Ah… bonus, bonus, bonus.
I suspect I am in no position to complain about another person getting his bonus when I was earlier protesting in another blog post and justifying why I should get mine. After all, my current employer got a bail out from the government gahmen of its home country and they wisely decided against giving out a hefty bonus. In my case, it didn’t matter that the branch here was have a record year [in profits], and the foul up was in other locations. That’s not even mentioning that not all of my employer’s funding come solely from donations or gahmen funding.
So if you consider that I am being hypocritical for flaming the North West Community Development Council [NW CDC for short] for allegedly giving out a 8-month bonus to its staff [citation needed] while I justify my right to a bonus, perhaps you should look at some of these facts that I gathered from the Annual Report FY 2007 downloaded here.
See the above? The gahmen gives the NW CDC an annual grant of $1 per resident living in its district for funding its programmes, and the gahmen matches every dollar with $3 or $4 depending on how that money is raised. The gahmen also funds the operations of the CDC offices.
In other words, all of these money are donations and state money. Now recall our outrage when we heard the kind of pay and bonus TT Durai, former CEO of NKF, is getting? (And no, I am not implying or saying that there is any kind of misconduct such as those of Durai and the old NKF here.)
Now, let us take a look from which ministry did the gahmen fund the CDCs. Perhaps it is from the MCYS [see below]?
Hmm.. the MCYS. Isn’t this the very same ministry which decided that it was good enough for the needy taking grants to just have $1 more a day? If they are indeed financing the CDCs, perhaps they don’t have to be so tight with their purse strings anymore if they can look at how they can reduce their expenditure with regard to the CDCs.
You might be concerned that doing so might be of impact to operations of the CDC since the gahmen is where most of the money is coming from. So, let’s look at just how much money does the CDC have. According to figures for FY 2007, they have a whopping S$49.1 million in reserves. That means, for someone to get a 8-month bonus, the figures below would have substantially risen for FY 2008.
So why the heck should the gahmen still give them money considering their current reserves and when even the gahmen itself has cut salaries and bonus to reduce expenditure? In fact, while town councils justify their sinking funds by arguing that it is needed for emergencies, and perhaps even upgrading projects, what are these CDC reserves for? Isn’t part of the money the gahmen pays into these reserves an unnecessary burden the people like you and I have to bear? Perhaps the gahmen should consider giving the money back to all Singaporeans in the form of GST rebates or even, more job credits!
But all of above isn’t any more infuriating than the following:
Dr Teo Ho Pin said: “The mayors do not decide on the salaries, the increments, the bonuses of all our staffs at the CDC… We chair the CDCs, to spearhead the CDCs… I do not know the salaries, I do not know the bonuses of all my staff.”
[粤] 十问九唔知! [Cantonese: Sup Mun Gau Um Zee / Translation: 10 Questions, 9 Don't Know.]
I was actually expecting Teo Ho Pin to give the usual elitist Tali-PAP answer to justify just how outstanding these people are to deserve a 8-month bonus. I also wondered, when outstanding performance gets a 8-month bonus, then how much is average performance getting?
Sadly, Dr “Don’t Know” Teo doesn’t even tell us who might know. Perhaps he doesn’t even know who is the person we can ask either. In fact, It makes me wonder, is there anything he actually bothers enough to know? Even when there is no wrong doing here, it brings to mind former NKF Chairman Richard Yong, who during cross examination in court was exposed for not knowing what he signed when he awarded TT Durai with more money. Is he not required to even approve any of these things when both my branch and HR managers are required to sign on my bonus letter?
It is my considered opinion that this is a dereliction of duty when a person didn’t even consider it his responsibility to watch over the expenditure of something he chaired and spearheaded when it takes money from the gahmen. It is a gross failure to the very people who voted him. Thankfully, this time round he didn’t tell us to be grateful for these individuals, just as we should to the town councils which invested and lost money, even though “Don’t Know” Teo possibly also does not know who made the decision to invest that money. i.e. 凭父拢不知 [Hokkien: Lim Peh Nong Um Zai / Translation: Your father me all also don't know.]
But does he really not know, or simply just plain ‘bo-chup’ [Translation: Can't be bothered]? Here’s another piece of his ‘Teo-isms’:
Dr Teo Ho Pin then said: “The economy only start to worsen during the last 3 months of 2008. The performance of the economy during the first 9 months is still not bad. We have to look at the matter from the entire year’s perspective. Hence, it is not unreasonable for CDC staff to receive 8 months of bonuses.”
Familiar argument here! Because this is what some unhappy traders overseas used as argument when they tried to justify their ‘right’ to their bonus.
So do you not or do you know now, Dr Teo? Make up your mind!
Whatever the case is, as one of my netizen friend said, the Tali-PAP needs a new publicist. If the Tali-PAP does not want to consider that, then they should consider asking Dr ‘Toxic Asset’ Teo to retire before the next election. He clearly isn’t cut to be in whatever position(s) he is in now. Of course, they shouldn’t forget to ask ‘Wua Kan Seng’ to join him too when they are at that!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24415.1
