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Comments on AHPETC arrears situation regrettable: Sylvia Lim

SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim today (Dec 12) labelled the comments from government leaders on the under-fire Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) “regrettable”, as the public exchange between both sides continued into its third straight day this week.

TODAY file photo

TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim today (Dec 12) labelled the comments from government leaders on the under-fire Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) “regrettable”, as the public exchange between both sides continued into its third straight day this week.

The arrears in service and conservancy charges (S&CC) chalked up in AHPETC was first flagged early last month, and the matter has been put under scrutiny by ministers, who have called out the WP’s silence as an issue of accountability and transparency.

In a statement today, Ms Lim, who also chairs AHPETC, reiterated that her party would account for the arrears to the public, but only in due course, as they had repeatedly said. She also hit out at the comments made by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) since the saga broke out.

“It is instructive to note the various positions taken by the PAP. When we said we would explain to the public the S&CC arrears in due course, this was sarcastically labelled ‘the sound of silence’. When we explained to the public the circumstances under which AHPETC was unable to submit the S&CC arrears report in the format demanded and that the Ministry of National Development had refused to accept our S&CC arrears submission in our own data format, this was labelled as ‘making excuses’,” she said. “Seeing such responses from the Government is regrettable. We will leave it to the public to make its own judgment.”

Ms Lim was referring to an article written by Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong, which was published in The Straits Times on Wednesday, as well as comments made yesterday by Minister of State (National Development), Mr Desmond Lee, respectively.

Mr Wong had written that the WP’s silence on the matter suggested there were bigger problems lurking in the background, while Mr Lee called AHPETC’s delay in answering the queries that have been thrown up “a series of excuses”.

Ms Lim, however, viewed Mr Lee’s comments as a shift in position. “After accusing AHPETC and the WP of not being accountable and transparent on the issue of S&CC arrears, Mr Lee now does not deny that the accusation was a non-starter.”

Noting that AHPETC had said it was facilitating the audit of its accounts and systems by the Auditor-General’s Office and that its annual audited accounts would be published, Ms Lim said: “Mr Lee has now shifted his position to say that ‘the WP is relying on the government to check them, instead of taking responsibility themselves for accounting to the public what they have done or have not done’.”

She also reiterated that in her statement yesterday, AHPETC had noted that the PAP would be the first to hold it to account in the event of any issues and said the Government had “all the investigative arms within its disposal to hold the WP to account on any matter under the sun”.

In response to Ms Lim’s latest statement, Mr Lee said: “I’m afraid I found it difficult to understand Ms Sylvia Lim’s statement. For instance, why does she think I said accountability and transparency are ‘non starters’? I never said any such thing.”

He added: “On the contrary, accountability and transparency are key in this matter. And Ms Lim’s failure to respond to any of the questions people have about AHPETC shows that it is precisely accountability and transparency that are missing in the Workers’ Party’s dealings with Aljunied residents and Singaporeans in general.”

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