TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent In an interview with Channel 8 Focus programme yesterday, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu admitted unwittingly that PRs are indirectly responsible for the sky-rocketing HDB flat prices. ""We have some Singaporeans coming to us and saying ‘I want to sell to a PR because the PR is giving me a better price than Singaporeans.’" she said. PRs are allowed to purchase resale flats in Singapore without any restrictions and sell them for a profit later on. Some PRs have "spoilt" the market for paying higher than market rates for the flats they want. The state media reported an Indonesian PR who forked out $653,000 for a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown when he could well afford a condominium. Grace Fu also implied that PRs are "helpful" to HDB flat owners as they are willing to pay a higher price for their flats: “So even though we may not want to have many foreigners or PRs buying HDB flats, if you’re an HDB flat owner and when you're selling the HDB flat, a PR is helpful for you as well. So for all our policies we try to take a very balanced view." HDB has denied repeatedly that PRs are the culprits for jacking up prices of HDB flats. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said a few weeks ago in Parliament that PRs who make up “only” one in five resale flat buyers, have minimal impact on resale prices. Law Minister Shanmugam claimed that according to his "hunch", Singaporeans are responsible for the escalating prices and not PRs and foreigners: “The first misconception is that somehow there are five million people and that is putting pressure on all of us. It doesn’t. Of the five million, 3.2million are citizens, and roughly 500,000 are permanent residents (PRs). The remaining 1.3million are here on temporary work permits, and they ‘impose no burden’ on the public housing system.” [Source: Straits Times, 18 January 2010] The prices of resale HDB flats grew by an astonishing 8.2 percent last year with median Cash-over-Valuation (COVs) doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone. Despite evidence showing otherwise, HDB continues to insist that public housing remains "affordable" to the majority of Singaporeans. As expected, Ms Fu made use of the opportunity to re-affirm the government's "committment" to ensure that HDB flats remain "affordable" by their standards: "The hot topic has been affordability of flats and also what is the impact of foreigners on the prices of HDB flats. So I think we have explained that we'll continue to focus on affordability. We'll continue to push out the BTOs." National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan who admitted that he was "caught offguard" by the climbing prices has come under increasing fire from disgruntled Singaporeans for his failure to control flat prices. When asked by the media on the possibility of Mr Mah losing his seat in the next general election, PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew retorted that Singaporeans must be "daft" if they cast a protest vote against his party over rising HDB flat prices.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to help us exceed the number of fans on the YPAP Facebook page.   Related articles: >> HDB launches "traveling exhibition" to trumpet its achievements in the heartlands >> PAP to upgrade 12,000 HDB households ahead of next election >> Mah Bow Tan: We do not want flat prices to go down >> Prices of resale flats to rise further as PR quota reached >> Taiwanese PR offers $50k COV for resale flat >> Mah Bow Tan: PRs have minimal impact on resale flat prices >> No empirical evidence to suggest that public housing is affordable in Singapore >> When will Singapore’s property bubble burst? >> Why HDB is unable to reveal break down costs of new flats now >> HDB to consider introducing rules to curb property speculation >> HDB blames Singaporeans for not selecting flats when given the chance >> Singaporeans worried about retirement after depleting CPF to pay for over-priced HDB flats >> Mah Bow Tan acknowledged that rising HDB flat prices has sparked “fresh concerns” >> PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats” >> COVs of resale flats shooting through the roof >> HDB resale price index hit record high in 2009 >> Singaporean wants PRs to live in rented flats instead of buying resale flats >> Singaporeans wants PRs to be banned from selling HDB flats at a profit >> Shanmugam: Singaporeans likely culprits for driving up HDB flat prices >> Mah Bow Tan: HDB flats remain affordable >> Means testing for PRs to buy resale flats >> Immigration and public housing: should the govt or people plan ahead? >> Grace Fu: hard to predict demand for housing >> Indonesian PR bought 4-room flat at $653,000 >> Mah Bow Tan asks home buyers to be realistic >> PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get a flat for not planning ahead >> Home affordability: HDB versus the public >> Demand vs supply: so many applicants, so few flats >> Number of applicants exceed number of flats >> HDB to increase supply of flats >> Mah: don’t compare with prices in the past >> ERA: 40 per cent of HDB flat buyers are PRs  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Singapore's leaders have made the international headlines again with yet another successful defamation lawsuit against a foreign media - International Herald Tribune for running an article last month titled "All in the family" by Philip Bowring which included Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in a list of Asian political dynasties. The newspaper published an apology on both its online and op-ed pages yesterday: "In a Feb 15, 2010 article, Mr Bowring nonetheless included these two men in a list of Asian political dynasties, which may have been understood by readers to infer that the younger Mr Lee did not achieve his position through merit. We wish to state clearly that this inference was not intended,' it added, apologising to the three men 'for any distress or embarrassment caused by any breach of the undertaking and the article'." The publisher, editor and author of the article have also agreed to pay damages of $60,000 to PM Lee, and $50,000 each to SM Goh and MM Lee, as well as legal costs, said Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew and Napier, who represented the leaders. Philip Bowring had earlier stepped on the toes of Singapore leaders in 1994 also in International Herald Tribune which said "dynastic politics was evident in Singapore, 'despite official commit-ments to bureaucratic meritocracy'". The libellous article contained only one sentence about Singapore stating the fact that PM Lee is the son of MM Lee: "The list of Asian countries with governments headed by the offspring or spouses of former leaders is striking: Pakistan has Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, herself the daughter of the executed former leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bangladesh has Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the murdered first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . In Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak is the son of the second prime minister, Abdul Razak. Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong is Lee Kuan Yew’s son. In Kim Il-sung’s son Kim Jong-il commands party, army and country and waiting in the wings is his son Kim Jong-un." [Source: Are political dynasties good or bad?] It appears that only Singapore's leaders have sued IHT for defamation and not the other Asian leaders who were mentioned in the article as well including North Korea's Kim Jong IL. The defamation lawsuit predictably sparked an outcry in the international media with Reuters taking a dig at Singapore in its article on it: "Singapore’s leaders have in the past sued and won damages, or out-of-court settlements, from opposition politicians and foreign media including the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and The Economist......Singapore was ranked 133rd among 175 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2009 by Reporters Without Borders." [Source: Reuters, 24 March 2010]   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so and help us exceed the number of fans on the official YPAP Facebook page.    Read More →

By Philip Bowring from International Herald Tribune, 15 February 2010 Election time in the Philippines is a regular reminder of the roles that feudal instincts and the family name play in that nation's politics. Benigno Aquino, son of the late President Corazon Aquino, is the front runner to succeed President Gloria Arroyo, daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, a president in the 1960s. Senate and Congressional contests will see family names of other former presidents and those long prominent in provincial politics and land-owning. But the Philippines is not unique. Dynastic politics thrives across Asia to an extent found in no other region apart from the Arabian peninsula monarchies. The list of Asian countries with governments headed by the offspring or spouses of former leaders is striking: Pakistan has Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, herself the daughter of the executed former leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bangladesh has Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the murdered first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . In Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak is the son of the second prime minister, Abdul Razak. Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong is Lee Kuan Yew's son. In Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il commands party, army and country and waiting in the wings is his son Kim Jong-un. In India, the widow Sonia Gandhi is the power behind the technocrat prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and her son Rahul is showing political promise and being groomed in the hope of leading the Congress party and eventually filling the post of prime minister, first occupied by his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru. In Japan, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is the scion of a Kennedy-like political dynasty: His father was a foreign minister, and his grandfather was a prime minister. Indonesia's last president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is the daughter of its first, and family ties could well play in the next presidential election when the incumbent, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, must retire. In Myanmar, the durability of the opposition to the military owes much to the name of Aung San Suu Kyi's independence-hero father as well as to her stoicism. Thailand lacks obvious political dynasties but that is likely because there is already a monarch. South Korea's rough and tumble democracy would seem to leave little scope for dynasties but even there, the political career of Park Chung Hee's daughter, Park Geun Hye, has benefited much from her father's reputation. With the exception of North Korea, Asian dynasties are a phenomenon of countries that are more or less democratic. In China, family connections help immensely but the party is still a relatively meritocratic hierarchy. Vietnam is similar. In the Philippines, it is easy to blame dynastic tendencies for the nation's stark economic failures. But its problems go much deeper into the social structure and the way the political system entrenches a selfish elite. It is a symptom not the cause of the malaise. In India, the Gandhi name has been an important element in ensuring that Congress remains a major national force at a time when the growth of regional, caste and language based parties have added to the problems of governing such a diverse country. In Bangladesh, years of fierce rivalry between Sheikh Hasina, daughter of one murdered president and widow of another, have been a debilitating factor in democratic politics. But their parties needed their family names to provide cohesion and without them there could have been much more overt military intervention. Ms. Megawati was a poor leader but just by being there helped the consolidation of the post-Suharto democracy. Dynasties can be stultifying too. In Malaysia, the ruling party was once a grassroots organization where upstarts like former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad could flourish but over time it has become a self-perpetuating patronage machine. Too many of the key players are the offspring or relatives of former leaders. There are more fundamental problems, too. Most current Asian dynasties trace themselves to the post-1945 political transformation. In that sense they have become a crutch, reflecting a failure to devise systems for the transfer of power to new names, faces and ideas. Dynasties are a poor commentary on the depth of democracy in their countries. Without parties with a coherent organization and a set of ideas, politics becomes about personalities alone and name recognition more important than competence. Parties run by the elite offspring of past heroes easily degenerate into self-serving patronage systems. So dynastic leadership in Asia's quasi-democracies can provide a focus for nations, a glue for parties, an identity substitute in countries that used to be run by kings and sultans. But it is more a symptom of underlying problems than an example to be followed. - International Herald Tribune  Read More →