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Questions: When PAP increase Ministers and President pay and creating MM,SM position out if thin air each iwth 3-4 mil salary exc bonus and GIC losing billions, are these rading teh reserves too? When you keep increasing withdrawal age, is this also akeen to raiding the citizens' cpf reserves for old age initially defined as 55yo??? ******************************************************************************** **************************************************************** SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has said that lowering the price of state land is equivalent to taking money from Singapore's reserves. Mr Mah was rebutting comments made by Workers' Party (WP) Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, who had suggested that if the government was prepared to collect less money from land sales, homes can be cheaper. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community event on Saturday, Mr Mah stressed that state land is a part of Singapore's reserves which cannot be raided. He said: "That is precisely what the elected presidency was meant to do, to protect our reserves, to prevent political parties during election time from coming up with all sorts of promises to say, 'oh, I'm going to take money from the reserves to do this, that and the other'." Mr Mah also stressed that the number of new HDB flats is not small, and the lowering of prices will inevitably affect the value of resale homes. He said: "Of course, WP says, 'don't worry, it's only going to come later'. As I've said, that's very small comfort. That's like telling people, 'don't worry, the tsunami is coming, it's only going to hit us a few hours later'. But I say 'no, it's going to hit us almost immediately'. Why? because all the markets are inter-linked." Mr Mah also turned down a proposal by the opposition to have a televised debate. National Solidarity Party (NSP) secretary-general Goh Meng Seng has challenged Mr Mah to a debate on housing, which is seen as a hot-button issue in the upcoming General Election. But Minister Mah shot down the suggestion, saying the government's position on housing is clear. "(What's) more important is for the opposition parties including Workers' Party, NSP, who are all intending to say, 'oh, let's reduce house prices by giving more subsidy'.....to really, honestly tell us how much it's going to cost, and where they are going to get the money from," added Mr Mah. The minister was speaking to reporters after breaking ground for a new community plaza at Tampines. Mr Mah also shared with residents the latest upgrading plans for the estate. He announced that 13 blocks have been selected for the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme. They are blocks 201, 201A, 201B, 201C, 201D, 201E, 211, 212, 213, 214, 225, 226 and 227 at Tampines Street 21 and 23. Also at the event were two new PAP candidates - unionist Steve Tan and former Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Heng Swee Keat. The NSP, which says it will contest Tampines GRC, plans to question Mr Heng on the authority's role in the minibonds saga of 2008. Mr Heng said he welcomed any contest, adding: "We have come up with a very rigorous and fair process to deal with issues of investors' protection. So I think we have gone all out to do our best." Mr Heng also said he has been meeting residents in Tampines for the past two weeks and has received positive feedback. -CNA/ir