The relentless rising cost of living in Singapore

[JoesephToh]

Originally Posted by nitecrawllerr

I have this question. Msia had been charging Spore 3 sens till today. How come lightning keep increasing our water bills? Poor sillyporeans. Ka ki ciak kaki lang!

I also would like to know how come the PAP government charge Singaporeans such a high price of water when only the Malaysians are paying 3 sen only ? Someone only say because of high cost production need to increase price . Really??? Than can you please explain to us what is the high cost to your voters ?

[PangLily]

Originally Posted by JoesephToh

I also would like to know how come the PAP government charge Singaporeans such a high price of water when only the Malaysians are paying 3 sen only ? Someone only say because of high cost production need to increase price . Really??? Than can you please explain to us what is the high cost to your voters ?

If don't charge us high price , where to find $$ to pay their salary , and also must have extra $$ for the Jinx to squander through GIC too .

[copper]

Singaporean tend to be short memories , most of them never learnt their lessons for myself I never cast any vote on them not even void. There are many things soon be to increase is a matter of time, recently they imposed 'sugar' tax later might be 'carbohydrates' tax for white rice, haha. wont be shock ' Sodium ' tax too because sodium causes the arteries and veins to constrict, limiting blood flow.

[kuasimi]

Originally Posted by kuasimi

How well is well-paid?
By Tan Hui Leng and Jasmie Yen, TODAY | Posted: 10 April 2007 1028

They expressed support for the need to pay top dollar for top talent in the public sector.

But Members of Parliament (MPs) who took part in yesterday's parliamentary debate on the pay hike also spoke passionately about what many Singaporeans believe to be the heart of the issue: The benchmarking formula used to determine ministerial pay.

Ang Mo Kio MP Inderjit Singh noted that Singaporeans could not expect their leaders to serve based on altruism alone. "Are we willing to leave the future of the country to chance, that we will get good people who will give up their competence without caring about their salary?" he asked.

Some MPs, however, saw problems in benchmarking ministers' pay to the private sector, pointing out to disparities in the risks taken by company chief executives and ministers and top civil servants.

Marine Parade MP Lim Biow Chuan said: "I struggle to understand what a top Admin Officer aged 32 at grade SR9 has to worry about that will justify him receiving $363,000 a year … From many people's perspectives, they take no personal risk and are at best, paid employees."

Opposition MPs Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir) and Hougang's Low Thia Khiang took issue with the fact that Singapore's ministers are paid more than their counterparts in developed countries.

MPs like Bishan-Toa Payoh's Mrs Josephine Teo, however, pointed out that ministers in other countries may make more money after their term in office ends, such as through public speaking.

Some MPs voiced concerns about the timing of announcing the pay revisions, especially with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) due to rise to 7 per cent in July.

Mr Singh said: "How do we answer the man-in-the-street when we're told that about one-quarter to one-third of the expected revenue increase this year from the GST is going to be for the proposed ministerial and civil service salary increases, about $240 million, I was told?"

Mr Low also referred to the recent debate on increasing the amounts for public assistance. "It's also ironic that we are consuming taxpayers' money and … discussing how much more of a fraction of a million to pay civil servants and ministers while we haggle over additional tens of dollars to hand out to our needy and disadvantaged citizens," he said.

Some MPs who supported the pay hike also suggested that the salary benchmarking could be finetuned, such as pegging ministers' salaries to more realistic markers such as top men in private equity firms and top companies based on market capitalisation.

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called for a sense of proportion yesterday, pointing out that the annual wage bill for ministers and all office holders is $46 million - or just 0.022 per cent of Singapore's total economic output.


It was an 'absurdity', he said, for Singaporeans to quarrel over whether ministers collectively should be paid $10 million or $20 million more, when an economy worth $210 billion was at stake

'The cure to all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government,' he said in his first comments on impending salary increases for ministers and top civil servants. 'You get that alternative and you'll never put Singapore together again.'

Singaporeans' asset values would also disappear, he warned, adding that 'your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries'.

He said the present system of benchmarking ministers' pay to top private sector salaries was 'completely above board' and allowed the Government to recruit 'some of the very best' to lead the country

When it was put to him that people hoped for leaders who were willing to make sacrifices and who were not there for the money, he replied that these were 'admirable sentiments'. But he added that 'we live in the real world'.

