TR EMERITUS

In a Channel NewsAsia report, four government agencies, the Media Development Authority (MDA), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Mindef have been singled out for errors in the way their finances are managed. According to the latest Public Accounts Committee report issued, there were three main reasons behind these lapses. The errors were found to be a result of laxity in procurement and contract management, lack of rigour in scrutiny by approving authorities and too light a touch in ministry-statutory board dealings. In particular, the MDA was found to have the most number of lapses which the committee felt “reflected poorly on the overall internal controls of the MDA”. These delays include slow refunding of over S$6 million in Radio and TV license fees. At the time of the 2008 audit, MDA was still processing funds from three years back in 2005. To rectify the problems, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said that since October 2009, two automated processes have been put in place to increase efficiency of refunds, which the MDA has since completed. Other lapses include problems in the management of Public Service Broadcast programmes and also not having a good system for monitoring and enforcing compliance with broadcasting license conditions. In addition, the Education Ministry was found to have paid more than necessary on school cleaning contracts while the Defence Ministry was rapped for carrying out wrongful certification in a consultancy project. This error resulting in an advance payment of S$289,499 to the Defence Science and Technology Agency. In view of these audit book errors, the committee recommends that the Auditor-General’s Office consider a 2-3 year interval between reviews instead of the usual once in seven years.   Angela Lim  Read More →

The recent demise of Goh Keng Swee, widely regarded as the brains behind the success of Singapore’s economic success has left the propaganda mouthpiece of PAP, The Straits Times working overtime in sprouting numerous publications of his glorified contributions to Singapore. Nevertheless, two fundamental questions are left untouched. Firstly, is it true that Goh Keng Swee is responsible for Singapore’s economic success up to the late 1980s? More importantly, has his policies been beneficial for Singaporeans in the long term? The Brain behind Singapore’s Economic Success? We do not question the academic brilliance of Dr Goh Keng Swee. He is after all a PhD graduate from the London Schools of Economics, so it is understandable that when we look for someone to attribute Singapore’s economic success, he is the most logical figure. However, despite his spectacular paper qualifications, it should be noted when Goh Keng Swee was tasked to manage Singapore’s economy he had little or no real experience in such affairs. To put it bluntly, no matter how brilliant one is, a fresh greenhorn out of school is unlikely to be solely responsible for masterminding Singapore’s economic success. Instead, this honor should go to Dr Albert Winseminus, a Dutch economist from the UN who was assigned to provide economic advice to Singapore’s leaders at the time. Dr Winseminus was qualified in terms of both paper qualifications and real life experience, and this led to his appointment as the Chief Economic Advisor to Singapore from 1964 to 1984. Therefore, it is more accurate if we give Goh Keng Swee the credit of executing Dr Winseminus plan, and it should be accurately stated that it was Winseminus plan that was responsible for Singapore’s economic success up to the late 1980s. It is interesting to note that as soon as Dr Winseminus retired from his advisory position in 1984, Goh Keng Swee stepped down from politics a year later. This coincidence of timing is curious, as it brings to question - if Goh Keng Swee did not have the advisory services of Dr Winseminus could he have single handedly propel Singapore to its current economic success today? Probably not. Perhaps a more interesting point to note is that less than a decade after Winseminus retired, Singaporeans began to experience a stagnation in the standard of living in starting from the mid-1990s, which has persistent up till today (although some may argue that our standard of living has decreased since the 1990s). If Goh Keng Swee was really the brains behind Singapore’s economy, why then did he not foresee these problems before retiring from politics or perhaps even rejoin politics to rescue Singapore from its downwards spiral during this period? National Service incepted by Goh Keng Swee While we advocate that key economic policies were proposed by Dr Winseminus and executed by Goh Keng Swee, it would be unfair to claim that he did not come up with his own initiatives. Goh Keng Swee is probably most recognized for his role as the chief architect of National Service. National Service was perhaps necessary in the turbulent times of the post-independence 1965 period, but its relevance in today’s world is fast becoming obsolete. Without digressing into the issue of whether Singapore needs a full conscript army, National Service especially in recent years have placed male Singaporeans at the losing end of the stick. Unlike foreigners, first-generation PRs and New Citizens who have no NS liability, Singaporeans’ prospects of finding employment is hindered by their NS liabilities, because employers will have to let these employees take a leave of absence for reservist call-up, IPPT and RT trainings. From an employers’ point of view, having an employee who will be absent 30 days in a year (which is almost 10% of the time) is detrimental to the company’s performance. Thus, it is no big secret that the private sector discriminates local males and prefers foreigners who are not only cheaper in terms of salary remuneration but less disruptive to the company’s workplan as well. Goh Keng Swee’s National Service brainchild is now a double whammy for male Singaporeans today. Is this something that we should be thankful for? Sovereign Wealth Funds advocated by Goh Keng Swee In the early 1980s, due to the high saving rates of today’s seniors, the Singapore government had accumulated a hefty sum of monetary reserves. It was Goh Keng Swee who advocated for the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Shortly thereafter GIC and Temasek Holdings were incorporated, and these entities invested our money in risky ventures. Not only did these sovereign wealth funds failed to produce satisfactory returns, falling short of key investment indexes like the S&P 500 index, they have yet to return a single cent to their rightful owners – Singaporeans! It is interesting to know that if those monetary reserves had been channeled back to Singaporeans (as it should be since it is our money), it would have been more than sufficient to fund a social security system to take care of our seniors that are falling short of their retirement monetary needs and provide better healthcare. Instead, thanks to Goh Keng Swee, Singapore is a country in which “it is better to dead than to be sick”, and less than half of our seniors have 50% of the CPF minimum sum! Was Goh Keng Swee really the architect of Singapore’s economic success up to the late 1980s? At best, we can credit him and Dr Alfred Winseminus both equally. At worst, Goh Keng Swee as a mere executor of Dr Winseminus economic plans for Singapore. Were all of Goh Keng Swee’s initiatives beneficial for Singaporeans? Perhaps the seniors should look at their bleak retirement prospects and healthcare monetary woes to answer this question. The younger Singaporeans should ask themselves if it was worth losing two years of the prime of their lives to NS, when other foreigners, PRs and New Citizens are able to spend those two years productively by enhancing their educational qualifications or working experience, giving them another competitive edge against the locals. Garrett Goh  Read More →

