NKF article

[stars]

i dont know if i m being a tad bit cynical but if it were up to me , i would rather head out to those areas like africa and indonesia to help the poor.

reason being , money is good. but the money ends up in the wrong hands most of the time. didnt you hear recent red cross or red crescent reports ? the 6 billion US dollars in aid the world gave to all the countries hit by the tsunami , barely a trickle of it has started flowing to the average dude in the street.

immediate aid , such as food , water , essential supplies have reached the most stricken areas like bandar aceh , phuket etc but, does the average man , the poor dude who probably lost more than one relative in that terrible incident , does he even c the minute tiny fraction of the 6 billion dollars the world sent to help him ?

the answer is unlikely. i mean , part of the money goes to settle "administration" ( not that i got anything against that, really!) , transport costs for the emergency aid supplies and the payment for the supplies. what about the humongous chunk of it left ?

does it help the people who lost lives rebuild them ? does it help the kid who lost his parents ? does it help the fisherman whose boat is now stuck 4 miles inland ? does it help the community most devastated by such a tragedy ?

the answer is no. much of the money is still stuck in the account , waiting to be distributed to the various groups and people caught in the epic humanatarian struggle. it is also probably lining the pockets of corrupt minor town officials who may be using the international aid to fund their purchases of mercedes and funding the bloated corrupted small town burecreacies in indonesia.

although i gave what i could , i seriouslly doubt the money i gave will find its way to the REAL people who need it most.

 

[Colarndo]

With TT Durai and NKF Board resigning, hope there will be a fresh start

 

[HeartRockSingapore]

i though of that about a year ago, and was supposed to submit a proposal to my manager in the CDC, but it got ditch and nobody cared about it after abt a month....

was it something you are very passionate about? Like to share?

 

[rottenramone]

..

that's what you get for messing with the press....

 

[CrispyEgg]

media. its full strength shown here.
can u imagine if the newspapers didnt publish anything about this NKF incident whatsoever? we'd all be oblivious to it, and continue donating, watching their shows, nothing's changed. after a few articles showing the "truth" (whether bad or good) of the board and CEO, we change our opinions in a snap.

at least we know the CEO and board has got NKF patients this far. lets hope the new people who take over will do the job right, hopefully better.

p.s.: plainsman's post (2pages back i think) was really something!

 

[Vaiyen]

look how the mighty have fallen. the opinion of the masses does matter in this country afterall.

 

[CrispyEgg]

we may be run along the lines of meritocracy, but find me a country where the people will keep quiet when they're unhappy. rebellion, revolution, civil strife... we're fortunate to have a stable government that does listen to the people =)

 

[CrispyEgg]

i just realised how this issue can be compared to an existing structure. everyone doesnt like the fact that the CEO hid his salary from public knowledge. the Singapore Methodist Churches have this annual conference, and they do budget planning and stuff like that and each person's salary, from the head to the workers, are transparent, though not given out publicly. this is mainly because their salaries are from church goers, and would we feel cheated if the leaders of our respective religions started getting hundreds of thousands in twenty months or so?

its all about trust.

 

[gordonzz]

---edited out ----

i edited everything out. i realized ppl on soft only want to argue and 'be right'.

everyone from the young to the old.

sheesh.

+1.. everyone just stick so firmly to their grounds and dissing other's opinon. i also stopped posting here liao.. sian man.. :roll:

 

[thatfrog]

---edited out ----.

alamak! repost la! that was a good post, but too chim for night time reply.. Actually too chim for any reply :wink:

 

[Silencer]

hahha if i repost it, i'll be public enemy no.2. everyone else thinks they're right.... i don't want to be the target, especially during daytime!!

 

[Vaiyen]

Hmmm... I don't get it. Isn't a discussion about 1 person putting forth his views and then the next person doing the same?
Or are we supposed to all just listen to 1 person?

---edited out ----

. i realized ppl on soft only want to argue and 'be right'

sheesh.

not true. Happens in any forum, on any subject.

By engaging in a heated debate with your friends, and then presenting your argument here in such a logical and systematic way, aren't you wanting to be seen as 'reasonable' and 'right' too?

Unless you're the kind who shoots without being convinced that your views hold water; which I highly doubt you are.

I dont see why emotions should come into play. You know what they say about arguing on the Internet.

If your argument is good enough to stand on its own, why take it off?

Is there some unspoken rule of online discussions that we are not adhering to here? If so, please enlighten.

peace.

 

[HeartRockSingapore]

.

Sorry silencer...I didn't get a chance to read your post except for the comment qouted.

Judging from the comment, which implies... all softies do not measure up to your intellect and thus you do not wish to engage in any exchange with such ppl. Sorry if you beg to differ, but that's how a reader would read it..

.

 

[mikemann]

Haha..... in another word, why be so petty?? This is a forum afterall. SG is a good country, which allows constructive free speech. Being narrowminded is your own loss.

