Singapore
Kenneth Jeyaretnam issued 6th POFMA direction over Ridout Road saga
Kenneth Jeyaretnam gets his 6th POFMA direction for querying SLA’s rental management by comparing the leases of 26 Ridout Rd (249,340 sq ft) and 31 Ridout Rd (98,569 sq ft) to a 5,279 sq ft property.
Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam has received his sixth correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) for comments he made on Friday (16 Feb) about the rental of black-and-white bungalows at Ridout Road by two ministers.
Second Minister for Law, Edwin Tong, instructed the POFMA order to be issued to Mr Jeyaretnam for his article on The Ricebowl Singapore website, as well as his posts on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.
This action was taken as the Minister claimed the posts alleged that Mr Jeyaretnam stated the SLA mismanaged State properties by charging Minister K Shanmugam and Minister Vivian Balakrishnan rent at below market value for 26 and 31 Ridout Road and giving them preferential tenancy terms.
Correction directions were also issued to Gutzy Asia—for sharing the hyperlink to Mr Jeyaretnam’s post in an article on its website and indirectly linking it via its Facebook post and X post—and to The Online Citizen for its Facebook post.
Mr Jeyaretnam wrote a blog on 16 February entitled, “Can SLA Explain the Huge Discrepancy Between the Auction Results for 41 Malcolm Road and What They Are Charging for 26 and 31 Ridout Road?” He suggested he had evidence that the rentals for 26 and 31 were unusually low and that it appeared to be a mismanagement of Singapore’s precious land reserves.
He suggested that the failure to secure the best possible rental for the Ridout Road properties is purely the result of incompetence on the part of the SLA management.
According to SLA’s website, 41 Malcolm Road, which has an estimated gross floor area of 5,279 sq ft, drew four monthly rental bids in February of between S$10,500 (US$7,780) and S$22,242.
The Factually article stated that SLA had rented out 26 and 31 Ridout Road in 2018 and 2019, respectively, at fair market value and not below market valuation.
The monthly rent for 26 Ridout Road, which was revised from 9,350 square meters (100,600 sq ft) to 23,164 square meters (249,340 sq ft), was S$26,500, while the monthly rent for 31 Ridout Road at 9,157.36 square meters (98,569.0 sq ft) was S$19,000.
“At the time, 26 and 31 Ridout Road had been vacant for years. The market conditions were weak and generally on a downward trajectory,” it added.
When the properties were renewed three years later, they were also at market rent. A revaluation of the rentals was carried out by professional valuers to peg the rentals to the prevailing market rate.
The monthly rent for 26 Ridout Road was maintained at S$26,500, while the monthly rent for 31 Ridout Road was increased to S$20,000.
Regarding 26 Ridout Road, Mr Shanmugam who heads SLA as the Law Minister, is said to have recused himself from the rental transaction, and no matter had been raised by SLA to the Ministry of Law during the entire rental process.
The professional valuer also did not know the identity of the prospective tenant at the time, according to the Factually article.
Mr Jeyaretnam “makes an inappropriate and erroneous comparison” for the rentals of 26 and 31 Ridout Road with the recent rental bids for 41 Malcolm Road, said the article.
“It is misleading for Mr Jeyaretnam to suggest that the properties are directly comparable, without making any attempt to refer to the established facts relating to the rentals of 26 and 31 Ridout Road, or to account for the fact that property market conditions do not remain static,” according to the article.
“Market conditions today are stronger than they were when the Ridout Road properties were initially rented out and subsequently renewed.”
The tenancies for the Ridout Road properties were also kept within the 3+3+3 tenancy period.
“The ministers had incurred substantial costs to improve the state properties, the benefit of which will accrue to the State when the tenancies eventually come to an end.”
The Factually website said that Mr Jeyaretnam’s article and posts “glaringly omit” facts and that he has a “track record of publishing false statements” regarding the rentals of the Ridout Road properties by the ministers.
From July to November last year, he was issued five correction directions for comments about the Ridout Road rentals.
“His latest article shows that he chooses to persist in making false statements on the matter, even though he clearly knows the true facts,” said the Factually article.
“The government takes a serious view of Mr Jeyaretnam’s conduct and will consider if any further action should be taken against him.”
It added that the rentals have been “independently and extensively investigated” by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean.
The Factually article, however, did not delve into other details, such as how the bid for 26 Ridout Road was won by Mr Shanmugam, who was the sole bidder and placed a bid above the Guide Rent (which was not disclosed to him). He had also previously requested a list of public properties available for rent from his ministry’s deputy secretary.
CPIB said it found no evidence that the ministers were given favourable rental rates due to their positions, and the issue was covered in parliament on 3 July 2023, where the matter was bulldozed through with the People’s Action Party majority parliament.
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Never believe anything until the pap pofma it. Then we know it’s true because pap is scared of the truth. Every pofmaed news is true, authentic news. Now we know.
“Market conditions weak”??? “Downward trajectory”??? Is sla talking about sham’s health going downhill? How come property rentals, whether residential or business, shot up everywhere in Singapore through the roof year on year, even month on month??? Who would ever believe rental conditions were ever weak, especially for Ridout? This line of obfuscation and deception is getting way over the top. Let’s vote out and against pap to get some real transparency. Enough is enough!!
