早预料 by 戴佩妮

NKF Petition

I jus signed on it. 1257.

Name
1257. Nicole

Comments/Message to NKF
Seriously disappointed. Does Durai understand the story of the boy who cried wolf? Deception gets you nowhere, other than down. Look at the kidney patients, look at the fella who forked out $50 from his $1k salary. Dun you even have a slight hint of guilt while sitting in the posh comfy 1st class airplane seats while patients lie on the dialysis beds? YOU, bring a disgrace to humanity. What are all the NKF shows for? Why are the celebrities risking their bodies for? To fund your luxurious habits? I hope you think of them, even for one-tenth of a second, before you spend your next cent.

I detest NKF. Not that I'm cold-hearted. I had bad experiences with them.

1998. 16 years old. I was working my vacation job waiting for Poly to start classes. Pay was meagre but I didnt have much commitments then, so I managed to have some savings. One of the aunties there introduced me to this NKF giro scheme which will deduct a sum of money as donation to NKF monthly. I signed up, channeling a small amt of money to NKF's account. $5? $15? $20? $50? I forgot. Poly started class. I've used a large portion of my savings on books and such. Basically left with no money to deduct. NKF started sending letters informing of transaction failures. I terminated the giro donation once i found out how to go about doing it. It was perhaps half a yr later. I still have to answer why did I want to terminate.

After that, I keep receiving calls asking if I want to take up a donation card for NKF. The way they put it, it seems forceful. And its always some indian girl who slanged all her words. I told her, NO I'M NOT INTERESTED. She continued with her script, ignoring my rejection, pestering me until I kept quiet, leaving my phone on the table. Happens not once, a lot of times. Please, I told u, I'm NOT interested. Delete my number!

I hate Cao Qi Tai. He's involved in practically every charity show. He's good at urging, but it puts people off. Stop forcing people to call when the numbers are not jumping. Donations should be VOLUNTARY! We're not obliged to call even if you are attempting to jump from a 30 storey building. We donate WITHIN our means, not dialing the number because of some celebrity tearing.

The 1 show per yr became half-yearly. Now it innovates to cover cancer patients. Practically about 1 charity show every 2 months. With more than 500,000 calls per show, I seriously dun see the need to increase the number of shows even though they claim the patients are increasing. Not like they're fully paying the dialysis, transplants, etc. The few millions they having sitting in the bank, could generate a large amount of interest. $$ grows $$.

It was like 1 hr ago when i signed the petition. It now registered 2200++ signatures and counting.

To Durai.

Durai, your $600,000 annual can buy you a Mercs and 1st class travel. Do you realise it can also treat several patients? I'm not adding a MR in front of ur name bcos u're not fit to. I'm glad I only spend a few mths contributing to ur petrol. I feel sorry for the 500,000 calls per show that are hoping to get the condo or the car carrot. I got disgusted when u introduced prizes for donations. U're treating Singaporeans like DONKEYS! Donkeys, Carrots, GET THE LINK?

And who noes, the charity shows could be rigged. The cars and condos are given to people related. There's no transparency.

Non-profit organisation so to say, but y are u getting 12 MONTHS BONUS!?!! Even the oil majors dun get that amt. $600k per annum. I did some calculations. Its abt $25k per month including the bonuses in the calculations. $25k PER MONTH! Its almost my annum + bonus! You get it IN A MTH! In a NON PROFIT ORGANISATION!

If u say its from ur other biz dealings, $600k a yr means u're not focused on helping the patients. Y fund ur transport claims from NKF when u can do it with ur other biz dealings? If you say ur transport is peanuts, and ur $600k is from ur other biz dealings, I'm sure ur other biz dealings would be able to fund ur peanuts oso.

Mrs GCT supports u. $600k is peanuts compared to wat other CEO's are getting. But, u must remember. U're running a NON-PROFIT organisation. Non-Profit, meaning its for the aid of mankind. People will render it as voluntary work, which shouts no or nominal pay. Declaring an extravagant salary at an inappropriate time will stir up the feelings of the common citizens who do not understand the implications. Denying it is worse. U could have cooled down the anger if u had not showed off ur wealth. A Nissan Sunny could have saved u so much compared to ur NKF funded Mercs.

Not forgetting ur posh, CBD area kinda building at Kim Keat. Why do u need such a grand building for when the most u'll get is some VIPs and they dun come often. Having a humble and small building would have been so much reputable. What abt the gold plated tap that costs $1k? The german toilet? Do u WORK IN THE TOILET?

I hope you still have some human sense in u after withdrawing from the case. At least step down.

Regards
Nicole

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NKF boss earns $25,000 monthly

By Karen Wong

July 13, 2005

HE earns $25,000 a month.

