Under The Angsana Tree: The AHPETC Saga

Update 1 Nov 2018: Audit cases reported by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) from 2012 to 2017

The landmark Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) trial centers around the alleged mismanagement of public monies by Workers' Party (WP) leaders. Since so much attention, effort and money that has gone into this matter since 2012, I couldn't help but wonder — what was the scale of WP's alleged mismanagement relative to AGO's audit findings for all government agencies?

As a Singaporean, I'd like to have an objective assessment of how much of our taxpayer's money was mismanaged, regardless of who mismanaged it. Since AGO audit issues are published yearly, I took a data-driven approach and measured the size and scale of Worker's Party's audit lapses vis-a-vis all other audit cases listed by AGO from 2012 to 2017. (You can read about my data-gathering and data-processing approach in detail)

This articles hopes to summarize 5 years' worth of AGO reports (and perhaps several weeks' worth of time of reading them) into a 5-minute article.

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CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS

Looking back on the last few financial years since the Workers’ Party (WP) took over the management of the town in 2011, the challenges faced were daunting.

1 Financial Accounting System Software
2 Limited Choice of Service Providers / Vendors
3 Higher Cost of Major Contracts
4 Overdue Works to Implement

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What you should know about the AHPETC-AIM saga

PAP headquarters in Bedok, home of AIM

With the elections coming, I decided to pen this article about the whole AHPETC saga. So far the articles that have been written have always been about the accounting lapses and what not. But none of them were written from an IT perspective. (Maybe no more SG IT professionals since all of them are replaced by FT, including me)

This is what we know so far.
The town council system that was used previously by the old Aljunied is a S$24 million software solution and it was sold to AIM for S$140,000.

I wasn’t involved in the project nor am I a member of WP. But anybody who has done Application Development projects with the government will know this is a huge project and it will probably involve hundreds of developers and testers, a couple of Project Managers and more Business Analysts. The size of the project tells me that they are using Oracle database (its license can easily reach $1million at least).

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The AIM-AHPETC saga re-visited

THE PAP TCs SOLD THEIR FINANCIAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE — WHICH IS AT THE HEART OF THEIR EVERYDAY CORE FUNCTIONS AND WHICH WAS DEVELOPED AT HUGE COST OF MILLION OF DOLLARS — FOR A MERE PITTANCE TO AIM (A $2 COMPANY) , AND THEN IN RETURN SIGNED A SERVICE CONTRACT WITH AIM, PAYING AIM FOR THE USE OF THE PACKAGE TO RUN THEIR TCs!

I do not see the commercial or operational logic behind this, if there is any.

So what could have been the ‘aim’ of this? Nobody seems to know why nor cared to explain themselves. Perhaps, the TCs are too lazy/busy to administer and maintain the package themselves or, maybe not one among them felt competent enough to do this or, this is another golden opportunity for them to make money for the party or for some of their numbers who are ex-MPs (who set up AIM).

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What you need to know about the AHPETC saga

Singapore's lead opposition party, the Workers' Party, runs a town council overseeing all the constituencies it now represents, called the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council(AHPETC). In an ongoing saga, the AHPETC has been facing questions over, among others, its management of its accounts, as well as the collection of its service and conservancy charges (S&CC).

Minister of Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam had directed the Auditor-General's Office to conduct an independent financial audit into AHPETC's accounts. The report was released to the public on 9 February.

What did the Auditor-General's report say? The report found five key lapses in the AHPETC's accounts:
1. Lack of governance over transactions with related parties;
2. Poor monitoring of S&CC arrears;
3. Poor record and accounting system;
4. Non-compliance with rules on sinking fund;
5. Insufficient internal controls

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AHPETC projects pulled because of bust budgets - 'unfair' to blame CCCs, says MND

Some projects to upgrade neighbourhood facilities in the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) had to be cut as costs exceeded the approved budget, and not because the ward was run by the Opposition - a "mischievous distortion", said Minister of State for National Development Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman on Wednesday (Mar 11).

However, Workers' Party MP Pritam Singh "rejected" the accusation, and instead called for a more open forum where project funding can be discussed without political bias.

Dr Maliki had said it was "unfair" of Mr Singh to blame Citizens’ Consultative Committees (CCCs) for the time it took to work with the town council on neighbourhood projects.

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WP-run town council accused of ignoring rules

The Ministry of National Development already has a system to deal with disputes between residents and town councils, said Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee, rejecting a call by Workers' Party chair Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) for a tribunal to deal with them.

A town council cannot only accept decisions or rules that suit it and disregard the inconvenient, Mr Lee said, citing the repeated refusal of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) to repair a resident's letterbox despite reminders from the HDB. AHPETC even wanted residents to maintain and repair their own letterboxes, he added.

