It's amazing, how they can make such an error - everybody knows that there are NO snazzy landed properties in Ubin, only huts and humble wooden kampong homes. I mean, our government does not do things based on ASSUMPTIONS?
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The New Paper Reports:
Our wooden houses were treated like bungalows
ERS MIX-UP
Ubin residents got fewer shares as a result
CPF apologises after The New Paper raises issue
By Teh Jen Lee
THERE are no HDB flats on Pulau Ubin, only 'landed property'.
But typical Ubin homes are a far cry from mainland houses. Some are wooden shacks without electricity or piped water.
Yet, when the Economic Restructuring Shares (ERS) were given out this year, these homes were treated the same as terrace houses and bungalows on the mainland.
Ubin residents got only 200 shares, like the owners of luxurious homes.
The New Paper raised this with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Central Provident Fund Board, which administers the ERS scheme.
It turned out that a mistake had been made. And Ubin residents will now get 400 shares like most people on the mainland.
The CPF Board explained that the number of ERS allotted depends on the annual value (AV) of an owner's property. This is the estimated annual income that the property can fetch if it is rented out.
Under the rules, those living in properties with an AV of $10,000 or less are allotted 400 ERS. But if the AV is more than $10,000, only 200 shares are given.
ERROR MADE
However, when The New Paper checked with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on how much residents have to pay it to live on the island, a spokesman replied that the temporary occupation licence fees paid by Ubin residents did not exceed $5,300 a year.
Thanks to the subsequent check by The New Paper, the authorities conducted an investigation and discovered that an error had been made.
An MOF spokesman told The New Paper that in the first allotment last year, the residents were given the correct number of 400 shares.
'Unfortunately CPF wrongly classified the AV of some Pulau Ubin homes for the second ERS instalment in 2004. The residents were therefore given 200 ERS instead of 400 ERS.'
The spokesman added: 'CPF has corrected the error, and is sending out letters to inform the individuals affected that they will get the additional 200 ERS.
'CPF would like to apologise to the affected residents for the mistake.'
More than 70 residents, or almost the entire Ubin population, will get the additional shares.
RESIDENTS SPOKE UP
Some residents had earlier told The New Paper about receiving fewer government shares because their wooden shacks were treated like landed properties on the mainland.
One of them, Madam Asiah Ibrahim, 81, has been living in her modest home, which is about the size of a three-room HDB flat, since she was a child.
She doesn't have a power connection, and depends on a generator for electricity.
To save money on diesel, she switches on the generator for only five hours a day, mostly just to watch the news on her small 9-inch TV.
Madam Asiah said in Malay: 'During the day, it's usually off, unless it's very hot and I need the fan.'
Since she doesn't have a constant electricity supply in her home, her painted-over fridge is more like a food cabinet. In it are some eggs, a few plastic containers and little else.
The rooms are simply furnished, with old furniture and soft toys left behind by her six children.
They have all grown up and are living on the mainland, but Madam Asiah doesn't want to live with them.
She said: 'If I live in a flat, I will just sleep my day away. Here I can do some gardening and go fishing for prawns at the nearby ponds.'
The sprightly octogenarian still draws water from a well to do her laundry.
Madam Asiah said she spends about $300 each month on food, diesel and gas.
When she found out that she had been given fewer shares, she was puzzled.
'I don't think it's very fair because we also have to buy things,' she said.
She did not think of complaining to the authorities because she said her children give her pocket money regularly.
However residents like her are now smiling at the prospect of receiving more shares.
Thanking The New Paper for highlighting their plight to the authorities, Mr Vincent Chew, 36, a self-employed Ubin resident, said: 'Of course I'm happy to get the extra 200 ERS.'
Some of them wondered whether they would also be given more New Singapore Shares (NSS). These were given out in 2001 to help people tide over the economic downturn.
Singaporeans were given allotments ranging from 200 to 1,400 shares.
The Ubin residents said they were given fewer NSS too, because of their housing type.
But the MOF spokesman clarified that no review will be done for this.
'The NSS scheme has since closed and no further shares will be issued,' the spokesman said.
Still, the residents were happy to get 200 more ERS this time, and another 400 in the final allotment next year.
Madam Chen Xiuzhen, 66, who was born on the island, said in Mandarin: 'Most people here are old, and not working.'
The good news was welcomed by Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, the Member of Parliament (East Coast GRC) who oversees Pulau Ubin.
Mr Abdullah, who is also Speaker of Parliament, said: 'It is gracious of CPF to admit to the error and to rectify it. This gesture, I'm sure, will be appreciated by the affected residents.'
