Ang Mong Seng
Singapore
“Lihua is also my alma mater. I am very proud that Chen Zhixiang became the top student in Singapore in the "A" level examinations. Use more. Parents should speak Chinese more with their children at home. I also hope Members of Parliament would speak more Chinese in Parliament. When *Cols. 4059-4060.”
“After the cooling-off period, flat sellers can make a final decision. Some unscrupulous housing agents would use various means to persuade people to sell their flats in order to earn commission. They would tell the owners that should they have any problems, just see the MPs.”
“[For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A *.] Mr Chairman, the construction industry requires a lot of foreign workers, including both skilled and unskilled workers. However, the MOM has decided to reduce the number of unskilled workers.”
“[For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A *.] As our population ages, we see more and more retirees selling tissues at hawker centres, coffee shops and malls to help with their expenses. They do not have CPF, yet they do not want to live by Government welfare – they want be independent.”
“Mr Chairman, may I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary what is the main concern for the Ministry in not issuing licence to the elderly to sell tissue papers in the hawker centre. We are asked to refer all these people to the Community Development Council (CDC).”
“[For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A*.] Madam, at the moment, 10% of our population is above 65 years old. Twenty years later, by 2030, about 25% of our population will be above 65 years old. If at that time, our population is five million, this will mean that we will have one million people who are over the age of 65.”
The complete record
Every one of 576 lines we hold for Ang Mong Seng, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 12.
“Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head F of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. (In Mandarin): Sir, allowing speeches to be made in the four official languages is a distinguishing feature of our Parliament. All along, I have been using my mother tongue, Mandarin, to speak and participate in parliamentary discussions where I raised a good number of suggestions, such as lift upgrading, medical check-ups for senior citizens, lowering of Sentosa entrance fees and reviewing the criteria for school ranking, etc, and they have been accepted and implemented by the relevant authorities. However, when I wanted to look for the text of my past speeches, I could only find the English record and not the Chinese version. Under the present parliamentary records system, if a Member of Parliament speaks in his mother tongue, his speech will be orally translated into English and recorded in the verbatim report. The translated text may not capture the original flavour and humour expressed in the original language, and the essence of the language is lost. The original text of speeches delivered in mother tongue may become an important archival material of the historical and cultural legacy of our Parliament. As such, I hope that the Minister would consider keeping the original text of speeches made in the mother tongues, eg, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, as a record for our future reference.”
“EXEMPTED BUSINESS (Motion) Resolved, That the debate on the Budget Statement be proceeded with beyond 6.00 pm and the proceedings thereon be exempted at this day’s sitting from the provisions of Standing Order No. 1. - [Mr Wong Kan Seng]. ANNUAL BUDGET STATEMENT Debate resumed.”
“I think if we were to have a thorough understanding of the reasons why pregnant women go for abortions, we would be able to achieve some good results, ie, reducing the number of abortions. The other group is the unmarried young women. I think this is also a serious matter which we should pay attention to. To my understanding, about two-thirds of the abortions are from the married women and one-third from the unmarried women. I think the committee should look into this matter and find out why they go for abortions. Maybe we should be able to save more babies and this is a direct channel for them to save the babies. Now, we have 37,000 babies. If we can save the 13,000 babies from abortion each year, we would have attained our target of 50,000. Finally, we want to encourage our people to have more babies. This is not something that can be done overnight. This is a long-term job that is to be undertaken by many Ministries. Eventually, we have to inculcate in our young citizens the responsibility of having children and also on the correct family values. So, on the one hand, we have to give them incentives and help them to solve their problems; on the other hand, we should also inculcate in them the proper values through education. I suggest that the Government start a "Happy Family Movement". This movement is not just to encourage every family to have children, but for our grassroots and community organisations to inculcate in our people, through education, the values and responsibility of having children. We should send this message to every citizen so that they can understand the future problems of our society and the importance of having children. I think if everybody has a good understanding of this problem, then all the other problems could be solved.”
“Recently, if we look at the newspapers, we can see a lot of advertisements about slimming. Everybody likes to be beautiful. I think slimming is something that everybody is looking forward to. But if there are too many advertisements, when women look at these advertisements, they get worried. They say, "Now that I have a child, I will lose my figure. How can I compete with all these young slim people?" I hope that something could be done to prevent these slimming advertisements from painting ugly pictures of pregnant women, thereby causing some sort of psychological burden on pregnancy. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee mentioned about the TV serial, Holland Village, which received positive feedback by the viewers. Perhaps we should also throw in some message on happy family or the joy of having more children. I think such contents in these TV serials will help to send the message to our young people so that they would want to have babies. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, now I would like to talk about one very important issue. Every year, we hope to have 50,000 babies. Last year, we had only 37,000, 13,000 babies short of the target. But, for the last four years from 1997 to 2000, there were some 13,000 abortions each year, about 30% of the fertility rate. What are the reasons for these abortions? I think there are two types: First, for the married woman, after their pregnancy, why do they want to abort their babies? I believe they must have their reasons. I hope that the inter-ministry committee will set up a special task force to counsel women, who want to go for abortion, to find out the reasons for abortion. Is it because of financial problem? Is it because of family dispute or some other pressures like work pressure, family pressure or other reasons?”
“In every housing estate, there should be at least one baby care service centre, so that these young mothers could go back to work after their maternity leave and the babies would have a good environment to be looked after well. On childcare aspect, I think MCDS has set up childcare centres in every constituency. But the operating hours of childcare centres are a problem. They open at 8 am and close at 6 pm. The parents could only send the child to the childcare centre after 8 am and have to pick the child up before 6 pm. This is certainly not convenient to the working parents. Could we not extend the working hours to start at 7 am and end at 8 pm? In other words, the parents would be able to send their children to the childcare centres as early as 7 am and pick up their children as late as 8 pm. Then there will be enough time for them to pick up their children after their work. Sixthly, on education. Many young women have complained to me that now that the child is three years old, they want to start doing some volunteer work for the school near their home so as to gain priority in enrolling the child there. They said, "If I do not do some volunteer work, I would not be able to send my child to a school near my home." To the parents, this is a big burden. If the child cannot go to a school nearby, then every day they will have to spend a lot of time sending the child to school and fetching the child after work. This is not for just one month, but for the entire period of six years in the primary school. This is a long-term problem. So I hope that the Ministry of Education would look into this matter. Children staying within two kilometres of the schools should be given places there. Seventhly, on media publication.”
“If you cannot find someone who is competent in this, maybe the Ministry of Manpower could introduce a B (baby) pass so that we can allow foreign nannies with the competence to come here on a temporary basis to take up this job of looking after the babies. Why am I making this suggestion? If we were to extend the maternity leave with the Government subsidising for the extension period, then with 50,000 babies a year, and the average mother's salary at $2,000 per month, the Government will have to subsidise $100 million per year for each month's extension. For two months, it will be $200 million. So, in five years, the Government will have to spend $1 trillion, and even this sum may not get you the number of babies that you want. So, we have to seriously look into the extension of maternity leave for new mothers. Fourthly, I would like to talk about CPF. After giving birth, new mothers could not make use of their Medisave to pay for 100% of the medical fees. Some of these young mothers do not have enough cash, but they do have CPF. We should help these young mothers by allowing them to use their CPF to pay 100% of their medical fees in order to solve the problem of cashflow. Fifthly, we should look into childcare and baby care service. Nowadays, women are facing problems with baby care. After giving birth, they have two months of maternity leave. After that, both the husband and wife will have to go out and work. If they can afford a maid, then it is not so bad. But what happens if they cannot afford to have a maid? This is when baby-care service comes in handy.”
“If they go to a consultant, it would cost them a lot of money. So this is a Ministry of Health's problem. I hope the Ministry of Health would help these young couples. Thirdly, on maternity leave. After nine months of pregnancy, there will surely be some disruption to their work efficiency. After the birth, they have two months of maternity leave. It will cause some inconvenience not only to the employer but also to the employee herself. Somebody suggested that we should extend the maternity leave to four months or even five months. I personally feel that the extension of maternity leave may not be beneficial. I think it may even have an adverse effect. First, having left your job for four to five months, the employer will have to engage someone to take over the job. So, if this replacement worker or manager does not have the efficiency or competence, then the employer will be unhappy, and this dissatisfaction could be extended to the employee herself. If the replacement is more efficient and competent, and after four to five months, the employer is used to the way this replacement staff works and would simply brush aside the original employee when she reports back to work after her long maternity leave. I think we should seriously rethink the suggestion to extend the maternity leave. Maybe the Government should consider setting up "nanny centres" to look after the new babies. They can engage nannies to help the new mothers look after their babies, and also to do some of the household chores during the maternity period. This would also provide some job opportunities for our women folk.”
“The men would talk about how to do business and the women would talk about how to look after the children and the pleasure of having children. Our parents would encourage us to have more children. To them, one more child means simply adding one bowl and a pair of chopsticks. The additional cost is not very much. In a big family, we look after one another. We, in fact, compete with one another on the number of children to have. Every year, we had at least one new baby in the big family, and it came very naturally. My three elder brothers and an elder sister have an average of 4 children each. Now that they have all moved out, all forming small families, myself, my younger brother and younger sister have an average of 2 children only, so naturally the family size has reduced. If we want to encourage Singaporeans to have more children, I think it involves many aspects. First, our people are marrying late nowadays. In the early days, 1960s and 1970s, the average marriage age was about 25-27. Now it is about 28-30. After marriage, the couple would have an agreement not to have a baby for the next three or five years, and then at the age of 35 when they begin to have this intention to have children, they may not even be able to conceive. So we should encourage our people to marry early and to have baby early. So this is the first thing the MCDS should do. I hope that we should have seminars and campaigns to encourage our people to marry early and to have children early. Just now I mentioned that the couples nowadays marry late and they do not want to have children until much later. So, this will involve the Ministry of Health. Some young couples wanted to have children but could not conceive. They go for medical treatment.”
“The Government should support them and give them all types of incentives so that our SMEs would be able to work with these MNCs. I believe this would be a better policy. At this time when our economy is just beginning to recover, we have to look into how we could reduce the business cost across the board. Because if we do it only on a sectoral basis like, for example, adjusting the CPF or wages and do not adjust the rentals, then I would say this is not a full cost-reduction exercise. As it is said in Hokkien, "You have 10 pots but only 9 covers." No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to cover all the 10 pots. We have to work on it in a more comprehensive manner to address this problem of business cost. This year's Budget may be slightly different from before, because we are talking about procreation. Although giving birth to a baby is a private matter between husband and wife, which the Government should not interfere in, when we consider the exceptionally low total fertility rate, the Government has little choice but to step in to help. But as I have said, giving birth to children is not an easy thing. If the Government wants to be involved, it should do so thoroughly. This is an inter-ministerial project. I fully agree that an inter-ministerial committee be set up, headed by Minister Lim Hng Kiang. This low fertility rate has a great impact on our family structure. In the early days, like the 1960s and 1970s, we had big families. For example, in my family, I have four sisters and five brothers. So there are nine siblings altogether. In a big family, during the day, everybody goes to work. At night, we would all gather together as one big family. The parents will then speak to us about family values.”
“But we know that for start-up companies who just started business, the chances of them making profit within the first three years are not very good. Although some do make some profit, in most cases, they do not make profit during the first three years. So I would suggest that this $100,000 tax exemption incentive be extended. For example, in China, they have full exemption for the first three years, and then on the 4th and 5th years, only half of the profit is subjected to tax. I think such a measure would be a better way to help our local people to be more enterprising. So, perhaps for the first three years, they could be exempted from paying tax, and for the next two years they could have a 50% rebate. I think this will help to encourage more young people to become entrepreneurs or set up new companies. With the setting up of new companies, more job opportunities could be created for our people. So, this is "killing two birds with one stone". We should also encourage the SMEs to have better entrepreneurial spirit. In other countries, for example in Taiwan, the governments spent a lot of money and efforts to help their local SMEs. When MNCs or big companies went there to invest, they would encourage their local SMEs to cooperate with these MNCs or big companies and to learn from them how they operate their business. Once these MNCs relocate their business elsewhere after their tax incentives have expired or they have found other places where they can operate in a cheaper way, these local companies would then be able to take over from them and thereby continue to create job opportunities. I think we should learn from them. So whenever MNCs come to Singapore to invest, we should encourage our local SMEs to approach them.”
