TR EMERITUS

OPINION For the first time, PAP National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan was forced to admit albeit tacitly the reality that current supply of HDB flats is unable to meeting the demand, resulting in sky-rocketing prices of public housing, especially that of resale flats. In less than a year, the prices of HDB resale flats have grown by 10 percent with median Cash-Over-Valuation doubling to around $30,000 now. As BTO flats take three to four years to complete, home buyers in urgent need of a home have little choice but to buy resale flats, leading to price inflation. To compound matters, Singapore PRs, who are in fact foreigner, are allowed to purchase resale flats under the "blessings" of the PAP. They form some 20 percent of buyers in the resale market. It is almost impossible for young couples to compete with PRs in the resale market as most are established professionals who are able to pay higher than market prices to obtain a flat of their choice. The state media reported an Indonesian PR who forked out an astonishing $653,000 for a four-room flat in Queenstown though he could well afford a private condominium. After insisting for more that a year HDB flats are "affordable" to Singaporeans, Mr Mah finally changed his tune and admitted there is an "imbalance" in the HDB resale market: “I think at this point in time, there’s still an imbalance. I hope that with HDB pushing out a record number of flats this year, this imbalance will be redressed over the medium-term… I would expect in another year or so we should be able to stabilise everything,” Mr Mah was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. The root cause of this "imbalance" lies in the lack of foresight on the part of HDB to plan for a growing population by building more new flats. [Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009] As seen from the above chart taken from HDB Infoweb itself, the number of new flats constructed by HDB had been declining steadily since 2001. The PAP had made known its ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million via immigration as early as 2005. However HDB did not increase the construction of new flats. In fact, the number of flats built between 2006 - 2008 was the lowest ever in the history of Singapore. For example, only 3,183 flats were built in 2008. According to statistics from the National Population Secretariat, there were about 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens in 2008 alone. As there are insufficient new flats being built to meet the demands of both Singaporeans and the new citizens, many have to purchase flats in the resale market, thereby jacking up prices in the process. Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam: Had HDB built more new flats between 2006 - 2008, we will not be in the dire situation we are in today right now. HDB has now increased its supply of BTO flats, but it is unlikely to stop the housing crunch immediately as they take three to four years to complete. By the time the new flats are released, prices will probably stabilize and even drop, causing tremendous financial losses to buyers who bought them at exorbitant prices now. The high prices of HDB flats is forcing Singaporeans to postpone marriage and starting their families later which indirectly worsen Singapore's declining birth rates. It doesn't take an economist to realize that HDB flats are being priced increasingly out of reach of ordinary Singaporeans. The prices of flats have nearly doubled since 2005 while the median salary of the average Singapore worker has remained stagnant at $2,400 monthly. PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew once said that the prices of HDB flats will drop if Mr Mah is voted out of office. Perhaps that is the only way for Singaporeans to bring down the prices of public housing to more affordable and reasonable levels.     Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans. This page is maintained independently by a TR reader.   Copyright © 2009 – 2010 The Temasek Review  Read More →

The PAP's much maligned "FT sports policy" has come under fire from even our neighbors across the Causeway. During a parliamentary session on Monday, Senator Datuk Nor Hayati Onn mooted the idea of recruiting "imports" from other countries like the PAP to represent Malaysia in sports. Her suggestion was shot down by the Malaysian Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Senator Gan Ping Sieu who said doing so may create a "negative perception" on Malaysia. “I’m not trying to accuse other countries of anything here, but take Singapore’s national table tennis squad for instance. All of the athletes are imported from China. If we follow the practice, it may give a negative perception towards our country," Mr Gan said. The Singapore women table-tennis team won the World Championship in Moscow lately by beating China. However, all its players are born in China and became Singapore citizens only lately, prompting some to sneer at the match as between "China Team A versus Team B." Mr Gan added that Malaysia will focus on developing their own talents instead of taking the easy way out to "buy" medals like the PAP. “As far as our ministry is concerned, our focus is more towards developing our own local talents and turning them into athletes of international standards,” he said. Malaysia boasts of few local-born world class sportsmen and women such as Li Chongwei, the current world number one in badminton and Nicoll David, the world number one in Women squash. In contrast, Singapore has no local winners and has to depend on importing foreigners like Feng Tianwei to win medals for it, a method which many Singaporeans have poured scorn on.     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

Vui Kong, a Malaysian youth is languishing in death row since 2007 awaiting hanging after Singapore’s judiciary found him guilty of possessing heroin weighing 47 grams. (Counsel hold out hope for youth on death row, TR - 16th June 2010) His family, particularly his brother Yun Leong and sister Vui Fung [picture right, campaigning in Sabah], has been campaigning tirelessly for Vui Kong’s sentence to be commuted and he be given a second chance. The Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) and The Online Citizen (TOC) are supporting their plea and appealing to readers to help support the call as well. They will be holding a petition signing event at Speakers Corner on 1st August 2010 to garner signatures to appeal to the president to grant Vui Kong a reprieve. The signatures collected will be sent to the campaign in Malaysia to be delivered eventually to the president of Singapore, Mr SR Nathan. Besides the signing of the petition, participants will also be able to say a message of support which will be recorded on video to be used for a second campaign clip to be organised by The Online Citizen. The details of the event are as follow: Event: Give Vui Kong A Second Chance Date: 1st August 2010 Time: 4pm – 6pm Venue: Speakers Corner (Hong Lim Park) How to get there: Take the NEL to Clark Quay MRT station and use Exit “A”. It’ll bring you directly into Speakers Corner. The clemency appeal must be submitted to the president by 26 August 2010. And depending on how the president decides, Vui Kong could be hanged anytime after that. Hanging in Singapore is carried out using the Long Drop Method:  "Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the person’s height, weight and strength were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken but not so much that the person was decapitated.” (From wikipedia) “The fiendish secret of the long drop method was the calculation, by exact formula, of the weight of the condemned against the depth of the drop he or she had to fall to bring around 1000 pounds of force against the cervical spine, the idea being that this would cause the odontoid process to breach the relevant section of the spinal cord producing a clean and quick death. Paralysis and unconsciousness was instant and, after one hour on the rope, the miscreant would assuredly be dead.” (Source: The Spin Cycle) Is it justifiable for anyone to have to go through this when he/ she can be given a chance to repent? Although Temasek Review is not directly involved in organising the petition signing, we would like to appeal to our readers to please give an hour or so of your time to lend your voice to Vui Kong’s family and to Vui Kong who is sitting on death row. For those you who would like to help but cannot make it to the Speakers Corner on the stipulated date, please sign the online petition here.   Editorial Team, Temasek Review   Related Posts: https://www.tremeritus.net/?s=Vui+Kong http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/03/the-mandatory-death-penalty-campaign/  Read More →