Ang Wei Neng
Singapore
“Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. Can I just ask for clarification on the three incidents of Singtel disruption? It was reported by the press that they were totally unrelated. What was the preliminary investigation based on the finding of IMDA?”
“Chairman, I have two clarifications. Firstly, we are glad that the Minister has assured us that MOT is working to establish clearer criteria for distinguishing between Cat A and Cat B COE. In the meantime, I would like to seek clarification on the reduction in the supply of Category A COE.”
“I would like to seek a clarification regarding the Lift Access Housing Grant. Could the qualifying criteria be relaxed for occupants aged 70 and above, without the need for medical certification?”
“Such an outcome would run contrary to the original intent of maintaining distinct categories within the passenger car segment. As MOT has previously stated, the primary objective of Cat A COE is to preserve a portion of the vehicle quota for mass-market cars, thereby ensuring greater accessibility and affordability for the average Singapo…”
“Under NParks' pigeon management plan, efforts remain largely focused on pigeons. I urge NParks, within MND's broader human-wildlife management framework, to evolve towards a comprehensive Pest Bird Management approach, one that also addresses other urban-adapted species, such as mynas and crows, where they cause persistent disamenities to…”
“Thank you, Chair. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to ask Senior Minister of State Sim Ann, how would she describe Singapore's current relationship with China against the backdrop of Sino-US geopolitical tensions.”
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“From my past experiences as a Police Officer, whether during my active service or National Service stints, I could testify that the presence of secret societies in Singapore has not been reduced to such an extent that we can do away with CLTPA. When our neighbouring country did away with an Act similar to the CLTPA, the number of gang fights involving firearms rose to an intolerable situation within two years. It was reported in their local press that in the first 10 months of 2013, there were 109 shooting cases, including some fatal cases, and all of them were linked to secret societies. As a result, the parliament of our neighbouring country had to make a quick decision to pass the Prevention of Crime Act 2013 which is similar to the CLTPA to allow criminals to be detained without trial. When Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee moved a Bill to renew the CLTPA in 2009, he argued that with the opening two casinos, the Home Team might have to use the CLTP Act to deal with casino-related crimes or I quote, "criminal syndicates, both local and foreign, which may be tempted by the lure of free flowing money". Just last month, as mentioned by our colleagues here, in October 2013, the MHA found another use of the CLTPA and issued Detention Orders to detain four persons involved in a global football match-fixing syndicate. Hence, the emphasis of the debate today, in my view, is not whether we should renew the CLTPA for another five years. Rather, we need to review whether the existing safeguards to prevent abuses are sufficient, especially Page: 69 when the CLTPA is used by MHA for other crimes. We need a corresponding increase in transparency on how the safeguards, as mentioned by the Minister, could function properly and appropriately. For that, I have a few suggestions.”
“Mdm Speaker, thank you for allowing me to participate in the debate on the CLTPA. I note that the hon Members of Parliament who spoke about the Bill before me are all legally trained. I am not a lawyer. I can only approach this Bill from the angle of a layman. As section 6 of the Bill touches on restrictions on strikes and lock-outs involving essential services as defined in Part 1 of the First Schedule which incidentally include public transport as of one of the essential services, I have to declare my interest as I am also a Senior Vice President of SBS Transit Ltd. A couple of weeks ago just before Deepavali, my residents in Jurong witnessed a high speed car chase. A van was speeding down from the top of a multi-storey car park towards the exit on the ground floor, damaging a few structures along the way. It was pursued by an unmarked Police car, much like Page: 68 a movie scene you see in the cinema. Immediately, the residents associated the car chase to drug offences. Although the Police has clarified that they have arrested the driver of the van and he did not commit any drug offences, many Singaporeans still have the perception that the drug problems are far from over in Singapore. Many of my residents with family members involved in drug offences would very much want the masterminds of drug syndicates to be arrested. In cases whereby witnesses are afraid to testify in Court and there are other evidences to pinpoint the mastermind, many Singaporeans see the value in the CLTPA. The same sentiments are shared by victims of illegal moneylending activities where the masterminds of loan shark syndicates have made their lives very miserable.”
“Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. In addition, I am glad that the Minister had also accepted my suggestion to tweak the definition of Cat A COE, a suggestion I made earlier this year. The objective of the tweak is to make the COE system more socially equitable so that Cat A COE is mainly reserved for cars with OMV of $20,000 or less, catering to Singaporeans with a smaller budget to buy cars. Similarly, we would like MOT to adopt the same principle to help the SMEs to purchase commercial vehicles at a reasonable price and not be squeezed out by MNCs with deep pockets. Thus, I have two supplementary questions for the Minister. Firstly, would the Minister consider making the Early Turnover Scheme even more attractive as many old fleet owners find that they could fetch a higher price in the resale market, as compared to scrapping a vehicle by taking advantage of the Early Turnover Scheme? The second supplementary question is: would the Minister consider splitting the Cat C COE into two categories or more, one for small commercial vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes and another for commercial vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes?”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Second Minister for the comprehensive reply and assurance that the Prisons department has taken measures to prevent this kind of incidents from happening again. The mother of the deceased is a resident in my constituency. She had seen me a few times in the course of the last couple of years and she said that the communications by the Prisons department to her were not very consistent. Page: 34 She said the Prisons department had not been telling her the full story until the recent Court case. I would like to urge the Minister to consider asking the Prisons department to improve the communications process to family members of the deceased so as to lighten the anguish they are facing. Secondly, I want to urge the Minister to consider giving a fair compensation to the family for the difficulties they have gone through. The mother is also requiring financial help at the moment.”
