ppl who never lived in hougang smc will never understand how it was to live in an opposition ward. Workers Party haters, be it from pap or other political parties supporters, only know to pinpoint WP's faults. But do you ppl understand why ppl of hougang keep returning WP candidates to parliement every elections since 1991? I know WP is not a saint but compare to the pap, the WP are miles ahead. While you ppl are only thinking of the value of your 99 lease flats, ppl of hougang are more concern in having a voice in parliment.
I lived in hougang since its birth in 1983, pap had neglected the ppl of hougang since then, which was why the hougang electoral reject the pap imcumbunt in 1991. Since then, pap had use every tricks in its sleeve to punish hougang. Instead of reflecting on the reasons why hougang reject them, pap spinned the story about the magic of the teochew langague and set about work to punish the whole hougang. MR LTK winning margin was razor thin back then in 1991, pap should have no problem overturning it in the next GE if they had done a proper post GE debrief. Instead pap screwed up and use denied of services as a mean of punishment and pushed more ppl toward the WP.
We knew WP cannot match PAP in many things, but we who live in hougang can see with our eyes how hard WP have worked in hougang taking into consideration the meagre resources WP had over the years. WP had not shortchanged hougang, while coverwalks and shelthered drop off points are not a common sight in hougang but there are many facilities that WP had built over the years that are unique only to hougang. One example was the toilets built in void decks where residents like to gather to chit chat. Walked into ave 5, one can always see grannies, ah peks and uncles gathered at the stone tables and seats plus sofa donated from residents to chitchat, pluck beansprouts, watch TV, having $3 haircuts etc etc...
As for the LUP, i am not bitter that hougang was last as at least still have LUP. i currently live in TCH's hougang, i can said truefully not every pap controlled hdb estate got LUP. vote for them also no upgraded, my neighbour one floor down from mine become home bound because she can handled the stairs. i had 3 different pap men as my mp since i moved in 2006, until now i only saw 1 knock on my door. Since i know the mp was useless to let my voice be heard in parliment so i treat him as an estate manage instead. but even as an estate manager, he also a failure he just stand there like an idiot while his RC chairman try to convince me that the RC commeittee is trying very hard to solve problem. Sigh.... so much for pap greatness. i should have just paid the amount the owner of the flat in ave 7 was asking for instead of settling for the cheaper flat in pap controlled hougang.
