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.”
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“Sir, our control over the foreign workers has been fairly stringent all the while. Therefore, employers who employ foreign workers have to apply for work permits from MOM and to ensure that when the permits expire, they have to take all the necessary action to repatriate the foreign workers. However, there are some foreign workers who are overstaying in Singapore and there are some Singaporeans who unwittingly rent their premises to these overstaying foreign workers and are arrested and sent to prison. Recently, I have a resident in my constituency who encountered this problem. He advertised to rent out one of his rooms, and a foreign worker came with a photocopy of his passport and asked to rent this room. My resident took this copy of the passport and checked with the relevant authority. He was informed that the passport was in order. But not long after, the police came and arrested him for harbouring this foreign worker who had overstayed in Singapore, and he was charged in court. He came to see me. I requested the police to further investigate the matter. Finally, the police found out that this foreign worker who had overstayed had actually used a photocopy of his friend's passport and put his photograph on it. As a result, he committed this crime. I was very glad that the police, after further investigation, had withdrawn the charge against my resident. I would like to know whether the Immigration Department has looked into this matter and see how their system of checking could be improved. I remember that when we joined National Service, we would surrender our identity card to MINDEF, and MINDEF would issue a military IC to us, the NSmen. Perhaps we should use the same system for the foreign workers. The Immigration Department could consider using this system.”
“Sir, thank you for the replies. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“I think many of them had been taking bus services even during their younger days. They are life-time bus commuters! Whole day concession has already been implemented in European countries - Canada and Hong Kong. The concession to senior citizens is only a small gesture of respect for them. It is not completely free. It is only a concession. Sir, I hope MCIT and the bus companies can reconsider this issue. To start with, perhaps they can extend it further by one more hour, say, from 9 am, instead of 10 am. After all, after 9 am, it is not the peak period. Later on, they can monitor the situation and extend the concession period to the whole day.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head I of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code IA 1500. Sir, in last year's Budget debate, I raised the issue that the elderly in Singapore, aged 60 years old and above, should be given full day bus concession. Although this was not fully accepted, I am very grateful to MCIT and the bus companies for advancing the hours on Saturdays, from 2 pm to 10 am. This revision was implemented smoothly without any hiccups. At the moment, the use of concession cards for senior citizens is restricted to the off peak hours. They can only enjoy the concession after the peak period, from 10 am to 4 pm, and after 7 pm from Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays, they can enjoy the concession after 10 am. On Sundays and public holidays, they enjoy whole day concession. Right now, we have about 370,000 senior citizens who had, during their younger days, contributed to the prosperity and progress of Singapore. Their welfare should be looked after with more objective measures, and transport concession is only one way to express our appreciation to them for their past contribution. I feel that we should relax the time limit for senior citizens so that they can enjoy concession for the whole day. Sir, there are many reasons for my plea. First, the relaxation of concession will facilitate senior citizens to go out and take part in social and grassroots activities, and to visit their friends and relatives or to help their children to look after their grandchildren. Secondly, the MCIT and the bus companies may be concerned that after the relaxation, senior citizens will travel more frequently during peak hours and the bus companies' income would be reduced. These senior citizens are taking buses not only when they are old.”
“Can we ask these people to indicate whether they could donate the top-up amounts, which they would have been entitled to, to the grassroots activities fund or some charity funds. If among the 190,000 people, 10% of the people are willing to donate their CPF top-up money, then we would have $10 million for our grassroots activities fund or charity fund. This will be much better than the $8.3 million as proposed by Mr Leong Horn Kee for the grassroots activities fund. I hope the Minister can consider my proposals.”
“Perhaps, the Government can consider giving a once-off $1,000 3-tier family bonus to the young couples. I hope the Government can consider this proposal seriously. Next, the CPF Top-up Scheme. The Minister for Manpower, Dr Lee Boon Yang, told us that about 190,000 people did not make contribution of $100 each into their CPF accounts and hence did not qualify for the top-ups of $500 to $1,700 into their accounts. Among the 190,000 people, about 23% are aged 65 and above, and 33% live in 1 to 3 room flats. I would like to urge MOM to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. Like Dr Vasoo, I would also be grateful if the CPF Board could provide me with the following information: (a) Of the 190,000 people, how many are singles with no children; (b) How many are jobless and have no income at all; (c) How many are physically handicapped, such as mentally retarded, senile, dementia, non-ambulant; and (d) How many are living in old folks' homes. In order that these people could also enjoy the fruits of our economic success, the Government should consider depositing the top-ups of $500 to $1,700 into the accounts of these people who have, in the past, contributed to the country, particularly those who live in 1-room to 3-room flats, and then later, at the time of withdrawal, deduct the basic $100 as a pre-qualification for the top-up at the next top-up scheme. This is killing two birds with one stone. I hope the Minister for Finance can help these people who really need our help. Mr Speaker, Sir, among the 190,000 people, there may be some who are quite financially well-off and do not need the CPF top-up.”
“Otherwise, all these rebates given by the Government to the residents will be nothing more than the Tokuhon (Japanese medical plaster) applied on the skin to provide temporary relief to the trauma within. It will not eradicate the problem. Next, I will deal with the 3-tier family bonus. In this Budget, there are different packages for the benefit of different categories of people, much to the delight of the people. Taxpayers should be happy with the 10% tax rebate. However, there seems to be no goodies for those who have responded to the Government's appeal to forming 3-tier families. With our population ageing more rapidly, quite a lot of problems have arisen. These problems must be resolved early. Many young Singaporeans have responded to the Government's call to set up 3-tier family so that the old and the young could be looked after. On the other hand, the Government must give some clear incentives to reward them. I would suggest the Government consider giving the following incentives to encourage the formation of 3-tier families. There is a Chinese saying, "An elder in a family is like a treasure at home". If the young people can live with their parents, the old folks can look after their children, and the young couple can then be encouraged to have more children without having to worry that there would be nobody to look after their children. In the meantime, the old folks can be cared for and looked after by their family members. Moreover, the grandparents can inculcate the traditional moral values in the young children so that they would grow up to become useful citizens of Singapore. The 3-tier family will also contribute to the enhancement of family and social cohesion, as it is often said that the family is the foundation of society.”