Fat fuck Kenneth Jeyaretnam bay song he was not successful to fix the 2 clowns and not letting on the Ridout Rd issue and now the establishment alao out on a witch hunt on fat fuck Kenneth if he does not shut his mouth. Oppo losers who Kenneth thought are friends as usual, cheering at the side lines for fat fuck Kennth to go on biting on Ridout cos these losers ain’t going to be the one to burn at the stake in the end! Moral of story. Be careful who your friends are, cos they could be the one… Read more »
Now … now, we should just stop what we are saying as he is just going to poopma everything people say that’s the truth about his rented house.
Think about it, where got so much to poopma?
The way I look at it …. If Lawrence Wrong is TRULY ABSOLUTELY against even a HINT of corruption, these two would have been shown the door. But unfortunately if that were to happen, then all of a sudden, the 4G PAP will have lost ALL of their senior Indian ministers. Tharman got kicked upstairs to the Istana to be the president. Iswaran got himself suspended for a whole lot of free concert/show tickets (facepalm!!). And if these two Ridout residents got booted out …. nobody left except maybe for Indranee (who made quite a good imitation of a screeching… Read more »
I may be initially inclined to DOUBT Kenneth but AFTER SIX poofma’s, I’m inclined to BELIEVE him. Nobody should get poofma-ed to this extent unless there is ACTUALLY something to HIDE.
The thing is Singaporeans are not stupid. No matter how many POFMA orders are issued, Singaporeans can read and see for themselves that the rents at the Ridout properties seem very off.
The more the G tries to justify or defend the rents at the Ridout properties, the more Singaporeans view the whole saga as non-kosher.
We will probably see this reflected in the forthcoming GE.
So, my advice to KJ and Gutzy, comply with the order so that Singaporeans are not deprived of a chance to read more from KJ on Gutzy.
Hiaz …..
The 60 ‘s
This is exactly why POFMA was invented. The silencer at the end of the barrel to be the arbiter of truth but can only be executed by a privileged few.
Can someone POFMA these clowns about the shifting goalpost CPF issue?
BTW what’s the latest story on our beloved Izzy?
When it is crooked, it is not straight. No matter how many times you PokMa same, it is still crooked and will not make it straight.
VTO. VTO.
Long Live Singapore. Loong Leave Singapore (after he pays for all his wrong doings).
Landlord is themselves served by servants(public too) of the state. There is no better deal than a property maintained by the government – generally very little responsibility and burden which come with ownership
How can those B&W ‘rental is fair market value’ when compared to neighboring sites ,which command even much higher rent and have even smaller land area?
That is why I say, you oppo and daft locals don’t get it. As long as they got the mandate, they say or do anything also will be right!
So you ppl here ,day and night stop commenting lah.
No point, cos every election the PAP is still given that MANDATE to rule!😆😆😆😆🤣🤣🤣
The son of his father, JBJ, who stole Anson Constituency from PAP stranglehold – till to this very day, very hour, this PAP is so so so so so revengeful, with so much DEEP hatred, from sun rise to sunset, what’s the PAP up to to SERVE SG, for SG?
How much are these prime land the ministers have “seized” with the rent they are paying per year? 50+ millions? (Still modest in today’s market? ) How much money are they paying per year to “own”(reside) the property for the next 20 yrs(life span)? $300, 000 x 20 = $6million. That’s less than a quarter of what they earn per year to “own” the property which the best of the best could not be owned by anyone even if they have the money. This is as good as homes for royalty in Sin. Perks far better than any politicians could… Read more »
It’s irrelevant to the crux of the main issue – which is fair market rent obtainable – to say they spent a lot on enhancing the environmental habitat. Big Balls.
These ARE ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT points that DO NOT assist in the moral of the story as told, as asserted.
9 year tenancy in Singapore, is it a norm? 3+3+3, both parties have the right to terminate or only the Tenant? Total costs spent, can only be recovered in a Loong, Loong time? Next Tenant may not need the “improvements,” that are tailored for the present Tenant. In a landed property tenancy, there must be a clause in favour of the landlord to ask the Tenant to remove all fixture and reinstate the property if the Landlord so desired at the Tenant’s costs. Is there such a clause? Or taxpayers’ have to bear the costs if the next Tenant doesn’t… Read more »
It seems the ownership of facts, and it’s rightful dissemination, to the Sheepland public belongs only to a very ratified few who control and interpret facts. And looking at those facts it seems not many of these statements of facts do carry proofs of, that they are facts, facts in details, with possibly clear statistics that make them as factual facts, better still right. Besides, if certain issues involved SLA, for instance, use them just as a theoretical example, only they can be the ones to determine what is facts related to their work. Then how to know whether they,… Read more »
Did Kenneth said that the ministers received preferential treatment on the rental of the black and whites? I think not. from what he wrote, he was merely saying that as LANDLORD, SLA failed to secure the best rental price for the premises as rent is accrued on behalf of the citizens as revenue or income. what is so wrong with this opinion? the citizens should delve deeper and think hard whether the SLA Management has their interest at heart by renewing the lease on a 3+3+3 and 2+3+3 or simply on a 1-year basis? why 1 year you may ask.… Read more »
I confirm wouldn’t be Voting for Any party. I have not seen any Actions that they are doing what is Right. Instead continue to find scapegoats or spinning stories in the air. Inflate Prices so that they can get back the resources from the ground. Then have all these sides Corruption show YET no intention to set it Right!!!!
We all think so BUT as long as there is No One to remove those who game from the system … It will just be like that unless ppl will vote down or abstain from voting for RENEWAL to happen.