Tag: Singapore

Sylvia Lim’s Open Letter To The Residents

Dear Residents,

There has been Parliamentary debate and many adverse media reports on the issue of Managing Agent contract of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC). I am writing to you to clarify any misconceptions that may have arisen. I also wish to update you on a few matters concerning the management of AHPETC.

Public Tenders for AHPETC Contracts

Has AHPETC given contracts to “friends”?

It has not.

The fact is that in 2012, public tenders were called and advertised in the Straits Times newspaper for the contracts for Managing Agent (MA) and Essential Maintenance and Services Unit (EMSU) services. In 2014 and 2015, public tenders were also called for the MA and EMSU contracts respectively. Anyone can submit a bid for a public tender. AHPETC does not and cannot reserve contracts for friends in a public tender.

A tender was not called for MA services only for the one year period from July 2011 to July 2012 when urgent taking over work was needed. The elected Members of Parliaments (MPs) decided to award the newly formed FM Solutions & Services Pte Ltd (FMSS), consisting primarily of managers and staff from the former Hougang Town Council, a one-year provisional contract to take over the initial management of the Town Council, without calling a public tender. This was in order to ensure a smooth takeover of town management in view of the short time on hand to do so and to avoid any disruption in services to the residents.

Not calling a public tender for an MA contract is allowed under Para 76 of the Town Councils Financial Rules. However, the Town Councillors did not award a standard three-year MA contract to FMSS at this point, as the Town Council intended to call for a public tender for MA services as soon as possible after takeover of town management has been completed and operations have been stabilised.

Managing Agent Rates & “Overpayment”

You may have seen and read reports that AHPETC “overpaid” FMSS by an estimated $1.6 million a year and therefore supposedly estimated as $6.4 million over four years.

To support this allegation a table showing 2014 Managing Agent (MA) rates of Town Councils was distributed during the parliamentary debate on 12 Feb 2015 and the Law Minister said that “FMSS charges the Town Council $14.92 for each commercial unit compared with between $4.80 and $6.65 for all other Town Councils.”, and that “FMSS charged the Town Council $7.43 for every residential unit. Others charge between $4.80 and $6.65”. He used these as the basis to derive at the above estimated overpayments, comparing FMSS’ rates with a “weighted average” of MA rates in other TCs in 2014.

We were puzzled by the MA rates used by the Minister and hence I filed questions in Parliament to ask the Minister for National Development for more information. On 5 March 2015, the Minister provided Parliament with the tables which I will reproduce here to clarify the matter.

Table 1 – MA Rates Per Residential Unit by Town Council (2011-2014)

Town Council	2011	2012	2013	2014
AHPE	$7.87**	$7.87**	$7.01	$7.43
Ang Mo Kio	$5.08	$5.08	$5.08	$5.33
Choa Chu Kang	$5.13	$5.13	$5.06*	$5.06
East Coast	$6.10	$6.20	$6.30	$5.10
Holland-Bukit Panjang	$5.95	$6.10	$6.20	$6.30
Jurong	$5.35	$5.45	$5.55	$5.55
Marine Parade	$5.13	$5.13	$5.13	$5.13
Moulmein-Kallang	$6.63	$6.63	$6.63	$5.80
Nee Soon	$6.05	$6.20	$6.30	$6.40
Pasir Ris-Punggol	$6.11	$6.20	$6.25	$5.50
Potong Pasir	$6.63	$7.80	$7.80	$5.80
Sembawang	$6.05	$6.20	$6.30	$6.40
Tampines	$5.00	$5.00	$4.79*	$4.79
Tanjong Pagar	$6.22	$6.25	$6.45	$6.65
West Coast	$6.01	$6.01	$6.10	$6.21

Note:
* Indicates there was a change in MA during the period of the predominant rate.
** Derived by MND using total MA fees paid, which includes for managing parking lots, and making no distinction between residential and commercial rates.

We make the following observation from Table 1 on MA rates for residential units:

1) MA rates of PAP Town Councils in 2014 were lower compared to preceding years for six TCs. In 2011, there were eight PAP TCs with MA rates per residential unit over $6, and nine in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, the number dropped to five and the “weighted average” MA rate in PAP TCs was the lowest.

2) Compared to 2013, MA rates per residential unit dropped drastically in 2014 for four PAP TCs even though the MA did not change: East Coast from $6.30 to $5.10, Moulmein-Kallang from $6.63 to $5.80, Pasir Ris-Punggol from $6.25 to $5.50, and Potong Pasir from a high of $7.80 to $5.80.

Next, we look at the data on MA rates for commercial units:

Table 2 – MA Rates Per Commercial Unit by Town Council (2011-2014)

Town Council	2011	2012	2013	2014
AHPE	$7.87**	$7.87**	$14.08	$14.92
Ang Mo Kio	$5.08	$5.08	$5.08	$5.33
Choa Chu Kang	$5.13	$5.13	$5.06*	$5.06
East Coast	$11.50	$11.50	$11.50	$5.10
Hollang-Bukit Panjang	$5.95	$6.10	$6.20	$6.30
Jurong	$5.35	$5.45	$5.55	$5.55
Marine Parade	$5.13	$5.13	$5.13	$5.13
Moulmein-Kallang	$6.63	$6.63	$6.63	$5.80
Nee Soon	$6.05	$6.20	$6.30	$6.40
Pasir Ris-Punggol	$11.50	$11.50	$11.50	$5.50
Potong Pasir	$6.63	$7.80	$7.80	$5.80
Sembawang	$6.05	$6.20	$6.30	$6.40
Tampines	$5.00	$5.00	$4.79*	$4.79
Tanjong Pagar	$6.22	$6.25	$6.45	$6.65
West Coast	$6.01	$6.01	$6.10	$6.21

Notes: * and ** as noted for Table 1 above.

We noted from Table 2 that prior to 2014, some MAs of PAP TCs practiced charging a higher rate for managing commercial property compared to residential property. For example, the MA rate for commercial units at East Coast and Pasir Ris Punggol TCs were $11.50 when their residential rates were in the range of $6. The former MA managing of Aljunied TC, CPG Facilities Management (“CPG”), also had the same practice and hence the former Aljunied TC had a differential MA rate for residential and commercial units (see Table 3).

In 2014, as seen from the tables, all MAs managing PAP TCs adopted the practice of charging a flat rate for MA fee for both commercial and residential units. Hence, by taking the 2014 rates only, the commercial rate of $14.92 for AHPETC stood out compared with the flat rates of PAP TCs.

In any case, if we use the same logic of the ministers to derive at “overpayment” estimates, PAP TCs such as Tanjong Pagar (77,300 units), Nee Soon (65,000 units) and Sembawang (67,000 units) are also overpaying their MAs by around $860,000, $530,000 and $550,000 a year respectively. I am not alleging Tanjong Pagar, Nee Soon and Sembawang TCs are overpaying their MAs. My point is that comparing the MA rates of a TC to the “weighted average” of MA rates for all TCs is not a good way to judge the fairness of the rates charged by the MA. As you can see in Table 1 & 2 above, there is a lot of variation in MA rates among TCs, which reflect the different geography and requirements of each town.

Fair-Pricing the MA Contract in an Uncompetitive Situation

During the parliamentary debate, the Law Minister also brought up Tampines and Choa Chu Kang TCs because these towns are supposedly comparable to or host a similar number of units as AHPETC. Incidentally, these two PAP TCs also charged the lowest MA rates in 2014 (see Table 1). The contrast is there, but Tampines and Choa Chu Kang are not easily comparable to AHPETC because all towns are different in terms of geography and other town characteristics that affect how they are managed.

As stated earlier, we decided to award FMSS a one-year provisional contract to ensure a smooth transition to avoid any disruption in services to the residents before calling for a public tender in 2012. The question was how to fairly price the one-year MA contract.

Reasonably, we used the contractual MA rates agreed to between the former Aljunied Town Council and their MA, CPG, as our reference point for fair-pricing the MA contract (Table 3). There was no reason to doubt the professionalism of the former Aljunied Town Council in contracting the following MA rates with CPG. More importantly, we believed, as evidenced by the varying MA rates in Table 1 & 2, the contractual MA rates with CPG reflected the cost of managing the bulk of the town in terms of its unique geography and town characteristics.

Table 3. CPG’s contractual MA rates for Aljunied TC

Period	Residential	Commercial
1 August 2010 – 31 July 2011	$6.03	$12.80
1 August 2011 – 31 July 2012	$6.37	$12.80
1 August 2012 – 31 July 2013	$6.73	$12.80

Hence, when Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) appointed FMSS as MA for one year, the contract provided for the taking over of the management of the former Aljunied TC at the same MA rate agreed between the former Aljunied TC and CPG for that year (1 August 2011 – 31 July 2012). In other words, our contract with FMSS was substantially the same as CPG’s contractual MA rates for the second year, $6.37 for residential unit and $12.80 for commercial unit (highlighted in Table 3). This was the first cost component for the one year transitional contract. However, there was a second cost component that covered the taking over of the existing staff of the former Hougang Town Council at their existing salary, and also some additional staff who had to come in to prepare for the handover before the actual handover date.

