Andrew Loh / Joshua Chiang
“The Government’s first responsibility is to Singaporeans.” – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, New Year Message, 2010.
On 18 January, officers from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) moved the homeless campers of Sembawang Park to a block of flats at Havelock Road – Block 29. The Online Citizen visited them on two separate days, one in the afternoon and one in the night.
The first thing you notice about the block was the uncharacteristic silence and emptiness of the corridors. There were no slippers or shoes outside many of the flats, unlike what you would see at any HDB block in Singapore. Windows were either shut tight or half-open. Peering into some of these flats, they were empty. No furniture. No television sets. No sign of occupation. However, the smell of the brand new coat of paint on the walls is unmistakable. Indeed, the block looks like it had just been painted and upgraded. It was clean as a whistle, you could say. Spick and span. Brand new, it seems.
Block 29 is managed by EM Services, a subsidiary of the HDB. It has an office on the ground floor of the block. Apparently, the company was formed in 1988 by the HDB and Keppel Land, with the HDB having a 75 per cent stake in it. (Source) According to the HDB, EM Services was set up “to offer estate management, engineering services, contacts administration and project management services to town councils.” Its Chief Executive Officer is Mr Ang Mong Seng, People’s Action Party Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC.
Piqued by the strange emptiness of the block and the presence of the EM Services office on the ground floor, we decided to find out more about the residents who were living in Block 29. At one of the flats, a lady with a heavy Chinese accent. At another, a Malaysian lady with a small kid. As we passed a third flat, there was what appeared to be a Caucasian pair working at a table. On another floor, there was an Indian family. As we left the block, we met several Caucasian-looking people, apparently students, entering the elevator.
The HDB’s website reveals that the block, along with neighbouring blocks 31 and 33, was chosen for the Selective En Block Redevelopment Scheme – or SERS – in February 2003. That was 7 years ago. According to Kee Lay Cheng, HDB’s Deputy Director at its Properties and Land Department, in replying to a question about the two blocks of flats in Toa Payoh reserved for foreign workers, she said:
“After they are vacated, SERS blocks are demolished according to the redevelopment plans. Pending demolition, the flats are put to interim short-term use.” (Reach)
All well and good. The question is why is Block 29 apparently half-empty and still standing seven years after it was supposed to have been “demolished” under the SERS programme, as Ms Kee said? And in those years pending demolition, what was Block 29’s “interim short term use”? An unanswered question.
On further investigation, the penny finally dropped. Block 29 seems to have been, at least partly, converted to a hostel for students, such as those from the Singapore Management University (SMU). Indeed, on the SMU website, the university says it has “leased 2 floors consisting [of] 220 beds at [Block 29] Havelock Road from EM Services Pte Ltd (a private hostel operator) and it is open to Senior Undergraduate Students (full-time SMU students 2nd year and above), Exchange Students and Full Time Post Graduate Students who plan to study full time at SMU for the forthcoming semester.” (Source: SMU website)
Each student is charged S$400 to S$450 per month for a twin-sharing flat. (SMU) “Successful applicants are able to move in from 1st January 2010,” the website says.
There are 398 units of 3-room flats and 23 units of 4-room flats in the 15-floor block.
The question is obvious: With the waiting period for needy Singaporeans who are waiting for rented flats as long as two years, why are these flats not reserved for them instead?
Contrary to what the HDB says, obviously SERS flats such as those at Block 29 are not “less suitable for HDB’s Public Rental Scheme [PRS].” After all, they are being rented out as hostel for students. Why would that be any different from renting them out to those in desperate need of a flat, such as the homeless? The HDB’s reason that if these were included under the PRS, “the tenants would then have to move in a few years’ time” is illogical. How long is “a few years”? Apparently, it is as long as 7 years, as the case of Block 29 shows. Surely, such flats could be given to those most in need and not be refurbished and rented out to students, including foreign ones.
Isn’t HDB supposed to be in the business of providing public housing to Singaporeans? Why is it now in the business of turning profits from it by creating hostels out of public housing flats which the homeless and poor desperately need? Have not MPs been complaining about the long waiting periods for those on the PRS queue?
So, while two blocks of flats in Toa Payoh are conveniently and readily reserved for foreign workers from the two Integrated Resorts, and another block of flats in Havelock Road is converted into a profit-churning hostel for both local and foreign students, the truly needy and homeless are deprived. In fact, they are told that they have to wait anywhere from 5.5 months to 30 months before they qualify for a rental flat. This is clearly a mockery as flats are indeed readily available.
