TL;DR – Which camp are you in?
Earlier this week, we published an article about the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) issue.
In the article, we highlighted three particular things that stood out like sore thumbs from the 329-page written judgement.
We also explained why we think it is unlikely that this is an evil plot against the three Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs).
The article received some interesting reactions and rebuttals from netizens, on whether the WP MPs were fixed by the other parties or not.
“They were fixed”
Facebook user Desmond See insisted.
But his claim was denied and refuted by the other netizens.
One netizen who disagreed with Desmond See pointed out WP did all of the things that they did on their own and made all decisions themselves – including the appointment of the independent panel:
Another netizen pointed out that this is a case of “ownself fix ownself” where no one is fixing the WP MPs:
Facebook user Ruby Hoong expressed her disappointment (Same, girl. Same. Sob sob) at how the WP MPs have handled the issue, despite having over 20 years of experience:
One netizen pointed out bluntly that experience does not count if the town councillors place their own political interests over that of the AHTC and residents.
Ouch.
You may read the full exchange of views in the screen capture below:
If you have not been following the news this whole week, here’s a quick recap of the AHTC issue:
- The Workers’ Party’s (WP) Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang had been found liable for damages suffered by the AHTC and the Pasir Ris-Pungol Town Council (PRPTC).
- Reports noted that Justice Kannan Ramesh found that Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim had breached their fiduciary duties to AHTC, and Pritam Singh was found to have breached his duty of skill and care in the same matter.
- Justice Ramesh described what MPs Low and Lim did as “inexcusable” and “egregious” and said they had “not acted honestly”.
- Reports added that for now, the judgment would not affect the WP leaders’ position as elected MPs as it was a civil suit. However, their position as MPs would be at stake if they were unable to pay damages and made bankrupts.
- With this ruling by the High Court, all three WP MPs could now owe part of the $33.7 million in claims by AHTC and PRPTC, which would be determined in a “future second stage of the trial” where the court would assess the quantum recoverable by the town councils from the defendants.
The Housing Development Board (HDB) also posted a response to the court judgement on their Facebook page. Their position is that as public monies were involved, AHTC should take the appropriate steps to recover the monies misused.
In the meantime, Pritam Singh, who is also WP’s Secretary-General, also said in a Facebook post that work at AHTC continued in earnest, even as they studied the judgment with their lawyers to decide on their next step.
