Daily Lessons from Life 13 May 2013 - Khaw: Town councils should be linked to MPs, not run by HDB

"Khaw: Town councils should be linked to MPs, not run by HDB - Singapolitics May 13, 2013 The need to create a link between an elected MP and his voters through his work in the town council is a strategic imperative which cannot be faulted, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday. “We should not return to a situation where HDB administers estates all over Singapore, and MPs have no authority or responsibility over what is done or how well things work,” he said in a ministerial statement on town councils in Parliament. However, he noted gaps in the current rules on handover of town councils between one political party to another, resulting in disagreements and difficulties, including recently when Punggol East changed hands from a People’s Action Party (PAP) town council to a Workers’ Party-run town council. Political pressures on town councils also lead to poorer outcomes for residents, such as delaying necessary increases in Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) which go to building up the councils’ sinking fund, and failing to strictly enforce by-laws on issues like obstruction of common corridors, he said." Let not politicised the running of public housing estates in Singapore. If we want to then we need to look at the TOTAL picture and it will require MORE than just changing the roles of Town Council (TC). Lessons for me are: 1. fixed the electoral constituency boundary permanently unless the population falls below a certain number like 8k so that the residents know that when they vote in their Member of Parliament (MP), they know who to hold accountable for the physical environment management of their constituency. That is assuming we do want MPs, who are NOT real estate management experts to 'run' the estates; 2. with the pre-requisite condition in item 1 above fulfilled, we can then tie ALL services contracts for the TC to the General Election term of 4- or 5-year so that whenever there is a change of MP, all the contracts can end on the same date. Of course to ensure continuity of services to the residents during the transition time, we can include a clause of '+1 year of services' after the change of MPs by the service providers; 3. to ensure that the MPs run their estates properly nationwide, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and HDB can set the National Standard of Measurement for Town Council and publish the results on a quarterly or half-yearly or yearly basis so that the residents KNOW who is performing and who is not regardless of political parties' affiliation. Penalties and rewards can be set up to ensure there are consequences for failing or passing the National Measurement Standards. To ensure fairness, the monitoring body can be a mix of private and public sector experts or even with some representatives from the opposing political parties in it. Some of the irregularities or non-compliance mentioned by Minister Khaw can be monitored and corrected since he or his officials already know WHAT are the areas that the current TCs are doing and not doing! For ONE Singapore, let's know politicise TCs!!