Tag: Lam Pin Min

Monthly Visits To Cat Hoarder/Breeder

Residents’ Committee members will pay monthly visits to a woman who kept 94 cats in a two-room flat at block 470B Fervale Link to “check on the situation, as well as her condition,” MP for the area Lam Pin Min said on Tuesday (Jun 27). Dr Lam, who said he learnt of the issue last week, added that grassroots organisations are helping the woman to clean up the flat. It is understood the woman in question lives in the flat with her mother. “We have referred her to the Family Service Centre and Social Service Office for further counselling and assistance,” the MP added.

The said unit reeks of a strong smell of urine and faeces hung in the air and two women were seen disposing of soiled furniture and other items at the void deck. Neighbours said an elderly woman and her daughter lived in the flat with the 94 cats. The two women moved in at the beginning of this year, although neighbours barely saw them, they said, adding that they were not aware that there were so many cats in the flat as well. One neighbour, who declined to be named, said: “The house has always been very smelly. I have never seen the cats come out, but the smell was still unbearable.” So bad it was that they could smell the stench from within their rooms, even when their doors were closed. “The few times we encountered the smell from the house, we suspected it was maybe the smell of a dead cat or that the elderly lady had passed away also,” another neighbour said.

Two neighbours first complained about the cat issue to the Housing and Development Board in May this year. HDB officers paid a visit to the woman and informed her that cats are not allowed in HDB flats, and that she would have to find new homes for them.

June 28, 2017
Lam Pin Min: I’ve No Intention To Mislead Residents

Three years ago in 2012, in a blog post, MP Sengkang West Lam Pin Min happily announced that a new big-time commercial mall to be built by SPH, was coming to his constituency.

The big mall, which was later named Seletar Mall, is situated next to Fernvale Point, a small neighbourhood shopping centre managed by HDB.

Dr Lam wrote on his blog (‘New Commercial Complex @ Fernvale – Coming soon‘):

HDB launched the tender of a commercial site at Sengkang West Avenue/Fernvale Road, next to Fernvale Point and Fernvale LRT station. The land parcel has a site area of 8,790.3 sq m and has a maximum allowable gross floor area of 26,370.9 sq m.

The tender exercise for this commercial plot attracted a total of 12 bids, with Earth Holdings, a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), offering the highest bid of S$328 million…

Immediately after his announcement, a resident asked him if Fernvale Point would be demolished with the launch of Seletar Mall, as he was working at Fernvale Point and he wouldn’t want to be unemployed:

Dr Lam replied confidently that Fernvale Point will not be demolished as it “still gas (has) many years to go”:

This was in 2012.

Fernvale Point closed in April 2015

Last month (22 Apr), the media suddenly reported that Fernvale Point would be closed by end April. It reported that without the wet market and neighbourhood shops, residents are complaining. Fernvale Point, managed by HDB, had a wet market, NTUC FairPrice, coffee shops and neighbourhood shops:

The closing of Fernvale Point came 5 months after the opening of SPH’s Seletar Mall in November last year. ST even wrote an article to hype up the launch of Seletar Mall (‘Fernvale all abuzz over arrival of new Seletar Mall‘):

“The opening of the gleaming new Seletar Mall on Nov 28 looks set to transform this corner in the north-west of Sengkang. Sited next to Fernvale LRT station, the new complex will offer more than 130 brands over four storeys and two basement levels.

Anchor tenants include supermarket FairPrice Finest, Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, department store BHG and Shaw Theatres, which will be opening Sengkang’s first cinema.”

Fernvale Point provided cheap shopping

Note that when NTUC FairPrice moved from Fernvale Point to Seletar Mall, it has turned its supermarket to FairPrice Finest, catering to the upper end of the market. In other words, grocery will be more expensive there than before.

Indeed, many residents are not happy with Fernvale Point being demolished because it provided them with cheap shopping, especially the ability to buy food from the wet market. Many Singaporeans are already trying their best to cope with the rising marketing expenses, partly attributed to the high rentals incurred by shopkeepers and stall owners. Many wanted their wet market back and do not wish to see another condominium built on the vacated Fernvale Point:

Govt already reserves site for high-rise residential development

Some enterprising netizens managed to dig out the Govt’s plan for the vacated Fernvale Point site together with the open space next to Fernvale Point.

