Leong Sze Hian
With the appointment of Idris Jala as a minister in the prime minister's department to oversee KPIs, should city councils be evaluated by KPIs as well?
In Singapore, town councils get a report card twice a year, on how they have fared in various areas (KPIs) like cleanliness of the constituency, lift maintenance standards, efficiency in the collection of monthly Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) from households, etc. A score of level 1 to 5 is given, with 5 being the worst score.
The question in Singapore is whether the ruling government the People's Action Party's (PAP) town councils better than opposition ones.
With the looming general election in Singapore, one of the key election issues may be how the two opposition town councils have scored against the PAP town councils. If Malaysia's city councils have KPI scores, it may also then become an issue in the next election.
In this connection, what is perhaps conspicuous about the latest town councils' management report in Singapore, is that whilst all but one of the 14 PAP town councils scored level 2 for S&CC Households in Arrears and Amount in Arrears collections, the other 13 all scored level 1.
In stark contrast, the two opposition town councils scored level 5 for both areas. Is there something wrong with the opposition town councils in Singapore in this respect?
As a layman, I think two factors that may influence the S&CC scores is how town councils write-off their S&CC bad debts, and the balance of efficiency and compassion in chasing for arrears.
Indicator of poverty
According to the Swiss-based UBS study on prices and earnings, Malaysians have more purchasing power (Malaysia is ranked two places above Singapore's 49th place for domestic purchasing power) than Singapore. Singapore is also the 11th most expensive city in terms of price levels (Kuala Lumpur is ranked 68th).
The issue is not so much whose is higher, but rather the implications on ordinary Malaysians and Singaporeans, and in particular lower-income households, in respect of coping with their living expenses.
In this connection, in my view, one good indicator of lower-income households' financial stress may be how many Singaporean households have difficulty paying their S&CC. The charges are typically only around S$30 (RM71) to S$70 (RM166) a month.
In this regard, I was surprised to see in the annual reports, that opposition ward Hougang wrote-off about eight times more on a proportional basis, in the last financial year, than the PAP ward Hong Kah, that is about eight times bigger than Hougang in terms of total S&CC annual collections.
Hougang and Hong Kah wrote-off S$87,059 (RM206,419) and S$87,532 (RM207,541), respectively.
Despite writing off about eight times more proportionately, why is it that Hougang still ended up with level 5 scores, whilst Hong Kah moved up from level 2 to 1 in both KPIs?
I also find it rather puzzling as to why Hougang's write-off in the previous financial year was zero, compared to Hong Kah's S$106,307 (RM252,116).
Inefficient, or compassionate?
As to the other possible contributing factor of efficiency in chasing for arrears, Hong Kah's interest on late payment of S&CC, at S$267,964 (RM635,500), was about four times more than Hougang's S$8,719 (RM20,678), on a proportional basis.
Does this mean that Hougang was more lax, or perhaps more compassionate in dealing with arrears?
The scoring is done by civil servants from Singapore's Ministry of National Development (MND).
Is there a possible conflict of interest or bias when MND staff have to score the minister for national development's Group Representative Constituency (GRC), along with his four other GRC members of parliament?
Likewise, if Malaysia decides to have KPIs for city councils, the scoring should be done by an independent party.
How Singapore remains pothole free
Finally, have you ever wondered why there are no potholes on Singapore roads, unlike those in Malaysia?
Could it be that Singapore politicians perceive that their town councils' KPI report cards may affect the voters' decision come elections?
In Singapore, town councils get a report card twice a year, on how they have fared in various areas (KPIs) like cleanliness of the constituency, lift maintenance standards, efficiency in the collection of monthly Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) from households, etc. A score of level 1 to 5 is given, with 5 being the worst score. The question in Singapore is whether the ruling government the People's Action Party's (PAP) town councils better than opposition ones.
With the looming general election in Singapore, one of the key election issues may be how the two opposition town councils have scored against the PAP town councils. If Malaysia's city councils have KPI scores, it may also then become an issue in the next election.
In this connection, what is perhaps conspicuous about the latest town councils' management report in Singapore, is that whilst all but one of the 14 PAP town councils scored level 2 for S&CC Households in Arrears and Amount in Arrears collections, the other 13 all scored level 1.
In stark contrast, the two opposition town councils scored level 5 for both areas. Is there something wrong with the opposition town councils in Singapore in this respect?
As a layman, I think two factors that may influence the S&CC scores is how town councils write-off their S&CC bad debts, and the balance of efficiency and compassion in chasing for arrears.
Indicator of poverty
According to the Swiss-based UBS study on prices and earnings, Malaysians have more purchasing power (Malaysia is ranked two places above Singapore's 49th place for domestic purchasing power) than Singapore. Singapore is also the 11th most expensive city in terms of price levels (Kuala Lumpur is ranked 68th).
The issue is not so much whose is higher, but rather the implications on ordinary Malaysians and Singaporeans, and in particular lower-income households, in respect of coping with their living expenses.In this connection, in my view, one good indicator of lower-income households' financial stress may be how many Singaporean households have difficulty paying their S&CC. The charges are typically only around S$30 (RM71) to S$70 (RM166) a month.
In this regard, I was surprised to see in the annual reports, that opposition ward Hougang wrote-off about eight times more on a proportional basis, in the last financial year, than the PAP ward Hong Kah, that is about eight times bigger than Hougang in terms of total S&CC annual collections.
Hougang and Hong Kah wrote-off S$87,059 (RM206,419) and S$87,532 (RM207,541), respectively.
Despite writing off about eight times more proportionately, why is it that Hougang still ended up with level 5 scores, whilst Hong Kah moved up from level 2 to 1 in both KPIs?
I also find it rather puzzling as to why Hougang's write-off in the previous financial year was zero, compared to Hong Kah's S$106,307 (RM252,116).
Inefficient, or compassionate?
As to the other possible contributing factor of efficiency in chasing for arrears, Hong Kah's interest on late payment of S&CC, at S$267,964 (RM635,500), was about four times more than Hougang's S$8,719 (RM20,678), on a proportional basis.
Does this mean that Hougang was more lax, or perhaps more compassionate in dealing with arrears?The scoring is done by civil servants from Singapore's Ministry of National Development (MND).
Is there a possible conflict of interest or bias when MND staff have to score the minister for national development's Group Representative Constituency (GRC), along with his four other GRC members of parliament?
Likewise, if Malaysia decides to have KPIs for city councils, the scoring should be done by an independent party.
How Singapore remains pothole free
Finally, have you ever wondered why there are no potholes on Singapore roads, unlike those in Malaysia?
Could it be that Singapore politicians perceive that their town councils' KPI report cards may affect the voters' decision come elections?
LEONG SZE HIAN's late father moved from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore in 1952. Since he was born in Singapore in 1953, there may be some confusion as to whether he was conceived in Malaysia or Singapore.
No comments:
Post a Comment