“The Government should apply the principle of "equal misery and equal prosperity", so that all families will proportionately enjoy some utilities rebates. The amount of rebates may not be large, but at least all the residents can get some benefit and be appreciative to the Government for sharing the budget surplus with them. I believe the end benefit to the Government will far surpass the cost incurred. When the people first heard about the rebates on utilities, they were all smiles. But when they received the utilities bill later on, the smiles disappeared, because all the utilities rates were increased. Recently, when I visited my constituents, I came across a young couple living in a 4-room flat. They told me that they used to pay only $50 to $60 per month for utilities but now it has been increased to about $80 or $90 -- an increase of about 40%. I explained to them that after July, a $30 rebate will be given to the family for a period of 10 months and it will be able to offset the increases. They were so happy about it and they thanked the Government for helping to reduce their burden. But the family living opposite was not so fortunate. The residents told me that they used to pay between $100 and $150 per month in utilities bill. Now it has jumped to around $220, and the last bill was a hefty $311. For a family of three to pay more than $300 for utilities seems to be on the high side. There appears to be something wrong with the new software used by Power Supply last year. I would appeal to the Government to make a thorough study into the matter and compensate the consumers for all the amounts overcharged. The problem should be tackled at its roots and not just on the surface.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the 2001 Budget is a very generous one. The headline on the Lianhe Wanbao of 24th February mentioned that the Government was giving away 12 angpows: six pro-people angpows, three pro-business angpows and three others, in the form of Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, Eldercare Fund and Medifund. No doubt this Budget is generous, but when I spoke to my constituents, they have still some comments to make, and I would like to feed back these comments to the Minister for Finance for his consideration. I would like to deal with the Utilities Save scheme, the three-tier family and the CPF Top-up Scheme. The Utilities Save scheme is very popular among the people, but there is a general feeling that this is not extensive enough to cover everybody. The Utilities Save rebates are only confined to the 1- to 5-room families and exclude those living in executive flats, private apartments, condominiums and landed property. Because of the increase in utilities rates, people have to pay more for water and electricity. So to lighten the burden of the people, rebates are given to some citizens. To some extent, this would indeed help the residents in the HDB housing estates. But those residing in private property are excluded from this scheme. The Government may think that those living in private property would benefit from the tax rebates or tax cuts. But not all residents in private estates are high-income earners. Similarly, not all people living in the public housing estates are low-income earners. Our utilities are on a standard rate. Irrespective of private or HDB estates, the electricity and water tariffs are the same. Therefore, you cannot distinguish people by the type of property they live in.”
“So if the law can be consistent without any age limit for parents or grandparents, the children and grandchildren together will be able to share the cost of looking after the retirement needs of their elders. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the Amendment Bill.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the CPF (Amendment) Bill. In this Bill, there is one clause which allows members to top-up the CPF account of their grandparents for their retirement benefits. This is a move in the right direction. This will enable our senior citizens to be provided with adequate savings for their old age. There is another point that merits our attention in that there is no age limit to the topping-up arrangement. In other words, the grandchildren will be able to transfer their CPF money into the retirement account of their grandparents, with no age limit. However, in the present Act, children are allowed to transfer their CPF money into their parents' account up to age 65 years only. There is a time limit and an age limit. There seems to be some contradiction here. Let me give you an example to illustrate my point. For example, Mr A is now 70 years old. He was married at the age of 20, and his son, Mr B, is now about 50 years old. Mr B was married at the age of 25, and his son, Mr C, is now 25 years old. Now, Mr C can transfer his CPF money to the account of his grandfather, and can also put money into Mr B's account. However, Mr B who is the son of Mr A, cannot put his CPF money into the father's account because the latter is past 65 years of age. There seems to be double standards. So I hope the Minister will consider allowing the son to put his CPF money into the parents' account. There should not be any age limit. In this way, the benefits will be more consistent. In the old days, there were many children in the family, for example, I have 8 siblings. Now, with the small family concept, there are only two or three children, or just one child, to maintain the parents.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary's positive replies to the points raised by us. On the question of the Government's unwillingness to recognise the MCs and receipts issued by TCM practitioners, what if these receipts are accepted by the employers in the private sector for reimbursement of medical fees? What happens when they submit these receipts in their tax returns? Will there be any problem? On the other hand, if these MCs and receipts are not recognised, the practice and future of the TCM practitioners will be affected, and it will affect the patients too. People may not want to join the rank of the TCM practitioners. I hope that the Government will seriously reconsider the issue.”
“I have occasions to visit TCM practitioners in Singapore, and I notice that they are usually not too particular about their attire. Some would wear an open-collar short-sleeve shirt, and some even wear the traditional Chinese pyjama pants when they see patients. The practice in China is quite different. All their physicians wear smart-looking white physician's coat whenever they are on duty, giving a very professional image. When we look at western-trained doctors like Dr Tan Cheng Bock, he always wears a tie and he looks very handsome indeed. For the lady doctors, like Dr Lily Neo, she always pays great attention to her attire, and dressed beautifully. This reflects the professionalism in them. I hope that TCM practitioners in Singapore will also pay attention to their attire. Once this Bill is passed, I hope that our TCM practitioners will do their best to reinforce their professional image.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully support the Bill introduced by the Parliamentary Secretary on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). With an aging population, more and more people are seeking medical attention, and most elderly people are more comfortable with TCM, including acupuncture. The contents of the Bill cover mainly two areas - one, the setting up of a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board, and the other, provisions for the conduct of examinations in TCM. On the establishment of the TCM Practitioners Board, I wish to raise five points which concern public interest: Firstly, with the registration of TCM practitioners, will the medical certificates (MCs) issued by TCM practitioners enjoy the same status as the MCs issued by western-trained doctors, and be recognised by Government departments and employers in the private sector? Secondly, will the receipts issued by TCM practitioners be accepted by employers for reimbursement of medical fees? Thirdly, if a TCM practitioner is of the opinion that his patient is seriously ill and warrants immediate attention by doctors in the A&E unit of a Government or restructured hospital, will the referral letter by a TCM practitioner be accepted for the purpose? Fourthly, currently, pharmacists in Singapore have to be registered and licensed in order to practise. Under this Bill, will the Chinese drugstores be required to apply for permits or licences to sell herbs or Chinese patent medicine? Fifthly, will the Bill incorporate a set of code of conduct for the Chinese medicine practitioners to follow? At the same time, will the TCM practitioners be required to be properly attired when they are attending to their patients?”
“Sir, can I ask two questions? Firstly, at the moment, since the MA's contract is usually for only one year, will the Ministry consider giving a longer contract for the MA to manage private condominiums? Secondly, water tanks. Does the Ministry have special programmes to ensure that MAs check the water tanks within a specific time? Assoc. Prof. Koo Tsai Kee: The details of the terms of a contract are between the MC and the MA. So if the MC wants to award the contract for more than one year, it is up to the MC. Whether the Ministry looks after the water tank safety, the answer is really no, because the Building and Construction Authority is the authority on building as far as structural integrity is concerned. Water contamination problems are actually under the purview of MTI and the Ministry of the Environment. But just to give the background, after the Bukit Timah Plaza incident, MTI and ENV have instructed all MCs to look at their sanitary pipes and to repair these pipes if they are corrugated and to also check their water tanks. They have found that the Bukit Timah Plaza incident was an isolated problem. But, nonetheless, the problem has been fixed.”
“Sir, the "baby bonus" is geared towards encouraging the families to have more babies, but it should not be confined to monetary measures only. Concessions in childcare centres and priority in housing should be given as incentives for them to produce a second or a third baby to fulfil the goal of the Prime Minister. Has the Government considered these measures?”
“We should endeavour to enhance our social cohesion to develop the type of kampung spirit so that we would be successful, both economically and socially. I hope that the Minister would consider my suggestion, that is, to set up a comprehensive one-stop service centre for the benefit of our people who are in need of welfare assistance.”
“With all the modern technology, computer and Internet, we could easily create a network that links up all the 259 members of the NCSS. And with such a better network, I believe the National Council of Social Service would be able to provide better service to members of the public. If a person is to go to any individual organisation for help and if the said organisation could not be of help to the person, the case should be referred to the headquarters in order that it could be directed to the appropriate organisations for help. By so doing, we would be able to assist our people in a more systematic manner, just like what we have described as "sending hot charcoal in a snowy weather". In Singapore, we have never experienced cold winter weather and snow means nothing to us. Maybe, we should say "sending an umbrella during a rainy day". During a rainy day, when one needs an umbrella, let us provide him with an umbrella and he will certainly appreciate it. I believe in sending an umbrella during a rainy day. Our young people will understand that, because there is one song known as In The Rain, which they sing frequently in karaoke sessions. They will understand what it means to be offered an umbrella during a heavy rain. Mr Speaker, Sir, when Singapore is moving towards a highly urbanised and high-technology environment, we should also not forget to place more emphasis on inter-human relationship. The Government has been leading us well and our civil service is very effective, and we are ranked number one in various aspects of our economic development. However, according to a survey by the HDB, our people are found to be lacking in care and concern for their neighbours, and social cohesion among our people is not as strong as before. We have not progressed in this aspect.”
“Recently, one of the local television programmes reflected that some ordinary citizens had problems that required assistance but they did not know where to turn to. Moreover, with the language barrier, they found it very difficult to seek help. On many occasions, they went to some voluntary welfare organisations for help, but were turned away as they could not make themselves understood. Even on occasions when they could communicate with the voluntary welfare officers, their cases were not dealt with because they apparently went to the wrong organisation, and they were not referred to the appropriate body. It was a very frustrating experience for these poor folks. In the old days, we had a Social Welfare Department popularly known as Hock Lee Bor in Hokkien. All the old folks knew about it. Whenever they need any help, they could always go to the Social Welfare Department. But now this Department is no more in existence. We have now this Ministry graciously known as the Ministry of Community Development and Sports. To the ordinary citizens, this is a mystery to them. They do not know what this Ministry is all about. I think we should give more publicity to this Ministry to let the people realise that whenever they have any problem they can turn to this Ministry for help. Today, we do not have a one-stop service centre for all welfare work. Sometimes, if the members of the public go direct to the individual welfare organisations, they may not get the relevant one and be given the kind of help required. More often than not, they would be turned away without any referral to the appropriate organisation to follow up with the case. I feel that the Ministry should have a comprehensive one-stop service centre to provide better service to the needy people.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) has now a total of 259 voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) under its charge. The main purpose of NCSS is to help the needy, the handicapped and the elderly people by providing the necessary services to them. It leads, supports and guides the various VWOs, and helps them to raise funds to pay for their operating expenses. The NCSS has also played a very important role as a bridge between the Government and the VWOs so that the various departments in the Government would understand the needs of the people and to make prompt responses to satisfy the needs of the people. This amendment provides for an additional Vice-President to assist the President and assume the latter's responsibilities in his absence. This will provide better leadership in the Council and to ensure that all the affiliated organisations will operate in a better and more efficient manner. All the members of the Council must make good use of the resources contributed by members of the public and to help those who really need assistance, in a fair and open manner. Mr Speaker, Sir, all the members of the National Council of Social Service are serving on a voluntary basis. They do not get any salary and they sacrifice their precious time to help all the people in the society who need their assistance and services. This spirit of love and concern for the people is certainly worthy of our praises and admiration. With our population ageing more and more rapidly, in time to come, there will be more and more people who would need such services and the National Council of Social Service will certainly be assuming heavier responsibilities in the future. There should be a more effective channel to provide such assistance to these needy people.”
“But these training and retraining programmes do not benefit them physically unless they can have a job with income to support themselves and their families. First of all, the Government should have an overall plan to look after these people who are presently unemployed and to give them some free training and job opportunities so that these workers who are now unemployed would be able to find jobs. Sir, I support what Minister Lim Boon Heng has said. We must make sure that everybody is employed. The first thing is to have a job. Salary comes second. We should not compare ourselves with others. If you compare yourself with others, you will only be frustrated. So long as you can find a job to support your family, high pay or low pay does not matter so much. In fact, whether the pay is high or low is a very subjective point. One important thing is that we must make sure that everyone has a job, so that his family can have food to eat.”
“If the economy has gone up, then everyone will enjoy higher income, and if the economy is not doing well, the income will go down. It applies to everyone. Fourthly, in this year's Budget, no mention was made of this proposed increase in pay for our Ministers and civil servants. Since this pay rise will take effect from July this year, which is within the current fiscal year, will the increase to the civil servants' salaries affect the service that will be provided to the members of the public, eg, in the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Environment or the Ministry of National Development? Will the service quality be affected because they have to spend more money to pay for the higher salaries of the civil servants? Fifthly, I am worried about those who are unemployed. In 1997-1998, because of the financial crisis, quite a lot of people were retrenched. Many people could not find alternative jobs, particularly those who do not have good skills or those who are more elderly. They have tried very hard to apply for new jobs, but the success rate is very low, mainly because they are older. They may be in their 40s or 50s or they do not possess computer or special skills, and they are unable to secure new jobs. Two years have since passed. Even if they have some savings, they would most probably have been used up by now. Now they face this problem of not having enough money to support themselves and their families. While we are proposing pay rise to our civil servants, we should also take the plight of these people into consideration, and show some kind of special concern for them. We have talked a lot about training and retraining.”
“They pay the same 70 cents for the same cup of coffee. We should give them the increase in real terms so that they enjoy a real raise in their income. Although we may not be able to close the gap between the high earners and the low earners, we should at least try to give the low earners a better deal. Thirdly, the principle for pegging the Ministers' salaries to the top earners in the private sector. In 1994, it was pegged to the top 24 earners and today it is pegged to the top 48 earners. This is an improvement. But for those in the private sector, those who are the top earners such as the CEO and the senior managers, they do not have security in their work. This year, they may have a high pay but next year, they may not get the same pay. So when we are pegged to the top 48 earners, they are actually a different lot of people from year to year. So next year, we may be looking at another group of people in the top earning bracket. Some members of the public feel that this is not a very fair method. Let me give you an example. There are two aeroplanes taking off at the same time. One aeroplane 'P' representing the public sector and the other aeroplane 'M' representing the Ministers. The two aeroplanes take off at the same time. After some time, aeroplane 'P' has to land to refuel, but aeroplane 'M' can have a refuel in mid-air and it does not need to land for refuelling. So in the long run, aeroplane 'M' would have gone faster and further away than aeroplane `P". I feel that we should peg to the same group of people on a long-term basis, rather than changing every year. In this way, it would be fairer. Our income varies according to our economic progress.”
“Mr Speaker, my Parliamentary colleagues have brought up some very important points in support of the Ministerial Statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I would like to add a few points. Firstly, on CPF. In 1997/1998, when we were facing the Asian financial crisis, our workers cooperated with the Government. They accepted the Government's proposal to cut their CPF benefits by 10% in the employer's CPF contribution. Today, we are proposing to increase the salaries of our Ministers and civil servants on the premise that the economy has recovered. On this point, I would like to ask whether the Government has a specific time-table for this 10% cut in the employer's CPF contribution to be fully restored. The economy has recovered and this is the time we should seriously consider restoring the cut in CPF to our workers. Secondly, today, we announce the rise in the pay for our civil servants. Tomorrow, this will be reported in the newspapers. The response from the market is usually very fast. Even before these announcements were made, transport charges, PUB charges, taxi fares have already gone up. Tomorrow, with the report of pay rise in the newspapers, the various retail outlets and the hawkers will spontaneously jack up their prices. As such, I am worried that the salary increase for civil servants in Divisions III and IV may not be able to match the price hike outside. Although their salaries have gone up, their standard of living may actually take a downturn instead. I feel that for the civil servants in the lower-income group, the increase in their salaries should not be computed in terms of percentage points. For those with a salary of $10,000, a 10% increase would have been $1,000. But for those earning $1,000, 10% is only $100.”
“My colleague, Mr Seng Han Thong, also mentioned that if the Government cannot bear 100% of the cost of installing new lifts and the residents are asked to co-share in it, then I think the co-sharing should not exceed 20% of the total cost, and it should be borne by all the residents and not just the affected residents. Sir, if upgrading and installation of lifts is considered only in conjunction with the Main Upgrading Programme, then the HDB should consider bringing forward the age criterion of 20 years to 15 years, and the IUP should be coordinated so that the upgrading programmes could be accelerated, and the financial and human resources better utilised to provide a better environment for all the residents, and better homes for everyone.”
“There was no different pricing. As a result, those who had bought flats on the floors with no lift landing will have to suffer a disadvantage. Thirdly, market price. In the open resale market, a flat on the floor with lift landing commands a better price than the other flats without a lift landing. Those who live in flats without lift services will suffer another disadvantage. Fourthly, lifts as public facilities. In public housing, the installation of lifts is not restricted to only certain residents. It is not their monopoly to use such lift services. Everybody is allowed to use the lift in a block of HDB flats. It is part of common property. It does not belong to any particular group of residents. Sir, lifts in high-rise buildings are very important facilities, particularly to the senior citizens. It is a very important item in the upgrading programme. So the cost of installation of the lifts should be borne by the Government and the residents should not be required to co-share in the cost. The Housing and Development Board should therefore regard the lift installation as part of the overall upgrading cost. It should not be shared separately by the residents affected. All residents should be encouraged to "share weal and woe". We should promote the "kampong spirit" and the community spirit. We should not discriminate against one another. We must create a better living environment and a better home for everybody. Just now, the Minister said that the residents would have to bear only a small part of the total cost.”
“That being the case, I would like to ask the Minister whether those four-storey HDB flats will also be provided with lifts when they are being upgraded. Secondly, the amendment to section 65C provides for a poll to be conducted in connection with any proposal to carry out special upgrading works, for which the support of 75% or more of the occupants having direct benefit from the special upgrading works must be secured for the project to be carried out. Sir, I feel the upgrading of lifts is the most important item in the entire Main Upgrading Programme. It is a basic item that should be regarded as a necessity. It must be an essential, compulsory provision which requires no separate voting to decide whether new lifts should be installed. Lifts are very essential for high-rise buildings. So to add new lifts to old buildings is to improve existing facilities and to provide equal services for all residents. It is not a new project, so there is no need for a separate voting. Sir, I feel that the amendment to section 65D, which states that the cost of upgrading works should be co-shared by the affected residents, is unfair. There are four reasons for this: Firstly, flat allocation. In the early days, flats were allocated to applicants by ballots conducted by HDB. Applicants themselves have no free choice to select their own flat. If you are lucky, you get a flat on the floor with lift landing. If you are not, you may get a flat one or two storeys above or below the lift landing. The only choice you had was to accept it or reject it. Once you accepted it, you cannot change your decision. Secondly, the sale price of the flat. During the earlier days, whether your flat was on a high floor or a low floor, with or without lift landing, you paid the same price for the flat.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore is one of the countries with the fastest ageing population. Sir, we have now about 370,000 people above the age of 55, accounting for 10% of the population. Among our senior citizens, about 90% live in high-rise HDB buildings. In the earlier generation of HDB flats, lifts do not stop on every floor. Because of the design, many residents do not have the lifts serving the floor on which they live. Just now, Mr Seng Han Thong had already mentioned this. For the younger population, walking up stairs does not pose a problem. But "time and tide wait for no man". With the ageing population, there are now more and more older people in our population. These senior citizens are finding it difficult to cope with the flights of steps to walk up and down every time they leave their flats as the lifts do not stop on their floors. In the Budget debate this year, I suggested to the Minister for National Development that the Government should make a comprehensive study on how to improve the existing lifts or install new lifts for the convenience of our senior citizens. I am very happy to note that this suggestion of mine has been taken up by the Minister. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister and the Housing and Development Board staff for introducing this Amendment Bill so speedily. I would like to thank them sincerely from the bottom of my heart for this effort to provide better lift services to our older citizens. In principle, I support this Amendment Bill. But I would like to comment on certain clauses of this Bill. Firstly, section 65A, as amended, defines "special upgrading works" as works to be carried out in buildings comprising 2 or more storeys.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, killer litter has caused a concern to about three million people living in HDB flats. Most residents have complied with the orders given by the town councils or the HDB. But there is still a minority of flat dwellers who place flower pots outside their windows. Should we have more specific instructions on whether the HDB or the town councils should take up enforcement orders so that all these flower pots would be removed immediately to avoid such unfortunate incidents from happening again? I think we should not leave the matter to be enforced either by the town councils or HDB. Otherwise, nobody would be doing it.”
“According to my understanding, counselling is normally done by the teachers. We all know that the teachers have already had a very heavy workload. Do they have enough time and energy to counsel the students and their parents effectively? I would therefore suggest that MOE should consider getting professional counsellors or engage retired teachers to work as counsellors. In this way, counselling would work more effectively.”
“Compulsory education is good for Singapore. But in implementing the system, the Ministry of Education must also conduct a study into those parents who do not send their children to school to find out why they have chosen not to do so. Is it because of poverty or because of family disharmony or because the parents themselves have low educational level so that they do not care about their children's education? I think the Ministry of Community Development and the Community Development Councils should help these parents to solve their problems. We all know that compulsory education up to primary four is not so ideal because at primary four the child is only 10 years old. The children are still young and they do not know the consequences of not studying further. They would not have enough grounding in English and their mother tongue to survive in the new knowledge-based economy. For Mathematics, they would be even worse. When we are developing the regional economy and high-tech economy, the children must learn information technology so that they can prepare themselves for the future and earn their livelihood. It is a common view that compulsory education must be implemented up to primary six or, better still, secondary four. As for those who are mentally handicapped and unable to make the grade, MOE may treat them as special cases, and deal with them on a case-by-case basis. When compulsory education is introduced, how do we ensure that the students do not absent themselves from class? This is important. I wonder if MOE has considered engaging counsellors to help the student and, when necessary, the teachers and parents must also be counselled to ensure that compulsory education can be implemented properly.”
“Sir, the Member for Bukit Timah GRC, Dr Wang Kai Yuen, mentioned the Feedback Unit's dialogue session on compulsory education. The people who attended his session were mainly English-educated. I have also conducted a similar feedback session in Chinese for the Chinese-educated. The attendees were mainly school principals, teachers and community leaders. I made a survey. Their views on compulsory education came to a total of three 100%. Firstly, 100% of them supported the view of the Prime Minister to introduce compulsory education. Secondly, 100% of the attendees did not agree that compulsory education be implemented up to Primary 4 only. Thirdly, 100% of them held the view that compulsory education should be implemented up to at least Primary 6, that is, PSLE. In fact, about 65% proposed that compulsory education should be implemented up to "O" levels. These participants support compulsory education because they are concerned that some 1,000 students have not been admitted to schools despite all the counselling and home visits to the parents to send their children to school. The Ministry of Education cares for these children. It is something we must commend. Some parents persist in not sending their children to school and the Ministry of Education cannot take any action against them. These children will then be sacrificed as they would have missed the best gift society can give to them in their whole life. If there is compulsory education, then we can ensure that all children of school-going age will go to school because young children cannot decide their own fate. It is only the law that can give them the protection and the safeguards. A compulsory education system has already been established in the Philippines and the European and Asian countries.”
“We must know that the senior citizens had made contributions to nation-building when they were young. Without their dedication and contribution, we would not have a prosperous Singapore today. So we must give them due recognition and reward. I think they deserve our concern. It is a concession. It is not completely free. So this will not seriously eat into the profit of the companies. A Zaobao survey said that more than 90% of those people surveyed supported this proposal. I hope the parties concerned will consider this favourably and bring another good piece of news to the 280,000 old people in Singapore.”
“As it is said, the four essential things in life are: clothing, food, housing, and transportation. To our old people, clothing is not much of a problem. As for housing, the Ministry of National Development has already announced various measures to make the HDB flats more user-friendly for the elderly, such as having lift landing on every level, etc. Minister Mah Bow Tan has already actively considered this issue. Another suggestion is that we must have regular health screening for senior citizens. Minister Lim Hng Kiang has already accepted my proposal. I would like to thank the Minister for this. The third one is transportation problem. I mentioned this in the debate on the President's Address. Generally, we have a good and safe public transport system in Singapore. We have taxis, buses, MRT and LRT, and so on. But although the senior citizens are granted concessions for the use of public transport, these concessions are restricted to certain periods of the time. I would like to ask if this time restriction can be removed. I understand that the Inter-Ministerial Committee has accepted this proposal in principle. Now it is for SBS and TIBS to implement this recommendation. Hitherto, I have not heard any good news on it. There are two approaches to tackle this problem. One is when you want to do something, you take the proactive approach and actively look for ways and means to achieve what you have targeted to achieve, so that your plans may be carried out smoothly. On the other hand, if you take a negative approach, and have no intention to work hard to resolve the problem, then you will think of all kinds of reasons and excuses for not doing it. So I hope the parties concerned would be very active in considering my proposals.”
“Sir, at the moment, there are about 280,000 people aged 60 and above. By the year 2030, there will be about 400,000 such people. Later on, there may be about one million such senior citizens in Singapore. So we must have a comprehensive plan to tackle the problems of an ageing population. I have three suggestions to make. On the family, Minister Mah Bow Tan has mentioned that there are about 800,000 families in Singapore, and the number is likely to rise to one million. On the average, there will be one senior citizen in every family. So, at home, we have to start to educate our young to respect the old and take care of them. We must also ensure that there is good care for the old people. As it is said in Chinese, "Look after your own old people and extend it to look after other people's old people too." We must be caring to all the old people around us, so that we have a compassionate and caring society. We spent a lot of time talking about setting up more childcare centres because of the need for them. In view of the ageing population, we must also seriously think about establishing more elderly-care centres. I think the MCDS should consider setting up day care centres for the elderly at our community clubs or community centres. Now that the trend in our society is to have small families, couples have to work in the day time, while the old people are left at home. They may feel very lonely. So if you have day care centres in the community centres and the community clubs, then such senior citizens can go to the centres to read newspapers, watch TV, sing karaoke songs, or do some physical exercises. These day care activities will certainly make life happier and more wholesome for such old people.”
“We have to work out some plans to encourage our young people to be involved in community work. The Chairman: Mr Jeyaretnam is not here. Mr Harun Ghani.”
“Recently, the results of a survey conducted by the National Youth Council revealed that out of the 100 youths surveyed, only one was interested in social work, while 55% of them were more interested in outdoor activities and public entertainment. Such surveys have aroused my interest. The Ministry of Community Development has also conducted a survey on some 25,000 grassroots leaders. According to the survey, 60% of the grassroots leaders were over the age of 60, and 25% between the ages of 30 and 40. These two surveys showed that our young people are disinterested in social work. Such survey results merit our attention. It is a problem that we will have to solve. Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. The fact that we are able to enjoy peace and racial harmony is due to the fact that all of us work towards the same goal to build a better home for Singapore. The important factor for such an achievement is that we have very strong grassroots organisations. They help to build our social cohesiveness. They act as a bridge between the Government and the people. They convey messages from the Government and also receive feedback from the people. Such hardworking grassroots leaders merit our admiration. I know certain grassroots leaders have been working in the constituencies for long periods of time. They sacrificed their time and donated their money. They worked very hard for the society. Many grassroots leaders worked for more than 30 years and have devoted their life to society. Such dedication is exemplary. Our young people should emulate them. Most of these people are quite elderly and when they leave the scene, we would have no young people to take over from them. We have to do something about this.”
“We should help to map out some kind of career path for them so that they will have the peace of mind to concentrate on their sports training to bring out the best in them and win medals for Singapore. Fourthly, we must have sufficient budget for all the sports associations. Many of our sports associations have funding problems and they seem to be spending more time trying to raise funds than to promote sports. Council members in the sports associations spend a lot of time organising all sorts of events to raise funds, year in and year out. They have simply no time to develop their sports and their associations. I hope MCDS can consider giving these sports associations 1 to 2, or 1 to 3 matching subsidies, like it is done for the Community Development Councils. This way, the sports association will have more time and resources to help our sportsmen and sportswomen develop their potentials to the fullest, and hence bring glory to Singapore.”
