From the Workers’ Party website [picture TOC’s].

The PAP has circulated a political leaflet to all households containing accusations that “the WP is against LUP, HIP and Other Upgrading” programmes. It cites a personal blog post by a WP candidate, Gerald Giam, written more than one-and-a-half years ago, and twists it around to accuse WP of being against HDB upgrading.

This is misleading and mischievous. It was distributed just before the close of the campaign period, leaving little time for WP to respond and set the record straight.

PAP’s accusation:

The WP is against LUP, HIP and Other Upgrading.

Fact:

WP has never been against HDB upgrading programmes, especially the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP). It is ludicrous for the Party to be against a programme that presents clear benefits to residents, like having lifts on every floor. Indeed, Hougang Town Council has spent substantial sums of money to help implement LUP in Hougang Town.

PAP’s accusation:

WP says prices of HDB flats should be kept low by keeping your flats looking old and without facilities.

Fact:

The PAP has taken the words of one of its candidates out of context in its attempt to paint WP as being against upgrading. Why would WP, as a responsible party that cares about the welfare of residents, want their flats to look “old and without facilities”?

PAP’s accusation:

The WP says that those in public housing should not have “high class living environment”.

Fact:

This has been twisted out of context again by the PAP. HDB flats cannot be expected to have all the expensive frills of condominiums, otherwise their prices may become even more unaffordable than they are now. We believe most Singaporeans readily accept this fact.

Conclusion

The PAP accusations are a cheap attempt to frighten voters into thinking that voting for WP will lead to a crash in housing prices. This is far from the truth.

WP is a responsible and rational party. We share many Singaporeans’ concern about the affordability of public housing. Our proposal to peg the price of new HDB flats to the median incomes of Singaporeans who qualify for those flats is aimed at ensuring that new flats are always affordable to Singaporeans, especially young couples who are buying their first home. It will not cause a crash in the value of existing flats.

All new Built-to-Order (BTO) flats overtime will become resale flats only after the 5 year minimum occupation period, and any moderate adjustments to lower the price of new flats will have little impact in the value of the resale flats. This is because these two markets operate independently, with different sets of eligibility criteria.

WP urges voters to read through its manifesto, which can be downloaded at www.wp.sg, to appreciate the full context of our housing proposals.

—————

View the leaflet in question here: English leaflet / Chinese leaflet.

—————