NKF-that can of worms has already been opened!
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I think police must comes in and interfere, especially commercial crime investigator. Investigate all the board of directors, durai and its workers there.... and not just resign only as they already dont know pocket how many millions into their "Swiss acct".
A proble shall be done and make them fork up the $$$ they swallow and send them to jail for. -
Agreed! But it seems Durai and the gang (BODs) will escape scot-free. Politics? The followings are what PM Lee said in his interview in the US:Originally posted by LittleTiger:I think police must comes in and interfere, especially commercial crime investigator. Investigate all the board of directors, durai and its workers there.... and not just resign only as they already dont know pocket how many millions into their "Swiss acct".
A proble shall be done and make them fork up the $$$ they swallow and send them to jail for.
"Mr Lee said the NKF had to be accountable to the public if it expects to get donations from them, and transparency is one way to make things better, and to rebuild trust. "
My thoughts: I take it he meant that NKF had failed in this department. Mr. Lee MUST also rule out what has to be done Durai and his BODs. Can you, or me, or anyone else let them escape without punishment?
"One reassurance from the Prime Minister: a new team will go into the organisation and if there is anything wrong, the team will find it and fix it."
My thoughts: Sir, please don't just find and fix the problem, fix the CEO and his BODs too.
PM Lee said: "Obviously the checks and balances didn't work. The CEO is responsible, he reports to the Board, the Board has fiduciary responsibility to answer for this, so somehow it didn't function. They have resigned, let's start from scratch."
My thoughts: Sir, before NKF start from scratch, we (the donors) wouldn't be pleased to see if the CEO and his BODs are "scratch-free".
Something for us to ponder: Why isn't Mr. Lee rule out any actions to be taken against those who mismanaged the funds?
Another question: Are the BODs paid?
Bottom-line: Those responsible must be brought to justice. They must not be left unpunished or there will be no justice at all.
Thank you. -
From what i read in the news.. the BODs are lawyers, doctors and other professionals who are either unpaid volunteers or receive allowances insignificant as compared to Durai's 25k a monthOriginally posted by parryhotter:Agreed! But it seems Durai and the gang (BODs) will escape scot-free. Politics? The followings are what PM Lee said in his interview in the US:
"Mr Lee said the NKF had to be accountable to the public if it expects to get donations from them, and transparency is one way to make things better, and to rebuild trust. "
My thoughts: I take it he meant that NKF had failed in this department. Mr. Lee MUST also rule out what has to be done Durai and his BODs. Can you, or me, or anyone else let them escape without punishment?
"One reassurance from the Prime Minister: a new team will go into the organisation and if there is anything wrong, the team will find it and fix it."
My thoughts: Sir, please don't just find and fix the problem, fix the CEO and his BODs too.
PM Lee said: "Obviously the checks and balances didn't work. The CEO is responsible, he reports to the Board, the Board has fiduciary responsibility to answer for this, so somehow it didn't function. They have resigned, let's start from scratch."
My thoughts: Sir, before NKF start from scratch, we (the donors) wouldn't be pleased to see if the CEO and his BODs are "scratch-free".
Something for us to ponder: Why isn't Mr. Lee rule out any actions to be taken against those who mismanaged the funds?
Another question: Are the BODs paid?
Bottom-line: Those responsible must be brought to justice. They must not be left unpunished or there will be no justice at all.
Thank you. -
Handsome not?!!
lolx -
Thanks for your input.Originally posted by DriftingGuy:From what i read in the news.. the BODs are lawyers, doctors and other professionals who are either unpaid volunteers or receive allowances insignificant as compared to Durai's 25k a month -
yah yah, so she knows what peanuts are. gosh! that shld get her the biggest monkey,king kong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how many peanuts and banans can you get with 600k?Originally posted by margarita:should send to Mrs Goh ..
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just thinking
IS the money they spend are more then wat are use to help the needly people?? -
Gani na bu CHJAO CHEEBYE nkf SUCKS la SUCKS la
Lucky i neber donate. But my school FORCE us to work for NKF carry the tin csan and Beg ppl for donations! WHoa lan chao cheebye..
I beri beck check alreadi -
sheeese....
u look more refined, more intelligent, and less spastic
if u just sheese.....
thanks
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Anybody wondered how Durai could have drawn such a big salary and at the same time get a 12-month bonus?
The bigger issue here is since NKF is a charity organisation, it should be under some government body right? Could Durai's bouns be the same as the other high-level civil servants? Meaning, Durai's bonus scheme could be consistent with some guidelines from the civil service right?
Think about it, the entire S'pore's high-level civil servants' bonus could have also been 12 months! If so, then Durai would not be the only guilty party right?
I'm not 100% sure about this... could anyone confirm this? -
The issue is: Whom did Durai consult with before he sued the two parties who alleged potential abuses like Durai's first-class travels..
Did Durai consult his members of the board or get the patron's or government blessing in doing so.
If he did get the government's blessing behind his earlier defamation actions against the two whistle blowers, the government should now be morally upright to own up and advise NKF new board to make relevant amends or apologies to these two whistle blowers who had sacrificed for the public good.
The minimum is to publish an apology if NKF has admitted the first-class travels or the golden taps. After all the new NKF should want to start afresh like what the PM has promised. If indeed so, then it should come clean and start with a correct image in order to show its willingness to admit mistakes and be transparent in future.
After all the whole episode has clearly established one fact that Durai has indeed travelled first class and spent extravagantly the public donation monies for his own purpose.
I am sure Khaw Boon Wan wants the new NKF board to be clean and upright. If so then the new board should correct the past rash or wrongful acts by admitting those abuses which were not admitted in the earlier lawsuits until Davinder spilled the facts wide open. The new NKF should see fit and proper to do the right thing.
May be Gerald Eee will do so to win back trust and confidence to NKF again for NKF as well as for the government officers who had been informed and given blessing to those two earlier suits.
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The funny thing is that if T.T Durai didn't sue SPH and its senior writer Ms Susan Long, these rotten beans wouldn't be spilled... and people would still be happily donating to NKF on Thursday's show. and the two persons who were earlier sued by T.T Durai under similar circumstances would still be misjudged...and Singaporeans will still live in ignorance and bliss.... and T.T Durai will continue to get his 12 months bonus and who knows... more taps in gold-platings... Well.. thats a very hypothetical IF... I digress..
Well, however I do agree that being a CEO of a VWO with the scale and means of NKF should be paid a decent wage... but bonus of 12 months for a few years running, especially with the economy in bad shape... its a hard pill to swallow. So what exactly are the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of NKF? What performance benchmarks were so well attained to warrant a 12 month bonus to NKF's CEO. Is NKF's KPIs the number of patients it treats, or the number of patients it turn away because they dun qualify..? or is it the amount of money that NKF raise during the charity shows. The effectiveness of NKF should be measured by the number of patients it treats...regardless of race, religion, social status.... and not by the dollars and cents raised during charity events... nor the number of cars that donors won....nor by the amount of publicity the public saw....
NKF's policy of determining who it should serve must be changed.
If NKF doesn't have such a huge reserve, one can understand why they refuse to help middle-class patients... but it seems that with all the money on offer for lucky draws and cars... not to mention the CEO's pay packages and expensive bathroom fittings... one cannot help but wonder why there are kidney patients who were refused help by NKF.
Lastly, while Mr T.T Durai has not done anything against the law... except maybe for his non-disclosure of directorship in another company which counts NKF as one of its main customers. I am wondering if there are any breaches in commercial law here... is there any corruption involved?
The absence of integrity here... is sadly..omni-present -
SM Goh CT says what her wife commented was regrettable... Gentleman. Steady! HOW COME MRS GOH CANNOT APOLOGISE HERSELF?????
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Thumbs up to him for saying that, but she shld do it herself.
It's not his fault... he's a great guy! -
T T Durian : I am not wrong.
Mrs Peanut : I am not wrong.
Ex-BOD : We are not wrong.
All involved are not wrong except for the people that are not involved.
It seems that the people that is not wrong are apologising for the wrong-doers.
At this moment, I need to clarify that the fury on NKF is directed at the management, NOT on the HARDWORKING NURSE and the KIDNEY PAITENTS.
