PAP MP pays $6.5 million for unit at luxury condo Marina Bay
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PAP MP pays $6.5 million for unit at luxury condo Marina Bay Suites
December 9, 2009 by Our Correspondent
Filed under HeadlinesAccording to a report by Business Times on 8 December 2009, Keppel Land said that it has two granted options to purchase units in Marina Bay Suites to a director of Keppel Land and his wife, and a director of Keppel Corporation (KepLand’s parent company) and his wife.
Mr and Mrs Niam Chiang Meng have bought a 2,045 sq ft four-bedroom unit at the development for $4.6 million, or $2,238 per square foot. Mr Niam is a KepLand director.Mr Niam Chiang Meng is the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports. Prior to his appointment in 2005, Mr Niam served as Chief Executive Officer of the Housing and Development Board from 2002 to 2004.
A PAP MP Mr Alvin Yeo Hirn Hai have also bought a 2,680 sq ft four-bedroom unit for $6.5 million, or $2,442 psf together
with his wife. Mr Yeo is a director of Keppel Corp. Mr Yeo is also a Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC.The Marina Bay Suites is a luxury condominium project built in the prime district of Marina Bay, just a stone throw away from the soon-to-be complete Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort.
A 99-year leasehold project, it is constructed jointly by Singapore’s Keppel Land and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Holdings Limited and Hong Kong Land.
Together with other projects such as The Sail in the vicinity, the Marina Bay Suites is one of the most expensive condominiums in Singapore to date. Only the very rich and expatriates are able to afford a unit there.
In other first world countries, it will be near impossible for a civil servant or MP to buy such a high-end condominium with their modest pays. However, Singapore’s ministers and top civil servants draw the highest salaries in the world.
A Superscale grade (SR9) civil servant is expected to get an annual salary of $338, 100 this year, or $28,175 a month. (Source: Press release from Public Service Division, 26 Nov 2009) Being senior civil servants in the top echelon of the civil service, Permanent Secretaries are probably pay more. In comparison, the median pay of the average Singapore worker is only $2,600 a month.
Singapore MPs are given a monthly allowance of around $13,000 a month on top of their full-time jobs. It is not uncommon to see MPs like Mr Alvin Yeo holding directorships in state-linked companies such as Keppel Land.
For example, former Minister for Information, Acts and Communication Dr Lee Boon Yang was recently appointed as a non-executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation though he waas trained as a dentist.
When the issue of MPs holding multiple directorships was raised in parliament a few years ago, it brought a chorus of protests from some PAP MPs.
PAP MP John Chen, who holds 8 directorships said:
“I don’t think that there should be a cap on the number of directorship that a person can hold.”
His colleague Wang Kai Yuen who holds a record 11 directorships added:
“It’s not for the money because some of the companies pay me as little as $10,000 a year”
In Singapore, there is no clear distinction between the government and the private sector. Many of its major blue chip companies like DBS, Singtel and SIA are actually “pseudo-state” companies owned by either one of the government’s sovereign wealth funds – Temasek Holdings or GIC.
As such, personnel can be transferred seamlessly from the state-linked companies to the government and vice-versa and more than often not, they all belong to the same clique with affiliations to the ruling party.
Current Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong was a former CEO of NatSteel, a government-linked company. The Chairman of Singapore’s sole print media company SPH is Dr Tony Tan, a former deputy prime minister.
While there is nothing wrong in civil servants and MPs purchasing private properties, one cannot help wondering if such highly paid senior officials and representatives of the people are able to empathize with the hardships faced by ordinary citizens on the ground.
News source: Business Times, 8 December 2009
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This is the Class Divide that MM LKY claims to be inevitable.
While the PAP will insist Singaporeans accept that the "Age of the Iron Rice Bowl" is over, LKY will scheme and manipulate the system to ensure for his own and his PAP cronies to enjoy the "Age of the Golden Rice Bowl" will last forever.
The Business Times senior editor, editor and reporter had better start planning a new career, or begin to look for a new employer.
News: The Straits Times - 20 Oct 2009
MM Lee: Social divide inevitableGlobal competition cuts wages at the bottom but boosts those at the topBy Jeremy Au Yong HAVING a minimum wage in place here to narrow the income gap could do more harm than good, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said last night.
In fact, every country that has set a minimum wage over what the market will bear has found that the move cuts jobs, he noted. Employers who are forced to deal with higher staff costs would simply find ways to hire less people.
