The 'Doctor' is in???

[MarrickG]

THEY call him the Chief Doctor. And they see him at his "clinic" in Tampines East.

But it's not physical ailments they want him to treat. It's housing woes.

On Monday nights, dozens of people queue up at Block 209, Tampines Street 21, to see National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan during his meet-the-people sessions to plead their cases.

Minister, please help me get a rental flat. Please help me get my HDB loan approved. Please help me find a home.

And they come not only from other wards in Tampines GRC, where he's an MP, but from all across the island.

Housing, Mr Mah revealed, is the No. 1 issue at meet-the-people sessions in Singapore. And given his portfolio, he gets more than his fair share of housing-related cases.

"I have people from (other Tampines districts) coming to see me because they say the 'tua lo kun' is there," said Mr Mah, referring to the Hokkien term for chief doctor.

"So I try to explain to them, all the 'doctors' are equally effective because we are all MPs."

"Patients" from outside Tampines are turned away at the door.

"We refer them back to their own (constituency MPs)... Otherwise you'll have the whole of Singapore coming to see me on HDB issues, or the whole of Singapore going to see PM on all sorts of issues. Not possible,"he explained.

When The New Paper on Sunday sat in on Mr Mah's session on March 14, 52 residents spoke to him, and more than 60 per cent of their cases related to housing. Fewer than half the cases that confronted other Tampines GRC MPs were on housing.

But many constituents don't get the answers they want on the spot. They don't realise that the person they are meeting is not the National Development Minister.

Mr Mah explained: "This is one common misconception. I'm here as an MP, not a minister. I still have to write to HDB (to solve their problems)... "Some residents are cheeky. They say, 'Your HDB staff, go see minister also no use.'"

But Mr Mah hears other cases too.

He has helped a teenage girl send an appeal letter for a university scholarship.

He has also appealed for a lawyer-volunteer to give legal advice to a woman whose husband had an affair, moved out, refused to give her a single cent and wanted her to sell their Tampines flat as part of the divorce settlement, which would leave her and their son homeless.

When Malay residents see him, Mr Mah would switch to Malay to discuss their cases with them.

When elderly Chinese aunties and uncles had their turn, Mr Mah spoke to them in Hokkien. He speaks all the major dialects, including Cantonese and Hainanese, and learnt Mandarin on the job.

He said: "I think most MPs speak a smattering of dialects. They will pick (them) up along the way."

Even with this reporter present, Mr Mah occasionally showed some impatience with exceptionally combative residents, cutting them off with a raised hand and saying in a clear effort to stay polite: "If I may advise you..."

Some of them were "repeat customers" that Mr Mah has been advising for weeks, months or even years.

One young man had failed to attend court. He had received summonses for using his off-peak car during peak hours four times and wanted Mr Mah to help him write to the court.

The minister said: "Some cases are harder to resolve.

I do get exasperated when I see them repeatedly committing the same offence and coming back to ask for help... but I try not to show it."

When it comes to difficult cases, he bluntly admitted:

"Sometimes, you have to be a bit curt to them."

And he has lost his temper at residents. He said: "(When) they're very aggressive, when they threaten me. One man was particularly nasty. I told him off; I was so angry."

Has he ever been threatened physically? No, he replied.

Since 2009, when Yio Chu Kang MP Seng Han Thong was attacked by a mentally ill resident, who poured paint thinner on him and set him ablaze, "we're just more careful", Mr Mah said.

He added: "The branch volunteers keep an eye out."

When constituents attend Mr Mah's sessions, they first sit at one of several tables with an interviewer, who summarises the case and drafts a letter to the relevant authority for Mr Mah to sign.

If residents are satisfied with the draft letter, they leave. But if they still want to meet Mr Mah, they are ushered to a second queue, where they must be prepared to wait.

Of the 100 people who turned up last Monday, 52 chose to stay back to talk to Mr Mah.

By 9.45pm, the initial queue had cleared, the letter writers had packed up and moved to an inner office to start typing the letters and more than 20 constituents were still waiting to talk to their MP.

As each case reached him, he read through the proposed letter while listening to the resident, sometimes making huge slashes or writing furiously to make the points clearer.

Trying to jot down similar case notes, this reporter got cramps in the arm and back as the night wore on, but Mr Mah, who at 62 is twice my age, kept going.

Occasionally, he would stretch his arms and crack his knuckles.

He took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his spectacles as a volunteer poured more water into his cup.

Until the last resident left at 11.25pm, he took only one five-minute break.

After the queues were cleared, he still had to re-read and sign the 100 letters. By the time he was done, it was 12.30am.

It was a gruelling five-hour session at the end of a gruelling day, which started before 8am at his office at the Ministry of National Development.

He was surprised when this reporter asked if he attends all his meet-the-people sessions.

A cynical friend had asked earlier: Do our ministers really bother to meet their residents every week to listen to their woes, or do they leave it to their minions?

Mr Mah said yes, he attends every session. As long as he's in Singapore, he would be there.

He has been doing this almost every week for the past 23 years, ever since he was elected into Parliament in 1988.

Does he ever feel jaded?

"No, each case is different. There are cases that are really quite sad. I try my best to help them appeal for exceptions to be made."

In the context of the coming General Election, he reminds voters that it's about choosing who you want to represent and take care of you.

In other words, if you ever run into problems and need to attend a meet-the-people session, theMPis the person you are going to see.

Mr Mah said: "Ultimately, it boils down to what kind of Singapore you want to live in, which comes back to what kind of leaders you have, who will be your MP, who will be looking after you, who will be your leaders, who will be your Government.

During the meet-the-people sessions, Mr Mah played financial planner for some residents.

He asked about their monthly income, and if they have CPF, before working out what types of flats they could afford to own, the sizes of their loans and monthly instalments. He then worked out the numbers on pieces of paper for them.

But he could not help or appease all of them.

Here are some of the cases he encountered:

Case 1: Unable to qualify for HDB loan or grants with $11,000 income

A young couple in their 30s complained that they were unable to qualify for an HDB loan or grants for buying a resale five-room flat in Tampines, as their combined income is more than $11,000. The income limit is $8,000.

They also complained that the cash-over-valuation amount was too high.

Mr Mah said that because their income is way above the income ceiling, it would be difficult to let them qualify.

He explained that based on the $8,000 income ceiling, 80 per cent of households would be subsidised.

Help would go to those who need it more.

Mr Mah suggested they look at a four-room flat, or a flat in a less popular estate. They said no, the four-room flats they saw were in "pretty bad" condition,and they preferred Tampines.

How about a new flat from the Design, Build and Sell Scheme or an executive condominium, Mr Mah suggested. There is no COV to pay and they would have a $30,000 grant.

The couple declined.Too expensive, and they want a flat now to start a family.

Why not a bank loan instead of an HDB loan? No go. The couple was worried about the fluctuating interest rates.

Finally, Mr Mah asked: "If the Government can't help you, can you help yourself?"

Case 2: Insists on rental flat

A young couple asked for help to get a rental flat, which costs $60 a month for a two-room one.

The couple and their child currently squeeze into a three-room flat with his parents.

The man, who is in his 30s, earns $1,400 a month, had never owned a flat.

Based on his income, Mr Mah calculated he could actually afford to buy a new two-room flat, using housing grants and his CPF, instead of paying cash if he rented.

But the man insisted on living in the Tampines area, which does not have such flats.

He declined the option to buy and continued to push for a rental flat.

Mr Mah's advice was to ask his wife to go back and talk to him.

"Listen tome. I talk to you, takda kesan (Malay for no effect). You go HDB tomorrow.

You apply for a flat. Then whatever HDB officer tell you, you come back next week and see me and I will advise you what to do."

Case 3: Trying her luck

An elderly woman appealed to Mr Mah to get a rental flat, claiming her daughter was kicking her out of their flat.

But when his staff member called to check, the daughter said that no such thing had happened. Instead, they found out that the elderly woman had lied about being kicked out just to try her luck to get her own flat to live in.

This article was first published in The New Paper.