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.”
The complete record
Every one of 660 lines we hold for Ang Wei Neng, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 14.
“But it would be good if the agencies can assist until all HDB car parks are installed with EV charges. Under the new HDB EV charging contracts awarded by LTA, I understand different operators will have different EV charging rates at different HDB car parks due to the different concession fees that they will pay to LTA. I urge LTA to closely monitor the charging fees over time to ensure fairness and affordability. At the same time, we would like to avoid the situation where, as what the Minister has said, EV users have to pay a higher charging fee should any of the charging operators exit the market. To install EV chargers, only licensed electric workers or LEWs can do so. As of end June 2022, we know there were 4,000 LEWs in Singapore. However, many of the LEWs are already engaged in other jobs due to the opening up of our economy in tandem with the easing of COVID-19 pandemic restriction measures. Moreover, we also need LEWs to maintain the 60,000 EV chargers in time to come. Thus, I would like to ask the Minister, as what the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) has said, whether LTA would work with the industry to generate more trained LEWs to sustain the momentum of installing EV chargers in large numbers. In particular, will MOT and LTA be working with Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education to train more Singaporeans to be LEWs? According to a global survey, the number of consumers looking to buy EVs globally has hit 52% and it represents a 22% rise in just two years. At the same time, there are also growing concerns of EVs catching fire. In the last two years, I also had two fire incidents at HDB flats in my Nanyang constituency that involved battery charging of electric personal mobility devices.”
“Firstly, I understand that the first batch of EV charging operators that were awarded to install charging points at HDB car parks faced difficulties coordinating with various agencies, just for clearance to install the chargers. I would like to urge Government agencies, led by MOT and LTA, to help eliminate any possible red tape so that EV chargers can be deployed swiftly in the second tender to install the 12,000 EV chargers. This will lead to a faster transition of ICE vehicles into an EV fleet across our car population. Secondly, many users of commercial EVs find it difficult to park at HDB car parks, especially at multi-storey car parks, because of the weight of the EVs, which is much higher than ICE vehicles. Instead, HDB – they replied in The Straits Times Forum page – will assess and grant approval on a case-by-case basis to allow EVs, especially commercial EVs, to park at multi-storey car parks, I hope that LTA and HDB can do a systemic review to facilitate parking of electric commercial vehicles at HDB car parks, which will eventually have EV charging facilities. This will better optimise the use of electric chargers by a range of vehicles and not just private EVs. Thirdly, we understand that the roll-out of EV chargers at HDB car parks is a gradual process. Currently, only about 200 HDB car parks are installed with EV chargers. Some EV users staying at the precincts beside the existing car parks with EV chargers have to pay parking fees while they charge their EVs overnight. Thus, I hope LTA can work with HDB to consider making an arrangement to allow EV users staying adjacent to the car parks with EV chargers to park for free while charging their EVs. This is a transition period.”
“And although this eye-catching COE discount early EV adopter scheme can be removed once a critical mass of EVs is on the road or when the prices of EVs have fallen significantly as predicted by industry experts, that would happen in a couple of years’ time. I would also like to clarify with Assoc Prof Jamus Lim – he said the report said that operating a PHC or taxi equivalent, the cost is 82% higher. I really doubt this is so because in my experience of renting out EVs, the cost of owning and operating EVs is cheaper as compared to a hybrid or diesel vehicle because of the high mileage incurred by the PHC or taxi. But the reason why PHC drivers and the taxi drivers are reluctant to switch to an EV is because of the charging facilities right now. Therefore, I would like to say that the installation of EV charging points in HDB car parks as part of the Government's plan to deploy 60,000 charging points by 2030 will reduce the range anxiety and provide the convenience of charging EVs. At the same time, it is important to cultivate a good EV charging culture to deter hogging of charging points when an EV is fully charged. But we also do not want to go to the extent where you also charge an idling fee when the EV is fully charged at 4.00 am in the morning. There is a balance of how we want to use the idling charge to encourage good behaviour of charging. Meanwhile, I understand from some industry players that there are teething issues relating to the installation and use of EV chargers in the HDB car parks which I hope Government agencies can help to resolve.”