The Online Citizen emailed Ms Kee to ask about Block 29 at Havelock Road on 24 January. We received an automated reply which promised to forward our email “to the respective department to attend to it and reply direct to you.”
We have yet to hear from Ms Kee.
What about blocks 31 and 33 which were also supposed to have been selected for the SERS programme in 2003? Well, the two blocks are still standing there at Taman Ho Swee/Havelock Road. The residents too are still there, apparently. When we approached one of them and asked him about it, he said he didn’t know of any SERS programme – except for the one which is going to take place in two years’ time. He came to know about this from a visit to the HDB office in Toa Payoh, he told us.
It is thus puzzling to us that the three blocks, which have been classified as “SERS completed” on the HDB website, apparently were never demolished, as Ms Kee claimed all SERS block would be; and that the residents of blocks 31 and 33 are apparently still living there even though “a completed SERS site is one where all SERS residents have vacated their sold flats”, according to the definition given on the HDB website.
In the Ministry of Finance website, the Expenditure Estimates for the Ministry of National Development for Budget 2007 was laid out – and it included a “total project cost” of almost S$70 million for blocks 29, 31, and 33 for Phase 2 of the SERS programme, according to the MOF’s 2007 estimates. (Source: MOF website )
So, what exactly is block 29 being planned for? Only the HDB knows and it looks like it is not telling. Are there other flats which are being rented out, by the HDB, to non-citizens? How many in total? If there are, how long has this been going on?
In the meantime, the homeless from Sembawang Park who are presently living in several of those flats at Block 29 have about another two months before they are again moved out.
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Good job, TOC!
I think you have just stir a beehive.
Remmeber LKY threatened to send in the army if he lose power, I always wonder will SAF shoot fellow Singaporeans. Now I see the behaviour of MCYS and Nparks people, I think it’s not far fetch. If they can treat us like that, When a rogue government give the go ahead for its officers to shoot, I have no doubt that the followers like MCYS and NParks will open fire.
Yong,
I can answer your question. I will shoot the officer who dares to give this order to me!!!!!!!!!
Hi Yong,
Maybe they will, but I wonder how many truly patriotic soldiers there are out there who understand what they are really supposed to be serving, who will dare to disregard the order and defend their fellow citizens.
Let’s hope that there are enough SAF-trained men out there who understand what it really means when they said that they will serve the country (NOT the party) with their lives.
hiiii Koh, hope so too. Look at these Npark people: do they understand what they are really serving,. Do they dare to disregard order? I don’t see them defending the homeless peolpe, what makes us think they will defend helpless citizens? will the 66% care?
Do not merely state comments for the sake of comments. If being shot, would you be the first to be dead? What have you done to help these people? Please leave behind more constructive comments.
TOC Admin,
You guys should also write an article on the below.
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC091126-0000059/Direct-lift-access-not-always-possible%E2%80%93HDB
Been a few months and MP and HDB ignoring him, despite repeated postings at REACH and newspaers online forum,
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC100129-0000055/Feedback-taken-into-consideration
[Page 12 onwards]
http://app.reach.gov.sg/reach/YourSay/YourDiscussionCorner/tabid/117/ptid/414/page/2147483647/threadid/2848/forumtype/posts/Default.aspx
Seems like MPs in Singapore dont help handicap Singaporeans nowadays, like above and below,
[probably more that not published].
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/09/handicapped-resident-applies-for-aid-with-mp-but-faces-difficulties/
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/12/transport-ministry-and-ptc-wash-their-hands-off-public-transport-subsidy-for-people-with-disability-issue/
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/09/30/town-council-took-unemployed-man-to-court-for-sc-arrears/
Yong,
Only way to find out is for TOC to write 2 open letters,
-one to the Defence Minister
-one to CDF of SAF
The SAF Commander-in-Chief keeps quiet means he is OK on his ‘old man’ sending troops to shoot Singaporeans in the event of a ‘freak lost’ at the polls.
Block 29 was ‘quietly hidden’ for foreigners, BUT ‘EXPOSED’ by TOC in this article.
Good article. All along, TOC has been barking up the wrong tree (or ministry,ie. MCYS) for the problem of homeless caused by MND.
It is obvious that the problem is caused by MND (to which both HDB and NPark belong) with their poor planning, coordination and conflict of interest with profit-oriented entity like EMS.
I will surmise that HDB refused to offer enough low-cost housing because it did not have enough to go around (partly due to outsourcing to EMS?) and its steadfast implementation of (autopilot) policy. People ended up sleeping in the streets. MCYS picked up TOC report but given limited resource,budget and adherence to proper protocol approached MND (NPark, HDB) and VWO for assistance, NPark interpreted this negatively and moved in for the kill and HDB was given no choice but to get (temporary) accommodation from the pool originally allocated to EMS.
All things just point back to MND/HDB/NPark. HDB is forced to reversed its policy for the same set of people it originally declined to assist, if HDB is less more creative and really walks the ground and reviewed their policy promptly, this would not have happened. I feel that some comments in other articles also unfairly directed criticisms at Vivian (minister for MCYS), I personally think his intentions are good because if you have bad intentions and is in a position to forcibly evict the homless, will you personally visit Changi Beach and Sembawang Park?
No need for SAF to shoot Singaporeans, the Gurkha contingent will take care of that.
If you could recalled sometime ago,HDB tendered out some vacant blocks in Tiong Bahru to a private
management company to run the day to day affairs of those blocks,allowing the company to set the rental rates to potential tenants.Could it be that those blocks of flats Andrew mentioned in this article are under
contract to manage by the same company.If this is so,then HDB has no more say in who is qualify to dwell
in those flats.I myself too find it strange that those homeless have to wait for so long for a flat to stay in.
Andrew,you should investigate further into this matter.Btw,you and your partner are doing a good job
into investigative reporting.Thank you guys.
Thanks, Andrew and TOC for another great piece of investigative journalism!
The $iN-gapore gahmen and its variou$ agencie$ like the HDB have been fudging the truth and getting away with it for too long, thank$ to our compliant, “nation building” M$M. Every time the truth comes out, it look$ uglier and uglier. In their pur$uit of money and profit$, our gahmen agencies$ have lo$t all heart and $oul, along with their credibility and the re$pect of $ingaporean$. They have lo$t the right to govern thi$ country!
Where are all the family members of these homeless people? If they are Singaporeans, they must have SOME family in Singapore, If any of your relatives were sleeping in the open, out on a beach in Changi, would you leave them there or take them into your home? Andrew, please go hunt down these family members and ask them why they are ignoring the plight of their own family members!
OMG, I see a pattern of abuse by HDB here!
First, HDB evict present owners from their homes under SERS. Their targets are specially chosen to be from lower income classes (these are less likely to protest), occupying prime land (more valuable for further development) and older estates (more convincing guise for “demolition”).
In the process of carrying out SERS, HDB gets our taxpayers’ money supposedly for SERS purposes.
Then, HDB refurbishes the SERS blocks and rents them out to its subsidiary EM Services. The blocks are used under PAP government instructions to house workers/students that are the “flavour of the day” e.g. casino foreign workers and SMU students.
Finally, HDB collects money (while declaring itself loss-making), and washes its hands by proclaiming that these flats are within the jurisdiction of to EM services (so it does not have the right to dictate the uses/rental rates/selection critieria) for a “short-term” use. HDB gets tons of $$$$$, while not “compromising” on its public duty to provide for housing needs of Singaporeans.
Vote PAP for more innovative blood-sucking schemes!
I think we should demand to know the terms of contract between EM services and HDB.
One good way of siphoning off money from taxpayers into privately owned companies (with PAP lackeys as board directors) is for HDB to rent out the SERS blocks at really subsidisized rates. EM services then makes $$$$$$$$, whereas HDB makes -$$$$$$$.
Open up your books, HDB!
Hope more people especially those supporting pap blindly realise the importance of voting more opposition members into the parliament. We can kpkb here until the cow come home and those white pigs will not be bother. The oppositions can demand answers from those pigs in parliament and they have to tell the truth.
Just vote at least 15 opposition members into parliament in the next election. 20 will be a bonus!
Never take anything at face value what the PAP & its civil service & GLCs machinery tell you! The above article is an excellent living example!
So I was quite close with my comments in response to the previous article that the block was reserved for foreigners. Well now its reserved for SMU foreign students but since its under utilized, here comes the IRs!
So those of you who thinks that the pigs are interested to help Singaporeans, think again.
These pigs are not interested in helping Singaporeans.
