Government Generosity

First, the good news: the much maligned Housing & Development Board (HDB) is finally pricing one of its public housing flats at $16,000. Needless to say, there are hoops you have to jump through to land one.

The first batch of two-room flats (in non-matured estates only) are reserved for eligible singles. As in earning $5,000 or less, aged 35 years or older, and applying under Joint Singles Scheme (JSS) to qualify for the $40,000 Additional CPF Housing Grant (AHG). The AHG for Single Singapore Citizen Scheme (SSC) is only $20,000.

That's how the 2-room flats, normally priced at $76,000 (35 sq m) to $133,000 (45 sq m), can be knocked down to $16,000. Okay, okay, two full grown adults will have to share 35 sq m to avail themselves of the Government's generosity. You can't exactly throw a big house warming party, but do note the standard size of a jail cell is usually 5.5 sq m.

The important thing to remember is that what HDB used to sell for $76,000 can actually be let go at $16,000. Without raiding the reserves, or risk HDB going bankrupt. The sour taste in your mouth comes about when you start thinking of the fat profit margins they have been raking in all these years.

Here's another bit of good news that they have been keeping for themselves. The young men serving two years of National Service can have their wisdom tooth removed for free. If it's a matter of simple extraction, the savings may not be much, private dental clinics charge a maximum of $150 per pesky wisdom tooth. But if the wisdom tooth is impacted, and oral surgery is required, we are talking about $1,200 to $1,600 per tooth. If your son or brother was not informed of the dental benefits, and had to go to the government clinic after ORD, the subsidised charges could be $600 to $800 per wisdom tooth removed under local anesthesia. You would think the doting parents are told about this during BMT, right? Wrong! You want freebies from this bunch of Scrooges, you need to learn to squeeze blood out of stone.