Straits Times article on Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

1. review insight í THE STRAITS TIMES FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 2010 PAGE A28
On the ground... Hong Kah
GRC
Sembawang GRC
in HOLLAND-BUKIT TIMAH GRC
Ang
Moh
Kio
Bukit Panjang GRC
SMC
Chua Chu
WARD HISTORY Kang SMC
DS ROAD
BUKIT T
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC was formed in 2006 In 2001, Holland-Bukit Panjang
when it replaced Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC. GRC was uncontested. Bukit Innovation Bishan-
Place Jurong
The new constituency incorporated Bukit Timah SMC saw an electoral GRC Toa Payoh
IMAH
LAN
Timah SMC, but Bukit Panjang ward was carved battle in which the PAP's Upper GRC
out as an SMC. The GRC saw a walkover for the Dr Wang Kai Yuen won with 77 Seletar
WOOD
Reservoir
EXPRESSWAY
PAP in the General Election in the same year. per cent of the votes.
Tanjong
Yew Tee West Coast Pagar
e
yan Railway Lin
Industrial GRC GRC
BUONA VISTA POPULATION PROFILE Estate
Population Zhenghua HOLLAND-
202,040
Secondary
Mr Lim Swee School BUKIT TIMAH GRC
Say West Hill
M ala
Age: 56 Secondary KRANJI EXPRESSWAY
School Buona
Occupation: Minister, Zhenghua
Prime Minister’s
Vista
Office and Secretary- No. of voters Ulu
General of the
National Trades 133,260 Ten Mile
Junction
Bukit
Panjang
Greenridge
Secondary
Cashew Pandan
Union Congress Plaza School Nature Reserve Bukit
Year he entered
politics: 1996 9.2% BU
KIT
PAN
Timah
Malay JA N
GR Bukit
CASHEW 7.1% OA
D Panjang
UPPER BU K
PET Bukit SMC
79%
Indian Bukit IR
Panjang Bus RO Panjang
Dr Vivian AD LRT Line
Balakrishnan Chinese
4.7% Interchange Fajar
Secondary
BUKIT
IT
Age: 49 Others School
Boy’s
TIM
Occupation: Town
Chestnut
AH
TIMAH
Minister for S’pore
Community Drive Upper
RO
CHIJ School
Development, Secondary Peirce
AD
Our Lady School Reservoir
31%
EXPRES
Youth and Sports Queen of
Live in private Peace Central Catchment
Year he entered housing Nature Reserve
Dairy Farm
69%
politics: 2001 DAIRY FARM ROAD
SWAY
Live in public Estate
MOE Dairy
housing The Farm Adventure
BUKIT Salvation Centre
TIMAH Army
Mrs Yu-Foo 26.7% The
Rail Mall Bukit Timah
Yee Shoon Five room
or larger Nature Reserve
Age: 60
Occupation:
Minister of State, 22.5% RIFLE
Canadian
International
Ministry of Four room RANGE School (Middle) Bukit Golf
Community Course 2006 GE
Nature ROAD
Development,
19.8% UPPER BUKIT Hollandse RESULT
PIE
Youth and Sports TIMAH ROAD Reserves German
Visitor School (Dutch European
Three room School)
Year she entered or smaller Centre School (S’pore)
politics: 1984 Bukit Timah
flats JALAN Gun Club PIE
L ST
PAN Swiss Club
ANAK
RA EA
-IS Swiss School
LAN BUKIT Bukit
NT G
ZHENGHUA Institute of
CE RON
DE Engineers Timah
XPR TOH TUCK ROAD
JU
ESS S’pore Saddle
Singapore Pei Hwa Presbyterian Sime Turf Club
WA Darby City
Mr Liang Eng Technologies Y Primary School
Hwa Bukit Timah Centre
Ulu Pandan Water Walkover
Age: 46 Jurong Water Primary School Y DUN Former
IMM Hub WA EAR
Occupation: East Reclamation Ulu
R E SS N R Race
EMENTI ROAD
Building OAD
Plant Pandan EXP
K AVE
Managing station Course
director, DBS Bank BO MRT PAN-ISLAND Ngee Ann
Tan BUKIT Hwa Chong
ON Polytechnic
CLEMENTI AVE 6
Depot Methodist TIM International
T UC
Year he entered LA Chong AH
Creative Y SUNSET Girls’ Motor ROA School
politics: 2006 WA Trade D
H
Technology WAY SIM University Primary & Centre
TO
Y Hub 21 Clementi Hwa Chong
Secondary
CL
Acer Camp & S’pore Junior College
Computer CO Institute of KTM Schools
M Bukit Coronation
ULU Ulu Pandan Refuse S’pore Management Plaza
MO
AYER Incineration Buddhist Timah CORONATION
PANDAN
NW
R A JA Youth Railway ROAD WEST
E
Plant
AV
H
EA
EXP Mission Station
Mr Christopher RE
TH
LTH
ROAD
PANDAN
SIX
de Souza
SS
ULU
AV
Nanyang
WA
Age: 34
E
Primary
Y
Occupation: Partner Pei Tong Embassy of The St Margaret’s
WE
ITE College Primary School Secondary
at law firm Lee & Lee HO Socialist Republic
ST
West L School
Year he entered
School of Vietnam AD
(Clementi) RO
LA
ND
politics: 2006 Nan Hua RO ER
GHIM
Primary AD Buona Vista R R
School Holland FA
Swimming Road
MOH
Ghim Moh RD Complex Shopping
Sources: Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council, PAP Branches and Elections Department Primary Centre
School Ghim Moh
Secondary HOLLAND
School AVE TEXT: ELGIN TOH ST FILE PHOTOS
Anglo
Civil Service Chinese ST GRAPHICS
Rich-poor issues
SWAY
College School
International
QUEEN
One Commonwealth their flats is also not an
option as they own only
Commonwealth one property. Thus the recent mea-
station sures to cool the property market are
cheered.
