Friday, May 7, 2010 at 11:51AM I was very surprised when I first read that real estate agencies and agents are also allowed to operate money-lending businesses. The conflict of interest that is legally allowed to exist in this case is nothing short of egregious.
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 10:23AM Vivian Balakrishnan's indignant response to Al Jazeera's coverage of the homeless in Singapore has been making the rounds for the past couple of days, helped by our unquestioning mainstream press when they printed the minister's words without even an hint of challenge or an effort towards verification. And when Al Jazeera refused to back down from that story, the contrast between them and the local press has never been clearer.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 4:48PM Leong Sze Hian has written many pieces regarding HDB flats and policies for TOC, and part two of his report on the People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) policy forum @ Jurong GRC, held last Sunday, has some very interesting statistics for us to mull over. Here are some that caught my eye.
HDB, Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen, public housing in Policy, Singapore Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 11:32AM What the homeless need is a helping hand, not a free gift, and that helping hand could just be as easy as fine-tuning existing policies to close off such loopholes. Which is what the government should be doing anyway.
HDB, Kirsten Han, The Online Citizen, Yong Pagit, public housing in Policy, Singapore, homelessness Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 10:39AM Singapore Mind does one better and posted the entire Sue-Ann Chia editorial in this article, along with more numbers to illustrate how HDB mismanaged demand of flats and pulls together a pretty good summary with links.
HDB, Mah Bow Tan, Straits Times, Sue-Anne Chia, public housing in Fail, Journalism, Mainstream Media, Policy, Singapore Monday, April 12, 2010 at 11:13PM 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.
HDB, Jessica Cheam, Mah Bow Tan, Straits Times, Sue-Anne Chia, public housing in Mainstream Media, Policy, Singapore Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 10:08PM Hazel Poa breaks down the latest HDB statistics National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan provided to ST's Jessica Cheam to justify median household income outstripping increased HDB resale flat prices.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 10:36PM Straits Times published a fluff piece today, an interview with National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan about the cost of public housing. The minister produced a chart proving that median household income has kept pace with prices of flats, which is touted by Jessica Cheam to be "hard facts and statistics".
HDB, Jessica Cheam, Mah Bow Tan, Straits Times, public housing in Fail, Journalism, Mainstream Media, Policy, Politics, Singapore Monday, March 29, 2010 at 5:56PM Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong "wants to strengthen the CPF route in the buying and selling of flats" to reinforce "the aim of these homes as assets for life":
"When we help people to own a home, it's really for you for life," Mr Lee said. "When you're not so old, and you've bought the house, and now you see that the pot of gold is down there and you ignore the 'please don't break the glass sign' and you break the glass and take the money out straightaway, then what happens to you? Or more importantly, your children and your dependents? Where do they go?
CPF, HDB, Lee Hsien Loong, Vivian Balakrishnan, public housing in Policy, Singapore, homelessness Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 1:08AM National Development Minister, Mah Bow Tan has reiterated the wish of the government to keep flat prices high in an interview with Channel News Asia.
Mr Mah revealed that HDB will continue to built the majority of the flats in non-mature estate and to ensure that prices continue to stay up.
Channel News Asia, HDB, Mah Bow Tan, public housing in Mainstream Media, Policy, Singapore 