Apparently, the Govt has already reserved these 2 sites for “future high-rise residential development”:

A netizen wrote that many Sengkang residents don’t wish to see yet another condominium built at the sites. He also revealed that Dr Lam has been deleting postings on his Facebook page mentioning about the sites reserved for high-rise residential development (‘MP Lam deletes FB queries on Fernvale Point‘):

“A condominium is what most residents do not want because of the noise produced by the construction, and because it does not meet their needs. Fernvale is a small town that has already been squeezed with lots of high-rise apartments and scarce facilities to meet the needs of the young couples who have moved in. One resident voiced out that she did not want to see her town become a concrete jungle with no kampong spirit.

Why couldn’t Dr Lam tell them straight that the current development plan for that plot of land is to build yet another high-rise residential development. I do not believe that as the MP he is unaware of the intended use for that parcel of land. Why let them continue to have false hopes that they would get their market, childcare centre or community centre?

Furthermore, attempts by netizens to post the current development plan on Dr Lam’s wall have failed because comments that reveal the use of land for condominium building have been swiftly deleted.“

Dr Lam says he did not mislead residents

In any case, he posted a message on his Facebook page recently saying that he has no intentions to mislead the residents:

So, what do you think? From promising that Fernvale Point “still gas (has) many years to go” to deleting Facebook postings which revealed Govt’s plan to develop high-rise residential units at the sites, has Dr Lam misled Sengkang residents?

Do tell us your views.

Source: www.tremeritus.com

May 26, 2015
Police Report Lodged Against Dr Lam Pin Min

Local film-maker and activist, Martyn See has filed a police report against Minister of State for Health and Member of Parliament of Seng Kang West SMC, Lam Pin Min over his facebook posting on the Thaipusam incident in February.

Mr See in his police report, filed a complaint against Dr Lam for offences committed under the Sedition Act (Chapter 290) and sub judice contempt of court.

Dr Lam in his facebook posting wrote, “An example of how alcohol intoxication can cause rowdiness and public nuisance.”

The incident which Dr lam commented on, took place during the Thaipusam festival on 3 February, Tuesday.

It was said that police officers had pulled urumi drumers for a kavadi carrier into an alley after playing musical instruments despite being disallowed. This subsequently erupted into a scuffle between the police and the men who hired the drummers.

3 men are now accused of using vulgarities and injuring one police officer.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) had initially issued a statement saying, “All three men were believed to have been drinking earlier as they smelt strongly of alcohol.” but has since stopped referring to this allegation.

The article, “What really happened at the Thaipusam scuffle?” by Lovely Singapore which Dr Lam had linked to, has also since been deleted.

However, Dr Lam’s comment on his public facebook fanpage still remains.

Mr See claims that Dr Lam’s comment has distorted an allegation by the SPF into a statement of fact. By doing so, he has :

1. Incited enmity towards the Hindu community by stating as fact that devotees were intoxicated while participating in the holy festival of Thaipusam.

2. Caused ill-will and hostility between different races and communities. The responses on his facebook page show overwhelming hostility to his remark. Yet, he has allowed his offending words to remain online.

3. Committed sub judice contempt of court by risking prejudice which may affect the final determination of the ongoing case against Ramachandra Chandramohan, Jaya Kumar Krishnasamy and Gunasegaran Rajendran, who are due to undergo trial for alleged disorderly behaviour. The three men were charged in court on 7 February.

TOC has sought the comments of Dr Lam and will include them when he replies.

Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

February 26, 2015
Martyn See Tong Min Urges Lam Pin Min To Apologise And Retract Statements On Thaipusam

OPEN LETTER TO MP DR LAM PIN MIN

A happy new year to you Dr Lam,

My name is See Tong Ming, Martyn. I am a citizen of Singapore. I hereby inform you that I will be filing a police complaint against you on the 26th of February 2015 for offences committed under the Sedition Act and Contempt of Court unless you remove and apologize for the following remark you made.

On the 5th of February 2015 at 1836 hours, you shared a link on your facebook page to an article by ‘Lovely Singapore’ entitled “What really happened at the Thaipusam scuffle?” You had captioned the report in your own words :

“An example of how alcohol intoxication can cause rowdiness and public nuisance.”

