Tag: Singaporeans

  • Analysts: Higher Income Ceiling Will Have Minimal Impact On Property Market

    Analysts: Higher Income Ceiling Will Have Minimal Impact On Property Market

    A higher income ceiling for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats and executive condominiums (ECs) is likely to have minimal impact on the HDB resale and private property market, according to market watchers.

    National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan had said in a radio interview on Tuesday (Jun 23) that changes to the income ceiling are likely to be made known in August. The income ceiling was last raised in 2011 by S$2,000 for both types of housing.

    Market watchers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they expect the income ceiling for BTO flats and ECs to be raised by a similar amount later this year.

    The Government’s plans to increase the income ceiling for the purchase of BTO flats and ECs will divert some demand from the HDB resale and private property markets. Currently, households earning a gross income of more than S$10,000 cannot apply for new HDB flats, while those earning more than S$12,000 cannot buy ECs.

    However, market watchers said the impact is likely to be minimal, as HDB resale flats and private homes have their merits. Compared to BTO flats, there is a shorter waiting time for HDB resale homes which are mostly located in mature estates.

    One of the largest property firms in Singapore has described the move as timely, as more Singaporeans are settling down much later, and may be earning above the current limit when they apply for a BTO flat.

    The demand for new HDB flats has also cooled off compared to three years ago, said PropNex Realty’s CEO Ismail Gafoor. “Three years ago, the subscription rate was about four to five times and there was a long pent-up demand.”

    He added: “Today, the subscription rate is about 1.5 to two, which means most of the demand has been absorbed, and with this greater supply, opening up to a higher increment of the income ceiling is the right thing to do.”

    However, another analyst is surprised at the plans to raise the income ceiling, especially at a time where prices of HDB resale flats and private homes are falling.

    Colliers International’s director of research and advisory, Chia Siew Chuin, said: “We would expect the Government to raise the income ceiling over time to keep up with wages. However, perhaps certain conditions must exist first to justify the raising of the income ceiling.”

    “But as of now, I would say that the market is relatively more stable compared to before, and in fact prices are slowly, gradually moderating,” Ms Chia added.

    Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Khaw had said that he has received “some” requests from Singaporeans who exceeded the income limit, to apply for new HDB flats. Analysts added that public housing, as they are subsidised by the Government, should be reserved for those who really need it.

    As for the two-room Flexi scheme – a result of combining the studio apartment and two-room flat schemes – Mr Ismail said the plan signals a move towards more customisation for home buyers in Singapore, in which it is flexible and caters to needs of individuals based on their age and how much they want to pay for each unit.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Masagos Zulkifli: Muslim Community Must Beware Of ‘Absolutists’

    Masagos Zulkifli: Muslim Community Must Beware Of ‘Absolutists’

    The Muslim community has to be wary of the growing presence of “absolutists”, who have a rigid way of interpreting Islam, said Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Second Minister for Home Affairs, on Tuesday (Jun 23).

    Previously, religious teachers here came from Egypt, but now, they come from “all over” the world. The variations of Islam they embrace are “very cultural” and some of the conflicts experienced in other countries are brought to Singapore, said the minister in an interview.

    He noted that Singapore has succeeded as its people can live with one another despite their differences.

    However, “absolutists” believe there is only one way that Islam ought to be, and those who do not agree with them are considered “un-Islamic” for example, he added.

    When asked what was being done to reach out to or engage the absolutists, Mr Masagos said there is a need to ensure the Muslim community is aware of this phenomenon. “When we hear something that is really out of the norm, be alert to it. We have to accept them for their freedom to express their religious variations, too,” he said.

    However, he cautioned that Muslims should not easily “succumb” to the views of absolutists. “They may look attractive, they may look correct … but do not be gullible.”

    ONLINE BATTLE AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE

    On the issue of the online battle against the ideology of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Mr Masagos said religious teaching in Singapore is moderate and tolerant.

    However, he noted that not every young person has gone through the structured way of learning Islam, such as doing so in a mosque or through accredited teachers.

    “Some of them take lessons from the Internet not because they’re looking for religious guidance, but because something may have happened in their lives,” said Mr Masagos.

    For instance, he cited M Arifil Azim Putra Norja’I, who has been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for “terrorism-related activities”.

    Mr Masagos said the 19-year-old’s father had died and the teen was trying to find “meaning in life”. “Unfortunately, he found the meaning in life through his conversation and engagement with … (a) radical.”

    “He (Arifil) did not have references or background information about Islam to tell him these things are wrong,” Mr Masagos said.

    On the other 17-year-old unnamed youth, who has also been arrested under ISA for further investigations into his radicalisation, Mr Masagos said there are no updates yet.

