WP criticised for making ‘flimsy’ excuses for AHPETC’s lapses

SINGAPORE — People’s Action Party parliamentarians came out strongly against the Workers’ Party (WP) today (Feb 13) over its running of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) and accused it of trying to dodge blame for the lapses uncovered by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO).

Describing AHPETC as a “house in disarray”, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, took aim at the WP’s “lax attitude” in managing the town council’s sinking fund, as he echoed his party colleagues’ warning that its residents will suffer in the long run as a result.

The opposition party has also thrown up excuses instead of accounting for the deficiencies flagged in the audit, said Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar Nair, adding that it had even tried to paint a misleading picture that no wrongdoing was found.

On the second day of debates on the AGO’s findings on AHPETC, Mr Hri Kumar slammed the WP for giving a “flimsy excuse” in saying its struggles to find a managing agent was why it appointed a company owned by the town council’s staff. Some of the other town councils have managed to run their towns themselves without a managing agent, he said.

Mr Hri Kumar also took issue with AHPETC’s responses to the AGO’s observations, namely that the mistakes and omissions detected were due to inadvertence, human error, IT system constraints and a lack of experience in dealing with certain scenarios.

Dismissing these as “blase” responses, Mr Hri Kumar said AHPETC was instead misleadingly spinning the report as an “endorsement” that there was no wrongdoing.

“The AGO report does not by any stretch confirm ... that there has been no criminal or dishonest activity. Rather, it says that it does not know, because of the way AHPETC has mismanaged its operations,” he said, adding that the town council had failed to submit the documents required for a thorough audit.

Mr Hri Kumar also said that while WP parliamentarians have reiterated during the debate that they are for transparency and accountability, they have “carefully avoided” assuring the House that no public funds under their care had been lost, misappropriated or unaccounted for.

“I do not know if there is a statute of limitations for excuses, but they must have long exceeded it,” he chided.

The AGO’s finding that AHPETC was, on several occasions, late or short in transferring money into its sinking fund warranted concern, said Mr Liang, who also called for a division bell during voting on the motion, “given the seriousness of the issue”.

The consequences of a mismanaged sinking fund may not be seen in the short term, he added, but in time, residents will suffer as they are getting the short end of the stick.

Calling on the town councillors to carry out their fiduciary duties, Mr Liang also noted that AHPETC had “flip-flopped and reported wide swings in services and conservancy charges arrears numbers”, rendering its data unreliable.

He added that the processes in AHPETC were far from the practices expected from organisations such as town councils, which are funded by public monies and run by elected members.

“These are practices that would not even find their place in a Third-World Parliament,” said Mr Liang, in reference to the WP’s election slogan in 2011 of building a First-World Parliament.

Mr Liang and Mr Hri Kumar said members of the public had told them not to “attack” and “bully” the opposition party, but they said the debate was necessary because public monies were at stake.

“How can anyone in good conscience ignore or downplay (AHPETC’s lapses)? ... Why should the WP be let off easy just because they are the Opposition?” asked Mr Hri Kumar.

Mr Liang added: “What we are concerned about is public money and that the WP is bullying its own residents.”