grace Fu contradicts him and now we’re left wondering what is The Truth behind their Governing)
is to not mention about the funds and how they are allocated and whether the funds come from a common pool of tax money and whether it is dependent on voting pattern (which Mah insists is the case)
now that some bloke in MND has let the cat out of the bag, his career is done for
and they have to clean up this can of worms and push it all back in, and hope nobody will mention too much about preferential funding of common public funds any more
and it gets buried until next election
hi Buzz, for the record, her father is James Fu, the former press secretary for either LKY or GCT. Just wonder how many in the Cabinet are related in one way or another…
“lt is more a political ritual than an objective report” blasted MFA to a US report which rank Singapore lowly on human trafficking alongside Afganistan.
Pot calling kettle black. No need to wayang wayang.
@mfa
Pot calling kettle black.
What do you mean?
I am and I believe many are still wondering what happen to the last TCs losing away millions of the people’s monthly SC&C fees through their secret gambling activities, still no answer???
With politik wayang taking place on the National Stage in the Singapore Parliament, it has driven other more important issues from the spotlamp of public attention.
It has certainly taken the heat away from the security lapses in the SMRT, and on the security measures to be taken following the revelatiion that there was a J.I. plot discovered by the Indonesian police when they raided some terrorist cells in Jakarta.
Singaporean’s short lived attention is now diverted to these mundan issues performed to a planned script to draw heat from the Ministries that would have been linked to the SMRT security lapses.
This surely must be the characteristic LKY’s way of creating new situations that will divert attention, so as to later emerge as a ‘hero’.
Potong Pasir and Hougang do not get flooded.
The will of the almighty is known to all.
One thing is clear – Singaporeans have been fooled, long enough, by the papy elites and their cronies.
And it is also clear, we the citizens are holding the final trump card. By voting right, we will be able to get rid of papy trash, papy hubris, papy hypocrisy and papy greed.
Let’s all play our part – vote for the opposition, in the coming GE.
LTK should come to Jurong or just send someone will do. We’ll vote for you. My SCC fees have just been increased and yet the level of service is degrading. My neighbourhood now look like slums, unpainted for a very long time, the new LUP lifts keep breaking down and rusty handrails at the staircase. Just get someone to stand in at the election. The Jurong Residents will do the rest and get him in. No questions asked.
Another soap opera by the ruling party to confuse voters. I agreed with Low (WP) to include his suggested criteria in the report. Even if it’s included, it also difficult to compare apples with oranges?
hoosiers 16 June 2010 hi Buzz, for the record, her father is James Fu, the former press secretary for either LKY or GCT. Just wonder how many in the Cabinet are related in one way or another…
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Only in TOC can one get this gem of an info. Wong K S married one of LKY’s nieces. LKY doesn’t trust those outside the PAP family & the Establishment.
Grace Foo, will you be adding “flooding” to your list of items to be taken into consideration in the next political exercise?
What else do we know?
When LKY’s two sons were in the army, both were conferred the rank of Brigadier General. Maybe, both were equally, or almost equally, good.
If I am not mistaken, LSY, straight from the army, became the Chairman of Singtel and now the Chairman of F & N.
LKY’s daughter-in-law became the Managing Director of Singapore Technologies [what was she working as before this? Anyone?]; as the MD of Singapore Technologies, she was also the Deputy Chairman of the Economic Development Board; what were/are her qualifications, someone might ask?
If my recollections are any good, some American businessmen at the time made known their reservations about HC holding such a high position in EDB while helming a company that is competing at the global level; it’s about having insider or first-hand information that could be used to one’s advantage. But the counter, by EDB/government, to the American businessmen’s concerns is that there was no question of conflict of interest with regard to HC’s duality in these positions.
ST bought into an American company based apparently in the US and within about six months it went bust; how much loss did ST actually incur? Only ST or their auditors can say, with any accuracy.
From ST, HC became CEO of Temasek; and Temasek suffered huge losses.
And now we know Grace Fu was the daughter of James Fu, who was previously ….
WKS’s wife is one of LKY’s nieces?
No wonder a prominent American once said he would be very happy to be a member of the pap-clan; once out of the political scene you can still enjoy running a GLC as chairman/deputy-chairman/ceo or something lucrative.
All the goodies seem to be distributed within the clan.
We must have no fear in hiring exceptionally talented people who are related to the leaders. It would have been unfair and negligent to the nation if talents like Lee Hsien Loong, Ho Ching, Wong Kan Seng and Grace Fu were denied of taking up ministerial positions simply because they were related to Lee Kuan Yew. Given the choice, the MM would have preferred someone else to assume these positions, but as the cruel fact turned out, Singapore is just a small piece of land handicapped by severe shortage of talents. You start your run in the east and before sunset, you would have reached the west of the island! Had the nation insisted on ministers and senior civil servants who were unrelated to their superiors, Singapore would have been just another 3rd world country infested with mafia, drugs, corruption, soical unrest and poverty.