OK, back to topic. This has become a very classic case senerio already. Till the end, the person in question still did not admit his mistakes, and have to take the cue from a minister to tell him baltantly what he need to do. Can't blame him, as he has being in the helm for so very long, where-ever his ship has sailed into, he will surely be determined to "go down with the ship". But of course, we have a good govt to make things right again, as usual.

Hopefully the mud slinging fest will be over, and things make right again. When a charity resorts to gimmicks, you know things are getting outta hand.

Again, I do hope they totally revamp their operations and cut off all unnescessary extravagence, have a solid foundation in its core directives. Like they alerady said, if they cut all their lavish expenses, the patients can benefit from the existing funds of over $200mil for a very long time already, if they don't share the money with other charitable operative.

Greed will lead to a person's undoing. (A lot of time greed also apply to things other than money, human greed is a complex thing to understand)

 

[Silencer]

hmmm... perhaps it could be misconstrued as being rather petty, but most of the replies i see being posted are mainly personal attacks on the person who posted it, not the content he's espousing. anyway, here is the article i wrote.


---------------------------------

EDiTED OUT
-----------------------------------


some new developments have occured since i wrote, and i've no desire to edit in new lines of thought. so there you go.

 

[Silencer]

i agree with you, the purpose of discussion is to be right. and yes, there is an unspoken etiquette on most forums, which compells a person to respond in a logical, non-combative manner. As most veteran softies will knoe, most of the replies here ARE personal in nature, challenging people without basis most of the times without offering substantiation to further the discussion.

most people on soft who do have something intelligent to say have reduced their posts by a fair bit, i'm sure.



anyway, realized the post is on the previous page. so yeah, i posted it up

 

[mikemann]

Hmmm... so what you are saying is that most posters in soft forums are just kids with their kiddy talks. I don't deny that I do agree to a certain extend, that there are some. Some do actually fit into that age group too.

But those of us who are here genuinely, try to do things for general good of the community, be it little or more than a little. I think Mr Soft himself would agree too. If we take such an extreme stand, then we won't be around here in the first place already.

You know something, I don't really think it's about the gold taps at all. But the gold taps were used as a pivoting point. To tell it baltantly to the world, be it interlectual or common folk will understand the meaning of "GOLD=extravagence".

I also don't think his salary is in that much of a contentious point either. If he can steer the organisation to having a surplus of $200mil within a few years, why do he not deserve some of the credit, be it in monetary form.

It's the way it's being achieved that mattered the most. Like they say, it's how you carry youself in the light, which people will judge you by.

Hey, if you were to slander SPH, you will surely know what to expect. We must all know our own place, stepping on other people's grazing pastures will only bring about confrontation.

 

[soft]

mikemann + Silencer, thanks for holding on to the community spirit of SOFT.

 

[Silencer]

the gold taps are my point exactly. if even the taps are gold, imagine what arrogance lies behind this persona. that's what's clearly wrong.

his wealth is justified, but his arrogance, slippery ways and golden taps (and clear shower screen), are blantantly wrong.


mikeman: i'm glad you realized it too, after a while, it gets tiring just reading what some of them write. i respect freedom of speech, yes, but it grates on nerves sometimes! i'm glad there are that few of us who are still able to maintain civil discussion

 

[HeartRockSingapore]

Wow Silencer...that's a chunkful of words. Wish I could write that long.

Maybe I just pick the sailent points and share my view with SOFT readers.

A chairty must be non profit..period. There is no shareholders in a non-profit outfit. It is a legal term. So the argument goes that in charities do generate revenue and surpluses and thus it is not non-profit is INACCURATE.

Charities Vs Business (profitable or otherwise)

Charities take up a certain social role or function and render such services to the unaffordables at no charge or subsidized rate. But there remains the cost component to such specific services, in NKF's case dialysis care and treatment. So charities go to the government and the public for grants and donations to meet such costs. Sometimes these donations go into surpluses, but these surpluses cannot be distributed among its directors as dividends.

Business on the other hand, offers say a commercial dialysis outfit, offers its services at a percentage above the cost, and that extra can be distributed as dividends.

Salaries and bonuses

However, there are avenues where appointed officers of charities can benefit from the charities itself, and they can do this by means of salaries, bonuses and perks. This is where the integerity of the officers are often call into question.

Another area that needs a clear mind to scrutinize is the division between core charity services and that of supportive services, ie administrative and promotional. A mind should be clear enough to distinguished between what amount goes into the core services and what amount goes into the supportive. While it is true that the support services is an inseperable part of charities, it needs to be reminded constantly that charities are there to provide the core services.

So, do one peg the officers salaries against the core charitable services it renders to the needy or against how good it can dig into the less needy's pocket. Let the integerity of the board decide.

Business like model and business are two different animals, if I may reiterate. So putting NKF together in the likes of Temasek, GIC, Action for Aids is an inedible plate of rojak.

So I do not buy the model of paying officers of charities base on amount they raise. They are supposed to raise as much as the charities need anyway. It is what goes into the core sevcies, that officers' salaries whould be based on. How that is to be done, we'll leave it to the board.