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AGO Finds Governance Lapses In WP-Run AHPETC

The financial affairs of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) will be in the spotlight in Parliament on Thursday (Feb 12), after the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) issued a report finding lapses in governance and compliance by the town council.

These lapses, detailed in the report issued today (Feb 9), include failing to transfer monies into sinking fund bank accounts as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules, and inadequately managing conflicts of interest when it came to procuring services for the Workers’ Party-run town council.

The Auditor-General also found that there was no proper system for monitoring service and conservancy charges arrears, and internal controls were poor, which could lead to wrong payments for goods and services. The town council also does not have a proper system for record management and accounting, which led to it being unable to provide relevant documents for audits. As such, its financial statements did not accurately reflect its state of affairs and transactions, the Auditor-General found.

“Unless the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC’s financial statements are accurate and reliable and that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed,” the report stated.

The Auditor-General was last year directed to conduct an audit of the AHPETC’s accounts for FY2012-13, after independent auditors said they were unable to express an opinion on the town council’s financial statements for the second consecutive year. The auditors, Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton, said they could not determine if items worth more than S$22 million were valid or accurate.

A copy of the Auditor-General’s report was submited to Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan last Friday (Feb 6). A copy was also given to AHPETC the next day.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Finance said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan will move a motion on the AGO report when Parliament sits on Thursday.

For the full report, click here.

Below are some examples of the lapses.

Lapses in management of sinking funds

– Under Town Councils Financial Rules, town councils must make the necessary transfers to sinking fund bank accounts within a month of the end of each financial year (FY) quarter. These funds are separately maintained for improvement and long-term maintenance of properties.

– For FY2012/13, AHPETC only transferred S$1.5 million to the sinking fund in Feb 2013. It transferred another S$2.74 million in Jan 2014, but this was still less that what was required under the rules. Following the AGO’s query, AHPETC transferred another S$1.2 million in June 2014.

Lapses in governance of related party transactions

– AHPETC’s key officers had ownership interests in two companies engaged by the town council for estate services — FM Solutions & Integrated Services (FMSI) and FM Solutions & Services (FMSS)

– FMSI’s sole proprietor is AHPETC’s secretary Danny Loh Chong Meng. He is also one of FMSS’ directors and shareholders, together with his wife AHPETC general manager How Weng Fan and deputy general managers Yeo Soon Fei and Johnson Lieow Chong Sern

– On two occasions for contracts worth S$5.2 million and S$20.7 million, no evidence was found to show that there were proper disclosures of the interests of the related parties, the conflicts of interest, and an assessment of safeguards, before AHPETC entered into agreements with FMSS.

Lapses in management of conservancy and service charge arrears

– AHPETC’s conservancy and service charges arrears report submitted to Ministry of National Development for March 2013 showed 4,379 units with arrears of three months or more. But its report submitted to its Finance and Investment Committee showed 17,502 units in arrears for three months or more as of March 31 2013.

Lapses in internal controls and procurement

– On one occasion, AHPETC awarded a contract amounting to S$88,346 without calling a tender. The cost later increased to S$101,641 due to changes in scope of work and this was only approved by the AHPETC chairman, although it should have been approved by the town council under the Town Councils Financial Rules

– Waivers of quotation for purchases were approved by AHPETC deputy general manager, but no documentation was provided to show that he was delegated the authority to do so

Inadequacies in record management and accounting system

– AHPETC could not find the accounting documents for April to July 2011, resulting in its auditor being unable to issue an audit opinion for the town council’s FY2011/12 financial statements

– AHPETC did not record lift upgrading programme expenses in the financial statements for the years in which the expenses were incurred. As a result, there were understatements of about S$240,000 and S$8.14 million in FY2010/11 and FY2011/12 respectively. There was also overstatement of S$8.38 million in FY2012/13.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 10, 2015
Sabah Christian Angry That Daughter Was Converted To Islam Without His Knowledge

PAPAR, Feb 8 — Sitting on the porch of his wooden stilt house, Sabahan rubber tapper Jilius Yapoo’s eyes welled up with tears when he recalled his shock earlier this week when he saw his 16-year-old daughter in a tudung (Muslim headscarf) for the first time.

The staunch Christian dusun said he had gone to his daughter’s hostel to take her home for the weekend when the teenager emerged garbed in the tudung, looking upset.

“She was wearing the tudung and showed it to me. I teared up and she looked at me and cried.

“She told me she had converted into Islam and could not back out now. I was absolutely speechless,” said Jilius, choking back tears.

The father of eight from the Kaiduan village in Kawang lodged a police report on Wednesday after being told by his relative that his daughter was seen in the Muslim headscarf at her school SMK Kinarut.

He said he had earlier tried to take the matter to the school’s Parents Teachers Association meeting but was allegedly rebuffed and told to calm down.

Jilius said he had also tried to see his daughter the day of the meeting, but was not able to.

