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- Nov 26, 2009
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During a visit to The Pinnacle@Duxton yesterday, MM Lee Kuan Yew reassured Singaporeans that HDB will continue to build “affordable” flats for them even as prices had sky-rocketed over the last few years, fueled partly by the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore.
The prices of HDB resale flats hit a record high in June this year. An Indonesian PR reportedly paid $653,000 for a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown.
The Pinnacle@Duxton, which towers over Tanjong Pagar, was built on the site of rental flats. A 5-room unit there now fetches more than $500,000.
MM Lee, who is the MP for Tanjong Pagar for 54 years recalled how he used the two Duxton Plain blocks then under construction to win voters over during the 1963 elections:
“I said: ‘If you vote for me, these will be completed and will be yours’. If not, the Barisan Sosialis will win and you will have a bleak future.”
The opposition Barisan Sosialis never had a chance against the PAP led by MM Lee. Just before the election was called, a massive security operation “Operation Coldstore” led to the arrests and detention of several key Barisan leaders such as Lim Chin Siong.
One of them, a Barisan MP Chia Thye Poh was detained for 32 years without trial making him the longest political prisoner of conscience in the world.
The rising prices of HDB flats lead to some young couples to complain that they have been squeezed out of the market. Despite the huge increase in population between the years 2006 and 2008, the number of new flats built did not increase by much.
MM Lee offered scant consolation to first-time home buyers with a “highfalutin” explanation that “if they have confidence in the country and support the Government, then prices ‘must go up’ as they have every year since 1965.” The “alternative”, he said is “grim”.
‘They’ve got to decide if the country is going to go up or go down. If the country is going to go down, then the economy will go down, people’s incomes will be down, unemployment will be up and property values will go down,” he added.
HDB flats are 99-year old leasehold properties whose supply and therefore prices are entirely determined by the government which can be increased artificially by either limiting the supply of new flats or increasing the demand via immigration.
PRs are permitted to purchase resale HDB flats. According to Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens last year.
In a recent parliamentary session, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that PRs constitute only 4 per cent of the buyers of resale flats without quoting any sources.
A release by real estate agency ERA in July this year revealed that PRs make up 40 per cent of the buyers of resale flats.
Singapore has no opposition in parliament to check on the ruling party. Policies are often formulated and implemented with little consultation with the people.
The prices of HDB resale flats hit a record high in June this year. An Indonesian PR reportedly paid $653,000 for a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown.
The Pinnacle@Duxton, which towers over Tanjong Pagar, was built on the site of rental flats. A 5-room unit there now fetches more than $500,000.
MM Lee, who is the MP for Tanjong Pagar for 54 years recalled how he used the two Duxton Plain blocks then under construction to win voters over during the 1963 elections:
“I said: ‘If you vote for me, these will be completed and will be yours’. If not, the Barisan Sosialis will win and you will have a bleak future.”
The opposition Barisan Sosialis never had a chance against the PAP led by MM Lee. Just before the election was called, a massive security operation “Operation Coldstore” led to the arrests and detention of several key Barisan leaders such as Lim Chin Siong.
One of them, a Barisan MP Chia Thye Poh was detained for 32 years without trial making him the longest political prisoner of conscience in the world.
The rising prices of HDB flats lead to some young couples to complain that they have been squeezed out of the market. Despite the huge increase in population between the years 2006 and 2008, the number of new flats built did not increase by much.
MM Lee offered scant consolation to first-time home buyers with a “highfalutin” explanation that “if they have confidence in the country and support the Government, then prices ‘must go up’ as they have every year since 1965.” The “alternative”, he said is “grim”.
‘They’ve got to decide if the country is going to go up or go down. If the country is going to go down, then the economy will go down, people’s incomes will be down, unemployment will be up and property values will go down,” he added.
HDB flats are 99-year old leasehold properties whose supply and therefore prices are entirely determined by the government which can be increased artificially by either limiting the supply of new flats or increasing the demand via immigration.
PRs are permitted to purchase resale HDB flats. According to Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens last year.
In a recent parliamentary session, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that PRs constitute only 4 per cent of the buyers of resale flats without quoting any sources.
A release by real estate agency ERA in July this year revealed that PRs make up 40 per cent of the buyers of resale flats.
Singapore has no opposition in parliament to check on the ruling party. Policies are often formulated and implemented with little consultation with the people.
