turned PAP activist.
Mr Sinha Shekhar, who works as an occupational therapist at Thye Hua
Kwan Hospital, wrote that he paid “really high” for a resale HDB flat
and the rent he is collecting is not enough to pay for the bank
instalments.
Mr Sinha also revealed that he owns a private property, implying that
he bought the resale HDB flat NOT for staying but for renting and
making money.
This is yet another example of immigrants jacking up prices of HDB
flats by their entry into the resale market and then profiteering from
it by renting them out, a common practice in Singapore.
Some PRs are known to buy a few resale flats for rental before selling
them at a profit after they leave Singapore.
Due to a limited supply of new flats in the face of rising demand
fueled by the relentless influx of immigrants, the prices of HDB flats
have sky-rocketed in recent years, pricing young Singaporeans out of
the market.
Many of these PRs and new citizens are already established
professionals like Mr Sinha Shekhar when they arrived in Singapore and
therefore it is not surprising that they can afford to buy resale
flats which are unaffordable to most Singapore graduates fresh out of
school.
The Straits Times reported last year of an Indonesian PR who paid an
eye-popping $653,000 for a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown though he
could well afford to buy a condominium.
Despite the evidence on the ground showing otherwise, PAP Minister for
National Development Mah Bow Tan is adamant that HDB flats remain
“affordable” in Singapore and ticked Singaporeans off for being
“fussy”.
Mr Sinha Shekhar is notorious in Singapore blogosphere for his
description of PAP critics as “dogs” on the YPAP Facebook. Ironically,
he was later given an “Outstanding Contributors’ award” by Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong for the regularity of his contributions on
the PAP REACH Forum and Facebook.
This is an extract from Temasek Review.
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