“Norway, currently, has the highest rate of EV ownership in the world, with the most number of EV owners in Norway, compared to other countries. Yet, only 26% of the car buyers in Norway buy EVs because they are environmentally conscious. In fact, about 72% of the car buyers confessed that they buy EVs because of financial considerations, according to the survey conducted by the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association. EV drivers in Norway get to use toll roads for free, enjoy free parking and are exempted from Norway's high purchase taxes. We may not take the same route, but some incentives do help to promote EVs. Currently, the EV buyers in Singapore enjoy some tax rebates and incentives. But is this enough? Would we need to do more, to give this a stronger push? I think we should. When LTA signals its intention to install EV chargers in all HDB car parks, mass market EV adoption is key to the frequent utilisation of the chargers. To encourage mass market adoption, I also want to suggest that we perhaps give a discount for Category A (Cat A) COE prices for those EV buyers and I suggest that this can be part of the early adopter scheme. Do I only suggest to have 10% discount on Cat A COE? Why only Cat A? Because the Cat A COEs are catered to buyers who are more cost-conscious and it is more likely the Cat A COE cars ply the roads longer than other categories. So, by converting them to EVs, we can have a greater impact in reducing carbon dioxide emission. But we have got to be careful about this. Instead of creating a separate EV category, as what is suggested by Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, because those who are able to pay for the higher value of EVs, we should not subsidise them.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the EV Charging Bill. Before I proceed, I would like to declare my interest as the President of Strides Mobility Services of SMRT which has business units that rent out EVs and provides EV chargers. I had previously spoken during the Committee of Supply (COS) debate about how it is important to have enough or sufficient charging stations in HDB estates, private estates and commercial buildings. This is in order for the EVs to take off. I am glad to note that the EV Charging Bill has considered some of my recommendations. With the EV Charging Bill that mandates private buildings to provide charging points and the recent LTA tender to install 12,000 EV charging points across 2,000 HDB car parks, Singapore will be transformed from a city with few charging points to a country with probably the highest number of charging points per capita. This is a strategic and timely move by MOT and LTA. To realise our vision, we will need to consider ways to achieve fairness, better affordability and confidence for our EV users. I would like to, first, touch on the affordability of EVs. The lifecycle cost of owning an EV, as compared to owning an ICE vehicle, is much higher. In other words, owning EVs over the lifespan is higher than owning ICE vehicles in Singapore currently. Will the majority of car buyers in Singapore buy EVs just because they are pro-environment or think that EVs are greener? This may not be so, as consumers are very practical and financially savvy. Even the green-conscious residents in the Nordic countries are also behaving similarly as being cost-conscious. I would like to take Norway as an example.”
“I was also asking about the income criteria to qualify for the various levels of the Enhanced Housing Grant and other housing grants. So, with the increase of the nominal income, you put a lot of people at a disadvantage that they cannot qualify for the higher housing grant. That is the question. That is the first supplementary question. The second supplementary question is about the differential in gap between the HDB BTO income ceiling as well as the EC income ceiling. The gap of $2,000 is quite different between today, which is a 14% difference, as compared to 2010 when it was a 25% difference. So, two different questions. I hope the Second Minister can answer the two questions.”
“Thank you, Speaker and I thank Minister Indranee for the comprehensive reply. The real income of Singaporeans may not increase this year and next year because of high inflation. But their nominal income will likely increase if inflation stays high at 5% this year, and probably next year at 10%. So, does this not affect only the income ceilings of application of BTO flats but also affect Singaporeans' income criteria eligibility for Enhanced Housing Grant, which means that $1,500 now get $80,000 of EHG, a lot of them may exceed $1,500 because of the increase in nominal income but not the real nominal income? My second supplementary question is that in 2010, the income ceiling for HDB BTO flats and the EC, the differential is $2,000 – that is, the difference between $8,000 and $10,000. Today, the gap remains at $2,000. But in 2010, the differential was 25%. Today, the gap is 14%. And the average price of, say, a 3-bedroom EC, as compared to a, HDB 4-room flat, is probably more than double. So, could the Second Minister consider these two considerations?”
“Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. Can I just clarify one point? Minister was saying that with the recent adjustments in the civil service pay, every civil servant will get at least more than 5.1% of the salary increment because the core inflation rate in October is 5.1%? At the same time, we notice that there is a report in The Straits Times to say that about 68% of the employees were thinking of changing jobs if their pay is not increased more than the inflation rate. The second supplementary question is: if that is so, that the Government is keeping the increment to more than 5.1% or inflation rate, would it encourage the rest of the Singapore companies to do the same as far as possible?”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I hope that the ban on chicken or live chicken imports from Malaysia have not prompted more Singaporeans to rear more chickens in their homes, especially private homes. But during my home visits to a private estate in Nanyang, I definitely experienced an increase in the number of complaints. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State so that I can understand correctly. The Senior Minister of State said that there were 2,100 complaints about chickens in private estates, compared to 1,700 in HDB estates. Which means that – okay, so we have more. Sorry, we have 1,700 in private estates. I understand that, currently, we allow private estate home owners to have up to 10 chickens in the household. I wonder whether the Government is prepared to review the number so as to reduce the number of complaints about chickens. My second supplementary question is, how many of the complaints have ended up being resolved and how many complaints have ended up going to the mediation centre, as explained by the Senior Minister of State?”
“Earlier, I heard from Senior Parliamentary Secretary Rahayu Mahzam that they will make Healthy 365 as a very key component of the entire Healthier SG. But we know that there are many other apps that are very popular with the residents. For example, there is LumiHealth. So, how would Healthy 365 interface with those apps that are very popular right now, like LumiHealth, so that they can be more coordinated and benefit more residents? Ultimately, we can take inspiration from what is being done in other countries for preventive healthcare. A research study of primary care physicians in 10 countries including Australia, Norway, United Kingdom and Switzerland showed how patients that are managed by one primary care physician are able to view information from their medical records, and can even e-mail their doctors. While this could prove quite onerous for our GPs, it would certainly go a long way in building trust between patients and their doctors. In conclusion, I would like to quote an advice by Dr Chuang Wei Ping, an elected member of the Singapore Medical Council and a popular GP in the Nanyang division. Dr Chuang said, “People want to live a fuller live, rather than a longer life.” “People want to live a fuller live, rather than a longer life.” Currently, Singaporeans' life expectancy is close to 85 years but they spend more than 10 years in ill health. With Healthier SG, we hope to reduce the number of years spent in ill health. This is possible if all Singaporeans, all GPs, all Government officials and all community partners are ready to make Healthier SG as a priority for a better Singapore. I support the Motion. [Applause.]”
“For a common cold, Mdm Tan still needs to go to company-designated clinics. This situation is just like what the White Paper has described on page 24. If Mdm Tan has a choice, she would prefer to go to the Teo Clinic which she is familiar with whenever she falls ill, just like what the White Paper has recommended. I hope MOH can solve this dilemma. Another important aspect of Healthier SG is to encourage Singaporeans to take part in more activities that are good for their health, such as Zumba, brisk walking in parks and gardening. To date, most of these activities are only attractive to women. Many men prefer to drink in coffee shops, eat and chitchat for a long time. It seems that we need to mobilise our men and entice them to move from drinking tables to table tennis and from eating to growing vegetables. While this is not MOH's strength, it is an important factor in Healthier SG. I hope the Minister will think about it and invest more in this area. (In English): Next, I would like to touch on another very important topic, which is the funding. Minister Ong had indicated that it would cost about $1 billion over the next three to four years for IT support and other one-off costs to bring the GPs on board Healthier SG. At the same time, the recurring cost of running Healthier SG will amount to $400 million a year, including the service fee for the GPs. As mentioned earlier, healthy activities for the residents as coordinated by the respective health clusters are a very important component of Healthier SG. I would like to ask Minister Ong, how much of the $400 million budget will be allocated for organising healthy activities and nudging residents to engage in such activities?”
“If so, would such networks be coordinated by the respective three health clusters? Outside of the clinic, there are many touch points and community engagement opportunities with members of the public. I heard from Minister Masagos that the healthcare cluster will coordinate with community partners and GPs to provide healthy activities for the residents. And to this end, as a Member of Parliament taking care of the Nanyang Division of West Coast GRC, I would be happy to leverage on my community partners to work with the healthcare clusters and the GPs in Nanyang to provide healthy lifestyle activities for the residents. As with any change, it would take time for residents to embrace Healthier SG. Preventive care requires more commitment from people to live more healthily, commit to advice from their doctors and spend time on regular health screenings. Many Nanyang residents I met and have spoken to after the release of the Healthier SG White Paper are very supportive of Healthier SG but they have also raised some concerns. Let me continue in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Many residents in Nanyang support Healthyier SG, but they also have some questions. Let me share an example. Mdm Tan, who is in her sixties, has been seeing a doctor at the Teo clinic near her home since young. She has just changed her job, and the clinic is not on the company's list of designated clinics. Hence, Mdm Tan cannot claim medical fees from the company for the cost of seeing the doctor at the Teo Clinic. Mdm Tan was glad to hear about Healthier SG, and wanted to appoint Dr Teo from the Teo clinic as her designated doctor, so that she could receive free vaccinations and highly subsidised pills for the "three highs".”
