Khaw defends town councils' political links
UPDATED (10:35pm, 13 May 2013: adds ministerial statement on town councils)
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday defended in Parliament the power of political parties over town councils, even as he called for a review of the framework.
"Town Councils are set up to fulfil a political purpose. Town councils are not part of the Singapore Public Service, and so are not governed by the civil service rules," said Khaw, who gave his ministerial statement on town councils in Parliament.
The minister was facing questions over the Ministry of National Development's (MND) review of a controversial deal involving a town council run by the People's Action Party and Action Information Management, a firm owned by the ruling party.
"In addition, the PAP as a political party stands fully behind its MPs (Members of Parliament) and their town councils. That was why the PAP set up AIM in 1991: to ensure that residents living in PAP-run town councils would be well served," he pointed out.
Handover of TCs
He acknowledged, however, that there are gaps in the handing over of town councils and that this issue needs to be addressed.
He noted that the MND review team made some "useful recommendations" to institutionalise some change-over rules, to minimise disruptions to critical services during a change in leadership.
These recommendations include: putting in place contractual provisions for automatic one-off extensions following an election when there is a change of party in charge of the council, setting a minimum notice period for termination initiated by the contractor or key appointment holders such as general managers.
The town councils themselves, he said, have suggested that MND should consider extending the period of handover, and play a greater role in the process.
"These are all useful suggestions and MND will take them in when it updates the town councils' rules," Khaw said.
He also said Senior Minister of State for National Development Lee Yi Shyan has been appointed to undertake MND's review on the framework for town councils.
Khaw said at least three areas needed to be looked at:
1) town councils' duties and responsibilities vis-à-vis HDB's
2) adequacy of town councils' sinking funds and their long term financial sustainability
3) hand-over and transition arrangements when MPs change.
He also that Singapore should not return to the time when HDB administered estates all over Singapore, and MPs had no authority or responsibility over what is done or how well things work.
Earlier in May, MND said its probe into the sale of the PAP's Town Council management software to AIM found no evidence of any misuse of public funds.
A report submitted to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong by MND found that the AIM deal had complied with the Town Councils Act and Town Council Financial Rules.
In its findings, the report stated that the main issue at hand was whether the interests of residents had been protected, if there had been a conflict of interest for the parties in the deal and if there had been any misuse of public funds.
--With additional reporting by Jeanette Tan
Related Stories:
PM Lee orders review of Town Councils, MND to probe AIM deal
PAP, AIM and the big fat white elephant in the room
Blogger takes down post, comments over town councils' deal
