What if it was his own money?

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Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Singapore Democrats

In a pique of defiance, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters that "if I knew that it was going to cost this amount ($400 million), would I still have proceeded to bid for the games? The answer is a definite 'yes'." In fact, the minister pointed out, he would "have budgeted a larger amount in the first place."

Dr Balakrishnan's remarks comes in the face of a slew of criticisms of his organisation of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and the extravagant sum of money spent in staging it.

It was even reported that a private Gulfstream jet was chartered for a princely sum of $7 million just to transport the Olympic Torch.

In 2007, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially estimated the bid for the YOG to be about US$32 million (S$50 million). By the time Dr Balakrishnan was done convincing the IOC, the budget had more than doubled to US$76 million. Two years later, the expenditure exploded by nearly eight times the original amount to $390 million – and counting.

Certainly the minister was very generous with our money, betting on the fact that the expenses would be justified by the international publicity the event would generate for Singapore.

As it turns out, major news organisations have been every economical about carrying YOG news. BBC did report on the event but its focus was on the lack of interest, budget explosion and slow sponsorship uptake.

Hindsight is always perfect, it is said. In this case, however, there were distinct elements that one, let alone an entire multimillion-dollar cabinet, could have forseen.

First, the YOG is a competition of youths. While we want to encourage and nurture young sporting talent, getting the public to pay to watch the competitions is quite another matter. Talent is developed in schools and sports academies. By the time the students graduate and mature, they must be good enough to attract a paying public.

As it stands, the youths competing in the YOG are still learning their sports. Did our ministers not foresee that there would be limited public interest in watching these students compete against each other?

Jacques Rogge betting on his future with our money?

Jacques Rogge betting on his future with our money?

Second, the event is an experiment. The IOC said that its president, Mr Jacques Rogge "took a great risk to organise these Games and bet on its future. The world is going to look at it and see if it works or not.”

Let's see, Mr Rogge took a bet of $400 million with Singaporeans' money to see if the YOG works or not?

And Dr Balakrishnan went along with it?

Did the minister not do some market research of his own to see whether the YOG was a feasible project before plunging in and making the wild bid for the event?

This is the problem when a government is left holding billions of dollars of public funds with no accountability.

Businesspeople invest their own money and if they make a mistake they pay for it with their own money. The ministers, on the other hand, spend the people's money and if the venture fails, they lose not a single cent from their own pockets.

It is only in such a system that Dr Balakrishnan can be so stridently arrogant despite the mounting criticism.

Question: If the minister was made to invest his funds, say just one cent of his own money for every public dollar that he spends, would he "have budgeted a larger amount in the first place?"

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Comments (8)

Tue 17 Aug 2010 12:31 PM | quantum - Your money - that is a sacrifice I am willing to m

Precisely because this money is not his own but the poor people of Singapore. that he is willing to make this "sacrifice".

Tue 17 Aug 2010 4:11 PM | tewniaseng

Ask him how much he donated to the charity ?? He will say it is confidential.

Tue 17 Aug 2010 5:26 PM | | hechua - Who does know how to spend "Ah Kong" Money

With $400m "Ah Kong" or taxpayers' hard earned money, any Tom, Dick or Harry can do a better job for the YOG. But we have to pay S$millions of dollars to two ministers - Vivian and Teo and a bunch of highly paid civil servants to be in charged and yet their performance are appalling.

Tue 17 Aug 2010 5:35 PM | claude - What if it was his own money?

I wonder what the late Great Dr. Goh Keng Swee would had told
Dr Balakrishnan for spending excessively $400 million for the YOG Games!

Dr Balakrishnan is one minister I had high opinion in the past but due to his handling of the YOG games, he is now history.

Wed 18 Aug 2010 5:03 AM | seebeng

Who are the people and businesses involved in the hosting the games?

Tue 17 Aug 2010 10:39 PM | g_e - Your money or your life

Balakrishnan is only taking the advice of our master investment gurus LKY and Ho Ching: buy high, sell low. You have a ways to go before catching up with their all-time track record of $100b in losses, sonny boy.

A lawyer, an engineer and an eye surgeon. Three blind mice, see how they run.

Wed 18 Aug 2010 10:58 AM | Clear eyed

Too long luxuriating in their ivory towers have made the whole bunch of clowns soft in the head and hard in the heart. And of course $400 million is just peanuts! It's not their money after all and they don't have to account for it. I won't be surprised if Vivian B and Teo SL will be conferred awards for outstanding service soon. New awards can always be dreamt up and precedents set.

Sun 22 Aug 2010 4:56 PM | intanbiru - No way

Precisely. It is not his money, and he has no qualms nor apologetic in splurging S$400mil on an experiment. If he personally has to cough up that amount, he will do a million research and think about it just as many times. And the answer - 'No way would I part with this amount from my own pocket'. Arrgghh!! We have Singaporeans living on a hand-to-mouth existence daily and he splurged so much for something that may not have substantial returns.