That is why Singapore's approach has been to create as many jobs as possible, while leaving the market to decide the right level of pay. The rationale for this is that having any job is better than having no job at all. 'Never mind your Gini coefficient. If you don't have a job you get zero against those with jobs. So our first priority is jobs for everybody,' he said.
The Gini coefficient measures the income distribution across a country and is often used as gauge of the income gap.
MM Lee was responding to a question about what Singapore could do to narrow its income gap. Mr Elvin Ong, a fourth year social sciences and business student from the Singapore Management University, had asked him what Singapore could do to help its bottom 20 per cent.
The gap between the haves and have-nots is a recurrent political issue in Singapore and there have been concerted efforts by the Government to do more for the low income group.
Singapore's Gini coefficient fell from 0.489 in 2007 to 0.481 last year, a mark of a narrowing income gap. If government benefits are taken into account, the figure is further reduced to 0.462.
Yesterday, the Minister Mentor stressed, however, that the problem of a widening income gap is one that most countries - not just Singapore - have to contend with.
And it may be that such a split is inevitable in a globalised world. Global competition, he said, both depresses wages at the bottom and boosts wages at the top.
At the low end, he said that salaries of unskilled workers would be kept low because of competition from cheaper alternatives in places like China and India.
Meanwhile, at the higher end, workers being deployed to oversee foreign operations will naturally attract higher pay and perks like expatriate allowances.
An example of this sort of competition can also be seen in the United States, he said, where a lot of lower-end jobs have been outsourced to cheaper nations.
And though there was talk of passing laws to ban such outsourcing during the last US presidential election campaign, he felt that such a law would mean 'hobbling their own entrepreneurs'.
Said MM Lee: 'If you pass that kind of legislation and you don't go abroad, but your competitors go abroad to lower-cost countries, your markets will shrink.'
The inevitability of an income divide was a theme he returned to later in the night when another student asked him if he was worried about a social class divide appearing in Singapore.
That was unavoidable in a maturing society, he said.
Here, MM Lee cited the example of China. The country, he said, started as a classless society but has gradually evolved to favour those who have the right connections.
He explained: 'The communists started with a classless society. They chopped off the capitalist land owners and so on - literally chopped off their heads.
'But in China today, you have the leaders and you have the princelings... They're well-educated, well-connected.'
He pointed to the family of former Chinese premier Li Peng, who now controls the country's energy sector. His daughter Li Xiaolin is chairman of China Power International Development, an electricity monopoly. His son Li Xiaopeng used to head Huaneng Power, another energy heavyweight.
Said MM Lee: 'They probably deserve the job. But if they were not well-connected, they may never be recognised. China is a big place, so you need to be recognised, otherwise you're just one of one thousand and three hundred million Chinese.'
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Nothing wrong mah... His own money...
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6.5 mio is not a big deal
if a hawker can hold 2 -3 condo units
no big deal for a minister brought one
6.5 mio property
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yalor, even selling beers, wines and hard liquors like me also can have landed properties, what is 99 years leasing for 6.5 millions to an MP??
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maybe next we would see other ministers
buying the whole development or a posh
bungalow on sentosa cove.
then maybe can start to make noise
.........
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LKY dun have to buy anything, the whole of singapore is his, he pays ministers high salary so that they can afford to buy expensive and he still can earn from it. stupid ministers.
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an sure angel above earn more then the so call minister....
not everyone is a saint... they still do good thing for money.... and help others for money....
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they must all live in HDB 3room flats
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Originally posted by FireIce:
they must all live in HDB 3room flats
they are... i bet there is only 3 room inside there... and sponsor by hdb (indirectly)....
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By the way, i still dun understand HDB rooming, if you said 3 rooms, does it include toilets, store rooms and living room?? or a solid 3 bedrooms??
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Ya lor, to empathize with the poor, sick, elderly, handicap, unemployed, ALL MPs, Ministers and top civil servants should spend one to three months and live with these people to experience their hardship.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
yalor, even selling beers, wines and hard liquors like me also can have landed properties, what is 99 years leasing for 6.5 millions to an MP??
Why did the Taiwanese 'hum' not include the flesh trade that is included at the Bar being operated, and while it give its lip service with an extra bonus that will include its clitoris wagging along ?Originally posted by angel7030:LKY dun have to buy anything, the whole of singapore is his, he pays ministers high salary so that they can afford to buy expensive and he still can earn from it. stupid ministers.
It is the prerogative of the ignorant Taiwanese 'hum' to give up its cockleshell to LKY, it does not qualify a PR from Taiwan to make statements on behalf of Singaporeans.