Also, AHPETC has been leasing public spaces at Hougang Central Hub and Kovan City to businessmen for profit, against HDB guidelines that control the frequency of such activities to mitigate the impact on shopkeepers, Mr Lee said.

related: Maliki rebuts Pritam on upgrading bias

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8 questions swing voters will have after the AHPETC saga

Only two concrete results were observed after the several hours long parliamentary debate over the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) saga last week.

First, all 85 MPs present, including the nine WP MPs, voted in support of the motion that noted with concern the Auditor-General’s (AGO) Report on the AHPETC and its findings.
Second, Workers’ Party (WP) Chairman Sylvia Lim would try her best to submit AHPETC’s audited accounts to the Ministry of National Development (MND) by the June 30 deadline. In a Yahoo News report yesterday (Feb. 18), many residents living under the AHPETC management were little affected by the debate.

So does this saga matter to Singaporeans and more specifically the swing voters in Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC and Punggol East SMC?

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AHPETC saga: Why I think WP won

A TRE reader asked me why I think WP won the AHPETC debate in Parliament and vehemently disagreed with me.

See for yourself. Throughout the entire debate, all 7 WP MPs who spoke made zero factual errors. They bothered to check their facts. On the other side, only 3 PAP cabinet ministers (not just MPs but ministers) spoke on the topic and 2 already made one major error each.

Mr K Shanmugam produced incorrect MA rates and admitted he did not check them. Mr Heng Swee Keat gave an illustration of WP NCMP Yee Jenn Jong’s non-existent encounter with a “ghost resident”.

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AHPETC saga: The Missing Final Arrow

I have been following the intriguing saga at Workers Party’s Aljunied Town Council.

Call it what you want – mudslinging by PAP, pot calling kettle black… but this is one thing you can’t deny: Low Thia Khiang’s persistent evasion of the core issues.

What exactly are they talking about? What is really ok and what’s not?

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State should manage town council finances

It is sad that our ministers and Members of Parliament spent two days debating a town council’s alleged mishandling of accounts and unlawful acts. (“Unanimous support in House for tougher standards on TCs”; Feb 14)

I call for the state to put all town councils under its rule. Public funds should not be left in the hands of privately run outfits, big or small. A new state-established division should manage the financial aspect of town councils while they perform their other duties.

Residents would then have peace in mind and not wonder if they are being ripped off for their estate operations and the cleanliness of their surroundings.

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Municipal arguments shouldn't come at expense of bigger discussions

It doesn’t make sense for MPs to have to grapple with all the mundane nitty-gritty of town council management. Nor does it make sense for the management of town councils to undergo such an upheaval when a new party takes over. It’s a waste of time, energy and resources to find new managing agents, and to build new software and administrative infrastructure. All this should already be in place, and remain in place despite local shifts in power.

The recent AHPETC saga is not the only time national politics has been sacrificed for municipal matters. It happens all the time. Discussions of big ideals, principles and values have been lost to petty little quarrels over details and decimal points. Elections – the best time for a country to come together for a conversation on big issues – often become about HDB lift upgrades, the colour of HDB blocks and community centre trips to Universal Studios (and this was an actual election promise I’d heard at a rally in 2011).

There is no doubt that municipal issues are important, and that town councils need to be transparent and open about where public funds are going. But these shouldn’t come at the expense of discussion of important national policies that need a better airing in Parliament. Singaporeans deserve to have the big issues – such as human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of information, and if we’re feeling brave and progressive, LGBT rights – receive a real, substantial debate, just as much as we need to argue over town council fees in Parliament.

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Town councils to be depoliticised

When Low Thia Khiang called for town councils to be depoliticised, he did not mean town councils should not come under the purview of elected Members of Parliament. He was only making a point that Managing Agents (MAs) serving PAP-run town councils are unwilling to serve as MAs in non-PAP TCs. There are however some town councils (like Bishan-Toa Payoh) which are managed without MAs.

In the Westminster system, people of a constituency elect a representative to represent their interests in Parliament. E.g. if there are no buses, or no proper roads, etc, these reps in Parliament bring up the concerns of the constituents in the House. This does not mean that they do not participate in discussions/debates of wider national interests in the House.

So, the elected MP is tasked to be responsible for both municipal AND national-policy issues.

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Town Councils should be managed by third-party entity: NSP

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) on Tuesday (Feb 17) called on the Government to consider allowing Town Councils to be managed by a statutory board or a centralised agency, following the recent debate in Parliament on how the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) was managed by the Workers' Party (WP).

WP chief Low Thia Khiang said in Parliament last week that the process of transition for Town Councils should be depoliticised, following the Auditor-General's report on AHPETC. He also called upon the Government to protect residents' interests during the transition from one party to another.