In its tenders for MA services in 2012 and 2014, AHPETC did not receive competing bids. Only FMSS submitted a bid for our public tender for MA in 2012. In the absence of a competing bid, we again returned to the CPG contractual rates and used the third year rate (2012) as the reference point (Table 3).

We awarded FMSS the MA contract at the contractual rate for residential units of $7.01 for 2012/13. This rate represented a premium of approximately 4% compared to the third-year CPG residential rate of $6.73 for 2012. We also assessed the increase in the MA fees to be reasonable for several reasons, including the need to operate an additional TC office in Kaki Bukit and the lower economies of scale enjoyed by FMSS as a smaller operator compared to CPG. We were also aware of the MA rates in several PAP TCs being in the range of $6 to $7 at the time of the tender i.e. in 2012.

The subsequent rise in FMSS’ contractual MA rate from $7.01 in 2012/2013 to $7.43 for 2013/14 for residential units mirrors the annual 6% rise in the CPG contractual MA rates for residential units.

To summarise, our contractual commitments with FMSS have been based on strict reasoning using available market information in 2012 when tender was called in the absence of competing bids, while placing residents’ interests in undisrupted services at the forefront.

Follow-ups on the Report by the Auditor-General’s Office

AHPETC underwent a rigorous 10-month audit by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) in 2014. The AGO found some areas where there had been lapses in financial management and weaknesses in controls. AHPETC has made some improvements and has also acted promptly to hire external accountants to assist to clean up its accounts and to further strengthen its processes and controls. The work is making progress and certain financial issues will take time to resolve. AHPETC is also working towards filing its audited accounts by the deadlines set by the Ministry of National Development.

Transition to Direct Management

Come July 2015, we will be embarking on direct management of the TC, as no MA has submitted a bid to work for AHPETC. We will do our best to keep costs down and protect AHPETC’s long-term financial interests. On behalf of my fellow MPs and Town Councillors, I would like to thank you for your concern and support. Despite the challenging political climate, we will continue to serve you to the best of our ability.

SYLVIA LIM
CHAIRMAN
ALJUNIED-HOUGANG-PUNGGOL EAST TOWN COUNCIL

June 2015

This letter was extracted from the June 2015 edition of Good Neighbours newsletter.

Click here for the Open letter in Chinese

Click here for the Open letter in Malay

Click here for the Open letter in Tamil

Source: www.ahpetc.sg

June 12, 2015

Do We Want Another 5 Years With PAP?

More than 100 days have passed since 23 March, and business seems to be back to normal in Singapore. There is no more outpouring of gratitude whatsoever and in typical pragmatic style people have begun to realise that the next general elections could be as near as 100 days away. Given the trend of downwards support for PAP, things certainly look interesting.

For one, the PAP has always preached that the opposition should not be given a blank cheque less they make things hard by blocking policies in parliament. As the past 5 years have shown, this is complete and utter bullshit; the WP has shown that they have acted responsibly by voting to strengthen regulatory oversight of town councils despite placing a higher burden on them.

In fact, quite the contrast can be said. The PAP has made use of their parliamentary majority to pass laws such as the population white paper and the implementation of new media laws, which may not have been favourably received by the majority at large. Hence, more opposition power in parliament may be seen as a positive thing as democracy becomes the new norm.

Are we willing to accept that alternative political parties in parliament have added more value? While Aljunied town council may have been portrayed as a failure, the fact that WP’s presence in parliament has proven its worth as they serve as a platform to raise difficult questions and elicit answers from the PAP to allow us an insight into their thinking.

The questions range from the millions spent on scholarships to foreign students to government intentions on the use of ‘unaccredited’ degrees. In both instances, this left some sour feeling on the expected returns from these foreign scholars as well as the PAP government’s lack of empathy. As this catches on, slowly but surely people have begun to realise the merits of having more voices.

So let’s think about it: do we want another 5 years with PAP?

