Town Councils must explain losses!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>

Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Town Councils must explain losses!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>

Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">kojakbt22 <NOBR>

</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Nov-18 10:07 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 62) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>2707.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Questions over losses by town councils

</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>



<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with disbelief yesterday's front-page report, 'Town councils' exposure: $16m'. How can the Members of Parliament of these constituencies seem unconcerned, insisting instead, by the tone of their replies, that what happened was something natural and not a big deal?
Why did these town councils invest in such highly risky financial products in the first place, even if the sum amounted to less than 1 per cent of the funds.
Ordinary Singaporean investors who did the same were labelled greedy for chasing a maximum return of 5 per cent on similar investments. Such investors were also accused of being naive to have trusted the relationship managers who peddled these products. Now, our very own town council leaders have done the same.
My questions are:
How should we describe their actions? Will there be accountability?
Are the town councils actively trying to retrieve some form of compensation from these bad investments?
Is there a case to be made for mis-selling, despite the fact that we assume the town council staff who made the investments were talented?
Finally, are there any other council investments in danger of losing more money?
Liew Yeng Chee

[email protected]

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Dan Now]

Re: The Teo Ho Pin Riddle. Come in and contribute your answers ! Thanks.
<HR style="COLOR: #989898; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #989898" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Dear friends,

Allow me some liberty in fielding some questions for your consideration.

Now clearly, our fellow writer here, Rainnix, and another writer here in another thread, MentalMortis have hit the nail on the head.

Its all about the process of RECOVERY of the funds that was lost.

Most importantly it goes down right to the issue of accountability of the ministers involve.

It is high irony that Dr. Teo Ho Pin, who was once the CASE president ( Consumer Association of Singapore ) did not take MAS to task in regards to the compensation issues of the investment that was lost by the Town council to press Mr Tharman to act against those banks that sold the Town council the minibonds.

One BOGGLES at the prospect that is Dr. Teo Ho Pin would just simply allow the bad investment to be written off just like that ? What are his course of action to SECURE AT LEAST SOME COMPENSATION for the residents of those town council that have lost money ?

In the WHOLE parliamentary debate that went on, NONE of the MPs brought up this issue. In the whole press coverage so far, none of the reporters sees it fit to raise the issue. This is absolutely pathetic to the core.

Instead, Dr Teo have the cheek to remind Singaporeans that they should be thankful for the bungles he have made.

The dangers of his careless and arrogant attitude towards the 16 million dollar loss just goes to show how flippant and pathetic the way our leaders treat the collective assets of ALL Singaporeans.

The Town Council sinking funds are NOT the private investment of the PAP.

Even if one cent is lost, due to the faulty mechanism of its investment strategies etc, it should be taken seriously. Those are the hallmarks standards of a system that is robust and accountable. But no. Dr. Teo wouldn't have it. He would prefer to blame Singaporeans for being complaining and that we are all ingrates.

The next question would be, since those losses have been incurred, what have Dr. Teo done so far to try to recover those losses ? Have he written to the banks ? IF NOT, WHY HASN'T HE DONE SO ?

Why are our BANKS given so much leeway ? Shouldn't Dr. Teo press the MAS now to investigate the banks involve for the reply on the status of those losses ?

Is any compensation avaliable ?

So Dr. Teo owes us some answers.

Sure, we want to thank him for his efforts, but first tell us what has he done so far to try to recoup some of the losses.

Dan
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________

 

[Dan Now]

Dr Teo.
Mr Tharman.

STOP ACTING BLUR, PUSHING BLAMES AND SMOKING US.
If you truly care for the people, ACT NOW.

Dan

 

[bebo]

Why are the people responsible for these losses are not fired from their job? It is millions that are lost, not hundreds :(

 

[imperialarms]

exprain wot no need exprain la

 

[theblackhole]

what's there to explain.loss means loss lah.part of the global loss. you don't like vote them out lah.you can or not? get another team to manage your funds? maybe worse, all gone in one term!!! then blame who? i say: our world governance town council is still the best in the whole wide world. i say: be grateful and once again all together: kowtow,repent,apologise ,knee down and pay hormage to our great leaders.amen.

 

[halsey02]

Did the Opposition Town Councils invested in the "MINIBOMBS" also?. If they didn't not, and they did not loose any money..ALL SINGAPOREANS SHOULD BE INFORMED.

 

[Tailok]

What is there to explain??? More money lost by GIC oso dun explain.. Next year increase TC fee loh...

 

[Leegimeremover]

How to explain? You have cash accounting idiots doing accrual account and investment. They see red, they get more grants and charge you higher expenses. So ROI is a figment of imagination.

 

[ah_phah]

what good words can we expect from them? as the old saying goes: can't expect ivories to grow from dog's mouth.

even if there's press conference, what can we expec them to say?

