Another Lee Squabble

[stargazer]

Some of us here like Tharman, believing him to have more 'integrity' compared to the other lot of MIW. Let's hear his comments now

SINGAPORE - There is "no mystery" to why a committee of ministers was set up to look into options for the house of the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Thursday (June 22).

In his first comments on the issue, Mr Tharman said ministerial committees are often set up and is a practice started many years ago.

"It's how we ensure that important issues are given in-depth attention, and the options are weighed up by the ministers closer to the issue, before Cabinet makes its decisions and takes collective responsibility," he said in a Facebook post.


The future of the house has come into focus, after the siblings of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang - accused him of misusing his powers to prevent the demolition of the house at 38, Oxley Road.

Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang also charged that a “secret” ministerial committee had been set up to deliberate on the house, citing it as an example of how organs of the state have been used to further what they deemed as PM Lee’s personal agenda.

Here is Mr Tharman’s Facebook post on the ministerial committee and the practice of setting up such committees:


Have confidence, folks.

I have to say there is no mystery as to why a Ministerial committee was set up to look into the options for 38 Oxley Road. DPM Teo, who chairs Cabinet on matters to do with the house, has explained straightforwardly why he set it up.

We in fact do this often - setting up special committees comprising a group of Ministers. We started the practice many years ago, and it has evolved. It's how we ensure that important issues are given in-depth attention, and the options are weighed up by the Ministers closer to the issue, before Cabinet makes its decisions and takes collective responsibility. And it's how we ensure that we are not a Government that operates in silos, that the national interest prevails even when there are valid sectoral or private interests, and that the long view prevails over the short view wherever possible.

That's a challenge in governance that will never disappear, and is a challenge everywhere in the world. We have never got it perfect in Singapore, and let's be frank, we've had our share of policies that have turned out quite wrong at different points in our history.

But we have a system of preserving the rule of law, and of policy-making that balances public against private interests, and the long term against the short term, that's still a rarity in the world - and is at the core of how Singapore has succeeded. Starting with the foundation that Lee Kuan Yew and his team built. And continuing through government under Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong and their teams.

We have Ministerial committees on a whole range of issues. They help us think through difficult choices in Government before they come to Cabinet, and to canvas views outside when appropriate. I chair several of them, especially when they concern social or economic issues; in the last month alone I met with five Ministerial committees that we had set up to develop policies on key issues.

Some Ministerial committees may sit for just a few months, because the problems can be sorted out quickly. But there are also committees that have to stay engaged for years - sometimes with new Ministers coming in - such as on foreign worker policies, and funding healthcare and retirement needs.

To give an example, since 2014 we have had a Ministerial Committee on Changi East Developments, to coordinate plans for the airport expansion, its manpower and security needs, the relocation of Paya Lebar airbase, industrial opportunities, land transport provisions, and housing development. It brings several Ministers together, supported by their civil servants, to find the best balance between different demands and plan our options for 10, 30 and 50 years ahead. That's how long-term our planning has to be.

So have confidence, no matter today's sad dispute. We have a system of governance that Lee Kuan Yew and his team built, and it isn't going away. You can count on PM Lee Hsien Loong and all of us in his team for that. You can count on the fourth generation leaders to keep to a system that upholds the laws of the land, prioritises the common good and looks to the long term.

Never thinking Government has got everything right, but always wanting to do right for Singapore. And count on Singaporeans to ensure Government sticks to those principles - and to play our part collectively to keep Singapore united and inclusive.

[globalcookie]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Some Ministerial committees may sit for just a few months, because the problems can be sorted out quickly. But there are also committees that have to stay engaged for years - sometimes with new Ministers coming in - such as on foreign worker policies, and funding healthcare and retirement needs.

To give an example, since 2014 we have had a Ministerial Committee on Changi East Developments, to coordinate plans for the airport expansion, its manpower and security needs, the relocation of Paya Lebar airbase, industrial opportunities, land transport provisions, and housing development. It brings several Ministers together, supported by their civil servants, to find the best balance between different demands and plan our options for 10, 30 and 50 years ahead. That's how long-term our planning has to be.

So have confidence, no matter today's sad dispute. We have a system of governance that Lee Kuan Yew and his team built, and it isn't going away. You can count on PM Lee Hsien Loong and all of us in his team for that. You can count on the fourth generation leaders to keep to a system that upholds the laws of the land, prioritises the common good and looks to the long term.

LHL's saving grace to have Tharman!!!

Sell snake oil, talk abt every other what committee, than zero in that it was a system by the old man.... sibeh li hai kong wei!

[streetsmart73]

Originally Posted by lenghan

Unfortunately LHY scored own goal. He did not checked that HC was out of Spore with LHL (in Spain) on the day he alleged that she went to the house!!!