“I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the comprehensive reply. It was reported that the recent CPIB Assistant Director who was charged for misappropriation of money and forgery had been involved in heavy gambling. The gambling habit could be the main driving force for him to commit a crime. Would the Deputy Prime Minister reveal how many times had the officer been visiting the Integrated Resorts (IRs) for the past couple of years? When public officers, especially if they are law enforcers, buy annual passes to the IRs, they tend to have a higher tendency to gamble and it is also bad for the image for the law enforcement agencies. So, would the Civil Service consider banning those public officers in the law enforcement agencies from buying the annual entry passes to the IRs?”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Acting Minister Lawrence Wong for the comprehensive reply. Given the severity of the interest rate rigging activities by the 133 traders, the punishment received by the banks appears to be a light tap on the hand. In contrast, RBS was fined $610 million for rigging LIBOR. With the current excess liquidity in the world, the banks would hardly feel a pinch by having to set aside extra reserves with zero interest rate for a year. Maybe MAS could consider asking the banks to pay a few million dollars in fine and use the funds to help the lower income families, for example, the lower-income families who were affected by the recent haze. Thus, my first supplementary question is: would MAS consider asking the banks to pay a fine, in lieu of extra reserves? The second supplementary question is, in fact, a clarification. Mr Wong did not seem to have replied to the first portion of my question as to which bank has the highest number of traders who had tried to rig the interest rates, as well as the highest number of attempts to rig the rates between 2007 and 2011. If the information is confidential, I hope at least that Mr Wong can share with us who is the highest ranking officer who had rigged the interest rates and asked to leave the job? And of those who stayed, what is the highest ranking officer?”
“Thank you, Mdm Speaker. Given the political situation in Indonesia, I understand that it may be difficult for the Singapore Government to resolve the haze problems once and for all, soon. I understand from the Minister's speech earlier, Singapore has offered assistance to Indonesia, like the cloud seeding operations as well as providing satellite images. What other assistance has Singapore offered to Indonesia to fight the haze which was rejected by the Indonesian government?”
“Sir, as the population is ageing, it is important that our senior citizens can age graciously. Thus, I would like MSF to provide an update of the active ageing programme and initiative implemented thus far. How does MSF measure the effectiveness of this programme and initiative? Moving forward, what else would the Government do to promote active ageing? Would MSF increase the funding for the active ageing programme, given that the health screening costs have increased by 36% over the past one year?”
“Owing to her deep passion in baking, she applied for the pastry and baking course at ITE. Unfortunately, she could not pass the interview and she was offered a less popular course in facility technology. Clara has to reject the offer because she has never done any technical module in her school. Clara is skilful in baking pastries but is slightly handicapped in her verbal skills. In general, SPED students may not do well in interviews as they need a longer processing time in hearing and responding to questions. It will be fairer if the interview panelists could recognise this shortcoming in the SPED students and see the potential of the students beyond their verbal inadequacy. If tested on an actual baking skill, there is a high chance that Clara will be able to clear the test. Nonetheless, Clara has not given up. She is now working part-time at a bakery and intends to reapply during the ITE April intake exercise. I would like to appeal to MOE to consider giving special considerations to students of special needs as long as they meet the minimum admission criteria for ITE and polytechnic. Perhaps, a Disability Office could be set up, as suggested by Ms Denise Phua earlier, to handle the application and admission of students with special needs. 5.30 pm Malay Language Use, Teaching and Curriculum in Schools”
“Madam, the SPED schools are envious of the many good policies that MOE has implemented for the mainstream schools, many of which are not extended to the SPED schools. For example, the ICT Master Plan which provides mainstream schools with generous funding for purchase of computers and support services provided by e-learning platforms, suppliers and ICT executive, the SPED schools only receive a minimum ICT start-up fund and lesser funding the year after. Another example is the building of an indoor sports hall. MOE has decided since 2007 that every primary and secondary school will have an indoor sports hall to cater for physical education lessons on days with wet weather. However, SPED schools are not entitled to indoor sports hall. Certainly, students from the SPED schools share the same needs as the MOE schools. Hence, I urge MOE to consider extending some of the good MOE policies to SPED schools as well. On another note, there are cases of SPED school graduates who met the minimum requirement to gain admission into ITE or polytechnic but could not enrol for the course of their choice due to stiff competition from applicants from the mainstream schools. Senior Minister of State, Ms Indranee, has earlier stated that some students from the mainstream schools choose ITE's pastry and bakery course although they could qualify for the polytechnics. So, that might cut off some of the students with special needs like Miss Clara Tan, whom I am going to cite as an Page: 142 example. Miss Clara Tan, who graduated from Grace Orchard School and progressed to Assumption Pathway School (APS), obtained a GPA score of 3.5 in her final year, making it to the top 25% cohort of APS. Clara did well in the baking classes in APS.”
“Following my plea, I am glad the Minister for Transport Mr Lui eventually announced that the MOT would install lifts at 40 POBs next to MRT stations. However, the locations of 40 POBs remain a mystery. I hope the Minister for Transport could unveil the mystery soon, and I certainly hope that the POB beside the Lakeside MRT station will be one of them. Page: 38 In addition, I hope MOT will consider also building escalators at those heavily utilised POBs next to MRT stations.”
“Madam, many residents like to cycle like Minister of State Teo Ser Luck. They cycle to MRT stations and to run errands, especially when the amenities are not within walking distance from the home. A lesson learnt from the recent fatal accident involving two brothers cycling in Tampines reminds us of the importance of safe cycling, and this is the very town that the Member Ms Irene Ng is promoting as a cycling town. First, I would like to urge LTA and the Traffic Police to work very closely together to promote safe cycling. Perhaps, we should strongly discourage minors from cycling on the road as they may not fully appreciate the road safety requirements and are ignorant of the Highway Code. Secondly, I hope the LTA and URA can work closely together to jointly build off-road cycling paths exclusively for cyclists. To this end, I hope the Minister could update us on the pilot plan to construct dedicated cycling paths in seven HDB estates. Thirdly, I would like to urge LTA to provide safe and secure parking facilities at MRT stations where many say that the parking facilities are not adequate, and also at commercial facilities at the HDB town centres as well as HDB void decks so that residents will not have to park their bicycles along the common corridor which will cause obstruction to other residents. We need to promote safe cycling more aggressively as it is a more sustainable mode of transport, as mentioned by many Members. Lifts for Pedestrian Overhead Bridges Madam, during the COS debate last year, I used three photographs to illustrate the need to retrofit lifts at Pedestrian Overhead Bridges (POBs) next to MRT stations.”
