No Need to be Clever or Prescient, Just Do Your Work

“Nobody, no matter how prescient, no matter how clever, would have been able to predict that this was what was going to happen,” he said.

That was what National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan defended himself for missing the price hike in HDB resale flats last year, a recession year.

By saying that our elite minister didn't seem to know he was telling everybody that he or his officers have not been doing his or their work.

HDB should have all the records of sale or resale of its flats. Those records would show, among other things, who were buying or selling and at what prices were those flats transacted. Had Mr Mah or his officers been monitoring the transactions, he or they would know that the prices were heading north and could take whatever actions needed.

Without a good understanding the current developments, one just wonders how is the National Development Minister going to chart the future development of the country.