Honest, the crux of the matter is who & in what capacity ah jinxx has handing these items?

In the hindsight he hits the nail right through

[streetsmart73]

Originally Posted by globalcookie

LHL's saving grace to have Tharman!!!

Sell snake oil, talk abt every other what committee, than zero in that it was a system by the old man.... sibeh li hai kong wei!

Another snake's introduction: mystery vs secret

[jwhtan]

On Thurs (Jun 22), Lee Hsien Yang claimed that Ho Ching had “helped herself to a number of Lee Kuan Yew’s papers” on Feb 6, 2015.
This was while the elder Mr Lee lay “gravely ill” in the intensive care unit, after being admitted to hospital the day before, he alleged.
He also claimed that Mdm Ho Ching did so “under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office”, calling it “deeply troubling”.

A screenshot uploaded to Facebook by Mr Lee Hsien Yang showed that the items listed were received by NHB on Feb 6, 2015.
Records show that Mdm Ho was overseas on that date, as she was accompanying PM Lee on an official visit to Spain. She returned to Singapore on Feb 7, 2015.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) late Thursday clarified that items loaned by the Prime Minister’s Office for display at the In Memoriam:
Lee Kuan Yew exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore were handed over to NHB on Apr 6, 2015, well after the late Mr Lee died.

NHB said the items listed in the screenshot were received by NHB on Apr 6, 2015 instead of Feb 6, 2015.
“This was a clerical error. NHB has a receipt for the items on loan from PMO dated Apr 6, 2015,” a spokesperson said.

In response, Mr Lee Hsien Yang said NHB's clarification was "even more troubling".
"By LKY's will, the estate's residual items, such as personal documents, fall under the absolute discretion of the executors Wei Ling and myself,"
he said, referring to his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling.
"Unapproved removal of these items, even by a beneficiary, constitutes both theft and intermeddling," he said.
"Ho Ching is not an executor or a beneficiary to our father's estate. We also still do not understand how she is a proper contact representative for the PMO."

[globalcookie]

Originally Posted by jwhtan

On Thurs (Jun 22), Lee Hsien Yang claimed that Ho Ching had “helped herself to a number of Lee Kuan Yew’s papers” on Feb 6, 2015.

A screenshot uploaded to Facebook by Mr Lee Hsien Yang showed that the items listed were received by NHB on Feb 6, 2015.
Records show that Mdm Ho was overseas on that date, as she was accompanying PM Lee on an official visit to Spain. She returned to Singapore on Feb 7, 2015.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) late Thursday clarified that items loaned by the Prime Minister’s Office for display at the In Memoriam:
Lee Kuan Yew exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore were handed over to NHB on Apr 6, 2015, well after the late Mr Lee died.

NHB said the items listed in the screenshot were received by NHB on Apr 6, 2015 instead of Feb 6, 2015.
“This was a clerical error. NHB has a receipt for the items on loan from PMO dated Apr 6, 2015,” a spokesperson said.

In response, Mr Lee Hsien Yang said NHB's clarification was "even more troubling".
"Unapproved removal of these items, even by a beneficiary, constitutes both theft and intermeddling," he said.
"Ho Ching is not an executor or a beneficiary to our father's estate. We also still do not understand how she is a proper contact representative for the PMO."

Wonder which dates are accurate or when NHB said clerical error, it means the dates by LHY is correct (based on some receipt) and there were errors on NHB part?

Now this is getting more interesting... theft and inter-meddling! Swee!

And yes, is Ho Ching an official in PMO??? Else, is there enough reason for abuse of position and power on both of them?

[lenghan]

Originally Posted by globalcookie

Wonder which dates are accurate or when NHB said clerical error, it means the dates by LHY is correct (based on some receipt) and there were errors on NHB part?

Now this is getting more interesting... theft and inter-meddling! Swee!

And yes, is Ho Ching an official in PMO??? Else, is there enough reason for abuse of position and power on both of them?

Not forgetting that the head of NHB is the wife of Heng Swee Kiat!!!!
Getting more parties involved haha

[hkh]

Originally Posted by lenghan

Not forgetting that the head of NHB is the wife of Heng Swee Kiat!!!!
Getting more parties involved haha

They were actually all in one big Familee under the old man........but sadly just less than 2 years after the old man passed on..........they started washing dirty linen in public........

[streetsmart73]

ah jinxx machiam in deeper shit as days go by.

She betterer sue or else; theft or abuse or kena both

"Jump into the yellow river and still cannot cleanse"

She can sue mah as in her personal capacity.

[globalcookie]

Please leave the river alone. A lot of ppl depends on it