TR EMERITUS

Background: In the aftermath of PBM Jack Neo scandal, another woman Foyce Le Xuan has stepped forward to accuse Jack Neo of trying to bed her during her stint with his entertainment group. [imagebrowser id=68] [Source: Foyce's Facebook]   Related articles: 1. George Yeo supports PBM Jack Neo 2. Foyce accuses PBM Jack Neo of sexual harrassment 3. Wendy Chong: I had sex with Jack Neo twice a week 4. Jack Neo's wife forgives him for extra marital affair 5. Jack Neo begged Wendy Chong to let him off   EDITORS' NOTE: If you are new to Temasek Review, you may like to find out more about why prices of HDB flats are escalating which will never be reported by the mainstream media: >> 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 After news broke of Jack Neo having an affair with a 22 year old model, another former member of his "Liang Jia Ban" entertainment group has stepped forward to accuse him of sexual harrassment! In an interview with Chinese Daily Lianhe Wanbao, Foyce Le Xuan claimed that Jack Neo started to woo her within one year of joining the group. He would send her sweet SMSes and offered to send her home after work. He even booked a hotel room and asked her to meet him there so that they can share a "quiet" and "private" moment with one another. She also accused Jack Neo of not giving her opportunities due to her rejection of his advances which prompted her to terminate her 3 year contract earlier. On why she decided to share the story with the public, Ms Le said: "Wendy Chong's experience reminded me of a very unpleasant period in my life. Jack Neo uses the same wooing methods on his "prey". He will ask for your number, sends you SMSes and say all sorts of sweet things to win your heart." Insiders from the entertainment industry revealed that Jack Neo is usually "successful" in catching his "prey" as the impressionable young girls are either won over by him willingly or succumb eventually to his overtures. Besides Wendy and Foyce, it is believed that Jack Neo had affairs with other women as well. Apparently his wife Irene Kng is aware of his sexual exploits but chose to "close one eye" to keep the family together. Since the eruption of the scandal, many netizens have lampooned Jack Neo for being unfaithful to his wife. Some blamed Wendy for seeking cheap publicity for herself and causing unnecessary distress to Jack's children by exposing his misdeeds to the press. Wendy later said that she was a bit rash to confront Jack and leaked the news to the media, but her decision to do was vindicated by the subsequent revelation that Jack has other women as well. "He used to tell me that he loves only me and he has no flings with other women. It turns out that he is lying after all," she said. With Jack Neo's public image as a loving husband and father in tatters, questions will be raised about his future in Singapore's close-knitted entertainment industry.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Despite rising concerns on the ground at the increasing prices of HDB flats, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said in Parliament yesterday that "the Government will not introduce more measures relating to the property market for now, but will monitor the market closely." He quickly lavished generous self-praised on himself by claiming that "the government had acted quickly to pre-empt such a scenario (property bubble) by introducing measures to cool the market." in response to PAP MP Amy Khor's concerns that Singapore may run the risk of blowing a real estate bubble. The measures include paying extra stamp duty if a property buyer sells a property within a year and decreasing the proportion of the valuation price that buyers can borrow for home loans. In addition, the minimum residency period for resale flats is lengthened to three years before they can be sold and an ethnic quota is imposed on non-Malaysian PRs living in HDB estates. However, no further restrictions were imposed on PRs buying HDB flats. Mr Mah claimed that PRs do not contribute to the sky-rocketing prices as they consist "only" 20 percent of the buyers. In other countries, public housing are reserved only for citizens, but in Singapore, PRs are allowed to purchase resale flats in the open market. As some of them are relatively well to do and are able to pay above the market prices, it leads directly to escalating prices in the resale market. The state media reported on an Indonesian PR who paid $653,000 for a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown though he can well afford a private condominium. Last Saturday, we reported a Taiwanese PR couple offering to pay $50,000 COV for a flat. The prices of resale flats grew by 8.2 percent in 2009 with the median COVs doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone. The abnormal situation is caused largely by the lack of foresight of HDB to plan well ahead to build more flats to meet the expected increase in demand for housing fueled by uncontrolled immigration. Recent launches of BTO flats are more than 5 to 10 times subscribed even in less popular areas like Choa Chua Kang, an indication of how serious the housing shortage has become. Only slightly more than 11,000 new flats were built between the years 2006 – 2008 when there were over 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens alone in 2008:   [Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009] Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam: Due to the ruling party’s liberal immigration policy, foreigners now made up 36 per cent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. The prices of HDB flats are kept artificially high by building less flats than needed to meet the demand and increasing the population via immigration. Even as Mr Mah admitted publicly that he was "caught off-guard" by the rising prices, he is adamant that HDB flats remain "affordable" to Singaporeans. Singaporeans can only pray that Mr Mah will not be caught off-guard again. With little chance of him being booted out of office, there is no pressure on him to do something more to control the prices. While Mr Mah continues living high up in his own ivory tower, Singaporeans will have to slog hard like sheep and donkeys to pay for their over-priced 99-year leasehold flats owned by the HDB. Related articles: >> 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 →