NSP said in its press release that by having a third-party to manage the Town Council, residents can enjoy continuity in who manages the town should there be changes in town councillors, and lower service and conservancy charges (S&CC) from economies of scale.

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The Conundrum of AIM's Role in the AHPETC Audit Report

What started well for the PAP Government in the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) exposure of the so-called major lapses of the AHPETC in the financial management and governance of its town council has now gradually become counter-productive to the PAP for going overboard in their frenzied attacks of the Workers' Party on these issues. In the midst of their massive swoop on the WP, the PAP wallahs simply glossed over the role played by AIM in the whole controversy. The unfortunate situation would not have arisen if it were not for the sudden intentional withdrawal of the software system of AHPETC resulting in major disruption of its management. They faced immense difficulty and despair in the limited time available to re-assemble a workable system in order to prevent a collapse of the administration.

Singaporeans, until now, find it hard to comprehend how three PAP MPs could own AIM (Action Information Management), a $2/- payout company that bought over town council software for $140,000 when the development cost at public expense totalled $23.8 million. And this PAP company is used to deprive the AHPETC of the use of its software. The AGO has either not been aware of AIM's role in the controversy which is unlikely or for some unknown reason simply avoided giving prominence to its role in it which could be significant.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) was tasked by the Prime Minister to carry out a review of the AIM scandal over its questionable purchase by the three PAP MPs but, as expected, the MND reported that nothing was amiss. So quite merrily, AIM could go on with impunity with its nefarious task of depriving the opposition in the use of its software should they find themselves in the invidious situation of taking over a town council in an election victory.

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PAP vs. WP AHPETC Audit Circus

Member of Parliament Hri Kumar Nair said, in conjunction with the debate in Parliament on Auditor-General's Office's Audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council, that the people he discussed the matter with kept telling him not to attack The Workers' Party ("WP") because they will only get more sympathy. But he couldn't get his head around that.

He should have heeded their advice and cautioned his colleagues to refrain from going overboard.

In conclusion, Messrs Khaw, Shanmugam and Heng were so intent on capitalising on AHPETC's mistakes in handling its financial affairs and painting a picture of AHPETC's incompetence that they ended up looking rather silly.

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Parliament, The Latest TV Drama

Watching parliament sitting on TV has become like watching a long-running drama series. Politicians are the actors. The twists and turns in the storyline are melodramatic. There are so many holes in the plots that, you tell yourself, to enjoy the show, just stand back a little and don’t try to dissect the story too much.

The problem is, this is not a TV drama. This is the Singapore parliament. I don’t foresee ours becoming like that of Taiwan’s, but it seems our political leaders are striving to earn themselves some distinction for best performing actor. The way the MPs and ministers speak, it’s like they are competing in a national debate tournament, you know, the kind for school kids to compete in.

I’m saddened that our politics has become a big wayang show. In the ideal world, we should all be working together for the better of Singapore. We should all be working together so the future generations will inherit a better Singapore. Perhaps if the ruling party could focus all their efforts in that direction, instead of apportioning some toward fixing the opposition, we could have achieved more progress. The opposition could also focus on running their town councils better, instead of spending their time and effort in less productive work.

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What is the role of a MP?

The role of an MP is about law making, about national issues and policies, about running the country, about serving the people. It is definitely not about running a Town Council. A Town Council, or whatever you choose to call it, must be a public service not different from other govt services. The people did not vote an MP to run Town Councils and be involved in the nitty gritty details that he has no time for more important matters like attending in Parliament. An MP can head a Town Council, to give it direction, to make sure it run well to serve the people. But the operations of the Town Council must be managed by a team of professionals, not a mix match team to be brought together after an election without continuity.

The MP can be there to ensure that the Town Council serves the people fairly and equally. He should be out of the administrative role, to take the Town Council to task if it does not serve the people and not be taken to task as an administrator of the Town Council. It would be very tough it the MP, a politician, may he be a lawyer, a doctor, a vet, a singer, a soldier, or whatever, be made to run a Town Council as his primary duty.

An MP’s primary duty is in the Parliament. If he cannot be in Parliament, he should not be a Member of Parliament. If he is absent from Parliament most of the time, if he his bogged down by the routine of running a Town Council, how can he serve effectively as a Member of Parliament? You don’t call an MP a Town Council Chairman or Manager, but a Member of Parliament. The people did not go to the polling station to elect a Town Council Manager. They went to the polls to elect their representatives to the Parliament.

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The Democratic Dream

A lot have been said about the AHPETC saga for the past weeks and both PAP people and WP people have been trading massive punches and blows at each other. Regrettably too much public resources have been wasted in parliament to debate on such primarily municipal issue.

But I guess PAP has always been very bad ruling party with bad governance practices embedded in its management of Singapore. WP people have pointed out such glaring bad examples and rightfully so, it is just the pot calling the kettle black.

