A “good” week for the government. And that seems rare and strange given the ongoing public angst about the high Covid-19 daily cases and the fits and starts the Multi-Ministry Task Force appears to be quagmired in. But what the heck, the PAP deserves a pat now and then. Perhaps.
The issue of the rights (and needs) of singles to affordable public housing raised its head again.
Under a new model, announced on Tuesday (Oct 26), future HDB flats built in prime, central locations will be subjected to a 10-year minimum occupation period and additional subsidies will be clawed back by the government on their resale. Singles above 35 years old will not be allowed to buy these prime location housing (PLH) flats. This is in contrast to current rules that do not place limitations on singles above the age of 35 buying existing resale flats, including in prime central areas.
The first Build-to-Order project under this model will be located in Rochor and launched next month.
“So we’re prioritising them, for now, for larger households who may need more space for their families,” National Development Minister Desmond Lee said on Friday (Oct 29) in addressing questions on why singles are not allowed to buy prime location flats under the new model, even in the resale market.
Predictably and understandably, some singles are arguing a case for them not to be left out. Among the familiar reasons put up: Singles are also taxpayers and should not be excluded from subsidised public housing built out of taxpayers’ money (their money also). And do not penalise them for a life choice or a situation which for some is a result of marital problems or other family circumstances.
A refrain which continues to come alive every time a pro-family policy is enforced is: But more and more people are choosing to be single. Indeed, the proportion of singles rose across all age groups over the past 10 years, with the sharpest increase among younger Singaporeans aged 25 to 34 years. The proportion of single men among those aged 25 to 29 years rose from 74.6 per cent to 81.6 per cent; for women, it rose from 54 per cent to 69 per cent.
And housing policies should be tailored around this trend? Surely not, unless we welcome with open arms more new citizens and foreigners to make up for a diminishing population.
The idea is to get more Singaporeans to start families and replace themselves. And they do need more than the small space to not just have sex as pointed out by Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo in 2016. They need proper housing to raise families.
Public housing policies ought not undermine this primary objective of national self-replacement.
Similarly, the Ministry of Defence is right not to treat lightly any attempt to circumvent national service. It has just rightly rejected the application of the parents of Harry Birtwistle to renounce his citizenship. The 17-year-old Singaporean, whose father is British and mother Singaporean, has just signed a professional contact with EPL side, Wolverhampton Wanderers. He and his parents must obviously be aware that he has to serve NS just like all male Singaporeans since 1967.
“Mr Harry Birtwistle is a Singapore citizen who had stayed in Singapore and also carried a Singapore passport. Under the Enlistment Act, all male Singaporeans are required to serve national service at age 18 or older,” said the ministry.
“Mr Birtwistle’s parents applied to renounce his Singapore citizenship. His applications were rejected as renunciation should not be used as a means to evade NS duties. In his family’s correspondences with the Ministry of Defence, they had stated that Mr Birtwistle will not be registering for NS.”
MINDEF added that he is also staying overseas without a valid exit permit and “has committed offences under the Enlistment Act”.
Birtwistle thus follows the footsteps of Ben Davis, another male Singaporean who deserted NS (and Singapore) in 2018 to be in Britain to play for the then newly promoted EPL club Fulham.
Davis, 18, was born in Phuket to a Thai mother and an English father. He moved to Singapore at the age of five and subsequently became a citizen.
He has since opted to take up Thai citizenship and is currently on the books of British third-tier side Oxford United, according to CNA.
NS is not a new policy or new concept. All young Singapore males who have come of age go through this rite of passage. And they have to serve not only full-time NS but also what many regard as career-affecting reservist training (which sometimes some Singapore females do not quite appreciate).
They are already fed up that they are being shut out of good jobs because of the unfair employment practices of foreigners.
They are not going to accept anyone who wants to game the system, to be too clever by half, believing that Singaporeans are suckers.
We are NOT.
Tan Bah Bah, consulting editor of TheIndependent.Sg, is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a local magazine publishing company.