Really Mr Tharman? Are You Serious?

Finance Minister Mr Tharman has stated that the government is not satisfied with the state of its procurement processes and that the rules on procurement would be tightened. How exactly is this going to improve the procurement processes may one ask?

What Mr Tharman proposes is somewhat akin to asking the foxes guarding the hens in the chicken coop to be more alert when on guard duty. The problem is not the alertness of the foxes but that the fox is being asked to self-supervise its own actions. It's the old problem of who is going to guard the guards isn't it?

In today's world of pervasive internet connectivity there is a solution not available to the Roman empire: Namely: crowd sourcing and social media. Purchasing decisions of all public institutions should be made available for public scrutiny. With the possible exceptions of weapons and security systems purchases, all other purchases/works order should be made public. The following basic information should be made available for each purchase:

Which is the purchasing organisation
What is being purchased
How much it costs
Who was it purchased from

The vast majority of purchasing decisions by our public institutions cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered state secrets. It is precisely the current lack of transparency and therefore external accountability that has allowed such malpractices to occur, the most egregious (exposed to date) being the scam perpetrated by the LTA officers.

Let the public be the many extra (and unpaid) eyeballs to keep public officers honest and on their toes. This is the equivalent of letting the chickens check on the fox. If Mr Fox who is supposed to be guarding the chickens is not doing his job, the squawking chickens should be able to alert the farmer.

Consider the the $7billion worth of "administrative expenses" that Temasek Holdings incurred for the year 2010. I'm sure the public would like to know the breakdown of how that money was spent. There are doubtless people working in the public service who would know, but are not telling. These people mistakenly believe that they are working for Temasek Holdings etc... but in reality, they are working for the public who are footing the bill, including their salaries.

For perspective, the original MRT network (East-West and North-South lines) costs approximately $5billion to construct back in 1988. And Temasek Holdings and their subsidiaries are spending on average of $7billion a year on ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES!! Just how many Brompton bike-like purchases do you think can be hidden with such a huge expense account?

It's well past time that the chickens are armed Mr Tharman. Public institutions spending the public's money have NO reason not to reveal to the public what they are spending the money on. If you are truly serious about tightening procurement procedures and all this talk is not just empty posturing, we would expect no less. If not, you need to explain to the public WHY not?