Consequences of bad govt policies

When a murderer killed his victim, only the victim and his closed ones would suffer the consequences and live with the pain. Even if the murderer killed two victims, at most 4 families will be badly affected. When someone in govt makes a bad policy, thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions will be affected, good or bad. The karmic retribution is not some to fiddle with and to be ignored. When a bad policy affects thousands of people, the grievances and curses of the thousands of people would be directed at you know who.

The bad housing policy of the past decade is a ‘bad’ example of what bad policy is all about. Take the current revision of eligibility for singles to buy direct from HDB. If they were allowed to do so 10 years ago, they need not have to pay such a high price of today. Some may no longer be able to afford the current prices even from HDB as their income may not have kept pace with the price surge. Some may no longer be eligible as the 10 years could see their income exceeding the HDB ceiling. For those who could buy, the price is so much higher. They were all victims of bad policies.

The single mother and divorced parents too become victims with the runaway prices. Allowing them to buy now instead of 10 years ago is no real reprieve as the prices would be beyond many. They too would have to pay for the price of bad govt policies.

The policy of not building until the order book is full and the 4/5 year wait also affected many adversely in monetary terms. Many waited, from being eligible to ineligible as their incomes grew. Many Sinkies could not even buy a HDB flat while foreigners who just turn citizens could do so and profited from those Sinkies who were forced into the resale market, and to buy from the foreigners. How crude and callous could govt policies be, favouring foreigners and discriminating against its own citizens. Many have to pay so much more, like paying a fine for a crime, to buy from the resale market or the private developers. Could clever policy makers realise that something is wrong in their bad policies?

There are others who were affected not financially but equally bad. The haughty and arrogant demand that young people who want to buy flat better quickly get hitched to be eligible had seen many rushing to the ROM to register as man and wife. And after the 4/5 years’ wait, before the arrival of the flat, they could end up as divorcees, without even married in the traditional way. They could have still stay apart, like two individuals. Now they would be classified or known as divorcees. If the divorce gets through quickly and smoothly, things may not be so bad. Some drag on and on, all because of the edict from the HDB, get married or else no flat. And get married fast to get flat earlier.

Then there would be those who saw a good financial gain by getting married, get a flat, sell it for a good profit without thinking much. And by the time they sold their second flat, they will find themselves at the end of the road. No place to stay, no more HDB flats to buy except from the resale market. The profits they made could be enough to buy that new car that would no longer be new and gone in 10 years. So they ended in the beaches or the parks, or waiting for rental flats.

But not everyone is suffering. The happiest people are the new citizens who bought direct from HDB and could sell to these loser Sinkies at a huge profit and to renounce their citizenship and disappear. Great job and sure profit that daft Sinkies would have no choice but to pay.

Many Sinkies are badly affected by the bad housing policies. And there is no recourse, no restitution, no apologies, no regrets. It is just too bad. It is all their fault, not the bad policies. No policymaker has to miss a heart beat for these losers. They have all done their jobs very well.

While Boon Wan is still trying to unravel the mess, would he bother to look at those victims of the bad policies still hanging and dry? I doubt so. Not his problem. He did not create them. Life goes on and the thousands that were affected are history. How many were made much poorer, how many still cannot buy a HDB flat, how many are divorcees and unable to remarry because of their past status?