NKF was set up to serve more kidney paitents, NOT to restrict treatment for kidney paitents. -
I'm still for a public inquiry to clear the air. Transparency is the key factor.Originally posted by cannynabbe:The funny thing is that if T.T Durai didn't sue SPH and its senior writer Ms Susan Long, these rotten beans wouldn't be spilled... and people would still be happily donating to NKF on Thursday's show. and the two persons who were earlier sued by T.T Durai under similar circumstances would still be misjudged...and Singaporeans will still live in ignorance and bliss.... and T.T Durai will continue to get his 12 months bonus and who knows... more taps in gold-platings... Well.. thats a very hypothetical IF... I digress..
Well, however I do agree that being a CEO of a VWO with the scale and means of NKF should be paid a decent wage... but bonus of 12 months for a few years running, especially with the economy in bad shape... its a hard pill to swallow. So what exactly are the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of NKF? What performance benchmarks were so well attained to warrant a 12 month bonus to NKF's CEO. Is NKF's KPIs the number of patients it treats, or the number of patients it turn away because they dun qualify..? or is it the amount of money that NKF raise during the charity shows. The effectiveness of NKF should be measured by the number of patients it treats...regardless of race, religion, social status.... and not by the dollars and cents raised during charity events... nor the number of cars that donors won....nor by the amount of publicity the public saw....
NKF's policy of determining who it should serve must be changed.
If NKF doesn't have such a huge reserve, one can understand why they refuse to help middle-class patients... but it seems that with all the money on offer for lucky draws and cars... not to mention the CEO's pay packages and expensive bathroom fittings... one cannot help but wonder why there are kidney patients who were refused help by NKF.
Lastly, while Mr T.T Durai has not done anything against the law... except maybe for his non-disclosure of directorship in another company which counts NKF as one of its main customers. I am wondering if there are any breaches in commercial law here... is there any corruption involved?
The absence of integrity here... is sadly..omni-present
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Yes indeed the key issue is about transparency in NKF and even the government.
Here is one post to Feedback Unit to ask ministers to be candid and objective in anwering queries in parliaments:-
A Reply to Forumer who produced a minister's reply on NKF reserve in 2004:-
QUOTE: "If this is the kind of ministerial reply to people's queries, Singapore's standard of corporate governance will continue to be low and self-centred.
PM Lee said in the press conference in USA that something has gone wrong with the NKF Board in not providing the necesssary checks and balances on the CEO.
It is now clear from the ministerial reply to query in this instance that IT is full of inaccuracy and lacking transparency in giving vital information to parliament with regard to patient subsidy (lately found to be only S$300 per month not S$3,000 as reported) and how long the reserve will last to carry on treating the 2000 patients.
I remember the same inaccuracy was given to parliament about transportation costs and HDB flat subsidy. If PM Lee must know the reason why checks and balances did not work in NKF case, I think the reason is clearly established in the above-stated ministerial reply to parliament. There is clearly a lot of justification, generalization and assumptions which at the end covers up the whole lots of problems.
PM Lee can instruct the ministers to be candid instead of making all kinds of general assumptions that mull over problems. He can instruct the ministers in being more objective and candid so that NKF and GLCs will not learn to copy them.
If the top do not set the tone on corporate governance there can be no improvements or remaking of Singapore to talk about. There might be more NKF cans of worms no doubt. I hope to hear him say to all his ministers "The Buck stops here!!!!UNQUOTE -
but they approved duria's bonus. why?Originally posted by DriftingGuy:From what i read in the news.. the BODs are lawyers, doctors and other professionals who are either unpaid volunteers or receive allowances insignificant as compared to Durai's 25k a month -
Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan spoke on the NKF saga said: "People should not over-react or pre-judge on what has happened"
Mr. Durai and the whole board have resigned because of expose in the SPH/NKF defamation suit about excessive salaries, 12-month bonuses, first-class air travel and golden taps in Durai's private closets.
Are these expose not factual? Why there was this continual cover=up for 13 years and finally when facts are out the ministers are still trying to stonewall the issue calling it "overeacting or pre-judging the issue".
Are the people over-reacting or pre-judging issues arising out of facts disclosed finally in this court case?
I remember I attended the annual Feedback Unit's annual conference at Suntec in 2002 and stood up to ask Dr. Vivian the first question from the floor at the conference: "The high cost of living and doing business in Singapore is the number-one issue affecting the nation, what will your Remaking Singapore committee do to help solve this problem.?"