“There may not be many such Samaritans, but I think this would be a good start to encourage our people to have this love and care for the old people. I hope that the Minister for Finance would consider extending tax incentives to those people who volunteer to look after unrelated senior citizens. Secondly, on assistance to the SMEs. In restructuring our economy, we have adjusted our CPF contribution rates, and we are also promoting flexible wage system. This is the Government's effort to help cut down business costs. But, compared to the other countries in Asia, such as China and India and some of the Southeast Asian countries, our business cost is still on the high side. We should try our best to reduce rental by 20% and also give maybe 10% rebate on the PUB charges for the factories. This is very important. We have adjusted the CPF and wage cost, but the entire business cost, factory rental overheads and other expenses are also very important. When we reduce the rental we should consider one thing, that is, Singapore dollar's conversion rate to another currency is quite high. One Singapore dollar is equivalent to 4.8 reminbi (yuan). Of course, we cannot reduce our level to that of China or Hong Kong, but we should try to keep it down so that we could be more competitive and attract more foreign investors to come here. Otherwise, the capitalists and the entreprenuers will go to China, India and other Southeast Asian countries where the business cost is lower, and this will be a heavy blow to our economic growth. I am glad that the Minister for Finance has also announced tax exemption for the start-up companies for the first three years.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, at a time when our economy is beginning to recover, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee has given us a very prudent Budget and urged us to tighten our belts so that we can face the challenges ahead. This is a very wise decision. Although my grassroots leaders and residents have told me that there is nothing special about this Budget, I told them that at this crucial time, we have to be very prudent in dealing with our economy so that we can have good long term strategies to compete with other countries. I would like to speak on a few aspects. Firstly, on tax incentives. I fully agree with the Government's focus on helping the needy ones by topping up the CPF accounts of those who are in need. We are helping our old people so that they can have enough in their Medisave accounts for their needs in the old age. But we know that we are facing an aging problem and, because of the small family structure, many old people are facing a lot of problems, particularly when they are single. There are more and more old people who have no one to depend on. So the Government is spending more time and effort to look after them. This is good. But, in our society, there are people who show care and concern for the old people and have the love to adopt them and allow these old folks to stay with them. I think this is very good indeed. In fact, there are a few such cases in my constituency. Children who maintain their parents enjoy tax relief from $5,000 to $8,000. I feel that the Government should consider granting tax relief also to those charitable persons who adopt these old people and allow them to stay in their house. With such an incentive, we would be able to encourage more Singaporeans to express their care and concern for the old people.”
“Sir, I would like to raise two points. First, is there any plan to temporarily close the Jurong Bird Park? How should we handle the birds and chickens in the Mandai Zoo? The second question is: is there any special symptom when a person is affected by the bird flu so that the public can pay attention to? Mr Mah Bow Tan: There is no need to close the Jurong Bird Park. There are two reasons. The first reason is that the bird flu virus infects mostly poultry like chickens, ducks and geese. It does not infect the other birds that are kept in the Jurong Bird Park. There is no reason for us to shut down the Jurong Bird Park or get rid of the birds there. We are nevertheless taking precautions to make sure that there is no possibility of other birds coming in and creating havoc in the Jurong Bird Park, which is a valuable asset to us. The Jurong Bird Park has taken steps to make sure that the Jurong Bird Park area is protected. Also, to minimise contact with visitors, they have also stopped all shows which involve carrying a parrot on your shoulders, etc. The expert advice is that it is not necessary to close Jurong Bird Park. Nevertheless, we are on the alert to make sure that the Jurong Bird Park is not infected. As far as the symptoms are concerned, they are similar to the flu symptoms - fever, cough, muscle ache, lung infection, etc. It is a flu virus. It is just a different strain of the flu virus. All the symptoms, I believe, are similar to the normal flu.”
“I am afraid that an ordinary lay person may not possess adequate medical knowledge to fully understand what is required of him when he takes part in the committee's deliberations. I agree with Dr Tan Cheng Bock that the Transplant Ethics Committee is a very vital body. It may be advisable to lay down certain criteria for the appointment of such a person, to ensure that he has the ability to exercise correct judgement in the discharge of his responsibility. When an organ transplant operation is undertaken, certain ethical problems may arise. Under the Bill, a representative can enjoy immunity from a law suit, if he is acting according to the directive from the Director of Medical Services or the Transplant Ethics Committee. If a lay person does not possess sufficient medical knowledge to fully understand the implications of his judgement, he would not be able to make valuable contributions to the Transplant Ethics Committee. Why appoint him to the Committee? I would like the Minister to clarify the points I have raised above. I support the Bill.”
“Fourthly, the punitive measures in the Bill are rather lenient. I fully agree with the Minister that we need to stop this nefarious transaction in human organs. The Bill provides for a fine of $10,000 or a jail term of not more than one year. This is peanuts to those who could reap huge profits from organ transactions. I personally feel that the illegal sale of human organs is more serious than illegal 4-D bettings. In the case of illegal 4-D bettings, an offender receives a fine of $20,000 to $200,000 and a jail term of not more than five years. Therefore, the fine should not be limited to $10,000. It should be raised to $100,000 or $200,000. This will deter trading in human organs, which may tarnish our reputation as a respectable medical centre. Fifthly, under the new law, the age limit for a living liver donor is 55 years. On the other hand, the age limit for organs removed from a cadaver is 60 years. What surprises me is that the age limit for a living kidney donor is 65 years. When a person reaches 60 years, he is considered a senior citizen. At this stage, the risks and the post-operation complications are greatly increased, especially for such major operations. Our desire to help the serious kidney patients should not cause us to neglect the risks taken by the otherwise healthy donor when he donates his organs. Perhaps, we should consider lowering the age limit for living kidney donors to 55, as is the case for living liver donors, to allay the fears of those elderly people who might think they are suitable candidates for such operations. Sixthly, the Transplant Ethics Committee's definition of "lay person". I would like the Minister to clarify what is the meaning of a "lay person" to be appointed to the committee.”
“The subject may be taught in schools too. This will help more people to have a proper understanding of the question of brain death and other details of the Bill. Another issue I am concerned about is the health insurance coverage for the living donors. More and more Singaporeans are now covered by medical insurance. I have asked a few agents from the various insurance companies about this matter and they told me that they were not sure about the impact of an organ donation on the status of the insurance policy of the insured. In the event of a donor falling sick, an insurance company may claim that it is due to an operation involving an organ donation in the past, and hence may refuse to honour his policy and compensation on this basis. This is rather unfair to the policy holder. I would like to know what the Minister's position on this issue is, and whether legislation will be made to provide some kind of protection to the organ donors who are covered by the medical insurance. As far as I know, unlike other donors, a donor who claims to be a direct relative is not subject to rigorous interviews and investigations to preclude the possibility of financial inducements. All that is needed is the provision of documents to prove his relationship and undergo a medical examination and psychological test. However, this could lead to abuse, especially when the so-called direct relatives, including uncles and aunties, come from foreign countries, such as China or India. It is difficult to verify the authenticity of the documents. Hence, it is not easy to find out whether there is monetary inducement involved. To avoid the possibility of organ trading, I hope MOH will legislate to provide for a DNA test for the donor to prove his claim of being a relative of the recipient.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Bill. After making a detailed study of the Bill, I would like to raise the following six points. One, the acceptance of the definition of "brain death". Advances in medical science and technology have led to a higher rate of success in human organ transplant procedures. This has brought a ray of hope to those patients whose organs are at the end-stage of the disease. The Bill would help raise the number of organs available for donation. Surveys have shown that most Singaporeans support this Bill. However, they have also shown that there is a group of Singaporeans, especially the more conservative and elderly, who continue to have doubts and are apprehensive about the definition of "brain death". In fact, before the law was enacted in 1987, the Ministry of Health has, through the media and public forums, explained and discussed this issue and yet, 17 years later, there are still some Singaporeans who are sceptical and worried about the definition of "brain death" due to their lack of understanding. It does show how people look at death and how it is dealt with is still very much influenced by traditional thinking. To them, a person is still alive so long as his heart is still beating. One reason for this could be that we have not done enough to clarify the issue to the public through adequate and proper channels. Perhaps, we need to explain the issue more and in greater detail so that people have more confidence and trust on how we deal with death and the removal of organs from the cadavers. I suggest that MOH publish and distribute pamphlets and brochures in four official languages and hold public discussions at grassroots levels to explain the issue to the people.”
“Instead, the price of the services provided at the time this amendment comes into effect will be deemed as being inclusive of the GST. The fourth change is the removal of the requirement to seek Comptroller's approval for electronic invoicing. Currently, GST-registered businesses that wish to issue, transmit or receive tax invoices electronically are required under the Act to seek prior approval from the Comptroller. Clause 7 amends section 43 of the Act to remove the requirement to seek the Comptroller's prior approval for electronic invoicing. This will ease compliance for businesses. Madam, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“Clause 4 amends section 21 of the Act such that trust administration services provided to a foreign trust by a person other than the actual trustee can be zero-rated. The first change is the Approved Third Party Logistics Company Scheme. Third party logistics companies generally undertake vendor-managed inventory operations where they import and hold goods belonging to foreign principals for local delivery. A new scheme whereby qualifying companies can import goods belonging to them or foreign principals without payment of GST shall be introduced. Under this scheme, qualifying companies can also move goods to their customers who are under the Major Exporter Scheme or other qualifying companies under the same scheme, without charging GST. Clause 5 re-enacts section 27 of the Act to allow the Minister to make regulations to give effect to the Approved Third Party Logistics Company Scheme. The third change is making Government goods and non-regulatory services taxable. Under the current legislation, supplies provided by the Government are only subject to GST if there are similar supplies made by the private sector. However, the taxability of supplies should be based on the nature of supplies rather than the legal identity of the suppliers. To rationalise this treatment, GST will be levied on all Government goods and non-regulatory services that can be potentially provided by the private sector, whether or not it is actually already being provided by the private sector. Hence, clause 6 amends section 28 of the Act to levy GST on all non-regulatory Government supplies, except supplies the Minister may prescribe. The Government will not increase any fees and charges on account of the change in GST treatment of Government supplies.”
“I want to check whether the lion dance troupe will be affected by the Bill. Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: I think lion dance troupes are affiliate members of his NSA. In that sense, they are covered by the Act. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. Column No : 3218 GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (AMENDMENT) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 5.38 pm The Second Minister for Finance (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mdm Deputy Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Bill will amend the Goods and Services Tax Act to give legislative effect to the following four measures: (i) to zero-rate trust administration services provided by a trust company to a foreign trust of which it is not the trustee; (ii) to provide for the Approved Third Party Logistics Company Scheme; (iii) to make Government goods and non-regulatory services, which can be potentially provided by the private sector, taxable; and (iv) to remove the requirement for GST-registered businesses to seek the Comptroller's prior approval for electronic invoicing. Madam, I shall now explain the amendments in the Bill that relate to changes announced in Budget 2003. The first change is the zero-rating of trust administration services. The zero-rating provision in respect of trustee services shall be extended to services provided by a Singapore trust company to a foreign trust of which it is not the trustee. This will increase the competitiveness of Singapore trust companies serving as management and administration hubs for offshore trusts.”
“I would like to ask the Minister whether there would be some better organisations to take over the task from the CID, so that our martial arts instructors would be regulated so as to produce world class practitioners who can be world-beaters and win more medals for Singapore at international meets. The Singapore National Wushu Federation can take on this task. I hope the Ministry of Home Affairs would delegate this job of registering the martial arts instructors to the Singapore National Wushu Association. With such a systematic arrangement in place, we would be able to promote martial arts and strive to attain even higher standards in this art. Without a proper system in place, I am afraid that the individual instructors and coaches would start their own schools at random, and it would be very difficult to control them in future. In this connection, what about the lion-dance and dragon-dance troupes? With the repeal of the Act, will the present lot of lion-dance and dragon-dance instructors be de-registered too?”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I must declare my interest as the Vice-President of the Singapore National Wushu Federation. Mdm Deputy Speaker, the Martial Arts Instruction Act was enacted in 1974. Over the years, as guided by this Act, the practice of martial arts in Singapore has been well regulated and has indeed flourished. It has now become an item in international sporting events such as the Asian Games and the SEA games. China has also successfully campaigned for martial arts to be included as an item in the Beijing Olympics Games 2008. Nowadays, many schools in Singapore have included martial arts as a co-curricular activity. More than 3,000 students are learning martial arts in the schools. At grassroots level, martial arts are also being promoted in the community centres. Many courses are being offered, with tai chi quan and nan quan being the most popular. The practice of martial arts is readily becoming a part of our healthy lifestyle. Recently, we sent a team of wushu practitioners to Beijing for an international Wushu Competition, and they returned with a remarkable haul of one gold, one silver and one bronze medals, competing with world class competitors from all over the world. This is because we have a good system of regulating martial arts in Singapore. We have good coaches and instructors and they produce good results. Today, we are repealing the Martial Arts Instruction Act. With the repeal of this Act, would there be an authority to regulate the martial arts instructors in Singapore? If the instructors are not organised in a systematic manner, there would be confusion and chaos.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister is right in that during army training, the safety aspects are taken care of by the Safety Officers, and we have a Commander to take care of all the training courses. I had gone through two-and-a-half years of National Service. I know all these have been taken care of by the SAF. But sometimes the training is done out of the camp. The servicemen go for jungle training and the troop may be a bit far away from the Safety Officers and the medic. I do not know whether the SAF can consider the provision of special equipment for individual soldiers so that in case they encounter any difficulty during the training, they can press a button to call for SOS. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Sir, we can consider such a technical solution. We have a sort of manual solution, if you like, today, ie, a buddy system which is when the soldiers go into camp, they get a buddy and they are supposed to look after each other. So we do not have the technical solution today. We have a "human" or manual solution.”
“I just want to check about the deferment period. Usually, the HDB allows for six months or one year. But if a resident, within one year, is not able to secure a job, can the HDB extend the period a second time or even a third time?”
“Sir, first of all, I would like to thank the Minister to allow the residents ---”
“My employer told me that the only vacancy was in the sawmill which was the most dirty and dusty part of the factory, and I had to do night shift. I took the job. My nightshift was from 11.00 pm to 7.00 am. The proprietor of the plywood factory was a Taiwanese. He was in the habit of visiting the factory in the middle of the night to check if the workers were working. At that time, I was a young man who needed the money desperately, I dared not play truant and was always working. The proprietor saw that I was a conscientious worker and was also an undergraduate. He recognised my efforts and promoted me to be a quality inspector, and my wages were raised from $2.50 to $3.50 an hour. So, if you are prepared to work hard and earn our keeps, there is no need to feel ashamed. As the Prime Minister said, we would not die when we lose face. It is only when we cannot breathe that we will die. So, when a job is given to us, we should take it. We should not think that it is a lowly job and refuse to take it. Every job is sacred, so long as it is a good and proper job. This is what we call the "Nantah spirit", the spirit of self-reliance.”
“3 billion people in China. This is indeed a huge sum of money. Those companies which are doing well, the 3% saving in the employer's CPF contribution is a windfall. They should make full use of these windfall savings to help their workers. So, I suggest that those companies which are making profits should set aside at least 1% as a training or welfare fund for the workers. This would enable the workers to share the windfall. Fifthly, we should change the work attitude of our workers so that they can keep up with the times. According to the Ministry of Manpower, some companies are still having difficulty recruiting workers. For example, now there are about 4,600 jobs where there is no taker. Yet, we have 80,000 people who are unemployed. I think we should change the attitude of our workers. In any job, there is always dignity and professionalism in it. Nowadays, there is still a good number of jobs which are shunned by Singaporean workers. As a result, the companies have no choice but to employ foreign workers. For example, more than 30% of our bus drivers are foreigners. Most of the Town Councils' conservancy works are also taken up by foreign workers too. Even in the hawker centres and factories, it is the same. So, I think our workers should be more realistic. They should enrich themselves and make some compromises and be more flexible. Only then can they survive in this ever-changing environment and be self-reliant. Let me quote an example. When I completed my secondary school, I wanted to go to the university. I was worried that my family could not support me for my university education. So, I worked in a provision shop in Taman Jurong to earn some money before I joined the university. While in the university, I spent my vacation working in a plywood factory.”
“I asked them where they would like to go for further studies after their graduation. They named four destinations - Canada, United States, England and Singapore. Singapore has a very good brand that is well known overseas. We should make use of this foundation to expand and improve our university education. We should seize this opportunity. We should not wait. I think for our economy to prosper, we should resume the old name of Nantah for our NTU. The Nantah spirit is very important. With the new President, Prof. Su Guaning at the helm, we should be able to make further progress. Now, let me turn to tourism. Tourism is a very important component of our economy. The development of tourism will bring more business for the hotels, restaurants, transport and retail business. These are all inter-linked and tourism will provide more job opportunities for Singaporeans. The Government should try to establish more tourist attractions in Singapore, make use of our surrounding environment and improve the service quality of our workers in the tourism industry. Fourthly, with this announcement of CPF cut, some people will naturally be worried. Now, the repayment period for HDB loan is for only 30 years, and the lessees have a rather short repayment period for the mortgage loan they took. I think we should grant them longer repayment period, say, 35 or even 40 years. With this downturn, many HDB lessees could not service the loan for their present flats. Many of them wish to downgrade to smaller flats. The HDB should consider building more 3-room flats to satisfy their needs. As mentioned by the Prime Minister just now, the 3% cut in CPF amounts to a hefty $1.3 billion for the employers in Singapore. If we convert this to Renminbi, it amounts to five Renminbi for every one of the 1.”
