Wednesday 7 August 2013

SDP youth arm's article 'misleading'

'Mischievous' post caused Pulau Ubin residents undue anxiety, says SLA
The Straits Times, 6 Aug 2013

THE Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has accused the youth arm of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) of posting a "mischievous" article online "to mislead the public" on Pulau Ubin's development and cause undue anxiety to the island's residents.

The article, on the Young Democrats' visit to the island in May, was uploaded on the party's website last Wednesday.

Yesterday, the SLA, custodian of state land, denied its claim that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had approached resident Chua Bing Qing in 2009 to evict him, but later charged him rent for using the land after learning that the house he lived in was his mother's.

The URA did not approach him, "much less to evict or charge him rent as claimed", the SLA said on its Facebook page.

It added that Mr Chua confirmed this to SLA officers who visited him after the article appeared. Separately, his brother Peng Hong corroborated it.

Another claim in the article was that a "Madam Samiyah" at Kampong Chek Jawa was evicted from her house 15 years ago, and was paid $400,000 for her land.

SLA said its records show there "never" was an owner by that name whose land was affected by any land acquisition exercise.

It also denied that resident Lim Cho Tee received a slew of SLA notices demanding rent payment.

The family had paid up promptly every month through Giro, the SLA said.

These latest rebuttals by SLA follow a scare in April when residents thought they were given an eviction notice.

The letter was actually to inform them of a census survey to decide their resettlement benefits and how much they need to pay to keep living on the island.

Noting media reports of the Government's plan to keep Pulau Ubin rustic for as long as possible, the SLA said: "It is mischievous and irresponsible for the article... to mislead the public and cause undue anxiety to the residents in Pulau Ubin."


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