“It was only two days later that I went to pick her up from school to take her home for the weekend when I got to see her, but she said she would not be coming home this week,” the distraught father lamented to Malay Mail Online when met at his home yesterday.

“She is only 16, underaged, and should not need to make a decision like this. Even if she had willingly declared the words (shahadah, the Islamic declaration of belief Allah and Muhammad), and wanted to convert, she and the school should have informed me,” said Jilius.

Malay Mail Online had on Thursday reported that authorities are investigating the alleged “Islamisation” of a Christian student in SMK Kinarut near here by the school hostel’s warden.

It is believed that the school’s former hostel warden had incited the conversion of the student with the recital of the shahadah, forcing her into embracing Islam despite being “underaged”.

According to the student’s mother, Jaina Yassin, her daughter had a lot of Muslim friends in school but never mentioned anything about changing her faith.

“We used to pray as a family with our pastor, who came to the house sometimes. When we heard she was wearing a headscarf and had converted, our hearts just sank.

“How can this happen?

“We have three other children studying in the same school and I fear this might happen to them as well,” she said, adding that the church pastor had suggested they consider transferring her out of the school.

The family, with Jilius as the sole breadwinner, earns a small income of up to RM350 a month.

The money is used to support the ten people living in their home, which is in the rural West coast of Sabah.

The village consists mostly of subsistence farmers and there is no telephone reception or television available, although there is electricity and running water.

“I sent her to school for her to learn and get an education. Not to be converted into another religion.

“As long as she is underaged and under my care, she cannot make this decision. When she reaches the age of consent, then it is up to her,” said Jilius.

Village safety and security committee chairman Michael Frederick said it was unusual for the school to allow a religious conversion without asking for the student’s parent’s permission.

“Usually they notify parents just to take their students out from school and a letter needs to be produced and signed by parents and acknowledged by the committee.

“We are not against freedom to choose religion but I hope the authorities will look into this and ensure it was carried out properly in the future, without ill motives from the school, and with parents consent.

“We cannot have students going to school one religion and coming out another,” said Michael.

Sabah police have said that the case has been referred to the state religious authorities for further action.

State Education Department director Datuk Jame Alip when contacted said that the matter is now in the hands of the police. He declined further comment.

Christian groups in Sabah have recently cried foul to alleged furtive attempts to convert Bumiputera followers of the faith to Islam.

In January 2014, a group of indigenous Sabahan villagers from the remote Pitas district were reportedly deceived into embracing Islam for RM100 by a Muslim welfare group.

Sabah Council of Churches as well as the Roman Catholic Church of Sabah had also complained officially to the Education Ministry last year of a covert ploy to convert under-aged Christian students at the residential Labuan Matriculation College to Islam.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

February 10, 2015
JAIS Compares Women To Houses, Asserts That Women Should Cover Aurat To Prevent Rape And Other Form Of Harassment

KUALA LUMPUR ― Muslim women should cover up their “aurat” to prevent rape and other forms of sexual harassment, Selangor’s Islamic authority said in its Friday sermon today.

The sermon, prepared by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and available to mosques statewide, also compared women who do not cover up to homes which are left unlocked, and therefore are liable to break-ins by robbers.

“The easiest comparison we can take is a house which was left by its residents who returned to their hometown. House A was left with its windows and doors properly locked, its fences secured with padlocks. Meanwhile, House B was left open and carelessly abandoned.

“Which house would robbers love and break into? Surely house B because it was exposed and made it easy for external elements to intrude. Therefore, that was a simple analogy for women who cover up their ‘aurat’,” said the sermon.

“Aurat” in Malay refers to “intimate body parts” that Muslims must cover with clothing; exposing these is considered sinful.

According to contemporary Muslim teachings, Muslim women’s “aurat” towards unrelated men is their whole body except their faces and both palms.

Friday prayers are attended almost exclusively by Muslim men in Malaysia.

Jais claimed covering up would help women to stop themselves from being harassed physically and mentally, in addition to preventing negative ills such as rape, illicit sex and incest.

The sermon also refuted claims that the Islamic practice of covering up suppresses individual rights, blaming so-called “enemies of Islam” for perpetuating the notion.

“Allah prohibits men and women from exposing their aurat not to restrict their freedom, but because Allah exalt and appreciate them. No man or woman are persecuted by covering their aurat, but exposing it means being cruel to themselves and destructing others,” it added.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

February 10, 2015
Prince Charles: Why Radicalised Muslims In UK Fail To Integrate?

The Prince of Wales has expressed his alarm at the number of young people in the UK being radicalised and queried why the British values are failing to be taken on board by children who grow up and are schooled in the UK.

Charles partly blamed the growing number of people joining extremist organisations on the attractions of danger and adventure, but said the “frightening part” was the role of the internet.

