It's a sad day when the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) is roped into the shenanigans of the political foray. The bureaucrats should remember that they are civil servants first and foremost, and they are accountable to the government of the day, and governments do change. In 1997, Law Minister S. Jayakumar directed then Attorney General Chan Sek Keong to express a legal opinion on the Workers' Party complaint about Goh Chok Tong, Dr Tony Tan and Brigadier-General (NS) Lee Hsien Loong being caught inside a Cheng San GRC polling station on Polling Day. The conclusion, "while it is illegal to be within 200 metres of a polling station unless you are voting, IT IS NOT ILLEGAL IF YOU ARE INSIDE" will continue to haunt the parties involved for a long long time.
In the AGO's highlights of the "lapses" in the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) accounts for Financial Year 2012-13, most were qualified comments e.g. "as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules", "inadequate oversight", "no assurance that arrears are properly managed". These are accusations easily turned on a subject closer to the citizens' hearts, after all the original CPF rules did require that full withdrawal is available at age 55. And we are yet to be comforted that there is adequate oversight and proper assurance that our life savings are properly invested and managed. How did they put it? When you point a finger at someone, many more at pointing backwards at yourself.
AHPETC is wise to choose to give its response in Parliament, since a motion filed to debate the matter on Thursday 12 February 2015. That way the wild accusations will be recorded in the Hansard for posterity. Only kids resort to Facebook postings to trade barbs.
In the AGO's highlights of the "lapses" in the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) accounts for Financial Year 2012-13, most were qualified comments e.g. "as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules", "inadequate oversight", "no assurance that arrears are properly managed". These are accusations easily turned on a subject closer to the citizens' hearts, after all the original CPF rules did require that full withdrawal is available at age 55. And we are yet to be comforted that there is adequate oversight and proper assurance that our life savings are properly invested and managed. How did they put it? When you point a finger at someone, many more at pointing backwards at yourself.
AHPETC is wise to choose to give its response in Parliament, since a motion filed to debate the matter on Thursday 12 February 2015. That way the wild accusations will be recorded in the Hansard for posterity. Only kids resort to Facebook postings to trade barbs.