Visits to Potong Pasir SMC

With only 17,389 electors, Potong Pasir SMC is the smallest of the 13 Single Member Constituencies under the redrawn electoral boundaries for the next GE. It encompasses Potong Pasir and Lorong 8 Toa Payoh and is presently a PAP ward.

In my visits to this SMC, I have been warmly received by most of the residents I met. They were candid about their political leanings and would not hesitate to speak their minds about their present MP (who was elected in GE 2011), Mr. Chiam See Tong (their former MP for 27 years) and Mrs. Lina Chiam (who stood in her husband's place in the last GE but lost).

Even in my house visits, many of the resident were more than happy to invite me into their homes just to chat with me. I was even openly encouraged to come and stand in their ward as an election candidate in the next GE so that they may have more choices.

I can feel something special about Potong Pasir SMC. It has an air of resilience and respectability. From the hawkers to shop-keepers to the residents, the people are friendly and helpful. There's plenty of good food and I feel a strong sense of nostalgia here. I had studied in St. Andrews' School, and being here brings back to me fond memories of my pre-university school days. 

I like the feeling that Potong Pasir SMC gives me. If there is a constituency where the electors can be counted on to stand up for what they believe in, Potong Pasir SMC is unmistakably one.

Kindness beyond death

Madam Lim lives in Sengkang West and came to see me as I was having dinner at the coffee-shop in Block 120 in Potong Pasir. 

Her husband (Wong Wing Chun) has just passed away at the age of 49, leaving her and her 15 year-old daughter behind. She was at a lost as to how to handle his estate matters, including a car which he had just bought, and needed some advice. 

In the course of my conversation with Madam Lim, I learned that her late husband had consented to donate practically all his organs, including his bone and skin, before his death. He was working in a hotel and fainted at work. The doctors were unable to save him and he died on 23 July 2015 as a result of intracranial hemorrhage, a type of bleeding that occurs in the skull. 

His sudden death took her completely by surprise and she was devastated. When she found out that her husband's donation of his body parts had helped at least 9 other people or even more, she felt great pride and comfort in her heart. She wanted to me to share her husband's story which I believe should be told. 

When he was alive, he was always helping others and even when he died, he had not spared himself to do something that would benefit those that live after him, even when they were complete strangers to him. I am moved to share his story and to celebrate the extraordinary kindness of one ordinary man - Mr. Wong Wing Chun.

THEME: Housing: My Flat, My Home

In the 1970s', a 3-room HDB flat in Singapore costs much less than $20,000 and buyers could pay up their mortgage in 10 years. They could also afford to buy a car. 

Today, depending on location, a 3-room flat costs more than S$ 300,000. That is a whopping 15 times more and buyers are paying off their mortgages over 25-30 years because their incomes have not risen that dramatically. And with COE prices in the tens of thousands of dollars, owning a car may mean struggling to pay for it over 10 years.

There are re-sale HDB flats that have crossed the million dollar mark. Owners of public flats which they bought in the 1970s' may rejoice over the fact that the prices of their flats have appreciated astronomically in value, especially during the era of the state's "asset enhancement" policy in the 1990s. However, if they wish to realise their capital gains by selling their flats, they may have difficulty even buying a smaller flat because the prices of all other flats, big and small, have also appreciated astronomically.

It is a sad state of affairs that the prices of public flats can go beyond the reach of many first-time flat owners. Many of them are young couples waiting to settle down. They have inherited the tradition set by our first generation HDB flat owners of getting a flat first before getting married. Without a flat, their plans to have children are also delayed. And those who bought their highly priced flats are facing a lifetime of mortgage repayments with two sets of income.

The costs of public housing has become a hot button issue for a country that began independence 50 years ago with a sacred mission by the leaders to build as many low-cost housing units as possible. Nowadays, HDB's housing policy seems no longer targeted at providing home ownership to low income families. Although public housing still falls within the purview of HDB, there are specially built flats and executive flats. And private developers are tendering land from HDB to build flats which are priced commercially.

How should we be looking at our public housing problems and what can be done about them? I will discuss this in my next blog.