Thursday, July 14, 2005

I guess the "NON" in Non-profit just went to hell.

First off, let me congratulate 형님. See I told you it would be 괜찮아.

EDIT - Looks like the whole thing is OVER before I could post this entry. Cos I felt sleep was more important than finishing this entry...

Well I was going to link to a petition to ask singaporeans to sign to call for the resgination of the CEO, but I think most singaporeans are happier that not only the CEO stepped down, but the whole Board also resigned.

I think there wasn't any other way to go. The NKF couldn't have explained why it has such huge reserves, paid its CEO such obscene (for a Non-Profit Organisation) amounts of money and the perks it gave to upper management. Especially when it used to portray itself as a relatively tight-budget charity, with only 3 years reserves (instead of the actual 30). Such decit from a well-known (and formerly well-respected) charity is very disturbing. Plus, the patron was the wife of our Senior Minister. I wonder if she was in the know about all the numbers or just a figurehead for the organisation?

I just want to say that the CEO was a FUCKER. And I'd bet he was Forced to resign due to public pressure. The NKF deserves its fate, if you want alternatives to help the less fortunate, the Kidney Dialysis Foundation or Red Cross are more deserving of your good-intentions (and monies).

EDIT - Unstruck what I struck through previously cos the saga isn't over and it's really hard to read with a line across the letters. What do you guys think? Leave A Comment! Show your interest in Community (if you're singapore)/ Foreign (everyone else who actually bothered to read the reports) affairs!

Next, a little disclaimer. I'm not the most morally upright person in the world, nor this postal district, hell, I might not even be the most morally upright person in this block, but any evil I partake in is a "small" evil, if you will. Downloading stuff, littering, jaywalking and the like. Having said that, I would also like to say that I'm typing this at 330am while waiting for my hair to dry, so I'm sure that there will be mistakes in what I will say next. Lastly, this is for SINGAPOREANS only. Other people can take a look if they want to see what's the hoo-hah all about (or if they want to play "Spot Zu31G's mistakes") but if you're singaporean and you don't take a look, Shame on You.

But given all of that, this is so fucked up. If you're too lazy to actually click and go take a lot, a brief (possibly biased) summary:

1. Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) ran a story on the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) last year, alleging that the NKF had installed gold-plated bathroom fixtures in the CEO's private office bathroom.

2. NKF sued SPH and the reporter for defamation.

3. In court, NKF was forced to reveal the salary of its CEO (25K per month, a cool 600 grand a year, inclusive of a 12 month bonus) and the various perks the upper executives have (like travelling via first class, hiring expats from over 17 different countries).

4. Keeping in mind that the NKF bills itself as (or rather, is registered as) a not-for-profit charitable organization, the public was rather enraged at the CEO extravagence.

Something like that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Right. I am not going to say that $600K is peanuts.. But at the request of dear Zueig, I present my side of the story.. or rather my pt of view. Don't slam me.

They need someone of calibre, of vision to head an organization like the NKF. It is a large organization no doubt. You can't take a cut from his salary, saying he doesn't deserve to be remunerated that much becoz it is a NON-profit organization. In that case, who wld actually work for these orgs? If you are saying those volunteers who spend their free time looking after the needy but get paid nothing, these volunteers have a full time day job to keep them alive. Durai's full time day job is heading the NKF. If he doesn't get remunerated here, he wldn't take on the job. I don't think many wld. We learn in economic theory that men are realists, rational pple. Getting paid $60K per mth (including bonus) is just a reflection of market mechanism. If you don't remunerate them enough, who will head the NKF? and I mean one of calibre....

That said, doesn't mean I condone what durai as done. Yes, first class flights and gold plated taps are bordering on overindulgence. But, I think the remuneration is fair. It just shld be disclosed.. so the public knows where their funds are headed and decide if they still want to donate.

That said, I am disappointed that many singaporeans have withdrawn their donations becos of the incident. Think it was common knowledge that the NKF is very cash rich, just that the tangible facts didn't come to light until recently. But pple withdrawing their funds, one after another, seemed to me, an emotional reaction of the poor man on the street vs the rich. The beneficiaries still need help. Withdrawing your funds wld only deprive the poor and needy of the little support they get from the NKF.

Okiz enough rattling. Cheers,
'Neelia was here'