Dr. Vivian's reply (as far as I could remember): Cost has two components the fixed cost and variable cost. Over the variable cost there are portion over which the government has no control. He understood people's concern and would be looking into this problem.
Today, after all the Remaking of Singapore, has Dr. Vivian solved the high cost problem. All we know and experience after all the remaking by his committee is that there will be more transport fare and other fee increases.
If PM wants to build an inclusive society, he has to make all the committees effective and not as a means to justify existing shortcomings and finally ending in covering up the problem as has happened to the handling of high costs.
The NKF case is just a tip of the iceberg. People are not over-reacting or pre-judging so it is Dr. Vivian who should adopt a more candid approach and not resort to the same cost-cost gerrymandeering way to avoid solutions in the whole remaking exercise while trying to cover-up (not brought up for solution) real problems and issues again !!! P
eople waited long enough to get an answer why the NKF was not revealing information and be more transparent and it was finally spilled out in a court case.
It is the government's lack of transparency at the ministers' level that is the root of the problem !!! -
Why did they approve Durai's "12 MONTHS" bonus indeed ?
The other question that has been missed is that :
HOW MUCH HAS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS BEEN PAID ?
If they approved Durai's "12 MONTHS" bonus, how many months have they approved to be paid for themselves, AND also the Executive and Non-Executive staff of NKF - (who will certainly deserve their bonuses more than Durai) ?
Supposedly, one should think on the "safe side" that the Patron's position is "HONORARY" and that the position does not enjoy remunerations of any kind.
Was the Board of Directors "handpicked" by Durai - which will probably explain for the ease in getting approval for the "12 MONTHS" ?
With a Patron from the Establishment, it will seem that Durai has borrowed a page from the National Stage, having justified and hidding behind the fact that his "12 MONTHS" was approved by the Board.
Does this not look familiar ? We have a Parliament with a majority controlled by a Ruling Party for more then 40 years, and with "hand-picked" elected Members, who also approved the $1Million PER YEAR salary to the Ministers ?
No wonder the Patron responded that it was "PEANUTS" for the $1.8MILLION that was paid to Durai over a period of THREE Years, when her husband was paid $1MILLION PER YEAR ! -
Originally posted by robertteh:
Is the $300 a subsidy from the Government, or was this $300 the fee that each Patient has to pay NKF for each dialysis session (or per annum) ?
It is now clear from the ministerial reply to query in this instance that IT is full of inaccuracy and lacking transparency in giving vital information to parliament with regard to [b]patient subsidy (lately found to be only S$300 per month not S$3,000 as reported) and how long the reserve will last to carry on treating the 2000 patients. [/b]
If NKF had received a subsidy - for each patient treated - from the Government, PLUS charity from the Public that accumulated to a sum of $260MILLION, why is it still charging the PATIENTS ?
Why is it turning away Patients based on their income and ability to pay ?
Hopefully, with a new Management, a more effective and charitable policy will be created that is EQUAL to the big hearted charity expected and shown by Singaporeans.:
The Principle of Government has always been to take the "High Ground", hold on to that position, and never lose that "High Ground" on any issues.
I remember the same inaccuracy was given to parliament about transportation costs and HDB flat subsidy. If PM Lee must know the reason why checks and balances did not work in NKF case, I think the reason is clearly established in the above-stated ministerial reply to parliament. There is clearly a lot of justification, generalization and assumptions which at the end covers up the whole lots of problems.
When SingTel changed its $30 per month lump sum fee for telephone subscription, to the present system of 0.10 cents PER 3 MINUTE, the Minister of Communications (who was then the brilliant MBT) had explained that it was unfair that domestic users were paying the same cost as business users and had in fact subsidise the business users - a seemingly fair and logical reason.
The Minister continued to assure us that domestic users will be paying much less at a new charge of 0.10cents per 3 Minute charges, as payment is based on usage - this was totally misleading, as it is a fact that every single household today is paying four to five times more on their phone bills.
There are many more such persuasive arguments being offered to convince Singaporeans of the need to change, so as to bring about equity and fairness in the manner of BUISNESS being conducted.
The biggest lie was that GST at 3% is a reasonable level, and will provide a fairer means of collecting Tax.