However, two wrong doesn't make one right. Both PAP and WP deserve a big tight slap on their heads.

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Residents mostly shrug off AHPETC debate

Residents living in Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East mostly appear little affected by the fierce debate in Parliament last week on the financial statements of their opposition-run town council.

Yahoo Singapore spoke to residents from these constituencies over the weekend and found that, while a few have since had a sharp negative change in their views of the Workers' Party or the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), many were unconcerned.

This comes after two days of fiery exchanges in Parliament between Members of Parliament of ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and the WP over the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO's) findings of lapses in the AHPETC's financial accounts.

related:
Dramatic things people said
Day 1 of the debate
Even more dramatic things people said
Day 2 of the debate]

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AHPETC in Parliament and the politics of stupidity

Two whole days were spent niggling over the finances of a single town council, with various Ministers taking the stand to chastise, lambast, accuse and denigrate the effectiveness and integrity of the Workers’ Party Members of Parliament in charge of AHPETC, who then had to defend themselves against these allegations. That was followed up by countless media reports, and even all the way to this week, we can hear the topic being discussed on national radio. The circus continues

In spite of all the red marks AHPETC received in its annual town council audits by MND, to question the effectiveness of its leaders is very different from questioning their integrity. In fact, putting the same spotlight of scrutiny that AGO had on any other town council might have yielded similar results.

What is of national concern, however, was not given the air time it deserves in Parliament. We are talking about many millions more, given to the government led by the ruling People’s Action Party for the management of the nation, yet with clear transgressions of proper accountability. We are talking about yet another report by AGO, this time on the financial irregularities in government agencies. This is not money given to one town council, but money that an entire nation of tax-payers had entrusted to the government. Were any of these financial issues debated as robustly as AHPETC’s finances

We should also note that Mr Khaw’s own Ministry had more recently been called into question for oversights in tendering the Fernvale temple and columbarium. Amazingly, Mr Khaw was allowed to explain this away by making references to, of all things, Chinese folklore.

related: Cutting through the smog to the facts on AHPETC

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Questions have become very political

I was quite disappointed with some of the questions thrown by the MPs in parliament because any one can see that some of the questions are GE questions and are just repetition of the answers already given in the written form. Some thoughts:

Certification of payment is different from approval of payment. Certifying a payment just means that the OIC is certifying that goods / services have been delivered so payment can be made. AGO audit did not uncover any instances of mis-certification of payment
Comparing the cost of the PAP town council system against their system is comparing apples vs oranges. The PAP town council system is established, used by many town councils and have economies of scale. If you need to build a system from ground-up and its only used by a couple of town councils, obviously it's going to be more expensive. Moreover, with all that talk, that company that manages that town council system did not even make a bid. The comparison is useless.
There was only one instance of overpayment which was acknowledged by the chairman of WP. Just because a system is more expensive than the other doesn't mean that they are being overcharged.

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The AHPETC Saga

When I watched the intensive debate in Parliament regarding the AHPETC saga between the current PAP and Workers' Party, my first thought is PAP members should look at themselves first.

First I was shocked by Mr Khaw's comment on japanese practice of committing suicide whenever they make a mistake. He said, “In Japan, the chairman or CEO will call a press con, take a deep bow and in the good old days they may even commit ‘harakiri’.” If this is what he implicitly suggested, then many pap elected politicians would be committing suicide. Till now, I am frustrated by the lack of accountability from pap town councils who lost more than $8 million dollars on bad investment on minibonds. His comment is irresponsible and might influence our youth to commit suicide if they did not pass their examinations. Also with no accountability from pap, I am wondering if they are using taxpayers money to invest in high risk investment or simply say with no experience in investment it is like gambling with taxpayers' money.

Anyway this saga is reminding me of pap failure.

AIM saga
More than $8million dollars lost of investment by pap town councils
Breakdown of MRT
Mas Selamat's escape
Lower CPF interest compared to Malaysia
Little India riot (import too many foreigners) and building so many apartments that are still empty.
Gross overbudget of Youth olympics
Lousy sports stadiums with low quality grass and bad shelter

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MPs debate "Lapses in Governance And Compliance"

THE Auditor-General's Office (AGO) has found several major lapses in the governance of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) run by the opposition Workers' Party (WP).

The AGO concluded in a report released on Monday: "Until the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC's accounts are accurate and reliable, or that public funds are being properly spent, accounted for and managed."

Observers told The Business Times that the "damning" findings will inevitably create a dent in the public's confidence in the WP, and urged the government to strengthen its powers for regulatory oversight. Several of these commentators described the existing Town Councils Act as "toothless".

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Lapses in Governance And Compliance

Summary of Key Observations by the Auditor-General’s Office