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Tag: Charles Chong

  • Charles Chong: Handover of Punggol East Accounts From WP ‘On Track’

    Charles Chong: Handover of Punggol East Accounts From WP ‘On Track’

    The handover of Punggol East Single-Member Constituency’s accounts from the Workers’ Party (WP)-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) to Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council has been progressing, and both parties are eager to “move on”, said Punggol East Member of Parliament Charles Chong on Wednesday (Oct 7).

    The handover is on track to be completed before Dec 1, which is the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) deadline, he said.

    By then, Punggol East will be managed by the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council.

    “I think both sides are aiming for a good settlement so that we can move on. I don’t think it is in their interest — neither is it in ours — to drag this on. And it’s definitely not in the interest of the residents,” said Mr Chong, adding that he will request for the MND to restore its grants after getting a “clean set of accounts”.

    The MND has withheld two years of Government grants, totaling about S$14 million, from the former Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council, saying it has no guarantee the money would be used properly.

    During the General Election campaigning, the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the WP had disputed the estate’s financial position following the 2013 by-election, with the PAP claiming there was a surplus when Punggol East was handed over to WP, while WP claimed there was a deficit.

    To facilitate the handover, the AHTC has engaged an external auditor to audit Punggol East’s accounts from Apr 1. “Too many figures were thrown back and forth during the election,” said Mr Chong, who hopes the experts can reach an amiable conclusion promptly.

    “Everybody gave different snapshots of the same account. Everybody can more or less justify what they say, depending on the point in time when the thing happened. I suppose during election everybody sort of tries to use it to their advantage, (the) result of which causes more confusion than clarity.

    “Now that election is over … let the experts work it out, and see how it goes,” he said. “What happened in the past, I’m really not interested. I am just interested in what is due back to us.”

    Parties will meet later this week for an update. In the General Election last month, Mr Chong defeated the WP’s candidate and incumbent Lee Li Lian to win Punggol East back for the People’s Action Party.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Charles Chong To Contest Punggol East SMC For PAP

    Charles Chong To Contest Punggol East SMC For PAP

    The People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Charles Chong will be contesting in Punggol East SMC in the upcoming General Election. The party made the announcement in a press release this morning (Aug 27).

    The veteran politician was first elected to Parliament in 1988 and has served six terms as an MP. He was also chairman of Pasir Ris and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Councils from 1997 to 2006. He had managed parts of Punggol East when he was an MP in Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency from 2001 to 2011. He was then fielded in Joo Chiat SMC during the 2011 GE, where he narrowly defeated Workers’ Party’s Yee Jenn Jong.

    Joo Chiat SMC has now been taken into Marine Parade GRC following the 2015 electoral boundaries review.

    Mr Chong held a meet-the-people session (MPS) in the Punggol East ward earlier this month. He’d said then: “The first thing is to make sure, if we are in charge of this area, that the town council accounts are in order, so we can do the work that we need to do and perhaps also get the Government to restore its grants. Now, it is holding back the grants because the accounts are not right.”

    “I know that when we handed over this section, it was in relatively good shape. So, now we’re not quite sure whether the money used here has been diverted somewhere to help out maybe in Hougang or in Aljunied,” he added.

    The Punggol East seat is currently held by the Workers’ Party’s Lee Li Lian, who won the 2013 by-election with 54.5 per cent of the vote.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com