At the end of the FIRST YEAR of GST, the Government was shocked at the final amount of GST collected, which was an embarrassment and they had to give a REFUND to all working Singaporean.
Despite the GST at 3% having presented a SURPRISE collection EXCEEDING their initial expectations, two years later, the new Finance Minister (at that time being LHL who took over from Richard Hu) decided to increase in two stages to the present 5% GST.
Has the Government been candid about the amount collected per year ?
The issue has faded from Singaporean's mind, as GST has sinked into the fate of Singaporeans, who are resigned to the constant greed of increasing revenues by the various Government Departments and GLCs running the essential service businesses which Singaporeans have no choice but to use.:
From the present scandal, it is quite obvious that NKF and GLCs have already learnt the art of befudging issues very well, in the same manner that the Government has avoided answering questions concerning the GIC.
PM Lee can instruct the ministers to be candid instead of making all kinds of general assumptions that mull over problems. He can instruct the ministers in being more objective and candid so that NKF and GLCs will not learn to copy them.
If the top do not set the tone on corporate governance there can be no improvements or remaking of Singapore to talk about. There might be more NKF cans of worms no doubt. I hope to hear him say to all his ministers "The Buck stops here!!!!UNQUOTE
The earlier scandal concerned NTUC Comfort, when another SPH publication exposed the $1MILLION salary which the CEO of NTUC Comfort Taxi enjoyed; and the manner in which he retaliated against the Reporter and dodging the issue seemed to be lessons drawn from the Establishment.
If the Ruling Party and/or the Government do not respect the Laws and Principles, which they set for Singapore and Singaporeans, can one expect higher standards from the other related Public Organisations ? -
NKF-that can of worms has already been opened!
will there be more? hope so but i dun think will.
more cover up.... another 40 years to go.... hip hip hooray... -
More? Maybe. City Harvest also needs to be sniffed thoroughly for suspicious activity.Originally posted by Joshua1975:will there be more? hope so but i dun think will. -
I never bothered to read the lengthy article that made for a juicy front page in The Sunday Times, about NKF and the now very "popular" Mr T T Durai.
Personally, through the decades I have never donated a single cent to NKF simply because I find the organization, appear a little too posh. And I never paid any heed to those nicely printed little self mailing envelopes that find their way into my mail box. I always looked at it and remarked how well rpinted these flyer-mailers were. I mean, just look at the little flyers that The Salvation Army produce - single piece of thin paper, with cheaply printed text. No glossy colour presentations of some poor old chap's face and a sob story included.
So now, indeed, my doubts about NKF have finally and truly materialized, and not surprisingly, reveals a fat black worm.
Our government should take a magnifying glass, and go around to scrutinize each and every charitable organization, including City Harvest, to see if there are more fat worms wriggling in bliss behind fancy charitable establishmemts.
We make measely monthly wages, rock in our boats under these stormy economic times, and have to tale care of aging parents under prevailing medical costs. Worms like these who make obsene monthly wages should be culled from our society, and charitable organizations must be made to be TOTALLY TRANSPARENT with their fund collecting activity as well as accounting books. This should be made regulatory. A Standing Order of sorts.
Remarks like "25k is peanuts for an organization with xxxxx amounts in reserves", smacks of ignorance. Ignorant of people in Singapore whose paycheck may be just S$1000 per month and who yet donates perhaps $50 to NKF. These people with low income who yet donates, are truly the rich ones. Not in the pocket, but in their hearts. So therefore I say, these people in the upper management of Singapore, may not be short in IQ, but sure are aneamic in EQ. How do we loose our local talents, it is also through the lack of EQ.
So as usual, shit has again hit the fan, now it's clean up time. Start wiping off the specks of crap all over the place. -
National Day is coming.
I propose the Government award an Efficiency Medal to Ms Susan Long for researching and writing that piece of article on NKF
Her article highlighted the much suspected issue of a big charity organisation abusing the money donated by people and eventually exposed the real situation, which would otherwise be left entrenched forever.
Most important of all, she wrote something that is really of public concern and compels the Government to investigate and correct what is clearly a wrong-doing in our society.
Give her the medal. She deserves it more than those community leaders who simply follow their MPs around the neighbourhood and echo what their big boss says.