    He said the teen’s views had “already (been) known” since he was 14. And now at 17, his parents “cannot somehow control” him and his views. “It’s important for him to know we are watching him. And that he has to behave and not do anything … to (affect) the safety and security of our country,” said the minister.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • 5 Misconceptions Of Being A Police Officer In Singapore

    5 Misconceptions Of Being A Police Officer In Singapore

    1. Arrest him, Officer!
    No, cannot. The policeman cannot just come to the scene of crime and arrest the suspect. We have certain SOPs to follow and have to do some investigating before deciding to arrest someone. Even then, we cannot use the handcuff on everyone. Besides, the paperwork for a single arrest is unbelievable.

    2. Why so slow?
    We don’t have to arrive at the scene of crime in a matter of a few minutes. We don’t have a helicopter nor do we drive a Ferrari. Our patrol cars are mostly just Subaru-s. Plus there are traffic lights. We have a certain timing to arrive for emergency and non emergency cases, and we always try to reach even before that.

    3. Taser him, Officer!
    Not every policeman carries a taser. One needs to be certified and be of a certain rank. And NS guys are not required to carry them. Oww…

    4. So stuck up for what?
    Unless we have a resting bitch face, most of us are friendly. Our aim is to build a bond with the community. We are not the bad guys: we just want to keep the bad guys away. It is also our professional obligation to keep a neutral face so that we look both approachable to the public and intimidating to the “bad guys”.

    5. So heavy!
    We may look like we are not carrying much and can effortlessly run after people and give chase. Yes, we are fit enough to do that but did you know that our utility belt that houses the gun, baton and taser is rather heavy? It is like being pregnant with a 3 month old child and I am not even exaggerating.

     

    Source: www.lowkayhwa.com

  • Tambah Rezeki, Serikan Ramadan

    Tambah Rezeki, Serikan Ramadan

    Dari sejak sewanya hanya ratusan dolar hingga ia berjumlah ribuan dolar sekarang, keluarga Cik Sabariah A. Razak menyewa gerai Ramadan di tempat sama – berdektan perhentian bas bertentangan pusat beli-belah Tanjong Katong Complex.

    Ini kerana sebagai peniaga musiman, Cik Sabariah, 60 tahun, tidak mahu kehilangan pelanggan tetap yang beliau ada setelah saban tahun berniaga di bazar itu, menjaja pisang goreng, keropok lekor, wade dan burger Ramly.

    Lokasi gerai mereka juga strategik kerana pelanggan selalunya membeli juadah itu untuk dibawa pulang sebelum bas tiba.

    “Walaupun sewa semakin lama semakin naik – dulu paling rendah $800, sekarang paling kurang $13,000 – saya tetap membuka gerai kerana saya suka keriuhan menjual makanan di bazar Ramadan,” ujar beliau.

    Anaknya, Hyrul Amirul Hyril Annuar, 18 tahun, yang membantunya dalam perniagaan musiman itu, menambah: “Walaupun harga burger kami naik, bilangan pelanggan lebih kurang masih sama. Saya rasa mereka juga memahami mengapa kami menaikkan harga makanan kami.

    “Waktu saya masih kecil, saya masih ingat burger Ramly berharga $2.50. Kini, harganya sudah meningkat kepada $3.50. Tetapi, pelanggan tahu kadar sewa gerai bazar Ramadan sudah meningkat.

    “Perniagaan ini bermula ketika ayah saya muda dan saya rasa saya akan mengambil alih perniagaan ini suatu masa nanti,” katanya.

    Keuntungan daripada perniagaan itu dapat menokok wang yang diberi anak-anak Cik Sabariah, seorang suri rumah, kepadanya setiap bulan.

    Setiap tahun beliau menyimpan sebahagian daripada keuntungan itu bagi membiayai perbelanjaan perniagaan tahun depan.

    “Keuntungan yang saya dapat setiap hari dan setiap tahun tidak tetap. Kami hanya tahu jumlah keuntungan pada akhir bazar ini tapi alhamdulillah sepanjang tahuntahun lepas, ada keuntungan yang kami dapat,” kata Cik Sabariah.


    Jual kuih dari kampung ke bazar

    DAHULU, ibu bapa Encik Muhd Hanafi Mohd Ali menjual kuih Raya di Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai.

    Memandangk Kampung Melayu telah dirobohkan, mereka kini menyewa gerai bazar Ramadan berdekatan Stesen MRT Paya Lebar dan menamakan gerai mereka ‘Kuih Orang Kampung’.

    Encik Hanafi, 25 tahun, menolong menguruskan perniagaan musiman ibu bapanya di Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai itu sejak 15 tahun lalu.

