7/19/2011

A taste of bad govt

Boon Wan is talking about the BTO woes. When has it been a woe? Everything was fine until he took over. The housing policies were perfectly tuned to the needs of the people. And the people were happy queuing up for the new launches religiously, and willingly paying more for each new flat knowing very well that the prices could only go up. And they stood to make a pretty hefty gain on their valuable purchases.

It is kinda strange to talk about woes after barely two months in his new job. And he is ramping up BTOs to the tune of 25,000 units and possibly more, building ahead of demand. What demand? There was no demand before, or was there? And HDB was only willing to build when there was genuine demand. Obviously there wasn’t and the housing programme was scaled down.

It was great time for property developers and property owners then. Everyday they were counting on how many times their properties had appreciated in value. A couple of hundred thousand dollars price hike for public housing was the norm. And the owners were quietly happy.

There was some panic in a little corner, particularly among the young and those who are not property owners. They literally panic every time they failed in their ballot for a new public flat, peeing in their pants. The next one would mean another few more years of savings just to pay for the increase in price. Yes, there were fears. The fears of runaway housing prices that they could not catch with every passing day. Many jumped into whatever they could get hold of, private properties or resale flats. Better get it today or gone tomorrow.

Boon Wan was trying to restore some calm into the lives of these sweet young things trying to start a family. But don’t expect the prices to fall. It is sinful if prices should fall. 90% of the property owners would not want that. Boon Wan is happy, believing that his policies are good. So was his predecessor. If Boon Wan’s policies are good, then his predecessor’s must be bad, or vice versa.

The things that Boon Wan is doing are a result of the people’s voices in the last GE. The people had spoken and changes are taking place. Are they enough? What if the people did not make their concerns heard in the last election? Would the housing policies be the same as before, and Mah Bow Tan still writing his columns praising his achievements?

I am still puzzled by the two sets of policies. One must be good and one must be bad. Can’t be both good or both bad. Are the people having their first taste of bad govt?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a wonderfully hilarious piece. the fellow is a real sympathy seeker, a whinger. he was not born here but has picked up good, old-fashioned sporean attitudes since he converted... bully for him!

time for gan kim yong, occupying that other hot seat, to do the same. after all, the man is a true-blue, i mean red and white...

and if tharman (MOM) and lui (Transport), who occupy hot seats too, also join in, they can form a whinge-ing quartet. il volo wont stand a chance agst these fellows.

Anonymous said...

Redbean,
don't pressurize the PAP MIW and MP too much otherwise they will resort to the famous PAP stunt, aka The DOOMSDAY stunt which they will take the extreme case to divert attention and give relevation day.

DOOMSDAY stunt:
"People should not wait for the PERFECT pricing for HDB to get a root to live !"

"You expect HDB to be free. That will raid Singapore reserve and destroy Singapore ! Are you willing to see that happen ?"

Anyone disagree with me can "Kee Chui"

Anonymous said...

Redbean,

Boon Wan better learn to relax or quit his job. He just had a heart bypass surgery and now he is complaining that he cannot sleep well...

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi guys, I think, just my opinion, btw the two, Boon Wan is doing much better. At least the price is not going to runaway and the young people can breathe easily.

KNN, before this, everyday they cringed when the media reported more price jumping and the developers helped to fan the price to hit the ceiling.

How many years must the young couples save to have $100k only to be eaten up within a few months of speculation?

And I bet Boon Wan cannot do anything to bring down the prices as many will be hurt. He could only hold it there. And he is enjoying every moment of it as the shit is everywhere and his job is to clear them away. It can only look better.

Anonymous said...

Bypass Operation only cost $8.
Changing his old heart for a new, younger and stronger one will be definitely within his means. And he will be stronger than he used to claimed before his heart condition was discovered. Anyway, don't expect miracle from him. If DPM Tharman also the MOM, can increase the incomes of Singaporeans by another 20%, Singaporeans will be complaining less about the ever increasing cost of living. And Boon Wan and his fellow colleagues can sleep soundly also.

Anonymous said...

Funny, real funny.

Boon Wan talking about housing woes. Swee Kiat talking about transport woes. Tharman talking about economic woes on the way.

It seems that redbean was right all along when he keep repeating the obvious that only the new occupants of the ministerial chair could now see. WTF were the previous ministers doing with their ears. Listening too much to their own grassroots?

notanotherspinstory said...

They really try to save own face too much. If it was bad policy just say its bad policy and make it right. Mah should be given a shameful report.

Anonymous said...

for pple who claim they are unafraid to take tough but correct action to help spore and sporeans, they seem to be a real scaredy bunch.

this though they'v got the vote to be the govt for another 5 yrs.

bite the bullet. slash the prices to five yrs ago, lah. yeah, there will be some who will suffer - quite a lot of foreigners for sure n mayb that's what's holding them back, but if u put a lid on foreigners buying or hit them with extra tax these guys will shut up - but sell the plan as being for the good of the nation, for sporeans' children and future generations.

it's a line they'v been trotting out for so long, so what's the problem now.

offer some kind of rebate to those who bought in the last 4 yrs. better than throwing away money from the reserves on all kinds of strange buys. in 5 yrs' time, no one will remember. sporeans are all amnesiacs.

the longer they wait, the more pple will be sucked into the unsustainable property market.

in 10 yrs time, u'll be looking at a bunch of old pple with no savings for anything. in 20 yrs time, there'll be even more of these pple. what u gonna do then? call ghostbusters?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

If it is really a case of cost, the people would have no choice but to pay the price for public flats. It is treacherous to make the people pay so much for a roof over their heads.

Public housing must not add to the burden of the people to lead a less stressful life, like not having to worry how to pay for a roof for 30 years and skimping to make every cent counts.

The hard earned money of the people can be put to better use than to dump into a flat/property.