Monday, August 29, 2005
3:13 AM
ok..i have nothing to blog about, so i will just post my stupid proj that i had done within 5 hrs.. and screw dubai for causing so much work for me.. -
History of the NKF
The story of NKF began in the early 1960s. Dr Khoo Oon Teik, a nephrologist desired to
help kidney patients turned into reality in 1969 when he and a cohort of friends
successfully established Singapore's first dialysis unit at the Singapore General Hospital.
The late Encik Yusof Bin Ishak, the first President of the Republic of Singapore and
patron of the Foundation, officially inaugurated the NKFS in Singapore on April 7,
World Health Day. In the same year, Dr Khoo and a group of volunteers organised a film
premier to raise funds to establish the first NKFS dialysis unit in Singapore, which was
located in the attic of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). The National Kidney
Foundation, (NKF) then became the largest charitable organization in Singapore which
established the world’s first public-funded subsidized dialysis programme.The NKF is
the largest not-for-profit dialysis provider in the world and their dialysis programme
constitutes the core of our services. Other services and programmes include preventive
healthcare, organ donation advocacy, Children’s Medical Fund, research and
development in renal medicine, nursing education and research, MBA Internship
Programme and Cancer Fund.
Introduction
The NKF episode was sparked off by an article by Ms Susan Leong, a senior writer of the
Straits Times who wrote the article, “The NKF, Controversially ahead of time?” which
questioned the chief executive of the charity organization, T.T Durai of his actions and
incentives. Durai was infuriated by the article and attempted to sue the writer for it and
the case had a huge coverage by the ST. Through the court through investigations, many
issues like Durai’s yearly bonuses and extravagant trips overseas on first class airline
seats were revealed. The revelation caused massive outcry from the public and caused the
government to look further into the matter and have the board of directors from the NKF
to resign.
The start of the NKF saga
The case centres around an article in the Straits Times published on 19 April 2004
entitled "The NKF Controversially ahead of its time". And first to take the stand was the
NKF's CEO, TT Durai who made some startling revelations during cross examination by
SPH's Senior Counsel Davinder Singh. The article in question was written by SPH's
journalist Susan Long, whom NKF is also suing. It had an account of a contractor who
had been hired to install some bathroom fittings for its new headquarters in 1995. NKF
says the article had many falsehoods and half truths. Micheal Khoo and partners, lawyers
of the NKF then demanded a public apology from the ST claiming that the article was
highly defamatory of both the organization and Mr.Durai. But Monday's hearing was
more than just about toilet fittings. It was a public scrutiny of how the NKF is
administered and run, the travel patterns of its senior executives and the chief executive
officer, and what salaries were paid to the CEO in the last three years. The court heard
that CEO Durai got a twelve month bonus last year and between 2002 and 2004, he
would have earned close to S$1.8 million. From the outset, Senior Counsel Davinder
Singh who is acting for SPH, emphasized the importance of transparency and public
accountability on NKF's part as every cent which NKF spent came from public donations.
Several senior officials from NKF were in court to follow the proceedings, including its
patron Mrs Goh Chok Tong And they were all questioned by the court for Durai’s actions.
On the 2nd day of the trail, the case ended as Mr Durai and NKF dropped their lawsuit. SPH further request that the payment for the legal cost of the trail would be made by Mr. Durai own pocket and the those on the NKF side to be bare by the executive member of the boards and that in no way should the payment come from the people’s money.
Media coverage on the Straits Times
Media coverage on the issue by the Straits Times were given better prestige before other news as this issue involved the SPH and their writer, their reputation was partly at stake and therefore they wanted to clear the misunderstandings if there were any. As the SPH is the largest newspaper company, there’s a possibility that higher percentage of the people are readers of their newspaper and therefore they could influence and shape reader’s perception. By playing the issue into their favour, like using headlines which renders them uninvolved in the dispute, like “THE PEOPLE VS T.T DURAI”, which now brings in the public and influences them to turn against Durai. As headlines create a major impact on people’s impression of the news, it also enables them to pull supporters to them. By, putting Mr.Durai in the limelight, instead of focusing on the article written by the the SPH’s writer, it manages to save the integrity of the writer. By the shift of attention, the public forgot about what had started the issue, and instead focuses on the articles on Mr.Durai with his lavish spending and outrageous paychecks. The ST also manages to portray itself as a “investigator” which uncovers the truth for the public and calls for the transparency of the NKF which enables the public to know more about the incident. Although most of the issues are on Mr.Durai, the ST also shifted its attention onto the NKF. From one of the headlines of their articles, it says “Mr.Durai replied: ‘This is a decision made by the board. I use the entitlements.” It meant that the fault lies with the board of directors from the NKF, which granted Mr.Durai the privileges and therefore was trying to push the fault on the directors. It also had a comment by Mrs Goh Chok Tong, patron of the NKF which said his pay was peanuts. This comment was highlighted in the article and it sparked a major outcry against her. It made people think that they were in support of Mr.Durai and were the people who approved of his salary and felt it was fair for him. As a charitable organization, the straits times also stressed on the importance of them not being a business, but a non-profitable organization. By letting Mr.Durai earn that amount of salary, it’s of no difference being a CEO of another business-profiting company. However, The Straits Times tried to balance things up afterwards by giving some sympathy coverage to T.T. Durai. The Articles on 15th of July showed the sympathy people have for him especially those within the NKF organization itself. Staff showed the respect that they have for him when he offered to step down from his CEO position so as to revive the image of the NKF. The headlines were “Tears and gestures of support as CEO announces resignation”. Although there were a few articles on “good” reporting for the NKF and Mr.Durai, the ST was mostly bias towards them and therefore unable to create a balanced reporting.
