Alvin Tan
Singapore
“And if our companies can use Johor as a complementary base to scale, serve larger markets and strengthen their regional competitiveness while retaining their core capabilities here, that is also additive integration.”
“Sir, I have answered the Member's questions specific to HDB car parks. Specifically, I think, with the provision of hose reels, fire engine access, natural and mechanical ventilations that will help in the event of a fire, and that the HDB carparks must comply with these technical specifications and safety requirements under Technical Ref…”
“Sir, all Housing and Development Board (HDB) car parks are designed and constructed in compliance with the prevailing Fire Code stipulated by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). This includes provisions such as hose reels, fire engine access and natural or mechanical ventilation to disperse smoke and heat.”
“What was left unsaid was that in the emails and in the MP Appeal System (MPAS), the Member was informed that: one, he was aware of the fact that AVS had investigated the incident; he was aware of the processes; he was aware that AVS found no professional negligence or misconduct by the vet; he was aware and noted that AVS had found no rel…”
“As we have observed a growth in the range of animal-related services offered by non-vets that may pose a risk to animal health and welfare, Part 4 of the Bill will introduce various offences and penalties to safeguard against unlawful practice and misrepresentation by or about unauthorised persons.”
“Owners are responsible for providing for their pets' needs, including medical care. So, we strongly encourage prospective pet owners to thoroughly consider the full cost of raising a pet before committing to becoming a pet owner. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, vet professionals form an important pillar of our animal health and welfare system.”
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“Nominated Member Ms Janet Ang had also noted the usefulness of COSMIC information in her speech yesterday on the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) (Amendment) Bill and the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill and had asked how COSMIC information might be helpful in the enforcement of both these Bills. Given the potential sensitivity of COSMIC information, STRO is the only agency, apart from MAS, that will have direct access to COSMIC information to help fulfil its role as Singapore's financial intelligence unit. MAS will include information from COSMIC, including material networks of suspicious actors detected by the COSMIC platform, in our risk analysis and surveillance to target higher risk activities in the financial system for supervisory intervention. Currently, MAS is able to share information in its possession with domestic authorities, including CAD, to facilitate their investigation, enforcement or supervisory action. This may include information obtained through COSMIC where there is a financial crime concern. Such sharing will be subject to conditions, including confidentiality safeguards. Mr Yip also asked about the sharing of COSMIC information with overseas branches, given that ML/TF/PF activities are often cross-border in nature. At present, FIs in Singapore can already disclose customer information for risk management purposes within the financial group, including with its overseas branches or subsidiaries. This strengthens group-wide ML/TF/PF risk mitigation, and it prevents bad actors from moving between FIs within the same group and it is aligned with international standards set by the FATF.”
“This same standard is also found in various provisions of other statutes which MAS administers, such as the BA, which relate to the provision of information that is false or misleading. We adopted this standard of care, given the need to balance between ensuring accuracy of information and also not inadvertently deterring participants from sharing information. COSMIC is meant to provide an additional information source to supplement our FIs' existing sources and to also enhance their risk assessments of their own customers, in line with their internal risk management standards. As such, MAS expects FIs to also carry out their own due diligence, including conducting further public source checks as well as seeking clarifications with their customers in such risk assessments. As part of MAS' supervision, MAS will consider circumstances of relevant breaches arising from the use of COSMIC information in assessing if there are any appropriate action to be taken. Mr Murali Pillai also suggested that the proposed offences committed by FIs under COSMIC be considered for listing under the Sixth Schedule of the CPC, which sets out offences in respect of which deferred prosecution agreements may be entered into. We thank Mr Murali Pillai for this suggestion and will keep it in mind for when we roll out future phases of COSMIC. Finally, let me address the questions on the sharing and use of COSMIC information. Mr Yip Hong Weng asked if participant FIs are required to analyse information they receive from COSMIC and take risk mitigation actions if needed. Mr Louis Ng asked if there are plans to share COSMIC information with other Government agencies besides STRO and, if so, which safeguards would be in place.”
“However, and nonetheless, MAS is exploring if the STR and COSMIC processes could be streamlined to reduce the administrative burden on participant FIs. So, I thank the Member for that feedback. MAS is the owner of the COSMIC platform and will bear the costs of developing the infrastructure, which we view as serving a public good. Participating banks would not have to pay a subscription fee. However, they are expected to ensure sufficient resourcing to support their effective participation on COSMIC. This includes maintaining and effecting any necessary upgrade of data analytical tools, as COSMIC's information sharing is integrated into their internal platforms. I will move on to the accuracy of COSMIC information. Mr Yip Hon Weng asked about FIs relying on information from COSMIC and how to ensure the accuracy as well as the reliability of risk concerns that are shared by other FIs. He also asked about FIs' liability from sharing or using information on COSMIC should it turn out to be inaccurate. Mr Murali Pillai also asked why it has not been proposed for FIs which are negligent in making false or misleading disclosures to be guilty of an offence. Mr Derrick Goh also asked how FIs would use information from COSMIC, given their varying risk management standards. As I mentioned, participant FIs will be required to ensure accuracy and completeness of the information shared on COSMIC and to correct any errors or omissions, for example, in instances where a customer has provided further clarifications. As Mr Murali Pillai has pointed out, under the new section 28J, a participant FI or an officer of the FIs that knowingly or recklessly makes a false or misleading disclosure on COSMIC will be guilty of an offence.”
“These timelines are designed to enable FIs to share risk information on a timelier basis, so that they can take earlier mitigation measures. The design of the timeline must also be balanced against the time needed for the FIs themselves to engage customers to clarify the "red flags" and concerns, so that the legitimate customers will not have their information unnecessarily shared on COSMIC. So, you need that time to allow for us to make sure that that is so. I will move on to the STR filing and the accuracy of COSMIC information. Mr Yip asked about potential overlaps between FIs' obligation to report suspicious transactions and to also share information on COSMIC. Mr Don Wee asked if COSMIC can be built upon existing systems, such as STRO's platform. He also asked if MAS is funding the development of COSMIC and whether participating FIs need to pay any fee. Sharing of information on COSMIC is meant to strengthen the FIs' ability to collectively detect potential bad actors when stipulated "red flag" thresholds are crossed. Information sharing under the Request or Provide modes will take place even before the threshold for filing an STR is crossed. This will allow more holistic understanding of customers exhibiting sufficient "red flags", and more timely management by the FIs. If the FIs subsequently file an STR, the deeper insights gleaned from COSMIC and included in the STR would be more helpful for law enforcement. As STRO's platform is used by a much wider pool of both FIs and non-FIs to report suspicions relating to financial crime activity that have been established on reasonable grounds, it would not be appropriate to integrate the STRO platform with COSMIC.”
