TR EMERITUS

well said! well said!

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FELLOW SINGAPOREANS,

At the coming General Elections, let us ALL UNITE and CHOOSE NOT TO VOTE for our “choosy PAP Screwed-up Gabra-men” i.e.

— if you’re retrenched and cannot find a job, “you’re choosy”

— if you cannot afford to pay for an obscenely-priced bee-hive (HDB flat), “you’re choosy”

— if you’re burdened by our high cost of living and too poor to buy food for your children, “you’re choosy”

Remember, PAP = Pathetic And Pathetic

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Well said. That is why I always said he has not shown the compassionate side of him. Whichever ministry he was posted to, he will always make money and more money at the expense of peasants.

He keep emphasizing affordable flats for first time buyer. What happen to the pro-family culture? In fact, the government should give incentive to families who wanna stay with their parents through more reasonable pricing of bigger flats.

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Great article. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Time for Singaporeans to reject Mr Mah.

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Mr. Mah is a very busy person, you people really believed that he is so ‘hardworking’ that he knows what is going on at HDB?

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We need better statistics rather than the few applicants highlighted!

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“we should have build-to-order brides and grooms too”

LOL! maybe we should have build-to-order ministers instead.

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@silenceisgolden: isn’t hdb renting the flats already? when you are old, you sell back the flats to them having paid a lifetime of hdb loans.

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Kudos, Mr Ng. We should have more and more people like you, not afraid to stand up and speak the truth! Either Mr Mah is poor with his figures, makes it unjustiable for him to receive a million-dollar pay package, or he is truly untruthful..

Yes, let us all unite and use the power that lies in our hands (limited to those who is able to vote, and who has opposition candidates, of course, to get them to be on their knees….

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20k for 2k ratio is a freak result. Those units are in mature estates which are popular with most people. You can’t use that for comparison. You should use new flats in new estates. There’s no way many more new units can come up in mature estates. Be realistic.

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Anon,

20k for 2k ratio is not a freak result. It is a real result that happens again and again. What the HDB cannot satisfy, the HDB simply discounts. What kind of logic is that?

If your boss gives you two tasks to do. One task you can do, the other task you can’t do. So you tell your boss to count only the task you can do. The task you can’t do, you tell your boss “no count”. Then your achievement would be 100% even though you only completed 50% of your work. What kind of stupid logic is that?

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Truly,

It’s freak because there’s a special reason behind the ratio. The special reason is that these units are in mature estates. That’s the special point and that’s why the result is so off-scale.

Many people like mature estates, but it’s impossible to make more units there. Nobody can deny it’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to build any more units in these estates.

You put the 2 things together. First, people like mature estates. Second, you can’t make more units in them. You’ll see this result. There are many people versus a few units.

For new flats in new estates, you may not get this type of ratio. First, people don’t like to live in new estates. Second, there can be many new units in new estates. That means not many people versus many units.

It’s not like what you said about acting blur or ignoring the result. It’s about seeing the reason behind the result and knowing the difference with other more reasonable results. There’s a context behind the result. Surely, it’s not fair to use these fantastic result out of the blue by ignoring the context behind the result. That’s also ignoring the result.

Seriously, can anyone suggest how to build more units in mature estates?

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Hey everyone, the total number of bids include multiple-time bidders. If these guys have rejected flats before, their chances of getting a flat decreases. So 1st time flat owners-to-be get priority.

Just a lil bit extra to think about! I got offered a flat for my first BTO application but I rejected it. At my next application I was offered the surplus flat in Sengkang, rejected that too. Then the next BTO flat I applied for in Punggol, I got it.

So there you go. One happy, lucky bidder for you guys! I’m sure it is not just me but for everyone else who applied successfully for BTO flats as well!

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Let’s Voted that idiot MBT ‘OUT’

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Sickest Political Joke of All Time:

“There is always a strong demand for rental flats as they are heavily subsidised. Those who are FINANCIALLY CAPABLE of owning a flat or renting accommodation from the open market, and those who have family who can support them, SHOULD NOT DEPRIVE THE MORE NEEDY of subsidised rental housing.”
— $2m HDB Minister-in-charge Mah Bow Tan (BT 3 Jan 08)

Angry/Disgusted S’poreans Say:

Over his 20 years as Cabinet Minister, Singaporeans (and not the PAP) have paid $2m Minister Mah Bow Tan a conservatively-estimated handsomely-humongous S$100 million in total salary/bonuses/other perks.

Despite this, he did not send his son Warren Mah to university on “Father’s Scholarship” (i.e. out of his own pocket) but managed to land him a Govt Scholarship (from Monetary Authority of Singapore) to study at the prestigious University of Pennslyvania in USA.
The MAS scholarship is worth some S$300,000 — which, by PAP standards, is merely “half a peanut” !!!

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Its heartbreaking to think the vote I gave which supposing to make my life better here, turn out to be opposite. Did MBT as a leader check on those ppl( not able to get their flats) as to what are the reasons passionately as a leader? Can he look within himself and his policies that had resulted us here, to see if the problms lies in them and not the fully the people? Simply just pulling out a datas and lamented people saying they are “choosy”, is not acceptable who as a leader withdrawn large salary enjoying in his big cosy home. I can only say that there is no heart in this person. We need a change, especially the one with who is supposing to be ” not choosy”.

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Truly,

A few of those condos aren’t in HDBish area. These’re near landed properties or private condos. These’re typical higher-cost areas. The land there will be expensive.

Some of the condos’re in HDB areas and I wonder at their high price. But let’s say they’re all made into HDB. Can there be 20000 units?

If there’re 200 units per block, you need 100 blocks. That’s almost one estate. If you share those among 5 estates, everyday you’ll see 20% more people on buses, MRTs, hawker centres, roads.

If you jam-pack 10 units of 100m2 per floor without any space for carparks or lifts or corridors or greeneries, you need a 100m by 100m area, about 1 stadium. You need 20 of them. If you want breathing space between units and blocks, you need maybe 40.

If you cater to 50% of the applications, you still need 20 stadium.. The long term solution is still to shift some activities out of mature estates.

Naturally, the scarce space in mature estates will be more expensive. I’m not trying to be funny here. This is reality.

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My estimate is 1000 units in a 100×100m area. Should I squeeze them in a smaller area? Or I’ve already squeeze them a lot?

Queenstown has ~2km2 of residential area with ~28k units. That’s 140 units per 100×100m area.

Bedok has ~4km2 of residential area with ~58k units. That’s 145 units per 100×100m area.

Choa Chu Kang has ~62k units (projected) within ~3km2. That’s 206 units. Ang Mo Kio is about the same.

It looks like my estimate is 5-6 times more dense than normal. If you complain about too much crowd on the bus and hawker centres, you’re lucky I wasn’t in charge of planning a new town.

Data courtesy of contributors to wikipedia.

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Anon,

URA statistics show 7,250 units sold in the first half of this year. If this sales volume continues, we would have about 15,000 units sold this year. Add to that the units sold last year, we would have easily hit 20,000!

The units sold came from projects like Woodleigh which is near Potong Pasir, The Arte which is near Toa Payoh, The Mezzo which is opposite some flats in Balestier, Vista Residences which is in Toa Payoh, Double Bay in Simei, Kovan Residences in Hougang, Livia in Pasir Ris, Mi Casa in Choa Chu Kang, Waterfront Waves in Bedok. There are also those in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Alexandra, Bukit Merah …

So you see, they are all over Singapore.

And please don’t give me your nonsense about jams the size of football stadiums. Whether these recently launched or sold units are condos or HDBs, their impact on the public transportation network will be the same.

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Also, how your local facilities can cope isn’t an issue. To you, this is just my nonsense. It’s completely a non-issue, because they are already shared among many HDB owners and many condo dwellers co-living together in many estates all over Singapore. I wonder how many condo dwellers there are at my local market and bus-stop across the road.

Anyway, if everyone is happy, that’s good. So, facilities is a nonsensical non-issue. But I’m still curious where to put the extra 10k units in mature estates. I’m thinking in terms of strictly and purely spatial considerations, leaving out any planning for amenities.

You can tear down the stadium along with the swimming pool or the light factories or the neighbourhood parks. Or you can put them at one far and remote corner of the estate where it’s still an empty forested plot.

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Some people from the PAP is sent to comment here using sentences that don’t make sense.

sigh… the pap has to go so low now to fight TR.

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Anon,

If I am not interested, I wouldn’t have replied at length would I? I can see that you are trying to be practical, but you end up with nonsense like overcrowding the size of football stadiums when it actually makes no difference.

You don’t have to verify that the Arte is surrounded by HDB, just look at the map and you’d know it’s near Toa Payoh. That’s one of their selling points actually. You don’t have to argue if HDB surrounded by semi-d is good or not. Just built and people will buy. You don’t have to wonder who is living in those private units. Because many of them are expats and it’s reasonable to say that Singaporeans take priority over expats. There are also people with cash who would bid up the price of Bukit Merah flats just for the location or the view.

You must be precise when you quote me. I didn’t say we should build 10,000 HDBs over condos. I said the thousands of condos that have been built could have been HDBs. There is a difference. In the former case, I have no confidence to say that space is still available. In the latter case, it’s confirmed that space was available which is contrary to what you said earlier.

You’re being silly aren’t you when you say build a flat on top of the Arte? and yet you say you’re not thinking of nonsense? that’s nonsense from you. I don’t mind debating with someone who makes sense, not someone who sprouts nonsense. I say once again, the land that Arte sits on could have been HDB land. But yet it holds a condo.

When you say “10000 is a third of Queenstown”, I hope you are not suggesting nonsense like all the condos that have sprung up all over Singapore are in Queenstown are you? You still don’t understand after so long, no one is planning for 10,000 units in your HDB estate. the thousands of units that have sprung up all over Singapore could have been HDBs. As simple as that.

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Truly,

I’m saying building a HDB at Arte. They could’ve built 1 or 2 HDBs there as you suggested, at the location of present Arte itself, instead of the Arte as it is now.

But Arte vicinity are all private developments. It’s within a zone of private housing. I very much doubt a visitor walking in the area will think it’s a logical neighbourhood to put a few HDBs. He will sense it’s a private area straightaway.

I think you don’t mind a few HDBs among private developments. But I think building pockets of HDB in the middle of something else is distasteful and messy. It reflects poor planning. Anyway, it won’t happen. It’s expensive. It’s inefficient. It’s not a good plan.

So, you can’t build HDBs in place of those condo. There’s no correlation. So, even if those condos weren’t built there at all, you won’t get more HDBs. Those sites aren’t HDB areas in the first place.

Of course, it’s possible to forsake zoning and convert pockets of unrelated area to public housing. You can insert odd pockets of HDB anywhere to satisfy those who must stay near mature estates. In fact, anything is possible if all guidelines are forsaken. They can jolly well build HDBs within an industrial estate.

But I doubt the odd pockets will be happy stranded there with all the common HDB amenities elsewhere. And they’ll need to fork out a sizeable amount for that land. I doubt too the private residents will feel good. Are the Garden residents not Singaporeans?

As for “10k is a third of Queenstown”, it’s just to convey the size and magnitude of a 10k development. It gives a tangible size to that vague number. Queenstown has 28k units and 10k is about a third of that. If you want to build 10k, you need that size of area. You can break that size into many chunks among some mature estates, but space is limited and so is expensive as well.

My impression here is that any suggestion of HDB units in outlying new estates (away from mature estates) is a big no-no. It must be near mature estates at all costs, even if it means throwing zoning into the bins and building small adhoc HDB pockets anywhere empty though unsuitable and expensive, as long as it’s near. Is that advisable?

Be realistic, space is limited. If you must, then you simply just need to face the competition as you see it now, and also pay the price. It’s not possible for everyone to have the same limited item and still have it cheap.

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Anon,

no, that’s not what it reads earlier. you specifically said ” they should be built on top of Arte”. the Arte naturally refers to the project, not the location itself. so you have only yourself to blame for coming across as nonsensical.

why the sudden concern with zoning when earlier you said you are “thinking in terms of strictly and purely spatial considerations”? two reasons why your concern is unfounded:

1) it is not as if the condos are all uniform. there is a patch work of condominiums there so it’s not gonna make much difference if you squeeze another building in between
2) the HDB has been claiming that flat designs are now better. Even LKY compliments our designs saying it is different from what it used to be and they look like condos.

so what’s with putting a condo look alike flat in between two condos?

distasteful and messy is just your opinion, not the nation’s. if done properly, it can be tasteful and neat and can reflect good, meticulous planning. on the other, inability to accept this concept reflects poor imagination and inability to think out of the box, just like many civil servants – deadwoods who can’t think out of the box. what proof do you have to say that it will be expensive? who are you to say whether or not it is a good plan?

so you can build HDBs in place of condos because there is purpose and correlation. The next HDB is just two streets away. Just like the intermingling of flats and condos in many mature estates.

guidelines have to change with the times. you cannot blindly stick to the same guidelines when times have changed and situation necessitates changes.

on what basis do you say that odd pockets are severed from common HDB amenities? for the Arte example that you gave, the nearest HDB is only two streets away. that’s nearer than most people need to travel to get to the town centre of large towns. what difference does it make to the private resident whether the block opposite mine is HDB or condo? who are you to speak on their behalf?

Nope, the “10k is a third of Queenstown” suggests that the whole thing is one big project to be compressed into one town. so your choice of words easily slants the picture to something altogether different. so don’t blame others for your own misleading choice of words.

sounds like you are imposing your impression on me. never have i said that outlying estates is a no-no. so do not put words in my mouth, it doesn’t reflect well on you. the problem is not with having estates that are outlying. the problem is one of inbalance. there is an overwhelming number of condos at choice locations. there are far too few flats at choice locations. the numbers aren’t balanced. they should be balanced.

why do you ask me to be realistic when i am being realistic? isn’t it real that land was available that gave rise to the expected 14,000 condo units to be sold this year? so while space is limited, it is realistic that sufficient space is available for 14,000 condo units that could have been HDBs.

even if we want to pay the price, we can’t have it. the HDB owns all the land and if the HDB doesn’t build flats at choice locations, we can’t have it even if we’re willing to pay the price.

no one is asking for cheap. but the HDB always claims that the flat is highly subsidised. we just want our ‘highly subsidised’ flat.

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Truly,

It sounds very high. In fact, if I make a guess, it sounds like somewhere near the city. A good investment, congrats!

On Arte, it’s a typical private area. Even though it’s near the northeastern fringe of that area, it’s still a private area. Yah, it’s near Ah Hood HDBs. But the greater Toa Payoh with all its amenities is on the other side of PIE. Ah Hood is connected to Toa Payoh by only 1 sole pedestrian bridge.

No offence anybody, Ah Hood seems “orphaned” from Toa Payoh. It comprises just a few blocks. It’s surrounded by private housing in the west, a private school in the east, PIE in the north. In the south, there’re public schools followed by sprawling expensive private housing interpersed with commercial/government buildings.

Yah, urban planning is subjective. I’ve witnessed people arguing over the skyline. Now here, the private and public developments are congregated at their own respective distinct locations, not exactly mixed and blurred. Nice or not? There’s no end. Let’s leave it to the professionals to decide what’s good.

There’s another common misconception here. HDB doesn’t own the land. It can only develop those land it’s allowed to buy. I don’t know the exact details, but URA takes care of the zoning and land sales while SLA values the plot. And HDB is not alone, there are other agencies and private developers competing for these land, not just HDB.

I still think it’s not accurate to say most of those condos can be made into HDB, if at all possible. Maybe a few odd ones can feasibly be HDB, but not most and these odd fews aren’t going to help much.

I won’t say there’s no chance to pay the price to buy these mature locations. The chance is already given. But the price is fixed and the fierce competition comes in the form of 20k. As I said, it’s not possible for bulk supply to come from mature estates, but still there’s many who must stay there. So that’s how the imbalance come. If this is a free market situation instead of balloting, imagine the price this competition will give.

As for “empty land”, the meaning and context are clear. The land has no existing development yet. We’re not talking about biodiversity or landform or others. I’ll refrain from questions about powers of inference and imagination here.

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Truly,

I’d say Ah Hood is a few flats in an ocean of private developments. It’s more the exception there.

As for connection to amenities, I think we do expect HDB to provide some common amenities in a housing estate. Whereas for private developments, they don’t answer for that and the owners don’t expect them to do anything and just lives with it. I think the only related thing the developer needs to do is to draw a strange map for initial sales. So, probably if odd pockets of HDB do come along, these residents will complain about amenities.

Actually, some parts of Singapore have an odd mix of everything (I mean developments, as in public housing, private shophouses/housing, commercial buildings). I guess these are the “older” areas of Singapore. Probably the guidelines then (before our present HDB or URA or whatever) were tentative and small-scale rather than the latter new towns. Could Ah Hood plot be one of the remnants of that era? I don’t know.

I also don’t know the details of the bidding. But I feel that land is scarce and there are many different things different people want. The mechanism needs to balance everything.

Example, if there’s a stranglehold on private development or there’s a policy that they must be in the outskirts, probably you can see your centrally located condo appreciate a lot. But if these had happened before purchase, probably you’d not be able to afford it back then. How about for the people who aspire to own a condo?

This “empty” thing is taking on a life of its own. An empty land must have nothing (but what constitutes “something”?) on it. Otherwise, we aren’t supposed to say it’s empty. Then I’m hesitant to say this. There’re more empty land in the outlying areas. Anyway, we’re entitled to our own opinions.

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Truly,

Either way, both are exceptions. “Exception” means they’re the small minority. The private pockets are the odd exceptions you fervently wish to convert and I guess you’ll defend the odd public ones down to the last room.

For Ah Hood residents, who knows but maybe they do complain? Anyway, note that someone built a pedestrain bridge to Toa Payoh not anywhere else but strategically right near the estate. Significantly, there aren’t many bridges across PIE. So, at least there’s a connection, but how about those potential odd pockets not at the fringe but in the middle?

Well, it’s the exception (minority few), possibly a remnant with accustomed residents. But still that doesn’t absolve HDB from doing something to rectify the “planning flaw”. Will you or anyone absolve or defend HDB for the hypothetical for-greater-good Arte HDBs if someone complains not having a bridge nearby? Should the complainants be chastised for not treasuring their good fortune near Toa Payoh?

Old districts are zoned last time. Some of the plots are freehold or still have leasehold time. Old buildings on the plots can give way to new ones. Acquired sites can get sold and developed too. So, old districts have new developments too. Don’t tell me.. the whole area isn’t part of “old” Singapore anymore, because there’s a new building.

You’re in a delicate position. You seem to be in an odd condo pocket and you’re bent on its potential for public good. This seems to be your principle when you say HDB should have priority over other developments. Anyway, no worries, it’s quite safe. Though you seem to imply otherwise, it doesn’t seem an odd pocket to me, as there are shophouses and commercial buildings nearby.

Better locations? Means near MRT? There’re MRTs and LRTs in outlying estates too. Or means near some population centre? If there’s a sizeable population, that means it’s crowded with little empty land. Or means in some private estate??? Don’t tell me in the prime districts??????

What’s wrong with outlying estates that these are worse locations? All the mature estates now used to be outlying in their infancy. Some of the residents’ve lived there for many decades before their “obscene” prices materialise. But I’m sure they weren’t there for the profit when they moved in. They were there to settle in their home.

But how about those Singaporeans who don’t qualify for DBSS? I don’t know the situation but some say the majority of condo owners are foreigners who don’t qualify. And in property, the cardinal rule is LOCATION (bold, red and all caps). So, who knows? If Singaporean aspirants are priced out of these locations by these majority unqualifieds, they will have to settle for outlying ones.

Empty land, empty room, empty space. With your definition, many cases will be wrong uses of “empty” because of “something”. But strangely, people get the idea what it’s about. Somehow they can grasp what’s the “something” and what’s not. This is what we call context.

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anon,

wrong anon, exceptions means that if condos is allowed to be squeezed within HDB estates, than vice versa, HDBs should be allowed to squeeze into condo estates. so there’s no breaking of rules here because either way, it has always been done.

so if ah hood complaints is allowed to go on for decades, then complaints from a potential block next to ah hood should be allowed too.

there you go, there are attempts to service ah hood residents by building a bridge across the PIE. so if Ah hood people are well served, then those next block would be too.

so how do you know it is the exception? just because i have tore down all your arguments, you just dismiss it as the exception without showing proof?

why do you say HDB should rectify the “planning flaw”? who besides you say it is a planning flaw? are you the good-for-nothing minister? who would be so idiot as to plan an overhead bridge one block away from an existing one? have not seen one so far.

zoning is still there, within the delightful mix that we around us, zoning is still there in general. yes there are new developments in an old district. so you can’t say that zoning prevents HDBs and condos to inter mix.

you don’t have to worry about my position, just worry over yours. yes i’m staying a condo and also rooting for more HDBs to be well located. nothing wrong with that. first you say there shouldn’t be any mix. now i tell you that mixture does exist. now you say shophouses + commercial buildings + condos is not odd. that being the case, with such a hotch potch mix, why would the addition of HDB make much of a difference? you sure you’re not slapping yourself on the left cheek after you’ve slapped your right cheek?

most of the condo units are right next to the MRT. the new town tends to be so big that most of the blocks would be so far that you’d need a feeder bus to get to the MRT. i don’t see how crowdedness with differ whether it is condo or HDB. what has private estate or prime districts got to do with this?

nothing wrong, just worse like you said. at any given time, mature estates tend to be nearer to town than newer estates and so will be more convenient. gradual price increase over decades is ok, but obscene price jumps overnight is not ok. yes, rightfully, everyone should be choosing a place to stay for staying’s sake only. now, the property market is like a major gambling den. that’s not healthy to the long term health of our economy.

