Ruling party gears up for contest in Moulmein-Kallang GRC

for infringing subletting rules

SINGAPORE

Owners in another 56 cases were fined, according to a statement released by the HDB yesterday.

Following policy changes in March last year designed to deal with speculators, the HDB reportedly launched an unprecedented crackdown on owners who let out their flats illegally.

In comparison, the HDB took action against a total of 56 owners between January 2008 and December 2009.

The number of inspections carried out more than doubled from 3,000 in 2009 to 7,000 last year, with public feedback playing a greater role in the inspections, HDB added.

The HDB warned it would take “stern action” — including compulsory acquisition — against unauthourised subletting, especially in cases where the flat owners buy the flat purely for monetary gain with no intention of occupying it.

In the case of the Pinnacle@Duxton flat, the owner had sublet the entire flat without the HDB’s approval in the guise of subletting the rooms, shortly after its purchase in January last year.

During its night inspections in May and June 2010, the HDB found that the owner was not staying in the flat and investigations revealed that the owner had bought it for monetary gain.

In other cases, owners tried to circumvent the HDB’s rules by locking up one room and subletting the rest of the flat without physically staying in it.

Such cases will be treated as unauthourised subletting of the entire flat, said the HDB.

Flat owners who wish to sublet their entire flats must meet the minimum occupation period and obtain the HDB’s approval before they can do so.

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WHY nO jaIl  SENTENCE ? ? ? ?— The Housing and Development Board (HDB) compulsorily acquired 39 flats, including one at the Pinnacle@, from their owners last year for Duxtonblatantly infringing subletting rules.

It sOUnds as thOUgh  the COMPETING PARTY is gOing to OPPOSE making the CITIZENS  WEALTHIER ? ? ? ?

‘No need for debate with SDP’

Residents of Holland-Bukit Timah know our track record, says Balakrishnan

Meanwhile, Dr Teo, who is also North West District Mayor, said there was ‘nothing to debate about’ regarding the Fajar wet market sale to Sheng Shiong, which hiked stall rentals by 30 per cent last year after taking over five wet markets in total.

GST is unlikely to go up if ...

SINGAPORE

He was responding to a question posed by a viewer during

Mr Lee’s reply: “I very much doubt that, unless we go wild in our spending plans and of course we’ll run out of money and then you’ll have to raise the GST. But if we have prudent budgets and we’re careful in our plans and if we grow the economy, I think we should be in good shape.”

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Is  this  an " A"   TEAM ? ? ? ?

Or  a  " F"   TEAM  ? ? ? ?

  — There is unlikely to be any hike in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate if the Government budgets remain prudent and the economy continues to grow, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.Channel NewsAsia’s Question Time with the Prime Minister, who had asked if the GST rate of 7 per cent would be raised after the coming General Election, as was the case in 2006.

Mr Lee reiterated that the Government should be judged on its “overall five-year term”.

Mr Wee also felt that certain PAP policies were passed in Parliament and implemented in spite of “a lot of voices against” them.Today editor Walter Fernandez — who was one of the participants — whether a single party could represent diverse views of the population, Mr Lee said the PAP was “not seeking to represent all the views”.

GrassrOOt  Organization  was  adOpted  from the COmmunIst System ? ? ? ?

The perception on the ground, the 37-year-old added, was that the Government “bulldozed” policies through “without much feeling for the ground”.

GE: Government will take note of issues raised at forum, says PM Lee

GE: Government will take note of issues raised at forum, says PM Lee

 

PM Lee Hsien Loong (L) and the participants

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Channel NewsAsia that the recent televised forum was a good opportunity for Singaporeans to engage the government on issues, and that the government will take note of the issues raised.

" I’m happy to engage with the participants of the forum and also the questions that were sent in, email or sms, good questions, I think they are on top of most Singaporeans minds and it was good that they didn’t pull their punches and so we had a frank exchange which I hope viewers would have found not only interesting but relevant and thought provoking," said Mr Lee.

Participants also said they were encouraged by the spontaneity of the discussion, and added the forum reflects the gradual opening up of political space in Singapore.

" Contrary to maybe what people may think, this was spontaneous so it was enlightening and it was something new and different to have people selected and have issues discussed, so I think it was a progressive step," said Mr Rahayu Mahzam, lawyer at Heng Leong and Srinivasan.

" Usually the government won’t do such an open forum, LIVE telecast. Actually the perception online is this whole thing is staged, we are planted but it really is LIVE and it’s a good platform for us the citizens to express our views," said Mr Matthew Zachary Liu, student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Twenty—two—year—old Matthew added: " In my generation, we are more vocal these days, be it online or on stage and we want to express our views and for the government to want to hear the young generation’s opinion, it makes us feel part of the country and makes us feel appreciated as well" .

Some participants said they would have liked to have more time with the prime minister.

Not all had the answers they were seeking.

Businessman Kurt Wee said: " Some of the issues really got to do with whether there is enough room for political expression or participation of the opposition parties.

" If you don’t give them enough space for them to grow and mature, I think we could be setting ourselves up for a risk in the longer term.

" I’m not convinced with the fact that we don’t have enough talents in Singapore, I’m not convinced with the fact that the NMP (nominated member of parliament) system and the NCMP (non—constituency member of parliament) system is sufficient for our country.

" I think you really need a voting Member of Parliament on the alternative side that can vote in Parliament" .

View the show Question Time with the Prime Minister

here

—CNA/cc/wk