And received 10 months' bonus in 2002 and 12 months' bonus in 2003 and 2004.

He also sometimes flies first class on business trips and had a $1,100 toilet bowl installed in his office bathroom.

He is Mr T T Durai, the chief executive officer of the National Kidney Foundation.

Mr Durai and the NKF are suing Singapore Press Holdings and The Straits Times' senior writer Susan Long for defamation.

NKF and Mr Durai have taken issue with an article by Ms Long, published on 19 Apr last year, which quoted a contractor saying that he had been asked to install in Mr Durai's office suite on the 12th floor of NKF's new building, 'a glass-panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a $1,000 gold-plated tap'.

Their case, argued by Senior Counsel Michael Khoo, is that this allegation was baseless and had conveyed, in the 'most sensationalist and arresting terms' that NKF dishonestly frittered away donations on unnecessary luxuries for themselves.

Yesterday was the first day of the hearing before Justice Tan Lee Meng.

Mr Durai was grilled by SPH's lawyers from Drew & Napier, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is being assisted by Mr Adrian Tan.

Their case is that NKF did order costly bathroom fittings and were installed, not in their new building, but in Mr Durai's temporary office.

And that the allegedly offending paragraphs must be read in context with the rest of the article which is about the controversy surrounding NKF, and its transparency, or lack of.

'SUPPRESSED INFORMATION'

Mr Singh said Mr Durai and the NKF had 'suppressed information' when, during the first exchange of court documents before the trial, NKF did not give the invoice of the 'expensive tap', which was relevant to the case.

It was only until the lawyers wrote to them again and asked for it, that they gave it to them. Mr Durai, however, denied it, saying that NKF does not suppress information, adding that he did not know which installation the lawyers were referring to as they had not asked about the 'original' fittings which have since been replaced.

To which, Mr Singh said: 'Let us talk about transparency. Forget transparency outside. Let us talk about transparency in this court.

'Here, everyone knows that we are talking about these fittings that are in issue. We asked you what these fittings were that were installed and you tell us about the replaced fittings, not the original one.

'And that, you tell the court, is an honest answer?'

Mr Durai: 'The way I looked at it: What were the fittings installed. If you had asked me the question 'What was originally installed?', my answer would have been different.'

Mr Singh: 'Were the fittings that are in issue installed? Yes or no?'

Mr Durai: 'Previously, yes.'

It turns out that the 'original' bathroom installations included a mixer tap which cost about $990, excluding the 10 per cent discount.

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First-class travel a clever tactic?

SPECULATION over Mr T T Durai's first class travel habits have been going around for a while.

He has even successfully sued and obtained apologies and damages from two people in the past, for saying that he flies first class.

The NKF's position has always been that it pays for their senior executives' business-class travel from Singapore.

That's a perk. Their 'entitlement'.

But wait, there's a catch.

NKF's policy is that it pays for its senior staff, including Mr Durai, to fly business-class at Singapore Airlines' rates from Singapore.

But it has enabled Mr Durai to fly first class. How?

Clever tactics and 'a play with words'.

It seems that as long as Mr Durai didn't exceed SIA's published rate for their business-class tickets for a trip, he could go ahead and use his 'entitlement' to travel first class.

Mr Davinder Singh fleshed out this point in his cross-examination of Mr Durai in court yesterday.

Mr Singh said: 'Is it not your duty, as a trustee of people's money, to make sure you get the best value for money on a business-class seat, instead of deploying this clever tactic of using one of the highest published rates to get first class on another plane?'

Mr Durai tried to say again that it was a board decision, but when the judge told him to answer the question straight, he replied that it was.

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Shock over his salary

THERE were gasps when Mr T T Durai revealed his salary.

Mr Singh said: 'So, for the past three years, you have earned about, what $1.8m?'

Mr Durai: 'Yes.'

Mr Singh: 'From the NKF?'

Mr Durai: 'Yes.'

Mr Singh: 'Should the man who earns $1,000 a month and takes out $50 from his pay packet thinking that he's going to save lives not know that that is the kind of money you earn?'

Mr Durai: 'There is nothing wrong with the money I earn.'

Mr Singh: 'I am not talking about anything wrong. Please do not get defensive.... $1.8 million. I wonder what is wrong....

'Should the man who takes $50 out of his $1,000 pay packet... thinking that he is going to save a fellow Singaporean, in the bed... should he not know that some of that money is going, or has gone into the $500,000, $600,000 pay package for you?'

Mr Durai: 'Surely he knows.'

Mr Singh: 'Tell me how does he know. Please show us the document to back up the statement you have made on oath.'

At this point, Mr Durai tried to explain that people donate money to the NKF's dialysis programme to save lives. But the judge cut him short.

Extracted from The Electric New Paper