“Mr Leon Perera suggested that there should be sufficiently prescriptive and granular guidelines on when FIs should share information on COSMIC. Mr Derrick Goh asked if this initial voluntary phase could be shortened, given the rapid innovations in financial crime. Mr Murali Pillai also asked whether the COSMIC framework addresses FIs that are too conservative or obstructive in rejecting requests for information, and whether there are penalties for this. Mr Leon Perera also asked how frequently the "red flags" and thresholds would be reviewed. If I could reference my speech earlier, I explained how MAS has worked with the initial six participating banks to develop clear and objective thresholds for sharing information on COSMIC, as well as expectations on engaging customers. This will ensure that sharing is purposeful and that legitimate customers are not unduly affected. This initial two-year period of voluntary sharing is to allow participant FIs adequate time to familiarise themselves with the new information-sharing paradigm and also for the COSMIC platform, which will be integrated with the FIs' systems, so as to achieve operational stability. MAS will continue to work closely with the participating FIs to ensure the "red flags" and threshold criteria remain effective in targeting financial crime behaviour and also to review them if necessary. MAS will monitor FIs' usage of COSMIC to ensure that they are consistent in their assessment of when information should be shared on COSMIC. Eventually, we intend to make such sharing mandatory on COSMIC. Mr Murali Pillai asked about the timelines for FIs to respond to or to provide information on COSMIC. MAS has established with the participant FIs a set of agreed upon service timelines.”
“Second, at the participant FI level, they are likewise required to adopt strong safeguards, such as allowing only a small group of the FIs' authorised officers to access COSMIC and also sharing COSMIC risk information only within the boundaries permitted by the Bill. These MAS-regulated FIs are required to institute robust controls, including cybersecurity and data protection controls, to prevent information security breaches. MAS will closely supervise participants' adherence to these measures and will take firm action for any lapses, including breaches which result in customer information leakage. In the event of a cybersecurity breach, MAS will work closely with the FIs to promptly remediate the issue and conduct a postmortem to assess the need on whether to tighten the defences further. Next, on the effectiveness of voluntary sharing and how we can scale up the sharing. Mr Yip and Mr Murali Pillai asked about the incentive for banks to voluntarily participate in COSMIC. COSMIC is built upon the foundation of the positive experience of sharing between CAD, MAS and banks under the AML/CFT Industry Partnership (ACIP), which the six participant FIs are members of. Case-specific information sharing under ACIP, on a smaller scale than what is envisioned for COSMIC, has already fostered mutual trust. The six participant FIs are keen to build on these early efforts to continue and expand the sharing through COSMIC. Mr Yip and Mr Derrick Goh were concerned that banks may have varying levels of AML/CFT policies and risk appetite on when to share information on COSMIC. Mr Yip also noted that there must also be safeguards in place to ensure that information is not too readily shared on COSMIC.”
“Participant FIs may share COSMIC risk information as permitted under the Bill despite any restrictions that may be imposed by any written law or contract. Customer consent will not be required for sharing on COSMIC. These overrides are necessary. Why? Because criminals are unlikely to agree to allow their information to be shared. The Bill will also disapply sections 21 and 22 of PDPA, which relate to access and correction of personal data. FIs will, however, still be required to take measures to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information shared on COSMIC under the Bill. I will elaborate on this later. To clarify Mr Leon Perera's query, paragraph 13.4 of the MAS Notice 626 allows a bank to collect personal data, whether by itself or through a third party, for the purposes of complying with the requirements of Notice 626, for example, in the conduct of customer due diligence. This is different from the COSMIC initiative – he asked about the difference between Notice 626 and COSMIC – because COSMIC seeks to allow participant financial institutions to share customer information with one another. The safeguards of and for information shared on COSMIC apply at two levels. First, MAS is the owner and operator of the COSMIC platform and MAS will ensure that COSMIC information is exchanged and stored securely, with strict cybersecurity measures, which include data encryption. I mentioned this in my earlier speech. I also mentioned that these controls will be subject to audits, both internal and external, to ensure their effectiveness.”
“Ahead of this, MAS will continue to work with the industry to improve their capabilities, including using data analytics, to enable their potential participation in COSMIC. MAS will closely monitor the potential risk migration to FIs not yet on COSMIC – so, outside of these six banks – and will take preventive or supervisory measures as necessary. On Mr Goh's question as to whether any back-testing has been done on past cases that COSMIC could have detected, MAS had, indeed, conducted back-testing of potential ML/TF/PF cases with participant FIs as COSMIC was being developed, and this is to refine the high-risk indicators or, as I mentioned, "red flags", and also our threshold criteria. MAS will continue to work closely with participating FIs to track COSMIC's effectiveness and to make the needed adjustments on an ongoing basis. I will move on to safeguards and confidentiality of COSMIC information which is of interest to Members. Mr Don Wee asked how sharing information on COSMIC will interact with the data protection requirements in the PDPA and banking confidentiality obligations in the BA. Mr Louis Ng, Mr Don Wee and Mr Leon Perera asked about the strict safeguards to protect information obtained from COSMIC, including those related to cybersecurity. Mr Derrick Goh also asked about the roles and responsibilities of the participating FIs and MAS, in the event of a cybersecurity incident on COSMIC. The Bill seeks to strike a balance between protecting the privacy of legitimate customers and also preventing criminal abuse of this protection to conceal serious financial crime. The Bill will permit sharing of information between FIs for financial crime prevention and detection purposes within tightly circumscribed parameters.”
“Mr Louis Ng had asked if the scope of COSMIC will be expanded to other risk areas, including wildlife crime and I know we talked about elephants, rhinoceroses and pangolins. However, in the initial phase, COSMIC will focus on the three risk areas I mentioned, which have been identified for prioritisation through our continued risk surveillance. Keeping this focus would also allow participant FIs adequate time to familiarise themselves with this new information-sharing paradigm. Thereafter, MAS will consider expanding COSMIC's scope to other key risks. Mr Derrick Goh asked if COSMIC may be less effective at the start with only six banks as its initial participants. Mr Goh also asked about plans to include fintech and other digital payment firms on COSMIC. Mr Leon Perera asked about the inclusion of smaller offshore and private banks in the initial phase of COSMIC, given their potential exposure to financial crime risks. Mr Murali Pillai noted that as COSMIC expands to include more FIs, FIs that have lower compliance capabilities and capacities may unfairly leverage off FIs which do. Mr Don Wee also asked if criminals may use FIs that are not on COSMIC to circumvent detection. Please allow me to answer these questions together. I mentioned that COSMIC will initially focus on the misuse of legal persons as well as trade-based ML and proliferation financing. These risks manifest themselves in the commercial and small- and medium-sized enterprises banking space, of which the initial six participant banks have significant market share. Fintech and digital payment firms are not currently operating at quite the same scale. However, as I mentioned in my speech, MAS will consider expanding the scope of COSMIC to more banks and other FIs in other or future phases.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank Members of the House who have shared their views on the Bill and for their support of its introduction. Members' comments and queries can be categorised into a few themes and I will address them in turn. First, on COSMIC's scope. Mr Derrick Goh asked how COSMIC will be used to address scams. The scam threat is complex and ever-evolving. This is why the Singapore Government has partnered the industry and is taking a multi-pronged approach to combat the threat of scams. The Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Command collaborates with a network of more than 80 stakeholders, comprising FIs, fintechs, telecommunication companies and online marketplaces, to swiftly freeze bank accounts suspected of scams, recover funds and mitigate losses suffered by victims. COSMIC is not intended to duplicate or replicate the good work done by the Anti-Scam Command. That said, one of the key financial crime risks that COSMIC will initially focus on is the misuse of legal persons, such as shell companies, which I mentioned in my speech. Scam syndicates may use shell companies to receive victims' money directly or as a conduit to layer and launder their criminal proceeds. For example, late last year, a Singaporean man was sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment and disqualified from being a director for five years, for assisting to set up four companies that were used to receive scam proceeds from multiple local and overseas victims. COSMIC will enable FIs to share relevant financial crime concerns on such suspicious accounts and transactions relating to shell companies with one another, if the thresholds are met. This is so that the FIs can take the necessary mitigation measures and alert the authorities.”
“That said, may I take this opportunity to also share and remind Members that MAS has put in place, over the years, measures to limit the amount one can borrow to buy property, including the Total Debt Servicing Ratio, which applies to both residential as well as commercial property. And now with higher rates and increasing uncertainty over global growth prospects, MAS continues to urge all borrowers to exercise caution and to ensure that you are able to service your debts when taking on long-term financial commitments, including big ticket items such as property purchases.”
“An example of an upper bound that I can share with the Member, borrowers whose loans were incepted, or at least last refinanced in February 2020 at the interest rate of about 1.8%, faced an average increase in monthly payment of about $730 or about 6% as a share of monthly income after refinancing in February 2023 at an interest rate about 3.9%. Again, if you take it on as a whole, the average increase in monthly income or those who had refinance in the past 12 months was about 10% over the last three years. It would have, to some degree, helped to cushion the increase in their mortgage payments. MAS estimated that the income increase over the last three years was because most of its borrowers had secured a new loan or refinanced that existing loan three years ago. Let me now refer to the first Parliamentary Question which the Member has raised on mortgagee listings. The use of mortgagee listings as an indicator of households and businesses in distress may be limited. The extent of distressed sales could be or likely be overstated, in part due to double counting. We are not privy to the auction houses' methodologies, but there are challenges in tracking such listings as there is no central database. For example, a property that is put up for sale may count as several listings at the bank or the owner listing it with multiple agencies. The Member mentioned the recent media report last month that suggested that there is a spike in distressed property listings in its headline. This sharp increase referred to a quarter-on-quarter change from Q4 of 2022, which may reflect a low-based effect from the muted market activity in the year-end period. I just wanted to give the Member that context on mortgage listings.”
“I thank the Member for his two supplementary questions. I will address the household debt situation question first, in reference to the written Parliamentary Question that MAS answered yesterday. First is that households with outstanding mortgages will naturally see higher borrowing costs as interest rates rise from the exceptionally low levels in the past decade, so they will face the impact of a rise at different points of time, depending on the types of loan packages that they have taken up. As of the first quarter of 2023, about 38% of mortgages extended for private residential property purchases by FIs were on floating rate packages that move in tandem with market interest rates, while the remaining 62% were either on rates linked to board rates or fixed deposit rates, which track market interest rates but with some lag or it could be fixed interest rates over the first few years of their loans. With regards to the written Parliamentary Question yesterday, the "$240 on average" accounts for about 2% of their monthly income and the average monthly income of the 27,000 homeowners who refinanced their loans had increased by about 10%. So, 2% for increase in mortgage payments versus a 10% increase of monthly income over the last three years. While we understand and empathise that there are raises in how much mortgage layouts there are, this comparison between 10% increase in money income as well as 2% increase in mortgage would have helped cushion the increase in mortgage payments. The other point here is also, maybe to give the Members some more updated information and details on borrowers who refinanced between August 2022 and February 2023. They would have faced a larger mortgage payment increase given the sharper increases in interest rates during that period.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, the short answer is MAS will work with MOT to monitor the situation in the COE market.”
“Sir, just to build on the Minister's point. There is a PQ by Ms Mariam Jafaar at No 64 on today's Order Paper. So, I will respond for MAS using that PQ. But, primarily, MAS' restrictions on loans that are granted by financial institutions are to encourage borrowers to spend or to borrow prudently.”
“The short answer is that MAS is working with the banks on a variety of authentication measures, including SMS OTP, and they are experimenting with different users as the technology evolves. 12.29 pm”
“Sir, I thank the Member for his two supplementary questions. Let me take the second one with regard to the rapidly evolving nature of scams and the use of new technologies. We know that the techniques employed by scammers are constantly evolving and also gaining in sophistication with the use of differentiated technologies and this also thus requires a multi-pronged response across our ecosystem to strengthen our collective mechanisms and resilience against scams. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will continue to work closely with our ecosystem partners, including the banking industry and other Government agencies. For example, MAS is working with banks to allow customers to verify genuine calls from banks. Banks are also exploring expanding the use of biometric technology with liveness test in addition to passwords and OTP as a means of authentication. Members of the public can also play their part. Please install Scamshield; do not divulge your Internet banking credentials or passwords to anyone; be suspicious of unsolicited messages or calls that you receive and also verify calls received by calling the bank directly on the hotline listed on the official websites or cards. For the first question, I will refer the Member to my main reply to the Parliamentary Question (PQ). But for the questions with regard to the equitable sharing of losses, Dr Lim Wee Kiat has filed a PQ on that matter for this Sitting and we will address this issue in response to that PQ.”
“Sir, the scenario Dr Tan described is quite rare: where an unauthorised bank transaction took place and where the bank assessed that the One-Time Password (OTP) SMS messaging was used, but that the customer's telephone operator records did not show transmission to or receipt by the customer of such an SMS OTP. The Singapore Police Force has not received any such report since 2021. The Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC) is aware of two cases since July 2022 where the use or receipt of SMS OTP by the customer is disputed. When customers suspect that they have fallen for a scam or are alerted by the bank to unauthorised transactions involving their account, they should immediately contact the bank or activate the kill switch that the banks provide to freeze their accounts. They should also report such fraudulent activities to the Police. MAS expects banks to treat customers fairly in all cases of disputes over unauthorised transactions. The banks must consider, one, whether they have fulfilled their obligations, and two, whether customers have done their part to protect their accounts. Depending on the outcome of the banks’ investigations, they may offer goodwill payment to customers. Any customer may, if they wish, lodge the dispute with FIDReC for mediation and adjudication. If they are not satisfied with the FIDReC outcome, they can consider seeking legal advice on whether to pursue their case in Court.”
