I'm back to the blogosphere.

Recently the Ministry of National Development, Singapore, released an appraisal report [read this] and the result was..no prizes once again for guessing..
"The best-scoring town councils appear to be Tanjong Pagar, where Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is an MP, and Ang Mo Kio, the Prime Minister’s constituency."


As if the heavens heard the outcries, once again a "freak" flash flood had to occur in nowhere else but Orchard Road, Tanjong Pagar GRC. I'm impressed by this particular 'act-of-god'. 

Wow... Singapore's political scene sinks to a new low with this below-the-belt report.
What a bunch of bull crap...and yet, such messages do get through to some people out there..like my own folks...
But I often wonder why they keep at this game when they jolly well know the proliferation of internet forums and alternative news sources have rendered many a modern Singaporean dubious of such reports.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_538544.html

Any wonder why Al Jazeera got axed from MIO TV? Just watch a few samplings of their feature documentaries on Singapore. If anything, this also explains why the red light district Geylang has been so frequently raided recently that the sex workers have gone either online or to new enclaves such as Kovan and Serangoon. Geylang isn't the only place to have been raided after Al Jazeera's videos were released, apparently the homeless have been raided as well.

I think Mah Bow Tan has not and will not ever "bow" to the aggrieved Singaporeans, which definitely outnumber the happy ones, for the poor control of real estate inflation in recent years.

Nor will our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Nor will his daddy MM Lee Kuan Yew.

There's a trend here. The higher you go up the chain of command, the more unlikely it is to obtain a fair review and admission of the mistakes committed in each of their jobs to plan and to accommodate for the influx of immigration via proper control of housing supply.

...and so I thought, how about we take a look at the individuals responsible for the very specific job of planning and execution of land and housing development in Singapore.

Well so how about we go take a peep into HDB and SLA, both government organizations responsible for land and housing related issues.

SLA ORG CHART
HDB ORG CHART

Interestingly, you will find that the position for "Planning and Policy" is vacant. I wonder why...?
So hey since there's no fall guy in that position...the next person would be his boss right? Well he is
Simon Ong, Deputy Chief Executive of SLA as well as the "Commissioner of Lands". Right above him we have Vincent Hoong, Chief Executive of SLA as well as the "Controller of Residential Property".

In HDB, we have a group of fellas called the "Building Group", run by a Mr Sng Cheng Keh. The relevant fellas in the group are Fong Chun Wah (Development and Procurement), Raymond Toh Chun Parng (Research and Planning).

Now if there were no proper reasons for HDB not to have built sufficient flats to accomodate for the increase in immigrants, these are the very people who were sleeping on their jobs and yet have kept silent up till now.

With Singapore being such a small nation, it should be really easy to obtain and work with data. As such, I can only conclude the failure to plan was more of a deliberate move than an accidental occurrence.

Now please do not compare Hongkong and China and the likes to Singapore when it comes to the recent inflation. Every country has an unique set of conditions, and in any case, our politicians are the highest paid and to run the smallest country, um sorry.., city.

So please, will somebody in the know please stand up and explain yourself already. Or perhaps, will the opposition politicians engage in some detective work to look into the real estate buying and selling activities of these above mentioned head honchos of Singapore's land and housing prices. You never know what can be dug out! And if there is nothing there, then at least it will put many a suspecting Singaporean to rest.

Disgusting...even ChannelNewsAsia has lost its integrity of independence in my eyes now.
Why did Debra Soon, the Managing Director of ChannelNewsAsia invite such a one-sided panel of 3 to present this case? Nicholas Mak is a sorry excuse for an alternative voice, if you ask me. The questions of affordability were never truly addressed.

The simple fact is that housing prices HAS outstripped our economic fundamentals. Nobody in this happy-gala get-together even bothered to look into this issue as a 'talking point' proper. Every issue was touch-and-go and addressed in such a cavalier manner. I wished I could jump into the show and get these clowns to STFU.

What a farce!

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_503056.html

Another financially rewarding land sales for our PAP government. $302 million for this plot of land...another few of such sales and our GIC and Temasek's recent losses would be more than made up for.

Who pays for all these ultra high bids eventually? The Singapore consumer. Sweeet.

Woke up this morning to this piece of news...heard from my mother, the unofficial broadcaster of all family news, that one of my uncles, a Malaysian PR living in Singapore for the past 15years, decided to give up waiting for the housing prices to turn south and jumped into the resale market as rental costs continue to price him and his wife out. They used to rent a whole HDB unit but now can only afford to rent a room in a HDB flat; with new measures taken by the government, in what can only be seen as "too little too late", to cool the housing market, he is now required to pay up to 20% downpayment for this flat purchase. They are afraid of any further measures taken against PR's favor and so they are jumping in quicker than they can think. They paid their option deposit to the real estate agent and are now desperately going around the extended family looking for loans to help them with the $40,000 cash shortfall required for down-payment and other costs such as stamp fees and real estate agent fee.

I find this story to be rather disturbing, not just because it happened so close to me...but because I think this is a representative case of many other lower wage PR workers in Singapore and their plight. (I hate to digress but yesterday I was at a dental visit when a foreign indian couple with a pregnant wife decided against treatment because they can't afford it, and opted for just taking painkillers instead. Can you imagine being pregnant and having to live with a toothache so bad you can't sleep? (she told the dentist she couldn't sleep))

With my uncle's job being a heavy industry laborer in his 40s, I do not see how he can expect to be financially productive for that many more years. His wife works in a kopitiam and earns $1500 a month (only because she is currently on good terms with the boss and she runs the drinks stall) - she is also in her 40s. The flat they bought was a 3 room flat in Tampines that is 25 years old, looks rather dilapidated, and costs $30k cash above valuation at $300,000.

Their jobs are not the progressive type and hence their salaries have been stagnant for many years now. It doesn't really take a crystal ball for one to foresee that they will end up in dire financial straits a few more years from now, if they are not already in one.

So this is one of the social repercussions that people will have to deal with, just because of Mah Bow Tan and HDB's collective failure and lack of ability to "predict" market demand and supply for housing, afterwards using a slipshod measure to counter the problem. I really wonder if he did indeed graduate from Operations Research as his major. Supply management can be a very sophisticated science but the way Mah is doing it, swearing by his built-to-order mandate, is outrageously juvenile and borderline stupid...definitely nothing in the  multi-million dollar salary level intelligence going by most people's standards.

I hope my uncle will clear his head and simply return to Malaysia. He must have forgotten why he came out here in the first place - to create a better life for himself, and he is obviously not doing that here. Something is very wrong with the way Singapore is being run now. But of course you can also choose to ignore all that you've read online and pretend all is alright.

It appears there is a hot new issue going around kopitiams regarding our beleaguered Mah Bow Tan and his housing policies. This time, it is regarding the issue of sudden decisions to build blocks of rental flats in Tampines and Pasir Ris for housing the growing army of homeless families of Singapore.

[refer: Straits Times: Uproar over new rental flats]

Apparently, HDB owners of adjacent blocks in these selected sites have gone to their respective MPs and HDB to protest against 2 issues;
1) HDB did not consult the surrounding residents before beginning work on building these rental flats
2) They have several concerns about having a block of homeless Singaporeans living next to their homes

What kind of jokers do we have among our midst?
Do they know what it means to be living in a HDB flat? It is public, subsidized housing! (though these days I beg to differ on the definition of 'subsidized')

Can these people get real please? Do they know that they are also renting their flats from HDB, except they did so with a 99 year or less lease? The homeless are just like any of us, except their finances have been caught short and they are in a homeless, or rather, long-term-rental-less plight. Please do grow some empathy!

If they are concerned that their HDB prices will be adversely affected by having another block so near to theirs, I think that is another ridiculous claim. Almost 90% of flats are going to have no clear open space next to them eventually, in fact, it is so certain that you should never purchase a flat with a nice plot of empty land next to it. You can only be more assured of your existing open spaces if you own a private property, or else get a new government who doesn't intend to squeeze 85% of the 6.5 million citizens into HDB pockets.

And since when has HDB or our government  bodies ever consulted the citizens before? Why are these guys crying foul only now? Did PAP consult the citizens when they decided to hike their ministerial salaries to obscene levels in 2006? No. Did they consult you when they decided to build the casinos? No. Did they consult you when they decided to increase our population to 6.5 million? No. A big fat NO. So stop pretending to be so surprised. (Somehow I think the joke is really on these fellas since they were the ones who voted Mah Bow Tan into Tampines in the first place.)

One particular thought fleeted across my mind as I read about this piece of news - why are there so many homeless citizens all of a sudden? Where are they living right now as these blocks are being built? It can't be they are all from Angsana home in Buangkok or Sembawang park's tents....maybe they are preparing to evict the citizens who have been falling behind on their HDB mortgages in recent years? Who knows?

All in all, I think we need a new Minister for National Development to take over Mah. Somebody with fresh perspectives and not just fancy spectacles. Somebody with a vision to proactively create a better life for our citizens through his/her work and not just someone defensive and always in denial of real problems.

Check out the audacity of PAP in their latest fantasy play with GDP desires.
I think there comes a point when the Singaporeans need to stand up and say "enough is enough!". And if putting a nuclear plant on our little island is not that time, then I say to those of you who share my sentiments, let's get the hell out of here because this is no longer the Singapore you and I knew. Nuclear power on a 30 by 40km island?!?! How much dumber does it have to get?

The stupid REALLY just got dumber. They want to put nuclear on Singapore...little red dot gonna become little yellow radioactive dot...things are truly getting out of hand. And if the past effectiveness of this incumbent group of politicians are anything to go by, a nuclear plant will be built before you can even pack up your luggages.

I will be the first to start a public protest if Lee Hsien Loong and S R Nathan decides to pursue this dumbass plan of Tharman and co.

The blindless pursuit of GDP number will now literally kill us all.



Singapore Mulls Nuclear Power, Fewer Foreigners, Minister Says
2010-02-01 06:00:00.8 GMT


By Shamim Adam
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore should consider using
nuclear power and depend less on foreign workers in its efforts
to transform the economy in the next decade, a government-
appointed panel said.
The city state must aim to double its productivity rate in
the next decade and encourage companies to expand abroad to spur
growth after emerging from a recession last year, Finance
Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who heads the Economic
Strategies Committee, said in Singapore today. The
recommendations have been accepted by the government and will be
addressed in the budget to be unveiled on Feb. 22, he said.
Singapore is seeking ways to ensure its economy expands in
a more sustained manner after three recessions in the past
decade, with its most recent slump the deepest since
independence in 1965. The government has said it wants to boost
productivity to make up for an anticipated slowdown in growth as
the nation becomes more developed.
The panel today announced seven proposals to restructure
the economy. They include making the city state a hub for global
companies seeking to expand in Asia, improving energy security
and being more flexible in land usage.
The committee urged the government to study using nuclear
energy as a future source of power and the import of coal and
electricity. It also recommended the creation of a “waterfront
city” on existing port facilities run by the Port Authority of
Singapore in the southern part of the island when the lease
expires in 2027.

Foreign Workers

The government plans to reduce the Southeast Asian island’s
dependence on foreign workers by raising levies imposed on
employers hiring overseas labor in a “gradual and phased
manner,” Shanmugaratnam said. Policy makers will seek to
maintain the foreign labor force at the current level of about
one-third of the total workforce, he said.
Singapore has been looking at ways to restructure its
economy since 2001, with the government-appointed Economic
Review Committee that preceded the current panel urging changes
to policies relating to taxation, wages and new industries to
draw more investments.
That led to the promotion of industries such as
pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotechnology research and wealth
management to offset slowing electronics exports. Singapore’s
efforts to be a more competitive place to do business has also
seen it shave 9 percentage points off the corporate tax rate
since 2000.
Singapore may grow at a slower annual pace compared with
the average 5 percent expansion of the past decade because the
$182 billion economy is more developed now, Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong said last week. Gross domestic product may grow 3
percent to 5 percent in 2010, after a 2.1 percent contraction
last year, the government forecasts.

Boosting Income

“We have to do it so that progressively and inexorably,
our economy will be transformed,” Lee said Jan. 25. “Then,
provided we can raise our productivity, even if our total GDP
grows more slowly, our workers can become more productive and
our income per capita can continue to rise.”
Singapore’s productivity rate lags behind that of the U.S.,
Japan and other countries, the panel said today. Productivity in
manufacturing and services are about 55 percent to 65 percent of
the levels in the U.S. and Japan, it said.
Productivity growth of between 2 percent and 3 percent
annually will help GDP increase by 3 percent and 5 percent per
annum in the next 10 years, the panel said. The rate averaged 1
percent in the last decade.

Global-Asia Hub

“We have significant room to increase productivity in
every sector of our economy,” the panel said in a report.
“This shift to productivity-driven growth will require major
new investments in the skills, expertise and innovative
capabilities of our people and businesses over the next
decade.”
The country is targeting as much as S$12 billion in fixed-
asset investments this year, after attracting S$11.8 billion in
2009.
Singapore should aim to be a “key Global-Asia hub for
global players seeking to tap opportunities offered by a rising
Asia, and for Asian enterprises looking to expand beyond their
home markets,” the panel said.
Singapore’s manufacturing industry makes up about a quarter
of the economy and its dependence on electronics and
pharmaceutical exports has made it vulnerable to fluctuations in
global demand and business cycles. That pushed it into a deeper
recession than many neighbors in last year’s global slump.
The government aims to keep its manufacturing industry an
“integral” part of the economy even as it seeks new strategies
to help it grow faster than other advanced countries, Trade
Minister Lim Hng Kiang said in November.

Complex Manufacturing

“High value and complex manufacturing generates good jobs
with diverse skill requirements, provide opportunities for
constant upgrading and stimulated demand for sophisticated
services,” the panel said, recommending that the industry
continue to contribute as much as 25 percent of GDP. “We should
continue the shift into complex manufacturing.”
The panel recommended fostering the growth of local
companies. There were about 530 Singapore companies that had
revenue of more than S$100 million as of 2007, and the target is
to create 1,000 such enterprises by 2020, the panel said.
The government should help companies expand abroad by
forming institutions such as an export-import bank and export
credit agencies, the panel said.
The panel recommends that the government develop an
“underground master plan” to create more space as there may be
limits to how much land it can reclaim, it said.

When Mah Bow Tan contested against Mr. Chiam See Tong for the Potong Pasir GRC back in 1984, Lee Kuan Yew brought up each of their academic records for comparison; obviously, Mah had better grades and that was played as a card to his advantage in that election, albeit still not a good enough reason for the electorate of Potong Pasir GRC to choose him.

More than 20 years later, Chiam See Tong fended off PAP's new contestants who along with stellar academic track records, even had the added wings of $2 shark fins soup and abalone porridge and not to mention, PAP's dangled carrots of upgrading funds for the constituency if they voted for PAP.

Yesterday, Straits Times featured an interesting post headlined "Mah blasts opposition", [see link], in which his apparent key message to the Tampines electorate was more or less to the effect of " vote for who you think can do more for you ". The deft little play here, however, was that there was this big photo of him giving out free money to a needy woman grinning away in a crowded event with many onlookers.

That photo should be available in the link I posted above, but should it have been taken off, here is the screen print.

Most democratic governments around the world watches two socio-economic factors very closely - namely inflation and economic growth. Hence you get the the likes of RBA hiking rates repeatedly recently to pre-empt unnecessary inflation (predominantly housing inflation) in Australia, and the US Feds trying to balance their imminent hawkishness on interest rates (also to temper inflationary pressures) with continued dovishness to spur economic recovery and growth.
Heck, even a communist country like China is recently reigning in bank lending by increasing reserve ratio to bring down housing inflation, a problem faced by more and more Chinese citizens in recent years, to prevent any political hiccups due to social unrest.

Cutting the story short >>> high economic growth + low inflation = GOOD ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE. Singapore recently experienced the biggest spike in housing inflation during its worst economic downturn. That is bad economic governance, plain and simple.

Singapore's current leaders, instead of owning up to a bad performance, attempts to do their job using the cheapest instrument - words. They insist repeatedly that housing is affordable on one hand, against everyone's common sense, and yet they also claim that the rapid climb in Singapore's housing prices is a positive and purposeful result of PAP's good work in growing our economy and that is where your wealth and your kids' future wealth will come from. (Remember that when the economy is not doing so well, the fault is put squarely on global economies.) To dive into explaining that our recent growth has been merely a result of the blatant increase in population (hence no real net growth) will be asking too much of me at this late hour.

And to top it off, Lee Kuan Yew put forth the assumption that should Mah Bow Tan be ousted from Tampines GRC, everyone should sell their flats because it will become worthless???? I beg you, the reader, to spend some thoughts on how ridiculous the whole situation is..in any case, 80% of us live in HDB flats; what percentage of us have a second investment property? Can you really cash out on your expensive flat? Where are you going to live? Who benefits from property inflation? Your kids? Or millionaires with multiple real-estates in Singapore and their kids? Think.

Maybe it is time for Singaporeans to reflect upon why Singapore's current leaders run our country with such different approaches as the rest of the democratic societies. Are our collective intelligence really this low? Can you imagine an alternate reality where Singaporeans are able to build up their wealth by saving and not by betting most of their hard-earned money on further asset inflation down the road?

I hope our ministers can start giving some honest and intelligent answers that are not merely aimed to stem the loss of support votes. Let the truth be told, and maybe we can find some redemption.

Yet another taxi-driver encounter I have on my hands to report.

Tonight, I met a taxi driver in his 50s who used to be a manager in the hotel industry. He lost his job in the hotel industry during the SARS crisis. Unfortunately for him, he bought a 5-room flat in Bukit Panjang in 1996, a period of time when housing prices was at its then peak.

According to him, his flat was relatively new on the resale market and it cost him $420,000. When he lost his job, he turned to driving taxi to feed his family and their $1600-a-month mortgage.
Currently, he earns $2,000 a month on average. I mentioned the casinos and IRs and how he should be able to get back into his true profession finally.

He turned back to me and said, "No chance. I am now 50+ and have been out of the game for too many years."

He says he still owes HDB $30K and both his wife and his CPF ordinary account are completely "kosong", zilch, zero. Their income can only sustain their expenses and so he is facing the possibility of getting evicted by HDB by not paying up on the loan.

His daughter is a recent graduate with 2nd Upper Class honors degree from NTU. She is still jobless and luckily enough, she secured some scholarship from some Asean association which pays her a mere USD700 a month for doing research in Korea. She is living off that research contract now in Korea and hoping to land a job proper eventually.

I do not have a proper ending to this story as I had arrived at my destination. All I can say is - don't think you have it all figured out just because you have no problems right now. The problem with social problems is that by the time the people involved get knee-deep into their situations, they are usually too caught up with trying to survive to be able to speak up anymore. Try telling them "they are to blame for not having the spurs in their hide". Try.

I do not take to Singapore's latest minister of law, K. Shanmugam, on some very instinctive levels, and that is a fact. Maybe it's cos he is the guy at the helm of the legal infrastructure of our sans-freedom-of-speech "democracy", or it could be his preposterous self-assumed national right to declare to the New York State Bar Association that "Singapore is a city, not a country" that did it for me.

In the current run up to the coming elections, our national media has been churning out an increasing amount of politically-correct announcements, policy changes and proposals to pander to the bruised egos of Singaporeans which might yet end up as decisive in the election result.

I have noticed, however, that the solution PAP came up with to solve the run-away housing inflation is a method I used when I was a 5 year old and adults were asking if I had eaten the cake on the table. It's called "complete denial at all costs".

I wonder in my little thick skull if there was ever a conversation between these millionaire-ministers over their whiskies one fine day where they all decided that the housing problem is going to be too tough to own up to, "so let's keep saying 'it's still affordable' for the next few decades until they buy it, figuratively and literally."

A recent Straits Times issue devoted a lot of writing space to Shanmugam, parts of the contents are as follows;

MIDWAY through a 11/2-hour dialogue with Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Sunday, 58-year-old Wee Kai Fatt stood up and gave voice to the claims of many coffee shop pundits here.

The senior engineer complained about the foreigner-fuelled population boom, saying he was shocked when he heard there were five million people living in Singapore.

This influx of foreigners, he added, had caused HDB home prices to rocket.

Taking it all in, Mr Shanmugam took pains to clarify what he said were several misconceptions in Mr Wee's statement.

The Law Minister's key message: Do not cast foreigners as the villains driving up the prices of HDB flats.

Speaking at the end of his three-hour visit to Yew Tee constituency in Hong Kah GRC, he said: 'The first misconception is that somehow there are five million people and that is putting pressure on all of us. It doesn't.'

"It doesn't" ?? That's it? I scorn at the pathetic mandate or stance that PAP has decided to stick to - a complete denial of any wrong-doings.

The fact is that Shanmugam has in this instance admitted the partial truth that housing inflation is becoming an issue.
Then PM Lee Hsien Loong appears this morning on Straits Times (read here) to imply that while resale prices are running rather high but yet that is not PAP's fault because they are not responsible for resale prices, being only able to control new flats' prices.
All these statements are appearing at the same time when Mah Bow Tan, the minister in charge of national development, is stating that PAP should be credited for ensuring that our property prices have gained in value and hence serving the citizens as a worthy form of investment.

Are they all speaking the truth or is it just a string of poorly collaborated denials? I let you, the thinking reader, decide for yourselves.

I've noticed in recent months that the mainstream media really have started to report in a very reactive manner.. They are always reacting to news which have already been published in alternative media...especially those from The Online Citizen and Temasek Review; I feel that this is the result of the continuous mass migration of readers to alternative media and no longer placing their trust in the mainstream media, hence "forcing their hands"...

Now that even our "mainstream" politician PM Lee is changing his stance and tact to the same ones as those of our opposition parties at the recent "Perspectives Forum", saying stuff previously unheard of in the PAP camp like - “Our own population is growing slowly, and we cannot indefinitely expand our workforce by importing more and more workers from abroad.” - I can finally sense the earth beneath Singapore's political scene shifting.

Damn...I have been saying this to my friends nearly 2 years ago when I first heard of PAP's intention to ramp population up to 6.5 million in our country.. Singapore cannot think she is Canada. Immigrating our way to GDP growth targets is such a juvenile and simple-minded strategy that I cannot for the life of me understand how it is possible these scholarly politicians could have not realized. I've also said to my friends before...hey, look, the Japanese and Germans will always be renowned for their automobiles, the Swiss for their watches (and recently Ricola sweets =P ), the Finnish for Nokia phones and Swedish for Ericsson phones and Volvo and Saab cars...heck even the Belgians for their chocolates - but what do we have? You might say, hey, look we were just a fishing village 50 yrs ago ok? Well I have news for you. Of the four "Asian dragons", the South Koreans now have Hyundai and Kia brands, the Taiwanese have successfully moved on from Original-Equipment-Manufacturing (OEM) days to becoming Own-Design-Manufacturers (ODM) and even more recently Own-Brand-Manufacturers (OBM) now..that's where we get brands like ASUS laptops, HTC phones...as for Hongkong, it is difficult to compare because of their peculiar proximity to China serving as its hinterland.

There are many more things Singapore could have established itself as, if there were better ideas coming out of our leadership. Ideas are free. But because the political scene has been stifled, and many industries are often semi-nationalized through Government-linked Corporates, we have sat on our bloody laurels themed after low-cost manufacturing and low-tax banking industry for waaay too long. What did we do when low-cost textile manufacturers shifted away to Shenzen in the late 80s and early 90s? We went to pursue low-cost manufacturing in other product areas...
It doesn't take a scholar to devise such simplistic economical cures. All it takes is some political competition for better ideas to start flowing...

What could we have been without PAP hovering over the nation as the one and only almighty power? We could be still a fishing village no doubt, but maybe today Singapore would be known the world over for being the best at high-tech fish-farming for example. We need to stop with the "le-long! le-long! cheap! cheap!" economic mindset of the past 50 years and play catch up with the rest of the world now. We need to start thinking more socialistic for the good of the poorer citizens and we need to start thinking more happiness and less dollars and cents. We need to have less speculation, more real growth, less social unfairness, less media policing, more critical thinking in school. We need to re-do so many things around here! It is long overdue and I am glad now any Singaporean with a brain and an internet-connection can have a voice to be heard!~

TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION - TRACY CHAPMAN



Don't you know you're talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know they're talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Don't you know you're talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

Poor people are gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people are gonna rise up
And take what's theirs

Don't you know you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run
Oh I said you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run

Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talking about a revolution
Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talking about a revolution oh no
Talking about a revolution oh no

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Don't you know you're talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

And finally the tables are starting to turn
Talking about a revolution
Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talking about a revolution oh no
Talking about a revolution oh no
Talking about a revolution oh no

Something to read and ponder upon, for my politically "neutral" Singaporean friends out there.

A Wake Up Call for Singaporeans

The recent admission by Mah Bow Tan about housing prices in Singapore went something like this...

Speaking to MediaCorp, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan acknowledged it has been an exceptional period.

He said: "Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this is what is going to happen this year. All of us were caught off-guard... I did not expect the prices to go up. But the point is, are we able to respond to this change. And the answer is yes." 

Mah Bow Tan does not seem to have an ounce of grace nor integrity to admit his oversight which resulted in the current hyper-housing inflation situation in Singapore.

I had done a bit of research on supply and demand numbers a few months ago and you can revisit that post titled "Who let the dogs out" here.

As a quick summary, we were incepting an estimate of 70,000 new PRs and 20,000 new citizens in 2008. The number was about 50,000 new PRs and 15,000 new citizens in 2007. These figures do not take into account the natural demand from, for the lack of a better term, original Singaporeans. Yet, HDB gave the nation a measly supply of 2,000 to 3,000 flats per year as compared to former averages of about 8,000 to 9,000 new flats in the bygone years.. BTO supply was ramped up for 2009 only in the final quarter when prices were starting to worry as it got to a heated level, becoming a point of contention for Singaporeans' approval for PAP in the coming election.

Mah Bow Tan holds a Master's degree in Operations Research from UNSW in Australia [Read Wiki here]. Supply management should be child's play to him. Such utter mismanagement cannot be excused, million dollar salary or not. Either that, or the quality of UNSW's Master's degree in O.R should really be questioned, which for the record I do not purport to be the case.

Why is it that he does not get checked by other ministers or higher powers that be? Where is the accountability? Why isn't PM Lee making any statements about this problem? Why is MM Lee still saying it is a good thing that prices continue to rise? This is one reason why a lack of opposition is bad for you and me. Today, the problem is in housing. Tomorrow, it could be woeful economic policies or national investments or anything else going unchecked. The problems will be different, but the underlying cause for concern will be the same.

It's decidedly a very disappointing show of abilities for all the national ministries and ministers involved, and once again there is no need for heads to roll. "Golden rice bowls" indeed.

Writing about the housing situation in Singapore is like my temporary new addiction. I hate it, but I keep coming back to it. Why? Because there are many men-in-white whose lives are very sad and boring and hence so very often partake in the cruel sadistic sport of telling Singaporeans through their blogs..oops i meant newspapers...that signing up a 30yrs mortgage that takes up about 30% of your monthly combined income is entirely affordable.

Yet another bunch of new built-to-order flats have been released. A 85 square meter unit now comes served piping hot as a...(drumroll)... 4 room flat!...(drum roll builds up again..) at $440,000 on average!! If you are unable to associate 83 sq meter with real size, let's just say 83 sq meter used to be the size of 3 room flats. Yes yes, this unit is in Queenstown, i hear you, you YPAP kids (I say it in a disgusted tone). So how bout let's go live in Sembawang then...which is fine I guess, at $250,000 for a similar "4-room flat", if you don't feel a little ripped off not getting a discount for living so far away.

In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was nobody left to speak up.

- Reverend Martin Niemoller, Germany, 1930's