Singapore — The Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) Bryan Lim has raised questions about the People’s Association (PA) spending money on what he calls “giant” billboards. He was commenting on the PA’s operating expenditure in a Facebook post on Wednesday (March 10).
Posted by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on wednesday, 10 March 2021
The Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai also questioned the PA’s S$796 million budget and the role of the organisation in Parliament on Monday (March 8).
Mr Lim in his Facebook post wrote he had looked up the PA’s annual reports for the past few fiscal years but could not find “a detailed breakdown on the items spent with the operating budget”.
“The PAP’s Mr Eric Chua claimed that the PA serves as a bridge between the Government and the people so it needs to be ‘properly resourced’. I am sure the public has no qualms with resources dedicated to essential Covid-19 related activities such as mask distribution & vaccination,” he added.
“However, Mr Chua had failed to explain how the huge sum of money spent on giant festive greeting billboards which glorify the PAP MPs & defeated PAP candidates as grassroots advisors, can serve as the bridge between his party & our citizens,” Mr Lim wrote, posting a picture of a PA billboard
“Giant billboards such as this typically cost around $8-$10k. By conservative estimate, it will cost $992k-$1.24 million to put up billboards covering the 4 major holidays for 17 GRCs & 14 SMCs. Let’s not forget that the 79 PAP MPs & defeated candidates in the GRCs will also put up smaller billboards (estimated $4k) in their own wards too during the major festive seasons. That is another $1.27 million spent per year.’
“An estimated $2.26-$2.51 million of public monies is spent on self- glorification,” he calculated.
His calculations are based on what contractors have shared regarding billboards. However, he mentioned that he did not have access to a detailed breakdown of the operating budget.
He feels that “Singaporeans deserve to know how much of their taxes, levies & other collections have been spent on such self-glorification expenses which do not seem to improve their lives at all.”
He also asked the PA to provide an explanation.
Denise Teh is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG