Bertha Henson looks at the motion by Heng Swee Keat made in Parliament made on 5 November.
Low Thia Kiang is a decent guy who actually ran Aljunied-Hougang Town Council competently but ...Faisal Manap, as town council chairman, doesn’t have the gumption to do the right thing, that is, remove the first two from their town council posts or, at least, make sure they don’t have oversight of finances.That’s how the People’s Action Party painted the elected Workers’ Party MPs yesterday, during the debate on a motion spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Mr Heng gave examples galore, from the 11 October judgment, previous judgments and what the auditors, including the town council’s own auditor, had said about not getting access to documents and emails, particularly those surrounding the appointment of their “friends” as the town council’s managing agent after the 2011 general election.
This is the key point. Mr Heng said the residents were owed an apology. Auditors and Parliament had been consistently misled by the WP members who had maintained that the appointment was above board or had given excuses for why no tender was called. The judgment had called them out on their lies. Anybody else would have been chastened by the findings. Any company or charity would have made sure such personages had to quit or be removed from important roles, especially involving money.
Story continuesSenior Minister of State for Law Edwin Tong had got up for his turn to speak, but Mr Heng beat him to the mic to ask the Speaker for an adjournment. When Mr Pritam Singh objected, he said he needed time to consider his response to Ms Lim. Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin agreed on a 10-minute recess.
Right on cue, it was the question Mr Heng lobbed at Ms Lim when the House reconvened: Did she consider the motion subjudice? But Ms Lim wouldn’t be drawn into agreeing or disagreeing, merely sticking to her point that the appeal case might well turn up different findings of law or fact. It was something that the PAP side should have clarified right away in the beginning. After all, this was what Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam did when he raised the issue of the suicide of a teenager in Parliament in 2016, even though the case was still pending in the courts. He said he will not be liable for subjudice as the minister is also a public official.
Senior Minister of State Edwin Tong was even more detailed than Mr Heng in his exposition. He reiterated the finding that Mr Low and Ms Lim had engineered the process of appointing the managing agent, leaving other town councillors in the dark. Mr Faisal was put on the spot a few times when asked what he as town council chairman would do now in the wake of the judgment. Besides declaring his full trust in his fellow MPs, Mr Faisal also referred to the independent panel – from whom he had heard nothing. He also said that taking any action against his fellow MPs would be going against the mandate given by voters in the 2015 general election.
But this was a point that Nominated MP Walter Theseira was uncomfortable with. He said that the motion was for AHTC, a political entity of elected MPs, to take a certain course of action. “I’m uncomfortable, as a non-elected member, in participating in what may be a political resolution.” Both he and Ms Ong abstained from voting.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Two NMPs ‘uncomfortable’ with motion against WP leadersSINGAPORE: Two Nominated Members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday (Nov 5) raised concerns they had about a parliamentary motion that called for the ...
Read more »
DPM Heng's motion on AHTC is 'premature': Sylvia LimSINGAPORE — Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat appeared to fumble while defending a Parliamentary motion to censure the Workers’ Party (WP), even as WP chairperson Sylvia Lim labelled his motion relating to a High Court judgement on the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) saga “premature”.
Read more »
Parliamentary motion to call on AHTC requiring Sylvia Lim, Low Thia Khiang to recuse themselves from financial mattersSINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will introduce a motion in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 5) calling for Aljunied-Hougang Town Council ...
Read more »
Formula 1: Verstappen stirs up Ferrari over engine commentsFerrari have responded angrily after Red Bull driver Max Verstappen suggested the Italian team's poor performance at the U.S. Grand Prix was ...
Read more »
Britain's Jacob Rees-Mogg apologises for comment on 'common sense' of Grenfell fire victimsLONDON (REUTERS) - British government minister Jacob Rees-Mogg apologised on Tuesday (Nov 5) after he suggested that victims of the blaze at London's Grenfell Tower should have used common sense to ignore firefighters' instructions to stay in the burning building.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »