Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Red Cross and donations

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Red Cross and donations

Red Cross reported an employee who pocketed $90,000. The Commission of Charities asked Red Cross to stop collecting actively soliciting of donations. In my view, the Commissioner has been over-reacting to this situation.

For a large organisation, the risk of embezzlement by an employee is always present. It is not possible to have perfect loss prevention - unless the requirements are made rigorous and impractical. In some cases, the correct response is taken when a loss occurs, i.e. loss reduction measure. The Red Cross has taken this measure to report to the Police and the Commissioner of Charities.

However, the mindset of the bureaucrat under the Singapore system is:

1. I need to have a perfect KPI, to earn a bonus and promotion.
2. Any mistake will damage my KPI
3. I close my eyes and ears - so that I do not have to report any shortcoming
4. If a problem occurs, I will try to find another agency to be responsible
5. If the problem is in my turf, I will find the perfect system (i.e. doesn't matter if the cure is worse than the pain).

(I removed my previous message about the corrupt manager, as I quoted the agency - sorry).

Tan Kin Lian

3 comments:

Gary said...: ST forum 8 dec 10:
1. Folks,
To send parcels overseas NEVER, NEVER, ever use SingPost whether its registered mail or

'SpeedPost'. You are surely going to regret the anxiety and anger caused you when your items

went astray. If you use DHL for example, you can actually track your parcel on the Internet right

up to the door step come hail or storm and even know who signed for the parcel! That’s 1st class

service.

2. Look at how these true professionals advertise their service – you must have seen DHL and

Fed Express adverts. They put their reputation on the line graphically. In contrast, what is

SingPost’s advert like? – vandalising their own postboxes to attract attention which backfired! And

lately a STUPID series which kicked off with an episode about delivering a DEAD BODY. Such

stupid ideas.

Can you take SingPost seriously when it comes to its service? The post office is like a mom and

pop shop! My regret is to see some of my favourite MediaCorp comedians – Alaric Tay alias

‘chichak’ and ‘Jo-jo-joget’ involved in the series. It put me off after one episode. They should have

distanced themselves from an organization which is a lot of hot air and little else.
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Tan kin lian's blog:
Mr Tan,

You forgot to mention the latest biggie baddie of them all - the SLA guy who together with a co-conspirator took multiples of millions. I find it very suspicious that right up to today, the general public have not seen a proper picture of this big 'snake'! All the MSM appeared to be capable of is repeatedly showing the same picture of the rascal's beaming face behind a pair of crimson cycling goggles and helmet! I wonder, if for some reason, the authorities don't want us to have a good look at the culprit? Is it deliberate, do you think?; December 08, 2010 1:03 PM
cd-rom said...: 5. If the problem is in my turf, I will find the perfect system (i.e. doesn't matter if the cure is worse than the pain).>>> very true. Government agencies greatly value effectiveness over efficiency. Sometimes, I wonder whether this is the correct system. It is probably correct even though it will create a very stressful and high workload environment.; December 08, 2010 4:47 PM
yujuan said...: Increditable, within a matter of a few years, our country is now like a beautifully wrapped present, but unwrap it and find it stuffed with trash.
Must constantly be on our toes, else would be easily conned, deceived, misled or let down by the very people or organisation that we have trusted before.
And the most amazing of all, the finger is pointed back at us.; December 09, 2010 9:48 AM