The perspective changes when it
comes to the well-off.
pose challenge
As Madam Lucie Chua, 50, who lives
in a bungalow in the plush Namly estate,
points out, many of those around her
own multiple properties and may not wel-
come the recent slew of property mea-
sures, fearing a plunge in the value of
their assets.
Similarly, transport is an issue that
sees divergent views between the two
housing groups.
Technician Lee Hock Hwa, 52, an HDB
With 31 per cent of its residents living in private housing, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC has the largest resident in Zhenghua, says his daily trans-
port expenditure has grown from $2 to
share of upper-class voters in Singapore. If bread-and-butter issues trouble the HDB heartlanders, $3: “The fares are getting too expensive.
But I think I’ll vote PAP still. Singapore
what are the concerns of the rich? Elgin Toh, Li Xueying, Janice Heng and Chia Yan Min speak to 100 constituents will get very chaotic if more opposition
across its five wards to feel the political pulse. MPs are elected.”
For administrative assistant Bahriah
Abu Bakar, 48, the lack of an MRT station
T
HE Malay word ulu can mean swathes of the other four wards are also privately owned section and the other people like us more help,” says retiree near her HDB flat in Cashew is a pet
remote, backward or undevel- filled with private estates. half from its HDB crowd – to feel the po- Chew Chan Nam, 76, who lives in a peeve, as bus service 190 to town is
oped. Pandan is a sweet-smell- Buona Vista stretches from Holland litical pulse. three-room flat in Buona Vista. always packed in the morning.
ing plant used in making some Village to Coronation estate; Zhenghua Some differences are immediately evi- For owners of five-room flats and exec- “People are standing on the steps.
foodstuffs. comprises the HDB estates in Senja and dent. utive condominium units, however, the Imagine how dangerous it would be if the
But take a stroll around the Ulu Pan- Greenridge as well as the area around For starters, bread-and-butter issues overriding concern can be summed up as bus jams its brakes.”
dan ward with MP Christopher de Souza, Turf City; Cashew goes from the Salva- rank high on the priority list of the less the middle-class squeeze. But for Madam Sandra Koh, 46, who
and you will not see any sign of the kam- tion Army headquarters to Senja LRT sta- well-off. Not one private home dweller “We don’t have that many benefits lives in a bungalow off Bukit Timah Road,
pung huts or the fragrant leaves that gave tion; and Bukit Timah covers Faber, Toh interviewed expressed any concern about under this Government, no rebates on the prospect of an MRT station within
the neighbourhood its name. Yi and Toh Guan estates. rising utility bills. conservancy charges, no subsidies. Some walking distance from her home does not
Today the swanky district – from Hwa Put together, they make for a very dif- The rising cost of utilities happens to of those living in two- or three-room set her pulse racing. The Tan Kah Kee
Chong Institution to Sunset Way – is dot- ferent GRC compared with the others be the biggest bugbear of Ms Rebecca flats are richer than us,” gripes adminis- station is part of Stage 2 of the Down-
ted with some of the island’s most expen- across the island. One-third of all resi- Tan, who lives in a four-room flat in Buo- trative manager Wendy Thong, 53, who town Line, slated for completion in 2015.
sive bungalows and long, winding roads dents here live in private housing, which na Vista. Says the sales executive, 52, in owns an executive flat in Bukit Panjang. She says: “An MRT station will be
often lined with fancy cars. includes the enclaves of the super-rich in Mandarin: “My water and electricity bills “We really are caught in the middle.” quite redundant here, as most households
The electoral register here would read District 10. This makes Holland-Bukit have gone up by so much, even though I If you take two hot-button issues – have two cars or more. It will only make
like a Who’s Who of Singapore, ranging Timah arguably the most upper-class con- don’t use an air-conditioner. They say housing and transport – and compare the traffic situation along Bukit Timah
from top politicians and civil servants to stituency in Singapore. the bill is only an estimate, but that’s still how the two residential groups feel about Road worse during the building period.”
corporate chieftains and tycoons. So what does this mean? How differ- taking my money away from me.” them, the differences are starker still. To be sure, some problems cut across
Not that Mr de Souza, Singapore’s ent are the concerns of the residents here Other issues cited by the lower-in- Runaway HDB resale prices and a lack classes.
youngest MP at age 34, is the least bit from those of their counterparts in the come residents who live in the smaller of new flats constitute the main grouses The immigration issue upsets both
daunted: “I treat all residents equally. If other GRCs? And how will this socio-eco- flats include the high cost of living, of those living in public housing. groups, albeit for different reasons. One
they have concerns – no matter who they nomic make-up affect the dynamics of a employer discrimination based on age or Some are renters looking to buy. Oth- cleaner living in an HDB flat in Sunset
are – I will work to address them.” contest in the next general election? race, and the lack of welfare for the old ers have children who have just started
Ulu Pandan blends in with the rest of Insight spoke to 100 residents across and needy. working and cannot afford to move out. CONTINUED
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. Large the five wards in the GRC – half from its “I hope the Government will give old Taking advantage of the boom by selling ON PAGE A30