Town Councils gamble away money
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Not bad hor, made mistake won't get sacked one. Such a good job.
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wah, with so many peanuts around, (nkf, renci, GIC, temasek, and now even the TCs), i think singapore is soon going to be a net peanuts exporting nation.
waiting for the Farmer-Lee brand roasted peanuts, made in singapore. (there's a farmer brand MIC peanuts, i think.)
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Seems like in singapore, everybody is given the mandate to invest in almost anything regardless of their main function in society.
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common guys... It's a HONEST screwup and terrible mistake and Let's Move On with our Asses. Cry no use. We give them the power to do that remember? Not all but at least 66% did.
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Originally posted by TemplarKnight:
common guys... It's a HONEST screwup and terrible mistake and Let's Move On with our Asses. Cry no use. We give them the power to do that remember? Not all but at least 66% did.
First of all it is 66.6% not as you said, 66%
Secondly, these people did not vote them in to cock-up.
They cock-up, they must pay for it.
Otherwise "if "I won 66.6% of the votes" can be used as an excuse" then they can murder people and get away with it.
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TWO People's Action Party (PAP) town councils are reviewing their investment strategies, just days after it was revealed that they had some funds exposed to toxic products.
Pasir Ris-Punggol and Tampines town councils told The Straits Times yesterday that they are rethinking how best to invest their funds in the light of the global downturn.
Dr Ahmad Magad, MP and chairman of Pasir Ris-Punggol, said that his town council is exploring safer financial options that are 'much more protected, which will also mean lower returns'.
Parliament was told on Monday that the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council had invested $4 million, or 2.7 per cent of its total funds, in financial products linked to the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers investment bank.
It was one of eight town councils which had a total of $16 million exposed to various troubled products. These included Lehman Minibonds and the now worthless Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3 LinkEarner Notes.
Dr Ahmad acknowledged that his town council's investment had caused some unhappiness. It thus decided to move to safer options.
In addition, the bleak global economic outlook 'means that we have to think about how best to invest our money', he said.
Likewise, Tampines Town Council chairman Ong Kian Min said he will discuss with his fund managers what needs to be tweaked in their investments: 'We will not tell them exactly what to do, as they are the experts. But it is a good time to discuss our strategy now, as we constantly do.'
Tampines Town Council has $22 million parked with three fund managers and had $250,000 invested in Lehman Brothers bonds, which, like the Minibonds, are also in distress.
Other PAP town councils The Straits Times spoke to said that they were comfortable with their current levels of investing as they had taken care to be conservative and prudent. For instance, Tanjong Pagar Town Council, which had $250,000 in Lehman bonds, said that it takes a cautious approach.
The fund managers told the council that they invested in the Lehman product because it was rated very safe earlier this year, said the council spokesman. About 22 per cent of its funds are parked with fund managers. These generated $16 million from 2004 to last year, she added.
A check with the opposition wards showed that Potong Pasir put funds only in Singapore bonds and cash deposits, and did not employ a fund manager.
Its latest financial statement showed that it held $2.5 million in bonds last year, now valued at $2.61 million - a return of about 4 per cent.
Hougang placed 40 per cent of its sinking fund with a fund manager. This generated 6 per cent a year in the last three years, said Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang earlier this month.
He did not respond to queries from this newspaper yesterday on how this was achieved.
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.
Mr Inderjit said: 'Just one investment out of 30 lost money. We have made money overall, which is good for the town.'
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rethink their investment? they should stop, not rethink!!
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ohh.. the profit = another round of ministerial wage increases
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tot these TC are members of Creative. Yeah Creative Accounting. Cooking up something nice for everyone....
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Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
"The PAP-held constituencies raised their charges in 2004, by between 2 and 6 per cent. "
...in order to lose the money to foreigners... PAP Standard Operating Procedure... take from Singaporeans, put into own pockets and lose to foreigners... no wonder they say two party system don't work... they will not survive a two party system and will have to stop taking public money, so how can it "work"? If you have a good answer to the question how in a two party system they can still continue to take massive amounts of public money, only then can it work.
You mean the Lee Doctrine?!
Originally posted by the Bear:ohh.. the profit = another round of ministerial wage increases
Well this is definitely part of it!
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Hmm...do the MPs who run the investment projects in TC earns commission or get extra salary or something?
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Nope. The Lee Bible. If u haven read it already. They got quite a few in the market. Go MPH or any bookstore and u will find. Heard that other 3rd world country people loves the Lee Bible.
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it seem that the reasoning is "It doesn't matter it is a mistake as long as we didn't lose after deducting the loss(1 single loss) from the profits (years of profit)."
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means after loss still got profit nebermind tio bo? Crap lah....
How bout' deduct the fat salary of the ministers and see what happens then?
Ya wat.... after deduct still got salary........... does it means anything here?
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Bah, what a weak excuse. 1. Nobody expects town councils to collect so much in conservancy charges so that they can become hedge fund managers. 2. When was the last time the conservancy charges were ever *lowered* because of their investment gains? No thanks to embezzlement
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Originally posted by Arkansaw:
Bah, what a weak excuse. 1. Nobody expects town councils to collect so much in conservancy charges so that they can become hedge fund managers. 2. When was the last time the conservancy charges were ever *lowered* because of their investment gains? No thanks to embezzlement
no embezzlement here. dun anyhow say. later u got to face kangaroo.
it is our pple is Complacent. Isnt that the word ghamen like to use replace incompetency?
