Tag: Singapore

MND Legal Counsel: AHPETC ‘Technically Insolvent’

The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) is “technically insolvent” and its chairman Sylvia Lim had been “economical with the truth” when she said in Parliament in February that the town council has been making transfers to its sinking fund for the 2014 financial year.

These were the charges levelled today (May 5) by the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) legal counsel — and were unchallenged by AHPETC — during the second and final day of a hearing on the ministry’s application to the courts to appoint independent accountants to safeguard government grants to the town council.

AHPETC had not made payments to the sinking fund for two quarters of FY2014, even though these were “mandatory obligations”, as the Attorney-General’s Chambers deputy chief counsel for litigation Aurill Kam, who is representing the MND, put it.

The court had heard that AHPETC’s income from service and conservancy charges (S&CC) was insufficient for it to make the quarterly sinking fund transfers. If the town council had made the transfers as required, it would not have enough money, Ms Kam noted. “From that point of view, it would not be an overstatement to say that (AHPETC) is technically insolvent,” she said.

The MND has withheld the service and conservancy charges (S&CC) grants to AHPETC for financial years 2014 and 2015. Its application was meant to safeguard fresh grants disbursed, following a report in February by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO), which found major lapses in AHPETC’s financial management, governance and compliance with the Town Councils Act.

“There is a suggestion that (MND’s application) is unprecedented. We submit that the adverse findings in the AGO report is unprecedented. The conduct of the defendant is unprecedented. Their response to calls to do the responsible thing is unprecedented,” Ms Kam said.

She added: “We say that unless these independent accountants are appointed, no serious steps will be taken to credibly review whether there has been any wrongful payment, breach of duty or unlawful conduct.”

Referring to Ms Lim’s comments in Parliament, Ms Kam said: “The reality was that at that time, the January 2015 transfer had already been missed. This wrong impression was reinforced when the defendant informed this court on March 27 this year, that it did not need fresh S&CC grants urgently, and could do without the funds for the next three months.”

AHPETC lawyer Peter Cuthbert Low had argued on Monday that the courts do not have the power to assign independent accountants to co-sign payments a town council makes using government grants, and that the Town Councils Act was intended to give elected Members of Parliament and town councillors full autonomy in managing town council funds — and to be accountable only to their residents.

MND had proposed that the court appoint Mr Ong Chao Choon and Mr Chan Kheng Tek from accounting firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to be the independent accountants, or any other people the court deems fit and proper.

Today, Mr Low objected to the ministry’s nomination of the two individuals because PwC was involved in the AGO report. “So my client’s position is that there is a suspicion of bias,” said Mr Low. “We are not saying that… they will be biased, but because they came from the same auditing firm and PwC was the firm which was engaged.”

He added: “They need not come with preconceived notion, but as long as there is a perception…” Instead, the town council proposed that a “neutral” third party such as a retired judge or a Senior Counsel should nominate the independent accountants.

To address weaknesses in its accounting practices, AHPETC has hired Audit Alliance as its auditors and sole-proprietorship Business Assurance as its financial consultant. Lawyer Terrence Tan, who is also representing AHPETC, said the town council is on track to submit its overdue accounts for the FY2013/2014.

Judgement was reserved. After the hearing, Ms Lim told reporters that the town council looks forward to a fair outcome.

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 6, 2015
Singapore And Malaysia To Deepen Cooperation In Search And Rescue Capabilities Following Signing Of MOU

Singapore and Malaysia will deepen their cooperation in urban search and rescue capabilities.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on this was inked between the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Malaysian National Security Council on Tuesday (May 5), as part of the Annual Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat.

The MOU seeks to further strengthen and promote cooperation between the two agencies in terms of training, techniques and information-sharing pertaining to urban search and rescue (USAR) and disaster management.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

May 6, 2015
11 Arrested In Connection With Online Gambling Syndicate

Nine men and two women aged between 26 and 51 were arrested on Sunday (May 3) for their suspected involvement in providing remote gambling services, police said in a news release on Monday.

This is the first syndicate to be investigated by police after the Remote Gambling Act was introduced last year, the Singapore Police Force said.

The Criminal Investigation Department on Sunday launched simultaneous raids at various locations, including Balestier, Hougang, Tiong Bahru, Tanjong Pagar, Newton and Woodlands. Officers seized S$215,000 cash, computers, mobile phones, as well as betting records and bank transaction record booklets.

The suspects are believed to have received illegal bets amounting to about S$3 million in the last two weeks.

Police investigations are ongoing. If convicted, the suspects could face up to five years’ jail, a fine of between S$20,000 and S$200,000, or both.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations and Intelligence) and concurrent Director of the Criminal Investigation Department Tan Chye Hee said: “The Remote Gambling Act 2014 was enacted to tackle groups and individuals who profiteer from unlawful remote gambling to the detriment of the public at large. Police are determined to stamp out unlawful remote gambling and will continue to take tough enforcement actions against those who flout the law.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

May 5, 2015
Malaysia High Commissioner To Singapore: Bilateral Relations Is Special And Substantive – Part II

CONTINUED

You mentioned that one of the measures to ease congestion at the two checkpoints is possibly a new bridge; can you elaborate on that? Can you also give us some updates on the High Speed Rail?