They are taking us for a ride.
They forgot that it is us who has been paying them their basic pay and the ft are just paying the little extras.
Boot them out and the ones remaining will work harder.
If they don’t want to work harder, they will eventually bow out and better people will take over.
at least for most of us, we are able to afford basic things. if we want more, we have to go overseas.
Thanks TOC for article, but I totally agree with ‘none’ that you were barking up the wrong tree!
I recently had some problems with family issues but the MCYS hands were tied and could only do so much as it involved another ministry. The staff in MCYS were very professional and helpful and even bothered to check on my problems 5 months later.
Wish we had more ministers like Vivian B. He himself went to check on the homeless campers personally. That says alot about him.
It’s a rather curious matter as to why blocks scheduled for SERS remain untouched for so long. It is not as if we are undergoing a prolonged economic recession from 2003 till now.
It seems that these interim accommodation has been slated for longer term usage with it being furbished as hostel rooms. And this, I think, highlights the dire condition of the housing situation in Singapore. As many NUS students will tell you, there is some sort of a hostel crisis recently, which caused rents of HDB flats in regions near the campus to rise.
I’m in no way saying that these students should have priority over the homeless, but I think this suggests something about the state of housing problem in Singapore.
You guys had better retract this post because you have misrepresented facts or were not thorough enough in your investigation. Too eager to find faults?
Read the small print:
“* A completed SERS site is one where all SERS residents have vacated their sold flats.”
http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10329p.nsf/w/eSERSCompleted?OpenDocument
The residents of Block 29 Havelock Road have vacated their flats the place and therefore it is correctly classified as completed.
smallprint,
Maybe you want to read the article again:
“It is thus puzzling to us that the three blocks, which have been classified as “SERS completed” on the HDB website, apparently were never demolished, as Ms Kee claimed all SERS block would be; and that the residents of blocks 31 and 33 are apparently still living there even though “a completed SERS site is one where all SERS residents have vacated their sold flats”, according to the definition given on the HDB website.”
As you can see, the reference was made only to blocks 31 and 33, and not block 29 which (if you read the entire article in which we mentioned it) was half-empty.
Andrew
its obvious – they no longer give a damn about the people.
the rage against mbt is warranted.
It is obvious that the PAP as well as institutions such as the HDB have lost the plot. The purpose of being elected to government is to serve the people. Yet the PAP strives to cement it’s hold on power in the most childish manner and clings to the ideal of being the government in perpetuity. The HDB was set up to provide affordable housing to the people of Singapore yet it looks like it is now a profit centre in it’s own right. It is sad that the ideals of serving the nation got so corrupted along the way and we have arrived at where we are now.
Early EM Services staff were all seconded from HDB.All kar-kee-lang.
smallprint wrote: “* A completed SERS site is one where all SERS residents have vacated their sold flats.”
Blks 31 and 33 are rental blocks. To residents of Bt Ho Swee Estate, Blks 29, 31 and 33 are collectively known as Aw Beh Sua (‘the hill at the back’ in Hokkien). The land they (and the Bt Ho Swee/Taman Ho Swee blocks) sit on was a Cantonese cemetary. Up till several years ago, you could see one end of a coffin sticking out from under a very old banyan tree near the staircase that leads from Blk 18 to Blk 29.
If the facts of the report are accurate, then it surely is atrocious. Does HDB, MP, PAP, Ministers really know what is happening on the ground ? Sometimes, it baffles me how why over and over again, top civil servants are awarded Public service medals, awards, etc ,etc when there is no public service at all….
I hope TOC could pursue with HDB and keep us updated.
Perhaps, HDB could just lease these flats to the campers at a subsidised rates and try to help them find other accomodation, that will be truly caring and gracious society..
interestingly, as of last year, you can rent blk 29 units for around $1.8k – 2k a month.
http://www.sgpropertyforu.com/6
Andrew,
“As you can see, the reference was made only to blocks 31 and 33, and not block 29 which (if you read the entire article in which we mentioned it) was half-empty.”
Yes, I have read it at least three times. It says:
“It is thus puzzling to us that the three blocks, which have been classified as “SERS completed” on the HDB website, apparently were never demolished, as Ms Kee claimed all SERS block would be; and that the residents of blocks 31 and 33 are apparently still living there even though “a completed SERS site is one where all SERS residents have vacated their sold flats”, according to the definition given on the HDB website.”
————————————-
“the three blocks” you mentioned must refer to Blocks 31, 33 and 29. 31 and 33 are only two. And the blocks do not have to be demolished in order for the SERs project to be classified as completed because the criteria are that the premises are vacated and residents have sold their flats. Those renting do not come into the picture because the flats do not legally belong to them. Yes, some will still argue that L99 isn’t ownership but that is besides the point.
Clearly there is a misrepresentation here, deliberate or otherwise. My first impression after reading the article was that the HDB had lied about the completion until I did my own research on their website. But the fact remains, they did not lie.
At the very least, you should rephrase what you wrote or risk appearing to be deliberately misleading, which will not do your cause or the opposition any favor when it comes to deciding whether to trust PAP or APs. Readers who jump into the your bandwagon whacking happily won’t [make you] look good either.
Bottomline for a fence-sitter like me is integrity.
Upnorth,
Thanks for the info. I thought, after reading TOC’s article, that they had interviewed existing owners who were not notified of what would happen to their property.
Since they are rental blocks, all the more we cannot find fault with the HDB, SERs or no SERs, as they are free to do whatever they want to the property, at their chosen timing, without causing any harm to existing owners.
Of course you can still hold the government responsible for homeless citizens, but not in this manner regarding SERs.
smallprint,
Read the paragraph again:
“It is thus puzzling to us that the three blocks, which have been classified as “SERS completed” on the HDB website, apparently were never demolished, as Ms Kee claimed all SERS block would be;…..”
That’s a sentence by itself, referring to all three blocks on the issue of demolition.
I am not sure what you mean by “misrepresentation” since Ms Kee did say SERS blocks would be demolished. In this case, obviously the three blocks have not.
I also am puzzled about your “first impression” that the HDB had “lied”. I think nowhere in the article did we make such an assertion. I think we have written it as clearly as we can.
I am sorry that you have misunderstood but I do not feel there is any need to “rewrite” anything.
Andrew
smallprint,
One more point. I do not understand your inclusion of the “opposition” in this discussion. TOC is not an opposition platform and it’s not our business to do the opposition any “favours”.
Indeed, I am perplexed by this inclusion of this issue into this discussion about homeless people and this particular block of flats.
I do think that’s a huge deviation/distraction by you.
Smallprint,
I think you’re missing the forest for the trees.
Fact is under SERS, the blocks are supposed to be demolished. They weren’t. Instead they were upgraded, and blk 29 looks spanking new. If you search under property listing, you get units at bllk 29 going for $1800 to $2000 a month.
Second, instead of looking for the smallprint and accuse TOC of misrepresentation, perhaps you may want to ask – the logical ‘completion’ of a process involving SERs would be DEMOLITION and REBUILDING.
Why, and more importantly WHEN did the definition of ‘completion’ become ‘upon successful vacation’ of block?
And more importantly, given that there is a long queue for low income rental flats, why were the flats being reconfigured to serve the open market, and SMU? What are the priorities of HDB?
Are flat lifts maintained by EM Services?
Where i live, this 1 year old lift has been ‘under maintenance’ very frequently. About 1 time a week sometimes. Is there something wrong? The maintenance is usually done in the day time where people have gone to work. It usually will be down for about 1 hour and then its back. Why must lifts be maintained so so frequently? For the past 1 year, i have seen it go under maintenance for so many times already.
IS MONEY SPENT ON MAINTENANCE? WHO IS EARNING?
A “SERS completed” site means, according to the HDB, a site where all tenants have vacated the block of flats.
Block 29, as we reported, is half-empty. However, it is quite clear that the block was vacated after it was chosen for SERS in 2003.
As for blocks 31 and 33, this is unclear because, as far as we can tell, the two blocks are still very much occupied. And unlike block 29, there are no indications of these two blocks being refurbished or rented out as hostels or other purposes.
But one thing’s for sure, none of the 3 blocks were demolished.
It is obvious that this blog is aimed at disparaging the HDB and PAP under the pretence of championing the poor etc. Your question should be whether those who were ‘sers’ 7 years ago were given a fair compensation or price.
From the homeless of Sembawang you jump to block 29 and then to SERS and then to incompetence of HDB and then Citizens versus Foreigners. The fact is that you don’t know that you don’t know. Worst still you only want to persist in your own point of view.
I seriously wish the authorities will close down this site! It is negative and full of misinformation and malice.