    “Kami menjual kuih Raya di bazar di Geylang Serai setiap tahun dan kami gembira kerana jumlah pelanggan kami semakin lama semakin meningkat,” ujarnya.

    Menurut beliau, walaupun sewa gerai meningkat, jumlah pelanggan juga semakin bertambah.

    “Tahun lepas, gerai kami terletak di bazar di daerah Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai, sebelum ia dirobohkan.

    “Kami memang sudah ada pelanggan tetap dari Kampung Melayu dan apabila kami berpindah ke bazar Ramadan ini, kami berjaya menarik pelanggan baru, oleh itu menambahkan keuntungan gerai kami,” katanya.

    Namun, ia adalah perniagaan musiman keluarganya. Bapa Encik Hanafi bekerja sepenuh masa di sebuah syarikat pengimport ubat-ubatan tradisional Melayu, sementara beliau sendiri seorang paramedik di Hospital Besar Singapura (SGH).

    “Jualan gerai kuih-muih ini hanya pada bulan Ramadan sahaja,” jelas Encik Hanafi.

    Menurutnya, mereka mengamati apa yang dibeli pelanggan setiap tahun untuk melihat trend dan bagi persiapan tahun seterusnya.

    “Pada tahun-tahun lepas, kuih tradisional seperti tart nanas dan makmur tidak selaris kuih kukis dan pelbagai jenis kerepek.

    “Jadi tahun ini kami menambah bekalan kuih yang popular tahun lalu.” kata Encik Hanafi.


    Ghairah cuba nasib di tapak baru

    WALAUPUN sudah berniaga baju kurung Melayu di bazar Ramadan di Geylang Serai sejak 2003, pasangan suami isteri Encik Muhammad Hamid Mohammed Omar dan Cik Fatin Amirah Khaled lebih ghairah tahun ini.

    Ia kerana kali ini mereka menyewa gerai di bazar berdekatan Stesen MRT Paya Lebar dan tidak dekat Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai yang telah dirobohkan.

    Mereka mula berniaga di situ seminggu sebelum Ramadan.

    “Ini kali pertama kami menyewa gerai di bazar dekat Stesen MRT Paya Lebar jadi kami ghairah mahu melihat begaimanakah perniagaan kami di sini,” kata Encik Hamid, 32 tahun.

    Menurut Cik Fatin, 29 tahun, sewa di gerai itu tidak berbeza daripada di tempat biasa, iaitu kira-kira $6,000.

    “Namun, saya rasa tahun ini kami akan mendapat keuntungan yang lebih baik daripada tahun-tahun lalu kerana memandangkan tiada bazar di sekitar Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai, pelanggan tetap kami dan pengunjung lain akan membeli-belah di bazar lain, termasuk di tempat kami sekarang,” ujarnya.

    Menurut Encik Hamid, urusan membawa masuk baju kurung pelbagai corak untuk dijual di gerai mereka dijalankan bapanya.

    “Ini sebuah perniagaan musiman sahaja. Setiap tahun kami menyewa sebuah gerai di bazar Ramadan. Pekerjaan harian saya ialah sebagai guru tuisyen Matematik bagi pelajar yang akan menduduki peperiksaan GCE peringkat ‘O’,” jelasnya.

    “Alhamdulillah pekerjaan saya dan isteri saya sebagai seorang pustakawan serta perniagaan ini cukup untuk kami membiayai perbelanjaan keluarga kami,” tambah Encik Hamid.


    “Walaupun sewa semakin lama semakin naik – dulu paling rendah $800, sekarang paling kurang $13,000 – saya tetap membuka gerai kerana saya suka keriuhan menjual makanan di bazar Ramadan.”

    – Cik Sabariah A. Razak

    “Kami menjual kuih Raya di bazar di Geylang Serai setiap tahun dan kami gembira kerana jumlah pelanggan kami semakin lama semakin meningkat.”

    – Encik Muhd Hanafi Mohd Ali

    “… Saya rasa tahun ini kami akan mendapat keuntungan yang lebih baik daripada tahun-tahun lalu kerana memandangkan tiada bazar di sekitar Kampung Melayu Geylang Serai, pelanggan tetap kami dan pengunjung lain akan membeli-belah di bazar-bazar lain, termasuk di tempat kami sekarang.”

    – Cik Fatin Amirah Khaled

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • DBSS Woes: Because HDB Went Flat?

    DBSS Woes: Because HDB Went Flat?

    fter it has happened so many times, you have to ask: What the hell is going on?

