Chrome Dome, the Govt is watching you closely... (the message is also - the rest of you greedy troublesome types - let this be a warning...)
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...37196,00.html?
FEB 27, 2004
Capt Goh was 'The instigator'
Captain Ryan Goh was singled out by Senior Minister Lee as the 'instigator' of last November's move to oust the Alpa-S leadership. Did other pilots know that the Malaysian citizen had also made plans to move to Perth? Capt Goh later defended his actions.
The statement Mr Lee released to the media:
Capt Ryan Goh Yew Hock was a member of the previous Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) under the leadership of Capt Dilip Padbidri.
Between June and November last year, Capt Goh secretly agitated against his own Executive Council and president Dilip Padbidri, with a view to ousting him from office.
Capt Goh crafted a petition but did not sign it himself.
He worked behind the scenes through several proxies to gather signatures for his petition while he hid his hand.
He was aware that what he was doing was unethical since he was then a member of the Alpa-S Executive Council that had negotiated and agreed to the Singapore Airlines (SIA) management's package of wage cuts and economy measures.
Before he initiated these developments, Capt Ryan Goh had applied and secured permanent residence from Australia in November 2002. He re-located his wife and children to settle down in Australia last year.
He sold his Housing Board four-room flat in Toa Payoh Block 179 for $320,000 in October last year and at the same time, bought a house in Ballajura, Perth.
When arranging to ship his Mercedes-Benz to Perth, he told an official in IE Singapore in December 2002 that he would move because 'the grass had stopped growing' in Singapore.
Capt Goh and his family have enjoyed the benefits of Singapore permanent residency since 1981.
He used his Singapore permanent residency status to obtain the benefits of job, HDB housing and union Exco membership. In Alpa-S, he assumed the post of Industrial Secretary from 1998 to 2000, vice-president (Industrial) from 2000 to 2001, and Exco member from June last year.
That did not restrain him from surreptitiously initiating actions that would undermine industrial peace in SIA and also put Singapore's economic interests at risk.
Capt Goh must know that his actions could weaken the position of SIA and Singapore.
When he initiated these actions, he had already become an Australian
PR in 2002 and bought a home in Perth last year. He had moved his two sons from schools in Singapore to schools in Perth.
He kept secret these preparations for himself and his family, while holding himself out as a brave Alpa-S unionist who is protecting the interests of his fellow pilots.
Capt Goh did not dispute the statement, saying it was factual, but he denied being the instigator:
'I don't think I've been as bad as I've been made out to be...It says here that I had a hand in the ousting of the council. That is true. But I'm not the instigator.
In my opinion at the time, the council was losing, the leaders were losing the support of the body. And as a company we would be in serious trouble if the leadership of the association could not be trusted by the body.
In future, the management will come to the union and say: 'You need to do this for us.' How is the leadership going to sell it to the general membership when members do not trust the leadership?
Now that is the perception. I'm not here to cast a slur on individuals but that is the only way we do it. And in order not to make it personal... the whole idea was to make it faceless. And I'm sure the individuals concerned were well aware the petition was being called for them to step down.
As for the other part about the selling of the properties and moving to Australia, well, I had purchased a place in Toa Payoh so that my daughter could get into CHIJ as it was within the 1km radius.
Now that reason no longer remains, so I sold it. But I still have another house in Katong. So that does not prove that I was moving away to Australia.
(Capt Goh had said earlier that he had sent his son to Perth because his son could not cope with Chinese lessons at school here).
And as for selling the car, it's just simple arithmetic, because the certificate of entitlement (COE) for my car was quite high and I could get a good price for the car. And after I scrapped it, I shipped it to Australia and it would still carry about $8,000. If I were to purchase the same car in Australia, it would cost me about $30,000. So it's just pure arithmetic.
Singapore is welcoming foreign talent and I may be a foreigner but I call this place home.'