4/13/2012

My First Home

‘How can someone who can’t grasp simple and straightforward concepts be in a position to manage and lead a country? Look at Prime Minister Najib Razak's failed My First Home ownership scheme and the recent decision to scrap the controversial new civil servant remuneration scheme, apart from other flip-flops.

Launch a year ago, the house-ownership scheme for low-income earners failed because banks are unwilling to hand out 100 per cent financing applicants earning less than RM3,000 a month. How can Najib fail to grasp the fact that with a gross income of RM3,000 a month, a person simply cannot have any spare cash to pay the monthly installments for the house? Surely, Najib must know that a person has also to pay for essentials such as food, transport and other expenses….’

The above is an extract from an article by Nawawi Mohamad, Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle.

The comments were quite surprising given the similar situation in Singapore. Spending power of 3000 ringgits is roughly equivalent to $3000 in Singapore. And our govt has recently proved to Singaporeans that a $1000 income is enough to buy a 2 rm flat. And definitely our govt will also include the other essentials that the person would have to pay for, like food, transport etc. And considering the property prices in Malaysia are so much lower than Singapore even with subsidies, it just sounds not right. Maybe Najib should pay a visit to Tharman for some advice on how to make Malaysian public housing affordable to 1000 ringgit and 3000 ringgit Malaysians. I think the trick is that in Malaysia they don’t have market price subsidies to go with.

One thing right about Najib’s formula is to make sure that all Malaysians will be able to afford a first home. I think they don’t have such rulings like singles, income ceilings or whatever to mess around to prevent Malaysians from owning their first home. They care for their citizens, to have a roof over their heads. And they don’t have to give preference to new citizens over their old citizens as they don’t have a million new citizens to provide housing to.

Singaporeans are luckier, to be able to afford quality public housing marked to market with only $1000 monthly income. The subsidies really work.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Singapore Boleh!
Yeah!
Show me the money Tharman!
My affordable HDB flat on a salary of $1,000/month

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I'm totally against these home ownership schemes. Owning a home is not an ENTITLEMENT, it is a privilege, and not everyone will qualify. That's just life.

What home ownership "assistance" does is contribute more to the housing bubble, further raising prices. What's worse is that it gives developers, contractors and the whole building industry a FREE KICK nicely funded by THE BLEEDING TAXPAYER.

Totally bad idea. The only purpose: VOTE BUYING.

Forget about the govt actually caring about ==> YOU <==. You are not that special. No one cares about YOU, nor can they be forced to. Even those close to you care about you because they CHOOSE to. YOU should care about you. That's the best "certainty" you can hope for.

Again: NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOU
Wake up and get used to it.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

YOU only matter when General Elections comes around.

On that special day, your vote is equal to the richest man in Singapore.
On that special day;
You have as much power as the richest man in Singapore to decide the government.

Choose wisely.
And for God's sake, don't spoil your vote.
Be a courageous citizen.
Stand up for Singapore on the ONE day that truly matters.
Use your brains.
Choose what is best for Singaporeans.
i.e. your family, relatives and friends.

Anonymous said...

RB , your last paragraph in this entry is a real killer. Ouch from from the big sting.... as usual very dry and very very painful....

Anonymous said...

Sinkies who cannot buy HDB flats should quit their jobs or get employed at $1000. Then go and apply for a flat. Cheap cheap.