    The latest DBSS fiasco to hit the Internet is Pasir Ris One, located beside the neighbourhood’s White Sands shopping mall. Residents are complaining that the common corridor – exactly 1.2m-wide – is too narrow, even if it is built to fire safety standards. Owners who picked up their keys over the last two months have formed a private Facebook group to discuss the issue. So far, more than 200 home-owners – about half of the 447 units available – have signed up. Members are required to present a letter or any official document that proves ownership in order join the group.

    Residents who spoke to TMG complained about several building defects, including uneven ceilings and exposed pipes. The size of the flat and its rooms appear to have caught several by surprise, although the developer had stuck to the specified dimensions. The chief complaint was the dark and narrow corridors, which is “shocking, too small and with a ceiling that is worse than a factory and a car park”, as Ms Jynny Chew, 50, a soon-be-resident in Block 530C said.

    Commissioned by the G, DBSS flats are designed and built by private developers. They typically come with better fittings and finishings than standard Build-to-Order flats, though unlike Executive Condominiums, these projects do not have facilities such as pools and gyms.

    Pasir Ris One, launched in April 2012, was built by private developers SingHaiyi Group Ltd and Kay Lim Holdings. The last of the 13 projects offered under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme, an average four-room flat costs around $550,000 to S$670,000, compared to a reported S$350,000 for a four-room BTO flat around the area.

    This latest spate of complaints follows a handful of other DBSS projects which have been under fire for shoddy workmanship despite the premium price such flats command.

    Just last month, DBSS estate Trivelis in Clementi made headlines when residents told of shower room glasses that shattered easily, water seepage into units from floods in corridors and rusty lift doors.

    Earlier in the year, Centrale 8 in Tampines was lambasted by residents over what they perceived to be the low quality of its finishes and fittings. Residents faced faulty balcony locks, toilets, and even bursting water pipes.

    In 2013, The Peak in Toa Payoh was attacked for the dreadful state of its 1203 units, with inferior materials used, such as flimsy lamination, topping the list.

    The woes of the DBSS residents have surfaced an issue: what are the responsibilities of the Housing Board and the private developer for the state of the finished product?

    So far, HDB has remained in the background, preferring to let private contractors handle the matter while it monitors changes. The private developers, on the other hand, are falling mainly on the “one-year defects warranty” to placate residents who want the place spruced up.

    In the case of Centrale 8, developer Sim Lian was adamant about not extending the defect liability period or provide financial compensation despite the impending expiry of the residents’ one-year “warranty”. This is even as residents maintained that defects were still surfacing.

    Trivelis residents were told by developer ELD that contractors would continue to engage the Trivelis Residents Working Committee and see to their problems.

    As for structural work that doesn’t quite constitute surface defects and which would require extensive work, it’s probably too hard a case to make.

    Like common corridors.

    Most of the 447 units in the four Pasir Ris blocks were unoccupied when TMG visited the area on Monday. What stood out immediately was the width of the corridor that ran along the units. At 1.2 metres across, the passageway is at the minimum width permitted by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. This means that residents aren’t allowed to place items along the passageway, as they would impede movement during an emergency.

    Mr Ali, 42, who was at his four-room flat with his family of six, never expected the corridor to be so narrow. The police officer, who had moved in with his family a month ago, said that with the door grilles open, a person would have to edge past the grilles sideways to get through the corridor.

    Photo By Shawn Danker
    The corridors of Pasir Ris One are so narrow that the Fire reel doors on opposing sides will block each other if opened at the same time.
    Photo By Shawn Danker
    An open gate shows how much walking space is left in the corridors of Pasir Ris One after a resident opens their doors.
    Photo By Shawn Danker
    Mrs Chew pointed out that the ceiling pipes on her floor were all exposed and lacking a false ceiling to cover them up.

    While another resident, Ms Vera Foo, 26, an administrative executive, didn’t mind the narrow space, her mother, on the other hand, was outraged. It was “ridiculous” that people had to pass through the corridor in a single file, she said. She recalled how a construction worker had to wait for her to pass into a wider part of the corridor before proceeding past her. “If others come to visit during the festive season like Chinese New Year, there might be a problem of congestion in there”, she said pointing to the passage.

    One resident who was not too fussed about the corridor is Mrs Lynn Pang, 44, a housewife. Her four-room flat is situated at the end of a passage which widens into a lift lobby and staircase. “I am satisfied with my place but I don’t know how our neighbours are going to move in through that corridor”, Mrs Pang said.

    There will be no more DBSS woes simply because this is the last DBSS project but it appears that even residents in new BTO flats have a problem with the quality of work. It makes one wonder if the push to provide more housing in quicker time over the past few years is leading to some compromise of quality. A quick, but not very good, job done?

     

    Featured photo by Shawn Danker. 

     

    Source: http://themiddleground.sg

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