Source: http://mythoughtsinafewparagraphs.net

June 12, 2015
Sabah Quake: Father Of British Nudist Pleads For Mercy

PETALING JAYA: The father of a British woman arrested in Sabah for posing nude on top of Mount Kinabalu has pleaded for mercy for his daughter, 24-year old Eleanor Hawkins.

“She’s pretty scared and quite upset,” said Timothy Hawkins, who was quoted by the British newspaper The Telegraph on Thursday.

Hawkins, who owns a mechanical engineering business in the village of Draycott in Derbyshire told The Telegraph: “We really hope they don’t try to make an example of her.”

It was reported that Eleanor was touring Southeast Asia when she was arrested at Tawau airport as she was about to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur as part of an extended tour of Southeast Asia following her graduation from the University of Southampton with a Masters degree in aeronautical engineering.

The tour, which began in January saw Eleanor traveling alone from Thailand to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before arriving in Malaysia. She was planning to continue from Malaysia to Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

She had reportedly expressed her love for Southeast Asia and Malaysia in particular, saying that Malaysia has ” proper palm trees and decent sunsets. It’s pretty damn amazing.”

On May 30, a group of tourists allegedly stripped naked and indiscriminately urinated atop Kinabalu. They posed for pictures that went viral after they were posted on social media.

Their antics angered Sabah’s Kadazandusun tribe who revere the mountain and view them as an insult and desecration of a sacred place.

On Wednesday, two of the four tourists remanded by police for desecrating Mount Kinabalu confessed to going naked while on the mountain. The four were remanded the same day while police hunt for six other tourists who allegedly committed the offence together.

The four were Eleanor, a 23-year-old male and his 22-year-old sister, from Canada; and a 23-year-old Dutchman.

They were remanded until June 13 for investigations under Section 294(a) of the Penal Code for committing obscene acts in a public place. They have yet to be charged in court.

If convicted, they face a maximum three-month jail term or a fine, or both.

Police believe the other six tourists, mostly Europeans, were still in the state.

On June 5, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the mountain and 18 people lost their lives.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that Timothy had spoken to Eleanor on Wednesday morning, saying that it was good to speak to her.

Timothy added that Eleanor was relieved to be in the hands of the Malaysian authorities after seeing the anger the stunt had created among Malaysians.

“She’s kind of relieved because she saw it coming. It’s good to know where she is. It is not the kind of situation you envisage when your daughter goes travelling. I have faith in their judicial system,” he said.

Source: www.thestar.com.my

June 11, 2015
Your Boobs Have Angered Mountain Gods

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 ― The antics of a British national who has been blamed for causing last week’s earthquake in Sabah when she and a group of other tourists photographed themselves in the buff atop Mount Kinabalu, has earned sensational headlines in the UK.

In UK daily The Sun, the eye-catching headline, “Your boobs have angered mountain gods”, was splattered across its front-page today, against the backdrop of a photograph showing several tourists allegedly in the act of stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu’s peak.

It also carried the words “Brit girl jailed after strip ‘causes killer earthquake’”, along with a photograph of Eleanor Hawkins, the 24-year-old British woman who was nabbed by police as she attempted to leave the state.

The Sun also claimed to have an “exclusive” story on the episode, with an excerpt claiming that the British national had said “I’m scared” and had apologised for what the paper called a “prank”.

In the same excerpt, it said the backpacker was in jail and was “accused of angering the gods and causing a deadly earthquake”.

Another paper Daily Star used the headline “Naked Brit girl caused killer quake”, while The Daily Mirror used the headline “Nude student faces jail for ‘causing deadly quake’” along with the line “Locals in Borneo say gods on sacred mountain were angered by photo prank”.

Yesterday, Sabah police confirmed Hawkins was nabbed at Sabah’s Tawau airport while attempting to leave the state, while three others surrendered themselves — Canadian siblings Lindsey Petersen, 23 and Danielle Petersen, 22 and Dutch national Dylan Snel,23 — to the police.

The four are currently under a four-day remand at Sabah capital Kota Kinabalu’s police station, where they are being detained to aid in a police probe.

The police are probing the four under Section 294(a) of the Penal code for public indecency, an offence which is punishable by a maximum three months’ jail term or fine or both.

They have yet to be charged, but their lawyer Ronny Cham was reported in The Guardian as saying their likely defence would be that Mount Kinabalu’s summit should not be defined as a public place where annoyance could be caused to the public.

According to UK dailies The Guardian and The Telegraph, Hawkins’ father Tim Hawkins is hoping that Malaysian authorities will only fine his daughter and sentence her “to some kind of relief work” and require a public apology.