His bottom line: if the Government could not pay competitive salaries, Singapore would not be able to compete and 'we're not going to live well'.

https://mothership.sg/2015/03/channe...smen-comments/



Channel News Asia secretly deletes article after Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo skewered online for NSmen comments

Why CNA, why?

By Belmont Lay | March 4, 2015






Ladies and gentlemen, it is Channel News Asia‘s turn to be caught with their pants down after The Straits Times was discovered to have censored Minister Chan Chun Sing’s quotes on Feb. 26, 2015.

This time, CNA took the drastic step of completely erasing an entire article from both CNA’s website as well as on Today online.

The article in question, is this piece, “Singaporeans express Budget concerns at forum”, published on Feb. 26, about feedback unit REACH’s post-Budget 2015 forum:





The article has been removed from here, here and here.

However, you can still find the piece on Google cache here and here, which even has a video.

Here is the article in its entirety:

Singaporeans express Budget concerns at forum

Some of the concerns raised by participants at the forum on Thursday include an influx of foreign domestic workers due to the lower concessionary levy, and the pay for national servicemen.





SINGAPORE: More than 100 Singaporeans gave their feedback on Budget 2015 at a forum on Thursday (Feb 26), organised by feedback unit REACH.

One concern was whether lowering the foreign domestic worker concessionary levy could cause an influx of such workers.

Senior Minister of State for Health and REACH Chairman Amy Khor gave the assurance that there is a foreign worker dependency ratio in place to control the numbers. She added that the purpose of decreasing the levy is to help the many families with caregiver needs.

Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo was also present. She addressed one participant’s suggestion that national servicemen should be paid more.

While she noted the importance of giving NSmen recognition, Mrs Teo said service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Ms Grace Morgan, a participant at the forum, praised the Budget announcements.

“My overall impression is that it is a very inclusive Budget because it has a lot of features for the lower-income as well as the middle-income group, and I think that it ticked a lot of boxes that people wanted to be ticked,” Ms Morgan told Channel NewsAsia before the event.

She said something innocently contentious about how NSmen’s service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents.


Reasons for censorship?

At least one blogger noted the article’s deletion on March 3, about five days after the piece was first published online.

A few days prior to the article’s removal, Teo’s innocuously contentious comments about how NSmen recognition should not be measured in dollars and cents became a lightning rod for criticism online.

Based on this forum comment thread, the most common refrain was that why should the PAP and minister’s contributions be measured in monetary terms but not so for NSmen? Why the double standards?

It is not known if Teo was misquoted or her statement was taken out of context as the original CNA report failed to elaborate what the original question was.

REACH also shared a video of the forum highlights yesterday but did not include Teo’s comments about NSmen recognition.



Related article:

The Straits Times censors Minister Chan Chun Sing’s ‘tikam’ & ‘enjoy a windfall’ quotes about Pinnacle@Duxton

Media secretly changes misleading headlines after they drew ire from Nicole Seah and other S’poreans online

Update: Business Times changed its headline from ‘chinks’ to ‘cracks’

Did The Straits Times’ celebrated senior reporter foul up with his North Korean execution by dogs story?

[kuasimi]

http://newnation.sg/2015/03/5-reason...ars-and-cents/


5 reasons Josephine Teo’s service to S’pore must be measured in dollars and cents

Posted on 04 March 2015





In a post-budget 2015 forum on Feb. 26, 2015, Minister of State Josephine Teo was asked if national servicemen should be paid more.

She said she noted the importance of giving NSmen recognition, but service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Here are 5 reasons why only Josephine Teo’s contributions to Singapore can be measured in dollars and cents:



1. She is from the PAP.

Only dollars and cents apply to them.



2. It is a privilege for Singaporean Sons to serve National Service. Being a Minister of State, on the other hand, is a thankless job.

Only money can be used as compensation.



3. Because National Service is its own reward.

And because serving Singapore as a Minister of State is not its own reward.



4. Because Full-time National Servicemen get paid such a miniscule derisory amount it doesn’t even matter.

Unlike what she gets, which can be counted easily because it is so much.



5. She is the bulwark against any invasive force.

She is not part of Total Defence. She is Total Defence itself.

She can singlehandedly defend Singapore’s sovereignty by herself. That’s why only her contributions can be quantified in dollars and cents.



