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30-01-2015, 07:00 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
IT'S not every day that a Parliament sitting starts with a Minister admitting to a mistake.
But if there is one key takeaway from yesterday's session in the House, it is the danger of assuming that things never change.
Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan illustrated this principle twice in the first 20 minutes of the sitting - first when he admitted that flawed assumptions were behind the authorities' decision to award a site for a Chinese temple in Sengkang to a commercial entity that had plans to build a columbarium; and then when he unexpectedly promised to "unwind" the situation and return to the original purpose of building a temple on the land.
News of the columbarium angered nearby residents, who worried about the columbarium's impact on the value of their homes, and signed an online petition to block its construction.
Yesterday, MPs Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio), Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon) and Lee Li Lian (Punggol East) also questioned why the Government allowed non-religious entities to bid for land meant for places of worship.
But Mr Khaw explained that his ministry had not, in fact, intended to award the site tender to a purely for-profit company.
But the authorities erroneously presumed - based on "20-odd years" of past tenders - that only religious organisations or their affiliated companies would ever bid for land zoned for religious use.
It was only after the HDB awarded the site that it realised the winning tenderer, Eternal Pure Land (EPL), had no religious affiliation, he said. The company is wholly-owned by Australian-listed funeral services firm Life Corp.
As Mr Khaw fielded questions on the HDB's due diligence, a picture emerged of tender procedures based on outdated expectations.
"For a quarter of a century, we (have never had) a for-profit company taking part in such temple tenders, therefore (that) never crossed the mind of the officials evaluating the tender," he said.
"Times have changed and some of our tender procedures have not caught up with time."
But for those who might have made another assumption - that having already awarded the tender, the Government would go ahead with letting EPL build its columbarium - Mr Khaw had a further surprise in store.
He assured MPs that the construction of the columbarium would not proceed, and revealed that his ministry is considering imposing stricter rules on tenders for land meant for religious use.
Feedback from temples and churches who have lost to bidders with smaller congregations but deeper pockets - some of whom have foreign links - triggered a review of the tender rules, he said.
Such retractions are not often seen in Singapore's political landscape. But then Mr Khaw is not a politician who shies away from admitting mistakes.
In 2010, as Health Minister, he apologised for a shortage of hospital beds - again the result of outdated assumptions, this time of bed supply and demand.
In the case of the hospital bed crunch, as in the case of the Sengkang columbarium, it is gratifying that the Government took responsibility for the situation and moved swiftly to improve it.
In fact, this flexible and responsive attitude may be the only way to navigate the problem of flawed assumptions, which are almost certainly still lurking in the corners of law and policy in fast-changing Singapore.
More of these lapses are likely to come to light as each generation of Singaporeans grows up with different priorities, as online and social media transform the speed and vehemence with which citizens react to situations, and as high business costs send companies looking for loopholes to exploit for an easy profit.
It is no longer safe to take for granted that events will turn out a certain way, just because they always have. Regular reviews of policies and an attentive ear to feedback will help policymakers keep up to date.
And when something goes wrong, it is nice to see that our politicians are willing to admit to problematic premises and correct them quickly, as Mr Khaw did.
But avoiding a culture of assumptions would reduce their need to do so in the first place.
[email protected]
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://singsupplies.com/showthread.php?199315-Fernvale-presstitude-tries-to-make-strong-case-defending-PAP&goto=newpost).
IT'S not every day that a Parliament sitting starts with a Minister admitting to a mistake.
But if there is one key takeaway from yesterday's session in the House, it is the danger of assuming that things never change.
Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan illustrated this principle twice in the first 20 minutes of the sitting - first when he admitted that flawed assumptions were behind the authorities' decision to award a site for a Chinese temple in Sengkang to a commercial entity that had plans to build a columbarium; and then when he unexpectedly promised to "unwind" the situation and return to the original purpose of building a temple on the land.
News of the columbarium angered nearby residents, who worried about the columbarium's impact on the value of their homes, and signed an online petition to block its construction.
Yesterday, MPs Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio), Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon) and Lee Li Lian (Punggol East) also questioned why the Government allowed non-religious entities to bid for land meant for places of worship.
But Mr Khaw explained that his ministry had not, in fact, intended to award the site tender to a purely for-profit company.
But the authorities erroneously presumed - based on "20-odd years" of past tenders - that only religious organisations or their affiliated companies would ever bid for land zoned for religious use.
It was only after the HDB awarded the site that it realised the winning tenderer, Eternal Pure Land (EPL), had no religious affiliation, he said. The company is wholly-owned by Australian-listed funeral services firm Life Corp.
As Mr Khaw fielded questions on the HDB's due diligence, a picture emerged of tender procedures based on outdated expectations.
"For a quarter of a century, we (have never had) a for-profit company taking part in such temple tenders, therefore (that) never crossed the mind of the officials evaluating the tender," he said.
"Times have changed and some of our tender procedures have not caught up with time."
But for those who might have made another assumption - that having already awarded the tender, the Government would go ahead with letting EPL build its columbarium - Mr Khaw had a further surprise in store.
He assured MPs that the construction of the columbarium would not proceed, and revealed that his ministry is considering imposing stricter rules on tenders for land meant for religious use.
Feedback from temples and churches who have lost to bidders with smaller congregations but deeper pockets - some of whom have foreign links - triggered a review of the tender rules, he said.
Such retractions are not often seen in Singapore's political landscape. But then Mr Khaw is not a politician who shies away from admitting mistakes.
In 2010, as Health Minister, he apologised for a shortage of hospital beds - again the result of outdated assumptions, this time of bed supply and demand.
In the case of the hospital bed crunch, as in the case of the Sengkang columbarium, it is gratifying that the Government took responsibility for the situation and moved swiftly to improve it.
In fact, this flexible and responsive attitude may be the only way to navigate the problem of flawed assumptions, which are almost certainly still lurking in the corners of law and policy in fast-changing Singapore.
More of these lapses are likely to come to light as each generation of Singaporeans grows up with different priorities, as online and social media transform the speed and vehemence with which citizens react to situations, and as high business costs send companies looking for loopholes to exploit for an easy profit.
It is no longer safe to take for granted that events will turn out a certain way, just because they always have. Regular reviews of policies and an attentive ear to feedback will help policymakers keep up to date.
And when something goes wrong, it is nice to see that our politicians are willing to admit to problematic premises and correct them quickly, as Mr Khaw did.
But avoiding a culture of assumptions would reduce their need to do so in the first place.
[email protected]
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://singsupplies.com/showthread.php?199315-Fernvale-presstitude-tries-to-make-strong-case-defending-PAP&goto=newpost).