“Prior to the 60s, Singapore's main output was in farming and agricultural produce. In the 60s and 70s, we promoted industrialisation and concentrated on labour-intensive industries. In the 80s and 90s, we moved towards high value-added industries which paid higher wages, and our people enjoyed better standard of living. That has resulted in a very high wage level in Singapore today, where the labour cost is significantly higher than the other countries in this region. I think we should make use of this period of economic downturn to change the mindset of our people. In the meantime, we have to seek avenues for our businessmen to expand overseas. Next, we should look into the field of education. We can promote our universities so that we can become a hub for higher learning and cultural activities. Our educational standard is the envy of many countries in the world. I think our NUS and NTU should cooperate to provide more opportunities for students to study here. According to a report, the President of the Singapore Management University, Mr Tan Chin Tiong, mentioned that it would cost a Singaporean some $70,000 to $80,000 a year to study in a university in the United States, whereas he needs to pay just $6,000 if he studies in either NUS or NTU in Singapore. At this time of economic recession, we should encourage more Singaporeans to study in Singapore. That would help to solve the financial problem. Secondly, attraction of foreign students. We should develop Singapore into a hub for higher learning and attract foreign students to study here. In this way, we can earn more foreign exchange too. Recently, I was in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. I had the opportunity to speak to some high school students there.”
“Apart from that, we should also try to reduce the other costs of living, such as PUB charges, and rentals. Only then, can we effectively help our workers to settle their problems while making every effort to attract foreign investors to come in and create more jobs for them. Secondly, we should step up our efforts to promote Singapore overseas. Here, we must commend our Minister for Trade and Industry, BG George Yeo. Under such a gloomy global economic climate, he has still managed to attract a lot of foreign investments to Singapore. We should have some good incentive packages, and encourage more civil servants to go overseas to promote them to the prospective foreign investors. Nowadays, a lot of people go to China to invest. The reason is that many leaders from China came to Singapore to promote the various investment opportunities in China. I think we should learn from them, and encourage our senior civil servants to go overseas, particularly to China and India, to promote our incentive packages to the entrepreneurs so that they will come to Singapore to invest. Then we will be able to create more jobs for our people. We should work like the bees. Even when the weather is bad, the bees do not stop working. If the immediate vicinity is no good, they will fly further away to collect more pollen from the flowers there to make more honey. I think we should also learn from them. We should go overseas to promote our incentive packages. Only then, can we link up with the foreign entrepreneurs, persuade them to bring their investments here, and create more job opportunities for our people. Thirdly, we should adapt to changes. No industry can prosper forever and in every industry, there will be ups and downs.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, when the Prime Minister made the announcement in his National Day Rally that the CPF rates would be reduced, many Singaporeans were worried. When I spoke to my grassroots leaders, they said jin cham meaning "Terrible!" But today, having heard what the Prime Minister announced, I called them up and they said heng-ah, or "Phew, lucky!" Generally, Singaporeans understand the purpose of the CPF reduction. I believe this would be supported and accepted by the people in general. Sir, the reduction in CPF contribution rates, I hope, would help to reduce the business costs in Singapore. On the one hand, this would help save our jobs and prevent further retrenchments. On the other hand, we would be able to attract more foreign investments here, and thereby creating more jobs for our people. Sir, a policy may be good, but it has to be implemented effectively so as to obtain the best results. First, I would suggest we set up a nation-wide unemployment register. We can make use of all the community centres and community clubs in our 84 constituencies to effect a nation-wide unemployment registration exercise. By so doing, we would be able to better understand how many people are genuinely unemployed and what are their needs and requirements. Then, we can make a study of it and come out with the appropriate measures to effectively help them. The unemployed will have better chances of getting jobs that are available and suitable to them. In this way, we can achieve the best results in combating unemployment. We should also help those unemployed workers who are in financial difficulties. We could perhaps give them a once-off unemployment benefit of, say, $2,000 or $3,000.”
“Sir, the Minister has mentioned about the 1,800 units of 3-room flats. Are they rental or purchase flats and are they old or new flats?”
“Sir, may I ask the Minister about the problem concerning the main contractor and sub-contractor. When the main contractor gets the contract, usually he will sub-contract to the sub-contractors who sometimes sub-contract to so many sub-contractors. Has the Ministry any form of control on the main contractor, ie, after getting the contract, how many percent of it should be carried out by the main contractor and how many percent by the sub-contractor? The Minister mentioned that the contract was not awarded to the lowest tenderer. Could he enlighten the House, for the last two years, how many contracts under MUP and IUP were not awarded to the lowest tenderer?”
“Sir, we are going to carry out temperature checking for all the stallholders in the markets and food centres. In the whole of Singapore, we have more than 100 market centres. Currently, this job is carried out by the volunteers, ie, the CCC or CCMC members. I would like to know how long this would carry on and whether the committee can mobilise some of the medical staff to help to do the job.”
“It will soon start an Arts Faculty, to make it a comprehensive university. Since it is no longer a university that conducts purely technological studies, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would consider taking out the word "Technological" from the name of the University, and let this comprehensive university be known as "Nanyang University". Of course, the old Nanyang and the new Nanyang are different but since this new Nanyang University is standing on the site of the old Nanyang University, let it inherit the Nantah blood and spirit, so that the Nantah spirit of "constantly striving to be stronger, vigorously contending to improve, and self-reliance" continues to be manifested. At the same time, it will continue to groom and nurture the Chinese elites. Apart from preserving the good Chinese culture and traditions, the spirit could also be used to respect our multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural beliefs and to promote greater social cohesion.”
