You matter!

Yes ... YOU ...... only you can make a difference!
How, you ask??? In many ways ...

(1) By clicking on a discussion thread in REACH Forum (formerly Feedback Unit):
http://app.reach.gov.sg/reach/YourSay/YourDiscussionCorner/tabid/117/ptid/414/page/2147483647/threadid/652/forumtype/posts/Default.aspx

(2) By participating in this survey by a NUS undergrad:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/963382/Celeste-Han-Enbloc-Survey

Survey participation criterion:
Open to all who have experienced, or are experiencing en bloc sale attempts.

Survey deadline:
15 Jan 2008

This is a VERY SHORT survey (takes about 5 mins). Do fill it up and e-mail it DIRECTLY to the NUS undergrad (Celeste Han) at chanhy85@hotmail.com

This request arose from Dr Minority who received an e-mail from an NUS undergraduate, Celeste Han, doing her Honours dissertation with the Dept of Real Estate Management. Her research is on en bloc sales and she needs your help with a survey that she is conducting, specifically on the reserve price and perceptions of it. According to her, the research objectives for the dissertation are:

(a) to identify the key motivations that lead people to agree or disagree to an enbloc sale; and

(b) to study how sellers in enbloc sales forge their reserve price.

The more facts and findings we put out in the market, the better informed we all will be. In turn, this will facilitate sound decision-making by each of us as private property owners, by industry players, by the Gahmen.

An ocean is made up of many, many droplets of water. Every drop counts! Don't evaporate just because others want you to! Should you be steamed for speaking your mind? In Singapore, people tend to look at "WHO" is saying it or "HOW" it is being said or "WHEN" it is being said, as opposed to "WHAT" is being said.

Personally, I think this only makes for a weaker society over the long term if politicians, civil servants, intelligentsia, academia, industry leaders, media, etc, are decibelised by "who", "how" or "when" instead of sieving out the gems of reality or kernels of validity in "what" is being said. A "gem" is a gem, regardless of who/how/when. Surely, one need not be Al Gore to utter An Inconvenient Truth that will be somewhat heeded by those who are entrusted (and paid very handsomely in some cases) to serve the country??? Shouldn't such "gems" or "kernels" be used to finetune, revamp or reverse laws, regulations or policies to better serve the MAJORITY AND MINORITY without risk of discrimination or disadvantage? We all have a place here in this Life. Can we be more inclusive (rather than exclusive ... or dismissive ... or even divisive - as in the case of this en bloc phenomenon)?

If a seamstress says something in Singapore today, do you think people will listen? In the winter of 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama in the USA, a seamstress spoke. Rosa Parks said: "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in".

Read about it on CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/25/parks.obit/index.html
... the bus boycott that ensued,
... almost a year later in 1956, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated bus service was unconstitutional,
... what one American politician said in 2005: "It was so unbelievable that this woman - this one woman - had the courage to take a seat and refuse to get up and give it up to a white gentleman. By sitting down, she was standing up for all Americans."

Rosa Parks died on 24 Oct 2005 but Rosa Parks' spirit of quiet strength lives on ... inspiring us as human beings ... moving us to make a difference ... and be counted!

Who knows? There may be a rainbow after many drops of rain into the ocean we maketh ...
[PS: There are recent UPDATES on the subject-topic pages on this blog to ensure continuing accuracy of facts following the 4 Oct 2007 legislative amendments - viz, the blog pages on Constitution, Sales Proceeds Distribution, Share Values.]