Rilek1Corner

Tag: Singapore democratic Party

  • Damanhuri Abas: Lee Family Feud Throws Up Questions Over The State Of Democracy And Power In Singapore

    Damanhuri Abas: Lee Family Feud Throws Up Questions Over The State Of Democracy And Power In Singapore

    The revelation from the public statement released by both Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling vindicated what most opposition parties had tirelessly expounded over the last few years. Some had gone to jail or faced severe fines for having the guts to speak the truth to power.

    There is something terribly wrong with our democracy when the ruling party abused the system to benefit and perpetuate their hold on power. Freedom of the press and election process are key essentials of democracy. Instead policies were driven to entrench their position advocating the virtue of one party rule and even ideas such as natural aristocracy became currency when it is clearly against the meritocratic principle we cherish as a nation. Transparency for a long while has gone down the drain of convenient excuses for safeguarding commercial interest when it is really about gross conflicts of interest. Cronyism and nepotism have taken over selections and appointments and not the best for the job based on merits, experience and integrity.

    The sad truth is that, over the years with almost absolute control on power with overwhelming majority in parliament, no one can stop them anymore and they can make any changes to policies or even the constitution any way they want. Thus the people’s only hope is for an intervention that comes from within to break the absolute control on information. The last straw being the constitutional amendments to the Elected Presidency and the further changes to remove any powers to the Elected President into the hands of non-elected presidential advisory committee.

    What just happened is the culmination of years of suppression that the government had full control of with no check and balance on them. Now the people must respond to this development by not ignoring and merely placing this as a family feud. That may have been the trigger but the statement raised much more profound and pertinent gross concerns on our democracy, abuse of power, conflicts of interest and undermining of public institutions.

    The people must know the truth.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

  • Damanhuri Abas: Singaporeans Need Truly Independent, Non-Partisan President

    Damanhuri Abas: Singaporeans Need Truly Independent, Non-Partisan President

    With this announcement from the Government, we Singaporeans would now state our expectations on the Malay President to be that we, Singaporeans of all races will be voting for in September.

    As spelled out in the raison d’être of having an Elected President, the position comes with critical Presidential powers of financial oversight for our vital billions of dollars of reserves. He or she is the safeguard and second key to our reserves. He or she must rigorously check the government to know how well or badly they managed the collective money of the people. This monies are invested and since the Government refused full transparency to disclose the truth of the state of our reserves in clear details, the President is the only hope of the people to hold the Government accountable on our behalf.

    Thus the President to be must be someone who has experiences managing in the real sense, multi-million dollar operations in a position of direct and primary responsibility. He or she is accountable for the positive outcome of the business or otherwise must be able to face the rigour of explaining any failures when it happens with all its consequences.

    A person with such capabilities most likely would only be someone who has run himself or herself, successful multi-million dollar setup with thousands of employees under his or her charge and care. Someone from the private sector would be ideal as the public sector immunes somewhat from the demanding scrutiny and consequential rigour.

    The honest question Singaporeans should now ask is, are there any such persons of capable experience and merit in the Malay community to be given that trust by the people? If there is such a person that emerged to contest, Singaporeans should make the right choice of electing that person instead of anyone from the Government rank and file from the Malay community which sadly do not have any experience given of the above scale of financial amount and responsibility as mentioned, working in the Government.

    Ultimately, the overwhelming evidence of late from rampant price and tax hikes on the people, and the sudden changes to the constitution to game the system, the people must be fully cognisant of the dangers of unchecked and uncontrolled Government going rogue. Thus the people all the more needs a truly Independent Elected President. And that will never come from someone who is a known Government man or woman who will tow the government line instead of being its very gatekeeper.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Abas

  • SDP: We Repeatedly Warned About UBS Investment

    SDP: We Repeatedly Warned About UBS Investment

     

    The recent announcement that the GIC stood to lose in excess of $5.6 billion comes as no surprise. The Swiss bank had been plagued with problems and the SDP had warned on at least five separate occasions against the GIC investing in it.