Not derisory enough:

NSFs recruits say monthly SAF allowance of $480 not ‘derisory’ enough

[kuasimi]

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/201...o-fulfil-them/





Chan says inflation low – ‘cost-of-living pressures’ due to difference in aspirations and ability to fulfil them


Published on 2018-07-10 by Correspondent



In Parliament today (10 Jul), Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing distributed charts to MPs in the House, showing that the overall inflation rate has been lower in the last 5 years from 2012 to 2017 compared to that of the previous 5 years.

His chart shows that the average overall inflation rate in the last 5 years was only 0.6 per cent a year, lower than the average of 4 per cent between 2007 and 2012. And for this year, the overall inflation is expected to remain low, between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent, even as rising global oil prices are expected to increase fuel costs and electricity prices, he said.

Minister Chan commented that cost of living is a multi-dimensional issue, and the measure of how prices change over time is but one aspect of it. The gap between people's aspirations and their ability to fulfil them can also bring cost-of-living pressures to people, he said. That is to say, the minister is implying that if people can choose to have no aspirations, they would then not be feeling any 'cost-of-living pressures'. He is telling Singaporeans that the high-cost of living felt by them is all inside their 'heads'.

"Elderly Singaporeans, retirees and their families will be more concerned with healthcare affordability,” he described. “Families with young children and infants may be more concerned with the prices of milk powder and educational programmes. Yet other families may be aspiring to buy their dream house or car."

"No single measure will express an individual’s ‘cost of living’ pressures fully, given the different needs and wants, the evolving aspirations and the potential gap between aspirations and anticipated means."

He cited other factors that affect people's perceptions of living costs, including a changing interpretation of what essential goods and services are for different groups, and the increase in prices of items that are consumed daily - for example, water and transport fares - which may have a disproportionate psychological impact on consumers even if the increases are not the biggest in absolute terms.

"The 'bunching' of price increases, like the increases in water and electricity prices this month, can also have a disproportionate psychological impact," he said.

In any case, he outlined the Government's strategy to manage the cost of living in Singapore:

Keeping the economy competitive
Managing the Singapore dollar
Diversifying sources of supply for items from food and water to fuel
Promoting competition to keep prices low
Managing the cost of doing business
Focusing on providing help for those with less
Giving consumers more choices
Leveraging social enterprises

"We recognise Singaporeans' evolving aspirations for a better life for themselves and their families, and the associated stress of achieving real income growth in a volatile economic environment," he assured.

"Beyond creating opportunities for Singaporeans to enjoy real wage growth to meet their aspirations, the Government is also committed to help Singaporeans stretch their hard-earned dollar," he added.

And to help Singaporeans in the various areas like education, housing, healthcare, transport and among other things, the government would do this through indirect subsidies and means testing, so as to ensure that those with less receive the most help, he said.

[kuasimi]

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/201...out-ministers/





Dr. Koh Poh Koon warns Parliament about dangers of wages outstripping productivity. What about Ministers?

Published on 2018-07-12 by Kwok Fangjie


Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (11 Jul), Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Dr. Koh Poh Koon said that the growth in wages of resident workers have outstripped productivity growth. In turn, this could have a negative effect on the economy.

The 4G leader said that this was as a result of a labour market tightness in industries such as construction and other services and may not be sustainable. From 2011 to 2017, real wages for resident workers rose by 1.9% per annum compared to productivity increases of 1.1%.

"If real wage growth outstrips productivity growth for an extended period, businesses will be at risk of losing their competitiveness and potentially be forced to scale back or close their operations".

Dr. Koh added that the government had placed emphasis on increasing. For instance, the Industry Transformation map would encourage businesses leveraging on technology so that business can make better profit margins while controlling their costs.

Concluding, he said that the government "is committed to continue to work with businesses and the unions to help businesses improve their productivity and ensure that the productivity gains are shared with workers through higher wages.”

Do the million-dollar wages of PAP ministers match their productivity?

In 1994, the late Lee Kuan Yew argued the case for higher Ministerial salaries.

“If this salary formula can draw out higher quality men into politics, whatever their motivations, I say, let us have them. I make no apologies for collecting the most talented team I could find. Without them, none of you would be enjoying life today in Singapore”.

Yet things seemed to have changed some 20 years later.

