In the print copy of Sunday Times, Khaw says some residents demand upgrading for facilities, like play ground. As such, residents need to pay more.
Knn..with $2b surplus and still want more. To cover up the lost on structured products?
Bigger role for town councils?
Khaw favours more 'local government' to give residents greater say in their living areas
IF MR Khaw Boon Wan had his way, town councils would take on a bigger role, going beyond estate management.
If residents are ready for it, the rules could be changed to give town councils more say over what goes on within their areas.
You could have one town deciding to ban smoking altogether, and another insisting that its food centres and hawker stalls sell only healthy food - because that is what the majority of residents want.
The term Mr Khaw uses is 'local government' and having more of it here along the lines of how cities such as Beijing, New York and Paris have a mayor with staff to look into all aspects of city living, from law enforcement to town planning.
From having been highly centralised under the Housing Board, estate management in Singapore has evolved over the two decades since town councils appeared, Mr Khaw noted.
'There is a lot more decentralisation than before, but it is a work in progress. I don't think we have reached a steady state,' he told Insight.
'If you ask me, I will want further decentralisation, to see what other responsibilities we want to pass on to town councils.'
Mr Khaw, speaking in his capacity as first organising secretary of the People's Action Party (PAP), is the Health Minister and an MP for Sembawang GRC.
Town councils were set up islandwide in 1989, partly to devolve estate management from the Housing Board to the local authorities and to give residents a greater say in how their surroundings turn out.
The move also drew for residents a clear link between their choice of Member of Parliament - who runs the town council - and how well their estate is managed.
Fourteen of the 16 town councils are run by the PAP, while those in Potong Pasir and Hougang are run by the opposition MPs there.
The town councils are responsible for collecting service and conservancy fees from residents, and have the power to use these funds in the residents' interests.
They also take care of major cyclical work such as repainting blocks in the estate and changing lifts.
Mr Khaw believes they can do more now, a shift which is in tandem with a maturing society that has more educated and middle-class households.
'The more you decentralise, the more you allow for local expressions of interest and concern. Singapore is small, but it's not homogeneous,' he said.
He offered some idea of how this could work. For example, town councils could take care of some aspects of law and order.
'Some estates have foreign workers nearby. So of course people are saying, why can't we regulate, have more police and so on,' he noted.
Right now, the solution is to call the police. But the town council could be given some powers to take charge within its area. Town councils can also be given the power to act on a wider range of infringements, he thinks.
For instance, town councils can now issue summonses to residents for parking offences, but they cannot act against litterbugs.
'Then I've got to call in the National Environment Agency. Only they have the power (to act against litterbugs). So by the time you call in the NEA the fellow has run away,' he said.
The key, however, is whether residents will be comfortable with giving town councils greater powers.
'It cannot be a top-down decision,' he said, citing some more examples of how far town councils can go if they have the consensus of residents.
Some residents could demand that their towns be absolutely smoke-free - which will be even more stringent than the NEA rules which spell out where smokers can light up.
In such a scenario, the NEA could then devolve some powers to town councils to inspect and issue summonses to offenders.
'So anybody who walks into your town council - stub out. Once you enter, it's clean air,' he explained.
It is an idea, but implementing it might take some doing.
'There will always be some residents who are smokers and they probably would rebel,' he said.
But if there is consensus among residents, a town may decide to have its own particular rules.
Residents of a town could decide that they want their area to be a healthy-living centre and encourage healthy food choices there. Coffeeshops and hawkers could then be told: No serving of oily food.
'If that's what the residents want, you can empower the town council,' said Mr Khaw. 'Then we have to craft some laws to devolve some of those responsibilities, or food labelling.'
That is the reason why New York City was the first city in the United States to go all out and ban trans fat.
'That is a local decision. The rest of the US has not done so,' he noted.
'So you can organise government in just one layer or you can have multiple layers so that as you go down to the individual town councils, you give more and more say to the residents. And the local residents express their say through their town councillors.'
It will not be possible to hold regular referendums on all issues, he said, so the answer lies in voters picking the right MP.
So at election time, candidates will have to explain what they will deliver to the town if they become the MP and voters will have to choose.
That in fact was the political intent of the introduction of town councils, to get voters to see the link between how they vote and how their estate is run.
'I have choices, who do I vote for? Who I vote for depends on the manifesto,' said Mr Khaw. 'For a governing party, of course, you have national manifesto, but for MPs, you have local manifestoes.'
For voters, it means taking care with deciding who to vote for. And candidates, too, have to deliver on what they promise.
'You cannot make empty promises,' he said.
Knn..with $2b surplus and still want more. To cover up the lost on structured products?
Bigger role for town councils?
Khaw favours more 'local government' to give residents greater say in their living areas
IF MR Khaw Boon Wan had his way, town councils would take on a bigger role, going beyond estate management.
If residents are ready for it, the rules could be changed to give town councils more say over what goes on within their areas.
You could have one town deciding to ban smoking altogether, and another insisting that its food centres and hawker stalls sell only healthy food - because that is what the majority of residents want.
The term Mr Khaw uses is 'local government' and having more of it here along the lines of how cities such as Beijing, New York and Paris have a mayor with staff to look into all aspects of city living, from law enforcement to town planning.
From having been highly centralised under the Housing Board, estate management in Singapore has evolved over the two decades since town councils appeared, Mr Khaw noted.
'There is a lot more decentralisation than before, but it is a work in progress. I don't think we have reached a steady state,' he told Insight.
'If you ask me, I will want further decentralisation, to see what other responsibilities we want to pass on to town councils.'
Mr Khaw, speaking in his capacity as first organising secretary of the People's Action Party (PAP), is the Health Minister and an MP for Sembawang GRC.
Town councils were set up islandwide in 1989, partly to devolve estate management from the Housing Board to the local authorities and to give residents a greater say in how their surroundings turn out.
The move also drew for residents a clear link between their choice of Member of Parliament - who runs the town council - and how well their estate is managed.
Fourteen of the 16 town councils are run by the PAP, while those in Potong Pasir and Hougang are run by the opposition MPs there.
The town councils are responsible for collecting service and conservancy fees from residents, and have the power to use these funds in the residents' interests.
They also take care of major cyclical work such as repainting blocks in the estate and changing lifts.
Mr Khaw believes they can do more now, a shift which is in tandem with a maturing society that has more educated and middle-class households.
'The more you decentralise, the more you allow for local expressions of interest and concern. Singapore is small, but it's not homogeneous,' he said.
He offered some idea of how this could work. For example, town councils could take care of some aspects of law and order.
'Some estates have foreign workers nearby. So of course people are saying, why can't we regulate, have more police and so on,' he noted.
Right now, the solution is to call the police. But the town council could be given some powers to take charge within its area. Town councils can also be given the power to act on a wider range of infringements, he thinks.
For instance, town councils can now issue summonses to residents for parking offences, but they cannot act against litterbugs.
'Then I've got to call in the National Environment Agency. Only they have the power (to act against litterbugs). So by the time you call in the NEA the fellow has run away,' he said.
The key, however, is whether residents will be comfortable with giving town councils greater powers.
'It cannot be a top-down decision,' he said, citing some more examples of how far town councils can go if they have the consensus of residents.
Some residents could demand that their towns be absolutely smoke-free - which will be even more stringent than the NEA rules which spell out where smokers can light up.
In such a scenario, the NEA could then devolve some powers to town councils to inspect and issue summonses to offenders.
'So anybody who walks into your town council - stub out. Once you enter, it's clean air,' he explained.
It is an idea, but implementing it might take some doing.
'There will always be some residents who are smokers and they probably would rebel,' he said.
But if there is consensus among residents, a town may decide to have its own particular rules.
Residents of a town could decide that they want their area to be a healthy-living centre and encourage healthy food choices there. Coffeeshops and hawkers could then be told: No serving of oily food.
'If that's what the residents want, you can empower the town council,' said Mr Khaw. 'Then we have to craft some laws to devolve some of those responsibilities, or food labelling.'
That is the reason why New York City was the first city in the United States to go all out and ban trans fat.
'That is a local decision. The rest of the US has not done so,' he noted.
'So you can organise government in just one layer or you can have multiple layers so that as you go down to the individual town councils, you give more and more say to the residents. And the local residents express their say through their town councillors.'
It will not be possible to hold regular referendums on all issues, he said, so the answer lies in voters picking the right MP.
So at election time, candidates will have to explain what they will deliver to the town if they become the MP and voters will have to choose.
That in fact was the political intent of the introduction of town councils, to get voters to see the link between how they vote and how their estate is run.
'I have choices, who do I vote for? Who I vote for depends on the manifesto,' said Mr Khaw. 'For a governing party, of course, you have national manifesto, but for MPs, you have local manifestoes.'
For voters, it means taking care with deciding who to vote for. And candidates, too, have to deliver on what they promise.
'You cannot make empty promises,' he said.
