Baby1M
Well-Known Member
A reporter asked the Minister if he was surprised that even teenagers were talking about adult issues.
Dr Ng laughed, “I guess Singaporeans are very serious, or maybe just this crowd is very serious, I don’t know.”
hmmmm... why he laughed? Does it imply he act blur, lost touch with the ground, simply dont care or just doesn't bother him since he got millions?
--------------
Article link
http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/03/18/dr-ng-bombarded-by-bread-n-butter-issues-from-teenagers/
Cut+Paste
During a Singapore Conversation held yesterday (16 Mar) at a youth forum in Toa Payoh Library, even teenagers expressed worry about bread-and-butter issues.
They posed many questions on mature issues such as job competition, housing cost and maternity leave for Minister Ng Eng Hen to answer.
When Dr Ng told the youth that their generation would all be able to afford a 4-room HDB flat, Louis Low, 17, stood up to rebut the Minister.
Louis said he comes from a poor family. His father, a cleaner at a hawker centre, earns only about $700 a month while his mother, a retail assistant, earns about $1,700.
Louis, who will be going to Singapore Poly this year, said, “What if I don’t do well in my studies and become like my father? I don’t dare to say that I can afford a 4-room flat. It’ll be worse if I’m also trying to start a family.”
Another student said, “I was watching the news and heard that housing prices are soaring. It’s quite scary.”
Dr Ng then repeated what Mr Khaw told Parliament in recent weeks, that the Govt will try to lower HDB BTO flat prices in non-mature estates to four times the annual median income of flat applicants.
Looking at a typical BTO launch last year [Link], the monthly median income of applicants for 4-room flats in Punggol is listed as $4,000 while the typical selling price for a 4-room unit is listed as $315,000. The price to annual median income ratio in this case works out to 6.6. Measured against the World Bank’s standard of 5.0, 6.6 is considered not affordable.
However, if the government can indeed lower the price of a 4-room BTO flat to a more affordable $192,000 (i.e. 4 times the annual median income of applicants), that would be most welcome by new home buyers. In this case we are talking about a 64% drop from the current typical price of $315,000 for a 4-room flat. That is a lot of money for the government to “lose”.
Back to the forum, the young participants highlighted the undeniable fact that employers prefer to hire foreign workers instead of locals these days to lower costs. Edric Wong, 14, said, “Most of the complaints are aimed at foreign expats competing for high-income jobs.”
A reporter asked the Minister if he was surprised that even teenagers were talking about adult issues.
Dr Ng laughed, “I guess Singaporeans are very serious, or maybe just this crowd is very serious, I don’t know.”
Dr Ng laughed, “I guess Singaporeans are very serious, or maybe just this crowd is very serious, I don’t know.”
hmmmm... why he laughed? Does it imply he act blur, lost touch with the ground, simply dont care or just doesn't bother him since he got millions?
--------------
Article link
http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/03/18/dr-ng-bombarded-by-bread-n-butter-issues-from-teenagers/
Cut+Paste
During a Singapore Conversation held yesterday (16 Mar) at a youth forum in Toa Payoh Library, even teenagers expressed worry about bread-and-butter issues.
They posed many questions on mature issues such as job competition, housing cost and maternity leave for Minister Ng Eng Hen to answer.
When Dr Ng told the youth that their generation would all be able to afford a 4-room HDB flat, Louis Low, 17, stood up to rebut the Minister.
Louis said he comes from a poor family. His father, a cleaner at a hawker centre, earns only about $700 a month while his mother, a retail assistant, earns about $1,700.
Louis, who will be going to Singapore Poly this year, said, “What if I don’t do well in my studies and become like my father? I don’t dare to say that I can afford a 4-room flat. It’ll be worse if I’m also trying to start a family.”
Another student said, “I was watching the news and heard that housing prices are soaring. It’s quite scary.”
Dr Ng then repeated what Mr Khaw told Parliament in recent weeks, that the Govt will try to lower HDB BTO flat prices in non-mature estates to four times the annual median income of flat applicants.
Looking at a typical BTO launch last year [Link], the monthly median income of applicants for 4-room flats in Punggol is listed as $4,000 while the typical selling price for a 4-room unit is listed as $315,000. The price to annual median income ratio in this case works out to 6.6. Measured against the World Bank’s standard of 5.0, 6.6 is considered not affordable.
However, if the government can indeed lower the price of a 4-room BTO flat to a more affordable $192,000 (i.e. 4 times the annual median income of applicants), that would be most welcome by new home buyers. In this case we are talking about a 64% drop from the current typical price of $315,000 for a 4-room flat. That is a lot of money for the government to “lose”.
Back to the forum, the young participants highlighted the undeniable fact that employers prefer to hire foreign workers instead of locals these days to lower costs. Edric Wong, 14, said, “Most of the complaints are aimed at foreign expats competing for high-income jobs.”
A reporter asked the Minister if he was surprised that even teenagers were talking about adult issues.
Dr Ng laughed, “I guess Singaporeans are very serious, or maybe just this crowd is very serious, I don’t know.”
