Parliament to discuss claims that civil servants disproportionately bought homes near unannounced MRT stations

Published Oct 05, 2026, 01:45 PM

Updated Oct 05, 2026, 01:45 PM

SINGAPORE – Claims that civil servants and their families disproportionately purchased property near planned but unannounced train stations are up for discussion in Parliament when the House meets on Oct 6.

Nine MPs have raised questions to the Government on the claims, which emerged from a paper published by American non-profit National Bureau of Economic Research in September, according to the order paper released on Oct 5.

Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) has asked Prime Minister Lawrence Wong whether the public service has reviewed the findings and whether the Government will independently examine or validate them and what actions will be taken in response.

He has also asked what safeguards are currently in place to prevent and detect public officers from using non-public government information for private financial gain.

Nominated MP Azhar Othman has asked whether there is a regulatory framework to ensure that such actions are curbed and Worker’s Party MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) has asked if such actions constitute a breach of statutory duties or civil service rules.

The Government is already reviewing home purchases made between 2007 and 2011 by officers involved in rail planning at the time, in cases where the properties were close to sites subsequently announced as MRT stations.

The Public Service Division said in a statement on Sept 25 that it is identifying the purchases and will review them to assess if there was actual misconduct. If there is evidence that an officer used non-public information to make a property purchase for personal benefit, the case will be referred to the police for further investigation, it added.

The paper said it found clear evidence of “informed trading” by civil servants, citing findings that purchase intensity near planned MRT stations was higher for civil servants compared with a control group of non-civil servants with similar demographic attributes and housing consumption behaviours.

Separately, nine MPs, including four labour MPs, have asked about rising retrenchments in Singapore after the figure climbed to the highest level since the pandemic in the second quarter of 2026.

Retrenchments in Singapore rose to 4,620 in the second quarter of 2026, reaching the highest level since the last quarter of 2020, the latest labour market data said on Sept 21.

The rate at which workers re-entered the workforce six months after retrenchment also slowed to 54.9 per cent, lower than the 60.7 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

Patrick Tay (Pioneer) has asked which sectors have consistently recorded the lowest six-month re-entry rates for retrenched resident professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs) in the last 14 quarters.

Meanwhile, Melvin Yong (Radin Mas) has asked the Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau for the profiles of retrenched workers who were least likely to receive retrenchment benefits or other retrenchment-related financial support from their employer.

MPs also raised several questions on the delay in construction of the North-South Corridor announced in September.

The 21.5km highway linking the northern towns to the city will be delayed by two years due to unexpectedly difficult ground conditions that require more complex construction work.

The North-South Corridor viaduct, which runs from Admiralty Road West to Lentor Avenue, will now open in stages from 2029, instead of 2027.

Six MPs, including several whose constituencies are in the north and central regions of Singapore, have asked about how the delay will impact residents and businesses in the areas around the project.

Parliament will also debate raising the salary of its Speaker Seah Kian Peng and Deputy Speakers Christopher de Souza and Xie Yao Quan.

The Leader of the House Indranee Rajah has raised a motion to peg Seah’s salary to the new guidelines accepted by the Government in September.

The House had heard then that the Speaker’s salary will continue to be pegged at 50 per cent of the increased MR4 minister reference salary. The Speaker’s pay will go up from $550,000 to $900,000 annually, including a bonus and a variable component.

She has also raised a separate motion for each Deputy Speaker to be paid an allowance equal to 15% of the Speaker’s monthly salary, as well as a bonus and a variable component.

The Government has also put in a separate motion to raise the President’s pay from $1,568,900 to $2,568,200 a year.

The three motions will be debated together, and follow guidelines established by a previous debate on political salaries in September.

Similar motions followed the previous debate on ministerial salaries in 2012, where they passed without debate.

Singapore Parliament

Members of Parliament

发布于 2026 年 10 月 5 日下午 1:45

更新于2026年10月5日下午1:45

新加坡——有关公务员及其家属不成比例地在计划建设但尚未公布的地铁站附近购买房产的说法，将在10月6日国会开会时进行讨论。

根据 10 月 5 日发布的议事规则文件，已有九名议员就这些说法向政府提出了质询。这些说法源自美国非营利组织国家经济研究局 9 月份发表的一份报告。

马西岭-油池集选区议员严正熙询问总理黄循财，公共服务部门是否已审查调查结果，政府是否会独立审查或核实这些结果，以及将采​​取哪些行动作为回应。

他还询问目前有哪些保障措施可以防止和发现公职人员利用非公开的政府信息谋取私利。

委任议员阿兹哈·奥斯曼询问是否有监管框架来遏制此类行为，而工人党议员严燕松（阿裕尼集选区）则询问此类行为是否构成违反法定职责或公务员规则。

政府已经开始审查 2007 年至 2011 年间参与铁路规划的官员购买的房屋，这些房屋的所在地后来被宣布为地铁站。

公共服务部门9月25日发表声明称，正在核实相关采购情况，并将进行审查以评估是否存在实际不当行为。声明还补充说，如果发现有证据表明官员利用非公开信息为个人利益购买房产，案件将移交警方作进一步调查。

该报称，他们发现了公务员“知情交易”的明确证据，并援引调查结果称，与具有相似人口统计特征和住房消费行为的非公务员对照组相比，公务员在规划中的地铁站附近的购买强度更高。

另外，包括四名劳工党议员在内的九名国会议员就新加坡裁员人数上升的问题提出质询，因为2026年第二季度的裁员人数攀升至疫情爆发以来的最高水平。

新加坡9月21日公布的最新劳动力市场数据显示，2026年第二季度新加坡的裁员人数增至4620人，达到2020年第四季度以来的最高水平。

裁员六个月后，工人重返工作岗位的比例也放缓至 54.9%，低于上一季度的 60.7%。

Patrick Tay（先锋）询问，在过去 14 个季度中，哪些行业的被裁员的常驻专业人员、经理、主管和技术人员 (PMET) 的六个月再就业率一直最低。

与此同时，麦德林·杨（拉丁马士）已要求人力部代部长刘嘉敏提供最不可能从雇主那里获得裁员补偿或其他与裁员相关的经济支持的被裁员工的资料。

议员们还就9月份宣布的南北走廊建设延期问题提出了几个疑问。

连接北部城镇和市区的21.5公里高速公路将因意想不到的复杂地质条件需要更复杂的施工而延误两年。

从海军部西道到伦多大道的南北走廊高架桥将从 2029 年开始分阶段开放，而不是原定的 2027 年。

包括几位选区位于新加坡北部和中部地区的议员在内的六位国会议员询问，项目延期将如何影响项目周边地区的居民和企业。

国会还将讨论提高议长佘建平、副议长克里斯托弗·德·索萨和谢耀全的薪水。

国会领袖英兰妮·拉贾提出动议，要求将佘诗曼的薪酬与政府9月份通过的新指导方针挂钩。

当时议会获悉，议长的薪酬将继续维持在MR4部长参考薪酬增加后的50%。议长的年薪将从55万澳元增至90万澳元，其中包括奖金和浮动部分。

她还单独提出一项动议，要求向每位副议长支付相当于议长月薪 15% 的津贴，外加奖金和浮动部分。

政府还单独提出一项动议，要求将总统的年薪从 1,568,900 美元提高到 2,568,200 美元。

这三项动议将一起进行辩论，并遵循9月份就政治薪酬问题进行的辩论所确立的指导方针。

类似的动议与 2012 年关于部长薪酬的辩论类似，当时这些动议未经辩论即获得通过。

新加坡国会

国会议员