The interview with BBC Radio 2’s Sunday Hour was recorded before Sunday’s six-day tour to the Middle East, where Charles is due to hold talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

This week, Jordan pledged to ramp up military efforts against Islamic State (Isis) after one of its pilots, Muadh al-Kasasbeh, was captured in December and burned alive in a cage recently by the militant group.

On Sunday morning, Charles visited the Za’atari refugee camp, 30 minutes from the Syrian border, home to 85,000 people displaced by the civil war. He was accompanied by the UK’s development secretary, Justine Greening, who pledged £100m in aid to help feed, clothe and shelter civilians caught up in the conflict.

UK security services fear 400-600 people fighting for Isis and other jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq are British citizens. At least 30 of them, one as young as 17, are known to have died during several years of conflict.

Asked about radicalisation in Britain, Charles told Diane Louise Jordan, Sunday Hour’s presenter: “Well of course, this is one of the greatest worries, I think, and the extent [to] which this is happening is the alarming part.

“And particularly in a country like ours where, you know, the values we hold dear. You think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks.

“The frightening part is that people can be so radicalised either by contact with somebody else or through the internet … I can see I suppose to a certain extent, some aspect of this radicalisation is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age.”

In recent days, Clarence House has been under pressure to deal with claims made in an unauthorised biography of Charles by a US journalist, Catherine Mayer. The book described Charles’s court as so riven by infighting that it is known by insiders as “Wolf Hall”, after Hilary Mantel’s fictional portrayal of Thomas Cromwell’s devious machinations on behalf of King Henry VIII.

Regarded as an outspoken heir-apparent on a variety of subjects including architecture, the environment and alternative medicine, Charles’s latest foray into political issues of faith and integration raises further concern that he is likely to remain as vocal when he ascends the throne.

During the Radio 2 interview, Charles also suggested that should he become king he would still be sworn in as Defender of the (Anglican) Faith, following years of speculation the title could be changed to encompass all faiths. “I said I would rather be seen as ‘defender of faith’ all those years ago because … I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country,” he said. “And it always seems to me that while at the same time being defender of the faith you can also be protector of faiths. You have to come from your own Christian standpoint, you know, in the case I have defender of the faith and ensuring that other people’s faiths can also be practised.”

Charles added that he had “deep concerns” for churches in the Middle East and feared there would soon be very few Christians left in the region.

“It’s a most agonising situation but then I suppose we must remember that all around the world there is appalling persecution going on,” he said.. “I think the secret is we have to work harder to build bridges … despite the setbacks and despite the discouragement to try and build bridges and to show justice and kindness to people.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

February 10, 2015
Malaysian Interfaith Council Brands Distribution Of Free Qurans In Vernacular Language As Attempt To Propagate Islam

KUALA LUMPUR — An interfaith group today accused a project to distribute one million copies of the Quran of being a concerted effort to persuade non-Muslims to abandon their faith, and urged non-Muslims not to accept the translation of the Islamic holy text.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) also dismissed the project’s purported objective to remove misconceptions of Islam, and labelled it a disguised propagation of Islam and in “bad faith”.

“MCCBCHST is of the view that the intended distribution of the translated copies of the Quran to non-Muslims is obnoxious as a similar right is not given to non-Muslims,” the group said in a statement.

The group further said the Quran should not be distributed so freely as the copies might be disrespected, and some Muslims might find it blasphemous to see non-Muslims owning those translated copies of Quran.

“MCCBCHST therefore, advise Non-Muslims not to accept the translated copies of the Quran. The Non-Muslims have every right to protect their religion and to alert their children and members of their family of the advances made by Islamic Information and Services Foundation,” it said.

It also warned Muslims that propagation of religion by inducements or other pretexts may amount to an offence under Section 298A of the Penal Code.

On January 9, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad reportedly launched a project called “One Soul, One Quran”, organised by the Islamic Information and Services Foundation.

Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying that the one million copies of translations in Tamil, Chinese, English and Malay languages will be for public distribution, in order to combat allegedly misleading interpretations of Islam as a “cruel religion”.

MCCBCHST slammed the reasoning given by Dr Mahathir as nonsensical and misdirected, as non-Muslims have not carried out any acts of terrorism in the name of Islam and, therefore, are not confused.

“It is Muslims who are indulging in killing and condemnation of other religions and religionist. Therefore, the need is for Muslims to be educated on the true teachings of Islam and not the non-Muslims,” said the group.

The group also listed down several instances of efforts to convert non-Muslims, including the involvements of evangelical groups such as Hidayah Centre Foundation (HCF) and Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM), and federal and state religious authorities.

Racial and religious tensions have simmered for the past few years as Muslim groups accuse Christians of trying to convert Muslims with their insistence on referring to God as “Allah”, while Christian groups complain of Bumiputera Christians in Sabah being duped into embracing Islam.

Proselytisation of non-Islamic religions to Muslims is an offence in Malaysia, but not vice versa.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

February 10, 2015