The original statement by the Singapore Police Force, posted on the 5th February two hours earlier, had stated:

“All three men were believed to have been drinking earlier as they smelt strongly of alcohol.”

As such, you have deliberately distorted an allegation by the SPF into a statement of fact. I put it to you that you have :

1. Incited enmity towards the Hindu community by stating as fact that devotees were intoxicated while participating in the holy festival of Thaipusam. May I inform you that devotees are required to undergo a strict regiment of fasting and abstinence from meat and alcohol. Members of the families of kavadi carriers are also required to undergo such a regiment, albeit for a shorter period.

2. Caused ill-will and hostility between different races and communities. The responses on your facebook page show overwhelming hostility to your remark. Yet, you have allowed your offensive post to remain online, while you continue to publicly tout Christian teachings on your personal facebook wall. As a Member of Parliament, your lopsided attitude towards the religious sensitivities of Singaporeans, particularly against the Hindu community, is vexatious.

3. Committed sub judice contempt of court by risking prejudice which may affect the final determination of the ongoing case against Ramachandra Chandramohan, Jaya Kumar Krishnasamy and Gunasegaran Rajendran, who are due to undergo trial for disorderly behaviour. The three men were charged in court on February 7th. Your facebook posting has remained online to this day. It has since been reproduced in online forums and blogs. A google search of “Thaipusam alcohol”, “Thaipusam intoxication”, ‘Thaipusam rowdiness” and ‘Thaipusam public nuisance” show up your statement as the top search result.

This will not be the first time I have filed a police complaint against an elected person holding political office. In 2013, I filed a police complaint against Abdul Ghani Othman, the then Johor Menteri Besar, for canvassing for votes in Singapore ahead of the Malaysian elections.

As this is the Chinese New Year season, I wish to offer you a grace period of 3 days to correct your facebook post and make a public apology to the Hindu community. Failing which, a police complaint will be filed by 12 noon on the 26th of February 2015.

If you are so hung up in equating alcohol consumption with public nuisance, I suggest you speak up against the police’s approval of the St. Patrick’s Day street parade on Boat Quay slated for March 13 and 15. In Dublin, such celebrations have been marked by incidences of teenage drinking and street violence.

See Tong Ming, Martyn

Source: Martyn See

February 23, 2015
Life Corporation: Conduct In Winning Tender Was Open And Transparent

Life Corporation, the parent company of Eternal Pure Land, has defended its conduct in winning the tender for a Fernvale Link site where it had originally planned to build a commercial columbarium.

Making its first comments since news emerged last week that it had ignored land use gazettes by planning to build a commercial columbarium even though it is not affiliated to any religious organisations, the company said yesterday in a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange that the tender process was open and transparent. “Life Corporation provided all information required and requested in accordance with tender conditions,” it said. It added that it understands recent public sentiment that ownership of such land development should be by a non-profit religious organisation.

“It has always been (the company’s) intention that the temple component of the development … be headed by religious individuals,” Life Corporation said.

Repeated calls and email queries sent to the company by TODAY have gone unanswered.

The plans to build the commercial columbarium had riled some would-be residents of the Fernvale Lea Build-to-Order (BTO) project, so much so that they asked the Housing and Development Board (HDB) for a refund on their flat. An online petition was also started by current and would-be residents around Fernvale Link, where the proposed temple site is, in a bid to stop the development.

Last Thursday, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed in Parliament that the HDB awarded the site to Eternal Pure Land “under the impression that the company (was) a vehicle for a religious organisation to build and own a Chinese temple”.

Mr Khaw said the HDB officers made the wrong assumptions and awarded the tender to Eternal Pure Land, which made the highest bid.

The Government will ensure that the original plan of building a Chinese temple is reinstated. It is also in discussions with the company. The authorities have also embarked on a review of its land-tender process for places of worship, prompted by feedback.

Life Corporation had announced the successful tender on July 21 last year. Adding that it has made preliminary plans regarding the operation of the temple, the company said in the filing that it is “sensitive to recent public and Government comments”, and it is exploring with the Government whether a “mutually satisfactory and viable solution can be found in due course”.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 3, 2015