"sorry, we depleted the TC funds, by dumping into sinking funds. pls give us more $, and give us more time to re-invest"

"investing in those funds was not a mistake, the returns was supposed to be good, but it was the act of God, that brought the economic tsunami"

"we r humans, we also suffer the same fate as the many who lost their life savings in those investments. since we're all in the same boat, pls stop blaming us. give us $ & time to recover losses please"

 

[theblackhole]

i think this time round, everyone kena makan liao! so blame ourselves for being in this shithole which we've created ourselves. so now what to do but to repent,apologise and then knee down and pray to high heaven for forgiveness and for assistance. pray that the sinking fengshui here changes for a better BULL run next year.hallelujah!!!

u see temasick managers all taking a pay cut...see how good and sincere they are. kudos to all of them for taking a pay cut.but pls don't cut the salaries and wages of those below the rung okay! thank you.

20% cut for top managers, they still okay. 10% cut for the lower pay employees will drive them to the mrt train or to the zoo's moats. so tolong tolong tolong pls don't cut our peasants' wages.thank you.

 

[peasantJUDGE]

Town Councils should not be allowed to accumulate and hold such a humungous sum of money, especially since residents are the one paying S&C charges that are obviously way in excess of what is needed to run the estates.

PAP Town Councils are sucking up too much money out of the economy. $5 BILLION in the pockets of the average Singaporean could encourage many of them to start up small businesses that improve their living standards. And those who are poor would not have had to go through painful days of power cuts and lawyers' letters.

This is clearly another demonstration of the PAP regime's excessive greed. The most reprehensible thing is that their greed is at the expense of the average Singaporean. As can be seen in the recent report, there're 33,000 over households already behind in their monthly HDB payments (that's 132,000 Singaporeans in financial trouble assuming 4 per family).

The PAP government insist that the $5 BILLION is for some hazy "future" estate projects. Damn, that future could be 100 years away. And by then, most HDB residents who should have the right to these money would have gone or some would have left Singapore. And by then, there'd be $50 BILLION in their bank accounts.

I would rather the Town Councils return $4BILLION to the people and keep no more just $1 BILLION for whatever dream projects there might be in the "future". (The future would probably not come). $4 BILLION going back into HDB owners' pockets ($ 1,000 per head, or average $4,000 per family) would surely be a great help to many of the residents.

 

[Leegimeremover]

Read the confessions of an economic hitman. We have been hit for 40 over years.

 

[theblackhole]

these EHM have makan all of us - all our 40 years of hard earned savings and prudence gone up in smoke because of our own greed,ignorance and arrogance. kiss your cash good-bye. these professional EHM have makan all of us...stupid asians!!!

 

[peasantJUDGE]

I have heard that an NTUC cooperative dealing in loans is also very heavily invested in structured products.

 

[Frankiestine]

The slimy gov usual reply...."It was an honest mistake, lets move on".....

:oIo::oIo::oIo:P A P HERE IS UP YOUR ASS:oIo::oIo::oIo:

 

[siloti]

Why are the people responsible for these losses are not fired from their job? It is millions that are lost, not hundreds :(

That town council investments have been paying off over the years is something that should not be brushed off, said Mr Inderjit Singh, chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council. His town council had $1.5 million exposed to Lehman Brothers bonds through its fund manager, but it has otherwise been generating 3 per cent returns a year for three years. "Just one investment out of 30 lost money. We have made money overall, which is good for the town."

Please lah, you people better have some sense of proportion, the remainding 29 investments are making money. Overall, everything is ok. In business, you dont look at one or even five mistakes (anyway who can crystal-ball the future) we must have long-term view, and global-perspectives, hold long enough, and most importantly, ensure that overall investment makes money.

Please be grateful for these people who have been working hard to come up with a diversified portfolio to generate income.

 

[Frankiestine]

In the next election, those useless opposition can pick on the slogan of "VOTE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY" for their campaign slogan...

 

[suteerak1099]

That town council investments have been paying off over the years is something that should not be brushed off, said Mr Inderjit Singh, chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council. His town council had $1.5 million exposed to Lehman Brothers bonds through its fund manager, but it has otherwise been generating 3 per cent returns a year for three years. "Just one investment out of 30 lost money. We have made money overall, which is good for the town."

Please lah, you people better have some sense of proportion, the remainding 29 investments are making money. Overall, everything is ok. In business, you dont look at one or even five mistakes (anyway who can crystal-ball the future) we must have long-term view, and global-perspectives, hold long enough, and most importantly, ensure that overall investment makes money.

Please be grateful for these people who have been working hard to come up with a diversified portfolio to generate income.

didnt the MIW encourage the ppl to park $ in CPF, as well as gahmen bonds? so y shouldnt the TCs follow instruction from MIW?

 

[siloti]

didnt the MIW encourage the ppl to park $ in CPF, as well as gahmen bonds? so y shouldnt the TCs follow instruction from MIW?

Sir,
Our great and dear leaders have totally understand the principles of diversification. They diversify.
Thank you for your consideration.