When Minister of State Tan Chuan-Jin started off his Facebook mathematical treatise of financing a $100k asset purchase on a $1,000 per month income with "Tears were shed by some, who lamented about the ability to buy flats for their parents in the future," he was obviously taking a jibe at Gerald Giam, who teared when contemplating the plight of the poor. That poke has to be as tasteless as “OooOoooOooh so that’s what REALLY happened? Wow. I think tears in Parliament is worse than ANYTHING ELSE!” - the post attributed to the Kate Spade MP's undeclared administrator.
"The key to engaging people online is to be yourself," said this guy who is supposed to be lauded for his effective use of social media to engage constituents. Get the man credit for showing us his unabashed true self. Tan also said understanding the needs of residents is also crucial, and "almost as important as the actual outreach to the needy".
Right, try to understand the needs of the chap struggling to house and feed his family on $1,000 a month. Surely air-conditioning can't be too high on his list of priorities. The architect (and his boss who approved of the plans) who used up 2 sqm of the precious 47 sqm m of the claustrophobic two-room flat for an air-conditioning ledge must have been dropped on his head when he was a child. Either that, or he was born plain stupid.
And who can ignore the space wasted for the "Household Shelter"? That has to take up at least 10% of the limited living area. Oh, we get it, it's part of the grand HDB vision: flats are built smaller because families are getting smaller. This is how Forrest Gump would put it, "Stupid as stupid does".
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That's why we are now in a 'social recession'. Thanks to the results of those managing Ministry of Opaque Migrants is/has been committing the gravest stupidity of all time. And 2016, there will be crocodile tears that will be shed by some PAP MPs.
ReplyDeleteMr Tharman & his back-up singing Ministers can proclaim Only in SG can you get a flat on $1k salary, and MCYS & PM can tell the world Poor in SG are better off than anywhere in the world, but let's look at the reality:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16920951
"...Comfund set up in 2005, has helped more than 190,000 through the various schemes. The fund recorded a balance of S$811m and in March 2011 and received an additional S$500m in May."
Some people can declare they will donate $1B to charity & social deeds, but only gave out say 200m and still have a BIG balance of 811m. But of course, on paper, they are "very generous & are helping" but how much are given out and how many people actually receive?
So how many on$1k has qualified the above schemes? And how many has dropped out? Total silence.
Why can't they make the toilet as a household shelter by increasing the thickness to that of a core wall? What is the use of a shelter if you can't shit inside?
ReplyDelete"What is the use of a shelter if you can't shit inside?"
ReplyDeleteHDB design is under leadership of anally retentive people.
They don't shit.
And they expect us to be the same.
Vote Wisely in GE 2016.
For your children's sake.
Get your friends & family to join in too.
My impression of those people up there is most of them are all out of touch with reality and most of them are sleeping on their jobs. So, you can see architects planning an air-con space for the poor struggling ones.
ReplyDeleteAs A Country, We're Too Forgiving, That's Why Standard Of Governing Is Steadily Slipping!
People who believe in meritocracy are likely to display some tendencies of being a sociopath (a person whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience).
ReplyDeleteSee below website for the psychological profile of sociopaths.
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
Recently, I saw a picture of policemen in shorts in a local newspaper. I was wondering, has Singapore regressed to a point that police has to wear shorts again? Perhaps, it has, by looking at how our ministers are all satisfied with the grant and subsidy available to help poor family with a pathetic household income of $1,000 to lease a 2-room flat from HDB. Progress means living in better or bigger house with shorter period of loan, not the reverse.
ReplyDeleteThe 3rd richest country in the world and need to stay in a 2 room flat and its not even affordable about 100k without subsidies.
ReplyDeleteI dont know too much but what i know is:
as fresh polytechnic graduate, my starting pay was $800 per month and my parents with meagre pay can afford a 4 room (110 sq m) flat at $59,000.
That works out to be $536 per sqm.
Now a fresh poly grad can get about $1850 per month and the 4 room flat (floor area - 90 sqm) , price ? 260k or more ? That is $2889 per sq m.
Gosh ! fresh poly grad has gone up by 2.31 x
while house prices have gone up by 5.4 x.
I don't think the pricing of HDB flat are in line with the mean wages of singapore. Not at ALL !!!
To be fair, the household shelter is for providing an air tight area for the family to hide in during war, whether it be bombs, chemical or biological warfare. Make the toilet one? Can... you want to open those heavy doors everytime you use the toilet?
ReplyDeleteBetween shit smell and biological chemical fragrance, which do you prefer?
DeleteAnyway,when you have nothing to eat, you have no shit to pass. When you have no guts to defend, you build a shelter to hide. When you have small balls, you build up a defence artillery of 25% of your budget. When you have no smarts, you keep throwing money to solve problem. When you have no freedom, you keep trying to buy "independence"..get it...
Come on. How long can you stay inside an air tight room breathing your own carbon dioxide? Why can't you think out of the box? If door is heavy, keep it always open. Provide a second door behind or use curtain to cover lah.
Delete"HDB design is under leadership of anally retentive people.They don't shit." That explains why they are so full of it!!
ReplyDeleteanon @Mar 4, 2012 07:46 PM's suggestion of moving the WC into the shelter has merit. With bombs falling, everyone but the anal retentive types, should be shitting their pants.
