Is Minister Khaw Boon Wan worthy of his million dollar pay package?

One of our million dollar ministers, Mr. Khaw Boon Wan tried to get himself out of a trouble by telling a legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in the parliament. All over the world, from the ancient Greece till now, including North Korea, parliament has always been a solemn place for serious discussions of national issues, but KBW’s act does not seem serious enough. It now begs the question of whether he is worthy of his million dollar pay package.

I would like to look into how he handled some of the problems occurred during his tenure as the MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, the minister for MOH and the minister for MND, and we may have some ideas to evaluate his worthiness.

NKF Scandal – Health Minister

When there were allegations of misuse of NKF funds by T. T. Durai, the whole of PAP government and its nonchalant civil service did nothing to stop Durai from using NKF funds to sue the whistle-blowers who inevitably apologised and paid compensations to NKF for the simple reason that they did not have the financial strength to fight Durai in court.

MOH is the regulator of NKF and KBW was then the minister for MOH. Just because T.T. Durai was a top campaigner for fundraising, MOH simply turned a blind eye to the complaints raised by those whistle-blowers. Was MOH blinded by the huge amount of donations to NKF, or by Durai’s extraordinary talent of raising funds, or by something else?

The whole of MOH, from top to bottom, was actively sleeping on the job, they did not initiate even the least investigations into the allegations of misuse of NKF funds despite huge amounts of public donations were at stake. MOH did not need to send a James Bond to Durai’s office to check on his golden tap, or to check with the airlines on his First Class air tickets, just anyone with normal IQ equipped with an investigative power should be competent enough to carry out the job well.

As a result of Durai’s win in his legal threats against those whistle-blowers, the public trust in NKF remained intact and donations to NKF continued as usual providing more funds for Durai to exploit. Until one fine day, when similar allegations were made by the ST who has a deep pocket just like what NKF does, all rumours turned out to be true and confirmed by the court in open hearings which turned the tide of public trust in NKF.

There was a massive backlash and fallout of donors to the charity fund. Moreover, red paint was splashed at NKF’s headquarters which was also vandalised with graffiti. In spite of being the regulator of NKF, no officials from MOH had stepped forward to claim responsibility and apologise to the public. KBW only accompanied Durai to appear in the press conference announcing the resignation of the entire board of NKF.

Lehman Brothers Minibonds Fiasco – MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC

8 PAP run town councils, Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang, Tanjong Pagar, Holland-Bukit Panjang, Marine Parade, Tampines, Pasir Ris-Punggol, Aljunied and Hong Kah had invested huge amounts of their residents’ sinking funds in the Lehman Brothers Minibonds and suffered heavy losses in 2009.

KBW was the MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC from 2001 to 2006. The investments of Lehman Brothers Minibonds could possibly be made between 2001 and 2006. Did KBW say anything about such wrong investments? Teo Ho Pin defended those PAP TCs’ investment strategy, saying the funds were diversified across deposits, securities and other financial products. What kind of stupid argument was that?

TC’s sinking funds are not assets of the wealthy families, but that of the middle and lower classes of our society. Their risk apatite is certainly the smallest. If I am not wrong, all investment advisers are required to assess and ascertain the risk apatite of his client before he could put forward any investment proposals. Did the 8 PAP TC assess and ascertain the risk apatite of their residents who are the real owners of the sinking funds under their management? Or, did their investment advisers did the assessment on behalf of the TCs?

KBW has been the minister for MND since 2011, did he order an investigation into this? It is not that there is no low risks investments around. There have always been some almost risks free investment opportunities in Singapore, such as fixed deposits with any of the local banks, as well as the high yield shares of SMRT and SBS who have the “emperor’s decree” to increase fares whenever they grumble that profits are not enough.

Heartless Proposal of JB Nursing Home for the Elderly – Health Minister

On 9th Feb 2009, KBW suggested that Singaporeans might consider staying at a nursing home in neighbouring Johor where prices were lower. You may check it out from this link:
http://singaporenewsalternative.blogspot.sg/2009/02/nursing-home-in-jb-remark-only.html

I am deeply troubled. When I am old, what if my children heed his inventive advice to end me up in JB? I served 2 and a half years full-time NS, and 20 years of reservist in-camp trainings which I think KBW did not perform. I have been paying all my taxes and do not owe the government one single cent. I also have my CPF minimum sum and Medisave locked in.