PAP ministers who have a penchant for indulging in shameless self-praise have taken their "art" to new heights this time by trumpeting their "accomplishments" to the international community. NTUC Secretary-General and PAP minister without portfolio Lim Swee Say will be sharing his unique "upturn the downturn" experience at the International Labour Organization's annual meeting in Geneva next month. Mr Lim coined the term in the midst of Singapore's recession as an "encouragement" to Singapore workers to accept pay cuts in order to help the economy tide through the difficult period of time. PAP leaders even sang an "upturn the downturn" song during a NTUC conference last year to spur Singapore workers on: While Mr Lim did not reveal that if he would be singing the song at the ILO meeting, he has expressed his intention to share Singapore's experience in coping with the downturn:   "This year, three countries have been invited to hold a special session for the International Labour Congress and these countries will represent Asia, Europe and Africa. From Asia, Singapore will be invited to share its experience in coping with the downturn. In other words, what we have done in Singapore not only benefited workers, at the same time it has attracted attention from all over the world," he was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. PAP MP and NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob is equally proud of Singapore's experience: "We wanted to make sure that the experiences such as these could be shared as there would always be new people coming on stream - human resource practitioners, union leaders, and also new staff. It will also be useful material for overseas institutions. For the union leaders and others in the IR community, it is an important reference material of how they could look at other ways of resolving disputes." It is unlikely that the Singapore experience will be applicable elsewhere as no other government in the world has the "fortune" of the PAP in having the trade unions completely under its control. There are no independent trade unions in Singapore to fight for the interests and rights of Singapore workers. The only trade union, NTUC is a pseudo-PAP organization which is always led by a PAP minister. As such, there is really no need for the PAP to step in to "resolve" any disputes between the employees and workers since the trade union movement is no more its own "labor" wing. Furthermore, repressive laws are put in place to outlaw strikes, protests and rallies thereby curtailing the civil liberties of Singapore workers. With the PAP calling all the shots, it is hardly surprising that Mr Lim is able to "upturn the downturn" at the expense of Singapore workers without sparking off massive strikes commonly seen in other developed countries.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →