DEVELOPERS WERE AWARE OF RISKS

With private home prices rising 2.5 per cent last year (Private home prices up last year but fall short of 2018 pace, Jan 3), it puzzles me that developers are still calling for property curbs to be eased.

Developers take the commercial risk when they stock up their land inventory.

When supply exceeds demand, the right and proper way is for developers to sell the private home units at reduced price. This may not be financially acceptable to developers, but this is a risk that they must accept when doing any business.

The state cannot be involved to ensure a business's profitability. By allowing Singaporeans to purchase their dream property at a more affordable price, Singapore will avoid the situation that many other cities have found themselves in, where owning a house is an unrealistic dream to most.

Foo Sing Kheng

NO CHILD IS UNWANTED

Bangladeshi cleaners Patwari Shamim and Mostafa Kamal must be thanked for saving the life of the abandoned newborn boy (Baby found in rubbish bin: Cleaners thought crying came from toy doll, Jan 11).

If not for their alertness and diligence in tracing the source of the crying, the baby could have been killed. Instead of trash, they found a great treasure: a defenceless baby who should have been loved and protected by his parents.

The exuberance of the cleaners in seeing a life saved is heart-warming, and should encourage Singaporeans to look out for the welfare of others. Singaporeans are also reminded to treasure the foreign workers who work hard to keep the nation clean.

While it saddens me that the baby was abandoned, I am comforted that he is alive and safe.

A woman facing an unsupported pregnancy should be given support and help as early as possible, to ensure that both mother and child are loved and cared for by society. The father should always be included in the process whenever possible.

Ho Lay Ping

RIDERS MUST RING THEIR BELLS

Along with making sure all personal mobility devices (PMDs) have headlights installed (Make headlights a must for PMDs, by Ms Amy Loh Chee Seen, Jan 3), riders should also be educated to ring their bells when approaching pedestrians, whether from the front or back.

Many a time, especially in the evenings, the sudden appearance of a PMD (with or without headlights) poses a safety risk to both the rider and the pedestrian, as any sudden movement by the pedestrian may cause a delayed reaction by the rider, leading to a possible accident.

As all PMD riders will soon be required to go for a theory test, the training authority as well as the traffic bureau should make it a traffic rule that all riders sound their bells to alert pedestrians. We should have the foresight to foresee such dangers, and not wait for an accident to occur before implementing safety requirements.

Christony Lau Pet Keong