“Madam, Nanyang University was established in 1955 in response to the needs of the Chinese speaking community and the awakening for higher Chinese education. It was a Chinese university founded entirely on funding by the Chinese people all over Southeast Asia. Then, the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan donated the land for the university site, and every brick and mortar of the campus was contributed by people from all walks of life, including trishaw riders, coolies, dance hostesses, barbers, merchants, etc, many of them giving up their life savings. I am sure all these people who have contributed to the founding of Nanyang University will have a special feeling for the university because it was actually the accumulation of all the blood and sweat of the people and their aspiration. The establishment of Nanyang University shall have an indelible place in the history of education in Singapore. The contribution of Nanyang University to Singapore is not only confined to the academic aspect, but it also brings about the so-called "Nantah spirit". In its 21 years of existence, Nanyang University has produced countless talents who have contributed significantly to the fields of economic construction, education and politics. In the field of academia, it has also enjoyed great reputation all over the world. In 1980, the Government restructured Nanyang University and the then University of Singapore. The Nantah campus was converted to the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), which was subsequently upgraded to Nanyang Technological University (NTU). At present, to cater to the needs of the time, NTU now offers courses in life sciences, business studies, education, mass communications, and not just purely technical courses.”
“But if we use Chinese as well, then maybe about 80% of our people will understand. If we want everybody to understand, then you should use all the four official languages. In this respect, I hope that the Government would look into the matter seriously. Some of the Ministries may say that they do not have people who are good in Chinese, Malay or Tamil to translate the explanatory notes of the exhibits. Maybe the Ministry of Education can engage some retired Chinese, Malay and Tamil teachers to do the translation work. I am sure they can do it well.”
“Sir, in every budget debate, there are always some Members speaking on the importance of the Chinese language. Among our population, there are about 30-40% of our people who use only Chinese as their medium of communication. When the Government wants to implement or explain a new policy, and if the Chinese language is not used in the process, these people will not be able to understand this policy. Here, I would like to give two examples to illustrate the importance of the Chinese language in our society: First, the NEWater Centre. Recently, the Prime Minister officiated at the opening ceremony of the NEWater Centre. The purpose of the NEWater Centre is to explain to the people how NEWater is generated. But, unfortunately, all the explanations in the Centre are in English only. So, those who do not know English will not understand how NEWater is generated even though they have visited the Centre. I encourage my grassroots leaders to visit the NEWater Centre. My grassroots leaders went, but later told me that it was a waste of time as all the explanations in the Centre were in English, and they did not understand a thing. Secondly, the Total Defence Exhibition. The Chinese newspapers carried a report about an exhibit at the Civil Defence stall. The caption of the picture was: "Take Cover in the Open", in English only. An old couple who could not read English looked up the meaning of the words and found that "take" means "bring", "cover" means "lid". So, "bring the lid inside to open". It makes no sense at all. Actually, the meaning is that in case of emergency you must take cover in the open and not hide in a building or some shelter. If we are implementing or explaining a policy using English only, some 60% of our people will understand.”
“Sir, I thank the ENV for the good effort. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $470,438,540 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,427,073,500 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head K -”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code LC 1500. (In Mandarin): Sir, last year, I asked the Minister how many crows were there in Singapore and he said it was about 120,000, to the astonishment of everybody. But last Sunday, when I went to a hawker centre for my breakfast, I saw a lot of crows flying around. So, I would like to ask the Minister how effective was his crow culling campaign.”
“Sir, since Dr Amy Khor has raised all the important points on public toilets, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would be going ahead with the ranking of public toilets.”
“My final question is: since ENV has plans to consolidate all ENV and HDB hawker centres under the Agency for better synergy of resources and better coordination, will there be a re-look into the synergy of all the hawker and market centres, where some are very close to each other? What will be the planning guidelines of new markets in the newer HDB estates if they are now under the management of the Agency?”
“Sir, I would just like to make some comments on the design of the upgraded hawker centres. Although the size of the stalls is bigger, efforts should be made to understand the needs of the different types of hawkers, in terms of the ergonomics of the stall design versus their workflow. This is critical especially for vegetable and fruit stallholders where they need to display many varieties within the confined space of the stalls. The Australians had done well and SPRING had brought the specialists into Singapore to help our shopkeepers. Our architects/designers involved in this upgrading programme should tap into this expert knowledge. If not, our stall designs would go back to the basics again after upgrading. In addition to helping our stallholders to upgrade their skills on the display of goods (lifelong learning), the Agency may want to assist them in organising suitable courses and encourage them to upgrade their skills and knowledge on display. So when the hawker centres are upgraded, you have not only a new physical environment, but a new skill and a new way of doing business as well. Again on designs, although the Agency has taken into account the design of the upgraded hawker and market centres by having good natural ventilation, lighting and alfresco dining areas, it must not be sacrificed for the sufficiency of seats in the upgraded hawker centres. Let me explain. There is a ratio of seats to stalls. If many of these seats are in the open, there would not be sufficient seats under the cover, especially in the hot afternoons and on rainy days. These are experienced by some of the customers in the upgraded hawker centres.”
“Sir, during the Budget debate last year, I asked the Minister for the Environment whether his Ministry had any intention to take over the control of all hawker centres. At the moment, hawker centres come under the control of three Government agencies, namely, the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of the Environment and the town councils. Hawker centres provide cheap and good food for our people. They are very important to the lives of our people. For the Chinese, there is fried kway teow or Hokkien mee; for the Malays, there is nasi lemak; and for the Indians, there is roti prata. Apart from all these delicacies, we can have a mix of food for our Malay, Chinese and Indian Singaporeans, all under one roof. This is certainly good for the enhancement of our racial harmony. However, I understand that HDB is not going to build any more hawker centres in its new housing estates. So, I would like to know whether there is any change in plan. Since the hawker centre is such a good thing, we should preserve it. For example, in the past, the wet markets were changed to dry markets. Now, the trend is to go back to wet markets. Hawker centres are very important to us. The HDB should consider building hawker centres again to serve the residents. Mdm Cynthia Phua: Sir, much has been said by Members on hawker centre upgrading. However, I would like to take this opportunity to compliment HDB for having a partial upgrading programme for upgrading of the markets as early as 1992 and now, the National Environment Agency for the full upgrading programme. 12.45 pm Personally, I have been involved directly in the partial upgrading of at least four hawker centres under the HDB programme when I was the former CEO of Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council.”
