MORE SACRED COWS TO SLAUGHTER

By Nigel Tan

 

Chief Editor

 

 

Following on from the radical reshuffle that saw Messrs Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong, Wong Kan Seng and Mah Bow Tan excluded from the new cabinet and the appointment of a committee to review ministerial salaries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s efforts to transform the image of the PAP continued in earnest with his issuance of a 37-point document titled “Rules of Prudence for PAP MPs”. The internal document, which was released to the media in the interests of transparency, spelt out PM Lee’s expectations with regards to the conduct of his 81 MPs.

 

In the document, PM Lee spelt out that PAP MPs should not do their grassroots leaders any personal favours which might be perceived by the public as pork-barrel politicking. In addition, he also highlighted the issue of conflict of interest, stating that MPs should contemplate this seriously before accepting directorship offers from companies – and reject the offer if they have any doubts about their own ability to manage such conflicts .

 

SELECTED PARAGRAPHS FROM PM LEE’S “RULES OF PRUDENCE”     5.  The PAP’s reputation for clean, incorruptible government is one of our most precious assets. As PAP MPs, your standing in society reflects this high standing of the Party as a whole. I cannot stress strongly enough that every MP must uphold the rigorous standards that we have set for ourselves, and do nothing to compromise them. Never give cause for accusations that you are misusing your position, especially your access to Ministers. This would discredit both you and the Party.   6.  As MPs, you will come across many different sorts of people. Some will be altruistic, public spirited people who will help you without wanting anything in return, spending their time and money to get community projects going and to serve your residents. But a few will cultivate you in order to obtain benefits for themselves or their companies, to gain respectability by association with you, or to get you to influence ministries and statutory boards to make decisions in their favour. Gift hampers on festive occasions, entertainment, and personal favours big and small are just a few of countless social lubricants which such people use to ingratiate themselves to MPs and make you obligated to them.

 

Corruption can be defined in many ways. The most classic form of corruption is graft – or the receiving of bribes in return for official favours. In the past, the PAP has adopted a zero-tolerance approach towards this form of corruption, and has derived its “incorruptible” reputation largely due to its efforts in combatting graft. Even the former cabinet minister Teh Cheang Wan was not spared – he was investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for allegedly taking bribes amounting to $800,000 in total. He committed suicide before he could be brought to court, maintaining his innocence but stating that as an “honourable Oriental gentleman”, he had decided to “pay the highest penalty”.

 

However, corruption is not just limited to graft. Nepotism and cronyism, the practice of giving favourable treatment to one’s own family members or friends respectively, are also forms of corruption which could potentially serve to damage the PAP’s standing in the eyes of the public.

 

 

 

Blood Is Thicker Than Water?

 

The PAP has always had to contend with murmurings on the ground with regards to nepotism and cronyism. These issues have never been openly dealt with at length, although senior party leaders have been quick to dismiss such talk. Of course, PM Lee is the son of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister and founding father. When asked by a foreign journalist in Davos, Switzerland in 1999 whether his son would be Deputy Prime Minister (as he then was), the elder Mr Lee replied: “If he were not my son, he would be the Prime Minister. He came up faster than any of the others, but I told him it would do him no good.”

 

Certainly, the fact that Mr Lee Hsien Loong eventually became Prime Minister in 2004 does not mean that there is nepotism within the PAP. After all, President George W. Bush of the United States was the son of President George H. W. Bush. In addition, current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton. No one seems to feel that there was anything improper there.

 

However, it is not just PM Lee that people on the ground take issue with. They also point out that Ho Ching, the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings, is PM Lee’s wife, and for a brief period reported directly to him when he was Finance Minister. There are also a host of PAP MPs who are either relatives of former PAP MPs or closely associated with the Prime Minister’s “inner circle”.

 

Ong Teng Koon, an MP for Sembawang GRC, is the son of former PAP MP Ong Ah Heng. Desmond Choo, the PAP’s defeated candidate in Hougang, is the nephew of former PAP MP Choo Wee Khiang.

 

Janil Puthucheary, an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, is the son of PAP pioneer Dominic Puthucheary, although the latter later defected to the Barisan Socialis and faced persecution. Desmond Lee, an MP for Jurong GRC, is the son of former cabinet minister Lee Yock Suan.

 

Out of the 24 new candidates introduced by the PAP at the recently-concluded general election, two of them, Lawrence Wong and Ong Ye Kung, were former Principal Private Secretaries to PM Lee. Another, Tin Pei Ling, is the wife of the current PPS to PM Lee. The current Education Minister, Heng Swee Keat, was a former Principal Private Secretary to Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

 

While the PAP has argued that talent is scarce in Singapore, it cannot be denied that a disproportionately large number of MPs have close links to the PAP establishment by virtue of their family or personal ties. This begs the question of whether the make-up of Parliament adequately serves to represent Singapore as a whole. In addition, even though the backgrounds of these MPs do not in themselves mean that the PAP has been guilty of practising cronyism or nepotism, the party hardly does itself any favours in terms of dispelling such perceptions.