“I read in the newspapers about our crop of young talents in the various sports such as martial arts, bowling, swimming, table-tennis, etc. There is no lack of sports talents in Singapore. We should identify them from young and give them the much-needed encouragement and incentives in the form of sports scholarships. We know that horses can run. But not all horses can run well all by themselves. They need training to turn into top race-horses. We must devote our resources to encourage and train our sportsmen so that they have good training facilities, good coaches and good environment to bring out their best performance. Thirdly, we must ensure that there will be a career for our sportsmen. We note that our youths, and their parents, are not very keen to take up competitive sports seriously, because they worry about their future. While young they could be very good and could put in some good performances. But what happens after they have passed their prime? There is no safeguard in their career. For example, we have Chen Yeow Chuan and Ong Chin Hai who excelled in the martial arts and won medals for Singapore in international competitions. They were spotted by TCS and were offered a career as TV actors. For their future, they have to make acting their career, rather than staying on as sportsmen. They are the lucky ones. At least they can still practise their martial arts. But there are many other sportsmen and sportswomen who simply faded out of the sports scene in order to pursue other careers as a means to earn a living. I feel the Government should do something to provide some safeguard for the sports people by guaranteeing them some form of job security.”
“Sir, the Ministry of Community Development will be renamed the Ministry of Community Development and Sports next month. It shows that the Government is very serious about sports and has long-term objectives to attain good results in the sports arena. We are now competing in the Asian level. The Prime Minister has set his goal for our national soccer team to fight for a place in the World Cup tournament proper by the year 2008. In other sports, we have also set certain goals. For the attainment of these goals, I have some suggestions to make. First, we must set up a sports training school in Singapore. For the arts, we have the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. For sports, we should have an Academy of Sports. While we have upgrading for our HDB flats, and even private housing estates, we should also have plans to upgrade our National Stadium and Indoor Stadium and develop them into a centre for sports training and competition, or a sports village. We should have facilities to house our sportsmen and sportswomen so that they can train in an in-camp environment to have better concentration to undergo more focused training in order to improve their performance and go all out to win medals for Singapore in international competitions. Secondly, we must also set up scholarship schemes for our talented sportsmen and sportswomen who have the aspiration to be world-beaters. The Government has all along been giving scholarships to students who excel in academic studies. I think it is time for the Government to consider giving sports scholarships to encourage our young people to contribute in the field of sports. These scholarships would enable them to go overseas for professional training.”
“Sir, at the moment, we have about 14% of the population or about 500,000 living in private housing estates. These include terrace houses, semi-detached houses and condominiums. All these people living in private residential estates, in proportion, pay more income tax and property tax. In terms of national revenue, they make a great contribution. The Minister has already announced that they will be included in the upgrading programme. But the Minister also said that only about two neighbourhoods will be selected for upgrading. I think it is too few. There are many private housing estates. If we take only two a year, how many decades do we need to complete the upgrading programme. In my constituency, there are 5,000 units of private residence in 20 neighbourhoods. If we take two a year, then it will take 10 years. I would like to suggest that in selecting private estates for upgrading, the criteria should be for those which are more than 10 years old. We must encourage the residents themselves to establish their neighbourhood committees to help in the implementation and consultation of upgrading programmes. The third point is that MND should also have a budget on how much every unit would have to pay for the upgrading. Then it will be easier for our grassroots organisations, residents committees and neighbourhood committees to have more effective planning.”
“Because the new development is to give the residents the opportunity to upgrade themselves to modern and better-designed flats, so long as the residents are well-informed of the various details of the exercise, they are bound to support it. Hillview Estate is a very good example. When HDB announced the plans, the residents were given only 10 days to reply whether or not they would support the project. Before they were informed of the details of the plans, they were very unhappy. The support rate was only 86%. However, after the dialogue session conducted by the grassroots organisations and the exhibition of the development plan, the residents saw for themselves what was in store for them, they were very happy. Accordingly, the support rate was raised from 86% to 95%. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Minister Lim Hng Kiang, Minister Mah Bow Tan and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Koo Tsai Kee and all the staff of HDB for the support and cooperation they have given to us in explaining these plans to the residents, so that these plans could be successfully implemented. Since one of the objectives of this SERS programme is to maintain the social bond among the residents in the area, I would like to ask the Minister whether priority will be given to the children of the existing residents to purchase flats in the new development so that they can live near their parents. This is also in line with our Government's policy to encourage children to look after their parents. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 5.23 pm”
“Sir, Singapore is a small nation. We are only a little red dot on the map. Just now, the Minister has said that our population is 3.5 million. Yesterday, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon encouraged our people to give birth to more children so that our population may go up. Bearing in mind we have very limited land for building houses and flats for our people to live in, we must have some long term plans on our land use. Consequent to this consideration, HDB introduced the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). This En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme will benefit our HDB residents. They will have their new flats to replace their old ones. Most of these flats selected for SERS are more than 25 years old. But when the residents move to their new flats, they are given new 99-year leases. The new flats will not have such problems as leaking floors or spalling concrete, as described by Dr Ker just now. On top of that, the residents will enjoy modern and better facilities, such as lifts stopping at every floor for the residents. It will also enhance the cohesiveness among the residents. So SERS is a win-win situation for everyone. On this, I have a few suggestions to make. When HDB announced the plans for the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme, they should give ample time and information to the residents so that they can have a better understanding of the details of the whole programme, such as terms of compensation and the selling price of their new flats, etc. The Government should also help the lower income families with more favourable packages. The residents should be shown the layout plans, and even models, of the new flats.”
