The proud and prejudiced should not give counsel

The Great Leader is opposed to increasing the available HDB rental flats to cater to needy Singaporeans because it would “create a dependency group’– “those constantly dependent on the Government and on subsidies” (ST, 28 January 2010, page A6).

To him, this “dependency group” appears to be young Singaporeans who “believe (they) can be a great entrepreneur” so they should “go and rent a flat from somebody” or use their flat as collateral to get a bank loan*.

*Straits Times noted in the same article that HDB clarified that you can’t use your HDB flat as collateral, duh. Some important take-aways from this excerpt:

1) By referring solely to Singaporeans in need of start-up capital (and thereby being unable and/or unwilling to take on a hefty housing mortgage in order to OWN a HDB flat), is the Great Leader implying that there is no other group that has difficulty finding housing?

2) If he is, what would we call these groups of people:

a) Singaporeans who have limited employability because of sickness, disability or lack of education and hence cannot afford mortgages and must rent?

b) elderly Singaporeans who fall into category 2a who either cannot depend on their children to house them or have none to speak of?

c) single parent families comprised of a non-working mother who was abandoned by her husband or divorced and cannot depend on alimony because the ex-husband cannot or refuses to pay child support?

d) single parent families who fall under category 2c who cannot depend on their relatives for shelter?

e) Families (either with or without children) who come under the poverty line, who have lost their homes due to reasons that the Rich and Middle Class have never experienced simply because they will never lose their homes to these reasons**?

(** Fine, if you must be nitpicky, then try cancer treatment or hospitalisation costs from sudden illness or accidents, or family members with bad habits like gambling, unwise investments and expensive tastes in cars who have depleted your life savings. I jest about the cars of course, but my point is, when these unfortunate disasters strike a family, the Rich and Middle Class are quite buffered from immediate poverty because they have resources like savings, insurance, trust funds. It is the poor, working classes that find themselves in sudden and immanent penury.)

3) Coming back to the “dependency groups” that Great Leader seems to have no inkling of, are we then to assume that the people I listed in categories 2a to 2e are not worthy of Government assistance? These are the very people who are receiving welfare and aid from non-government organisations as well as the Government itself. I am stunned that the first image that Great Leader associates with building more HDB rental flats is that of a 30-something year old idealist with irresponsible dreams of being his own boss.

4) Finally, what does Great Leader and the Ruling Party regard a HDB flat as? Is basic shelter from rain and shine a fundamental human right, or is it an “asset that increases in value” bestowed on the people (at S$30K less the current market rate) through a government strategy of nation-building?

I am highly disturbed by the rising number of families and singles of all age groups living under the poverty line (in Singapore, you cannot qualify for financial assistance if you earn more than S$1500 a month).

I am even more disturbed by the fact that we do not even talk about a poverty line when people cope with rising living costs on ever shrinking or stagnant salaries with each passing day.

Don’t you think it is unconscionable to deny the existence of the socially underprivileged and destitute?

If I were a single mother raising two small kids on a receptionist’s salary of $1400 before CPF because my husband ran off with his mistress to China and my in-laws have kicked me out, I would not appreciate a world-renowned politician and prominent member of the establishment telling me I don’t deserve a low-rent HDB flat because I fall into the category of a young punk with a dependency mentality who doesn’t want to get a job to buy a proper HDB flat.