So, usually, one wouldn’t really be interested in colonial houses and such, with the first reason being that the majority can’t afford them and the second reason being that the majority really cannot afford them.
But if you do have an avid interest in them, you can check out this video down below:
Anyways, yes, people usually wouldn’t have much interest in colonial houses, and it’s a notion formerly reflected on Singapore Land Authority’s Facebook page: loads of colonial house video tours, hardly enough views.
SLA’s Video Tours of Their Colonial Houses Have Gone Viral Since the Ridout Road Saga Broke Out
But everything changed when the Ridout Saga attacked.
Lest you’re unaware, the infamous Ridout Road Saga saw our local politicians, Home Affairs & Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, get embroiled in a high-profile scandal over the rental of two Good Class Bungalows along Ridout Road.
Simply put, they were accused of corruption and abuse of power.
Naturally, the public became curious about these colonial homes. And it seems that, to date, their interest has not waned a single bit.
A quick check on SLA’s Facebook page revealed that almost all of their video tours (regarding colonial houses) have gone viral or at least achieved upwards of 10k views. And no, it’s not the popular PropertyLimBrothers in disguise.
Their most recent house tour, for instance, was posted just two days ago (on 4 September 2023). It has already accumulated over 47K views, as well as 280+ likes & reactions.
Meanwhile, their second most recent video tour was posted on 22 August 2023 and has garnered over 214K views as well as 1.1K likes & reactions.
And in July, a video tour featuring a colonial bungalow along Pender Road went viral with 133K views.
In comparison, a video tour of an apartment along Ridout Road (that was posted on 14 January 2023, before the Ridout saga) drew just 4k views.
It should be noted that the comments sections of the aforementioned viral posts have also been absolutely packed, with Netizens either proving to be really genuine or… a little less than genuine.
Some, for instance, raved about the beauty of these homes.
Others, however, poked fun at You-Know-Who.
And the rest were just eating popcorn.
Nevertheless, regardless of the reason, it’s clear that attention to local colonial houses is at an all-time high.
You can view some of these video tours on SLA’s Facebook page.
Ridout Saga
On 6 May 2023, Mr Jeyaretnam published a blog post on The Ricebowl Singapore (TRS) directing several strong accusations at the Government.
The opposition politician found out that two Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) on Ridout Road were “occupied” by Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan. Specifically, Mr Shanmugam rented the 26 Ridout Road property while Dr Balakrishnan rented the 31 Ridout Road property.
According to Mr Jeyaretnam, these GCBs are former colonial mansions owned by the Singapore Government.
The opposition politician then unveiled his suspicion at how our Ministers could afford the Ridout Road rental.
“Even on our Ministers’ outrageous salaries of around $2 million a year it is difficult to see how Vivian or Shanmugam could afford to pay the market rent for such a pricey property,” the opposition politician wrote.
A review was subsequently conducted, and both affiliated Ministers spoke out their side of things in Parliament.
They were also subjected to interrogations by the CPIB. While Minister Shanmugam was of the opinion that they were “firm and professional”, Dr Vivian felt that the interrogation stripped him of his privacy and that it was the most uncomfortable experience that he had gone through.
What Now?
Last we heard, ministers K. Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan were busy with their defamation case against Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
According to court documents seen by The Straits Times, the ministers have requested the court’s permission to serve the legal documents related to the case through Facebook Messenger.
This decision stems from the difficulties associated with serving the papers to Mr Lee in person, as he currently resides in Britain.
Lest you’re unaware, Mr Lee had crafted a Facebook post on 23 July 2023, claiming that the ministers had leased state-owned mansions from an agency controlled by one of them.
He then accused them of securing state-sponsored renovations.
Following this controversial post, the ministers’ lawyers sent a letter to Mr Lee, urging him to remove the contentious post and all associated comments.
They also demanded a public apology to be prominently displayed on his Facebook page for a period of four weeks.
Additionally, each minister proposed a sum of $25,000 as damages, a fraction of what they could legally claim, to donate to charity.
They contend that the comments made by Mr Lee were not only “false and baseless,” but were also designed to “disparage and impugn” them, portraying them negatively in the public’s eye.
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