In a 2015 interview with Bloomberg, Associate Professor Michael Barr said that “The current Cabinet [in Singapore] is really a Team B.” Last month, columnist Justin Hugo opined in an opinion piece on the News Lens that the high ministerial salaries for PAP leader cannot be justified given their mediocre performance.

Noting that the Ministerial Salary formulae states that the salaries of office holders “should also be linked to the individual performance.. and the socio-economic progress of Singapore Citizens", Hugo asked if Singapore’s socio-economic progress has been stellar thus far.

He highlighted that Singapore’s “spending on social protections among the lowest in developed countries”. This led him to ask why “the government [is] intent on lining its own pockets rather than putting that money to work, [since] as many as 35% of Singaporeans living in relative poverty?”

Hugo also noted that Singapore’s economic growth or standing is not impressive. For instance, the IMF projected Singapore’s economic growth for 2018 to be a mere 2.9% while Luxembourg’s economic growth at was projected at 4.3%.

Concurrently, the Global Power City Index of 2017 - which evaluates and ranks the world's major cities in relation to their ability to attract businesses and individuals – ranks London as the first, followed by New York and Tokyo. By comparison, Singapore was ranked fifth.

The columnist then asked: “Is it fair that Xavier Bettel is presiding over a country forecast to grow 1.5 times faster than Singapore, yet [Lee Hsien Loong] pays himself nearly six times the salary? [Why is I that Lee Hsien Loong] earns more than six to 12 times that of the London mayor, the New York City mayor and the Tokyo governor?”

By Dr. Koh's own measure, do you think that PAP Minister's performance has kept up with their wages?

[kuasimi]

https://mollymeek.livejournal.com/171615.html



How to cope with rising costs


Molly, icon of irresponsible blogging and bimbotic, prejudiced commentary, is concerned that people out there are finding inflation a bit too much to bear. (These people are wrong. Inflation, just like retrenchment, is good for Singapore.

Without inflation, Singapore will stagnate and Mr. Jones will come back.

But there are simple ways of dealing with inflation and Molly shall offer hers.

1. When chicken becomes too expensive, eat fish instead.

2. When fish also becomes too expensive, eat tofu and eggs for protein instead.

3. When eggs also become too expensive, switch to artificial eggs or lay your own (we must be self-sufficient and not develop a crutch mentality).

4. When vegetables become too expensive, source for alternatives such as tree bark.

5. When water becomes too expensive, drink pre-treated NeWater dispensed from your own body. Or ask a local poet to spare you some.

6. When teh-oh at the kopi tiam becomes too expensive, make your own at home with pre-treated and unboiled NeWater. (Boiling is unnecessary and too expensive.)

7. When newspapers become to expensive, read blogs instead (but it's wiser to avoid bimbotic bloggers like Molly unless you are equally bimbotic and prejudiced).

8. When bus fares become too expensive, take trains.

9. When train fares become too expensive, take buses.

10. When transport becomes too expensive, take trishaws and refuse to pay the poor uncle.

11. When workers get too expensive, retrench them or cut their pay.

12. When your pay is not enough to pay for your bills, stay loyal to your current employer and perhaps take up a second job. [This helps to solve the problem of rampant job hopping and the problem of not having "enough people to match the current rate of job creation" (Wong Kan Seng, as quoted by the ST)

13. When parliamentary debates get too expensive, outsource them to bloggers like Molly Meek who entertains people non-stop with her stupid claims.

14. When medical bills become too expensive, die and let others benefit from the compulsory annuity scheme.

15. When ministers get too expensive, vote for different people instead.


Oh, by the way, the first method is stolen from MP Halimah Yacob.

"MP for Jurong GRC Halimah Yacob, who will quiz Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang on what the govenrment is doing, said more can be done to promote alternative food sources.

'For example, the price of chicken may be rising fast, but we can encourage Singaporeans to turn to alternative sources of protein, such as fish,' she told The Straits Times." (Straits Times, November 9)


https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/c...s_but_is_fish/

[kuasimi]

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%...109-35475.html


Parliament to debate inflation, Medishield issues

Keith Lin
Fri, Nov 09, 2007
The Straits Times


THE rising cost of living will be high on the agenda when Parliament sits on Monday.

