Bigger Say For Heartland Folk

Source : The Straits Times, 10 Aug 2007

Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu wants to give power to the people - at least in matters such as the running and appearance of their HDB estates. But will residents rise above personal preferences to make decisions for the common good?

That’s the key challenge of fostering a sense of community, she tells LYNN LEE

A RESIDENT recently wrote to Ms Grace Fu with a novel excuse for why he had not paid his service and conservancy charges.

The air-conditioning in his flat was not cold. And this was because HDB flats were not well-built, he argued.

So he saw no reason to pay fees for upkeeping the estate. He owed two years’ worth of fees.

It was a nice try, but the resident had to pay, of course.

For Ms Fu, the exchange seems emblematic of the challenge she faces when trying to encourage people to have a better sense of home.

She chaired the HDB Heartware Forum - a series of ‘town hall’ discussions with residents launched 10 months ago to find ways to develop a stronger sense of community in estates.

Most recognise how vital community bonding is in creating a sense of home.

Yet there are those for whom the idea of home is limited to their four walls and being able to do as they please.

‘People who bother to attend the consultation process are already a converted lot who want to contribute,’ Ms Fu says of those at the sessions.

‘But I believe that there are a majority who prefer to remain silent and let others do the work.’

As she holds the National Development portfolio, the MP for Jurong GRC is also often petitioned on housing-related matters.

The air-conditioning case stuck out from among the ‘genuine cases’ of residents seeking fee waivers or subsidies, she says.

More than a year since her election, the 43-year- old says she now knows what older colleagues mean when they recount how some residents can be overly demanding about what their flat or estate ought to be like.

Creating heartware, it seems, can cause some heartache.

‘If I hear some of them telling me to clean up this place and that place and fill up the ‘ponding’ on the floor, sometimes I do feel frustrated,’ she says.

But she adds that what such cases indicate is that residents are not bogged down by more pressing problems, such as the lack of jobs.

While Ms Fu avoids labelling difficult residents, it is clear that the attitude among some of them could prove to be the biggest hurdle in building closer-knit communities.

Some initiatives to build a greater sense of community and ownership in estates were announced last week.

These include giving residents more say in how their HDB estate should look and be run.

A pilot project for about 20 blocks will be carried out in Sembawang GRC led by MP Lim Wee Kiak.

Residents will be asked to vote on three projects: the installation of CCTVcameras; getting residents to keep their estate clean; and determining the kind of cyclical repair and redecoration work to be done.

Other plans include more choice in upgrading schemes, greater priority for married couples to live near their parents, and an estate website for residents.

Having more say was on the wish list of those who attended the dialogues.

But will the larger HDB community rise to the task of collective decision-making?

Ms Fu says she doesn’t want to predict any outcomes:

‘We have to really feel our way as we go, to see which are the issues where people can live with a decision taken by the majority, and which ones…would be potentially divisive.’

This means that not every issue will be put to a vote, especially if it involves sensitive matters like race or if it leads to increased cost, she says.

One sticking point, she acknowledges , is whether residents can accept majority decisions that they disagree with.

She cites the example of a resident who blasted the HDB about the way numbers were painted on his block, despite the scheme having been put to a vote and approved by the bulk of residents.

Beyond housing issues and community ties, Ms Fu says her first year on the job has thrown up varied challenges.

One example she cites during a wide-ranging 90-minute interview is the sand export ban that Indonesia imposed early this year, followed by the disruption in granite supply in February.

Prices for both raw materials, used to make concrete, skyrocketed.

The Government stepped in to pay 75 per cent of the increase in construction costs of affected public sector projects; key industry players rallied together to share the price increase; and suppliers looked for new sources.

Singapore’s construction industry was not paralysed as a result, says Ms Fu.

‘To me, I think that’s a great satisfaction, to be able to…manage a potential crisis situation and to manage it well.’

She is coy when asked if she would like to move to another ministry, prefacing her reply by drawing on a lesson she has learnt: that the decision-making process in Government is complex.

‘When I was in the private sector, I used to think that ‘Oh, why can’t they make a decision quicker’. When you are in here, you realise the implications of policies and the different stakeholders that you need to manage and balance. That’s really quite different,’ she says.

The former chief executive of PSA International (South-east Asia and Japan) is ‘quite open’ about a next posting, although it is not something she is looking at now.

‘There’s still a lot to be done here,’ she says.

As for talk about her making the grade as a full minister, she will say only that she takes things one step at a time:

‘I’d like to build up a solid foundation and be comfortable with my ability, and for the PM or the other Cabinet ministers to be comfortable with what I can deliver.’
Turn the topic to family and the mother of three boys aged 15, 13 and 10 warms up.
Going from private citizen to politician has taken some significant adjustment, she says candidly.

Time with her family is limited so she has started taking her sons to grassroots functions with her.

During the school break, oldest son Brian, who is in Secondary 3, helped out at her Meet-the-People sessions.

At home, her husband, technopreneur Ivan Lee, now shoulders more of the duties, whether taking the children to school or attending parent-teacher meetings.

She quips that her image has also undergone tweaking.

She no longer goes out shopping in flip-flops and has traded in her shorts for ‘longer bermudas’.

A tad wistful, she says she misses her privacy. But that doesn’t mean she will trade in her current role:

‘This job has been tremendously rewarding…I’m very glad that I’m in it because I think that in this one year, I have really grown a lot.’

HIGHER-VALUE ECONOMY

‘As Singapore gets revalued by investors it is only reasonable that our prices go up. We’re worth more now because…people see that Singapore is in a different phase of growth…We will short- change our public housing owners if we say that everything else can appreciate except public housing…What we have to be mindful of is that it doesn’t run away relative to our salary.’ MS GRACE FU

SEEING THE BENEFITS

‘I suppose there’s always a group of voters who do not agree with the decisions we make. But it is then our job to try to explain the rationale as much as we can… My answer has always been that you can’t tell the implications of policies (right away)… But when you see how it has panned out over time, then you realise that there’s a certain wisdom; that there are reasons for the policies.’ MS GRACE FU