Last time police wore shorts
Posted: November 24, 2009 by fievel in Labels: Housing, politics, Singapore
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THE Housing Board (HDB) cannot meet all expectations of home buyers even though the standard of housing has increased over the years, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
For God's sake, Mah, please stop trying to make it sound like Singaporeans are becoming pickier. Even if it were us becoming pickier, it's because the bloody flat has become that much more expensive~! It's like paying a no-good minister an extra few million dollars a year and getting nothing more in return...so we complain, why? Because simple economics say we pay more for more utillity~ If he earned about the same as what someone of his equivalent intelligence and capability deserves, I will be here writing to protect his sorry behind instead of lambasting it with all my might.
Addressing Parliament on Monday, he said some buyers seemed to have unrealistic expectations.
Mr Mah, who is 61, recalled his childhood days living in Kim Keat Avenue. His then three-room HDB flat 'was like a palace' - even though there was just one toilet and bathroom in a flat with eight people.
Last time...Last time...(as the Singaporean saying goes)...Last time police wore shorts...
'It was basic but it was like a palace to us because I had just come from a one-room (flat) with 10 people in Chinatown. So I think that reflects our expectations at that time and how things have changed,' he said.
Ya boy, how things have changed. Last time Ministers like you don't earn over $2 million dollars a year.
"So I think that reflects our Ministers' sense of duty at that time and how things have changed."
Although HDB's new flats are 'going to be even nicer over time... certain expectations, we cannot meet', he said.
HDB cannot build flats only in mature estates, or flats that are only on high floors, he pointed out.
Nobody is asking Mah to only build flats on high floors. We just want him to keep public housing affordable for Singaporeans. A Singaporean who makes a statement about how he refuses to purchase a flat on low floors or in a far-flung location is simply implying that that he or she refuses to do so AT CURRENT PRICES. Everything has a price isn't it?
Mah has failed miserably in his job to keep housing affordable and yet he has never once admitted his failings, instead, he chooses to continue pointing fingers back at the people who voted him into power...oh wait a minute, my mistake, he "walk-overed" his way into parliament.
--photo from ZaoBao