“Madam, once again I would like to declare my interest as I am a staff of SBS Transit. Many traffic rules are meant for safety reasons while others are meant to improve the traffic flow on the road. On the former, I am glad that Second Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Iswaran, has announced measures to step up enforcement to make the roads safer. For the latter, I trust that it is under the jurisdiction of LTA. Very often we observe that motorists encroach into yellow boxes and bus lanes during the bus lane hours, or park their vehicles indiscriminately at bus stops to pick up or let passengers alight. We need stricter enforcement of traffic rules so that buses can move more smoothly to benefit more than three million bus passengers every day. Instead of increasing the number of enforcement officers, it might be better for the authorities to install more cameras and other technology to detect motorists who violate traffic rules. However, stricter enforcement actions do not mean that LTA should give a summons to the motorists on their very first violation. LTA could take a leaf from Traffic Police who give motorists two to three warning letters before issuing speeding summons. We hope to develop a system whereby motorists know with certainty that they would be caught Page: 31 should they violate traffic rules. At the same time, motorists would be made aware that the authorities are targeting repeat offenders and not those who are first-time violators and that they would be given a chance. Cycling”
“In addition, I understand that there are about 11,000 civil servants working in the Central Business District (CBD). Hence, I would like to ask the Minister whether MOT has any plan to include these civil servants as part of the Travel Smart programme. Bukit Timah Downtown Line 2 MRT Corridor”
“Madam, many residents welcome the Walk to Ride scheme whereby LTA would build sheltered walkways within a 400-metre radius from all existing MRT stations. However, I would like to urge the Minister to consider building covered walkways up to 800-metre radius from the MRT stations to provide more conveniences to the residents. This is because many residents, particularly Jurong residents who stay about 800 metres away from the MRT station, still prefer to take a walk to the MRT station as compared to taking a feeder bus. Residents could control walking time better as it is not subjected to traffic conditions. In addition, we notice that the shelter across Lakeside Drive, a minor road with one lane in each direction, near the Lakeside MRT station, has been quite effective in shielding residents from the rain. Hence, I hope LTA could consider building similar shelters at other minor roads as part of the Walk to Ride scheme. Page: 149 Public Transport – Demand Management My next cut, Madam. Before I proceed further, I would like to declare my interest in the public transport industry as I am a staff of SBS Transit. On 7 March last year, I spoke about the need to incentivise commuters who travel before and after the morning peak hours by encouraging organisations to stagger working hours while we expand the train capacity. Thus, I am delighted that Minister of State, Mrs Josephine Teo, eventually launched the Travel Smart pilot programme on 2 October last year. I understand that the pilot programme involves some seven organisations to promote a more even distribution of travel demand during the peak hours. I hope the Minister could update us on the progress of the pilot programme and other related schemes on travel demand management.”
“Madam, yesterday, Channel NewsAsia reported that more 5-room resale HDB flats were sold at above $900,000. Such news prompted critics to say that Singaporeans need to be a millionaire to buy a HDB flat. Hence, it is important for MND to move fast and amend its policy to ensure that the new HDB flats would be even more affordable to Singaporeans. If we could lower the housing cost for first-time HDB flat applicants, it would go a long way to lower the cost of living and, perhaps, encourage young people to start a family earlier. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman, in his Budget Speech, has warned that our economy has to restructure and some companies may not survive. This means that some Singaporeans might lose their jobs and it might take them some time to look for a job in another industry, thus creating structural unemployment. Hence, Singaporeans would feel more secure if they could pay their first HDB flat within 20 years, instead of the 30 years yardstick HDB uses to calculate the affordability of an HDB flat. This will help to reduce the fear of losing the roof over one's head should Singaporeans lose their jobs due to structural unemployment. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah also shared the same view earlier. In this respect, HDB could consider giving a higher housing grant, subject to means testing, so that young couples would be able to pay for their first HDB flat in 20 years' time. And with the additional grant, Singaporeans could also save a sufficient amount of interest cost. To prevent abuses, HDB could mandate all first-time flat owners Page: 124 to pay back the additional housing grant if they sell their flat within a minimum occupation period of 10 years, instead of the current five years. I hope MND could consider the above suggestions.”
“It could be in the form of obtaining endorsements from 10 Singaporean "community assentors" who are the applicant's acquaintances in the workplace and in the neighbourhood. For example, for applicants who are working adults, five assentors could be their colleagues and five could be their neighbours. The idea of giving the community a say in naturalisation is not completely new. The cantons in Switzerland is practising a version of this. For the "assentors" scheme to work, we need some form of guidelines and safeguards to ensure impartiality, fairness and to pre-empt undesirable implications, such as bribery, malpractices and so on. For instance, the 10 community assentors: (a) have to be Singapore Citizens by birth or for at least a certain number of years; and (b) should have multiracial composition, reflecting Singapore's overall demographics so that the potential citizen applicants understand the importance of embracing multiracial harmony. At the same time, we may need verifications, perhaps carried out by our community leaders, to ensure that the assentors are indeed the applicant's Page: 83 colleagues or neighbours. The above idea, though appears raw, could possibly trigger more ideas to eventually fine-tune a workable methodology of community endorsement that is uniquely Singapore. Singapore Citizenship”
“Madam, with the recent debate on the Population White Paper, much spotlight has been on the Singaporean Core, immigration and naturalisation. Many are concerned about the number of foreigners that we allow to become citizens or PRs. I wish to share a suggestion that arose out of consultations with committee groups by the Bicultural Taskforce of which I am a member. I think most Singaporeans do accept that it makes sense to welcome the right kind of foreigners to become Singapore Citizens or PRs. For example, many Singaporeans marry foreign spouses and would want them to be naturalised. Some foreigners who bring with them credible skills, share our values and can Page: 82 readily assimilate into our society should also be considered. Currently, we are encouraging integration through various means, particularly the work of the National Integration Council. Perhaps, we should take a step further. Today, PR and citizenship applications are evaluated by the Government. Why not give Singaporeans a say in the process? If we are accepting newcomers to join the Singaporean Core, surely it makes sense for existing members of the core to express their views on the matter. Perhaps we should require PRs to obtain some form of community endorsement as the final hurdle to cross before clinching the Singapore citizenship that they want. In other words, I am suggesting that we create some meaningful roles for the community in the naturalisation of new citizens. Let me be a little bit more specific. We could consider requiring applicants for Singapore citizenship, after satisfying the current eligibility criteria, to further obtain the endorsements from the community.”
“I thank the Member for the clarification that it is not so. So, it is in all honesty that we are debating this for the better of Singaporeans. I thank the Member for acknowledging that the construction industry is a difficult industry to attract Singaporeans to work in. There is also a need to increase the productivity in the construction industry and that is what MND has been doing and will continue to do more of. Maybe Mr Khaw can clarify.”
“I suppose Mr Pritam Singh is doubting my integrity.”
“A clarification, Mdm Speaker. I just said that Mr Chen Show Mao has said that, "We want to have less stringent foreign manpower policy to keep costs low for the construction industry", but what Mr Pritam Singh said was that, "For construction industry, you got to wake up, you got to face a slower pace". And if you have a slower pace of construction, it will be Page: 66 difficult for us to build more HDB flats and more MRT lines.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for his clarification. I referred to the speech that he gave on 28 February 2012, but another paragraph: "Another cluster would comprise industries that contribute to meeting Singapore's social needs and would have a significant impact if higher labour costs were passed to the consumers. So, they include social services, public healthcare and construction for public infrastructure. For these industries, we may need less stringent foreign manpower policy to keep costs low." And that is different from what Mr Pritam Singh has said.”
“To recap, the above measures would go a long way to assure Singaporeans that they can afford new HDB flats in the years to come. Ordinary Singaporeans, including singles, would feel that the new housing estates at Bidadari, Tampines North, Tengah and the enlarged Punggol are meant for them, not just for the rich Singaporeans. Singaporeans would once again feel proud of our HDB flats. As Deputy Prime Minister Teo mentioned, the main objective of the White Paper is to allow Singaporeans to enjoy the fruits of a vibrant Singapore. We need to convince Singaporeans that the foreign workers are here to build houses, build MRT lines, drive the buses and assist us to care for the elderly. We need to convince Singaporeans that the foreign talents are here to create Page: 60 more good jobs for Singapore rather than taking jobs away from Singaporeans. To this end, I urge Minister Heng Swee Keat to consider using this White Paper as the cornerstone when embarking on the second phase of the Singapore National Conversation so that Singaporeans can continue to debate and discuss the merits of the many good measures, as mentioned in the White Paper, and build consensus. Mdm Speaker, with this, I support the Motion. 2.56 pm”
“This would also allow Singaporeans two bites of the cherry without the stink of the resale Page: 59 levy. Fourthly, I would like to urge HDB to allow singles above 40 years old to purchase a new 2-room flat so as to give them a bigger stake in Singapore. Why 40 years old? If we allow singles to buy new HDB flat early in age, this might indirectly encourage more Singaporeans to stay single. Why 2-room flat? A 2-room flat is comfortable enough for one person to stay in and probably not roomy enough to rent out one room. We understand about one-third of Singaporeans may choose to remain single and many of them may not afford a resale flat because of high COV. It is very important that we encourage Singaporeans to get married and have children. We know that many Singaporeans at the age of between 25 and 35 are not married. More than 80% of those who are not married have expressed the desire to get married but more than 80% of them are not dating seriously. We have to find ways to help them to interact and socialise with each other. The above measures would go a long way to assure Singaporeans that they could afford new HDB flats in the years to come. Many of us want the Government to build more HDB flats. However, I am quite appalled to hear that someone wants to ask the construction industry to slow down. If the construction industry were to slow down, it means that we will probably have less HDB flats, and fewer workers to build MRT lines and other infrastructures that Mr Pritam Singh was asking for. In fact, Mr Chen Show Mao had once said that he would like to have more workers for the construction industry because these are the jobs that Singaporeans do not want to do.”
“I just want to touch on one aspect, that is, how Government can help to provide affordable housing for Singaporeans. Many Singaporeans are lamenting that public housing is getting expensive and wonder if their children can afford an HDB flat. We are glad that Minister Khaw has already de-linked the prices of BTO flats from market prices. It is certainly a step in the right direction. In fact, I would want to urge the Government to be bold and consider the following suggestions. Firstly, I hope HDB could tie the affordability of HDB flat with a 20-year housing loan, instead of the current 30 years. Many residents told me that they do not want to use the entire working life of 30 years to pay for the housing loan. Moreover, many feel that they might lose their jobs or be forced to change industries as Singapore restructures its economy. With the push for higher productivity, some companies might not catch up or have to close down and axe workers and create structural unemployment. As such, Singaporeans feel that being able to pay for their HDB flats within 20 years would give them a better sense of security. Secondly, HDB could consider increasing the housing grant significantly for first-time HDB flat buyers, of course, with means testing. The increase in housing grant would help Singaporeans pay off their housing loan faster. With the increased housing grant, HDB could also consider granting a maximum of 20 years for the housing loan, instead of the current 30 years. Thirdly, HDB could consider removing the resale levy should Singaporeans want to upgrade to a bigger flat as their family or income grows. Removing the resale levy and limiting the loan repayment period to 20 years would encourage the first-time HDB buyer to opt for a smaller flat at the first instant.”
“If you read The Business Times report on 7 November 2012 which publicised the number of COEs available from February 2013, it showed that a combined COE quota for Categories B and E is now 60% more than what is available in Category A, for the six months period from February to July 2013. Hence, it is not sufficient to correct the anomaly by just adjusting the contribution in Category E. It might be better for MOT to consider a one-time redistribution. The minor adjustment is possible even if the overall COE quota is not changed. However, critics may argue that more luxury cars are moving to the segment below 1,600 cc such as VW Golf 1.4 and BMW3-series 1,600 cc variant. Hence, I have earlier suggested changing the definition of Category A to include only vehicles with Open Market Value (OMV) of less than, say, $20,000, which include Toyota Corolla and many other Japanese makes, to favour buyers with smaller budget. I am glad that Minister of State Mrs Josephine Teo has agreed to look into this suggestion. Page: 58 In short, I urge MOT to refine the COE system to make it more equitable to favour the SMEs and Singaporeans who need a car but have smaller budgets. By doing so, it would illustrate the determination of the Government to address today's concerns before we grow the population further. As the percentage of Singapore Citizens could shrink to as low as 55% when we grow Singapore's population, we need to take steps to ensure that Singaporeans feel secure and benefit from having foreign workers. There are many ways to improve the sense of belonging and rootedness for Singaporeans. Some are tangible and some are not tangible, as mentioned by Minister Grace Fu.”
“As mentioned in the House yesterday, while raising supplementary questions to the Minister of State for Transport, the COE system favours big car buyers, especially in recent years. The percentage of Category A COE, though it fluctuates slightly from period to period, has shrunk from 39% in 2002 to 24% of total COE quota, as shown in table 3. For the same period, the percentage of combined Category B and Category E, which is used mainly for big cars above 1,600 cc, has increased from 33% in 2002 to 37% this year. This means that for the period between August 2012 and January 2013, there were 7,117 COEs for car buyers to buy big cars but there were only 4,714 in the Category A for Singaporeans to buy small cars. In short, the number of COEs available to buy big cars is 51% more than what is available to buy a small car. That is the main reason Dr Lim Wee Kiak finds that in recent months, we have observed that car agents are selling more Mercedes and BMW as compared to Toyota or Nissan. Thus, I suggest that MOT could consider allocating more COE to Category A and less for Categories B and E because of two reasons: (a) Category A buyers are more likely to be the working class people who need the car for small businesses, job requirements or to meet family needs; and (b) Category B car buyers are more likely to be those who can afford it and are less price-sensitive as well. Though Minister of State Mrs Josephine Teo mentioned yesterday that the contribution rate to Category E has reduced to 20% from 25% previously, from August 2012 to January 2013, it would further reduce to 15% from February 2013.”
“However, the residents in the West, particularly in Jurong areas, would only benefit significantly, in terms of better connectivity, when the Jurong Regional Line is operational from 2025. Hence, I would like to urge the Minister for Transport to do more for Jurong residents before the Jurong Regional Line is ready. Next, road and road usage. I noticed from the White Paper's supplement on the Land Use Plan to Support Singapore's Future Population, the land allocated for housing would increase from 10,000 ha in 2010 to 13,000 ha which is about 30% increase. On the other hand, the land allocated for land transport Infrastructure, I presume mainly for public roads, would increase by about only 17% as compared to 30% for housing, as shown in table 2. Incidentally, I think if Mr Pritam Singh had read the Paper, he would also notice that the land use for parks and nature reserves would increase from 5,700 ha to 7,250 ha, a 27% increase. So, there will be more areas for recreation and parks. If we are managing road growth at a slower pace as mentioned in the White Paper, this means that there would be a tighter restriction on car ownership and usage. With the COE price approaching $100,000, I urge MOT to consider refining the COE system to make it more equitable as raised by many hon Members yesterday. Mdm Speaker, may I seek your permission to distribute table 3 in hardcopy form?”
“While the White Paper has outlined the plan to cope with the future growth of the population, the Government has to convince Singaporeans that we can solve today's crowdedness and associated problems due to the recent influx of foreigners in the past five years, in terms of (a) crowded public transport, (b) traffic congestion and high COE prices, (c) long wait for essential health care and rising medical costs, (d) insufficient HDB flats and rising housing costs, especially in the resale HDB market and private property market, as well as (e) high inflation and rising cost of living. These have been addressed by many of the hon Members and that is why the amendment Motion by Mr Liang Eng Hwa is very timely and I support that. Page: 56 Several fellow hon Members have already dealt with many of these topics at length, so I do not want to repeat their points. I only want to deal with one particular issue, that is, transport. Before I go on, I would like to declare my interest as I am working for SBS Transit Ltd which is a public transport provider. With the announcement by the Minister for Transport to build two new train lines to double the rail network from the current 178 km to 360 km by 2030, the roll-out of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP), meanwhile, it is a good start. However, many commuters still feel that the public transport is still much more crowded at this point of time as compared to five years ago. Minister Lui has said that the Downtown Line, when it is operational, will add 50% capacity to the East-West corridor. This is largely true for commuters shuttling between the central parts of Singapore to the Eastern part of the East-West corridor.”
“Singapore GDP grew by an average of 5.7% per year in the last decade which is relatively higher than five major developed countries, namely, US, the UK, Germany, France and Japan as shown in this table. As the economy matures, we cannot expect the similar high growth rates we have enjoyed in the past. We note that Japan's GDP has grown by 0.8% in the last decade but its GDP per capita actually increased by 1.6% because its labour force has also shrunk by close to 5% during the same period. So, looking at figures, are we contented that Singapore should also grow like Japan, at 0.8% GDP per capita? To put things in perspective, all the five developed countries have unemployment rate that is well above 4%, with France at more than 10%, US and UK at about 7%. In addition, the size of Singapore's GDP is only 1.7% of that of US, which is the largest economy in the world, 4.4% of Japan and 10.7% of UK. Singapore's economy does not have the same depth and breadth as other matured and larger economies. It is a fallacy to say that Singapore has arrived and should start using our reserves. We are not like Japan where public debt is 245% of GDP. They can still survive and people are still buying their government bonds. If Singapore has public debt of more than 100% of the GDP, like US, I think we will be in deep trouble. Singapore, as a city-state, has no parallel country which we can compare with. Thus, we need to chart our own path and decide collectively on the economic growth rate that we want to achieve over the next two decades.”
“Mdm Speaker, thank you for allowing me to participate in this very important debate. The Population White Paper suggests that Singapore needs an annual GDP growth rate of 3% to 5%, on average, up to 2020 and average of 2% to 3% from 2020 to 2030. So, the question is, are we growing too fast or too slow? Before we answer the question, perhaps we could Page: 55 compare the growth rate of Singapore to other developed countries. Mdm Speaker, may I have your permission to show a table on the LCD screen?”
“As I mentioned earlier, for the fixed broadband services, we will monitor the standards that we have already imposed and see whether they continue to be relevant, and we are now considering new standards for the mobile broadband services.”
“So, it is quite comprehensive, but I will be happy to ask IDA to look into the Member's concern in his own area and see whether we can find out what is the cause of the problem. We all know that there are many factors which affect the way data are transmitted. I have mentioned these in my reply. There could be congestion during that period because a lot of people are using or accessing the same site. So, I will be happy to ask IDA to work together with the Member to investigate whether there are real concerns or local concerns in his particular constituency. On the second question on how fast and what are the regulatory measures that we are looking into, as I mentioned earlier in my reply, this is something which we will have to study very carefully. The last thing that we want is to introduce new measures that basically dull the market rather than make the market more competitive. I would like to assure the Member and the House that this is a very important concern for us. So, we have now imposed a quality of service (QoS) standard for the fixed broadband that has been set out with specific indicators so that the Internet providers know what is expected of them. We are also reviewing the quality of service standard for fixed time broadband to ensure that it is continually relevant to the end users. We are also considering the feasibility of establishing a broadband quality of service framework for mobile broadband services. Page: 21 So, we will move and ensure that the standards that we want for both fixed and mobile broadband services will meet the expectations of our consumers. But we will not rest there.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. When we see the results of the survey in the handout stating that broadband speed provided by the telcos is close to what they promise in the marketing materials of, say, 100 or 200 megabits per second, I am not so sure whether there is a disconnect. Many of the residents, including myself, do not find that the broadband speed is really up to that mark. In fact, the average broadband speed that we experience for the 100 megabits per second type of plan is about 10 to 20 megabits per second. Page: 20 Could the Minister shed some light on the following two areas. One, how does IDA conduct the survey or audit these telcos? Does the audit cover different geographical areas or does it just concentrate on certain areas? Two, the Minister has mentioned about a review of regulations to encourage telcos to meet up to expectations or fulfil their promises stated in the marketing materials. What is the carrot-and-stick approach that the Minister is thinking about? Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the questions. On his first question on how the measurement was done, IDA commissioned a local company to perform the measurement of our fixed broadband network performance of the local ISPs. In fact, the results of the performance that we gathered were all reported on IDA's website and it is a consolidated total of 563 test probes installed in the homes of volunteers from both the public and IDA. These test probes cover a selected range of plans from the major residential broadband service providers in Singapore. And at regular intervals, the test probes conduct the series of tests against IDA's test servers housed in the local Internet Data Centres and the US East Coast and West Coast.”
“Mdm Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of State two supplementary questions. The first question is about the equitable distribution of COE in different categories. One of the reasons why there are more luxury cars in Singapore is because of Category E. If you add Category E and Category B together, we note that Category E is almost used exclusively to buy big cars; the combined COE in both Categories B and E is 50% more than Category A COE for August 2012 to January 2013. If we compare the figures about 10 years ago for the period from 2001 to 2002, the COE in Category A itself is a lot more than that in Categories B and E added together. The second question is whether the Minister of State would consider pegging Category A to the OMV of the car rather than just the engine capacity, so that cars are cheaper and could be made more affordable to Singaporeans.”
“Thank you, Mdm Speaker. As the Acting Minister has said, football is a good sport that can gel Singaporeans together, as what we have witnessed in the Suzuki Cup. How could we better engage the national players to promote the sport among the youths so that the youths can also aspire to be national players one day?”
“I will not ask any more after this. I just want to clarify that I anticipated that the Ministry will use the site constraints as the reason to say they may not be able to accommodate to build pick-up points dedicated to private buses. But I would like the Ministry to consider starting at those bus stops outside the MRT stations that are quite far away from the residential area. For example, the Harbourfront MRT Station, the Kranji MRT Station as well as Lakeside MRT Station for the moment are quite far away from the residential blocks.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, this is, indeed, the last clarification.”
“It is about the fact that LTA has installed cameras in some of the problematic spots to take photographs of the vehicles that are parked inconsiderately. That scheme has been implemented for quite a while. Could the Minister of State give us an update?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to clarify that of the 6,000 photographs that have been taken by SBS Transit, only a very small proportion is made up of photographs taken by cameras sponsored by LTA. The second clarification that I have is: we would like to thank Minister of State who said that they are agreeable to building more dedicated bus pick-up points for private buses. I hope the Ministry can very soon announce a list of bus stops where there is a high volume of private buses calling, and that some concrete action can be taken. The third clarification is that we understand that LTA has installed some cameras at some of the bus stops and other problematic areas to take photographs of cars that are parked illegally. I would like Minister of State to give an update of that scheme.”
