Category: Politik

(Press Release) WP Town Councillors Acted In Good Faith And Best Interests Of Residents, Will Contest Lawsuit

WP TOWN COUNCILLORS ACTED IN GOOD FAITH AND BEST INTERESTS OF RESIDENTS, WILL CONTEST LAWSUIT

1. We confirm that we have received the Statement of Claim filed by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council against us individually.

1. We confirm that we have received the Statement of Claim filed by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council against us individually.

2. We have engaged M/s Tan Rajah and Cheah to defend the claim for the 1st to 5th Defendants.

3. In the suit against us, amongst other things, it is alleged that:

(a) We have acted in breach of our fiduciary duties and duties of care and skill owed to AHTC.

(b) We set up a faulty system which allowed the appointment of FMSS and made it possible for FMSS and/or their officers to benefit themselves.

(c) We entered into contracts with architects in breach of duties owed to AHTC.

4. Our reply to all these allegations is NO.

5. We are taking legal advice and will contest the lawsuit and lay out our case vigorously in court.

6. We wish to make the following points:

(a) Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim have been asked to give an account of profits made from the appointment of FMSS or pay damages not less than $1.25 million. We have not benefitted a single cent.

(b) Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh have been asked to pay damages of $2.8 million for the wrongful appointment of architects.

(c) The WP MPs have acted in good faith and in the best interests of the Town Council and our residents.

(d) In the course of these proceedings, we will be furnishing more information so that all concerned will be clearer on the issues and why we made the decisions and acted as we did.

Low Thia Khiang
Sylvia Lim
Pritam Singh

26 July 2017

Source: http://www.wp.sg/

July 26, 2017
SDP Urges President Tony Tan To Revoke Lucien Wong’s Appointment As AG

The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has refused to look into Dr Lee Wei Ling’s and Lee Hsien Yang’s allegations that PM Lee Hsien Loong had abused his powers and made false statements in Parliament.

In its reply to the SDP on 21 July 2017, the AGC said that it “does not undertake investigations into the matters alleged in the letter. The persons who are the subjects of any criminal offence alleged to have been committed may lodge a police report.”

This is a curious, if not altogether hypocritical, stance. The AGC recently indicated that it would “look into” Mr Li Shengwu’s private Facebook posting which criticised the judicial system even though there was no mention that anyone had made a police report against Mr Li.

Surely, if the AGC could “look into” private Facebook messages, it can look into the serious accusations of the abuse of power by the Prime Minister.

Also, in 1997, then AG Chan Sek Keong had investigated the matter of Mr Goh Chok Tong and other ministers entering polling stations on voting day even though they were clearly not authorised to do so.

As in the 1997 incident, the “persons who are the subjects” of the alleged offence are the people of Singapore. If AG Chan – despite his inane answer that Mr Goh and company had not committed an offence as they were inside the polling station and not waiting outside it – could investigate the incident, surely AG Lucien Wong can investigate the present matter.

The added problem, of course, is that AG Wong was the PM’s personal lawyer prior to his appointment. This crucial fact was not disclosed to the public at the time the appointment was made.

Given the situation, the SDP has written to President Tony Tan to revoke Mr Lucien Wong’s appointment. Under Section 22(1) of the Constitution, the President is empowered to do so.

Mr Lucien Wong was sworn in as AG on 16 January 2017. However, the fact that Mr Wong was the PM’s personal lawyer was revealed to the public only in June 2017. The President may not have been aware of this fact or its full implications.

The association of Mr Wong with PM Lee prior to his becoming the AG has created an acute conflict of interest which cannot be ignored. It is important that President Tan does the right thing in the interest of the people of Singapore and revoke Mr Lucien Wong’s appointment as AG.

Any further delay or refusal to act will cause even greater erosion of confidence in our public institutions.

Source: http://yoursdp.org

July 26, 2017
Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Takes Legal Action Against WP Town Councillors Over Past Payment

Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), which had appointed an independent panel to help recover improper payments, is taking several of its town councillors to court.

They include Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang; the town council’s chairman, Mr Pritam Singh; and its vice-chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim.

The Straits Times understands that the legal action was initiated as part of the work of a panel tasked with looking into improper payments made by AHTC.

Ms Lim confirmed that the three WP MPs were served with a statement of claim against them by AHTC on Tuesday (July 25) evening.

“We will respond further shortly, after we have studied the claim,” she told ST.

The independent panel has the power to commence legal action on behalf of the town council for overpayments and payments without proper certification of work being done, among others. This can include mediation, arbitration and other court proceedings.

The panel’s other powers include making demands and coming to settlements on behalf of AHTC.

