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Potong Pasir resident questioned PAP over delay in upgrading opposition ward
April 8, 2010 by admin
An irate Potong Pasir resident Chan Mia Lee has written to the Straits Times Forum complaining that the PAP has not kept its promise of upgrading the opposition wards.
“It has been almost a year since Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu announced that the Government’s Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) would be launched in the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. The news thrilled residents like me, who live in the selected LUP precinct of Potong Pasir constituency. It gave us much cause for excitement. However, this euphoria seems to be evaporating as no work has been done,” she wrote.
It was announced amidst much fanfare last year by the PAP that the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang would finally be upgraded after waiting for several years.
The announcement waas not made by the opposition MPs themselves, but by the PAP’s grassroots leader Eric Low of Hougang which sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace.
The PAP claimed in its defence that as the funds are disbursed by HDB, a government agency, it needs to work with its grassroots leader to get the work started. However, it seems that Mr Eric Low has not fulfilled his promise yet.
“There is not even an announcement of a date when work is to begin. I am starting to wonder if the project is on track or if some unexpected problems have cropped up,” Ms Chia asked.
Over 85 percent of Singaporeans live in over-priced leasehold public housing built by the HDB, an agency under the National Development Ministry.
As the bulk of their life-savings are tied up to HDB flats, Singaporeans are very obsessed with their assets.
The PAP has made use of this to coerce Singaporeans to vote for them during the elections by threatening to withdraw upgrading funds from opposition wards which may dampen the value of the flats there.
A former PAP Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong once threatened to turn Hougang and Potong Pasir into “slums” if they continue to vote for the opposition.
As such, many Singaporeans have no choice but to vote for the PAP not that they support its leaders or policies thereby enabling the PAP to win elections after elections.
Ms Chan is unlikely to get a clear reply from the PAP or HDB for it is nothing more but a gimmick to entice residents of the two opposition wards to vote for the PAP in the next general election.
The residents of Hougang and Potong Pasir pay income taxes and serve National Service like the rest of Singapore. They are punished simply because they do not support the PAP.
With anti-PAP sentiment gaining ground, it is unlikely that the PAP will succeed in using the same scare-tactic to discourage Singaporeans from voting for the opposition again.
Who will care about estate upgrading when one’s livelihood is increasingly threatened by the hordes of foreigners whom the PAP is mass-importing to shore up its flagging support base?
Let see whether the PAP will be able to carry out its promise to deny the opposition wards of upgrading funds again if the opposition wins a significant number of seats in the next general election.
April 8, 2010 by admin
An irate Potong Pasir resident Chan Mia Lee has written to the Straits Times Forum complaining that the PAP has not kept its promise of upgrading the opposition wards.
“It has been almost a year since Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu announced that the Government’s Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) would be launched in the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. The news thrilled residents like me, who live in the selected LUP precinct of Potong Pasir constituency. It gave us much cause for excitement. However, this euphoria seems to be evaporating as no work has been done,” she wrote.
It was announced amidst much fanfare last year by the PAP that the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang would finally be upgraded after waiting for several years.
The announcement waas not made by the opposition MPs themselves, but by the PAP’s grassroots leader Eric Low of Hougang which sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace.
The PAP claimed in its defence that as the funds are disbursed by HDB, a government agency, it needs to work with its grassroots leader to get the work started. However, it seems that Mr Eric Low has not fulfilled his promise yet.
“There is not even an announcement of a date when work is to begin. I am starting to wonder if the project is on track or if some unexpected problems have cropped up,” Ms Chia asked.
Over 85 percent of Singaporeans live in over-priced leasehold public housing built by the HDB, an agency under the National Development Ministry.
As the bulk of their life-savings are tied up to HDB flats, Singaporeans are very obsessed with their assets.
The PAP has made use of this to coerce Singaporeans to vote for them during the elections by threatening to withdraw upgrading funds from opposition wards which may dampen the value of the flats there.
A former PAP Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong once threatened to turn Hougang and Potong Pasir into “slums” if they continue to vote for the opposition.
As such, many Singaporeans have no choice but to vote for the PAP not that they support its leaders or policies thereby enabling the PAP to win elections after elections.
Ms Chan is unlikely to get a clear reply from the PAP or HDB for it is nothing more but a gimmick to entice residents of the two opposition wards to vote for the PAP in the next general election.
The residents of Hougang and Potong Pasir pay income taxes and serve National Service like the rest of Singapore. They are punished simply because they do not support the PAP.
With anti-PAP sentiment gaining ground, it is unlikely that the PAP will succeed in using the same scare-tactic to discourage Singaporeans from voting for the opposition again.
Who will care about estate upgrading when one’s livelihood is increasingly threatened by the hordes of foreigners whom the PAP is mass-importing to shore up its flagging support base?
Let see whether the PAP will be able to carry out its promise to deny the opposition wards of upgrading funds again if the opposition wins a significant number of seats in the next general election.