“The target fund size is currently calibrated at $690 million and the DI fund has approximately $570 million in total assets and continues to be built up as scheduled, through annual premiums collected by member financial institutions. The DI fund may also borrow from MAS for payments to insured depositors. But I wanted to quickly come back again to the principle of this: that in a safe, resilient banking system, it is underpinned by a combination of pre-emptive safeguards. I mentioned sound regulation, rigorous supervision, proactive cross-border collaboration, effective governance and the responsibilities of banks themselves. DI complements these pre-emptive and ex-ante safeguards, by providing a safety net for small depositors, if banks were to fail. So, we will continue to conduct regular reviews. I said that we recently conducted the review prior to the events that happened to look at the DI coverage limits as well as the operational efficacy of the scheme and we will release the proposals to the public for public consultation by the end of June.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Let me go through the different questions one by one. With regard to the Member's question on digital banks, digital full banks are DI members of SDIC. In the initial restricted phase, they are limited to no more than $75,000 deposit per individual depositor. So, at that level, it will mean that all of the individual's deposits with a digital full bank would be fully covered. Digital wholesale banks are not subject to this cap but they cannot take retail deposits. On the other question with regard to how fast can you make payments – SDIC's target is to make payments to insured depositors within seven days after the payout is triggered. On the final question on the increase of the DI coverage limit, the DI scheme members pay regular premiums quite similar to what I explained earlier, to cover these deposits; and a higher coverage limit, of course, will require higher premiums. This adds naturally to the bank's overall costs, which they will have to manage themselves, and then, sometimes also pass on these costs to customers, given that they are commercial enterprises. They might do it through, perhaps, lower deposit rates, higher lending rates or other fees. But I wanted to go into the final question, which is important, about the size of the DI fund. I would like to assure the Member and Members of this House that the DI fund is adequately sized. It is designed to meet a solvency standard of over 99.9%. What that means is that at this target fund size, the DI fund is able to make DI payments without losses at a confidence interval of 99.9%.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. With regard to the impact on premiums, there is no direct impact because the annual DI premiums are computed based on the amount of insured deposits held by banks and, for foreign bank branches, that asset-maintenance ratio, which varies with the amount of eligible assets and eligible pledged assets which they hold in Singapore. With regard to the Member's second supplementary question, I would like to re-emphasise that the recent events, the bank stresses overseas, have highlighted the need for robust stress testing by banks as well as rigorous supervision by regulators. Robust stress testing would, of course, help us to highlight any areas of vulnerability of individual banks by incorporating assumptions that are more reflective of a bank's risks. So, that is one. The second is that supervisors also need to assess the rigour as well as the competitiveness of banks' stress testing practices and then, after doing so, take the appropriate actions. The banks also have to play their part. It is important for them to have robust and comprehensive contingency funding plans to handle liquidity problems as well as a good communication strategy, because these things matter when there are stresses on banks, particularly in times of stress. So, it is essential that our banks regularly review their operational readiness to tap on available Central Bank liquidity facilities.”
“MAS will be working with other regulators in these reviews in developing any needed regulatory responses to enhance the resilience of our banking system. Our DI scheme aims to protect small depositors. Its adequacy as a safety net can be assessed by looking at the proportion of depositors who are fully insured – in other words, the depositors whose aggregated eligible deposits at a bank are within the DI coverage limit. The DI coverage limit in Singapore was last raised in 2019 from $50,000 to $75,000 per depositor per participating financial institution. At $75,000, it fully insured 91% of depositors covered under the DI Scheme at the time. With deposit growth since then, the percentage of fully insured depositors has fallen slightly to 89%. Prior to the recent events, MAS had just concluded its latest, but regular review of the DI scheme, including both the DI coverage limit and also ways to ensure the operational efficacy of the DI scheme. MAS aims to present these proposals for public consultation by the end of June. It is worth noting that we are not doing so in response to the recent stresses among some banks abroad and we should avoid overreacting to these events. Our principal objective should be to ensure that the pre-emptive safeguards, which I described earlier, are in good shape. We will also have to adjust the nominal coverage limit for DI from time to time. However, raising the proportion of deposits that are fully insured or, in other words, to cover larger depositors, is not without costs to banks, which will often ultimately mean costs borne by bank customers themselves. Each adjustment to the DI scheme, hence, has to be carefully considered.”
“Mr Don Wee and Mr Saktiandi Supaat had asked if the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will consider reviewing the deposit insurance (DI) coverage limit. Assoc Prof Jamus Lim also raised a related question for the next Sitting. Mr Supaat also asked about lessons from the closure of several US banks due to uninsured depositor runs and whether MAS will consider additional bank regulation on top of existing requirements. My response will cover the questions from all three Members for today's Sitting and the next and, if adequately addressed, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim may wish to withdraw his question. Let me first make a basic point. DI is not the primary way in which we safeguard the interests of depositors, be they small or large. The recent stresses involving banks abroad remind us that a safe and resilient banking system is underpinned most fundamentally by a combination of pre-emptive safeguards. These include sound regulation, rigorous supervision, proactive cross-border cooperation and effective governance and risk management by the banks themselves. So, we put a lot of store by these pre-emptive safeguards here in Singapore. They have contributed to MAS' financial sector oversight being assessed to be "amongst the best globally" by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the most recent Financial Sector Assessment Programme in 2019. DI complements these pre-emptive or ex-ante safeguards by providing a safety net for small depositors if banks were to fail. International regulatory standard setting bodies, like the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), will be carefully assessing the regulatory and supervisory implications arising from the recent banking stresses.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, can I have your permission to take Question Nos 12 and 13 together, please?”
“It reminded me of the nine years I spent abroad as a youth living overseas. These youths are exploring the world, connecting with people, making their mark. They remind me of my friends and cohort of youths who were overseas. Some in my cohort had gone on to fund companies, lead global firms, making their respective differences in the social and public sectors to which they had been called. As I spoke with these youths, we exchanged ideas of the Singapore we hope to shape. One of them asked me what opportunities are there for them back home. I encouraged them to stay overseas, explore, learn more, make their mark but always have Singapore in their minds and in their hearts; and to ultimately come home with the skills, networks, ideas and organisations they are building to build our country. After the session, I have received a few LinkedIn messages from the youths. One of them which simply said, "we will". Mr Speaker, I support the Motion. [Applause.]”
