Property agent issued Pofma order over false claims

A property agent has been issued a correction order for a video that made false and misleading statements about the Housing Board’s Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP).

On Aug 1, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee instructed the Pofma office here to issue a correction order to Mr Shaik Amar for the eight-minute video, which the ERA property agent had first posted on his TikTok and Instagram accounts on July 24 and then on YouTube on July 25.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) said the video was misleading in a number of ways, and that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) direction was to address two false statements of fact.

First, that the EIP offers no benefit to ethnic minority households and instead caused them significant financial detriment when they sell their flats.

Second, that the EIP was introduced in the 1960s and has not been changed to date.

In the video, Mr Shaik referenced the recent $1.73 million sale of a 45th-floor five-room HDB flat at the SkyOasis @ Dawson development in Margaret Drive, the estate where he also lives.

He called the EIP unfair, and posited that an ethnic-minority flat owner would likely have to “give close to a half a million (dollar) discount to sell their house”, given the Chinese EIP limit.

Misleading to focus on point of resale: MND

In its statement, MND said the EIP benefits minorities in several ways. This includes ensuring that HDB sets aside a defined proportion of flats for the minority communities in all HDB neighbourhoods through its Build-To-Order and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises, and the open booking of flats. 

“Without the EIP, there will be a significant risk that the proportion of owners from minority communities in much sought-after areas will be much less, even at point of sale by HDB,” said the ministry.

“The EIP, in this way, generally enables more persons from the minority communities to benefit when the flats are sold.”

MND also said it is misleading to focus on the point of resale, without setting out that the flat was obtained in the first place within the framework of the EIP.

It noted that the policy ensures that ethnic minorities continue to own HDB flats in different estates, including highly sought-after ones.

Without the EIP, over time there will be fewer home owners from minority communities owning flats in such estates, which will be detrimental to these communities in a number of ways, the ministry added.

These include a reduced likelihood that there will be future owners from minority communities in such estates, who will thereby also not benefit from future increases in value, said MND.

Segregation also generally affects minority communities more than the majority, in this case the Chinese, it added. “The effects of such segregation are bad and can be seen in many countries all over the world.”

MND pointed out that Mr Shaik himself had benefited from the EIP – without the policy, his household would not have been able to select an SBF flat.

During the SBF exercise where he had booked his SkyOasis @ Dawson flat, all minority first-timer applicants were invited to select a three-room flat in Queenstown, said MND.

In comparison, only about 40 per cent of Chinese first-timer applicants were invited to select a flat because of the Chinese EIP limit. MND noted that the value of flats at SkyOasis @ Dawson has since “appreciated significantly”.

“In this way the Government ensures the minority communities are also able to benefit from the increase in value that takes place when a flat bought from HDB is resold at a higher price,” said the ministry.

Measures to help the EIP-constrained

On the second falsehood, MND said the EIP was introduced in 1989 – and not the 1960s – to counteract the worrying trend of ethnic enclaves forming in certain HDB estates. For instance, there were neighbourhoods with a significant concentration of minorities, and others where more than nine in 10 households were Chinese.

Over the years, HDB has put in place a range of measures to assist EIP-constrained flat owners, the ministry added.

These include giving such flat owners more time to sell their existing flat if they have purchased another one, and waiving the EIP limits in exceptional circumstances.

In 2022, HDB also rolled out the EIP buyback assistance scheme to provide EIP-constrained home owners with a fallback option of selling their flats to HDB at a fair price, based on prevailing market conditions, said the statement.

As such, Mr Shaik’s statement that the policy had not been changed since the 1960s is false, said MND.

To tap the buyback scheme, a household will need to have owned the flat for at least 10 years, and the flat should have been marketed at reasonable prices for at least six months. Those with extenuating circumstances can appeal to HDB for special consideration to waive these conditions, the ministry added.

Flats bought back by HDB in this way will be offered for sale through SBF exercises or open booking of flats, and the board will give a significant subsidy on the assessed market value of the flat in determining the sale price.

Where Chinese EIP limits are reached, only buyers from the minority communities will be eligible to buy such flats, and they will benefit from the subsidies like other buyers, added MND.

To comply with the Pofma order, Mr Shaik will have to carry correction notices on his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts.

These notices will have to state that the video posted on July 24 and 25 contained false and misleading statements, and link to the Government’s clarification to let viewers consider both versions and draw their own conclusions, MND said.

As at Aug 1, Mr Shaik had taken down the clips on TikTok and Instagram, though the video remains on his YouTube account, MND noted. While Mr Shaik had removed the clips on TikTok and Instagram, there is a need to address the falsehoods that may have been circulating among the public as a result of the video’s publication, it added.

Reacting to the news, ERA key executive director Eugene Lim said its salesperson, Mr Shaik, was using his personal social media channel to disseminate his personal views on the $1.73 million HDB transaction. The property agent’s views do not reflect the company’s views, he stressed.

Mr Lim added that the company takes the Pofma order “very seriously” and will be taking appropriate action. This includes re-emphasising to all ERA salespeople the importance of maintaining the highest standards of professionalism in all communications.