One fine day when I become too old and unable to work, given his inventive suggestion, KBW does not want me to stay around in Singapore, but JB! Does it mean once a Singaporean reaches his or her expiry date of usefulness, he or she shall be dumped out of the country irrespective of his or her lifetime contributions to the nation building? Is KBW’s suggestion inventive or heartless? Is it not the government’s duty to take good care of its citizens, especially those elderly and needy? The thought of putting your elder citizens in JB should never ever exist in the minds of our ministers!

Hospital Bed Crunch – Health Minister

From 2007 to 2015, total hospital beds in Singapore are scheduled to be increased by 1,288 when population would be increased by 941,000. In government hospitals, the increase is only 980 beds by July 2015. 700 beds will be from the new Ng Teng Fong Hospital and 280 beds will be from the new integrated building Changi General Hospital shares with St. Andrew’s Community Hospital.

The quantum of foreigners to be allowed to stay in Singapore is not a small matter and is always a long term strategy of the government. Such matter must have been discussed during one or several of the cabinet meetings. Why have there been insufficient hospital beds since 2014? All of us know that erections of large scale hospitals need many years of planning and construction, so the hospital bed crunch exploded in 2014 should trace back to the incompetent planning during KBW’s tenure with the MOH between 2006 and 2011. Similarly, the congestion in all the polyclinics are also proof of his ineffective planning capability.

AIM Saga – MND Minister

On 23rd January 2015, PAP issued a statement that Mr. Zaqy Mohamad chose to opt out of its CEC due to conflict of interest. Mr. Zaqy was of the opinion that he could not be a CEC member of PAP and an employee of the auditor of PAP at the same time. This is certainly a gentleman act well respected by all Singaporeans.

On 8th January 2013, PM LHL ordered a review by the MND on the business transactions involving all the PAP managed Town Councils and AIM, a company owned by the PAP. At that point in time, the minister for MND was KBW, the chairman of PAP was also KBW, we have no idea whether the thought of “conflict of interest” had ever crossed his mind, but the fact remains that he has said nothing about it and had not acted on it till today.

If KBW were to stand side by side with Mr. Zaqy, would he look “taller” or “smaller”? Why didn’t he advise his PM to order an independent COI to be conducted by a group of professionals comprising of judges, lawyers and accountants, including those from the oppositions? If the members of the COI are not required to report to KBW, would it end up with different findings? In fact, there are more problems with the AIM saga. The MND review report presented to the parliament by KBW pointed out that the intent of the Town Councils Act was to give the elected MPs:

as much latitude as possible ………..… within broad and general rules.

In the administration of the Act, latitude has always been given to MPs, across political parties, to exercise autonomy in their judgment on such matters as to how to best achieve their agenda and serve their residents’ interest, …………..

Evidently, the MND is of the view that the PAP MPs have the free hand to do anything as they like so as to best achieve PAP’s agenda and serve their residents, even the public funded TC management software could be sold to their own private company at a fraction of the original costs. KBW seemed to forget that the management software sold to AIM was partly paid and jointly owned by the residents of Aljunied and Bedok Reservoir GRC, and all TCs are in fact mere managers of the software. When the manager of a company sold the assets of his employer to his own family business at a low price, which is far incompatible with the replacement cost, he is certainly a questionable manager even if he has properly documented the transaction so that the law would be on his side.

Upon PAP’s election defeat in the Aljunied and Bedok Reservoir GRC, that software was withdrawn in accordance to the terms and conditions of the rental contract between AIM and the PAP run TCs, denying the rights of the genuine owners who had paid their shares of the costs. In Sim Lim Square, a Vietnamese tourist paid for a phone he purchased, but was denied the ownership of it because of a well-designed contract, with a clause of service fee, he had signed with the phone seller. If the immoral Sim Lim Square phone seller who did not violate any laws could be condemned, why not AIM?