“While we continue to create value and stay relevant, we also need to be mindful about recent global trends, like quiet quitting and lying flat, which will slow us down and set us back. The world and its challenges will not be kind. That is the hard truth. You must be courageous, diligent, determined to keep innovating and pushing barriers. I agree with Mr Shawn Hwang that our youths must have determination, ambition, passion, centred on a strong set of values, strong set of identity, strong set of culture, youths with a "go-getting spirit" that Mr S Rajaratnam described that Prime Minister Lee quoted yesterday, youths who will not just run the race but stay the course, rise to the occasion and meet the many moments that will come your way. Mr Speaker, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the wizard Gandalf was helping young Frodo and his band, often behind the scenes, providing guidance, support and resources, rallying troops. But the battle and adventure was Frodo's and Frodo's alone. So too his decisions, the outcomes of his decisions and the lessons he had to learn. Gandalf gave Frodo the platform to learn, grow and thrive. And at the climatic end of the story, Frodo and team played a decisive role. Like Gandalf, we must continue to provide a conducive and enabling environment for our Frodos – our youths, to learn, grow and thrive. To try, to create, to innovate, to fail, to learn, to try again. The Ministry's addendum to the President's Address outlined our Government's plans to continue to build such an environment for our youths and Singaporeans at large. Sir, I enjoy engaging our youths. They are full of ideas, passion and energy. Recently, I hosted three Forward Singapore exercises with youths, living and working abroad.”
“It cannot strengthen mental well-being or mentor a new generation. Rather, you must turn up, gather physically, attend one another's festivals/events, learn about one another's beliefs and backgrounds, meet face-to-face, hold someone's hand and guide them and journey with them through life by being present. Be human in the coming age of "Gold-like AI". Second, turning up means being prepared. Our collective handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has further strengthened Singapore's global reputation and appeal. Despite the pandemic, we attracted over S$51 billion in Fixed Asset Investments (FAI) over the past three years and created new and exciting jobs in the sectors I have described earlier. To reap the benefits of these investments, our workers, our people and you, our youths, must be prepared to take on these jobs, create new ones within our growing ecosystem and build value for themselves, for society and for others. It has often been said that no one owes Singapore a living. I have worked in the private sector most of my career. I have learnt that we need to create value, show value and share value to be relevant in the market. We must produce what the market wants. We do not have the markets and opportunities bigger countries have. But you can tap on the many schemes and programmes we have designed for you. Use what you have learnt through our educations system. Use SkillsFuture to pick up skills throughout your lifetime. Use our economic schemes to help your enterprises grow and succeed. Take on internships, apply for jobs and excel in them. Create value. We need to be prepared, remain exceptional and strengthen our raison d'etre. Third, turning up means to persevere. We did not come this far just to sit on our hands.”
“I have seen many of my former batch mates in the financial sector now leading their organisations or building new companies. We will grow our timber in the financial sector and our youths will benefit from this work. Mr Speaker, I have barely scratched the surface of what I have learnt of and about our youths today. Many have been leading and taking action on social issues crucial for our nation-building and preparing for, seizing and even creating job opportunities to secure their future. There is cause for optimism. And our youths have indeed met the COVID-19 moment with us and have accomplished much since. But as Prime Minister Lee cautioned yesterday, there are many storms ahead of us, with geopolitical challenges and new risks and opportunities to contempt with, such as artificial generative intelligence and climate change. Our youths will need to navigate these waters and we will, of course, brave these storms together with them. Sir, in my many meetings with our youths, they will typically ask what advice I would have, drawing from my experiences in the private and public sectors. I have always responded with two words "turn up". At this point, please allow me to speak directly to our youths and unpack what I mean by "turn up". First, turning up means being present. Much has been said this week about ChatGPT and the mainstreaming of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A Financial Times article by Ian Hogarth cautioned against the perils of opportunities of "God-like AI" and Stanford University, the State of AI report, explored issues around Artificial Generative Intelligence or AGI. How then should you, as youths, navigate the future? AGI cannot build society. It cannot build racial and religious harmony.”
“Through my engagements with this industry, I have met many young startup founders looking to break ground, including Alexandra Zhang from Factorem, a precision engineering startup manufacturing 3D printed parts for larger firms using AI. Startups, like Factorem, are making strides and we are supporting them to realise their potential. While doing so, we are also continuing to help our young business owners navigate the various schemes and grants we have available and find one that is suitable for them, in order to address the challenges that businesses might have in identifying schemes that meet their needs, as Member Mr Don Wee raised. Startups and SMEs looking to grow beyond Singapore can also tap on platforms such as our Global Innovation Alliance. Next, our financial sector. Our financial sector is a bright spot in our economy. It accounts for 14% of gross domestic product (GDP) and close to 200,000 jobs, with many offering higher wages relative to other sectors and we are continuing to grow the sector. And financial institutions and fintech companies are looking to hire our students across universities and polytechnics. Next week, I will be at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Institute of Banking and Finance's Growing Timber series, where we will plan how to grow opportunities for our youths in the sector and help them take on these jobs. I will share more details at the event and look forward to meeting our youths, including many who have made their mark in the sector. I first joined the financial sector as a youth 13 years ago in Boston and New York, and then moved to Hong Kong, and then back home in Singapore.”
“At the Sixth Anniversary of the National Robotics Programme (NRP) at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), I met youths from Victoria School and Raffles Girls’ School who were deeply involved in the design, programming and deployment of reconfigurable robots. Singapore has the second-most robot intensive manufacturing sector in the world, just after South Korea. We will continue to support the use of robots in high-tech manufacturing and create futuristic jobs for our people through our work at MTI and the National Robotics Programme (NRP). Another area we are literally growing is agri-food tech. Last week, I inaugurated the launch of a new agri-genomic farm by Singrow, an agri-food tech startup that develops and grows the world’s first climate-resilient strawberries. While there, I met many youths from National University of Singapore (NUS) and our polytechnics, including Janice Tong who is studying Biomedical Sciences in Singapore Polytechnic. They were using AI and Machine Learning to improve crop yield. Janice is a smart and confident young lady. She explained to me how she first interned and then got a full-time role in one of the agri-tech companies located in our Science Park. We are supporting these companies and workers like Janice through our Enterprise Singapore schemes as they deploy robotic arms and digital monitoring systems to automate our agri-food tech sector. I also regularly visit our startups regularly to get feedback about our StartupSG and other Enterprise Singapore schemes. I was at Block 79 recently to engage startup founders and ecosystem players and attended the NUS Entrepreneurship Society’s University Conference (UNICON), its flagship student-led entrepreneurship and tech conference that features many promising startups.”
“I have also met youths who are seizing opportunities in emerging sectors that we are growing, like tech, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, robotics and agri-food tech. Let me share a few examples. I serve as Advisor to Cyber Youth Singapore (CYS), led by Ben Chua and his team. CYS prepares youths, including those studying in Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) and polytechnics, to acquire cybersecurity skills and secure internships and jobs in the cybersecurity sector which we are growing. I meet them regularly to help shape their programme and direction. Leading up to their Cyber Youth Summit in June, I had a fruitful exchange with student leader Marcus Tan and his fellow students at ITE College Central last month to share about opportunities in the cybersecurity space. Our youths are tech-savvy and passionate about shaping our digital future and are in good stead with leaders like Ben and Marcus taking the charge. Our youths are also taking on new and exciting jobs in the emerging advanced manufacturing space that we are nurturing. When I visited companies like the semiconductor manufacturer Micron and biotech firm Amgen, I met young employees using Augmented Reality (AR) and robots to produce innovative products for the semiconductor and biopharma markets respectively. We will continue to support them through our various SkillsFuture offerings, trade associations and unions to prepare them to take on these jobs. We are also preparing our youths for a future of automation and robotics, a theme I shared at our MTI Committee of Supply (COS) in February.”
“When we set up the Mentoring SG office later this year, we will look to track the jobs and careers outcomes of our national mentoring efforts. This is an important upstream effort to prepare our youths for the fast-changing world and economy. So, please do join Mentoring SG which is a key initiative under our Forward SG Movement. Beyond mentoring as a way to equalise opportunities and guide our youths, another key way to tackle social mobility and bread and butter issues is to create jobs and career opportunities for them, ensure also that they have the skills to take on these opportunities. Allow me to share how we have created these opportunities and examples of youths who have turned up, seized them and are distinguishing themselves in their careers and shaping our economy in their own unique ways. When I left the private sector to join the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) back in 2020, I was asked to help look after our tourism sector, which was hardest hit by the pandemic. During the depths of the crisis, I met weekly with many of our tourism workers, gathering feedback on how best to support them and help the sector recover. At this month’s Tourism Industry Conference, I shared about a young SHATEC trainee I met during the downturn. She told me she was picking up skills at SHATEC during the downturn to "catch the wind" for when tourism recovers. Another young Singaporean in the tourism sector is Matthew Yong who is now Assistant Chief Culturist in Capella Hotel Sydney. During COVID-19, Matthew decided to upgrade his skills, believing correctly that the hotel sector will thrive and boom post-COVID. These youths made the right call. They took the down time to upskill and many like them are trailblazing new ideas to build a more sustainable tourism sector.”
“In MOCA, one of our most successful initiatives is "Our Green MOCA", where youths are involved in activities such as greening our Cambridge Neighbourhood, Green Hackathons, Climate Conversations and even led a mural painting project at Our Green Hub. Last year, our young Green MOCA Young Ambassadors also connected DBS with ACS Junior on their sustainability game outreach to raise awareness about food waste, e-waste and conservation locally. So, our youths care about and are taking action on the issues I just highlighted. But we are also keenly aware that bread and butter issues, social mobility and progress and opportunities are top of mind. Ms Sylvia and Mr Henry Kwek spoke out on these issues in their speeches. There are many ways that we are collectively addressing this. I will touch on a few. For example, we are partnering with our youths as they lead ground-up initiatives and efforts to equalise opportunities, through initiatives like mentoring. Youths like Kelley Wong at Young Women’s Leadership Connection, Clarence Ching at Access Singapore, Hafiz Kasman at Kinobi and Mock Yi Jun at Advisory, are driving our Mentoring SG movement, ensuring that youths have access to mentors and opportunities to learn, grow and thrive in their areas of interest. The Astra Collective which Mr Henry Kwek's Kebun Baru team is partnering is a member of Mentoring SG and we are supporting their work and helping them to expand their reach into communities like Kebun Baru. Mr Xie Yao Quan's calls for mentors is thus also pertinent and relevant. Mentoring SG has thus far created 4,000 mentoring opportunities for our youths, supported 40 mentoring organisations and welcomed 13 corporate partners and these numbers are growing.”
“Shane and Shamantha Yan's Growth Collective, Sabrina Ooi's Calm Collective, Simon Leow and Sherman Ho's Happiness Initiative, Asher Low's Limitless and Cho Ming Xiu's Campus PSY are just some of the many ground-up youth initiatives that are driving our Singapore Mental Well-Being Network in its efforts to raise awareness of and destigmatise mental well-being issues, as well as train peer supporters to support one another. In my Moulmein-Cairnhill (MOCA) Division, my Youth Network is working with our Neighbourhood Committee to build our local Mental Well-Being Circle. Nationally, we have thus far six of these Circles and counting, 400 trained volunteers and around 30 partners, and we are scaling up these efforts across the community and to workplaces. We also have youths who care deeply about migrant workers living among us and who are helping to build Singapore. Youths like Rachel Divashini from the Alliance of Guest Workers Outreach (AGWO), Benjamin Kuan from HealthServe and Wesley Lim from It’s Raining Raincoats (IRR) are working with us on the ground to care for, recognise and create space for our migrant worker friends. In my MOCA constituency, youths like Alister, Aaron, Andy and Qi Wei set up OMG for Our Migrant Guests, to bring our residents and migrant workers together to celebrate festivals and recognise their work. They are partnering with the voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) I mentioned earlier in this meaningful and important work. Our youths are also serious about tackling climate change and are actively participating in our SG Green Plan. Youths like Woo Qiyun, Samantha Thian and Tan Shi-Zhou are leading the way in this regard.”
“So, please allow me to share with this House and our fellow Singaporeans, how our youths are taking action and how we are continuing to enable them to shape, serve and lead in our social and economic spheres. Let me begin in the social sphere with inter-racial and religious harmony, a topic we just touched on. We have youths carrying the torch lit by our founding leaders to strengthen racial and religious harmony. Youths like Nazhath Faheema, Benjamin Tan, Mohd Anas, Farisha Ishak and Joakim Gomez worked closely with Ms Nadin Samdin and I and my Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) team to refresh our Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs) into our new Harmony Circles, making them more diverse, more youthful and more digital. Last month, at Masjid Khalid, I met with 75 Harmony Champions, mostly youth leaders from the ground-up organisation, Roses of Peace, to discuss how to continually refresh our interfaith work on the ground. In my local Harmony Circle, we just welcomed 39 new volunteers. There are many youths, many women and many members from diverse backgrounds, including the digital savvy team at Masjid Al-Falah, led by the young Ustaz Khairul Anwar who is my Harmony Circle Vice Chair, and our secretary Lily Lim, an outstanding young Singaporean undergraduate of Iranian roots. Why is interfaith work important? Look within and around us. I have always cautioned that if we take our eyes off this important work, we will not have the foundations upon which to build our society and our economy. It is imperative that our youths continue to carry this torch. We also have youths who care deeply about our people's mental well-being and they have followed-up with action.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Motion. Three years ago, I delivered my maiden speech in Parliament in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. I ended my speech describing a scene in JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The wizard Gandalf was mentoring the young hobbit Frodo Baggins. Frodo wished that the terrible events that had befallen the world need not have happened in his time. To that, Gandalf responded, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us". I also shared that "years from now, in this very House, our future generations will judge us by how we have met that moment". We have done much with the time given to us during the pandemic and have since met that moment by most accounts. Collectively, we steered Singapore through the proverbial “crisis of our generation”, just as Frodo and his team did at the end of the story. Today, I will focus on our young Frodos – our youths, since Members have already spoken about other segments of society this week. I will share how our youths have indeed met that moment together with us and how they can continue to serve, shape and lead our country even as that moment passes and another moment approaches. Mr Speaker, I have been working closely with our youths for almost two decades, including the past three years in my many roles in office – in the social and economic spheres. Every week, I meet with youths in my capacities as Deputy Chair of the National Youth Council (NYC), Advisor to Young PAP and many youth organisations, also in businesses, schools, unions, the interfaith community and the community. Ms Nadin Samdin raised the importance of ensuring meaningful youth participation, not just for quotas or at dialogues. I cannot agree more.”
“Sir, I will focus my answer on the MAS. And the structure of the MAS and, indeed, how MAS conducts its exchange rate monetary policy is not new. In fact, it has been something that is a long-stated policy of the MAS. Many advanced countries have opted for statutory central bank independence, but this has not really fully insulated monetary policy from political interference. The MAS' model is different – MAS may not have statutory independence in the way that many central banks do. It is not independent of the Government, but it is independent within the Government. Let me elaborate. MAS operates with considerable autonomy, with no interference from the rest of the Government, be it in the conduct of monetary policy or supervisory policy. Yet, MAS is part of the broader Singapore Public Service, working closely with other Government agencies for the national benefit. And macro-prudential policies are successful in Singapore only because the MAS, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Development coordinate and use their respective policy tools in a concerted manner. If we take a step back and look at over five decades of MAS' history – MAS has built its credibility as a central bank, as a financial supervisor as well as a partner with industry, by learning from the best. Particularly in MAS' earlier years, but also where appropriate, doing things in our own way. So, we do things in our own because our circumstances are very different from many other jurisdictions around the world. We play an outsized role in global financial markets, for example, as a financial centre; and we are also a very small place but a very open economy. And that is why the way that we do things are different. MAS maintains that operational autonomy from Government.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for his supplementary question. The purpose of the Mental Well-Being Circles was born out of the Youth Mental Well-Being Network and expanded to the SG Mental Well-Being Network – the purpose is to raise awareness about mental well-being and mental health issues; and also to train peer supporters so that they may be able to support their friends, their families and the community. And thirdly, it is to have a network for them to support one another and, if necessary, to refer people who need step-up care to step-up support. So, I would like to thank the Member for his contributions and also his strong support in his Kolam Ayer Well-Being Circle and I encourage him and other Members to continue to give us feedback on how to improve this as we go along.”
“Sir, the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has worked with the operator of the short-term eco-accommodations, Big Tiny, to minimise guests' environmental footprint. The scale of the eco-accommodation is small, with a maximum occupancy of 15 adults in five units. Big Tiny also adopts sustainable practices, such as using solar energy as their main source of power and has in place responsible and appropriate waste management measures. It will also educate its guests by providing pre-visit and in-room materials to remind them of best practices to protect the environment. SDC has worked with and will continue to work with Big Tiny and nature groups to finetune operational best practices. Should visitors or the operator breach regulations, the relevant agencies will take the appropriate enforcement action. On a broader level, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) works closely with relevant Government agencies and other stakeholders to safeguard the biodiversity and heritage of our Southern Islands, including Lazarus Island, to preserve their rustic charm and rich habitats. For example, in terms of biodiversity monitoring, the National Parks Board (NParks) is currently working with various stakeholders to compile the Southern Islands Biodiversity Survey. This will cover the terrestrial and marine habitats of all the Southern Islands, including Lazarus Island, and guide its conservation strategies. I want to assure Members of the House that we will continue to monitor and safeguard the biodiversity and heritage of our Southern Islands, which are of utmost importance to us.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary question. In fact, the Member had also raised this at the Ministry of Communication and Information's (MCI's) Committee of Supply (COS) debates and I thought that this was a very important issue that the Government is very much concerned about. It is an emerging issue that has received growing interest among environmental and consumer protection authorities in many of the overseas jurisdictions. And the Member, in his MCI COS speech, had also outlined some of the different jurisdictions that have taken an interest in it, and, in fact, some had also legislated on the issue of environmental claims or greenwashing as well. While the current scope of the CPFTA is sufficiently broad to address greenwashing claims by a supplier in a business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction, CCCS is studying developments on greenwashing in other jurisdictions, in fact, to assess if any specific guidance or regulations would be useful in the Singapore context. On the Member's second question, I would like to say that consumers who encounter greenwashing or misleading environmental claims made by suppliers can approach CASE for assistance in resolving the dispute. In egregious cases, CASE may refer the supplier to CCCS for investigation. I thank the Member for his supplementary questions and the Government is studying this very carefully and we will make the necessary moves, where necessary.”
“The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, or CPFTA, protects consumers against false or misleading claims, including those related to greenwashing. The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) have not received any specific complaints alleging greenwashing. There are existing guidelines under the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, developed by the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore, to ensure that advertisers must clearly explain, adequately substantiate and qualify any environmental claim, where necessary. The Government will continue to monitor developments on greenwashing and develop further measures, if necessary.”
“Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 4 and 5 in the Order Paper together, please?”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary question. As MAS has also communicated, MAS Core Inflation is expected to ease more discernibly over the second half of 2023. This reflects a combination of base effects and also moderating external and domestic labour cost pressures. What does this entail? It actually suggests that longer-term inflation expectations are unlikely to persistently increase. Of course, we are looking at this and monitoring this very closely. But more broadly, wages in Singapore are not tightly indexed to inflation. Over the years, our tripartite wage-setting institutions have ensured that wage outcomes remain in line with productivity growth. For these reasons, we assess that the risk of a wage-price spiral remains contained at this point. But we will closely monitor developments as they go.”