Originally posted by angel7030:By the way, i still dun understand HDB rooming, if you said 3 rooms, does it include toilets, store rooms and living room?? or a solid 3 bedrooms??
Can a Taiwanese 'hum' have more then one room inside its cockle-shell - when there is not enough room even to keep its clitoris that needs to hang itself out all the time to attract attention to itself ?
Does it need any toilets, store rooms and living room - when the "solid 3 bedrooms" will be more important to serve its needs to have the twice a day of orgasmic fix as an "Attention Seeking Whore" ?
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lau hum ku...
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With the Singapore Talents recruited by the PAP to stuff an over bloated Parliament of 84 members - to be kept and maintained as Corporate Directors instead of serving the citizens in the respective constituencies - should anyone be surprised that in this Speaker's Corner there are threads started that reflect the pathetic social issues that can exist in this pseudo-First World environment ?
- ‘Transporting subsidies for the disabled – passing the buck ?’ (*1)
‘PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get flats for not “planning ahead”’ (*2)
‘Please, get out of my elite uncaring face’. (*3)
‘Eunos residents protest against HDB’s lift upgrading program’ (*4)
‘Govt woos HDB owners by giving property tax rebates’. (*5)
‘Lui Tuck Yew: HDB property tax raised next year to avoid bigger increases later’ (*6)
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Originally posted by angel7030:
lau hum ku...
Whenever the Taiwanese 'hum' has been struck with the truth, it will withdraw its clitoris to stop it from wagging further as the "Attention Seeking Whore" loses its appetite for any more orgasmic fix. -
Firstly, its true the MP bought the unit using his own money and i have nothing against that. However:
How does an MP relate to his/her constituents and the general state of the constituencytwhen the said person does not even live in the constituency? By reading the newspaper? Watching the news? Conducting walkabouts only during election period and feigning concern? Last time i checked, Marina Bay wasn't part of Hong Kah GRC...
I dont see how an MP can hold directorships in companies. Example: MP A holds a directorship in a landscape company. GRC needs a landscaping job pronto. How can the public ensure that the contract is being awarded to the right company when the tender is not made public?
The whole political situation in Singapore confirms my thinking that the Ruling party only concern is to maintain its own status quo and not improving the lives of Singaporeans. The kind mentality this feudal lords have might have sunk them if they are elected in another country.
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I really resent everytime Lee Kuan Yew tried to look smart by "analyzing" China as a kind of an expert.
Those things which he said about "princelings"....man...did he not realize what people were thinking when he said that?
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morally, there is nothing wrong. if your civil servants are doing a good job, you can't pay them a lot and expect them not to spend it.
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Originally posted by Veggie Bao:
I really resent everytime Lee Kuan Yew tried to look smart by "analyzing" China as a kind of an expert.
Those things which he said about "princelings"....man...did he not realize what people were thinking when he said that?
He careless about what people think ya, to me, he is one of the most thickness skin person in Singapore, and that is good for him, because, if you wanted to do big and great thing, you need to careless about what people think or said, JUST DO IT.Like me, i learned from him. You can throw me here and there, but i still go on, my heart will go on.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
LKY dun have to buy anything, the whole of singapore is his, he pays ministers high salary so that they can afford to buy expensive and he still can earn from it. stupid ministers.
Please get your facts right before posting. You are so stupid to think the whole Singapore belongs to your lau hero. Singapore does not belong to your lau hero lky. -
Originally posted by angel7030:
He careless about what people think ya, to me, he is one of the most thickness skin person in Singapore, and that is good for him, because, if you wanted to do big and great thing, you need to careless about what people think or said, JUST DO IT.Like me, i learned from him. You can throw me here and there, but i still go on, my heart will go on.
Yes lor, you are right. Only ruthless, merciless, despicable evil people are like that. pui -
Originally posted by sir_peanuts:
morally, there is nothing wrong. if your civil servants are doing a good job, you can't pay them a lot and expect them not to spend it.
and if they wanted to spend it lavishly, just keep to themselves, LKY is not worrying about paying high salary to Civil servants, and certainly he dun mind them spending as it will churn the economy, what he worries is the those big mouth civil servants goes around and boast their wealth and assets, that will reflect a bad image for the lower half 20% so called poor singaporeans. -
well, at least he did not put his money outside Singapore.
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it is not that he dun put his money outside of Singapore, it is because he got burnt outside before...alot.