CORRECTION NOTICE: This article contains a false statement of fact. For the correct facts, click here: https://www.gov.sg/article/factually180224

Whenever I bring up the absurdly low rents paid by Shanmugam and Balakrishnan for their Ridout Road mansions when compared with rentals of private properties of much smaller land areas, the Government has attemoted to silence me, using their absurd POFMA law. They have claimed some artificial segmentation between the private and state Good Class Bungalow markets, as though they were completely separate and there was no elasticity of substitution between them.

However now I have evidence which suggests that even for a black and white bungalow the rentals for 26 and 31 were unusually low. In addition the tenure terms were exceptionally generous, of 3+3+3 in the case of 26 and 2+3+3 in the case of 31. Recently I was browsing the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) Facebook page when I came across a property at 41 Malcolm Road. Bidding for this property has recently closed. There were 4 bids and the highest was $22,242 a month. The SPIO website says that SLA is currently evaluating the bids but there is no information as to whether the top bid has been accepted. Since the guide rent has not been disclosed perhaps the bid was still below the guide rent. The tenure offered in the tender was only 2 years.

The Malcolm Road property has 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Total Gross Floor Area (GFA) is 5,279 square feet while the land area is 28,388 sq. ft. By contrast both 26 Ridout Road, rented by Mr Shanmugam for $26,500 per month, and 31 Ridout Road, rented by Mr Balakrishnan initially for $19,000 per month (later $20,000) have GFAs of over 9,000 sq feet. Total land area is nearly 10 times as much as 41 Malcolm Road in the case of 26 Ridout and 5 times in the case of 31 Ridout. So rents should be at least double if not more given their more prestigious location, larger GFAs and vast gardens. The Government will claim that the Ridout Road properties were rented at a time when rents were much lower and that they were indeed “market.” However I do not believe that they were less than half what should be the rental today. In any case why have the rents not been revised sharply upwards at the end of the initial term but renewed at the same price?

I am not accusing Shanmugam and Balakrishnan of any wrongdoing as CPIB, which is part of the Prime Minister’s Office, has cleared both gentlemen. In addition Teo Chee Hean, who accompanied Shanmugam on a trip to watch a World Cup Quarterfinal in Doha (coincidentally Iswaran was in Doha at the same time so did CPIB stumble on Iswaran’s alleged wrongdoing when they were investigating Shan and Bala?), has said there was no conflict of interest. So what appears to be mismanagement of our precious land reserves and failure to secure the best possible rental for the Ridout Road properties is purely the result of incompetence on the part of the SLA management. I look forward to receiving their explanation.

Published by kjeyaretnam

I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal. I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean. View all posts by kjeyaretnam