ST editorial highlights statistical trickery

I won't call it a triumph of journalism standards, but it is refreshing to see an ST editorial that cautioned against dismissing legitimate issues with the excuse of astroturfing, and exposed the sleight-of-hand that National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan presented to the ST as justification for rising resale flat prices, using Hazel Poa's blog post.

“Mr Lee’s comments have led some to wonder if the Government is concluding that, because some writers are fake, the concern on the ground over property prices is likewise not as strong as made out to be in the e-mail messages. I hope not. Whether the e-mail messages were sent by real or fake people, there is real unhappiness on the ground over soaring housing prices. That unhappiness should not be discounted. Add the recent surge in the number of foreigners in Singapore, and the result is even greater resentment as foreigners are blamed for driving up demand and prices”

“Reform Party member Hazel Poa, a former government scholarship holder, has an interesting blog post in which she points out that such statistics may not show the full picture. Change the base year, and the results could be different. Using 2000, 2001 or 2006 as alternative base years, she calculated that resale flat prices have grown faster than household incomes. If her calculations are correct, some policy recalibration is required to ensure that housing does not become a bigger financial burden on Singaporeans, as that will lead to Singaporeans having insufficient funds for their retirement.”

Temasek Review has the full story, and any screenshots pictures of the editorial would be greatly appreciated. I'm also looking forward to the minister's reply, if he has any. Refreshing it might be, but I'm not optimistic that ST will stick to this vein of reporting.

Update: A kind, anonymous soul has forwarded a picture of the Sue-Ann Chia editorial, which I reproduce below. Click on it for the full size image. Thank you, kind and anonymous reader!

Comments

[kixes]

Oh hurray for ST for once!

Branding everything as "astroturfing" is such a easy way to get out of problems. The government should be better than that.