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I tot I ready that 12m lost is just 1% of their total investment.
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Complacent is the word.
C'mon just an honest mistake. let's move on.
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Well, they are using public money to do things without public permission right? They can use it to make money for themselves off the record books and nobody will ever find out
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mayb you can work undercover and become the whistle blower?
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Singapore
Pushed back by 10 years
And it’s only the beginning with the government losing more than just money. Comment. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Nov 22, 2008It never rains, but pours; it wouldn’t have been too bad if I were just talking about the weather.
I’m referring to the growing pain that the global financial meltdown is wreaking on this small affluent state.
It has made us – the government and the people – a lot less rich, and pushed the poorer class into deeper dire straits. It has eroded national cohesiveness and widened the economic gap.
The country has been pushed back by at least a decade, possibly more. Leaders have warned that the pre-crisis living may not come back for some years.
The government, which had been sweeping general elections, is evidently worried about an upsurge in discontent that could erode its power base.
“The crisis has dealt a blow to public trust in the younger leaders’ ability to help people manage the crisis,” said an activist.
Take weekends at the Speakers Corner.
Hundreds of victims of the US financial woes have been gathering almost every Saturday to vent their anger at what they see as government failure to protect their interests.
This by itself is a national phenomenon, considering that public protests had been forbidden until a few months ago.
The protesters are among 10,000 Singaporeans who have lost S$500mil (RM1.2bil) of their life savings on “toxic” Lehman Brothers products sold here by DBS, a government-controlled bank.
When Lehman went bankrupt, these structured notes, which were extremely complicated products offering a high 5% interest, became worthless.
Many claim the local banks had portrayed them as a safe product, instead of telling them that if one of the six underwriting banks goes bust, the principal amount would be loss.
DBS has denied this, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is investigating specific charges. Meanwhile, a small number of old and ill-educated investors have been refunded.
The irate protesters are not your usual breed of street protesters, but hail from Singapore’s most conservative, pro-government citizenry.
Some are retirees and housewives, careful investors, who speak no English. Women have openly wept while the men, with controlled anger, lashed out at what they consider the government’s unsympathetic response.
Before tempers cool, another public outcry has erupted with serious repercussions for the government, and undermined its standing in Singapore’s heartland.
Eight of the 14 PAP-managed town councils, which altogether have S$2bil in “sinking funds” reserves, have invested and lost S$16mil in the failed structured products.
The money was collected from every household and meant for use in the estate’s upkeep.
They refer only to the toxic products and do not include investments in other markets, which have declined significantly in value. There has been no town council disclosure of total losses.
Questions about the town councils’ total investments – let alone losses – are unknown. So really, how much money has been lost?
Residents are worried that the market decline will mean higher conservancy charges.
“My questions are: Why were these estate funds – with PAP members of Parliament in charge – allowed to be used to buy risky papers?” asked a web writer.
In the first place, why were they collecting so much excess funds instead of using it to develop the estates?
Criticism has been widespread because it affects more than a million people – although very marginally.
Some Singaporeans fear that more skeletons will emerge within the government machinery as the crisis deepens.
Many statutory boards, educational institutions, trade unions and armed forces may have saved up and invested billions.
Those who did are continuing to see the flow of red ink.
The conventional wisdom is that the current storm will blow over and the lost value will be restored – but that is many years away.
Amidst the “sinking funds” losses, it was announced that four Statutory Boards had incurred 14% market losses this year, none of which were Lehman’s toxic products.
They were the Civil Service College, Singapore Land Authority, Infocomm Development Authority and the Professional Engineers’ Board.
However, the losses represented only 0.05% of their total investment portfolios.
The market rewards were rich during the good times, but the punishment is just as hefty when times are bad. So why does Singapore invest so mightily?
The reason lies in its small size and lack of natural resources, which has forced it to rely on two things – human skill and capital.
During the past 20 years, its investments overseas have been leaping.
Individually they’re getting bigger. Previous totals of tens – or at most a few hundred – millions of dollars, have been eclipsed by new shareholdings today which are often measured in the billions.
It is not known whether – or to what extent – the post-crisis government will review its investment policies. At the moment, Temasek and GIC appear to be adopting a more cautious approach.
Some 10 years ago – even before the current big investment push, Singapore was seen as a prime global candidate for excess saving and investment.
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco wrote in 1997: “Singapore’s saving and investment rates are the highest in the world, and much of this saving and investment is mandated by the government.
“This is in sharp contrast to Western industrialised countries ... we cannot rule out the possibility that Singapore invests too much.”
As industries worldwide reduce their operations, Singapore, too, is cutting back on its ambition.
But it will likely continue to develop its external wings – by significantly investing abroad – perhaps on a much more cautious mode.
correct, how come the town councils never tell us their total losses?
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Next time when the IR opens, you see they bring the town council funds their to play bacarrat or roulette. If win, say its good investment, if lost say Oh...investment always gots its risk wat.... -_-"
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what investment u toking? mayb IR belong to gahmen... TC use our money and lost to gahmen....
means fund transfer out legally on pretext of gambling investment loss.
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The judgment day for Lees and PAP will only arrive when PAP is no longer a ruling party. Singaporeans you will decide their fate in 2011.
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what fate in 2011. Guarantee plus chop nothing changes.