A video of a white Bentley Continental GT car parked along with other luxury cars went viral after the poster alleges that the cars belong to Members of Parliament from People’s Action Party and specifically one belonging to an MP from Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
Mr Donald Liew, a member of Orchid Country Club (OCC), captioned the video in the description of his Facebook post as following:
Every Wednesday morning, a bunch of PAP MP will play golf at Orchid Country Club. I am a paying member there and I am very sure they are not members. I am wondering if this is [one of the] perks made known to the public? Is it in line with what they so call clean wages? I have taken a video in the car park. They are all driving luxury cars like McLaren, Bentley, et cetera that cost more than 1 mil. Singapore now has no more civil servant, but only civil boss – that’s why they are driving bigger cars and living in bigger houses than us. We voted them to control us, sound very stupid hoh. The white Bentley SKK418R is owned by Bishan[-Toa Payoh] MP.
According to a tip off that TOC got from a member of public and further investigation, it was confirmed that the white Bentley featured in Mr Liew’s video belonged to Mr Chong Kee Hiong.
Mr Chong is currently the chairperson of OCC, as stated on the website of the country club:
In digging for the information, TOC notes that Mr Chong is a director with Pasir Ris Resort Pte Ltd which is also affiliated with NTUC, since 2010. He is also a director at SLF Leisure Enterprise Pte Ltd since 2010, which is a company under the Singapore Labour Foundation which is a statutory board which receives funding from NTUC and other entities.
It was earlier reported that Mr Chong stepped down as CEO and executive director of OUE Hospitality Reit’s (OUE H-Reit) manager and OUE Hospitality Trust’s (OUE H-Trust) trustee-manager with effect from July 15 to pursue other professional interests.
He had been the CEO since he first listed OUE Hospitality Trust on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on July 23, 2013.
According to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)’s records, the Bishan-Toa Payoh MP took on the appointment as director at Foodfare Catering Pte Ltd which is a subsidiary of NTUC Foodfare Co-op Ltd just June this year.
TOC has reached out to Mr Chong for a response regarding Mr Liew’s allegations such as PAP MPs playing golf without membership. However, TOC has yet to receive a response from the Bishan-Toa Payoh MP.
Netizens reactions have been a mixed bag, with some factions expressing outrage against the apparent extravagant spending of MPs, given that the average Singaporean is struggling to make ends meet and might not even afford to own a car:
Some other netizens have questioned the veracity of the video and have even labelled it as “fake news”, and have suggested that Mr Liew’s agenda behind taking the video was rooted in personal dissatisfaction:
