Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim has filed an adjournment motion on the town councils review.
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan is expected to give a ministerial statement on the issue in Parliament next Monday.
In a report last week, a National Development Ministry team called for a strategic review of town councils.
The team had been tasked to review the sale of software in 2010 by town councils to a PAP-owned company, Action Information Management (AIM).
While it gave the all-clear to the transaction, it also said it might be timely now for a review of the role that town councils play.
According to Ms Lim, filing such a motion will allow further discussion on the matter.
She said: "It would give us time to articulate what we think are critical aspects of the review of town councils, and in particular the transactions MND was looking at as well. This would not be conveniently facilitated under the ministerial statement procedure because they just allow MPs to make clarifications, so you can't really in that sense have time to explain the background, the context of the concerns."
Ms Lim said she believes there will be keen interest among MPs on the issue: "Certainly this is a matter of public interest, and it affects all elected MPs because we are all responsible for town council management."
Actually, back in January 2013, WP had already filed an adjournment motion to discuss the AIM issue. It was filed on 8 January to talk about it further at a 14 January Parliamentary sitting.
Coincidentally or in response to WP’s filing, PM Lee later announced on the same day (8 Jan) that he had asked MND to review the computer system transaction between PAP town councils and AIM [Link].
As such, Ms Lim, who is also the Chairman of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, then decided to withdraw the adjournment motion 2 days later on 10 January. She withdrew in view of PM Lee’s calling for a review.
Ms Lim then said that the goal of protecting the interests of the public and residents would be better served if the Government investigation and review were to first proceed. She added that after the review had been completed and its findings published, the matter could be raised in Parliament again as circumstances required.
Now that the MND review is over, Ms Lim is filing an adjournment motion to discuss the matter at length again.
Singaporeans were outraged that software developed by PAP town councils with public funds had been “transferred” to a PAP-owned company, AIM, a company with a paid-up capital of just $2, notwithstanding AIM paid a consideration of $140,000.
Although MND’s Review Team has found the AIM transaction to be above board, it has not quelled the controversies surrounding the deal. In fact, the report produced by the review team has generated even more questions.
TR Emeritus
*Article first appeared on www.TREmeritus.com