“Public safety and interest must always be prioritised. I hope LTA will work with the Traffic Police to work out a more permanent solution, for example, installation of CCTV, which can be there all the time and every time, to bring the tranquillity back to Yishun. Page: 1496 4.45 pm”
“They were given a fine as well as a deadline to restore their vehicles to original specifications or risk losing them. In a police campaign in St Mary's Island, police have been out and about since last August, following complaints from residents, targeting anti-social drivers and checking legality of cars. They issued prohibition notices to offending vehicles, to be lifted when the defects are rectified, and even gave advice to the offenders so that they would refrain from re-committing the offence. Our traffic law enforcers need to walk the talk. Active campaigns should be initiated, especially in areas that report insistent complaints from residents, to crack down on nuisance and dangerous drivers. Eyewitness reports should be taken seriously. Submission of such reports should be made more convenient, and law enforcers should be able to process them with little trouble. I wish to take this opportunity to make a request on behalf of my residents. Residents living along Yishun Avenue 1, including those living in Orchid Park Condominium in particular, have been victimised by loud vehicles in the middle of the night. I urge the authorities to patrol the area and arrest these nuisance drivers. Over the last two years, I know that LTA had been working closely with Traffic Police and they did ambush from time to time. However, residents know that they cannot be there all the time and every time and, hence, their sleep has always been interrupted. As you know, for babies, when their sleep is interrupted, they keep crying. And for elderly residents, when their sleep is interrupted, they keep staring at the ceiling and cannot go back to sleep. We need to have some peace of mind when we are in our homes and home is a place for us to rest.”
“What he had not known was that he could have contacted LTA to get approval to change car parts with valid reason. Thus, the LTA should publicise this avenue for those who may have bought older cars where original parts are not available in the market. LTA should promote increased transparency and clarity about the types of modifications that are legal and illegal. Car owners should not have to turn to hobby and personal websites for information about national laws. It could turn into a case of the blind leading the blind. Many illegal modification cases due to ignorance could be prevented if information was made more readily accessible, and assessments of individual inquiries made more efficient. LTA should consider setting up a hotline and department to provide consultations about vehicle modifications. Page: 1495 Car owners should also be discouraged from turning to car workshops overseas to get their cars modified. For one, foreign car workshops would not be familiar with our traffic laws nor might they feel obligated to comply. Furthermore, foreign car workshops would be difficult to apprehend. Last but not least, it is important to apprehend offenders and enforce penalties effectively and efficiently. In other countries, traffic departments are coming down harder on illegal car modifications. In Newcastle, traffic officers executed Operation Hammer targeting illegally modified cars in and around Newcastle. In phase one alone, some of the more serious penalties doled out included confiscation of cars and suspension of driving licences. In Abu Dhabi, more than 260 illegally modified vehicles were seized in a campaign targeting car owners who have vehicle modifications that increase noise or speed.”
“However, while this new penalty is a large stride in the right direction, more can be done. Incorrectly modified vehicles do not only disrupt public peace. More importantly, they are potential serious hazards to the public. Car workshops play a significant role in car modification and their involvement should not be downplayed. Currently, LTA fines or jails workshop owners found to be facilitating illegal modifications. Greater deterrent measures should be put in place to stop these workshops from providing illegal modifications. Temporary closures of offending workshops could be implemented alongside the usual fines and jail terms. Additionally, in view of workshop owners who may not be aware about the legality of certain modifications, seminars and publications can be made available to facilitate them to make the right and morally ethical conditions, and, in turn, pass on the information to their customers. The Government should work through umbrella bodies, such as the Singapore Motor Workshop Association and AA Singapore, as well as other clubs to educate the car owners of the hazards of illegal modifications. Indeed, there is more to effective deterrence than heavy fines and punishment. In late October, a car owner had written in to the Forum page about a problem which could have been avoided if he had relevant know-how. He owns an old classic car, and when he tried to replace a worn out car part, many distributors no longer carry the original parts. Thus, he had to resort to using compatible alternative parts. When he brought it for annual vehicle inspection, he was penalised as that part did not bear the original manufacturers' name and was deemed an illegal modification, though the car passed all relevant test stations.”
“This is the group of motorists who would wilfully modify their cars so that they can get that extra "oomph" to sprint from one traffic light junction to another or, better still, beat the traffic lights! This public nuisance is not new to us. It has been around since as far back as the 1960s where bands of racers would congregate at Shenton Way and race down Orchard Road. Then, the vehicles were the Minis, Ford Cortinas and Datsun SSS. Today, the problem persists. We get souped up Japanese to continental cars of all makes, turbo-charged engines hissed and puffed as if the car has got into a spasm, to the annoyance of other road users. These motorists want to ape the drag car racers in the US or Japan, with their cars tattooed with all sorts of slogans that cry out to the next car for a challenge. Despite the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) efforts to reduce the number of illegal vehicle modification cases, I continue to receive complaints from my residents about how absurdly loud noises emitted from vehicles in the middle of the night as they tear down the northern sector of our island, seemingly away from the Traffic Police dragnet. The enhancement of the penalty regime for illegal modification of vehicles in the Traffic Control (Amendment) Bill is a much welcomed move. Page: 1494 I thank the Minister for making an affirmative decision to assert disapproval over such inconsiderate behaviour. Fines seem to have minimal impact on these vehicle owners who are undoubtedly unperturbed about parting with a fee in exchange for the ability to keep up with their wilful antics on the roads. With this new law to detain illegally modified vehicles for up to three months, drivers will certainly think twice about risking the temporary loss of their treasured vehicles.”
“I can understand why these private buses need to pick up or alight their passengers at the bus stops near the MRT stations as these are natural transfer hubs. However, I urge the Minister to consider asking LTA to build dedicated private bus pick-up points, just like the one near the Jurong East MRT Station. I can foresee that the Ministry may use site constraints as the reason for not being able to accommodate such a request, but I urge LTA to try harder. Page: 1493 Coming back to the question on what actions have the bus operators taken to alleviate the situation, I would like to share the following. In the first 10 months of this year, SBS Transit alone had taken and sent more than 6,000 photographs of vehicles parking near the bus stops or illegally violating bus lanes during bus lane hours, to LTA for its enforcement. This is over and above the enforcement action by LTA and the Traffic Police. So, maybe MOT or LTA could make it easier for the bus commuters and members of public to report errant motorists, as suggested by another Forum writer. In summary, I applaud the amendment of the Road Traffic Act. However, it would be good if the Ministry could consider enhancing the RTA or its rules a lot more so that the 3.5 million passengers who travel on the buses daily can benefit more. 4.34 pm Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: Mr Speaker, Sir, motor vehicles, as we all know, are an important mode of transport for many of us. However, there is a segment of our population where owning a vehicle is not used as a mode of transport but as a vehicle to race on the streets, to get that adrenalin rush, even though it is causing a danger to other road users.”
“Thank you. The Minister for Transport shared with the audience during the annual Transport Gold Award Ceremony last month that he was pleasantly surprised to observe that the queueing culture, as shown in this picture in the Bishan MRT Station, is spreading to other MRT stations. However, the situation outside the Bishan MRT Station at the bus stop is that the people are not as gracious. This picture shows a white car parked near the bus hub and obstructing public buses from calling at the bus hub. The white car was waiting to pick up passengers at the cost of inconveniencing many passengers on the bus while waiting to alight. In addition, such an inconsiderate act would also pose a safety hazard. In fact, there is a car pick-up point just before this bus hub but the white car driver chose not to use it. Early this year, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced that they will build more bus hubs so that more buses could call at the bus hub simultaneously as a strategy to improve bus speed. But this strategy may not work if LTA cannot stop vehicles from parking illegally or calling illegally at the bus hub. One Straits Times' Forum writer on 30 October 2012 asked the two public bus companies to "share with the public whether they have received feedback from their drivers" on such inconsiderate drivers and "what actions they have taken, if any." The next picture shows that both SBST and SMRT buses are affected by such inconsiderate acts. This picture was taken along Woodlands Road. In this picture, we can see that many private buses were using the bus hub, and, hence, competing with the public buses. Similar situations can be observed at the bus hubs outside Clementi, Lakeside, Sembawang MRT stations and many more.”
“If the omnibus driver fails to block such an article, he shall be punished under section 131 of the Road Traffic Act. In the case of a first offence, the bus driver shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to an imprisonment term not exceeding three months. That is, when a person brings a dangerous good into the train system and is discovered by the staff of the train operator, the holder of the dangerous good will be punished. On the contrary, when a person brings a dangerous good into a bus, it is the duty of the bus driver to prevent the dangerous good from being brought into a bus. Otherwise, the bus driver will be punished and not the person who carries the dangerous good into the bus. Page: 1492 In view of the above, I would like to ask the Minister of State if she observes any disparity. If so, does the Minister of State agree that there is a need to review the rules for security reasons? If the Minister of State agrees that there is a need to revise the Road Traffic Rules, perhaps she could also look at other areas of disparity, including the rules to deal with littering, eating, begging on the bus or at the bus interchange vis-a-vis in the train system which is governed by the RTS Act and RTS Regulations. In addition, the Minister of State could consider enhancing the Road Traffic Act or the Road Traffic Rules to allow buses to move with less obstruction, thereby benefiting more than 3.5 million bus commuters daily. Mr Speaker, Sir, could I have your permission to show a few slides to illustrate my point?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Bill. Before I proceed, I would like to declare my interest as I work in SBS Transit which operates train and public buses. I am glad that the new section 127B of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill empowers public transport officials to inspect and search any baggage or other things carried by a person on any omnibus or within any bus interchange for the purpose of ensuring the security and safety of the commuters. This section mirrors section 23A of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Act. The purpose of checking the bags of the commuters, I suppose, is to prevent the commuters from bringing dangerous goods into the transport system. Under the RTS Act, particularly section 9 of the RTS regulations, it states that no person, unless authorised, shall bring any dangerous goods into the railway premises. When an authorised officer of a train operator searches the bag of a passenger in the train system and finds a dangerous item, the holder of the dangerous item shall be guilty of an offence punishable under section 52 of the RTS regulations. He could be liable to a fine not exceeding $5,000. However, there is no similar provision under the Road Traffic Act or the Road Traffic Rules. When I combed through the various Road Traffic Rules carefully, the closest I could find are section 21(i) and section 30(1) of the Road Traffic Public Service Vehicle Rules which state that a driver of the omnibus shall not permit any person to bring into the omnibus any article which is likely to: (a) cause any inconvenience, obstruction, discomfort or injury to any passenger in the omnibus; (b) cause any damage to the omnibus or any property in the omnibus; or (c) soil the omnibus or any passenger or property in the omnibus.”
“After all, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPC) is already spending more than $3 million on public education over the mass media every year as reported in its 2011 annual report. Page: 1418 Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the third topic of my speech today is about provisional family exclusion order as provided in section 164 of the Bill. On 1 December 2010, the NCPC reduced the processing time of family exclusion application from six weeks to two weeks. However, two weeks is still a long time as reckless gambling addicts could do a lot of harm in a couple of days or even hours. Hence, I urge the Minister to consider approving the family exclusion application within the same day provided that the NCPC appointed counsellor is satisfied that the family member with a gambling addiction has caused serious harm to other family members. For the purpose of verifying serious harm, family members could provide evidence that the gambling addict is seriously in debt, drawing large amounts of cash from ATMs near the IRs, harassed by loansharks or show proof that his failure to provide for the family due to gambling is causing hardship for his children or other family members. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many good provisions in the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill. As with any implementation, the devil is in the details. Hence, I reiterate my call to the Minister to consider setting up the proposed anti-gambling fund to smoothen possible kinks during implementation, especially in instances where the safeguards might not be able to achieve the best intended results. 5.51 pm”