The congestion is particularly acute at the two checkpoints, especially during the weekends and holidays. The designs of the two checkpoints do not allow ease of congestion. So we need a new bridge. In fact, my Prime Minister proposed this idea during the previous retreat. He termed it as the Friendship Bridge, so we can have a modern design, beautiful structure, to represent the status of our bilateral relations, something that we could be proud of. So this is what Malaysia has in mind and I think more details will be raised by my Prime Minister.

On the High-Speed Rail, we expect Singapore to announce the terminus or the station in Singapore. We have announced our station in KL, Bandar Malaysia, last year during the retreat. So Singapore is expected to announce the location of this station at this retreat. And we could see the steady progress of the project. I think the project is on the right track; this project, though, is very complicated because it involves two countries, so a lot of issues have to be discussed and agreed upon.

There was a report this week that the High-Speed Rail is probably not going to meet its 2020 deadline and will be pushed back by two years. Can you give us the reasons behind this reported delay?

Well, that is only speculative. This project is very ambitious, you know, but as far as Malaysia is concerned, we still maintain the deadline and we hope to achieve, to implement fully, this project by 2020. So as it is, we don’t expect any delay. But as I said, this is a very ambitious project, so they may encounter some challenges, but I think it is still early for us to say that it will be delayed.

Do you think that race and religion are getting more politicised in Malaysia, in light of the recent church protest and the debate on marital rape. What do you think these portend for social order in Malaysia?

As you know, Malaysia is a multi-cultural, multi-religious country. Muslims are the majority, but other races are free to practise their religious compulsion in religion. But, of course, there is a small minority, and isolated incidents such as the church incident, which the majority of Malaysians condemned. So this does not show that we have religious intolerance in Malaysia. I think in any country, there are some people who have extreme views, and some groups may take advantage of these groups.

As ASEAN Chairman for this year, what are KL’s priorities?

I think this one is very timely because, as you know, we just concluded the 26th ASEAN Summit. We have eight priorities during our chairmanship, namely 1) to formally establish the ASEAN Community; 2) to develop the ASEAN Community’s post-2015 vision because we need to move forward; 3) to steer ASEAN closer to its people, we call it people-centred ASEAN; 4) to strengthen the development of small and medium enterprises in the region; 5) to expand intra-ASEAN trade and investments; 6) to strengthen ASEAN institutions, including the ASEAN Secretariat; 7) to promote regional peace and security through moderation. Moderation is one of our themes during our chairmanship, and finally 8) to enhance ASEAN’s role as a global player.

Can you comment on the threat posed by the Islamic State? What is the essence of Malaysia’s strategy to combat terrorism?

We view this threat very seriously. We strongly condemn the Islamic State. It does not represent the true teaching of Islam because Islam is a religion of peace and not violence. We are very concerned because they advocate violence … and they use social media to influence young people, people without enough knowledge about Islam.

Malaysians who were involved in the Islamic State, most of them do not have enough knowledge about Islam, so they are being manipulated, being brainwashed. That’s why we advocate the global movement of moderates because we are a proponent of peace, moderation and modernity. And it was agreed to by ASEAN.

With regard to the strategies, recently our Parliament passed four Bills to conquer terrorism. Our police are working very hard. Our authorities are also working closely with the authorities from Singapore, in terms of sharing of information and intelligence. The threat is not only in Malaysia; the whole region will be affected by the Islamic State.

How does Malaysia view China’s rise? Is Malaysia concerned about the developments in the South China Sea, especially with regard to the recent flurry of reclamation by China?

Well, the rise of China has brought prosperity, not only to Malaysia, but also Singapore. The whole region has benefited from its rise. China is our biggest trading partner and I think the same goes for Singapore, and we have also a big Chinese community in Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia was the first country in ASEAN to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1974. So our relations with China have been long-standing, strong and substantive.

We always maintain that any issues must be discussed amicably and peacefully, based on international laws, based on friendly relations. So, we are working together in ASEAN, and as reflected in the Chairman’s statement on the South China Sea. (The statement expresses serious concerns on the land reclamation being undertaken in the South China Sea.) The statement also touched on the Code of Conduct (COC), which is very important. The leaders “urged that consultations be intensified, to ensure the expeditious establishment of an effective COC”. So we would like to see the COC expedited, so it can give the guidelines for countries on how to deal with issues in the South China Sea.

How do Malaysians view the open calls for Prime Minister Najib’s resignation by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad? Is there a general sense that Malaysian politics is becoming increasingly fractious?

In any democratic system like Malaysia’s, the government of the day must be allowed to run the country, to govern the country as it sees fit. But (as) in any democracy, Malaysians are free to criticise the government. And the government has to defend its actions. So PM Najib has come out publicly to answer the criticisms by Dr Mahathir, showing his regard to Dr Mahathir, who was our PM for more than 20 years. I think social media has amplified the situation. But I think the government is addressing the issues raised by Dr Mahathir, and we will wait for the outcome. For instance on (strategic development firm) 1MDB, our Auditor-General is addressing the issue, and we will wait for the report by the Auditor-General.

What do you think are the issues that Malaysians are most concerned about right now?

I think the issues are quite similar to other countries’, you know, Singapore’s also. There are issues such as the cost of living. We just introduced the Goods and Services Tax last month. GST in Malaysia is rather unique. Unlike in Singapore, our GST is applied only on certain items. Some items such as foodstuff, medicine, education, are exempted from GST.

So there is some confusion, and some traders are exploiting it, so there are some complaints with regards to the implementation. But in any new system, there are bound to be complaints. We hope that this could be rectified in due course, and people, I think, will realise that we need the GST. Because 160 countries have GST and we are one of the last that have implemented this GST. That is, I think, one issue.

The other issue is, of course, terrorism, threats such as the Islamic State. And the government, as I mentioned, has taken actions to kill this issue. So I think these are the two main issues that Malaysians are concerned with.

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 5, 2015
Lee Wei Ling: Timeout After Papa’s Passing

My life changed on March 23 when Papa died at the age of 91. As he aged and his health failed in the five years prior to that, I took his welfare into account in every decision I made. His death was hardly unexpected; yet, Papa’s passing affected me more than I had anticipated.

I had not travelled alone since 2009 after he asked me to accompany him on his working trips. After Mama died in October 2010, Papa’s health deteriorated. So I restricted my travels abroad to the ones where I could accompany him as I was concerned about his fragile health.

Following Papa’s funeral, I was not feeling up to a distant trip so soon. But friends encouraged me to attend a week-long meeting organised by the American Academy of Neurology in Washington DC, which began on April 18. After that, I would visit a close friend living in Ithaca, New York.

I was hesitant about the trip as I was spent. My muscles were stiff and my body ached. In fact, I remained this way until the day I left Singapore some two weeks later. I travelled in spite of my misgivings because I decided that I needed to prove to myself I was capable of being as daring and reckless as in the past when I travelled alone.

The journey lasted more than 24 hours. But amazingly, when I landed in Washington DC, I no longer felt stiff or sore and was not hobbled by jet lag either. So I checked into the hotel, washed up and changed into a pair of running shorts and T-shirt – and jogged to the meeting’s venue at a convention centre to register and attend the lectures.

As lectures started at 6.30am from the second day, I decided to run instead of walk to the venue in order to save a few more minutes for sleep. I would also run back and forth from my hotel to the venue to attend the lectures.

By embarking on such shuttle runs three to four times daily, I clocked an average distance of at least 10km a day. What made these runs more challenging was that I had to cross busy streets and step up and down the sidewalks, often in the dark.

At the meeting, I tried to absorb and remember new information and concepts. The regimen I constructed kept my mind away from dwelling on the loss of Papa, except at night when I was trying to sleep. I was moderately cheerful during the day. Learning combined with exercise has always had an anti-depressant effect for me. So I felt as if I was 40 years old once more during the meeting.

After the conference, I travelled to Ithaca to stay with a close friend. She, too, had lost a loved one recently. I thought we could console each other.

My friend is four years older and I call her jie jie (“elder sister” in Mandarin); in fact, being motherly is a more accurate description of her behaviour towards me. And when she greeted me, I had an immediate and overwhelming sense of belonging.

My stay with jie jie was the downtime I needed. I occupied my time with routine – grocery shopping, gardening, twilight walks and drives to scenic sanctuaries. It was early spring in Ithaca, and life was returning after an apparently harsh winter. Daffodils and hyacinths were in full bloom, and the trees were starting to leaf out.

My friend remarked that the changing of the seasons seemed to reflect the cyclical nature of life and death. For me, it was reassuring just to have the sense of continuity, the familiarity of

a beautiful Ithaca, and the comfort of an enduring friendship. While this was a welcome change of scene, it was hard not to turn my thoughts to Papa. But unlike the period of two weeks prior and two weeks after his death, thinking of him now evoked a dull ache that was replacing the sharp pain I felt previously.

I suspect this ache will always remain, but perhaps to a lesser degree as time passes.

In my article published a week after Papa’s funeral, I wrote that I must now move on to face life without him. That was a declaration of hope rather than a statement of fact.

I will move on, I have to. But as a friend who had experienced the passing of his parents long ago recalled, that sense of loss and the ache will never completely disappear.

But today, the sun was out, and as I ran up my friend’s driveway, the budding trees and flowers greeted me. We went for a walk at my favourite waterfall, Taughannock Falls, where I have asked my friend to scatter my ashes after I die. But for now, life is sweet.

My way of coping with my father’s death is to be grateful that my parents lived happy lives. Old photographs of Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew together, young and obviously in love, and more recent ones taken in their eighties and evincing mutual affection, remind me of what my father said when he saw me sorting through pictures of himself and my mother. “How lucky I have been,” he remarked.

Yes, my parents were lucky until Mama’s devastating stroke in 2008. Subsequently they suffered, as anyone who has lived for so long usually did in the last few years of their lives.

Still, 60 years of happiness surely outweigh a brief period of suffering. As I see it, my parents were fortunate to have been able to spend their final years in their marital home, a privilege rare among couples.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 5, 2015