A good article again….
What is the deal between EM Services and HDB. This is an important question, since HDB says it making a loss and here we have EM Services being led by an MP, who is making money.
So what is the contractual agreement between this stats board and this semi-stat board company.
Where is the money going, since HDB just said that it had made huge loss.
As taken from EM Services website-
“We are the Managing Agent of 8 major Town Councils namely, East Coast, Jalan Besar, Pasir Ris – Punggol, Sembawang, Tampines, Tanjong Pagar, Holland – Bukit Panjang and West Coast.”
Are our town councils being overcharged by EM Services and therefore have to speculate in bon bons?
Why is it the MIW Town Councils always claim the sinking funds not enough??And what is so special about EM Services that these 8 town councils together have to use as the same managing agent??
I smell a fish again somewhere….
Good research work! Keep it up.
Sounds really very fishy between hdb and EMS! someone up there is going to get help from the higher ones now that these underground things are being discovered, a further investigation into this and let the taxpayers know the truth behind all these internal dealings is neccessary.
Good article. A few other questions come to my mind:
According to HDB, ” .. pending demolition (of SERS block), the flats are put to interim short-term use…” I stay near the area so I know for a fact that right after the residents moved out, re-painting and renovation works were done. The ground floor units which used to be shops were converted into apartment units with bedrooms before the whole block was put to rental. This doesn’t sound like an interim measure to me.
If there is indeed reason for the delay in demolition, why do the occupiers need to be moved out so early. I am sure there must have been prior planning to coordinate the entire move.
What I find regrettable from the residents perspective is they have obeyed the order based on Land Acquisition Act – to give up the homes they have occupied, (to many of the old follks there, must have been for decades) in the name of urban renewal – only to find them being renovated and sublet to others.
This reminds me of a similar situation in Boon Tiong Road (near Tiong Bahru market) where residents were asked to move out because the plan was to widen Tiong Bahru Road to support the growing population in the area due to development of new blocks of flat (both HDB and private). Up till now (around 8 years later?) – the road is still as is, and the few blocks of old 4-storey flats facing the main road have been reconfigured and renovated – now being rented out to “foreign talents”.
To be fair, as in other SERS program, the residents have gotten new units with brand new lease and perhaps even monetary compensation – but is this a case of mis-use of the Land Acquistion Act?
great work TOC discovering this underground fishy businesses. maybe some nepotism at work … seems to be some ‘close relationship’ between people of hdb and ems… self benefiting for both parties at the expense of tax payers and poor singaporeans … (69 year old lady jumped to her death due to financial woes, another person jumped to death a few weeks back but of course unreported in our terrible mainstream media..)
This shows there is corruption in HDB. How high up this corruption goes is a question that needs to be addressed with the names of the people involved.
Follow the money!
Good info from TOC. What is the heck is the core mission of our HDB ? Leave the damned money making renting business to the others can or not ? And focus on your core mission of providing the basic to our people. A serious conflict of interest starting from HDB, EM and those town councils.
These are not the only blocks they have been doing up by converting into rental flats…
I think TOC should investigate the following flats in boon lay as well.
Block 174 to 179, block 188 to 191 and block 216 to 220.
Its similar to what they did to block 29.
They chase away the owners…. renovated the flats, and now they are rented out.
Worse is they converted the existing 3 room flats into 1 room flat with only 50% or slightly more full.
TOC go and dig out the info in these blocks i can assure you there are more dirt over here
1) EM Services Pte Ltd belongs to the government. So no surprises there and no they are not exactly a private hostel operator.
2) This is not the first time. You will find more.
3) This has also happened to factories as well.
Well, someone is collecting the $$…
Definately EM services is collecting from the students…
Hopefully HDB is collecting from EM services… to be used for whatever things We citizens need from HDB (except for Housing)..
I am shocked by the revelation. HDB must stop doing all this. Also HDB should not allow any contract works to any company it has set up. That is a clear conflict of interest. Further, it is wrong of HDB (being a stat board) to allow any PAP MP to head any company it may set up. It shows favouritism, lack of transparency (about how the appointment was made) and there is clear conflict of interest. If the PAP or any statutory boards continue to allow such “cosy” appointments and disregards people’s concern of conflicts of interest and favouritism, more people will continue to lose faith in not just PAP but the political system. If this goes on, the PAP government should not be surprised that it will suffer further drop in votes in the future elections.