Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this is what is going to happen this year. All of us were caught off-guard…I did not expect the prices to go up. But the point is, are we able to respond to this change. And the answer is yes.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan
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….. then we pay you top dollar for what….. might as well just collect $10k per month and do nothing.
To Mah Bow Tan,
Don’t talk so much, just do.
Since you could not predict and expect prices to go up, let me help you out by predicting you will be caught off-guard in the coming election.
One thing for sure, you don’t have much time lah, Mr. Mah.
MM Lee cannot predict this meh? Mah Bow Tan – time to get replaced.
Hmm… Sound like a million dollar carpenter blaming his tool (his crystal ball).
Affordable homes? Define Affordable…
Mr. Mah is neither prescient nor clever. He never reads the data of other ministry. So many people coming in from overseas, even if you don’t read data, you can see with your eyes. What kind of talent, when the talent is just equal to me. Everything cannot foresee. Life is truly unfair when you get the million but not me.
soon S’poreans will look for jobs that comes with accommodation.
really like maids arh…!! lol…
Aiyoh, how can you all like that say our sacred cows of ministers. Singapore is blessed to have him just like North Korea is blessed with Kim Jong ill.
I’m so proud that they have managed to build up the country, for themselves to buy foreign land and send their children overseas to party and to study and some even got Ribbon Blue certificate from Urope cooking school in just 3 or 5 days. Oh, these children will come back to contribute by setting up restaurants that who knows will expand to become chains to serve their senior and mentor uncles and aunties. What a Happy Family. While you are agonising in misery over peanuts, the world is their oyster. Must learn to give and take – You give, they take.
After all, they promise us Swiss standard of living and they also got give -our chicken rice almost the same price in Zurich. And ours also got to give GST on top of that. So lucky! – Singaporeans.
You know he’s heaven’s mandate, so short and still can be minister. You can meh. Maybe if you talk more nonsense, the you can be one also – Minister for Future Development, You can never make mistake because who knows what the future holds.
Me? – I can write scripts for Today in P.
well, apparently, Mah didn’t consult the old fart LKY, who claimed that his high-paid job was to forecast. Maybe mah is not on good terms with the old fart. or maybe the old fart gave him wrong info.
MBT : “But the point is, are we able to respond to this change. And the answer is yes. ”
Even monkeys can respond to change. They will do so with just a banana and will not need several million dollars in salary.
Being able to respond to change is nothing to crow about, unless one is an empty vessel.
MBT’s ability to forecast the nation’s demand for housing clearly deserves an F grade.
Since they know that our floodgates to foreigners are wide open; they know the number of foreigners that are being admitted; they definitely know how many flats are available; they surely know that demand for housing outstrips supply for housing by a large margin; they sure as hell control the flat valuation.
And they are telling us that Nobody? Nobody can predict this?
I don’t know the word “prescient”, I sure am not clever; however if you told me three years ago that the gates to Singapore is going to be thrown open to all foreigners; I definitely would have made a lot of money speculating in real estate.
[i]All of us were caught off-guard…I did not expect the prices to go up. But the point is, [/i]
ole off guard excuses again..so basicalLEe you are sayin wongcantsink and you are no differences…likethat you still demand more than $100,000/month?
can i tell you..ole i got caught off guard when i used the mortgage funds to buy toto in which i think its a SUREDWIN what….
so do you get my POINT?
i quote the article
“Mr Mah said a flat is not just a roof over one’s head, but also an asset that will increase with time.”
reading this and then comparing with what he said
“All of us were caught off-guard…I did not expect the prices to go up.”
how does that compare?
on one hand it’s an asset that will increase with time. on another hand i did not expect prices to go up.
if it is an asset that will increase with time, means prices will go up with time, am i wrong?
i don’t understand this….
it is all bull shit.
Price rising benefit the govt and the banks which the govt owns.
Can he stablise the price?
Prices rise because of a 25% increase in a year in population.
He should tell MHA Wong KS off.
Instead of relying on a crystal ball, Minister Mah should go back to school … and study Basic Economics.
