By S. Murali

I plan to start a petition in my neighbourhood soon.

It is to stop the building of a huge condominium in my estate at Bishan Street 22.

From what I'm told, the condominium will soon bring 1,000 new folk into our area.

And not your ordinary HDB folk that we are all used to.

No, this will be hoity-toity condo people, who will probably drive huge cars and look down on all the rest of us.

From what I've read in the papers, such people are extremely rude, arrogant and expect everyone else to stand at attention whenever they are around.

They will probably jump the queue at the chicken rice shop, buy up all the wine at the convenience store and inflate the cost of prawns at our wet market.

And what about the security factor?

I heard that their young men are likely to make eyes at all our neighbourhood girls, who will swoon once they get a glimpse of their Maseratis and Ferraris.

Will these girls feel safe walking home from their bus stops?

And what about property values in the area?

Once they build their skyscraper condos, the rest of us will have to live in the shade, literally.

Without north-east facing, bright sunshine, surely our property prices will plummet.

We can't have that, can we?

No, I insist that our little HDB haven be protected from all these outsiders who will corrupt our way of life.

What? You find what I'm saying outrageous?

Tell that to the foreign workers hoping to find a new home at an old school in Serangoon Gardens.

Not the same thing? Yeah, right.

This article was first published in The New Paper on September 10, 2008.