“I feel that improving the service of the lifts is the most important item in the upgrading projects. I think the lifts and the covered walkways are the two most important and most frequently used facilities in the HDB estates. HDB should seriously consider installing new lifts with landing on every floor for the benefit of the residents, particularly the senior citizens. I discovered that some Interim Upgrading Programmes have not included the improvement to the lifts. The residents are very disappointed with it. HDB rules that improvement to the lifts would only be carried out in the Main Upgrading Programme. For some estates, after the IUP projects are implemented, the residents have to wait for some 10 years, or even longer for the MUP projects. I think this is too long, particularly for the old people. They may not be around when the lifts are eventually improved. I hope that we can give this matter more urgency. As the Finance Minister has said, we have a budget surplus of $3.2 billion. I think we should set aside $300 million to help HDB in improving the lift service for the benefit of the 280,000 senior citizens in our population. 3.45 pm”
“Sir, our Government has been carrying on these Interim Upgrading Programme and Main Upgrading Programme with the view of improving the environment and providing better service to the residents. With this ageing population, I think the most important item in the upgrading programme is to improve the service of the lifts. In the older HDB estates, lifts do not stop at every floor. For those who are living in the high floor, particularly the senior citizens, it is very inconvenient. HDB understands this problem. Therefore, in the new flats, the design is such that the lifts would stop at every floor. They provide very good service to the residents, particularly the senior citizens, and this has won the praises of the residents. We have about 280,000 people aged 60 years and above. 90% of them are staying in HDB flats. Every day, they have to make use of the lifts to go upstairs and downstairs. If the lifts do not stop at the floor on which they are staying, they would have to walk up one or two floors before they could use the lifts. To the young people, there is no problem. But for the old people, particularly those who are not feeling well, it poses a problem. On one occasion, I met an old man who was sitting at the ground floor of the flat, waiting for his son to come back to help him to go upstairs. He said he could not walk up. I asked him how he managed to come down. He told me in Teochew, "My legs are not listening to me. I can walk down but I cannot walk up." I came across a newspaper report that when a person gets old his most vulnerable part is his legs. They would not be able to walk properly. Presently, I am living in an HDB estate and work very closely with the residents. I understand the problems they are facing, and their needs.”
“Let us turn Sentosa into a Bali or Pattaya.”
“Sir, Sentosa is our tourist attraction. Especially in the evening, it is very beautiful. It has all kinds of recreational facilities for locals and tourists. Recently, I was given an opportunity to visit Sentosa when I was invited to the Beach volley ball and mini-golf tournament. During these visits, I noticed that this place of interest was extremely quiet in the night, except that on occasions, when the Sentosa Development Corporation organised a foam dance or a concert by Taiwanese singer "Ah Mei". I encourage my grassroots organisations to organise visits to Sentosa, but they told me that the admission fees are so high that it put them off. I understand that if you go there by bus or on foot, you have to pay $6 to enter. But if you drive in, they charge you $10. If there are five people in the car, each person is charged just $2. If you go by car, you pay $2 but if you walk in, you pay $6. I think $6 is too high. Admission charges should be lowered and standardised. Sentosa is part of Singapore. All citizens should be entitled to go there at a nominal charge of $2 per person. Senior citizens should pay half price or even free. Then more people will be attracted to Sentosa for recreation. Secondly, I would like to suggest that Sentosa should be further developed. I agree with Mr Leong's suggestion that it must have more facilities. During the weekend, there could be some pasar malam at the beach. We can also have hawker stalls to sell local food like Malay satay, Indian roti prata and Chinese char kway teow. We could also invite cultural groups and all kinds of local performing groups to perform their arts, so as to attract more people to Sentosa, instead of going to the neighbouring countries and subject themselves to the nuisance of being caught in traffic jams.”
“The other thing about the broadband technology we have is that I think people forget that the real issue is not technology. We have the technology and we have the best that can meet the world's competition on technology. They say that Bill Gates is not really a technology genius. Bill Gates is a marketing genius. I think that we do not have the marketing genius where Singapore One is concerned. We have not been able to sell it well enough. We have not publicised it enough in the international arena perhaps and we get very little response also partly because the base is just too small. So how do we enlarge this base and how do we publicise this infrastructure so that the world will come rushing down to our doorstep. Perhaps we need a Li Ka Shing or Richard Li?”
“I feel the present scheme of charges for the SCV and Magix access is too high. Perhaps to give the industry more scope for business development, the Minister should consider separating the infrastructure provider from the content providers. For example, a service provider can run the infrastructural facilities leasing out the bandwidth and leaving the multimedia content business to others. In this way, we can give a more focused efficiency to players in the industry and to give value to the customers. Assoc. Prof. Toh See Kiat: Sir, I have the same concerns as Mr Chay. We have for many years now a broadband capability called Singapore One. At the rate technology goes obsolete in this new economy, I fear that we might be building a while elephant, a monument to a grandiose dream that was not meant to be. I know there is a lot of talk about how effective and how useful broadband would be and I think we need to do something about this base of 30,000 that is not attractive to entrepreneurs providing content, because with 30,000 people they do not sell many, many things and they are not going to come to Singapore. But other than the issue which Mr Chay raised about lowering the cost for the end users, I certainly agree with him that the Government should look into making it cheaper for the end-users. Right now, cable-modem and ASDL are the two technologies used - perhaps we can look into wireless technology and allowing for some kind of competition that will drive down the prices, and perhaps for Government to pay for the infrastructure in the same way that we pay for the infrastructure in MRT and allow the operator to recover just the operation revenue.”
“Sir, actually, I was going to suggest that we use the cashcard instead of the toll coupon for our motorists to go through the Causeway. But, the Ministry has already made an announcement on this a few days ago. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister for giving us this good news. But I have a few questions to ask the Minister. Some motorists have already purchased a lot of these toll coupons. They have not finished using them. Although the Ministry said they can be refunded, there is an expiry date for these toll coupons. Secondly, they have to go to the Ministry for the refund. Can we allow them to go to the petrol stations or some other outlets to get a refund on their unused toll coupons? This will be more convenient to them. Mr Chay Wai Chuen: Sir, although at various times it has been said that, with the explosion going on in the world of the Internet and e-commerce, the hottest thing in the not too distant future is the battle for bandwidth. Yet I am concerned about the state of our broadband Singapore One project. There are today about 30,000 subscribers to the Singapore One broadband multimedia since it was first launched commercially in June 1998. There is a general perceived lack of value in our broadband content. Many people get dissatisfied with the service and switched back to the narrow banding Internet service. My concern is also because of the high rate of technological obsolescence in this field. Why have we not been able to develop a sizeable customer base to sustain the viability of the project? This customer base is said to be around 200,000. How does the agency intend to go about developing this? Is there a time frame and content development to reach this base?”