Again, salute to the man from the Army. Only generals can do the calculation that earning $1k can afford a 2-room flat and make fun of those who put forth a point with emotion i.e. tears dancing in their eyes. Sometimes we wonder if these generals earning $1k every six hours can understand what is to be poor? Is $1k just spent on housing loan or is there a need for the family to eat, bath, read, watch TV, take MRT and buses and buy some clothes? What about soap and tooth pastes, rice and soy source? Come on, be on the ground and feel. There is something calculator just do not add up!
ReplyDeleteaiyah..you are missing the "brainy" points.
Delete1+1 = 2. Facts speak for itself.
As Mr K Shanmugam additionally chimed in, you are all assuming this $1k person is not able to improve his lot/salary in life.
Just about the same assumption MIW is all assuming this $1k person didn't have to worry about food/health/insurance/transport/childcare/parents etc.
And Mr TCJ said - Some have already gotten their keys. The key word is "some".
All the classic ingredients of the sub-prime crisis are in place:
Delete- Your salary will increase over the years
- Property prices can only go up
- Interest rate will always remain low
And see what happened in the USA?
the posts by Anons at 7.46 and 7.56 can only be described as classic. and hilarious. as for the singing group, its so remniscent of what the p65 lot did some time back. whatever happened to their venture? meanwhile, this acapella effort is off key. no way will they qualify for the tv talent competiton, the sing off.
ReplyDeleteYou are the classic non-thinking one who cannot think out of the box. There is nothing wrong in doubling the toilet as a household shelter, jokes aside.
DeleteWho said for those who earned $1K monthly their CPF can cover the HDB loan? Do they know not all amount can be used for housing and that the total amount owed is not $40k but $76k at the end of loan period(based on 3% average per year interest over 30 years)
ReplyDeleteto anon who replied to my praise for 2 posters here. (you ARE aware i was praising them?)
ReplyDeletei agree totally with the 2 posters - that a toilet can be a bomb shelter and that the reason the govt probably didn't think of this is becos it is anally retentive - and said so.
both are excellent observations. you seem to agree with that as well from your confrontational reply. so what's your beef?
and if perchance i had disagreed with them, what's wrong with that?
i hope you are also aware that the 'singing group' i refer to is the ministers all singing tharman's silly song? and that i find what they are claiming ludicrous? (ludicrous, btw, means absurd.)
Slightly off topic.
DeleteOne would think that for all the billions of dollars we are throwing away on incomprehensible R&D projects;
We could have spent some of those R&D dollars coming up with a stink-free HDB toilet.
R&D that can be applied to thousands of households in Singapore.
Benefiting Singaporeans directly and immediately.
yes. eco green self destruct shit. you want to pay more tax for it? - is what i guess miw would ask you...
DeleteI think he went to the wrong place to shit..lol . He must have wanted to piss on anon 11.09 !! just guessing ;-)
DeleteEarn S$1,000 a month and a 2-room flat is almost practically yours without too much effort needed.
ReplyDeletePay S$1 and you will get more than S$4 in benefits.
According to our cluelessPM who seems to get dumb & dumber by the day, Singapore must really be a paradise for many poor people, especially Bedok reservoir.
Not sure what is worse – that they are so insulated from the realities of daily Singaporean life that they don’t know how totally out of touch & therefore uncaring they appear. Or they are so puking arrogant and self assured of their policies that they truly think are serving the people's needs?
DeleteWhy are the rich favored over the poor? Buying gold/precious metals are waived on GST now but the poor continues to pay for GST on HDB dwellings & essentials. Maybe this research explains part of it...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-27/wealthier-people-more-likely-than-poorer-to-lie-or-cheat-researchers-find.html
"Why are the rich favored over the poor?"
DeleteIt's called plutocracy.
1. Government by the wealthy.
2. A wealthy class that controls a government.
3. A government or state in which the wealthy rule.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/plutocrat
Hence; Plutocratic Action Party
TCJ has just redeemed himself by declaring an off day for the domestic helpers in singapore, effective 2012!
ReplyDeleteThe reason for the air con ledge is very simple as I understand from somebody working in hdb. There is a possibility that these flats are converted to rental flats for FT in the future, just like those flats you see n tiong bahru area. The fts use these like a studio apartment, therefore the ac ledge. In the mean time, a Singaporean family struggling on 1000 has to pay for something he would never use in his whole life.
ReplyDeleteSingaporeans must work hard and eat Maggi mee every day to own a HDB 2 room flat on $2k salary.
ReplyDeletePRs can just buy a 4 rm HSBC, rent out the unit, move back to home country and use rent to pay loan and third world living expenses. See publichouse.etc.
Who wants to be PRs? Kee chiew!
It is interesting to note those white clothed highers up earning so much monies which is blood, sweat and tears....be it from the rich, the middle class and the poor..either forgot where these monies are coming from or deliberate forgetting...
ReplyDeleteIt speaks volumes where they have ideas that a lower income citizen can "survive" on 1k and afford a 2-room flat...if the citizen can...why can't these millionire "ministers/MPS" survive on lesser pay and benefits...which came from all citizens of singapore...
A minister whining lower income citizens should be able to survive on 1k a month...but how about the same minister who is earning hundreds of thousands a month direct/indirectly from the citizenry of singapore...those are blood money...and yet these ministers / MPs repetitively think Singapore and its citizenry owns them a living...
Who clothed and feed them...and help them to clothed and fee their loved ones too...
Interesting no.
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