    1. As early as 2009, the SDP warned:

    “Either Dr Tony Tan (who was the GIC’s executive director then) knew about the developments and problems that UBS was facing and chose to ignore them, or he had no clue that trouble was brewing in and around the bank. Which is worse?” (link)

    2. We repeated the warning one month later:

    “The GIC put in US$10 billion into UBS which later announced a US$19 billion write-down. UBS admitted to helping to defraud the US Government and was made to pay substantial amounts in fines. Is this how our best and brightest in the Government practice due diligence?” (link)

    3. Dr Chee Soon Juan cautioned a third time that year:

    “The latest revelation is that Citi, UBS, Merrill and Barclays had all invested in the Bernie Madoff scam. Mr Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in corporate history and duped his investors to part with nearly US$50 billion of their money. In fact UBS is being sued in France by a wealth management company for its involvement in the Madoff madness.” (link)

    4. When UBS got into further financial trouble in 2010, the SDP again sounded the alarm:

    “But instead of learning from its mistakes, Mr Ng Kok Song (then GIC’s Chief Investment Officer) doubled down and said in 2009 he that he still had ‘confidence’ in the ‘long-term prospects’ of the investment. This confidence seems quite misguided.” (link)

    5. In 2011 during the Presidential Election, we raised the matter yet again:

    “Either (candidate) Dr Tony Tan knew about the developments and problems that UBS was facing and chose to proceed by putting money into it anyway, or he had no clue that trouble was brewing in and around the bank. Whichever it is, the incident does not back up Dr Tan’s boast that he is the experienced guardian with the ability to, in his words, see ‘the dark clouds over the horizon coming on.’” (link)

    These warnings, however, fell on deaf ears as the GIC continued to pour money into the troubled bank only to belatedly cut its losses 10 years later.

    The recklessness and incompetence of this government has resulted in a massive loss of billions of dollars of the people’s money. As Chairman of the GIC, PM Lee Hsien Loong cannot remain silent on this matter.

    A public inquiry is wholly appropriate and necessary at this juncture.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

  • Jufrie Mahmood: Malay Community Cannot Trust Masagos Zulkifli Anymore

    Jufrie Mahmood: Malay Community Cannot Trust Masagos Zulkifli Anymore

    Facebook post from SDP ex chairman Jufri Mahmood.
    (Translated from Malay in original post)

    I thought as a Muslim Minister, you would be more understanding of the aspirations of the Muslimahs in this issue.
    I thought you would give more hope and have more opportunities to convince the Government that this is a very important issue to the very community you are representing.
    I thought you are more devout than the colleagues and friends in your little group.
    Never would I have thought that you had a knife all along, and you stabbed us in the back.
    You are truly manipulative.
    How could you!

    KUSANGKA SEBAGAI SEORANG MENTERI BERAGAMA ISLAM KAU LEBIH MEMAHAMI ASPIRASI KAUM HAWA KITA DALAM ISU INI.
    KUSANGKA KAU AKAN MENCERAHKAN LAGI PELUANG UNTUK MEYAKINKAN PEMERINTAH TENTANG PENTINGNYA ISU INI KEPADA MASYARAKAT YANG KAU SEPATUTNYA MEWAKALI.
    KUSANGKA KAU LEBIH WARAK DARI RAKAN-RAKAN DALAM KELOMPOKMU.
    SEDIKIT TAK KU SANGKA KAU BAWA BERSAMAMU SEBILAH PISAU DAN MENIKAMKU DARI BELAKANG.
    KAU SUNGGUH UNSANGKARABLE.
    SAMPAI HATIMU!

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

  • Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood: Singapore Must Walk The Talk, Insist Israel Respect International Law

    Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood: Singapore Must Walk The Talk, Insist Israel Respect International Law

    LHL DOES NOT CARE AND IS NOT SENSITIVE TO THE FEELINGS OF A SIZEABLE SECTION OF OUR POPULATION.
    THIS IS HOW POTENT THE ISRAELI POISON HAS BEEN. THERE IS A WIDE AND DISTINCT DIVIDE BETWEEN MALAY MUSLIMS AND OTHER SINGAPOREANS ON HOW THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IS LOOKED AT.

    TO MANY IT IS PERFECTLY ALRIGHT TO CLOSE BOTH THEIR EYES TO THE LAND GRABS AND ATROCITIES PERPETRATED BY ISRAEL FOR THE PAST FIVE DECADES JUST BECAUSE THEY HAD SUPPOSEDLY HELPED US BUILD UP OUR ARMED FORCES.

    PAP LEADERS HAVE ALWAYS SAID THAT AS A SMALL STATE SINGAPORE MUST ALWAYS INSIST THAT COUNTRIES ALWAYS ABIDE BY THE RULE OF LAW.

    ISRAEL HAS DEFIED THIS PRINCIPLE ALL THE WAY. AND THE PAP IS OK WITH THAT. DOUBLE STANDARDS, NO?
    THEY TALK ABOUT BEING UNITED, THE IMPORTANCE OF UNITY AMONG THE RACES. HOW CAN THERE BE UNITY IF THEIR ATTITUDE IS SO MANIFESTLY DIVISIVE?

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood