TR EMERITUS

Recently, there is a suggestion that the government should charge a modest premium to enable older HDB flats an extension of their lease. I disagree with this suggestion. From the very beginning, all new HDB flat buyers should understand clearly that their legal ownership of their flat is 99 years. If that is the case, then why are more and more lessee owners so upset about this so- called "lease decay"? The answer is simple. They have finally awakened. One, they have been sold by successive PAP leaderships that their flat is an appreciating asset. This is true but only up to a point. Two, Singaporeans have allowed greed, simple-mindedness and complacency to blind them and get the better of them. Too many Singaporeans understand that they only signed a Lease Agreement with HDB for their flat, and not a Sale and Purchase Agreement. But almost nobody bothered to ask harder questions regarding lease decay. On the contrary, many of them even quietly count their chicken on reaping handsome profits from the sale of their flats after their minimum 5 years occupancy period. After decades of living in HDB flats, Singaporeans now have a clearer understanding of what is lease decay, its seriousness, implications and realise that too many of them have ploughed too much of their CPF monies meant for their retirement into a depreciating housing asset. This is clearly contrary to decades of sweet nothing promised by the PAP government, a government that they have chosen elections after elections and consequently, leaving their retirement nest egg naked and their retirement vulnerable. Life holds many lessons for everybody. For this one, I am against the PAP government using precious tax dollars to bail Singaporean flat owners who are confronting lease decay problems out, because it will be unfair to those who do not own HDB flats for whatever reasons.   Simon Lim    Read More →

Bukit Batok is on the news again, for the wrong reasons. Latest unfortunate mishap to happen in this jinx constituency: Discovery of a Tuberculosis patient in a Kindergarten. This is something unthinkable in Singapore to find a TB patient in a kindergarten, of all places. It’s more shocking to note that MOH has given the green light to keep the kindergarten operational despite Parent’s deepest concern if any of their children already been infected with the deadly disease. Hope not ! Bukit Batok constituency became famous (actually infamous) when its PAP MP resigned on 12th Mar 2016 at the height of a “personal indiscretion” episode. By-election was held on 7 May 2016, with two horses in the race- Murali of PAP (aka Ah Mu) and Dr Chee of SDP. During the election campaign, PAP brought in few heavy weight Ministers to counter Dr Chee. Then the unfortunate thing happened – Dr Chee alleged that he became a victim of character assignation when ugly gutter politics emerged from PAP camp, which Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam disagreed but however acknowledged that “ the ruling party has fallen short of its standards at times, and when this happens, action is taken against individuals who have let the party down”. Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pap-did-not-engage-gutter-politics-2016-bukit-batok-election-tharman With all the above history forgotten by most Singaporeans, unfortunate incidents and mysterious mishaps started to happen in Bukit Batok SMC after the last bi-election, which Murali won unfairly. Here are some of them: 1)     1st Nov 19 – Woman dies in fire. This incident was complicated by fire hoses locked and finally when SCDF broke open them, there was no water. On Nov 15, MP Murali told residents that he was accountable to them as their elected representative and apologized for the lapses. 2)     15th Nov 19 – a Japanese Mother and son found dead on Bukit Batok Hill. Investigation is still in progress. 3)     20th Jul 19 - crane crashes into sheltered walkway in Bukit Batok, between Block 504 and 506 of Bukit Batok East Street 52. 4)     17th Jun 19 - Lorry crashes into walkway shelter at Bukit Batok, causing it to collapse on car. A sheltered walkway at Block 116 Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 collapsed after the crane boom of a lorry crashed into it. 5)     6th Feb 2017 - A new rat infestation has been discovered in Bukit Batok, raising fears that the infestations that were discovered in 2014 and 2016 might be making a comeback, as Rats can carry a variety of different disease causing agents, and these can be transmitted from the rats to humans. Rats are associated with the transmission of several important infections in humans, including leptospirosis and plague. 6)     3rd May 15 - Mystery bugs invade and plagued Bukit Batok residents, their sudden outbreak remains unclear. They then simply dropped dead, leaving huge piles of carcasses to clear. 7)     26th Sep 19 and 17th Oct 17 - Pipes burst at Bukit Batok West and Bukit Batok East respectively. Water spouts raised several storeys and caused localized flooding. 8)     12th Sep 17 - Five hurt in Bukit Batok industrial blast. The blast happened at ZTP Ginseng Bird nest’s factory on the 11th storey of Enterprise Centre, at 20 Bukit Batok Crescent. Five workers from the factory were injured. 9)     May and Jun 2017 - Lifts installed by Sigma Elevator at Bukit Batok's Skyline II estate had broken down about seven times. 10)  And many more Incidents…. (source: Straits Times, CAN, Yahoo, Today..etc) To our knowledge, Yishun town is notorious for such headline news, but Bukit Batok is catching up fast. Weirdly, Bukit Batok in English literally means “Coughing Hill”. Looks like some curse has befallen on Bukit Batok constituency after the bi-election, which was won ungentlemanly by PAP, as Dr Chee accused PAP Ministers of winning by character-assignation and gutter politics. Bad karma for the residents if a curse is in the working. Curse is defined as any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. Although most of us don’t believe in curses, the incidents and mishaps in Bukit Batok just cannot be  quashed away as pure coincidence, especially if they are continuously happening ever since the bi-election. Wondering what incident is going to happen next if this curse is true. Scary indeed. Can this curse be broken by voting-in Dr Chee as the next MP for Bukit Batok SMC ?     A Resident      Read More →

  Wishing all our readers and contributors: A very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year! Thank you for your continued support.      Team@TR Emeritus      Read More →