Two MPs have tabled questions linked to concerns that fast-rising food prices are causing a dent in Singaporeans??? wallets. The price of wheat, for example, is at global historic highs due to droughts in Australia and crop failures in the US. This in turn has pushed up cost of animal feed and meat.

MP for Jurong GRC Halimah Yacob, who will quiz Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang on what the govenrment is doing, said more can be done to promote alternative food sources.

'For example, the price of chicken may be rising fast, but we can encourage Singaporeans to turn to alternative sources of protein, such as fish,' she told The Straits Times.


Issues relating to the MediShield scheme are also expected to receive a prominent airing, with three questions tabled on the topic.

One is from MP for Jalan Besar GRC Denise Phua, who wants Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to clarify whether special-needs children are covered under the health insurance scheme.

'Many families with such children have told me that commerical insurance providers do not provide medical cover for those with mild disabilities, such as Asperger's Syndrome,' Ms Phua said.

She hopes the Government can help reduce their medical bills, which may stretch over their lifespans, by including their illnesses under Medishield coverage. '

I hope that the Government will give these children a chance to have their medical problems covered,' she said.

Five new Bills will be introduced, while another five Bills introduced earlier are up for debate.

One slated for debate is the National Registry of Diseases Bill, which calls for the setting up of a national disease database to collate data on common illnesses. Other parliamentary questions include three by Ms Ellen Lee (Sembawang GRC), who will ask various ministers for measures to combat cyber-addiction, and one by Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) on ways to prevent the property market from over-heating.

[kuasimi]

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2...s-over-says-pm


Days of GLC top execs getting fat salaries over, says PM





By Bernama - July 9, 2018 @ 11:40am


KUALA LUMPUR: The days of top executives of government-linked companies (GLCs) drawing fat salaries regardless of their companies’ performance is over, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has warned.

Giving the rationale for the move, he said what happened in the past was that the government found it convenient to place its supporters in these GLCs, and these executives got a good income from the companies.

“The result is that we have a lot of people who are non-professionals and unfamiliar with business, but holding high posts in the GLCs, and this of course defeats the whole purpose.

“The GLCs inevitably lose money, but the salaries of these people is very high and they enjoy all this without bothering whether the company makes a profit or not,” he said in an interview with Investine, the Hong Kong-based business news portal covering mainly South East Asia.

The prime minister pointed out that the Pakatan Harapan government now wants to place professionals in these GLCs and their salaries would not be very high.

"The salaries may be slightly higher than that of the civil service, but if they perform, then we'll pay them a bonus. Otherwise, they won't receive the high income as currently, and we will change the management so that we appoint professionals," Dr Mahathir further warned.

He said it did not matter whether "they are party people or not", but it is key that they must be professionals fitting into the business of the company.

In the interview conducted by Investvine Director Imran Saddique and correspondent Firoz Abdul Hamid, Dr Mahathir spoke at length about the concept of GLCs and Khanazah Nasional Bhd, the strategic investment fund of the Malaysian goverment which he set up in the 1990's when he was prime minister for the first time.

He said the idea was prompted by the apparent inability of the Malays to retain shares which they acquired under the government's affirmative action.

"When they get their shares, they inevitably sell them all and then they go back to having no shares. That way they enrich the very people that they are supposed to chase after.

"So, we thought that instead of giving directly to the Bumiputeras, we'll create a body that can hold the shares until such time when they have the capacity to retain those shares.

“That was the original intention, but along the way, Khazanah decided that it should take take all the shares for itself and if they are good shares, why not acquire the shares at the time of listing when the price was very low.

“And so they forgot entirely about holding the shares for the Bumiputeras " he added.

Instead, Khazanah decided that they should be holding the shares forever as part of the companies owned by the government.

The prime minister said the government then no longer followed the initial intention of the formation of Khazanah.

Moving forward, the government would now have to go through the huge number of companies that Khazanah had shares in and categorize them into the ones that could be profitable, might be profitable and those that might be losing money.

"We need to talk about closing some of these companies to reduce the overall number and to a certain extent go back to the original intention of holding the shares allocated to the Bumiputeras until such time when they can buy," said Dr Mahathir. -- Bernama

[kuasimi]

https://mothership.sg/2017/04/former...donation-saga/


Ex-PAP MP & ex-FAS chairman Zainudin Nordin among 4 arrested & out on police bail for donation saga

New plot twist.

By Chan Cheow Pong | April 25, 2017





The drama surrounding a questionable half-million-dollar donation to the ASEAN Football Federation by Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) and Hougang United chairman Bill Ng just can’t stop.

Reports by Today and The Straits Times on April 25 revealed that former Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin, FAS General Secretary Winston Lee, Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong are currently out on police bail.


According to Today, the four were initially arrested before being released on bail “to ensure they will return for further investigations.”

The Straits Times reported that the bail amounts differ among the individuals and Ng’s bail had been set at S$100,000.

The latest developments come in the wake of a police report made by Sports Singapore on April 19 against TBFC for suspected misuse of club funds, and an investigation into allegations of a senior official – understood to be Ng – attempting to obstruct the completing of audits of three S.League sit-out clubs.

The police report had also prompted a dramatic police raid on the FAS, and the clubhouses of the three football clubs – Hougang United, TBFC, and Woodlands Wellington FC (WWFC) the next day.


Zainudin is currently a deputy principal (development) at the Institute of Technical Education College East. He was a former PAP Member of Parliament, and had helmed the FAS from 2009-2016.

Besides making brief comments to the media after being questioned by the authorities, he has kept a low profile since the saga erupted on April 13.

Despite the ongoing investigations, the FAS inaugural election on April 29 is set to proceed.

Team Game Changers led by Ng are facing off with Team LKT helmed by former FAS vice-president Lim Kia Tong.

Related articles:

FAS Elections: Team LKT strives to distance itself from the donation saga

Former FAS president Zainudin finally free to comment, denies having any business ties with Bill Ng

Football Donation Saga: Former FAS president Zainudin’s silence is deafening

Football Drama: More questions for the FAS before the upcoming election.

Football leadership elections: Power, “donations” and much intrigue revealed in the campaign

Top photo from FAS

[kuasimi]

https://atans1.wordpress.com/tag/zainudin-nordin/

[kuasimi]

https://www.change.org/p/mindef-ns-d...ootball-talent


NS Deferment for Ben Davis to Develop Singapore Football Talent






j chan started this petition to MINDEF
“I will enjoy the achievement and success so far, but now it gives me the motivation, drive and desire to push on to achieve the ultimate goal of playing in the Fulham first team in the Premier League,” — Ben Davis

“Ben has been trained here in Singapore and shows to all Singaporeans that you can be coached in Singapore and achieve the highest level for a 17-year-old on the international stage." — Harvey Davis, Ben’s father

Benjamin Davis is the first Singaporean footballer to sign a professional contract with a top-tier English Club, Fulham. He was first awarded a two-year scholarship in July 2017 and due to his outstanding performance on the field, he was among the first 5 scholars to be awarded a pro contract.

As a Singaporean, however, Ben has to enrol for compulsory 2-year National Service. He has applied for long term deferment so that he can continue developing his talent in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in one of the best leagues in the world.

This was rejected by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) on 15 July on the grounds that he "does not meet the criteria for long-term deferment from Full-time NS". In sports, “deferments are granted only to those who represent Singapore in international competitions like the Olympic Games and are potential medal winners for Singapore”. Thus, “it would not be fair to approve applications for deferment for individuals to pursue their own careers and development”.

In the last 15 years, only three have met this criteria, they are Singapore's first Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling, fellow swimmer Quah Zheng Wen and sailor Maximillian Soh.

This petition is to appeal against that decision. We believe that Ben Davis should be given the opportunity to develop his talent. Soccer is a sport that is very close to Singaporeans - just look at the current 2018 FIFA World Cup fever in Singapore. In addition, soccer is fundamentally a team sport where a single talent cannot just bring the entire nation to an international stage (unlike Swimming and Sailing, sports which the previous three individuals are from). Being able to play on an international stage would help Ben Davis to not only bring recognition to Singapore as he gets identified as a Pro player hailing from our tiny red dot, he could also help to up the game in Singapore by bringing his learnings from the international arena to his fellow players in Singapore and elevate the sport here.

It can be argued that Fandi Ahmad, a talented Singaporean soccer player who played for Niac Mitra (Indonesian FC) and FC Groningen (Netherlands FC), was able to help Singapore achieve three silver medals in the SEA games because of his international experiences.

“There are no shortcuts to building a team each season. You build the foundation brick by brick.” — Bill Belichick, NFL head coach

Let’s not be unrealistic and expect one player to lift Singapore sports to reach international standards. Instead, let’s invest in our young talents and take our first step towards this goal.

—

Related articles:

MINDEF rejects Fulham signee Ben Davis' application for NS deferment: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...or-ns-10530834

NS could hamper Fulham midfielder Ben Davis' progress, say members of football community: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...mbers-10532210

Just how difficult is it to get a professional contract at an EPL club: https://mothership.sg/2018/07/just-h...t-an-epl-club/

DPM Tharman praises French football system that produced World Cup winners: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/tharman-pr...062732738.html

3 ongoing petitions with 15,000 signatures test government’s pledge to listen to views: http://theindependent.sg/3-ongoing-p...sten-to-views/

Ben Davis' Fulham contract no different from other pre-enlistees' personal pursuits: MINDEF: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...indef-10537186

Ben Davis' NS deferment appeal will be rejected if same facts presented: Heng Chee How: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...facts-10537648

Thailand’s lifeline for Singapore’s Ben Davis might be too good to refuse: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/sg/featu...oo-good-refuse

Here’s more info on Ben Davis and his skills:

http://www.sportingnews.com/ca/socce...y1pbu2altzj973
https://www.tnp.sg/sports/singapore-...tch-his-skills
https://mobile.twitter.com/fulhamfc/...831297?lang=en

[kuasimi]

[kuasimi]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ps-in-10537180


Auditor-General finds lapses in management of contracts, gaps in IT and financial controls


17 Jul 2018 02:54PM (Updated: 17 Jul 2018 04:54PM)





SINGAPORE: Several ministries and government agencies have been flagged by the Auditor-General for lapses in four categories - contract management, IT controls, financial controls and gaps in the management of R&D grants.

These gaps were laid out in a report by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) released on Tuesday (Jul 17), after its audit of government accounts for the financial year 2017/2018.

The audit covered the financial statements of all 16 ministries and eight organs of state, five government funds, nine statutory boards, four government-owned companies and three other accounts.

Ministries and agencies singled out in the AGO report for lapses include the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Ministry of Education (MOE), the People's Association (PA), the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

LAPSES IN CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

The PA was flagged for lapses in procurement and contract management for major events such as Chingay 2017 as well as Chinese New Year 2017.

For instance, AGO's checks found that the PA had allowed an officer to make overseas purchases for costumes and accessories worth S$142,200 for Chingay Parade 2017, using cash or through a remittance agent.

"AGO found that some of the cash sales receipts submitted by the officer had tell-tale signs which cast doubts on their authenticity," said the report.

"Thus, there was no assurance that the amount of reimbursement claimed by the officer was the actual amount of cash that was paid by the officer to the overseas vendor."

The AGO also found that the PA did not properly manage welfare assistance schemes which included vouchers and groceries to needy residents.

READ: Lapses in People's Association's procurement, welfare assistance management


Irregularities in contract management were also observed at MINDEF, MOE and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), according to the report.

In the case of MOE, lapses were found in school development projects managed by consultants engaged by the Education Ministry.

There were delays in payments to contractors ranging from three months to more than three years for 30 school construction projects. The final amount due to the contractors totalled S$13.61 million, AGO said.

There were also cases where modifications to construction contracts were not properly managed, resulting in an estimated overpayment of S$154,900, said the AGO.

"Given these lapses, there was no assurance that MOE had exercised adequate oversight of its consultants on issuance of final accounts and management of contract variations as well as financial prudence in the use of public funds in these development projects," it added.

In a statement on Tuesday, MOE said it is addressing the concerns raised by the AGO and is improving its internal processes.

"MOE acknowledges the importance of prompt issuance of final accounts in our school development projects. We are working with our consultants to issue the final accounts of all 14 outstanding contracts by end 2018," it said.

The ministry is also recovering the overpayment of S$154,900 arising from contract variations, it said.

READ: Overpayment of grass-cutting fees; lax procurement controls uncovered at MINDEF



SCDF BACKDATED RECORDS FOR VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

One of the lapses which the AGO described as "serious" was the backdating of records by the SCDF relating to its vehicle maintenance contracts.

The AGO noted that from the documents submitted for audit, records for 104 vehicle servicing jobs were not authentic. They included duplicated servicing records for the same job, as well as discrepancies between the two sets of records.

Said the AGO report: "SCDF investigated and found that these 104 servicing records had indeed been created and backdated to meet AGO's requests for the records. They were created by three SCDF officers and the contractors."

The officers responsible have been disciplined and the contractors taken to task by SCDF.




In addition, the audit found that SCDF did not have adequate procedures to ensure that two contractors had provided the required maintenance that cost a total of S$1.8 million a year.

AGO's test checks found that S$120,000 was paid out for services that were not provided.

SCDF had relied on servicing schedules provided by the contractors and did not have procedures to establish whether vehicles had been sent for the required servicing at the right frequency, AGO said. It also did not ensure that vehicles due for servicing had indeed been checked.

SCDF acknowledged that more checks were needed and said that an integrated logistics management system will be introduced by 2020. It will be recovering the wrong payments and tightening internal procedures so that it only pays for services rendered, according to the report.

WEAKNESSES IN IT CONTROLS

As in previous years, the audit found common weaknesses in IT controls which included lapses in user accounts and access rights.

The Education Ministry, for instance, was flagged for lapses in the monitoring of IT administrators' activities. This was for the two IT systems that support the management of financial transactions of student's Edusave and Post-Secondary Education (PSE) accounts.

"AGO noted that MOE did not log and review the activities of seven IT administrators who were responsible for scheduling and executing computer scripts to perform financial transactions on students' Edusave or PSE accounts," said the report, adding that the activity logs of 16 servers for the two systems did not capture details of the administrator's activities.

In the case of MINDEF, the AGO found that there were instances where 33 authorised users with rights to perform procurement activities might have shared their accounts with unauthorised individuals.

"All these lapses in IT controls exposed entities to the risk of unauthorised operation of the IT systems and of compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the data in the IT systems," said the report, noting that similar weaknesses were found in other public sector entities audited last year.

RENTAL NOT CHARGED FOR PHOTO BOOTH AT ICA

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) was found to have let a recreation club set up photo booths on its premises without charging rental.

The checks were conducted after a complaint alleging that money received from the public by the club was diverted to fund welfare activities and functions attended by ICA staff members.

ICA explained that the practice was a historical legacy and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) had given approval for the club to operate photo services back in the early 1980s. Funds were mainly used for sports and recreational activities for current or retired ICA staff, AGO found.


Given changes in government policy since, MOF advised that ICA should seek to recover about S$6 million in forgone rental dating back to 2002. ICA said it stopped allocating its space to the recreation club from Jul 1 and would use up club funds of S$2.45 million to pay for rents owed.

R&D FUNDS

This year's report also focused the management of research funds in a thematic audit, or in-depth examination, of research and development grant projects managed by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the National Research Foundation (NRF).

AGO observed that the Government's total R&D expenditure has expanded and the five-year grant budget for A*STAR was S$5.26 billion while that for NRF was S$3.65 billion.

It audited 286 of more than 1,000 projects with a value of S$1.48 billion, or 61.2 per cent of S$2.42 billion awarded in total.

It found that while A*STAR had adequate processes for inviting and approving grant proposals, as well as for monitoring grant utilisation, it was slow to recover underutilised funds and did not obtain audit reports for some projects.


Meanwhile, NRF had "significant control weakness" for the disbursement, monitoring and review of grants, AGO said.

Grant management practices among its directorates were inconsistent and most of them relied on annual declarations by grant recipients for fund requests and project deliverables.

It was lax in verifying fund requests totalling S$52.2 million and in some cases, discrepancies in project deliverables were not detected or not followed up on, AGO said.

The two agencies said in a joint release that they will address all of AGO’s findings and "will take the necessary action to enhance the processes for R&D grant management".

In response to AGO's observation that grant management practices were inconsistent, NRF added that it already has a guide to guide all its partners on the management of R&D grants and a "positive affirmation framework" established by NRF's audit committee.

However, it will now implement a system of selective checks to "provide stronger assurance".

In general, Auditor-General Willie Tan noted that some observations in this year's report were similar to those highlighted in the last few years, although the lapses involved different entities.

"More should be done to address these concerns so that the financial governance and controls of the public sector as a whole would be strengthened," he said.

The AGO added that it will continue to work with the public sector entities to ensure that follow-up actions are taken.

Source: CNA/hm/(gs)