Minister Mah says that about 80% Singaporean families qualify for HDB flats so they certainly qualify for DBSS, that’s a great deal already. it’s fine if foreigners end up staying in the outskirts if condos are built in the outskirts. singaporeans come first. some singaporeans may be priced out of these locations. but given Mah’s figures, they would form the minority only.

have i defined “empty”? no, i am no gate keeper of the english language and I have not defined anything so don’t put words in my mouth yet again. show me all the many cases where “empty” has been wrongly used. as far as I have seen so far, yours is the only case. strangely, you say that people get your idea of “emtpy” but I see no evidence of that even here. if they grasp whatever “something” you’re saying, show it here please. don’t just claim it or change the context.

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Internment that does not result in everyone being dead 48 hours later is obviously the province of government, with the massive infrastructural demands it makes of those who would implement it. ,

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1. Ah, I see that you’ve accept the reality that it’s an exception, not a norm.

2. “so if ah hood complaints is allowed to go on for decades, then complaints from a potential block next to ah hood should be allowed too.” I’m sure you meant to be sensitive and understanding. It sure does sound so.

3. “so if Ah hood people are well served (by a bridge), then those next block would be too.” So, you allow a sole bridge as a good enough amenity. Thanks for absolving HDB.

4. Let’s try.. Can we find an estate with 100 blocks? Wow, 20 5-blocks surrounded by HDB. Now, can I find a 100 blocks estate? I hope I can find a 500 blocks estate. If I’m really lucky, there may be more than 1 of these estates.

Hmm.. 1x Ah Hood.. and counting.. hopefully. Hope you’re doing ok with the examples.

5a. The planning flaw leading to complaints.

5b. Thank goodness. No complaints from there.

6. No problem with sizeable chunks. Small odd public pockets will have problems though.

7a. Do you root for “don’t eat sharks fin” too?

7b. Geylang collaborates my argument. It’s a private area. Private condos, private shophouses, private commercial buildings. Perfect combination. Being the old district, I sense there must be a 5-block HDB in there.. Nevermind, let’s just pretend it’s somewhere there. Hmm.. 2 counts.

8a. We can move along the lines and count how many condo blocks and HDB blocks there are.

By the way, Lavender is a part of “old” Singapore too. You know what, there’re some HDBs there! Too bad, it’s a sizeable chunk and many of them house light industrial shops used to be serving our Kallang Gasworks.

But let’s be gracious for this one.. 3 counts.

8b. Hmm.. HDBs in the middle of prime districts and private areas. How about HDBs beside the multi-million-dollar homes found in some outlying areas? Hmm.. expensive taste you have. I hope you can get it cheap.

10a. Your plan is to make it cheap in central area? Hmm.. 20k to 2k.. I sure hope you can cater to the droves with each generation.

Also, please let the residents understand they shouldn’t expect much amenities. The private developments around the blocks can’t be cleared. Do be diplomatic. Don’t ever say they should jolly well count their lucky stars to be able to stay there.

Anyway, why worry so much for them, you don’t seem much concerned about this aspect.. But a favour please, please do build a block next to The Sail. Marina Bay, HERE I COME! Hope I get a good ballot number.

10b. You’re the condo owner, not me. So, I take your word that more than 50% of condo owners are foreigners. Whether it be mass-market, middle tier, upmarket, whatever. Hope you are honest here. If not, your plan is going to frustrate the aspirations of certain Singaporeans.

11. Oh, my bad, you’re worried about the big trees. I understand now. The environmentalist in you has fogged your sense of context all this time. So, these are the “something”s you hold so dearly in your heart. Sure, it’s not empty then. I can empathise with your concern.

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Truly,

A count of 3 (1 real, 1 hypothetical, 1 for good-will) against a count of many many many. Hmm.. exception or not? Plain.

You should also take a walk out there. Public area or private area? Clear as day.

I sense you are retreating into your own delusional universe. Your response now is to play make-belief. Ok sire, you’re the king and the victor.. in that playpen of yours.

Come on, you want to put odd pockets of HDB in private areas, then go ahead, prepare a proposal. I’ve given you some considerations to be taken care of. You can think of others yourself.

When you’re done with the proposal, take it up with professionals, either local or overseas. Discuss it, finetune it, sort things out.

If it pans out, I may get my HDB in Newton/Scotts or Marina Bay. Do hope I get a good ballot number.

Don’t just sit there, and disparage what you can’t argue with, using empty remarks or just by acting blur. (Give you a hint – whatever is absolute and unbalanced will soon be indefensible).

But if that’s all you want to achieve, then ok.. I’ll just leave you to indulge in your own reverie in that playpen of yours. Have fun!

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