Social and Political aftermaths
ThE National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is fast becoming a fortress under siege with
thousands of supporters deserting it, abusive red graffiti being painted on its headquarters
and pressure mounting on its CEO to step down. For now, the NKF board is standing by
the man it sees as an asset. The foundation insisted that Mr T T Durai was not given the
chance to tell his side of the story in court even though it was his decision to abruptly
drop the defamation case against SPH. But, anger against the NKF is brewing. The first
sign of trouble came at 6am yesterday, when the front wall of the NKF's headquarters at
Kim Keat Road was vandalised with red graffiti screaming "Liar". While this was later
covered up, more drama followed. As its board of directors scrambled to contain the
damage, about 3,800 donors want to cancel their monthly donation to the NKF. An
outraged public also voiced their displeasure online more than 15,700 people have asked
for the man at the centre of the storm the CEO, Mr Durai to quit over the uproar he
ironically created himself. All this, after a two-day trial had focused on his $25,000
monthly pay and 12-month bonuses, on undisclosed business dealings, expensive toilet
fittings and first-class travels. Fervent supporters, however, prefer to separate the man
from the organisation. Amid rumours that Mr Durai had unsuccessfully tendered his
resignation, NKF chairman Richard Yong again pledged his support for the CEO. The
board is also understood to be discussing ways to clarify certain doubts that have arisen
from the trial. For instance,the chairman of its Children's Medical Fund board, Dr Gerard
Chuah, had wrongly claimed that the NKF had 3,000 patients, NKF's chairman Mr Yong
had, in fact, used the correct figure of 1,800 patients in a letter that appeared on the same
page. Inevitably, the whole NKF episode has also cast a pall over the charity movement
in Singapore. The National Council of Social Service said it has received several calls
from donors who have concerns about how charities manage donations. Meanwhile,
some NKF donors have called to switch their allegiance to the Kidney Dialysis
Foundation (KDF). Meanwhile, the show will go on in NKF, which is holding its final
fund-raising event to raise money for its cancer patients. For the first two shows over the
two weekends, it raised a total of $10.43 million. But Mr. Yong said he hopes the public
won't take it out on the patients as they have to continue their treatment and everything
must go on.
Governance of charity organisations
From this issue, it has shown that because of the lack of transparency, thus causing the
surge of public uproar as many people were kept in the dark and did not know what had
happened. It also meant that the government was not making an effort to look into the
matter and make sure that nothing was deemed “unacceptable” by the public. From the
issue, PM Lee hsien Long commented on it saying that it would be a new beginning for t
he NKF as well as more efforts will be made to ensure that charity organizations are not
breeching any of the clauses. Although the fault of this issue lies partly in the government,
it has done a good job in reassuring people into believing that they are capable and will
not commit the same mistake again.
Conclusion
Unity of mass public = Power & Pressure.
I am sure after this episode, the MPs and Ministers working for Singapore will not dare try for any gold-plated taps or first-class travelling anymore. And everyone would definitely learn the moral of the story - Be aboveboard and don't
hide anything. There are always certain skills needed for running organizations successfully,
especially BIG organizations like NKF. And yes, up to a certain level, Mrs Goh did
say it well ... for an organization that size, $600,000 annual salary for its CEO is peanuts. Up to a certain level. If the organization or charity is well-runned, the people in charge should be
compensated accordingly. In accordance with market rates, I agree. What we should be judging on is whether the person or people involved are able to use the money and donations effectively for its charitable purposes and aims. If they are capable, pay them.
The Board and CEO did not come across as aboveboard nor behaved with any perceived integrity. They behaved as if they already knew they would be
chastened by the public, which probably accounted for why they were so secretive about this whole issue of salary and compensation. If the $600,000 is justified in their opinion, announce it, and support it with evidence and not be worried about public uprising. They already knew that gold taps for bathrooms are not quite acceptable for bathrooms, whether public or executive usage. Especially not when they are paid for by money donated by general public. This is probably why a "no-comments" is the reply from NKF. They knew that it is not good sense to have NKF pay for the repairs and maintenance of their CEO's private car. That is why they are so tense and hush- hush about it. They knew that misrepresenting to the public about the state and potential duration of NKF's reserves is wrong. But no one took any effort to correct that
misrepresentation. When misrepresentation is deliberate, it is called lying. After the bad taste left by the lack of honesty and decency plus that no sense of shame, to all these late rallying and support for the CEO, I only have this to say:
Too little, too late.
