I used to work in HDB Branch Office. For people who worked in HDB or in People's Association, most of us have to pretend to support PAP MPs and Grassroots Advisors even though we like it or not.
Most of the Meet-the-MP sessions are usually housing and car park issues so I was also coerced to volunteer, together with those Town Council people and helped the residents write appeal letters and replies etc.
It was a draining exercise. Most of the time, the sessions can end as late 12 midnight but luckily for us, we stay near our residences so walking back is no issue for us.
But most of the time, the problem stems from low-income people have to cope with the high costs of living.
Even though I volunteered with PAP MP, I sometimes hope that opposition parties can win the GRC to bring down the costs of living and in doing so, help me alleviate the problems I faced at work too.
PAP MP also understands the seriousness of the problems that most Singaporeans faced too, until to the point that he sometimes had to instruct me to tell a few white lies in appeal letters so that they can clear the backlog.
For example, one couple had difficulties getting a HDB loan. Apparently, they explained to me that they are unable to get a bank loan due to their bad credit history and needed to buy a four room flat. Although HDB approved their loan, their loan was not enough to cover the price of the 4 room HDB flat. To make it worse, they also had to include their elderly mother who was suffering from cancer and wheel-chair bound.
In my appeal letter, the PAP MP told me to exclude the mother out as her illness as her presence will only pull down the loan quantum given by HDB. Apparently, from HDB policies, if the occupant has special needs, HDB will not grant you a higher loan so that the buyer can have more cash on hand to support the mother. But it will create another dilemma as the couple cannot even buy the flat.
In another case, my PAP MP also advised a jobless man to try to leave out a job history on his CV which he only stayed for a few months as it will not look good on his CV.
These white little lies also make me feel dishonest too but I suppose it is necessary or else, we would be stuffed with too much backlog until we cannot clear it.
To all those detractors who say PAP MPs are out of sync with average Singaporeans problems, trust me, they do know our problems at Meet-the-MP session but for some reason, they just cannot solve our issues.
It is times like these that sometimes, I wished Opposition Parties could help take over.
CJ
Contributions