tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119571012024-03-16T09:10:04.448+08:00Singapore AlternativesThis blog is about the political struggle I am engaging in Singapore. The title "Singapore Alternatives" is chosen because my only political dream is to build a true alternative in Singapore. Alternative to PAP government, of course. As the Alternative, the political party must be able to have the visions and policy insights to lead Singapore. I will write on various policy views and personal beliefs that I think is crucial in building up the Alternative. All constructive comments are welcome.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.comBlogger774125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-83077396719171501662020-01-08T15:44:00.001+08:002020-01-08T15:44:38.711+08:00Party Interests vs National Interests<br /><br />Party Interests vs National Interests<br /><br />It is kind of strange that there are people who actually “blame” the planned alliance for causing “credible parties” to lose votes. It is even more strange when the very people would claim that the planned alliance is just too insignificant, alliance of “mosquito parties”, alliance of “fringe parties”....<br /><br />People who know me would know that I hate and dislike hypocrisy.<br /><br />I decided to work for an alliance not because I can “make credible parties” to lose votes. Right after GE2015, I did a deep reflection to understand why opposition as a whole, lost the elections with such great margin.<br /><br />Voters were afraid to have PAP losing power while the opposition as a whole, did not have a coherent agenda or common policy platform to replace PAP as a ruling party. The messaging among opposition parties were disorganized, confusing, sometimes even contradictory and lack clarity. Most importantly, opposition as a whole has not put up a coherent and convincing showcase of good economic policies and strategies since 1965.<br /><br />Singaporeans have voted PAP as ruling government with great mandate for past 6 decades despite of the injustice done to political opponents, increasing cost of living, sometimes annoying unfair practices etc basically because they have shown that they were able to bring food to the table, roof over the heads and relative prosperity to the masses while the opposition didn’t even have a credible ability to scrutinize some of the bad PAP policies like Asset Enhancement Scheme!<br /><br />The only time voters gave opposition a good decent support was when PAP or rather LKY had made a grave mistake in its graduate mother priority policy back in 1984. Subsequently, Chiam See Tong challenged PAP on HDB pricing in 1988 and 1991... etc.<br /><br />Some people ignorantly, mistakenly or deliberately misinterpreted the result of GE2015 to only focus on the first part of the reason, voters are afraid of PAP losing power but failed to recognize the second part of the problem.... the lack of common policy platform and disarray policy messages.<br /><br />In contrast, in 2011, opposition performed much better because after I started the debate and fire on HDB issues, it became the KEY issue of the whole campaign. All opposition parties attack MBT and his mismanaged HDB policies and WP became the biggest beneficiary of such unintended coherent attacks on HDB.<br /><br />Of course in 2015 GE there were other factors like AHTC saga and death of LKY which both directly influenced and enhanced the fear of PAP losing power and ended up with incompetent opposition running the country.<br /><br />My conclusion of the GE2015 reflections includes two important points. The whole opposition as a whole, must unite and give confidence to voters that we have a common policy platform, not merely an alliance. This is especially so for Economic policies.<br /><br />We still face a BIGGER impact of AHTC saga in the coming GE when the verdict is out and expecting more actions to be taken by the authorities. All these, we really do not have any control over the state of affairs with regards to AHTC saga. We just need to minimize its impact on all other opposition parties.<br /><br />The only thing we can do is to unite and present a coherent force with a common policy platform and Manifesto. The best option is to form a grand alliance which can put up a credible economic policy platform. This will address the fear of PAP losing power with no viable option for better transition to change of power due to the disarray of opposition parties.<br /><br />I repeatedly say that as a whole, opposition is not lack of talents. With regards to economics, the planned alliance has 3 individuals with good Economic and Finance knowledge. We can handle all economic policy issues quite competently. In fact, from my various engagements, I find that it is really easier to discuss economic policy issues with Tan Jee Say and KJ Jeyaratnam, as compared to other opposition leaders or candidates. Their grasp of economics is superb and I do not need to explain any economic terms theories to them at all, unlike my other experiences.<br /><br />Thus, I always hold the view that many opposition leaders and candidates are actually grossly undervalued when we do not unite. People may sneer, smear and mock at our current planned alliance as an alliance of “mosquito parties”, but do remember, even mosquitoes can kill as well.<br /><br />I believe this is a good healthy development for opposition as well as the Nation. A good government can only be sustained when you have effective opposition with competent knowledge and skill sets to scrutinize and debate important policies, especially economics policies in parliament.<br /><br />Just like the HDB issues. Even though I am not elected into parliament, but my complete views on HDB has made PAP Lawrence Wong to take serious considerations and come up with subsequent policy changes and initiatives based on the problems and solutions raised by me. Although these policy changes and initiatives are not qute complete, but it is a good start as I have performed an effective role as opposition which effect good governance that benefits the country.<br /><br />Thus, I cannot understand why these people are skeptical about the planned alliance. It is ok if they do not like it or support. But to further accuse the alliance will reduce the votes and support of their so call “credible opposition parties”, that’s a great insult and deliberate blame game.<br /><br />We are acting on what voters expect us to do and the past GE has shown this is key point which resulted in our unsatisfactory results.<br /><br />In fact, it is in the Nation’s interests for the opposition to regroup and reorganize ourselves in unity.<br /><br />But it seems that most of these people are only concerned about individual “party interests” instead of looking at the big picture.<br /><br />I do not like blame game and definitely not hypocrisy. When opposition parties as a whole failed to form alliance, the very same people would accuse us, the “mosquito parties” of having ego problems and reluctant to unite. The truth is, it is never so. We have started discussing about alliance way back in 2015 and we were excited when SDP invited Dr Tan to meet over opposition unity in July 2018. We waited patiently since then, even seek to meet the only existing alliance platform, SDA. We waited for months for SDA to agree to meet up but no reply.<br /><br />So what else can we possibly do?<br /><br />We invited Dr Tan PSP to join the alliance and lead us. But no reply.<br /><br />Thus, we decided to build the platform first and would still welcome others to join later.<br /><br />If all these will make other parties to lose support and votes, that’s really not our fault at all. It is hypocritical and unethical to put blame on us for other people’s problem due to their own decisions.<br /><br />You either believe in Opposition Unity or you do not. That’s just extremely simple.<br /><br />For people to comment that I don’t like this guy, so do not want to play with him, I say that’s pretty amateurish.<br /><br />For the record, there was mutual dislike among PAP pioneer leaders. But as true politicians and statesman, they still chose to work as a core team because what they only care about is whether the other person could bring value to the governance of the Nation. Personal emotions of likes and dislikes were put aside. They weren’t going to get married to each other and live their lives together forever anyway!<br /><br />That’s true meritocracy that had worked for PAP as well as SINGAPORE in the pioneer years. Look at strength, weaknesses and facts to make the best decisions for the country.<br /><br />It is only when political players in Opposition start to change their extremely narrow mindset to think like a statesman, instead of thinking like a petty lot, then we can see some light in the development of opposition politics.<br /><br />I respect other people’s decision not to join the planned alliance but ultimately we will have to live with consequences of our own decisions, instead of putting blame on others. We must always learn to be responsible for our own decisions and actions.<br /><br />Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-55295016872787428962019-12-12T21:04:00.002+08:002019-12-12T21:04:45.590+08:00Unwinding HDB Asset Enhancement Time Bomb - Viable Options<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b>Unwinding HDB Asset Enhancement Time Bomb - Viable Options</b></div>
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I am re-posting this Mind Map of HDB problems here to examine what are the options which are commonly put up but not viable at all.</div>
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Most people would jump into giving "solutions" to HDB problems without examining carefully the whole matrix of the problem in the first place. Housing problems are extremely complex, complicated and involved a whole web of direct and indirect linkages with multiple segments of market forces.</div>
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Properties are "durable" goods but at the same time, with a "long expiry date" aka leasehold. Along with financial rules, it makes the market pricing mechanism extremely complicated and in HDB case, we have at least THREE markets to deal with, apart from the private property markets.</div>
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Within the three main HDB markets. there are sub-market differentials like Rental, Studio Apartment, 3-room, 4-room, 5-room. Executive Flats, Executive Condos etc. The administrative and financial rules applicable to different market segments make the whole context even more complex.</div>
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As we can see in the diagram, the three RED shapes are the fundamental problems of HDB. The THREE KEY PROBLEMS are:</div>
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A) Over Consumption of Housing/HDBb</div>
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B) Inadequate Retirement Financing in CPF</div>
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C) Massive Expiry of HDB flats with 99 Years Lease.</div>
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Most people missed these three key points, focusing on something which only touches the surface of the problems.</div>
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For example, one may suggest lowering HDB BTO prices but that will still leads to Over Consumption of HDB because people may switch from a 3 room HDB to 4 room or even 5 room HDB flats when prices come down, using the same amount of money from CPF and mortgage. This can happen when a 5 room HDB flat price is reduced to a 3 room HDB flat at current price.</div>
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Problem A and B are linked. It is due to the excessive use of CPF money for Singaporeans to purchase their HDB flats which leads to both Over Consumption of Housing as well as resulting in shortage of CPF funds for their retirement 30-40 years later.</div>
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Unfortunately, ALMOST NONE of the political parties or so call<span> </span>"experts" has the courage to take the bull by the horn and suggest a drastic cut in allowing Singaporeans to utilize their CPF to buy properties like HDB!</div>
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Technically speaking, a 99 year lease hold of HDB or any other property will have little material impact on Singaporeans if they are only buying these properties for their own consumption as housing or as a HOME to stay. Nobody could presumably live beyond 120 years old, so to speak.</div>
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The only problem will arise when you over consume or over bought housing with hefty price, either in BTO or resale market. The problem will become more acute when PAP keeps selling you the idea that your 99 lease HDB flat is some marvelous ASSETS that can make money for you, even help you to finance your retirement as an "investment asset".</div>
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People will throw in all their money into buying HDB flats and hoping to make a pile of money out of it without much thinking. A 99 Lease Hold property, be it private or public housing HDB, will depreciate in value over time. This is even more so for HDB when you do not really own the land and cannot make decision on private enbloc of your flat.</div>
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That is why I am totally against the Asset Enhancement Scheme and consider that as a very bad policy scam which mess up the whole HDB concept.</div>
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Extending the lease of HDB will not solve this problem but in fact, aggravate the problem further by influencing the pricing of HDB both in BTO and Resale market going upwards.</div>
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We have a rather very unique problem in Singapore:</div>
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1) A massive 300K to 400K of flats were built within 15 years period from 1970 to 1985. This would mean that these flats will have their lease expired within 15 years in the future, starting from 2070 to 2085. Imagine 300K to 400K of HDB flats expiry within a short period of time that would create a massive housing shock.</div>
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2) Singapore is a tiny land scarce island. There is only that much of land we could reclaim from the sea without impeding on our strategic logistic hub status. It means that if we do not have a solid land redistribution plan or managed property market, the property prices will run out of control. This will turn our economy into a highly rent seeking economy</div>
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3) Our financial rules make it extremely difficult for HDB flats with less than 60 or 50 years lease to be sold in resale market. This will create an under-priced market for these old flats. It will create market inefficiency.</div>
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Whatever solutions or options anyone wants to put up, they will have to take all these into serious consideration.</div>
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The basics and fundamental problems need to address is:</div>
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1) In order to address the Over Consumption of Housing and Inadequate Retirement funds in CPF, the amount of CPF allowed to be used in buying HDB or other properties will need to be capped.</div>
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2) The impact of a massive expiry of 300K to 400K of HDB flats within a short period of time frame of 15 years will need to be addressed else we will experience a supply shock in the HDB markets.</div>
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3) The inefficiency of the Resale market for old HDB flats with less than 60 or 50 lease will need to be addressed. This is to correct the market bias against old flats, instead of creating an unnecessary price hike in this market, creating over consumption again. It will be a correction to fair value pricing for these old flats.</div>
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4) A reduction in BTO prices must be accompanied by a reduction in the use of CPF money in the purchase of HDB and private properties. This is to prevent Over Consumption of Housing.</div>