“Sir, the National Parks Board manages some 287 parks and a million trees all over Singapore. The public parks in HDB estates particularly have provided the residents with a sense of serenity and a place to relax in. However, the Authority can further improve the facilities of these parks by providing more car parks, food kiosks, public toilets and exercise corners. The "Adopt-a-Park" scheme has been well supported by many schools in the neighbourhood. This is a very good concept. More schools and civil organisations should be encouraged to adopt the parks near their vicinity so as to promote a sense of identity with these parks. One other thing that warrants our attention is the security measures. The Bukit Gombak GROs had formed a Park Watch Group to further enhance the security at the Bukit Batok Nature Park. But we need money. Perhaps, the Ministry should initiate a "Park Activities Endowment Fund" for this purpose. The private sector can donate towards this fund so that we can provide better facilities for the residents.”
“At the moment, they are having some 50,000 pigs there. Once the pigs are slaughtered, they can be exported to Singapore. But the businessmen do not have confidence in the food testing facilities over there, and whether or not the import will be approved by the health authority in Singapore. If AVA can join up with the ICQ of China to set up a testing centre in China, it will clear all the doubts of our pig farmers there. Our entrepreneurs will then have more confidence to go overseas to invest in pig farming, and the food price here can then be lowered. This will certainly benefit our consumers here. I hope that the Minister will consider this. I have sounded out this idea to the CEO and senior officials of AVA, and they are enthusiastic towards it. They have the entrepreneurial spirit but the Ministry of Finance does not support this idea. Can the Minister for National Development take up the matter with the Minister for Finance? 12.45 pm”
“Sir, AVA is responsible for the inspection of all imported meat, seafood, etc, to ensure our food hygiene. Last year, there were less than 1,000 cases of food poisoning in Singapore. In comparison, there were 10,000 cases of food poisoning in New Zealand, and the number in Europe and the USA was even higher. This shows that our food hygiene has surpassed international standards. Recently, we visited the AVA office, and we were very impressed with its technology and the work attitude of the workers. They are very impressive indeed. However, I found that their office is too crowded. Can the Minister provide them with a bigger office, so that they have a better working environment? Now that the former HDB Centre in Bukit Merah is vacant, can some arrangement be made to move the AVA office there? Since the AVA possesses the professional skills and technologies which are of international standards, we should encourage them to make use of their expertise to establish a regional testing centre so as to go regional and even global. At the moment, AVA has a staff of 800 and their annual expenditure is $70 million. Apart from the $20-odd million revenue collected from services provided, they still need about $40 million to cover their activities and operational costs. If we can allow AVA to provide their professional services on a regional or international basis, it would have derived revenue on its own, and we can cut down on dependency on the Government. With a steady source of income coming in, we can avoid retrenchment. Sir, more and more of our food imports are coming from China, like vegetables, meat and canned food. Recently, some of our enterprises like the pig farmers have gone to Qingdao, China, to set up pig farms.”
“Madam, since its establishment in 1960, HDB has a glorious history of about 40 years. Under the home ownership scheme, they have already built some 800,000 flats. About 85% of Singaporeans are living in HDB flats, and about 96% own their own flats. I think this is the highest record in the world. HDB has already accomplished its mission, and many of its staff had an early retirement and received compensation. For them, I think it is a good reward for what they have contributed to our nation-building. Sir, HDB is now going to set up a company. Many of the local developers are worried. Will this HDB Corporation be competing with them for construction work in Singapore? With HDB's history of 40 years, it has a very good track record and famous brandname. I think they should go into foreign markets, maybe in China or in India. They should venture over there instead of competing with the local companies in our market. I like to ask the Minister what is the main aim of the corporatisation. Will HDB Corporation be leading our local developers and builders to venture and develop in the foreign markets? If they can give this assurance, it will certainly boost the confidence and morale of our local developers.”
“Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether, in this difficult time, special consideration can be given to those who are 50 and above, unemployed for more than two years, with no savings and no financial support. They look seriously for jobs but could not get a job. Under such circumstances, can they make some advance withdrawal from their CPF accounts? If they have $50,000, let them withdraw, say, 5% a year or about $200 a month, just to tide over this difficult time.”
“Sir, the long economic recession all over the world has resulted in our unemployment rate remaining very high. I think we have about 100,000 people who are unemployed in Singapore. Now, with our economic restructuring, even the higher educated are affected. The Minister has given some examples of how jobs were created in the new economy. But for those older workers who are 50 and above, if they are unemployed, they are unemployed forever. It is very difficult for them to get another job. Our economy has grown significantly since our independence. We have transformed from an old village into a cosmopolitan city. It shows that we have moved in the right direction. Otherwise, we would not have progressed. But there are some who are unable to cope with the changes, they are entangled in a trap and they cannot help themselves. In the old kampong days, when people were unemployed, they could just plant some tapioca or potatoes, and still survived. But now if you do that, you will get a summons from the authorities. Nowadays, if you are unemployed, it would not be easy to get another job. Some residents came to see me. I introduced them to a job. One week later, they came back and said that they wanted to work but the employers would not employ them. This is an employers' market now. Secondly, if the pay is $1,000 and after CPF deduction, the take-home pay is only $800. It is not enough to maintain the family. The Teochew people say tan chiak, which means to earn and eat. After eating, there is nothing left. The only saving you can have is in your CPF, but you cannot get the money until you are 55. It is like in a desert, you see the water in an oasis; you want to drink the water but you cannot reach it.”