Housing will not be a make-or-break issue in the 2011 general elections, according to Mah Bow Tan, Minister of National Development.
“There are so many other issues,” he said during a press conference after a youth dialogue on the new Tampines Town Hub.
But Mr. Mah again took pains to refute the Workers’ Party’s recent comments on housing, describing the WP’s suggestions for cheaper housing “ill-conceived and even dangerous.”
In a detailed four-page statement issued on 24 April, he emphasised that the WP’s proposal to cut new flat prices would “distort the market and destroy the value of the million flats owned by Singaporeans today.”
“Despite WP’s denial, it’s proposal to lower flat prices by paying less for land will constitute a draw on reserves,” he continued.
Mr. Mah also called Workers’ Party leader Low Thia Khiang “mischievous” for implying that the Government has been guilty of taking from Singapore’s reserves for years.
“This is highly misleading,” Mr. Mah remarked. “The government is fiscally prudent.”