Dec 1st 2008 letter to the CEO of JTC

Dec 1st, 2008
To : Mrs Ow Foong Pheng, Chief Executive Officer, JTC Corporation
Cc: Mr Lim Swee Say, MP Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

Dear Mrs Ow,
Trust that this email finds you well.
As you may be aware, there is growing concern amongst the majority of tenants at Chip Bee Gardens regarding the rental increase in our estate.

A group of forty families representing the Chip Bee community met up with our MP, Mr Lim Swee Say, this evening. We were there to present our case, accompanied with almost 200 copies of petitions and personal letters / remarks of concern regarding this matter. At the advice of Mr Lim, we are putting in a formal appeal to JTC regarding the recent steep rent increase.

In order for JTC to get the full picture of the situation and the challenges the community is facing, we would like to request a meeting between yourself and a few representatives of our community.

The appended letter will provide a more detailed overview of the situation and challenges that the community is facing.

We look forward to a face-to-face meeting with you at your earliest convenience. In the meantime, if your office should require more information, please feel free to contact our co-ordinator, Ms Ketna Patel (tel : 9735-0901; email : contact@ketnapatel.com).

Sincerely,
The Residents
Chip Bee Gardens

-------------------------- Appended : Appeal for lower rents for Chip Bee Gardens --------------------------

Dear Mrs Ow,
We are a group of residents in Chip Bee Gardens, a bohemian housing enclave in the Holland Village neighbourhood. We recently conducted a survey with the residents of the estate on the issue of the high rental increase imposed by JTC. From the survey and communication with the residents, we have collected close to 200 signed petitions within 3 working days (making up more than half of the housing community here) from the residents of Chip Bee Gardens urgently requesting lower rentals. In reality, we are certain that given more time, the actual number of residents favouring this petition would be a lot higher.
We hope that JTC will listen to our appeal compassionately in view of the serious financial turmoil and economic recession that is engulfing the whole world. The Singapore economy is expected to be so badly affected that Singapore’s Cabinet has taken a pro-active exemplary step of taking a substantial pay cut recently. Most of the residents of Chip Bee Gardens are equally concerned with our financial challenges during this serious economic down turn.
There have been cases in the past wherein rentals had been reduced by over 40% - a case in point would be the last financial crisis of 1997 where the management under ‘Premas’ reduced our rents from S $ 2500 to $ 1800.
Petitioners are not averse to a small increase to their old rents; but to impose an increase of rent from 70 – 90 % at a time like this is very harsh, and throws us into turmoil. Most of us are totally unprepared for this, and we did not see this coming. The new proposed rentals are the highest ever in the history of Chipbee Gardens, and approximately 52 % higher than the last recorded high ever. We also request for JTC to review the rental for those tenants that have recently renewed their lease, as many of them were forced to due to no choice. Many individuals have moved out of Chipbee in the last nine months, and unfortunately, it is too late to appeal on their behalf.
Many of us have made Chip Bee Gardens our home for many years. We have put in our own interior fittings, AC systems, landscaping and furnishings with our hard earned money, heart and soul with the very clear intention of making this our home. Most of the residents we have spoken to have lived here for more than 7 years with some more than 14 years and to our surprise there are even some that have lived here for more than 30 years. It is this blend of long term residents, varied nationalities and professions and age groups that has made Chip Bee Gardens into an exceptional community. This Estate has been described by our previous Prime Minister Mr Goh as a fine and unique example of a colourful, vibrant, bohemian community blending in the best of Singapore and World culture. We appeal to JTC to preserve this unique bohemian enclave in Singapore that has served as a national show case to the world.
We believe that if JTC continues to enforce a pure market economic model of higher rentals and lets out the properties to new tenants that are prepared to pay higher rent, many of the long term residents will have no choice but to move out. Many of our closest friends that have lived here for very long time have already moved out. Often, many of the new tenants that are moving in are ‘transients; i.e they are downsizing from larger properties and use Chipbee as a stop gap measure until their circumstances change. We appeal to JTC to review the current management policy and to lead by example in demonstrating their understanding and appreciation for our much loved estate and the dynamics behind its success.
To not be sensitive to this issue would contradict the social and cultural wish list of so many senior Politicians and Visionaries of Singapore. This rather short sighted ‘market forces’ only viewpoint is not only outdated in context of the recession we are entering, but it would also herald the slow demise of a unique social phenomenon that has been publically talked about by two previous Prime Ministers, countless newspaper and magazine articles and films. Some of the most celebrated members of the Singaporean Creative Community have at one point lived here, and our networks and friendships with them still remain.
We look forward to having an audience with you to share our opinions and suggestions from the majority of the residents of Chip Bee Gardens and hope that you will consider our input and appeal. This will give you the full picture of our sentiment and enable you to make an appropriate decision to make the necessary changes to the current management policy of Chip Bee Gardens. We will make available all the signed petitions with the attached letter dated 23rd Nov and some of the personal stories and comments by many of the tenants of Chip Bee Gardens. We hope to hear from you on the decision of JTC on our petitions for lower rental.
Since this appeal is ongoing, we are also asking for an unconditional freeze on tenancy renewal for tenants that have their tenancy agreements expiring at the end of October, November and December 2008 and for those that have not signed the new tenancy agreements. There is a legitimate and necessary process that this appeal has to go through before we all come to a fair and just conclusion on the way forward. In the meantime, we shall continue to pay our current rentals.
Kindly let us have your comments / acknowledgement at the soonest. We would also like to extend to you an invitation to one of our homes so that you can meet some of the residents and experience for yourself the community spirit.
Yours sincerely,
Residents of Chip Bee Gardens
Please respond to : 35 Jalan Puteh Jerneh, Chip Bee Gardens on behalf of the petitioners
Mobile : 9735 0901
Email: contact@ketnapatel.com