A Mind of My Own

It has come to my attention that Mr Amit Nagpal has incurred the wrath of Singaporeans by demanding for equal rights to buy a flat even when he is just a PR. In addition, he further provoked the HWZ members, many of which are also Singaporeans by asking the admins to close down some threads that were of a threat to his reputation.

Finally, he posted in a thread that he would be calling the police at the advice of the admins to handle such threads in the forms. Oh my. This reminds me of Odex all over again.

Have I told you that HWZ CSI members are very good yet? They had dug out his personal bio and posted all over the forums and including his innocent family members too. That, I feel is too much. The guy may be a haughty world-wisely and useful to his employers but the root cause of the anger should be directed at his haughtiness. The same thing can happen to those who dig out such information and place it in full glory. It’s called karma.

I feel angry that as a citizen of Singapore, I have to wait in line for balloting a flat. I have 2 friends who have tried to more than 6 times. While others have been known to try for 2 years, theirs may be just a small case. Have you tried to ballot for a flat in your parent’s home estate because of the flat rules yet? Priority is for married child but for both my friends, they failed to get even a decent slot for their home estates.

Can you imagine the horror at receiving a queue number of 234 out of 342? You are balloting for your home estate and your parents are just living across the street from the new flats that will be built in 2013. In the end, my friends ended up trying for ballots in further estates that are far from either set of parents. They both got better queue number by doing that.

A challenge has been sent to Amit Nagpal. If you have the guts to call the police for a HWZ thread in a forum, you should have the guts to reply to this challenge.

The letter that angered many Singaporeans who have trouble getting their own flats:

I REFER to the lively Forum discussion about home ownership in Singapore. As a new Singapore permanent resident (PR) from India, let me respond this way.

First, Singapore is the only country with such a high percentage of home owners. Trust me, your home will never be repossessed because of a sub-prime-like crisis.

In New Delhi, where I came from, government housing is a luxury. Once in two years, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) releases land and builds basic, two- and three-bedroom homes.

A lottery decides who gets to own the flats. Snaking queues, with hundreds of required documents, no salary or income cap and no cap on the number of flats applied for are a few of the scheme’s characteristics. The balloting is fraught with irregularities. Most successful applicants sell the flats almost immediately in the open market for a huge premium.

My parents in India still live in a rented apartment because they have not been successful in getting a DDA flat and cannot afford expensive private housing. These things happen in India because it does not have a system like the Housing and Development Board’s.

Second, I am 33 years old and live here with my wife and two children. I consider myself well educated, worldly wise and useful to my employers.

What am I doing in Singapore, leaving my parents, family, friends and comfort zone back home? Why did I strive to become a Singapore PR, and perhaps a citizen in future? I did it because Singapore is safe, dynamic, modern and conducive to a decent livelihood. Most important, the Government promotes harmonious living and equality for all. Many Singaporeans take these virtues for granted. I don’t blame them because they probably don’t know what it is like elsewhere, including a country like India which may have the world’s fastest growing economy, but is fraught with corruption and an unsafe environment and does not have what Singapore has.

So it pains me when I read letters which say that PRs like me should not be treated well enough. I know we cannot be given the same rights as citizens, but why demand no rights at all?

Now, this is my country too. There is no turning back. So why can’t I buy a flat directly from the HDB? And although I came as a permanent settler, why treat me like an enemy?

Amit Nagpal

I know a PR. She has to rent a flat with 2 other PRs. She doesn’t complain about buying a flat here because she can buy a bigger house in her home country. Singapore is a harmonious country but with the likes of you demanding to buy a flat of your own as a PR, what harmony are you promoting?

What I know about Singapore

1. Singapore isn’t a big country like India where space is limited. That is why even Singaporeans have to queue up and hope to be given a good slot.
2. Singapore is a place where she welcomes everyone into the land without being prejudiced. That is why there are many expatriates and foreigners here.
3. Singapore is a place where any strike or riot that the police catches wind of will be immediately brought to the police station within 5 minutes of the congregation. That is why Singapore is harmonious.
4. Singapore is a place where any discrepancies in the charities are brought known to the citizens and where many days of auditing the accounts are spent. They are often in the first page so that the everyone is aware of what is going on. That is why there isn’t much corruption issue here.
5. HDB has rules and regulations. I have linked to the ones that Mr Amit Nagpal has missed out. Citizenship, Priority Scheme, Housing Loan from HDB. I would be very surprised if one PR is able to change that ruling in the Citizenship section with just one letter to the Straits Times. It goes to show how much I know Singapore, no?

Mr Amit Nagpal, what do you really know about Singapore after x years here? Do you prefer to be a Singaporean or a PR?

Sources: SgForums, Endoh’s Dungeons, Darth Grievous