HDB should go back to basics: MP

Alicia Wong

With the cost of public housing on the rise, Sembawang Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Wee Kiak called for the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to go “back to the basics” in ensuring that home ownership remains the main goal.

Addressing the House on the second day of Parliament on Tuesday, Lim raised several suggestions on how this could be done, according to The Straits Times.

For instance, homeowners who want to upgrade to a private property should not be allowed to retain their HDB flat for rental while permanent residents who invest in housing for rental or capital gain should face additional tax conditions.

The government should also review the pricing policy for new flats, said Lim, noting that prices, which are pegged to market rates and then discounted, would continue to spiral upward in a rising market.

For low-income families, a larger housing grant and longer minimum occupancy period could be provided.

The government could also form a common pool of pension funds, apart from the Central Provident Fund, where all Singaporeans contribute according to their income level and the fund is disbursed equally to all retiring Singaporeans, he said.

Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam criticised the government for not doing enough for Singaporeans in three areas: public housing, transport and healthcare.

Among others, he called for more aid to those caught in between housing policies, such as singles and divorcees.

Other topics raised during Tuesday’s Parliament session included foreign worker policy, the Internal Security Act (ISA) and more help for the needy, according to Channel NewsAsia.

Pasir Ris-Punggol MP Gan Thiam Poh suggested the Ministry of Manpower review the foreign worker quota policy and base it on Singaporean workers’ wages, instead of employment numbers.

He also suggested exploring the possibility of linking quotas to the number of women with children and re-employed older workers a company hires.

Pasir Ris-Punggol MP Janil Puthucheary  said he was convinced by the nation’s security remains paramount, he asked if the system was robust enough to capture and deal with potential abuse of the ISA, and safeguards are in place.

MP for Marine Parade Fatimah Lateef called for a review of Singapore’s healthcare financing scheme, in particular for an upgrade of the Medisave scheme, to reduce the out-of-pocket payments, while Jurong MP Ang Wei Neng suggested more subsidies and bursaries for private undergraduates.

Undergradutes in local universities now have 70 to 75 per cent subsidy for their tuition fee, while UniSIM undergrads only get 55 per cent subsidy.

"We have almost full employment. This means that our current job market can sustain significantly higher number of graduates than what the local universities can produce. As Singapore gears towards a knowledge-based economy, we will probably need more graduates and not less," Ang was quoted as saying.

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