“But as the Member also observed, there have been developments overnight and earlier this morning, and I would like to point Members to the statement that MAS had issued this morning and other statements related to developments in the international banking sector on 16 March 2023 as well as 13 March 2023. Allow me to make a few quick points. First, Credit Suisse Group AG will continue operating in Singapore with no interruptions or restrictions following the announced takeover by UBS Group AG or UBS. Customers of Credit Suisse will continue to have full access to their accounts and Credit Suisse's contracts with counterparties remain in force. The takeover is not expected to have an impact on the stability of Singapore's banking system. Second, Singapore's banking system remains sound and resilient. The Singapore dollar money market and foreign exchange market continue to function well. The Singapore banking system has insignificant exposures to the failed banks in the US and Singapore banks have confirmed that exposure to Credit Suisse is insignificant. Banks in Singapore are well-capitalised and conduct regular stress tests against credit and other risks. Their liquidity positions are healthy, underpinned by a stable and diversified funding base. MAS will continue to closely monitor the domestic financial system and international developments and stands ready to provide the liquidity through its suite of facilities to ensure that Singapore's financial system remains stable and financial markets continue to function in an orderly manner.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. The longer-term inflation expectations are proxied by five-year ahead forecasts for inflation, both looking at professional forecasters as well as household expectations. The household expectations survey, the DBS-SKBI SInDEx (Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations) Survey, as I mentioned, has shown that five-year ahead inflation forecasts have stabilised over the June and September surveys, and fell in the latest survey in December. So, it is a mixture of both professional forecasters as well as household expectations. With regard to the Member's second supplementary question, I will frame the context in terms of how that would be impacted by or affecting longer-term inflation. As Members know, MAS' monetary policy is medium-term focused to achieve low and stable inflation as the basis for Singapore's economic growth. MAS has tightened monetary policy since October 2021 and will continue to closely monitor global and domestic economic developments in the run-up to the scheduled policy review in April 2023, where it will take into account the implications for inflation as well as growth. By themselves, near-term shocks such as the recent developments in the international banking industry would not have direct implications for the long-term path of inflation and the Singapore Dollar Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (S$NEER). As I mentioned in my earlier response, these depend on longer-term structural factors such as demographics, technology advances that impact productivity as well as future trends in globalisation.”
“The focus of OBS currently is on the MOE Outdoor Adventure Programme, which is targeted at the 40,000 annual cohort of secondary 3 students. So, we try to leave the parents out of it, even though I think many parents want to be there with their 15-year-olds, but I think the point is really to get them to be out there on their own to experience the outdoors, the challenges. That said, there are also many other kinds of activities by private and other providers that are available. Last week, while wearing my MTI hat, I talked about Lazarus Island, today I talked about Pulau Ubin and Coney Island. Lazarus Island, of course, we are going to do a light touch activation there as well, so there are many different activities for families to enjoy the great outdoors together and bond.”
“Sir, volunteers are the core of the SG Cares Volunteer Networks and also the SG Cares Volunteer Centre (VC). So, in this regard, the SG Cares VCs, I mentioned earlier on, they work very closely with a multitude of partners, including the social service agencies, social service officers, Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), nursing homes and so on to help to match volunteers with patients, for example. What the SG Volunteer Centres do then is to coordinate both the training and deployment of relevant volunteers with the requisite skillsets and then match them with the beneficiaries that are also registered with the SG Cares Volunteer Centres. I also wanted to say that we will then provide the SG Cares Volunteer Centres with digital tools, such as the Volunteer Management System so that they can better match volunteers as well as beneficiaries. There is an upcoming SG Cares Digital Kampong to help to improve the deployment of volunteers through ground needs. This Digital Kampong will filter volunteer opportunities and better match the needs and interests or preferences of beneficiaries and volunteers, and also provide voluntary welfare organisations, non-profit organisations with the tools to better manage their volunteers, including on medical escorts.”
“As we resume OAE for our youths in their formative years, these spaces must provide a safe and enabling environment. That is why we set up the Outdoor Adventure Education Council in September. This Council will strengthen our OAE sector and support the development of safe outdoor activities. Since its inception, the Council has started work in three key areas: Standards and Certification, Professional Development, and Safety and Compliance. This year, it will start developing a national OAE standards and certification scheme. It will also institute a risk assessment and management system to strengthen safety culture across the sector. Mr Chairman, during my recent visit to OBS, I climbed the 20 meter Inverse Tower. It is taller than the 20 meters suggests. While I appeared confident on the outside, in fact, I was, very nervous! Fortunately, I had two impressive youths. My climbing buddy and belayers, Xara and Nadia. Their support and encouragement enabled me to climb the tower. Leaving Pulau Ubin inspired by our youths, I hope our community partners and purpose-driven businesses will also inspire our youths to become community and corporate leaders and make their mark in our renewed youth spaces. Like how Xara, Nadia and I conquered the Inverse Tower as a team, I believe that when different groups of our society join our unique strengths together, we can play our part to move Singapore forward, and upward together.”
“Participants from Season 1 of the RYSP also returned as facilitators and co-creators at the workshops, sharing their experiences with latter cohorts. Mr Baey Yam Keng asked for an update on the physical development of our Somerset Belt. This year, our youths will take greater ownership of the precinct and get to decide how it would look like, operate and also develop future programmes. Youths keen to shape this space and programmes, at our Somerset Belt can check out our Youth Action Plan website for more details soon. Moving beyond urban spaces, we are also creating opportunities for our youths to experience the outdoors together again. Many of us have been through an Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) programme many, many years ago. These outdoor adventure education, OAE programmes, build confidence and resilience. It also brings people of diverse backgrounds together, forging friendships while overcoming challenging outdoor activities. Mr Xie Yao Quan asked about our plans for OBS. We have resumed the five-day residential format of the MOE-OBS Challenge (MOC) programme for Secondary 3 students since January this year. Last month, I visited our OBS campus and joined students from Dunearn Secondary School, School of the Arts and Westwood Secondary School in their land and sea activities. The students were tanned, sunburned, exhausted but had great attitude! They enjoyed making new friends and overcoming challenges together as a team. We expect current construction works for our new OBS campus on Coney Island to be completed by 2024. This new eco-friendly campus will provide enhanced outdoor activities for our youths, particularly through the MOC programme, which aims to serve our entire cohort of 40,000 Secondary 3 students annually.”
“We encourage more companies, including SMEs, to convene, to discuss how to contribute more, collaborate with the Mentoring SG Office or work with the trade and clan associations in developing your initiatives. (In English): In addition to efforts by our community and corporates, our youths are also playing their part. Please let me elaborate how we are helping them to do so, in Malay. (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Throughout the pandemic, our youths were confined to their homes during key life stages such as their schooling years, or when they first joined the workforce. It also caused many to lose opportunities to gather in person and experience the outdoors. As such, we will renew our urban and natural spaces such as Somerset Belt and OBS@Coney to provide youths with more opportunities to gain important experiences, grow their networks and take on leadership roles. This also complements our youth leadership programmes organised by NYC, such as the Our Singapore Leadership Programme which has been expanded to include younger youth leaders from MOE schools and Madrasahs, that Minister Edwin Tong spoke about. (In English): Our youths need space and programmes to do their thing. At last year's COS, I shared how we have been gathering ideas from youths to transform our Somerset Belt to support their ground-up initiatives. Through our Realise Your Somerset Project (RYSP), we have supported 24 projects and reached out to more than 18,000 youths across different causes in 2022. Recently, I caught up with Arthur Choo, whose RYSP project, Green Arena, promotes sustainable arts by building drums with repurposed materials. Green Arena has held virtual sessions and physical art installations and workshops at the Somerset Belt.”