 

If the Prime Minister is serious about his message of openness and transparency, perhaps he ought to consider making the PAP’s selection process more open and transparent. It would also do the party alot of good if the PM could address the issue of his MPs’ family and personal backgrounds publicly, so as to refute any murmurings that the PAP is a party that relies only on inner-circle connections or believes in “jobs for mates”.

 

 

 

Conflicts of Interest at the Local Level

 

Parliament aside, there are also serious issues with regards to conflict of interest in the management of town councils and grassroots organisations. The Jurong Town Council, for instance, attracted nationwide scrunity shortly after the election because of the dismissal of Geraldine Soh, an employee who was found to have served as a volunteer at an opposition rally.

 

It later emerged that Ho Thian Poh, the General Manager of the Town Council, was concurrently the Managing Director of UGL Premas, the parent company of ESMACO Township Management Private Limited. ESMACO is the Town Council-appointed Managing Agent, meaning that it is under (a presumably highly lucrative) contract to provide maintenance services to the entire town. There is a clear conflict of interest present here, since Mr Ho’s company would stand to benefit from any increase in fees charged to the Town Council, which he also manages.

 

It gets even more murky when one considers that Mr Ho is also the branch secretary of the PAP’s Bukit Batok branch. Singaporeans would dearly love to receive some form of clarification as to whether Mr Ho was already in charge of the Town Council at the point when ESMACO was appointed as its contractor – because if this was the case, then he would have effectively used his powers to award a contract to his own company.

 

Mr Ho’s situation is not an anomaly. Ang Mong Seng, a former PAP MP for Hong Kah GRC, served as General Manager of two town councils before being appointed as Director of EM Property Management Private Limited in 2001. He is now the CEO of the company which serves as the Managing Agent for nine town councils. It was awarded a contract by the Potong Pasir Town Council – which fell back into the hands of the PAP after 27 years under opposition rule – just last week.

 

Of course, EM Services may have tendered for the respective contracts on the basis of merit, but people will want to know the basis on which the contracts were awarded, and whether or not Mr Ang’s status as a PAP MP affected the outcomes of the tenders in any way at all.

 

 

 

Walking The Talk

 

If PM Lee is serious about upholding the incorruptible image of the PAP, perhaps he should consider barring any companies with PAP MPs serving on their Boards from tendering for town council contracts, seeing as MPs are also usually town councillors or town council chairmen. This once again gives rise to the possible perception of PAP town councillors awarding contracts to their own companies, or to a companies run by a friends or party colleagues. These are conflict of interest situations which can become quite sticky – potentially resulting in unwanted negative publicity for the party as it strives to change its image.

 

While PM Lee indicated in his Rules of Prudence that MPs had to manage their own conflicts of interest as neither he nor the party were in a position to vet or approve directorships, there is some precedent of the party intervening in similar circumstances. Heng Chiang Meng, a former MP for Cheng San GRC, decided to step down as President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS) after an exchange of letters with then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

 

In December 1997, Mr Goh noted that Mr Heng had often spoken publicly on the state of the property market and the need for the government to intervene. In his letters, Mr Goh said it had not always been clear whether Mr Heng was speaking as an MP or in his private or professional capacity – which served only to confuse the public. Mr Heng then said that with the benefit of hindsight, he was wrong to think that there would be a clear perception between his public office and his private sector job, and decided to resign so as to prevent any future recurrence of conflict of interest.

 

In order to maintain the “incorruptible” image of the PAP, it is imperative not only for the PAP to not be corrupt, but also for it to not be seen as corrupt. The PAP deserves credit for stamping out graft and for making Singapore one of the cleanest countries in the world when it comes to public officials accepting bribes.

 

However, it is about time that the PAP started broadening its definition of corruption to fully encapsulate what PM Lee has been saying about all his MPs having to be above both “fear and favour”. And it is about time that he takes decisive action to completely stamp out any perceptions of nepotism and cronyism within the party.

 

He can do this by setting in place a clear set of rules to ensure the avoidance of conflict of interest, and by giving the public a full and open account of how the PAP selects its candidates. And of course, he can drive home the message emphatically by surprising us all and fielding a slate of candidates in 2016 with completely no sons, daughters, spouses or Principal Private Secretaries of former ministers.

 

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The author is Chief Editor of The Satay Club

 

 

 

 

 

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