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5) Most of the HDB flats built in 1970s and 1980s cannot last more than 70 years or 80 years. This is due to the mass production process back then which compromised quality. The reinforcement concrete may not last 100 years at all.</div>
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All policy options should have minimum undesirable impact on the three main HDB markets, BTO, Resale and Rental markets. These impacts will indirectly hit the private property markets.</div>
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I am not saying my HDB policy will be the best but at least, it will address the fundamental problems to begin with. It will also take care of various variables which may create unnecessary impact on the HDB markets.</div>
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We must start with the right concept and public perception of HDB as a public housing policy. It is NOT an investment asset for anyone to make big money from because it will become a Zero Sum game. Either you will suffer insufficient CPF funds for retirement or your future generations will suffer exorbitantly high property prices.</div>
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The HDB Resale market is for Singaporeans to redistribute HDB flats through a fair pricing mechanism to cater to their needs, not a market for they to reap great profits.</div>
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Ultimately, if you want to make more money than your current job, invest in businesses or equity, bank shares or stock market or simply start a business etc.</div>
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Last but not least, asking people to sell off their HOME and live in other cheaper country, is really NOT a HONEST solution but a raw demonstration of National Policy Failure at the highest level!</div>
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A nation will cannot take care of its own people's basic needs of housing when they get old, is really not a nation worth fighting for.</div>
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Goh Meng Seng</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-24538501521253829672019-04-12T12:46:00.000+08:002019-04-12T12:46:21.579+08:00TOTD: The Final POISONOUS Death Dagger stabbed into Alternative Media.Thought of the Day - The Final POISONOUS Death Dagger stabbed into Alternative Media.<br /><br />Most people like me, would look at the Fake News Law at superficial level on first sight. This is always the tactic used by PAP controlled Mainstream Media to mislead and misguide people into looking at the big punch while avoiding the poison darts and daggers hidden in that thick legislation.<br /><br />While we are busy criticising why political appointees like Ministers were given such huge power to decide what's true and what's false, we miss the whole poisonous intent of this law.<br /><br />Hidden within this legislation is the vicious intent to force the closure of all alternative media by taking aim at advertisers and sponsors of alternative media, instill FEAR into them while putting an "exemption clause" so that it could be used to exempt PAP's Mainstream media. <br /><br />The reason why Facebook and other international internet media platform are so against this law is basically because not only the owners of these platforms would be criminally liable but advertisers on their platforms as well as sponsors will be criminalized by PAP government as "supporting fake news"!<br /><br />The proposed law and with no single doubt, would be passed, says that if a website or internet platform has been found guilty of DELIBERATE spreading "fake news" or information (for 3 times within 6 months), those who donated or sponsored these sites, or advertise on these sites, will be charged in Singapore court as well! <br /><br />Now you know why there is an "exemption" clause which gives PAP great power to exempt SPH, Mediacorp and media under its control from this law because, even these media outlet could not be sure that each and every news they broadcast could only be True but not Fake! <br /><br />On the other hand, who would dare to advertise on alternative media like TOC or Independent SG if this law is passed? Who would dare to donate to these entities to face the risk of being prosecuted by PAP government if these media get into trouble with Fake News legislation? <br /><br />This law is a total Farce. It is making use of the excuse of curbing "Fake News" to empower PAP Ministers with enormous Judiciary and Executive power to thumb down internet media which they don't like! <br /><br />It goes against the spirit of Rule of Law whereby the Judiciary will be totally by-passed and smack of Rule by Law of a dictatorial power which will decide who will be exempted while who will be persecuted! <br /><br />The potent poison actually lies within the details. If Singaporeans do not wake up to such blatant facts but chose to believe in PAP's sweet talk of its weak justification to empower themselves with such dictatorial powers, I fear Democracy will leave us eventually one day.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-34129188948157887212019-04-09T00:12:00.000+08:002019-04-09T01:24:34.861+08:00TOTD: What matters most in Politics? Thought of the Day - What matters most in Politics? <br />
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I have put up a teaser just not too long ago, asking my FB friends to guess what I had replied a reporter's query on "when are you going to do ground work?".<br />
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My answer shocked him. I said, I am not going to "walk the ground", so to speak. Not going to knock on doors, shake hands and kiss babies. <br />
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His reaction is quite "normal" as this is the "default thinking" that politicians, be it PAP or opposition, should "walk the ground" in order to "win votes". <br />
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I explain to him clearly, I am not going to play the games according to the "indoctrinated rules" set by PAP. <br />
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PAP has not only drawn the electoral boundaries but also the "invisible political boundaries" for Opposition, to its own advantage, of course. PAP has always been trying to "mislead" and "misguide" political engagement via subtle "brain washing". <br />
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It all started way back in 1981, right after JBJ won the Anson by-election. The almighty PAP has lost its very first seat in one and a half decade. Naturally, the late LKY jumped with anger. <br />
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The often DULL parliament sittings had suddenly become all fiery with exchanges of missiles and dramas. It was apparent that the total dominance of PAP in the past immediate decade had made it complacent and lost the art of debate in the face of a strong and fiery opponent, JBJ. Parliament in the past could be an "empty rubber stamp" without the need of any real debates or even the need of attendance of MPs and Ministers. JBJ had changed all that. Even LKY himself had to make it a point to attend parliament whenever JBJ was making his speeches of criticisms. <br />
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In 1984, PAP lost another seat in Potong Pasir and this led to a serious rethinking of political strategy. Town Council Management entrusted to MPs was the solution. <br />
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It was an attempt to divert voters and politicians attention from the REAL CORE RESPONSIBILITY of an MP in parliament to drain their energy and attention into municipal issues. <br />
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In the Westminster system, municipal issues are taken care by District Councillors, who are also voted in by residents. An MP is never expected to manage the estate or be bothered by municipal issues because they are voted in to speak up on policy matters in parliament. <br />
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But PAP, knowing that they do not have strong MPs in parliament while having all the resources to take care of municipal issues by subcontracting out to professional estate management companies, tried to change the focus and direction of political engagement towards municipal matters instead of policy debates and law making in parliament. <br />
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PAP has successfully to mislead and brainwash both voters as well as opposition politicians to think that they should put most of their energy in knocking doors, convincing voters they can run town councils instead of putting up strong debates, policy ideas and scrutiny in parliament. After opposition won some seats, they will compete with PAP which has the whole machinery of People's Association (PA), in conducting durian tours, temple tours, organizing events etc... instead of spending most of their time in policy research and debates. <br />
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In the end, we have political parties doing Charity Work, giving out goodies, organizing events .... instead of doing the REAL political work of analysing, researching and commenting on Real political issues. Political parties are more like Charity Organization or Event Organizing companies or simply Social Clubs nowadays. <br />
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Voters are judging the "quality" of candidates by looking at whether they "serve" them by "knocking doors" or "visit" them. Or whether they attend wakes or temple dinners and such. Or organize any events for them...etc. The most illogical thing is, they even expect opposition who have not won any seat to do all these! <br />
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Instead of looking at the political views, ideologies or ideals of political candidates, we have voters basically "voting blindly" according to "party branding" or whether candidates "walk the ground"! These totally misguided perception and concept of politics is the direct result of PAP's subtle brain washing. <br />
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It always irks me when people start talking about "I only vote XXX party and not small parties" or "if you are contesting under XXX party, I will vote for you". I consider that as an expression of political immaturity. One who cannot discern good candidates from bad but resort to some "fuzzy branding", he must be too lazy to really study and understand each and every choices presented to him. <br />
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This is the reason why we ended up with lots of empty chairs and empty tables in Parliamentary sittings most of the time. When voters and politicians have WRONG and misguided priorities in politics, that's the end result we will get. <br />
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I will vote or support a person or a team for only two reasons:<br />
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1) Not PAP because I do not want them to be complacent when they get too high votes.<br />
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2) In the event of multi-corner fight, I will support the candidates who make good sense and have good political ideals or ideology which resonate with my belief, regardless of which party he or she is from. <br />
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I have gone through 3 General Elections. GE 2006 WP made great progress up from the devastating state of 2001 GE. This is partly because we played according to the brainwashed setting of PAP configurations, doing house visits, shaking hands and kissing babies. <br />
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In GE 2011, I changed the methodology subtly. I didn't knock on all the doors in Tampines but decided to ignite the fire on policy issues, mainly HDB issues. It set on a fire which ran wild and benefited all opposition. <br />
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I thought Singaporeans have evolved and matured politically. Finally they understood the importance of checks and balances, with a desire to vote in more opposition MPs. The path of Democratic Development should be on the right track of no return. <br />
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I was proven totally wrong in GE 2015. Voters are basically more Emotional rather than politically matured with the determination of making progress for Democratic Development. <br />
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I decided to stop all "political wayang" which is totally misleading, misguided and even detrimental towards REAL political Democratic progress for Singapore. <br />
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What we need is more public political discourse and education, not more door knocking saying Hi and Bye, shaking hands, kissing babies and making people "feel good" so that they will vote for you. <br />
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I decided to spend most of my time writing on my FB and copy some of the postings to my blog as an archive. I hope more people will be enlightened and provided with better reasoned ideas for them to talk about in their daily lives so that they could convince more people in their real life circles. Share the public discourse, ideas and ideals through FB or real life chats with friends and strangers. <br />
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This is a slow and painful process. It needs consistent commitment, nothing less than sweating out in knocking doors. <br />
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All political movements always start with evangelism of alternative ideas and ideals, not with knocking doors and kissing babies. When the seeding of ideas and ideals take root in the minds and hearts of voters, their emotional sway will be dampen and hopefully, what happened in 2015 GE will not repeat again. <br />
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Dr Sun Yat Sen had done that all his life, in order to convince people that a change of regime from Monarchy to Republic was a necessity. He changed China, not by knocking doors, kissing babies or doing charity work or organizing tours. He did it through endless and continuous evangelism of his political ideas and ideology, which were so alien to his people of his time. <br />
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Thus, I decided to break through the walls and boundaries set by PAP's political brainwashing. I will not play into their game of political patronage and wayangism. I will do what is MOST important in politics, the evangelism of political ideas, ideals and discourse. <br />
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If you expect me to knock doors, kiss babies, do charity work or organize events, then don't vote for me. If you only want to vote for some "big party with big brand", then I am not for you. <br />
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But if you want an MP who will put 101% in parliamentary work, scrutinize each and every policy and laws which PAP wants to pass, then I will be an extremely good choice for you.<br />
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My "Track Record" has nothing to do about how many blocks of flats I have "walk and knock", has nothing to do about whether I have run a town council before, definitely nothing about whether I am a good organizer of events or involve in giving out goodies as charity. <br />
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My "Track Record" is my consistency in providing my political views, ideas and ideals. Ideas and views which PAP would even adapt quietly without giving due credits, even million dollar "elite" ministers would read and adapt in their policies. <br />
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So next time, anyone of you start to talk about "walk the ground", "start campaigning" or "track record", think again. <br />
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I have never stopped "campaigning" since I graduated from university, against bad PAP policies. I "walk the hearts and minds" and my "Track Record" of policy ideas and ideals are thick. <br />
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Anyone who wants to be in politics, must have some policy views or policy ideas to start with. If you have none, sorry, I won't even bother. <br />
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Goh Meng Seng<br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-20934019079214025952019-04-08T22:57:00.002+08:002019-04-08T22:57:15.942+08:00 Solutions to Solve Hyflux SagaSolutions to Solve Hyflux Saga<br /><br />There are a couple of ways to solve the Hyflux saga but the PUB getting FREE water plant is definitely NOT one of them.<br /><br />As I have put it, PAP government has played a big role in manipulating the market which eventually result in the Hyflux crisis. Hyflux also tried to be Smart Alec, thinking they could undercut others in pricing their water by cross subsidies from selling electricity.<br /><br /><br />Whoever takes over the integrated plant will face the same problem because the contracts have been fixed while the oversupply of electricity due to EMA’s irresponsible manipulation is here to stay.<br /><br />The only way to get out of this situation is to change the terms of the contracts. PUB should not fix water price for 25 years because this is totally unreasonable terms as energy price is volatile and nobody could possibly hedge it without incurring huge cost over 25 years.<br /><br />A new pricing formula which will allow Hyflux to earn a reasonable profit should be renegotiated.<br /><br />On the other hand, the Vesting Contract which EMA gave other power plants should be made available to Hyflux. Or that, Hyflux will have to renegotiate it’s contract on gas purchase.<br /><br />The only way for Hyflux to stay afloat is to have consistency in all the pricing... from water, gas to electricity pricing. To have a mix of fixed and high volatility in some pricing will be a perfect formula for disaster. Worse, thinking that one could fixed a lower than cost water price while betting on cross subsidizing it via a volatile energy market.<br /><br />By reconstruction or renegotiating water and gas contracts, government do not need to come up with huge amount of money to buy over the plant. It will just have to settle with a lower profit from dealing with Hyflux.<br /><br />Hyflux will earn a reasonable profit (covering depreciation for 25 years) from this new arrangement but its profitability may be fixed within a range.<br /><br />This is the viable option available but need political will to execute it.<br /><br />Retail investors will not lose all or most of their investment. They could even continue to get their yearly interest when the new formula of contracts allow Hyflux to earn profits from its Tuaspring.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-31807786873758795282019-04-08T22:56:00.000+08:002019-04-08T22:56:01.968+08:00Trespasses of JudiciaryTrespasses of Judiciary<br /><br />When PAP enacts a law to give its own Ministers the power to Judge, Decide and give out punishment to "fake news" publishers or propagators, it is a serious trespass of Judiciary power by the Executive!<br /><br />This is a serious attempt to destroy the fundamentals of Democracy in Separation of Powers.<br /><br />Judgement on "falsehood" is definitely not the same as a straight forward breach of rules like parking offences or speeding. It requires an objective and independent entity like the court to make judgements.<br /><br />I would think that such law is totally unconstitutional as it basically made political appointees like Ministers empowered with judiciary powers! Ministers will have great potential conflicts of interests involved when they are making such judgement call.<br /><br />To say that people could go to court and challenge the Ministerial decisions doesn't erase the fact that Ministers have been given powers that trespass and undermine the judiciary system.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-85761823202715508782019-03-29T22:21:00.000+08:002019-03-29T22:21:47.873+08:00 Hyflux Saga - Role & Responsibility of PUB, EMA, SP and MAS<br /><br />Hyflux Saga - Role & Responsibility of PUB, EMA, SP and MAS<br /><br />First of all, the board of management of Hyflux has to bear the most responsibility in creating such a big mess.They have made a lot of assumptions when they bid for the tender to build and operate the desalination plant.<br /><br />For every assumptions made, there will always be risk involved that such assumptions may not hold at all. And with numerous assumptions made, the risk will be compounded exponentially.<br /><br />Basically, the problem of the whole Hyflux saga is due to the system of pricing. Hyflux is trying to juggle around a few important variables. A fixed water price given by PUB for 25 years, a variable fuel price (gas in this case), variable labor and material cost, a variable electricity price, a required fixed output of electricity with variable demand and uncontrollable number of electricity producers, a Monopoly buyer for water PUB, a Monopoly buyer for electricity Singapore Power... etc. In economics terms, this is a formula for disaster.<br /><br />We must recognize PUB, EMA , SP and MAS as government entities. They are not private companies. They have public administration roles and responsibilities.<br /><br />MAS should not even allow retail investors to invest in perpetual bonds at all as the risk is higher with higher complexity of the structure. MAS should not even allow CPF to be used for such investment at all. Here again, like Minibond saga which happened 10 years ago, MAS must be sleeping on the job.<br /><br />EMA allowed too many electricity producers to exist in Singapore, so much so that there is 80% overcapacity! Did they even plan and forecast properly? The rigidity in the rules and regulation coupled with a complex pricing mechanism has resulted in electricity producers losing big money. This is not sustainable at all.<br /><br />One may be puzzled why our electricity tariffs over the few years were so high despite the fact that there is great overcapacity and wholesale pricing given to these producers are too low and breeding them badly! The result is obvious. SP, as the sole owner of the power grid and sole distributor of electricity to household (it is only now it was opened up), is the one which gained the most from such arrangement.<br /><br />However, we must remember that SP, as a government agency, should not only look at profit maximization at the expense of all other electricity producers. The system is unsustainable and eventually, these producers may go bust. It will cost great disruption to our electricity supply if that happens.<br /><br />Similarly for PUB. It should not always look at profit maximization at all cost. Water is even more strategic than electricity and it must make sure that any system of supply within its supply chain, must be sustainable.<br /><br />Furthermore, PUB should not cannibalize on Hyflux when it is down and out. The logic of commercial valuation of Hyflux's desalination plant as "negative asset" is totally flawed.<br /><br />First of all, there is a conflict of interests here. The desalination plant is considered as "negative asset" is due to the fact that the contractual price which PUB paid to Hyflux for the water is under cost and unsustainable.<br /><br />While I do not agree for PUB to use taxpayer's money to bail out Hyflux, but neither do I agree for PUB to cannibalize on Hyflux either. The Fair Price for PUB to pay for the desalination plant should be the opportunity cost of building a brand new one by PUB itself to supply the same amount of portable water, plus the opportunity cost of waiting for another few years for the new plant to be completed.<br /><br />It doesn't make sense for Hyflux to basically give PUB its plant FREE for PUB to continue produce water and make money by selling water to consumers!<br /><br />Hyflux could have dismantle the whole plan and sell the parts to other people, sell the land .... etc so to repay its debts. Why would it just give away to PUB FREE to make money?<br /><br />The logic of commercial valuation of Hyflux's plant may base on commercial terms but it is morally flawed and unethical for PUB to take full advantage of Hyflux.<br /><br />Paying a Fair Price for Hyflux's plant, the intrinsic value of the plant, does not mean PUB is losing any money at all because the plant could well provide earnings for PUB in the long run.<br /><br />The proper thing to do is either for PUB to renegotiate with Hyflux on the pricing mechanism or simply pay a fair price for the whole plant.<br /><br />The primary aim and objective of PUB should focus on maintaining adequate supply of water instead of maximization of profit by cannibalizing Hyflux while it is in trouble. Paying a Fair Price instead of getting the plant free may cause the cost price of this 70 million gallons of water per day slightly more expensive but I believe PUB will still be earning a hefty profit because the water tariff is really high in Singapore with PUB as the sole monopoly of water supply.<br /><br />PUB, EMA along with SP have been maximizing their profits acting as powerful monopolies. They are Monopolies as buyers as well as sellers of water and electricity. It is time to redefine the roles and responsibilities of these entities.<br /><br />This Hyflux saga has exposed not only the incompetency of Hyflux board of directors but also the terrible greed and cannibalism tendency of PAP government agencies. They will do everything to squeeze the suppliers of water and electricity while on the other hand, instead of passing the savings, they maintain extraordinary high tariffs of water and electricity to us.<br /><br />Some may think this Hyflux only affects those perpetual bonds investors but the implications are far more complex. It basically reflects on the kind of government Singaporeans have voted in. If they can do this to Hyflux, in such unethical manner, they can do it to any Singaporeans out there. The unfair bullying tactic of cannibalism is really disgusting.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng <br />
<br />Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-71856368849024631922019-03-14T16:56:00.001+08:002019-03-14T16:56:30.784+08:00TOTD: PAP's Irresponsible Embarrassment<br />Thought of the Day - PAP's Irresponsible Embarrassment<br /><br />When the Maritime Dispute was flared up back in late 2018, PAP Ministers, MPs and even IBs were making war cries all over.<br /><br />PAP government even went to the extend of "demonstration of war preparation" by inviting the Main Stream Media to do the First of the kind of report on the Open Mobilization of the Airforce.<br /><br />Live Firing exercises were carried out subsequently.<br /><br />Along with the Main Stream Media and its IBs, PAP went on whipping up Nationalistic sentiments against Malaysian's "Intrusion of Singapore's Water".<br /><br />PAP government has put it in no uncertain terms that the area in dispute is within our maritime boundary.<br /><br />I was curious about that and did a series of research which I have posted on my Facebook here. It turns out that there is no Internationally recognized Maritime Boundary in that area of dispute!<br /><br />In fact, the delimitation negotiation which Singapore held with Indonesia has stated very clearly that they could not confirm the maritime boundary which borders Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore basically because Singapore has yet to negotiate and confirm with Malaysia government the exact maritime boundary between the two countries. Thus, the maritime boundary between Singapore and Indonesia stopped short at the western part of Singapore.<br /><br />It basically means that PAP government actually KNEW that we do not have an official boundary drawn and confirmed with Malaysia in that area of dispute.<br /><br />I would regret to say that Malaysia was right to say that the disputed waters should be considered as "International Waters" as there isn't any recognized boundary confirmed by any party.<br /><br />Due to some strange unknown reasons, after more than 50 years of independence, PAP government did not initiate any formal negotiations with Malaysia on delimitation of the maritime boundary in that area.<br /><br />If PAP knew these facts but yet, went on a series of actions to make war cries, then I have to ask, is that what a responsible ruling party should do?<br /><br />Many people attacked me for "siding with Malaysia" but the truth is, it is always easier to be populist by hitting the Nationalistic drums rather than looking at the issues objectively and do our own research on these issues to come to a sensible conclusion.<br /><br />I have stated very clearly in my previous FB posts, the only rational thing to do is to start negotiation with Malaysia to determine and finalize the maritime boundary in that disputed waters, instead of doing war cries which will result in irreparable damage to bilateral ties between the two people across the causeway.<br /><br />Well, finally PAP comes to their senses and stop their irresponsible nonsense of Nationalistic adventure.<br /><br />But I have this to say, PAP always tries to portray Opposition parties as "populist", "extremist" or even "irresponsible" but it seems that PAP is guilty of all these traits and Singaporeans should remember this, without a strong, rational, reasonable and critical opposition in parliament, any ruling party like PAP might just goes rogue and become irresponsible, endangering the safety of this nation with their nonsensical self-serving stunts.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_720416175"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.todayonline.com/world/malaysia-and-singapore-agree-revert-original-port-limits?fbclid=IwAR3Z_ZAmmI0oSrzR-r4G1iq27l7bQ-lbu0xOdK_NgQhoYQ7803ugxRgdxUU">https://www.todayonline.com/world/malaysia-and-singapore-agree-revert-original-port-limits?fbclid=IwAR3Z_ZAmmI0oSrzR-r4G1iq27l7bQ-lbu0xOdK_NgQhoYQ7803ugxRgdxUU</a><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />PUTRAJAYA — Within a month from Thursday (March 14), Malaysia and Singapore will revert to their original port limits after both governments agreed to suspend the previous extensions of their port limits.<br /><br />They also agreed not to authorise and to suspend all commercial activities in the area as well as not to anchor any government vessels in the area.<br /><br />These were among the five recommendations by a bilateral working group that both countries will implement with effect from Thursday, announced Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah in a joint press statement on the same day.<br /><br />The other two recommendations are: Vessels of both countries will operate in the area based on international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.<br />
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Relevant government agencies on both sides will "work out practical modalities to avoid untoward incidents in the area", said both ministers.<br /><br />In the last of the five recommendations, both sides will set up a joint committee chaired by the permanent secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Chee Wee Kiong and Malaysia’s foreign ministry secretary-general Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob.<br /><br />This committee will look at the "boundary delimitation", which will ensure that the other recommendations be implemented within one month. Once that has been done, negotiations for maritime boundary delimitation in the area will commence within the following month.<br /><br />“These measures taken by both countries shall be without prejudice to Malaysia's and Singapore's respective maritime boundary claims in the area,” said the joint press statement.<br /><br />In the event that the committee is unable to reach an amicable solution on delimitation, the ministers added that both countries “may mutually agree to resort to an appropriate international third-party dispute settlement procedure on terms to be mutually agreed by the parties”.<br /><br />“Both Foreign Ministers agreed that these measures were vital to de-escalate the situation on the ground and pave the way for maritime boundary delimitation of the area,” the statement said.<br /><br />“These measures also demonstrate the commitment of both countries to work together to preserve a strong and positive bilateral relationship on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and to resolve bilateral issues amicably in accordance with international law.”<br />
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<aside class="today-ad-imu ad-imu ad-bg" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; display: block; float: right; font-family: "Benton Mod Text Reg", serif; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.255px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 15px; min-width: 300px; orphans: 2; padding: 10px; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></aside>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-54534268036702137432019-02-24T20:28:00.002+08:002019-02-24T20:28:48.727+08:00We have successfully conducted our Singapore Budget 2019 Forum today.<br /><br />We thank all who have attended and also great appreciation to those who have helped to make this possible. <br /><br />The following is our official statement on PAP government's Budget this year:<br /><br /><b>Budget 2019: Political Gimmicks without Bold Vision<br /><br />Expansionary Budget with Money locked up in CPF and Medisave?</b><br /><br />1. Finance Minister Heng Swee Kiat has declared that his Budget 2019 for Singapore government is an “Expansionary” budget and he cited the projected budget deficit of $3.5 Billion after taking into account of the net effect NIRC and Special Transfers of $3.6 Billion as supporting fact. However when we put the details of the Budget at closer examination, we have come to the conclusion that this Budget is NOT the usual “Expansionary” budget but just full of political gimmicks without bold vision.<br /><br />2. A government Budget is an important tool of fiscal policy that is used to manage the economy. An Expansionary Budget would result in fiscal stimulations of the Nation’s economy in anticipation or direct mitigation of any potential economic slowdown or recession. But in Minister Heng’s Budget 2019, <span style="color: red;"><b>there is no mention of any job creation initiative nor bold vision for Singapore’s Future Economic development direction. </b></span><br />3. Most of the “additional spending” announced for the populistic Merdeka package ($6.1B), Long Term Care ($5.1B) and other the various injections of money into healthcare, workfare, schemes for SMEs ($4.6B) and education (Total of $15.3B of Special Transfers) are either just money transfers credited into CPF or Medisave accounts or deferred expenditure across a few years which do not have an immediate direct impact on overall spending in the economy. <br /><br />4. It basically means that these money are effectively an “expected surplus” (over the announced $3.5B deficit) ultimately stashed away into the reserves via such Special Transfers arrangement. <br /><br />5. Thus we do not really see this year’s Budget as “Expansionary” but rather a pack of Budgeting Acrobatic Gimmicks which channeled money back into the reserves masqueraded as “Goodies” for Singaporeans without real positive impact on the Economy.<br /><br /><b>Cost of Living</b><br /><br />6. In a normal free market economy, inflation is normally caused by an excess demand on goods and services. This will drive up the cost of living for everyone. <br /><br />7. However, in Singapore, inflation is mostly caused by the PAP government and its Government Linked Companies. The rise in water tax, electricity tariffs, public transport fares, healthcare cost, the rapid increase in rentals by GLC REITS, petrol and diesel prices etc. are the direct results of PAP governance. <br /><br />8. How could the derisory $300 GST voucher cover the inflation caused by all these increases?<br /><br />9.<span style="color: red;"><b> The BEST gift to ALL Singaporeans is NO GST instead of GST vouchers!</b></span><br /><br /><br /><b>Cost of Healthcare</b><br /><br />10. Any increase in healthcare subsidies for Merdeka generation could easily be offset by another round of increase fees in polyclinics and public hospitals. <br /><br />11. We have witnessed how fees at public polyclinics and hospitals increased right after the last Pioneer Generation Package was announced in 2015.<br /><br />12. At many instances, the fees at these public “restructured” healthcare entities are even higher than private clinics or hospitals before subsidies were taken into account. <br /><br />13. <span style="color: red;"><b>There is a need to rethink whether the current model of “Restructured Hospitals” really serve Singaporeans’ interests at all.</b></span><br />
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<b>Adverse Impact on SME</b><br /><br />14. There are a couple of new but insignificant programs initiated in this year’s budget to help SME and workers to cope with changing dynamics of the economics. <br /><br />15. However, out of the $4.6B slated to help both SMEs and workers over next three years, only $100million was put into funds for helping SMEs to upscale. <br /><br />16. Although we agree to the overall strategy of reducing dependency of Foreign Workers in the long run, but we do not think it is a good move at all to apply such one-size-fit-all policy of reducing the Dependency Ratio Ceiling to cut across the board for the whole Service Sector. <br /><br />17. Local SMEs are always grossly disadvantaged by the foreign workers policy whereby larger foreign companies enjoy concessions through government special incentives or technical advantage in sourcing their foreign labor via internal transfers from foreign bases. <br /><br /><br /><b>Where are the Good Jobs?</b><br /><br />18. Within the Service Sector, there are many sub-sectors which have very different labor situations. Singaporeans generally shy from certain industry or service sectors like hospitality, Food and Beverage sectors while there is a great underemployment for Singapore PMETs who cannot find jobs in other service sectors like banking, finance or IT etc. <br /><br />19. <span style="color: red;"><b>A more calibrated approach should be implemented to focus more on reclaiming PMET jobs for Singaporeans in service sector instead.</b></span><br /><br /><br /><b>Tax Cut for Taxi Companies while Higher Tax on Taxi Drivers?</b><br /><br />20. The increase of diesel tax will affect SMEs greatly with an increase in business cost despite of the cut in road tax for diesel vehicles.<br /><br />21. We are particular concerned on the impact on taxi drivers. While the PAP government gave a generous reduction in Special Tax on Diesel Taxi by $850, but this may only benefit taxi companies while taxi drivers suffer higher diesel price due to the double of diesel tax.<br />
<br /><br /><b>The Real Vision and Plan to Cut Pollution</b><br /><br />22. A great percentage of commercial vehicles used in Singapore runs on diesel engines. The increase of Diesel Tax will not have significant effect on lowering the consumption of diesel for these commercial vehicles because the demand is totally inelastic.<br /><br />23. Raising Diesel Tax now without providing a viable alternative to businesses will only result in a drastic rise in business cost. This may affect our leading position as logistic hub in Southeast Asia. <br /><br />24. PAP government lacks the bold vision to explore clean alternatives for commercial vehicles running on diesel. <br /><br />25. The key problem with diesel engines lies with the toxic cancer-causing nitrogen oxide emission. Thus we should phase out diesel vehicles from our roads totally instead of just raising diesel tax. <br /><br />26. In fact, our long term plan should aim to reduce air pollution on the roads by phasing out both petrol and diesel vehicles totally by replacing them with electric vehicles. <br /><br />27. Instead of harming our SMEs and economy by raising diesel tax now, we should be putting more investment and focus efforts to implement a comprehensive plan to promote electric vehicles by building relevant infrastructures and battery waste management system.<br /><br />28. <span style="color: red;"><b>Singapore is lagging behind countries like China and Norway when it comes to implementation of a systematic plan of replacing diesel and petrol vehicles by electric vehicles to cut down harmful air pollution. This is due to the lack of bold vision and political will of PAP leadership. </b></span><br /><br /><br /><b>CPF Inadequacy</b><br /><br />29. About 75% of retirees are getting less than $500 from CPF payout. This is totally inadequate which resulted in many retirees living in absolute poverty. <br /><br />30. It is an irony that Singaporeans had paid 37% of their monthly salary into CPF but yet they could not retire comfortably with a good payout from CPF.<br /><br />31.<span style="color: red;"><b> It basically means that the CPF system along with the HDB and Medisave policies had failed to secure a decent retirement for most Singaporeans. </b></span><br /><br />32. This will have to be looked into and only with Bold Vision could a government come up with bold plans to revamp the whole structure.<br />
<br /><br /><b>Long Term Care for Ageing Population</b><br /><br />33. We will be facing the Silver Tsunami very soon when the baby boomers from 1950s to 1970s start to reach retirement age.<br /><br />34. Putting billions into funds as future subsidies is a passive act which lack forward looking planning vision.<br /><br />35. We would rather spend these billions now to build up both infrastructure and human resource capacity for long term care to prepare for the inevitable Silver Tsunami in the coming decade. <br /><br /><br /><b>Pre-School Childcare and Education vs Fertility </b><br /><br />36. The cost of Pre-school education is extremely high even after subsidies. <br /><br />37. This is one important factor among the many issues that cause low fertility rate in Singapore. <br /><br />38. Instead of putting more money in Edusave, it is time to focus to solve this pertaining issue of Pre-school education.<br /><br />39. A cheap or even free Pre-school education system for all will also level up for children from poor families which will improve future potential social mobility.<br /><br /><br /><b>Our Concerns: <br /><br /> HDB</b> <br /><br />40. There is no mention on any plan for PAP to resolve the huge problems which they have created in the past via Asset Enhancement Scheme. <br /><br />41. No funds is allocated for any initiative on solving the time bomb of a huge stock of ageing HDB flats in the coming decades.<br /><br />42. <span style="color: red;"><b>On the contrary, the Ministry of National Development has the biggest cut in its budget by 19.3%!</b></span><br />
<br /><br /><b>Financing Huge Infrastructure Spending via Borrowing</b><br /><br />43. It is mentioned that part of the huge infrastructure spending like Changi Terminal 5 will be partially financed by borrowings.<br /><br />44. It is also mentioned that Government will provide guarantee to these loans.<br /><br />45. Is there a necessity for Government to finance such infrastructure spending when we have a huge National Reserve well above $500B?<br /><br />46. Financing such infrastructure through borrowing would mean such spending on extremely expensive mega projects will escape rigorous scrutiny by parliament while the government has taken up huge potential liability as a guarantor. <br /><br />47.<span style="color: red;"><b> The lack of accountability to parliament when the government takes up such huge liability will result in unchecked ex-Budget spending which could go wrong. </b></span><br /><br /><br /><b>Conclusion: A Budget that Lacks Bold Vision</b><br /><br />48. We are utterly disappointed by this year’s Budget which basically mimics the 2015 Election Budget without Bold Visions and lacks New Ideas.<br /><br />49. This Budget contains a pack of gimmicks that attempt to make Singaporeans feel good and make believe that they had gained something substantial from it. However, most of these goodies are deferred goodies. <br /><br />50. Unfortunately, these political gimmicks are done at the expense of the need of REAL immediate expenditures on various areas which we have listed out here.<br /><br />51.<span style="color: red;"><b> Singaporeans deserve a better deal than what the current Budget could offer. </b></span><br />52. <span style="color: red;"><b>The reduction of GST relief and duty free alcohol concession for travelers is the best key feature to sum up this Budget 2019 – Small Mindedness without Bold Vision. <br /> </b></span><br />Goh Meng Seng<br />Secretary General<br />For CEC People’s Power Party Singapore<br />Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-15628504179355382772019-02-23T15:57:00.002+08:002019-02-23T15:57:36.716+08:00PPP Singapore Budget 2019 Forum<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Budget 2019:
Political Gimmicks without Bold Vision</u></b></div>
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The PAP Government will be announcing their Budget statement on 18 Feb 2019. <br /><br />People's Power Party will issue our statement, responses and views on this Singapore Budget 2019 in this Forum. <br />
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<br />Guest Speaker: Mr Tan Kin Lian <br />
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Venue: <br />Agora Singapore<br />28 Sin Ming Lane, #03-142 Midview City <br />Singapore 573972, Singapore , <br /><br />Time: <br />2pm-5pm<br /><br />As seats are limited, please RSVP.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-60864461683883654312019-01-28T15:00:00.000+08:002019-01-28T21:23:12.968+08:00The Cheated GenerationsThe "Cheated" Generations<br />
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From 1970s till early 1980s, one can buy a 4 room HDB flats for a mere $20K-$30K. They introduced the inclusion of land price some time in mid 1980s and the prices of HDB flats started to climb. <br />
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By early 1990s-1995, GCT came up with the Asset Enhancement Scheme which entice Singaporeans to spend more of their CPF to buy HDB flats. They relaxed the rules on the secondary market for HDB flats. By 1990s, some of the HDB flats were about 20 years old and they started the HDB upgrading. <br />
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Unknown to many Singaporeans, they had also started to peg the price of new HDB flats to the "market prices". It was not until a couple of years later, they made known to public that they were giving "market subsidy" for new HDB flats. There is a VAST difference between "Market Subsidy" vs "Real Subsidy". Basically it means the Government can now earn profits from the sale of HDB flats (as a whole) but at lesser amount from market rates. <br />
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The impact of such Asset Enhancement Scheme has multiple dimensions.<br />
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1) From cashflow perspective, it reduces or even eradicate the burden of the government in providing the return for CPF. <br />
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2) If Singaporeans used up half of their CPF to buy their HDB flats taking a loan from HDB, it means they will have to pay 2.6% interests to HDB. To the government, this can be transferred to pay for the interests accrued to the other half of the CPF money which was deposited in CPF. <br />
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3) When Singaporeans sell their HDB flats, they have to pay back the amount of CPF money they have spent in paying their mortgages PLUS the accrued CPF compounded rate of 2.5% as return for these CPF money they had used. In effect, Singaporeans are paying 2.6% Plus 2.5% in total interests if they sell their HDB flat. If they only use half of their CPF money to pay their mortgage. it means that Singaporeans are actually paying for ALL the returns of their CPF money and Government didn't need to pay a single cent for their retirement financing. Mortgage rate from HDB is always pegged 0.1% above CPF rate. <br />
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4) It means that in reality, Singapore Government basically do not need to pay any Interest to most of our CPF money and in fact, had earned quite a substantial amount of money via land sales and price above the cost of building the flats. These are thrown into Temasek Holdings and GIC. These are basically "Interest Free" money right from our CPF! The buying of government bonds from government by CPF is just a formality. <br />
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It was only later that Singaporeans were allowed to take mortgage from private banks for their HDB purchases. On the other hand, CPF was allowed for the purchase of private properties. These policies were made to help boost the banking and private property market. <br />
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5) For my generation, we were sold the dream of 5 C and HDB as a "valuable asset" which we could depend for retirement financing. The whole plan is basically flawed. <br />
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6) MAS has already fix the rule for the limited loan that financial institutions could make to anybody who is buying a flat which is more than 40 years old. <br />
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7) All lawyers know what the 99 year lease means. The value of the property which reached 99 years will become ZERO. How could our HDB flats be growing in value forever? <br />
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8) HDB is the only asset most Singaporeans will have. The only way for us to "monetize" HDB for retirement is to either rent it out or downgrade. However, selling an asset which is reaching 40 years old will be challenging unless rules are changed. <br />
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9) PAP government has not changed the rules but misled my whole generation and the future generations of Singaporeans after us that HDB could really be a good "investment" asset. <br />
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10) In the end, we were made to pay almost 10 times of the price which older generations in 1960s and 1970s had paid, without any promising "investment value" for retirement financing. <br />
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11) Singaporeans who bought their flats in 1960s and 1970s, or even 1980s won't understand my generation's anger. We have been misled and felt cheated, suffered high HDB prices and in the end, many of us left very little for our retirement. <br />
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12) Asset inflation doesn't really create value but in fact, only create Rent Seeking Economy which only kick the problems down the road. It is basically transferring the problems of retirement financing to the future generations in terms of extraordinary high property or HDB prices. <br />
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13) HDB prices for a 4 room flat rises from $20K to $200K in 1990s and continue to rise. Who suffers? Only those who bought early in 1970s and 1980s "enjoy" such wealth effect (most of them cannot just sell their HDB flats off) while their children, grandchildren and future generations suffer. <br />
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14) The inflation of HDB prices have outstripped salary increase over the last few decades. This could only mean that we are paying more, maybe not in cash but eating into our CPF savings.<br />
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15) If you take any average guy from my generation, those who are late 40s to 50s who are staying in HDB flats, ask them whether they could make money out from their HDB to finance their retirement in 15 years time, the answer is definitely a NO. on average, if they bought their flats when they were 27 years old, by 62 years old official retirement age, their flats would reach 35 years old. They couldn't possibly sell their flats for a profit or with any cash left after repaying the 2.5% CPF compounded interests over 35 years. <br />
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16) It would be even worse if they bought their flats from the secondary market. <br />
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17) Thus, has the so call Asset Enhancement Scheme helped them? <br />
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18) It doesn't need a super Mathematician to calculated in advance how much one would need to sell their aging HDB flats in order to have any cash available for them to retire after 35 years. Was it a deliberate plan to mislead or just a deliberate negligence? <br />
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19) As far as I know, we have been misled and cheated by PAP government because the results are obvious. What has been promised, claimed and sold to us, will collapse in time to come. <br />
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Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-36862648137798320752018-12-31T23:56:00.004+08:002018-12-31T23:56:40.555+08:00 People's Power Party New Year Message 2019
<br /><br />People's Power Party New Year Message 2019 <br /><br />2018 is a terribly challenging year for Singapore’s Democratic development. Although 2018 is coming to an end but we believe the Democratic situation will further worsen in 2019. <br /><br />The Online Citizen and The Independent have been targeted by the PAP Administration and its proxy, NTUC, which has claimed to have “symbiotic relationship” with PAP. On the other hand, while we would support the Prime Minister to sue States Time Review (STR) and its editor for the criminal defamatory report which it has put up, we have reservations over the use of the Administrative power to geo-block the site altogether. This has created a precedent for PAP to geo-block any site which is critical of it. We also have great reservation over the Prime Minister’s decision to sue someone who has been misled by the report and had mistakenly shared it. The Prime Minister should take legal actions against STR and its editor instead. <br /><br />We believe that the various acts are aimed to send chilling fear to Singapore dissidents and opposition supporters to curb their sharing of legitimate criticisms and anti-PAP commentaries. PAP’s intention to pass the “Fake News” law in 2019 is also an attempt to curb freedom of speech and expression. Any narrative that is contrary to PAP’s version could well be classified as “Fake News” and this law will give PAP the power to charge anyone who dare to put up such narratives! <br /><br />On the other hand, we are also extremely concerned of the competency of the 4G leaders of PAP in dealing with important and sensitive diplomatic issues with our neighbouring countries. The recent unnecessary over-reaction to the sea boundary dispute as well as the dispute over airspace control has exposed the pure diplomatic incompetency and potentially dangerous political posturing of PAP’s 4G leaders. While Singaporeans understand the need to close rank and stand united when we face external threats but we will always want to stand on the higher moral grounds. There is absolutely no necessity to fan frenzy Nationalistic feelings when such fire may get out of control and translate into mindless agitations on the ground which in turn result in irreparable damage on bilateral relationship. <br /><br />It is well known to the world that Singapore has the strongest arm forces in this region and there is absolutely no necessity to flex our muscle in demonstration of protest towards any surrounding country over any issues. Diplomacy has always been the pillar of our success as a small Nation in establishing a network of strength and support in both mutually beneficial economic and political development with other countries in the world. The 4G leaders of PAP must be reminded that our military might is established to prevent war and provide stability instead of starting any war or for bullying others into submission. <br /><br />Looking forward into 2019, we hope that PAP will garner the wisdom and help from people with more experience in diplomacy to deal with bilateral disputes with Malaysia. <br /><br />We do not expect PAP to change its strategic attempt to curb Freedom of Expression on the New media but we believe that only a good beating of PAP in the coming General Elections in 2019 or 2020 will send a strong message to PAP that it doesn’t pay to do more harm to the Nation’s Democratic development. PAP’s broken promise of “Light Touch” on internet chatters has turned into “Deadly Touch”. <br /><br />We also foresee a dark economic cloud over the horizon for 2019 but under PAP’s rule, cost of living and business cost have increased tremendously over the past few years. They have just increased public transport fares despite of lower fuel price and the millions of indirect subsidies given to public transport companies! Singapore has remained as the most expensive city in the world for a few years now. This is the result when Singaporeans gave PAP too much of a mandate in GE 2015. <br /><br />We believe that a combination of High Cost and Economic Downturn will hit Singaporeans very hard if PAP doesn’t change its High Cost policies soon. <br /><br />Singapore is going to face a very challenging time ahead in 2019. We hope that Singaporeans will stand united and keep PAP in checks in order to get it on to the right path of Democratic and Economic development for Singapore. <br /><br />Wishing Every Singaporean a Happy New Year 2019 <br /><br />Goh Meng Seng <br />Secretary General <br />People’s Power Party Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-57023279351742086882018-09-03T11:38:00.001+08:002018-09-03T13:04:13.058+08:00TOTD: HDB Issue - Never Populist, No Longer Lone Voice Again Thought of the Day - Never Populist, No Longer Lone Voice Again <br />
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I was having a discussion over the Asset Enhancement Scam and all the issues involving HDB in my High School Whatsapp group and one of my friends wrote that I should not harp on the truth of HDB lease ownership and by reading the comments on social media, see what they want and sing their tune to get their support. <br />
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I paused for a while and I replied, I have NEVER been populist in my approach and most of the time, I turn people living in fantasies and myths into reality. <br />
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Unlike some politicians who would be that opportunistic and even agree with a BAD policy like Asset Enhancement Scam just because popular opinion of GREED was in support of it due to short sightedness, I chose to walk the less chosen path of going against the grains of popular opinion. <br />
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I would call a spade a spade, nothing else. <br />
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Asset Enhancement Scheme is a scam and it is important to make the point that you don't own any asset when you buy HDB LONG TERM TENANCY agreement because...<br />
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1) You don't even own the HDB flat as a property nor the land, what "assets" are you talking about? <br />
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2) In all normal TENANCY agreement, it is the responsibility of Landlord to do major maintenance and upgrading, so why are Singaporeans asked to pay for upgrading?<br />
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3) It is total Bullshit to say "GOV subsidize" your upgrading but the reverse is true, Singaporeans are subsidizing the GOV in upgrading!<br />
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4) You may think you would gain great "profits" when HDB prices are pushed up but at whose cost? At the cost of the buyer of your HDB PLUS the cost of higher HDB prices for your children and grandchildren!<br />
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5) Who are the ultimate Gainers from high HDB prices? SLA via higher land sales, HDB via more interests earned from loans and as the monopoly supplier of HDB flats and banks that make mortgage loans!<br />
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That's the reality of Asset Enhancement Scam. <br />
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I was the lone voice in the past fighting against HDB policy but not anymore. Glad that many have awaken. <br />
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I am so happy to read many other Singaporeans are speaking up about the Truth of HDB “Ownership”, against the PAP’s misleading narrative which is built on a total lie. <br />
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All scams are built upon ignorance and GREED of the victims, that’s why scamming lies could become some sweet tunes to these unsuspecting people. <br />
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It is my mission to exposed the bad scam of Asset Enhancement Scheme because it would be disastrous to our future generations for it to continue. <br />
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I am not against HDB as a PUBLIC HOUSING and I am even okay with the fact that there is no REAL OWNERSHIP of assets but just a prepaid long term lease of tenancy. <br />
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But I am against PAP political sophistry to turn HDB into an evil weapon of mass destruction of Singaporeans CPF retirement financing plan just for its own political self interests. <br />
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It is a total oxymoron idea to pursue a policy that will inflat HDB prices forever when the main aim of Public Housing is affordable housing for all Singaporeans! <br />
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The reason why I was so pissed off with MBT back in GE2011 was that he kept claiming HDB is “affordable” despite the fact that majority of new generation Singaporeans were made to pay more than 25% of their salaries for 30 years mortgage and yet he still claimed it is affordable! The direct consequence is, they will have less than 11% of savings in CPF for retirement funding! Any financial planner would tell you that this is definitely not enough for middle lower income earners! <br />
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Moreover, after paying their 30 years mortgage, they will find themselves stuck with a depreciating HDB value with totally insufficient CPF for retirement! <br />
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It is a huge time bomb of massive destruction in the making, all because of PAP’s manipulative moves in hoodwinking Singaporeans into believing this Asset Enhancement scam. <br />
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It always pains me when I read ignorant young couples forking out huge amount of money up to a million to buy a HDB lease of tenancy which s less than 80 years! We have to continue fight the PAP evil propaganda of HDB flats is an asset that will appreciate forever in order to drill it down to Singaporeans, it is nothing more than a paper that let you live in that flat for a time frame. <br />
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Singaporeans should change their mindset about HDB as investment. It is just public housing. All public housing are literally OWNED BY GOVERNMENT and they should be misguided and misled by PAP that they could use it to earn huge profits. It is your home, not an investment. <br />
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And as public housing, it should priced as such, Cost Plus, instead of “market price”. Only then, we could normalize and stabilize housing cost to all Singaporeans.<br />
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I hope that more and more people will have solid grasp of these HDB issues and help to spread the words so that we could build the Right social cultural mindset towards HDB as public housing.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-20044901005281338822018-08-26T11:18:00.000+08:002018-08-26T11:18:57.634+08:00Truth of HDB Ownership - 99 Year Leasehold Tenancy <br /><br />HDB 99 Years Leasehold Tenancy Purchase<br /><br />The Prime Minister has tried to confuse or sidestep the FUNDAMENTAL Question of "HDB OWNERSHIP". What types of Ownership are we having when we buy a HDB flat?<br /><br />Many people have correctly pointed out with FACTUAL illustration of that little paper you sign when you purchase your HDB flat, regardless whether it is new BTO or resale HDB flats.<br /><br />It is a purchase of HDB 99 year TENANCY OR WHATEVER is left of the tenancy agreement. This is NOT the usual property sake and purchase agreement.<br /><br />This is why you will NEVER be issued a strata titles because what you have bought is only a long term, paid in advanced, tenancy agreement.<br /><br />This is also why when you want to SUBLET out your flat, you have to get permission from the REAL OWNER, HDB.<br /><br />Thus, PM Lee is Totally wrong to say that HDB "ownership" is the same as private property ownership because they own DIFFERENT things altogether. HDB ownership refers to the long term tenancy agreement while the private property ownership refers to the ownership of property, including the land.<br /><br />This is also why when Gov wants to take away your car park or any space under your block to build anything, they don't need to pay you single cent because you don't own it! But if it is from private property, they will have to pay the private owners!<br /><br />Similarly, all car park revenues from your HDB car parks will go to HDB, not HDB tenants, while for condominiums which decided to collect car park fees from visitors, the revenue will go to the management committee collecting on behalf of owners which is used to supplement maintenance fees.<br /><br />HDB LONG TERM TENANCY ownership is the first of its kind in the world which hoodwinked people into thinking they are really owning a property or land but the hard truth is, they own nothing but the long term tenancy agreement!<br /><br />This is the REAL truth of HDB "OWNERSHIP".<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-90940280465725615422018-08-24T23:17:00.000+08:002018-08-24T23:20:34.898+08:00 Rebuttal to PM Lee's comment on HDB Leasehold is the same as Private Property<br />
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Rebuttal to PM Lee's comment on HDB Leasehold is the same as Private Property<br />
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Our PM Lee has made the following comment during a book launch:<br />
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"I find this argument frankly amazing. Many private properties are held on 99-year leases too, and yet nobody argues that they are merely being rented," said Mr Lee. "HDB lessees have all the rights over their flats that owners of such leasehold private properties have. You can live in it, you can transact it, you can bequeath it to you children. In fact HDB owners enjoy extra privileges because HDB flats get upgraded from time to time, with generous government funding."<br />
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1) Manay Private Properties are held on 99 year leases but they do have FULL rights to their properties and LAND. Eg. they could FENCE up their properties, decide on their own landscaping, rent out their properties without much restrictions, decide on their own when and how much they could sell their properties and do Enbloc redevelopment.<br />
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2) Private Properties owners also own their land for that leasehold period with strata tittles accorded.<br />
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3) However, HDB lessees DO NOT own their land with strata titles. Could PM Lee provide the proof that HDB lessees own their land with strata titles?<br />
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4) HDB lessees DO NOT have FULL rights to their HDB flats. They only have LIMITED rights, restricted by all the HDB rules, regulations and law.<br />
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5) HDB lessees cannot decide anything about the land their HDB land sits on. They cannot fence their blocks up or employ security guards.<br />
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6) Even when it comes to Enbloc, only HDB could decide when it could be done and only HDB could buy back all the HDB flats for Enbloc.<br />
<br />7) HDB Lessees cannot even sell their flats FREELY to anyone, unlike Private Properties.<br /><br />8) Ironically, since HDB is the LAND LORD which owns the all the land that HDB flats sit on, why should HDB lessees be asked to pay part of the upgrading fees? It is the responsible of the LAND OWNER to maintain the infrastructure built on the land, is it not? How could PM Lee turn around and said that HDB lessees are enjoying some "privilege" of "heavily subsidized" upgrading when it was the other way round, HDB lessees made to subsidize the upgrading work which is supposed to be the Land Owner's aka HDB's obligations? <br /><br />9) Fundamentally, there are GREAT differences between the 99 Year leasehold between a Private Properties vs HDB flats.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-20450442499727691412018-08-23T12:50:00.002+08:002018-08-23T13:05:29.075+08:00TOTD: PAP's Plan From First World to Third WorldThought of the Day - PAP's Plan From First World to Third World<br />
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There is a massive outcry over PM Lee's National Day Rally over his "advice" of adjustment to the rising cost of living. <br />
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The best weapon against rising cost of living is to increase our salaries. However, despite of PAP's boast about higher GDP growth, the salaries of Singaporeans have hardly catch up with the inflationary pressure. That's the crux of the matter. <br />
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Instead of solving the problem of inadequate rise in income, or for many people, a regression of income due to underemployment and job mismatch, PM Lee and his ministers tried to downgrade our living standards from First World to Third World! <br />
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We would expect the citizens to progress in life quality as the nation progress from underdeveloped country to developed country status. But what PAP is trying to do is to persuade Singaporeans to live with Third World Standard of living while continuing to give them TOP WORLD Class Million dollar annual salaries! <br />
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The truth is, while our GDP growth might have reached "First World Per Capital Income level" but in reality, Singaporeans' purchasing powers had in fact deteriorated over the years due to constant increase in prices. The artificially boosted GDP growth did not benefit Singaporeans much but in reality, it is due to the influx of cheaper foreign labour and more MNCs parking and registering their profits here in Singapore without creating substantial well paid jobs for Singaporeans. <br />
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Thus, it is really laughable for a self serving ruling party which hold the country at ransom to demand the highest salaries paid in the world for political appointments to try and lecture Singaporeans to cut down on "expectation" and "spending" by lowering quality of life! <br />
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Giving irrelevant "5 cents 10 cents tips" of "saving money" by going to hawker centres, using public Wifi to save data usage and such, which didn't really contribute to much savings at all for a household! Lamenting on how people are owning airconditioners and handphones as the source of higher cost of living without addressing the REAL cause of high cost due to the horrendous increases in tax on water, electric tariffs and eventually GST! <br />
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Most importantly, it is really unconvincing at all to lecture Singaporeans on cutting cost of living via lowering quality of life when PAP government seems to go into a spending spree in all sorts of infrastructures from HSR, Terminal 5 (yeah, we don't even know how expensive it is going to be!) and $16 million thrown into an "international party" between two leaders which yield no substantial results! Well, $16 Million could buy us a few years supply of water from Malaysia! <br />
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It is really sickening to me and reminds me about Animal Farm. The Pigs will live a luxurious lifestyle while constantly lecture the other animals to live a frugal life, over-worked till death. <br />
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If this is the First World Government Singaporeans wanted, then they really deserve the Third World quality of Life PAP wanted them to live... yeah, no handphones, no aircon, lowest quality milk powder for your baby, eat at hawker centres not restaurants (while they could play golf and drive most expensive cars in the world), work, live and sleep in humid and hot weather... no progress in life but only work to give the Ministers Top World Pay and money to splash on expensive projects of Grandiosity to glorify themselves as "great leaders". <br />
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Yes, our forefathers had worked hard to bring Singapore from Third World to First World country, but only ended up to justify the TOP pay for PAP Ministers and now, they will bring us back from First World to Third World, while maintaining their TOP salaries in the world. <br />
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Singaporeans, are you happy now?<br />
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Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-25618002517317569352018-08-23T10:30:00.002+08:002018-08-23T10:30:40.793+08:00Unrealistic Expectations from PAP or Singaporeans?<br />The following is from a FB friend ...<br /><br />What people think of LHL. Honestly speaking, this man had gone cuckoo.<br /><br />*An excellent piece written by Gerard Ong*_<br />~~~~~~<br />Elgin Toh, The Straits Times Deputy Political Editor said in his commentary on Aug 20, our PM has turned into one of those savvy financial advisers who dispense valuable tips on how to save money on daily expenses at his Rally speech on 19 Aug.<br /><br />These tips included, being more mindful of water and electricity usage, watching data usage, tapping wireless@SG when available, not using expensive brands in your household and looking for economical options at new hawker centres.<br /><br />Really Elgin? Our PM a savvy financial advisor? Then my late grandma who brought me up must have been an A grade financial advisor as well. She constantly lectured me why I should not waste electricity & water, switch on appliances unnecessarily, buy branded stuff and expensive food. I think she only had a primary school education before the war.<br /><br />I remember as a young officer in the army some of my cohort used to nick name some of our senior commanders as “five & ten cents” officers because they emphasised on the small stuff instead of focusing on the big picture which everyone knew was more important and relevant.<br /><br />I hope our PM reads the yearly stats on the world’s most expensive cities and realises that Singapore has been named the most expensive city in the world for the past few years.<br /><br />Perhaps a man of his status may not realise it as like Tun Mahathir who said recently that when he was PM he did not need much money. This was because where ever he went things were paid by organisations or people around him. So he does not understand why people (he was jibing UMNO ministers) need so much money.<br /><br />I wonder if our PM has stepped into an NTUC FairPrice supermarket to compare prices of nonbranded household goods or a wet market to know prices of meat, poultry and fish.<br /><br />The prices are high not because the sellers are profiteering but because everything in Singapore is highly priced or taxed which tinkles down and wallops the consumer. If the price of vehicles, fuel and rent are high, the prices of deliverable goods go up in price. You don’t need to be an economics graduate to know that.<br /><br />In 1978, I bought a good second-hand car for S$1,500. My five room Normanton Park apartment cost S$37,000 and came with a swimming pool and tennis courts. Today a five-room flat in far flung Punggol cost S$400,000 and you will have to wait two to four years for it.<br /><br />These prices do not reflect the interest payments which bring up the overall price of the flat considerably. I am not even talking of resale flats as prices of such apartments are insane when you compare them with property prices in fully developed countries.<br /><br />There will be people who will compare us with Hong Kong and say we are better off. Well they could compare us with a village in the far north of Thailand and say we are better off as we have electricity and piped-in gas. Such comparisons are futile as we are talking about our cost of living and how it affects the middle-income earners and those living on their wits end in Singapore.<br /><br />It is the big-ticket prices in Singapore that have raised the cost of living for all of us. Why are houses and flats so expensive. It is primarily because land sales have been priced high and developers upping their prices and profits.<br /><br />Let us not forget with every property sales transaction, a tax is levied which brings up the cost of the purchase. Primarily the major portion of our income goes into paying of mortgages.<br /><br />Why are goods so expensive? You don’t need a finance degree to figure it out. High cost of property + high rentals + high cost of vehicles and taxes + high costs of services + salaries (with CPF) + worker levies = high overall cost<br /><br />At the end of the day, the rich and high performing ministers and bureaucrats with their humongous salaries will not feel the pinch when we talk about the high cost of living in Singapore.<br /><br />Unless you are Edwin Tong who told Goh Chok Tong that if he took up a post as a Minister of State, he may not be able to take care of his family, mother and father-in-law with his $500k yearly salary!Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-14969398526971760642018-08-21T22:50:00.000+08:002018-08-21T22:50:22.769+08:00TOTD: STOP Living in Self Denial!Thought of the Day - STOP living in self denial!<br /><br />I read quite a number of remarks, articles and comments over VERS and felt pretty amused and sad.<br /><br />People are still living in self denial of the massive scam of asset enhancement scheme initiated by PAP.<br /><br />People should STOP thinking that PAP is coming to your rescue and giving you great money with VERS!<br /><br />PAP has screwed up badly over the Assets Enhancement Scam and there is no way out of it without great pain to many Singaporeans. Please do not live in self denial.<br /><br />VERS is not about giving a great deal to Singaporeans but an attempt to avert a sudden supply and demand shock to the HOUSING market when a massive over 200k flats come into expiry within a few years.<br /><br />Sink that in and stop hoping for PAP to come to your rescue from a real rapid depreciation of your HDB flat.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-3206088838242374592018-08-21T22:49:00.000+08:002018-08-21T22:49:01.837+08:00TOTD: Credits Due<br />Thought of the Day - Credits Due<br /><br />Well, I have to give due credits to the Minister of National Development for the willingness to consider my comprehensive solutions to the HDB-CPF mess and adapted some of the important policy options stated in my proposal.<br /><br />Although he didn't give me due credits for my inputs for the obvious reasons, but still, I think he is sincere in solving the big mess of HDB instead of living in self denial like his predecessors, especially MBT.<br /><br />For the good of our Nation's future, we need people like him who is willing to look at problems and situations objectively and apply or adapt good policy options, regardless of whether it comes from the opposition camp or not.<br /><br />But one word of caution to him, my solutions provided must be looked at in totality and not in selective adoption else he will risk having incoherence in his policies.<br /><br />I was quite reluctant to write that article to provide my policy options at first because these policy views are the accumulation of more than 20 years of in-depth study and understanding the HDB issues in and out, through and through.<br /><br />But a friend of mine, who is helping the government in crafting housing development policies, had urged me to contribute, write, publish and share my views, for the benefits of our nation. He said the committee will take serious consideration of any good proposals and views.<br /><br />After much considerations, I decided to write. The reason is simple, since Lawrance Wong has the moral courage to openly declare and correct misperception of public on HDB by declaring your HDB flat will have zero value when the 99 year lease expired, I believe that he is sincere in his approach, unlike MBT who would continue to misled Singaporeans on "assets enhancement".<br /><br />I know my article was passed around the members involved in the policy committee<br /><br />I would rebut PAP or anyone who claims we don't provide sensible and credible policy views or options in future. We may not earn $1 million, but we are no less talented than anyone.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng <br />
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<br />Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-17160080340176336082018-06-07T19:49:00.001+08:002018-06-07T19:49:38.488+08:00TOTD: Mis-selling of Dangerous High Risk Financial Bonds to Retail Investors<br /><br />Thought of the Day - Mis-selling of Dangerous High Risk Financial Bonds to Retail Investors<br /><br />Just a couple of weeks ago, news broke out on Hyflux defaulting on its interest payment to the perpetual bonds it had sold to investors, which include retail investors.<br /><br />Most Singaporeans do not understand what is a perpetual bond. For normal bonds, be it government or private company's bonds, they will have an expiry date. It basically means that when you buy these bonds, it promises to pay you an interest every year and at the end of 10 or 20 years, or any number of years dictated on the bond as a contract, it promises to pay you back the amount stated on the bond.<br /><br />For example, there could be a $100K coupon bond which promises to pay you 5% of $100K each year for 20 years and at the end of the 20 years, it will repay you the 100K stated on bond. You may not pay $100K for the bond because it depends on the interest rates of the market. You may pay higher than $100K if the current interest rate is lower than 5%. Or you may pay lower than $100K for this bond if the current interest rate is higher than 5%. i.e. the price of this bond is inversely related to current interest rate.<br /><br />Technically speaking, you can trade on these bonds. You can buy or sell these bonds before the maturity of the bonds.<br /><br />What is perpetual bond then? It basically means that the company will be selling you these bonds and it promises to pay you the coupon rate, eg 5% every year but it will go on forever and it will not repay the principal amount of these bonds. i.e. it will be borrowing these money from you or other investors perpetually... FOREVER.<br /><br />You can only "cash out" from these bonds by selling to other people who are willing to buy it.<br /><br />The pricing of such bonds are more complex as the longer the bond maturity is, the higher risk it involves. And now, when technically speaking the maturity is infinity, aka no maturity, then the risk is extremely high.<br /><br />This is why Perpetual Bonds are NOT MEANT for retail investors but more for institutional or professional investors. MAS, as the regulator of the financial market, should not even allow such perpetual bonds to be sold to retail investors!<br /><br />But we now know, MAS has actually closed both eyes on such issue. Now that Hyflux has defaulted on the interest payment on its perpetual bonds, these bonds have basically become JUNK bonds in the market with little value left. The retail investors would suffer huge losses in such situation.<br /><br />Ironically, Termasek Holdings under Ho Ching, has planned to sell perpetual bonds to retail investors, putting up such slogan on "supplementing CPF" earnings!<br /><br />First of all, it is totally inappropriate to sell perpetual bonds to retail investors.<br /><br />Secondly, how could a Sovereign Wealth Fund issue such a bond?<br /><br />Last but not least, 4.5% may look comparatively attractive to the 2.5% or 4% given by CPF, but the amount of risk in perpetual bonds are very much higher! Normally, such bonds are sold at a discount to institution investors but it seems that it is more lucrative to sell to inexperience retail investors at higher price or at its principal value because they do not understand the risks they are taking!<br /><br />Considering the Prime Lending Rate is at 5% now, the interest for Perpetual Bond should be higher than this rate because, it is basically a loan for forever which will involve greater risk!<br /><br />Termasek Holdings, as our Sovereign Wealth Fund, is actually taking advantage of Singaporeans, by borrowing from them below Prime Rate with indefinite maturity! Try asking any banks to lend to you $100K FOREVER at prime rate and see what you get from them!<br /><br />Truly, I must warn all Singaporeans not to be taken advantage by our very own Sovereign Wealth Fund. I do not know why they need to raise funds through perpetual bonds when they are already handling so much funds up to the hundreds of billions but with the opaque manner in which they run their business, the risk is even higher than one could imagine.<br /><br />Risk arises when there is uncertainty with lack of transparency and information. Please do not be fooled by such "good investment opportunity" sales talk. Else, you may end up like those Minibonds victims, die liao also don't know why and MAS will just brush you aside.<br /><br />Goh Meng Seng<br />Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-12327071299812977732018-06-05T00:50:00.001+08:002018-06-05T00:53:18.057+08:00Comprehensive Set of Policy Options for HDB-CPF MessThe HDB-CPF time bomb will blow up in 10-15 years time with a sudden surge of HDB flats passing their 40 year-lease mark. My estimate is that about 50% or more of HDB flats would have less than 60 years to their expiry by 2035.<br />
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As I have mentioned, the HDB problem cannot be tackled without tackling the CPF policies. They are like twin babies right now and the problem is magnified with such linkage between these two entities.<br />
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The following are the gist of the time bomb:<br />
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1) Inadequacy of Retirement financing due to over-consumption of Housing effected by the devious link between HDB and CPF.<br />
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2) PAP has misled a few generations of Singaporeans into believing that they could use their HDB flats for retirement by "monetizing it" and treating it as "pure asset" instead of consumption item. Nothing with an expiry date could be considered as a long term perpetual asset which one could depend on decades later in life. Due to ageing population, there will be higher supply of old HDB flats than demand of these flats which are above 30, 40 or 50 years old. The financial regulations and illogical HDB rules restrictions have aggravated the situation.<br />
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3) Ageing population will result in potential oversupply of HDB flats in the long term if it is not kept in check. This is especially so when young couples are "forced" to buy BTO or HDB flats with longer lease while the HDB restrictions basically prevent them from buying old HDB flats with shorter lease left.<br />
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4) HDB rules also restrict Singaporeans from buying smaller and cheaper BTOs if their income level is high. These artificial rules will implicitly create over consumption of housing. <br />
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5) The valuation system that HDB used has an inherent upward bias when it doesn't include the balance of lease as key consideration. This will create a market with pricing but without demand.<br />
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6) The massive problem of having huge number of HDB flats expiring their 99 year lease all within 5 to 10 years time will have to be dealt with careful planning decades in advance. PAP's refusal of initiating Enbloc for old flats will create an even bigger problem later.<br />
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The set of solutions are as follow:<br />
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<u><b>A) De-link CPF from HDB or property purchase and Lowering of Employee's CPF contribution</b></u><br />
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CPF should be kept strictly as a fund catering for retirement. For a good financial planning, 20% of income should be saved for retirement. It means that while CPF could be de-linked from HDB purchases, Singaporeans could lower their Employee's CPF contribution from 20% to 3% while the Employer's CPF contribution shall remain at 17%.<br />
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Singaporeans should decide what to do with the excess cash as a result in the lower CPF contribution. They could use it for renting a flat, save it up, invest it in business or other financial products or use it to buy a property (HDB or otherwise) and pay the mortgage.<br />
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Such radical policy change will correct the past PAP's mistake in deliberately and artificially channeling Singaporeans' money into buying HDB flats, using more than what they should use of CPF money in paying the down payment and mortgage, resulting in over consumption of housing at the expense of retirement funding. Such problem will only surface decades later as more and more Singaporeans in my generations will realize. <br />
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Such social engineering to create an illusion of wealth and property ownership is extremely harmful to the Nation as a whole.<br />
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<u><b>B) Dismantling of Restrictive HDB Rules of Social Engineering Manipulations. </b></u><br />
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There are many HDB rules which are the results of social engineering attempts, should be removed. Rules that dictates high income level cannot buy smaller flats should be totally abolished. Housing consumption should depend on needs, not on income level. Whatever subsidies the government wanted to give should depend on income level and not HDB flat size. Thus, there is absolutely no reason why Singaporeans should be prevented from buying flats according to their needs.<br />
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Rules that dictate singles could only buy HDB flats after they are 35 year old should also be abolished. Such rules are based on "family-centric" reasoning but these rules are too restrictive and not helpful for singles to seek independence in living before they look for their lifetime partners. It also excludes people from other segments of the society to seek independence and privacy for their housing needs. As far as the government is concerned, each and every citizen will only enjoy grants or subsidies once, regardless of their age or whether they bought their flat before or after their marriage. <br />
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Rules that dictate young couples cannot buy HDB flats with short lease left should be abolished as well. If HDB flats are treated as a consumption goods, there is absolutely no reason for such rules to exist. Shorter lease, old HDB flats may cost much lesser and with the grants given by the government, young people could well afford to buy their first CHEAP old HDB flat to start their marriage life earlier. This will also encourage them to have children earlier with lower expenditures on housing.<br />
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Liberalization of the HDB rules will enhance market efficiency and liquidity, especially for the resale market of old HDB flats which have less than 60 years lease.<br />
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<u><b>C) Re-configuration of Financial Rules and Valuation Methodology</b></u><br />
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At the moment, there is really an abnormality in the financial rules. For car purchase financing, although the COE restrict the car life span to 10 years, banks and financial institutes are still allowed to finance buyers for up to 7 years of mortgage. However, for some strange reasons, HDB flats with 60 years lease left will face a drastic drop in financial options and the purchase of flats with 20 years left, could not be financed at all!<br />
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If we just treat HDB flats simply as a consumption goods, there is no reason why there is a discrepancy in financial treatments by the banks and finance companies.<br />
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For owners of HDB flats with less than 60 years lease, they could not "monetize" or sell their flats mainly because of mismatch valuations of their HDB flats as well as liquidity problem due to such financial rules. <br />
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Re-configuration of the financing rules of old HDB flats based on the fact that it is just a consumption good like car, washing machine or any hire purchase items would allow adequate liquidity to flow into the resale market of these old flats. Of course, this must be accompanied by a revamped property valuation system which will give a more realistic valuation of old HDB flats based on the leasehold factor. It is just an old car. The older a car is, the lesser its valuation is.<br />
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Sellers of HDB flats should not be asked to repay back all the "lost CPF interests" due to their use of CPF funds to finance their HDB flats when they were young. Else, those elderly people who decided to sell their HDB flats to supplement their retirement financing will find it totally meaningless in their attempt to "monetize" their old HDB flats.<br />
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<u><b>D) Kick Start a Redevelopment Plan for old HDB estates </b></u><br />
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In anticipation of the impact of an ageing population with ageing HDB flats and estates, the government should start planning for the Redevelopment of these old HDB estates in stages. Instead of limiting SERS to 4% of total HDB stock of flats, there is an urgent need to kick start a Total Redevelopment Plan for ageing HDB estates.<br />
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This will of course involve enbloc of HDB flats in phases.<br />
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Although it is going to be an expensive ever-lasting process but it is a necessity to pre-empt a total chaos and collapse of the whole HDB resale market.<br />
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As the ageing population would mean that some land acquired via enbloc can be released for private development use while the resulting higher pricing of the redeveloped flats would make older flats with less than 60 or 50 years lease more attractive. This will create a new equilibrium which will effect a more efficient use of land and housing stock.<br />
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Redevelopment of old HDB estates will have to be carried out in phases, most probably stretching over 20 to 30 years time frame for one estate. Such staggered redevelopment plan will prevent a sudden chaotic situation whereby the whole old HDB estates with lots of HDB flats expiring within a short span of time resulting in a sudden shock shortage of housing stock to provide for those who are going to give back their HDB flats to the government. <br />
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It is totally irresponsible for PAP government to say that they will only redevelop 4% of HDB flats via SERS while just waiting to take back all other HDB flats from Singaporeans when their lease expired. Such method may save the government lots of money but it will create a great turbulence to the whole resale market for HDB.<br />
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<u><b>Conclusion</b></u><br />
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The above outline of the combined policies needed to address the HDB-CPF Axis of Evil Problems will not prevent some Singaporeans from losing great amount of money from their misguided belief in PAP's Asset Enhancement Scam, especially so when they use lots of money to buy from the HDB resale market.<br />
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However, at the very least, we could achieve the objective to create a viable resale market demand for their old HDB flats which have less than 60 years lease left. This is done through liberalizing rules on HDB flats purchase, expanding the potential pool of buyers of these old HDB flats to singles and young couples with viable financing plan achieved by re-configuring of financial rules and valuation system based on rational reasoning.<br />
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While some Singaporeans will have to suffer a huge and painful cost of greatly depreciated old HDB flats, the government should also bear the big bulk of the cost in creating this whole mess via a rational staggered enbloc redevelopment of those old HDB estates.<br />
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This is a very painful lesson for all Singaporeans that property transactions and speculations on your only residential home are simply a Zero Sum Game eventually. Anyone's gain will be somebody's loss.<br />
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Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-88517233361659978772018-06-04T10:14:00.001+08:002018-06-04T10:16:22.682+08:00Solutions to HDB-CPF Mess MUST Address These IssuesSolutions to HDB-CPF Mess must address the following few issues:<br />
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1) Provide stability to the HDB resale market, preventing big crash or huge hike in prices.<br />
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2) Solve the inadequacy problem of CPF for retirement due to HDB purchase<br />
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3) Solve the insolvency problem of old HDB flats above 40 or 50 years old.<br />
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4) Guard against oversupply of HDB flats in the long run<br />
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5) Tackle the potential problems of massive expiry of 99 year lease in less than 60 years time.<br />
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6) The system of Valuation of HDB Flats has to have realistic reflection of leasehold terms of flats.<br />
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7) Cater to the needs of an ageing population with changing social-housing reconfiguration.<br />
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8) Choice and options for Singaporeans should be widen.<br />
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9) Re-calibrating social mindset and financial system to treat HDB as public housing, a consumption good instead of investment good.<br />
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This list may not be exhaustive but the Core of problems which need immediate solutions to address the short-mid-long term needs of the Nation.<br />
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Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-58839883222438690632018-06-04T10:12:00.003+08:002018-06-04T10:12:36.441+08:00TOTD: Lessons for Civil Servants from Malaysia GE14<br /><br />Thought of the Day - Lessons for Civil Servants from Malaysia GE14<br /><br />Many top and middle management civil servants in Malaysia as well as Singapore are pro the ruling parties in their respective countries and they think that by doing so, they could get promotion faster or at least keep their iron rice bowls fortified.<br /><br />Some will go the extra mile to side the ruling parties or even risk breaking the law to demonstrate their boot licking skills.<br /><br /><br />They have forgotten that as civil servants, regardless of their political stance or preferences, they are required to maintain neutrality in their capacity as public servants. Tax payers paid their salaries, not ruling parties.<br /><br />We have witnessed in Malaysia, a lot of upright civil servants were forced to leave or even persecuted for carrying out their duties diligently and they could finally cleared their names. On the other hand, those civil servants who are too biased in their ways are getting sacked or even face potential lawsuits against their bad deeds.<br /><br />Singapore civil servants, especially those top civil servants should bear in mind that they should maintain neutrality at all times else the karmic results we are witnessing in Malaysia now may fall upon them one day if PAP lose its power.<br /><br />Just today, I heard another case that a man was warned that he should not write any anti-PAP government postings on social media else they, the police, will prosecute him! That’s outright unconstitutional and against the right of freedom of expression! It really makes Singapore sound more like a total communist dictatorship!<br /><br />This is not the first time I heard about such threats imposed by the police or ISD agents in disguise. They have forgotten that their duties are to the country, not to the ruling party.<br /><br />Time has changed and it is regrettable that such old tactic of intimidation is still used by these people.<br /><br />They will have to pray hard that PAP will stay in power forever.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-37132084275715570172018-06-04T10:11:00.000+08:002018-06-04T10:11:32.112+08:00TOTD: The High Speed Rail <br />
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Thought of the Day - The High Speed Rail<br />
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Some people ask me what do I think of Tun Mahathir cancelling the High Speed Rail project<br />
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Well first of all, we must understand that with such high price tag, it is bound to lose money for a long time to come if it was to be built, especially when it needs to compete with the current air flights between KL and Singapore.<br />
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Secondly, although most of the rail and stations were situated in Malaysia, Singapore will benefit most from its construction. This is basically why PAP Government is willing to foot half of the cost of constructing the HSR.<br />
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PAP will benefit from the shot up in land prices around Jurong area and it will make it easier for Singapore to attract Talents from Malaysia to come and work in Singapore.<br />
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However, it is obvious that PAP Government is facing grave cash flow problem despite of its boast of having huge reserves. Huge mega projects like HSR, Tuas Mega port, T5 @ Changi Airport, New Thomson MRT line etc... are creating an obvious pressure on the government finances, so much so that PAP is planning to raise taxes as well as borrowing to fund all these.<br />
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Why would all these multi billion dollars projects come all at once, at the expense of Singaporeans in terms of higher taxes?<br />
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Thus in my view, Tun Mahathir had made a timely wise decision to call off the HSR. Of course he did it for the consideration of his country's financial position but indirectly, he will also help Singapore to pause and think whether such mega project is really necessary for the time being.<br />
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Going for an expensive HSR which is destined to lose money will only serve the ego of PAP but will bleed us in the long run.<br />
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A medium speed rail may be more practical, cost effective and sustainable in the long run.<br />
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As for penalty, I would say that in consideration of Malaysia being our closest neighbor and it is struggling with the financial situation in the aftermath of GE14, its current financial and overall stability will also be our Core interests as well. Apart from being a gesture to rebuild our relationship with the new administration, it is also in our interest to see a stable and smooth transition of Powers in Malaysia. We will not be spared if Malaysia face a financial crisis.<br />
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Thus, in the spirit of maintaining the legality of contract and rule of law, I would suggest Singapore to impose only a token of fees for the breaking of contractual obligations by the new Malaysian administration.<br />
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Goh Meng Seng Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957101.post-28329496982436992312018-05-23T19:20:00.001+08:002018-06-04T10:19:12.496+08:00The FATAL Mistake of PAP<br />
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The FATAL Mistake of PAP<br />
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Well, the Fatal Mistake fell upon Singaporeans while PAP made use of such manipulation of CPF-HDB financing to boast its own political capital built upon the great cost on Singaporeans' retirement financial adequacy as well as future generations of Singaporeans' housing needs.<br />
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Many people do not understand why I call Asset Enhancement Scheme as an outright scam. Let me explain in simple terms.<br />
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If someone forced you to put 50% or 40% of your salary into his safe keeping, promising you a miserable return of 2.5% per annum but tells you that you could use a big bulk of it to purchase only a precious stone from him and nothing else. He claims that it will increase in value forever, 10 times, 15 times, 20 times...<br />
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Else, you will have to wait until you are 55 years old before you can take back your money... then, it increases to 65 years old and then, he says, you cannot take out whole lump sum but only bit by bit....<br />
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What would you do? Of course you will use whatever amount of money you can get from these money you kept with him to buy this supposed precious stone!<br />
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Then, he inflated the price of this precious stone artificially because he is the monopoly supplier of these stones, under the slogan of "enhancing the value of the stones"... in fact, made you pay money to "upgrade" the stone with beautiful boxes.<br />
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However, right from the start, this guy knows that these stones could only last 99 years and by then, it will be zero value and under the contract, he could take the stones back from these buyers.<br />
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What about the promise of "Asset Enhancement"? What about the Empty rhetoric that these stones will rise in value FOREVER?<br />
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Anyone with a good mind would conclude that this is a scam. The contract drafted by that guy has specifically said that the stones will expire and have to be returned to him but yet, he is telling everyone that it is an asset to them and it will rise in value forever!<br />
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Now, this is just the beginning of the problem. If it is just a bit of money lost to a scam, that's not a big issue. But in the case of CPF-HDB, a few generations of Singaporeans' retirement financing is at stake!<br />
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It is a deliberate scam whereby money, your money, is deliberately channeled into a dead end with only one outlet available. i.e. buying HDB flat (later on private property but that is another issue). It is just like an irrigation of water. PAP had made use of your money, to make its HDB 80% ownership successful and claim credits for it. But it is in fact, a manipulation of your money which results in over-consumption of HDB public housing.<br />
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The fundamental Fatal Mistake made here is that in its zeal to get Singaporeans buying its HDB flats which continues to be inflated in prices as compared to 1970s and 1980s, PAP government has encroached into the core CPF funds meant for Singaporeans' retirement.<br />
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A prudent financial plan for retirement would require a person to save at least 20% of his or her income for retirement at anyone time. With prudent investment return about 5%-8% above inflation rate, it would provide a decent retirement for everyone.<br />
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A balanced financial plan would mean that a person should only spend 20% of his or her income on housing. This would mean that 40% of his or her income would be set aside for retirement as well as housing. 60% would be available for daily consumption.<br />
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However, PAP has screwed it up with its manipulation of the CPF which supposedly acts as function of retirement saving but they have mixed it up with housing financing, apart from other usage.<br />
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Only 11% of a person's salary are kept as fixed savings for retirement... inclusive of Medisave for healthcare. To make it worse, the returns for this 11% of savings is just 4%. Hardly meet the requirement of 5%-8% above inflation rate.<br />
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Thus, it is not surprisingly at all that most Singaporeans will not be able to afford a comfortable retirement just depending on the CPF savings.<br />
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The "solution" that PAP gave initially, is that HDB "is an asset" which Singaporeans could "monetize" for retirement. This was what MBT said during GE 2011 when I questioned PAP rigorously on the principles of having high HDB prices which created insufficient CPF savings for retirement.<br />
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I was hoping he would take up my challenge of an open debate on HDB-CPF back then because I would have hantum him with the basic fact that HDB is a 99 leasehold PUBLIC HOUSING which Singaporeans do not have a say on whether they could enbloc their flats. This is basically because, in legality, Singaporeans as HDB dwellers, do not own the land which their flats sit on! They have no legal rights over the land and cannot make any decisions on what to do with it, unlike private property owners.<br />
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And if HDB flat is an entity with an expiry date while PAP government apparently is not interested to do SERS for all HDB flats, then how could it be an "Asset" at all in the first place?<br />
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HDB flat is a Consumption good, not an Investment good. Period. It is totally misleading, dishonest and irresponsible for PAP to tell Singaporeans that their HDB is some sort of super investment which will rise in value forever!<br />
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And if HDB is a consumption good, it is totally unreliable to depend on it for retirement financing at all! Well, first of all, the value of HDB is destined to drop when its lease is running out!<br />
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I am explaining the CORE problems of the HDB-CPF axis before providing any viable solutions. It is basically a bad policy of funds manipulation which has gone wrong, resulting in bad financial planning for 80% of Singaporeans.<br />
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I am angry at PAP for its reckless and imprudent policy manipulations with total disregard of Singaporeans' welfare and prudent financial planning.<br />
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It is a foregone conclusion that most Singaporeans who have paid inflated prices for their HDB flats will suffer when they eventually find that there are insufficient funds in CPF for their retirement. You will see more elderly people pushing carts, washing dishes and cleaning tables in the years to come.<br />
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What made me extremely upset is despite of the obvious enslavement scheme of a 30 year mortgage for buying a HDB flat, MBT and PAP back then still blew their trumpets that HDB is still "AFFORDABLE"! Over-spending on mortgage of HDB, resulting in insufficient retirement saving in CPF and sometimes, with additional cash payment to finance a 30 year mortgage but yet, PAP is still blowing the trumpet of "Affordability"?! That's the most irresponsible remarks and political statement made by MBT and PAP.<br />
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Wait for my subsequent postings here... I shall touch on what are needed to correct this horrible HDB-CPF axis of evil.<br />
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Goh Meng SengAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08118282904480380059noreply@blogger.com9