TR EMERITUS

OPINION The recent public outcry over prominent YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar's renting of his resale flat has cast a spotlight on HDB's regulations regarding the subletting of HDB flats. In March this year, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced in Parliament that the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) for non-subsidized resale flats will be increased from 1 and 2.5 years to 3 years to reinforce owner occupation. There are rising number of cases in which the owner sublet the HDB flats for a quick buck while living together with parents or in a private property like the example of Mr Sinha Shekhar who made the admission unwittingly on the REACH Facebook: Some enterprising foreigners (PRs) even subdivide the flats to accommodate more people which exceeds the legal limit.   According to HDB, HDB flats are primarily meant to provide owners with a roof over their heads and are not meant for speculation or short-term profit. Owners of resale flats who want to sublet their flats must reside in them for a minimum period of 3 years and they have to write in to HDB to seek approval first. Owners of private properties are allowed to purchase non-subsidized resale flats in the open market using bank loans, but they MUST stay in the resale flat. In other words, the owner cannot live in a private property and sublet the resale flat for rental income. The flat owners must continue to stay in the HDB flat after acquiring the private property. However, exception is made for those who have obtained prior approval from HDB to sublet the flat under the Subletting of Flat policy. Though the rules are written clearly in black and white, it is difficult for HDB to enforce them on the ground - there are simply too many flat owners who sublet their flats legally or illegally without notifying HDB which does not have the resources to conduct spot-checks on every one of them unless they are tipped off by members of the public. At the present moment, the rules are simply too lax for PRs who are allowed to sublet and sell their HDB flats after they fulfill the MOP. PRs form some 20 percent of buyers of the resale markets and they often have the financial means to pay higher than market rates for resale flats thereby contributing to the rampant inflation in prices. The Straits Times reported last year of one Indonesian PR who paid a whooping $653,000 for a four-room resale flat in Queenstown when he could well afford a condominium. They in turn sell their resale flats for a profit after they return to their homelands and are allowed to take back the profits earned from the transactions. Since HDB flats are meant to provide Singaporeans a roof over their heads and to encourage them to start families, PRs should be barred from buying them in the first place. An additional property tax should be slapped on PRs and new citizens selling their flats to prevent them from profiteering from the sale. Those who can afford to buy private properties should not be allowed to purchase a HDB flat unless they are already living in one. It is time HDB enforce its regulations more vigilantly to ensure the orginal mission of Singapore's public housing policy remain in place and not abused by owners who seek to make a profit from their flats by exploiting loopholes in the system.       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 →

Meet Sinha, your friendly residential alien from India. He was granted a Permanent Residency status in the 1980s and is absolutely brilliant. Lets see what has he done right as a successful Foreign Talent.   1) Never convert to Citizenship Singapore citizenship is second class in meritocratic Singapore because Singaporeans are useless and lazy, thus they deserved to be relegated and replaced by the more hardworking Foreigners. Knowing the stigma, Sinha made the wise choice of not converting into Singapore Citizenship lest he be discriminated against by employers for having NS Reservist liabilities or being of "inferior stock". Especially when PAP needs more Permanent Residents to become Citizens these days, they took the paradoxical move to entitle Permanent Residents with benefits no different that of Citizens.   2) Join the PAP Once you joined Singapore's most prestigious club, the Young PAP, you will be entitled to a middle class status that allows you to HDB, car parking and other priorities over Singaporean peasants.    3) Take advantage of the HDB loophole This is the main reason why Sinha truly qualifies to be a Foreign Talent. In the screenshot taken by kojakbt from 3in1kopitiam below, Sinha profit over the system by buying a 2nd hand resale HDB flat so he can rent it out to others. As a PR, he has successfully survived in Singapore because of his resourcefulness and the stupidity of the PAP government. Never mind that many Singaporeans are finding HDB unaffordable, its simply none of our business, Foreigners' interest always rank above Singaporeans.   Many Singaporeans sure can continue the voting in of the PAP government as like in the past if they don't mind having a more expensive home to live in, and a security they can compromise with, and a lower living standard they can content with, and the unaccountability and irresponsibility of an uncaring government; all in all, for the sake of Foreigners.   We are all building Singapore with our hands, never mind the nationality. I strongly suggest Singaporeans should just hand over this First World Nation we've built to these Foreigners' hands, they will continue this Nation-building hard work for us. Foreigners reading this should not be worried if this is a Third World you ended up building with the esteemed PAP elites, you can be totally forgiven since your not a Citizen after all. We lazy Singaporeans will put things right back in place like how we did during Singapore's early days.     Alex Tan  Read More →

Dear Temasek Review, I like to share with your readers my recent visit to the Singapore Pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Like at all the major pavilions there, I had no plan to join in the long queue formed outside the music-box-like two-story structure, spending hours waiting to get in just for a few minutes of experience it offered. However, after having read some negative feedback about it, I was curious to see for myself how bad it could be when the exterior was quite cosmetically appealing. Upon entering the pavilion on the ground floor, I was shocked to be greeted by the sight of stack upon stack of cartons lining up along the walkway leading to the main hall. Initially, I thought they were part of the decorations but upon closer look, I realized they were not. Apparently, the walkway had been turned into a temporary holding area! It was an eye sore that did injustice to the millions of dollars pumped into building the pavilion. The main hall featured some simple activities for visitors that were boring and disappointing. These include jumping on mini trampolines in line with some rhythms to trigger music, and capturing projected images on hand held paper fans distributed free to visitors, activities that were reminiscent of those at the Singapore Science Center I visited in my early school days. Very quickly boredom drove me to find my way to the 2nd floor reached by a spiraled ramp where hordes of visitors were queuing up. I joined in without a clue to what I was lining up for at the upper level. Statistics of Singapore adorning the wall on one side of the steep ramp and corporate advertising boards hanging above kept all in the queue accompanied. One interesting set of statistics that caught my attention showed our population density to have doubled in under 40 years to over 7,000 per square km in 2009. Is this 7,000 figure – that ranks Singapore as the world’s third most densely populated country - meant to be an achievement the country is proud of to showcase to the world? I thought otherwise. Finally the 20-minute wait was over and I found myself stepping into a dimly lighted movie hall where I had to maneuver my way around many small arm chairs and stools strewn across the floor. I found myself one such mini arm chair right at the back of the theater that turned out to be a mini Osim massage chair to my delight. However, just when I was fidgeting around looking for the switch to turn it on to sooth my aching legs and body, the audience were told not to operate them, without any reason given! The movie soon came on and it was a music video clip featuring our 4 famous homegrown singers belting out the pavilion theme song against a backdrop of Singapore. The screen was so low due to the restricted ceiling height of the hall that those at the rear had their views largely blocked by those in front. When the MV ended, we were ushered out via the rooftop garden landscaped with what else Singapore Orchids and palm tress, that was even less impressive than that of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown in both size and landscaping, not to mention other mega rooftop gardens featured in other pavilions at the Expo. Oh by the way, the Durian boy mascot was nowhere in sight except in the form of small soft toys sold at the counter. It looked indeed really ugly! The overall experience in the Singapore pavilion was a big letdown though not a surprise, and certainly did not deserve the 2 hours of wait. Fortunately for me, I managed to negotiate with a local security officer manning a side entrance to let me in without the need to queue, by flashing my Singapore IC to identify my nationality otherwise I would not have bothered with even a 5-minute wait having heard previous negative feedback and not having any sense of national pride in our pavilion.     A Singaporen In Shanghai  Read More →