“She’s going to plead guilty and then it is up to a plea bargain from her lawyer. We have faith in the Malaysian justice system, but I have a terrible feeling they might throw the book at her, make an example of them,” he was quoted saying by TheTelegraph.

According to a police report by Sabah Parks staff, 10 tourists were alleged to have stripped and posed naked for photos on Mount Kinabalu’s peak on May 30 and reportedly rebuffed their local guide who tried to stop them, telling him to “go to hell”.

The act has angered natives who believe that the mountain is sacred and carries the spirit of their ancestors, with deputy chief minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan blaming a magnitude 5.9 earthquake on June 5 that killed 18 people on the disrespectful act.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

June 11, 2015
Mount Kinabalu Nudists Charged In Sabah Court
Four Western tourists accused of being part of a group who posed nude at the top of Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu have appeared in court in Sabah state.

Authorities said the two Canadians, a Briton and a Dutchman may be charged with causing public nuisance.

Mt Kinabalu was hit by a magnitude 6.0 earthquake last Friday which left 18 people dead, including children.

A senior minister last week said the tourists had angered the spirits of the mountain, which is considered sacred.

Six people sought

Ranau district police chief Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah confirmed to the BBC that the authorities had arrested a British woman at Tawau airport in Sabah on Tuesday.

The two Canadians, who are siblings, and the Dutchman turned themselves in to police on the same day.

Their lawyer, Ronny Cham, told the BBC’s Jennifer Pak that he had requested the four be held apart from other detainees in order to ensure their safety.

A candle-lit vigil was held on Tuesday for the victims of the Mount Kinabalu earthquake

The group appeared in court on Wednesday to have their remand extended, according to Malaysian newspaper The Star. They will now be held until Saturday while police continue their investigation.

Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Sabah’s police commissioner, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that the authorities may charge them with causing a public nuisance.

He said they were still looking for six other tourists from the same group “and we will catch them”.

The father of the British tourist who has been arrested, Eleanor Hawkins from the English city of Derby, said he was extremely worried about her. “I have got every faith in [Malaysia’s] judicial system. I just hope they don’t make an example of them,” Tim Hawkins told the Guardian newspaper.

‘Disrespect’

The group of 10 foreigners had allegedly stripped naked and posed for pictures on 30 May. They were also said to have urinated on the mountain.

The Muslim-majority country is socially conservative, and Mount Kinabalu is also considered sacred by Sabah’s Kadazan Dusun tribe.

Pictures posted on social media angered many in Malaysia, but public sentiment intensified after the quake.

Why is Kinabalu sacred?
- Sabah’s Kadazan Dusun tribe believe the mountain houses the spirits of their dead ancestors.
- The name Kinabalu is derived from the tribe’s phrase “Aki Nabalu”, which means resting place of the dead.
- Climbers are told by guides, many of whom are Kadazan Dusun, to treat the mountain with respect and to refrain from shouting, screaming or cursing at it.
- Every December the tribe conducts a ritual called the Monolob to appease the spirits and allow climbers to continue visiting the mountain.
- A priestess, called a Bobolian, makes an offering of seven white chickens accompanied by seven chicken eggs, betel nuts, tobacco, limestone powder, and betel plant leaves. The Bobolian leads a chant and the chickens are then slaughtered, cooked, and given to the ceremony participants.
- In the past, this ceremony was conducted before every ascent, and climbers used the cooked meat as rations for their journey.
Last weekend, Sabah’s deputy chief minister, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, had linked the earthquake to the tourists’ act. He said the tragedy was a “confirmation” that they had showed “disrespect” to the mountain.

Sabah’s tourism minister, Masidi Manjun, said later that this idea was “misconstrued”, but added that the tourists’ actions “were against the people of the largest tribe in Sabah”.

Some officials have demanded that the foreigners be tried in a native court for flouting local customs.

Mr Masidi said on Wednesday that searchers had found the bodies of the last two missing people.

Mourners left tributes to primary school victims in Singapore over the weekend

Singapore’s education ministry identified the two bodies as pupil Navdeep Singh Jaryal Raj Kumar and teacher Mohammad Ghazi Bin Mohamed.

They were part of a group from Tanjong Katong Primary School who were climbing the mountain with guides when the earthquake struck. Seven pupils, two teachers and a guide were killed.

Others killed included Malaysians and citizens from China, Japan and the Philippines.

Source: www.bbc.com
June 11, 2015