May I suggest he pay attention on the subject titled “Demand and Supply”.
well, for someone drawing MILLIONS DOLLARS SALARY, you jolly well be “cleverer” than “clever”.
“Wah bo but lu kong mit teh”? (I don’t know what you are saying)…
I am very confused!
well how can he not know?
wow excuses of the year.. the flats are “affordable” and I dont know the price will hike so far upwards.. so Is he eating his own words? So are the flats affordable still or is it over priced?
this also links to MM Lee previous statement to Nat Geo.
Since higher price = pricer loans = work to death without saving/cpf = you die your problem.
FT is still more important than us!
Lee Kuan Yew used to brag that his handpicked ministers are visionaries, able to foresee storm clouds expected on the horizon even twenty, thirty years ahead and that’s why they needed to be paid millions of dollars to prevent poaching by private sector for their rare talent.
But in the recent past, these extraordinarily gifted ministers under the charge of our superior minister mentor were unable to predict the economic mess the country has gotten itself in. All that they, including the son, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, could tell us is “wait for the US economy to pick up”.
Now, MBT says “Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this is what is going to happen this year.”
Well, give the man a Tiger and a pay increase of yet another 20 per cent so that he will develop a sharper foresight.
how can he not know?
population has increased by so much due to letting in anyone who wants to come into the country.
they surely need a place to stay no?
more people in the country equals more demand, and without supply being enough to meet the demand, that means price will increase no?
how can he not see and and get caught “off-guard”. in fact, how can everybody he refers to get caught “off-guard” with this?
ask any economics student and he can clearly tell you the answer.
perhaps times have changed. the world is more complicated, harder to predict.
to me, it only seems that someone is just trying justify their high pay, in the event whereby they have failed to meet up to the standard that their pay warrants…remember, they deserve extraordinary pay because they are extraordinary…yet unable to perform in an extraordinary manner, in fact in below ordinary way
huh? ‘gong simi’ (what talking)?
All of you caught off-guard? Not planned? Escalating property prices, in particular HDB flat prices, don’t fatten your already stuffed wallets?
Thats why all agreed that you should not be paid by the millions hor …….- do you feel a slightest tinge of uneasiness uttering this and if you do not – then its worrying hor …….
The remedy to all all these arrogance & down talking to the people, is a good dose of Uprising…
They have had too good for too long.
prices go up are good what. only the young can screwed. existing owners paid higher property taxes only. u can benefit only if you migrate.
Mah knows nothing, do nothing, expect nothing except his salary. So this is the expected answer from him.
To 27) Plumber on December 31st, 2009 7.45 am
prices go up are good what. only the young can screwed. existing owners paid higher property taxes only. u can benefit only if you migrate.
>> Then US won’t have their sub-prime crisis that triggers the entire finance meltdown.
>> In my opinion, the election is coming, hence, dropping HDB prices will antagonize 80% of population plus foreigners/PR; a political suicidal. In additional, HDB price is based on the evaluation report controlled by “you know who”. Therefore, there is very little market influence; e.g. if SLA decides that the land price cost 200% more this year compared to last year; etc.
>> Moreover, if the young ones cannot have a home, the probability of getting married and raising the next generations becomes low; compounded by the issue of aging population; and henceforth, their quick-fix solution to import more foreigners to replace the gap.
>> If you think the younger generation are the one being screwed, I think you need to think again. Government policies often have chain-effect. If one fails, it will affect another, and it just goes on.
>> Lastly, if you think the high HDB price is sustainable… Good luck to you. Like the share market, if you don’t bring in new value, it will peak out and it will start crashing down. Voila, Singapore sub-prime crisis.
PS: My prediction, HDB prices will come down after election. – Pay me millions.
It is not so much of ability to predict but to analyse and make good judgement out of available data and situation.
In the real world, there is no situation where one can have all the relevant information. There will always be times when a judgement call has to be made based on information available.
How close one is to the ground and rapport with the team makes the diff.
In the manufacturing world, it is called Lean and Gemba.
For a few million dollars i was expecting a better excuse, even from him.
this same person said this in September as linked from TOC to ST
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/09/hdb-flats-affordability-will-always-be-there-says-mah/
“The flat prices would probably go up … by 1 per cent, 2 per cent… It will just keep on going up if the economy recovers as people expect, and if confidence returns but affordability will always be there.”
and in December he says he did not expect prices to go up.
so which is which? I’m confused.
Well, MBT is rather a funny character & I really hope he wins the Best Rubbish Spoken by a Minister award! But he is facing much competition from WKS on the where about of MSK (if he’s not in Singapore, then he’s somewhere else!!) & LSS for his performance in getting his CPF statement every month & feeling so rich!!
It’s gonna be a tough fight among these 3 million-dollar-salary clowns & to be honest, I just cant decide which one said the most rubbish thing!! Thing the best solution is to share the award among these 3!!
Mee Siam no Hum is probably the biggest rubbish uttered by a minister & I dont think anyone will be able to top that!
I think MBT sounded very stupid when he said those words.
Be pro-active, not reactive.
Leaders should be visionary, not hindsight assholes.
Here you go from mr brown…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xrmNEp-Mo
mee siam mia hum {spicy chilli thin mee soup based beans with no cockles}…
And this is the PM of Singapore….since when mee siam have cockles…unless one is feeling very adverturious and decide to try it out…i did and it tastes horrible beyond belief…
What a wack out! Dunno whether this is funny or sick or damn stupid like hell!!
How can he not know the prices will increase when it is HDB that decides the valuation? HDB price is controlled by himself.
Another lie by our million dollar minister lol
If you flood this nation with foreign imports, you drive up the demand.
If you don’t boost supply—-which you intentionally did not do, then prices naturally rise.
Even my dog know this—-and
I do not pay my dog multi-millions.
Question? Who gain the most with asset inflation in housing?
Who is the biggest landlord ?
The people are all slaves. Remind me of rich landlord in the past in China, that rent the farmland to the people and then tax them high and dry while they do not work.
Our gov become our landlord and the house is our farm and we pay various taxes as a farmer.
Aaa, I thought he is different and we pay him $M.
So now we know that he is no different.
MM, so why are we paying all these ordinary ministers from the street $M????
Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this is what is going to happen this year.
But how come they can predict how much millions they are worth and best still, they can also scheduled their worth throughout the years of increasing their own salaries to be the world highest paid govt????
and worst of all, these MIW never once admit their mistake even though facts and figures are already out there, instead they start their twisting and turning lies to confuse the people.
This is what the shortS MBT will be saying after the final result at the next GE is announced:
“Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this is what is going to happen this general election. All of us were caught off-guard…we did not expect PAP to be voted out. But the point is, could we have prevented it. And the answer is NO.”
so he didn’t expect it to fluctuate so much. that means that the method/model by which they determine prices does not work right? if your method / model is good, then you should be able to forecast this and mitigate any extremes.
or is the soothsayer not paid well enough? but thats all he does all day…..
i think we will be more and more difficult to cope with raising hdb prices.
i beg you as minister in charge of hdb to help everyone.
i beg you.
33) Alex the peasant boy
Sorry, some one by the initial of LSS has already secure that award! or maybe they can win it together?
Actually, he can do something about the prices of HDB flats.
The Govt is in control of the land, and he is in control of HDB
He is being paid almost $200,000/mth so I do not need to tell
him what to do.
Its just that he is refusing to do the necessary because HDB flats
have become another cash cow for him, just like COE prices
and ERP when he was in the Communications Ministry.
MBT: “I did not expect prices to go up”
I think that’s a very uneducated answer from a very educated man.
” Oh, I did not expect that person would die, I only used a knife to stab him wo!
But the point is, are we able to respond to this change.
And the answer is yes.
Simple, just force them down the citizens throats, right? what response do you think you can do Mr MBT? , tell your master to slash the hdb pricing by half for all local bred citizens? do you have the guts?, not even after when LKY pass away, unless we all stand united and boot the entire MIW out of their power, then maybe there is still a chance to see changes start taking effect.
This is another example of how irresponsible the pigs can be.
They are the ones that kept giving excuses over the last 2 years when we have opposition voice over the internet.