SINGAPORE — Members from the opposition political party the Red Dot United (RDU) recently reached out to residents in the Clementi Avenue 2 area, which comes under the Jurong GRC. During their walk around the neighbourhood, they were aware of a strong Burmese population in the area and wondered whether the culture will one day be part of our Singapore identity.
RDU posted on their Facebook page that there is a Burmese stall in one of the coffeeshops and they saw a Burmese minimart, as well as several units rented to Burmese individuals.
“No wonder, one blogger calls it Little Yangon. The blogger said that, ‘such ethnic style stores wouldn’t be able to survive in the heartland without a self-sustaining population.’ We also found out that there was a Burmese Buddhist Monastery in Clementi Ave 2 as well. Since there is a growing community of Burmese living in Clementi, it will be interesting to see if their culture will “Singaporeanise” and become a part of the fabric of Singapore,” said RDU on their social media.
RDU also shared that during their house visits, they received ‘strong support’ from Singaporeans who lived in the two blocks of flats that they were at.
“One 28-year-old young Singaporean man who was renting one of the units, shared how he felt that Singapore was “not as democratic as it makes itself seem” and how PAP puts across its arguments as “we tell, you listen”. He also shared how the age limit to buy HDB flats for singles (set at age 35) was disadvantageous to people like him,” added the party who contested in Jurong GRC during the 2020 Singapore General Election.
Over at Block 328, residents on the fourth floor, which is the highest level of the block, shared with RDU about how repair works that were done on the roof had allegedly caused damage to the internal structures of their units.
“It was evident for us to see that their walls had grown mouldy from water seeping from their ceilings, and their ceilings had cracks. Their engagement with their MP Tan Wu Meng to solve the issue was fruitless as well. They were told to pay for the damages from the roof works to their units from their own pockets as internal damages are “not covered” by the town council,” explained RDU.
RDU said that the residents felt that this was ‘unfair as the cracks, water seepage and moulds only appeared after the roof works were done.’ In the same Facebook post, the party also promised the residents that they will escalate the matter to the Housing & Development Board as well as to the Jurong-Clementi Town Council.