The Housing Board had asked AHTC to appoint a third party to recover the improper payments made from town council funds.

The independent panel appointed in February is chaired by senior counsel Philip Jeyaretnam, and comprises senior counsel N. Sreenivasan and KPMG managing partner Ong Pang Thye.

A pre-trial conference date of Aug 31 has been listed.

Besides this case, AHTC also filed another writ of summons in the High Court against FMSS last Friday.

This was in relation to an arbitration case over a financial dispute emerging from the lapses at the town council.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

July 26, 2017
6 Reasons Why Fandi Ahmad Should Not Run For Presidency

Halimah Yacob, Salleh Marican and Farid Khan – three names that have not inspired confidence in their race to the Istana. Singaporeans are getting desperate to the point of encouraging presidential hopeful, Dr Tan Cheng Bock to become Malay. And then there’s Singapore’s favourite footballing son, Fandi Ahmad – a popular choice, even though we don’t see him qualifying as a candidate.

Will Fandi make a good President?

Here are 6 reasons why Fandi Ahmad should totally not become President:

1. He is not educated. He was from a vocational school and has never graduated from a university like many of our very elite millionaire Ministers. Even though he became rich from playing football and his business interests, he is still not considered elite like our Ministers.

2. Fandi doesn’t have the look of a President. He doesn’t have a back comb, and wear large glasses like our current President who is very Presidential and charming. When Tony Tan speaks, the room is quiet (because people fall asleep). Compare that to Fandi. Wherever he turns up, people make a lot of noise and mob him. How very un-presidential. Who would support Fandi?

3. He is too handsome. The only President that was handsome was the late President Yusof Ishak. He will make all the men jealous. They will ban their wives from going to Istana open houses and National Day parades. We don’t want that too happen do we?

4. Fandi is a sporting legend and national icon. How many sporting icons have served in public office? Sporting icons contribute back to the country through their grassroots work. Don’t meddle in the work of the elite leaders and the natural aristocrats of our land.

5. For a prospective Malay President, he has too many friends from other races to be called truly Malay.

6. Lastly, Fandi Ahmad is too humble. His humility is the stuff of legend, just like the man himself. Presidents cannot be too humble because they need to keep the political elites and natural aristocrats in check.

There you have it, 6 reasons why abang Fandi shouldn’t run for Presidency. We totally don’t want a down-to-earth, humble, handsome and capable President who is Malay.

Convinced yet?

Rilek1Corner

Disclaimer: We would totally vote abang Fandi if he runs for Presidency. Totally. We know Singaporeans would too.

July 25, 2017
Commentary: I’m Indian Muslim And That Defines My Trail Of Thoughts

The upcoming PE has definitely once again throw the spotlight on Malays and Indian Muslims. In Singapore context, Indian Muslims have always been the sandwich race. We are sandwich between our Malay living lifestyle and our identity. Mendaki double standard is not helping in this matter.

Malay and Muslim are used interchangeably in Singapore context as and when they feel the need for it (Senang cakap ikut suka hati mak bapak dorang lah).

I give you a true point in case. Most of my Indian Muslims relatives contributed to both Mendaki and Sinda. When their children applied for the bursary or financial assistance, the favorite quote would be ‘sorry, Mendaki are for Malays. You can try applying to Sinda.”

But lo and behold, when any of this INDIAN MUSLIMS did well, suddenly they will be invited to Mendaki for whatever not ceremony to pose for pictures with you know who and claim their success under MENDAKI MALAY / MUSLIM banner. And Sinda never does that before. It’s very confusing tau for us! it leads to our own IDENTITY CRISIS…..Sad right?…..

This has always been our bone of contentions and I don’t think much has changed since.

As a Mendaki spokesman had declared and confirmed this biases “Malay-Muslim self-help group Yayasan Mendaki has a set of criteria for its financial assistance schemes for students administered on behalf of the Government. Among other things, the recipients “must be of Malay descent” as stated in their identity cards. It spells out a list of what it considers to be “Malay descent”, and this includes 22 ethnicities including Acehnese, Javanese, Boyanese, Sumatran, Sundanese, and Bugis. Students with “double-barrelled” race are eligible if the first race is listed on the identity cards as Malay, said a Mendaki spokesman. For example, a student who is Malay-Arab would qualify for the schemes but an Arab-Malay student would not, he added.”

CONFUSED HOR!

P.S – My daughter did not get any financial help from Mendaki after finding out all the stringent rules attached to it. It works out to something like ‘I scratch your back and you have to scratch more of mine’. However, when she did well, she was invited to attend the Mendaki ceremony, giving the impression that she owes her success to Mendaki.

WHATEVER!

Source: Zarina Jaffar

July 25, 2017