I wonder why those of you who have been monitoring my FB posting didn't copy and paste this to put it up here!
What happened to WP AHPETC III
I believe by now, almost all politically aware Singaporeans, especially Opposition party supporters, will realize that what WP has done in AHPETC, is absolutely a DUPLICATE of what PAP has been doing in Singapore, be it government institutions, Temasek Holdings, GIC, GLCs or just simply TC management.
Conflict of interests, is technically speaking, NOT ILLEGAL. But politically speaking, MORALLY, it should be avoided at all cost. In Hong Kong, the public and MSM take conflict of interests very very seriously. They will presume this as a precursor to corruption practices and will make reports to ICAC if no proper declaration or management checks and balances are in place to keep that in proper place.
There is really a very thin line between Conflict of Interests vs Corrupt practices. Declaring the vested interests is just an important step but that is not all. You will need a system of third party checks and balances to clear yourself of making dubious transactions or things which may be seen as "corruptions".
Politically speaking, perception is everything. The biggest conflict of interests in Singapore, is the Prime Minister and his Wife. It is really a BAD example for all although there is absolutely nothing illegal about it. Politically speaking, it must be avoided at all cost.
As an opposition party, we always triumph ourselves of putting PAP in check. But we will lose our moral high ground if we are found to behave or mimick PAP's bad practices of having all sorts of conflicts of interests in their governance. It doesn't help our cause at all.
Avoidance of conflict of interests is extremely important for both the ruling party as well as the opposition parties.
In this AHPETC saga, the only difference is that AHPETC has not learned ALL the necessary steps to be taken when it tries to mimick PAP's style of governance which is filled with all sorts of conflict of interest. It has forgotten to install appropriate management steps to make sure that such conflict of interest will be not seen as potential corrupt practices. Rightfully or wrongfully, this is why it ended up so badly in this saga.
Of course, WP people and hardcore Opposition supporters may start to point to the fact that what WP has done is no different from PAP on the surface. But the truth is, PAP is smarter in gaming the system here. It has made sure that at every turn and critical decision making process, proper third party certification or decision makers are roped in to justify or make good of the whole process to show the world there is no potential corrupt practice involved.
It is true that opposition party may have difficulties in finding suppliers or contractors to do the job. WP may be caught in the situation that apparent conflicts of interests are unavoidable. However, I do not believe that there is ZERO number of contractor interested in taking up smaller contracts. It may be a self fulfilling prophecy over time where Trust and Loyalty are placed above merits and good governance. i.e. Contractors may stop participating in the tender process if they feel that they will have near zero chance of getting the job when "close friends" of WP are bidding for the same project. WP may award their "close Friends" the tender even though their price is higher as this could be considered as "premium pricing" of Trust.
Apparently, PAP has an upper hand in such situation but it also means that PAP should have LESS REASONS to infest their system with so much conflicts of interests all over the place.
In short, it is not good enough to be just above board and declare you are CLEAN, you must also be SEEN to be CLEAN as well. This applies to both PAP as ruling party as well as opposition party like WP. Especially so for WP.
Goh Meng Seng
