Do some PAP politicians not know that cats are banned from HDB flats?

Some People’s Action Party (PAP) are either oblivious to or simply do not care about the Housing Development Board’s (HDB) rules that cats are not allowed to be kept in HDB flats. On Sunday, Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Koh Poh Koon shared a photo of himself cuddling up with a house cat outside a HDB flat as he visited residents in his ward.

Dr Koh recounted: “Pebbles the Persian cat likes being carried. She came out of her unit to snuggle up to me when I was doing house visits at Blk 606 yesterday.”

According to HDB’s rules, “Cats are not allowed in flats. They are generally difficult to contain within the flat. When allowed to roam indiscriminately, they tend to shed fur and defecate or urinate in public areas, and also make caterwauling sounds, which can inconvenience your neighbours.”

It is unclear whether Dr Koh knows that it’s technically illegal to keep cats in HDB flats or whether he purposefully ignored the rigid housing rules but he is not the only PAP politician to express an appreciation for cats kept in HDB flat, despite the rules.

In 2017, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung shared a letter one of the families living in a HDB block left him when he visited their home – the Tan family apologised to the Minister for not being home to receive him and added that their cat is unable to open the door for him. They appended a photo of their cat to the letter.

The Minister invited the family to the Gambas National Day Carnival, commenting on his Facebook page that “the smallest member (the cat) looks like a charmer too!”

It is certainly curious that these PAP politicians have openly expressed their appreciation for cats being kept in HDB flats despite the strict rules, especially since HDB is a Government statutory board.

It’s not even like the cat ban is a little-known law that’s hardly enforced. In 2017 – the same year Minister Ong made his post, two cases made headlines where HDB charged flat residents for keeping cats and threatened to evict the cats. The following HDB letter, that threatened to evict a pet cat from a HDB flat since the keeping of cats is “strictly prohibited,” went viral on social media.

In another bizarre incident that occurred in April 2017, a woman – Ms Serene Tong – was asked to evict her cats because her neighbours had a problem with Ms Tong making too much noise while greeting her three cats and because she allegedly talked to her cats loudly, sang to them and slammed her door very loudly.

Ms Tong, who alleged that her neighbour was only using her cats to get to her, was given just one month to rehome her cats. She had had two of them for 12 years and the last for six years. All cats were sterilised and kept indoors.

Does the Education Minister not know that cats are banned from HDB flats?