“Meanwhile, one GP, who is an owner-doctor running his own clinic has requested me to ask if it is compulsory for all family doctors to join the Primary Care Network (PCN). Such GPs also have questions on the need to be qualified as a family physician. Referring to page 42 of the Healthier SG White Paper, it states that each GP clinic must have at least one family doctor to be registered as a family physician within seven years of the launch of Healthier SG. Thus, I would like to ask, does it mean that the family clinic with only doctor, the sole doctor would have to be qualified as a family physician? If so, this may have profound implications for family clinics run by solo doctors. If GPs are to oversee the end-to-end journey of caring for a patient, it would be helpful if they can work with partners to deliver this care. According to an article from the Harvard Medical School, such GPs, who are also called primary care physicians, work in teams to keep patients at the centre of all diagnostic and treatment activities. These teams often comprise medical assistants, nurses, pharmacists and social workers. Likewise, in the Netherlands where the GP is the central figure in Dutch primary care, GPs employ salaried nurses and primary care psychologists, who can even provide mental health services. The typical practice size is approximately 2,200 patients per full-time working GP and over 95% of the citizens are registered with one GP that they have chosen. Chronic care management is coordinated through care groups, which are mostly GP networks. These care groups coordinate care from multiple service providers for certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions. Would MOH envisage the formation of such GP networks in Singapore?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, it is timely that Singapore is going to shift away from illness-based hospital care to a more sustainable way of patient-centred preventive care. This a good move but there will be challenges during the implementation stage. The general practitioners or GPs are critical to the success of Healthier SG. After the release of the Healthier SG White Paper, I managed to communicate with a few GPs, including GPs who are practising in the Nanyang division. In general, the GPs are very supportive of Healthier SG. While some GPs operate in residential areas and in clearly family clinics, others practise at the workplace. Those GPS who practise at the workplace are concerned that some residents or many residents would not appoint them as the primary family doctor, especially those residents above 60 years old, who are not working. How would MOH address this perceived inequality? On the other hand, some popular GPs may be overwhelmed if too many patients want them to be their primary family doctor and they have to turn people away. Minister Ong alluded to this in his opening speech. For Singaporeans, securing a family doctor should not be a competition. As such, I would like to ask what is maximum number of patients each family doctor can accept? What is the set of criteria which doctors can use to decide whether to accept or reject existing and new patients under Healthier SG? For instance, would they take into account factors like whether the patient had visited the clinic before, or how far away the patient lives from the clinic, or on a first-come-first-served basis? What exactly are the factors they would have to take into account and is that a priority?”
“I thank the Senior Minister of State for the comprehensive reply. I have two supplementary questions. Firstly, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State, based on the experience of other countries that have implemented the same scheme, what are the challenges, especially the logistics challenges that these countries faced, as well as what is the estimated number of reverse vending machines and return points that are required if the scheme is implemented in full. Secondly, I would like the Senior Minister of State to confirm whether the deposit or the refund will attract any GST.”
“Thank you, Speaker, Sir. I thank Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for the comprehensive reply. We are very heartened to see that the Forward Singapore exercise is gaining momentum. I have two supplementary questions. One, I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister Wong whether the issue of repealing section 377A of the Penal Code will be discussed at a Forward Singapore exercise before it is tabled at Parliament. Secondly, I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister Wong whether the Government will consider issuing a White Paper to summarise the views of Singaporeans, the feedback and the Government's responses after the end of this exercise. And meanwhile, I also hope that the Government will not issue any major White Paper before the end of this exercise. But, to be sure, I am not referring to the Healthier Singapore White Paper that we will discuss tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the comprehensive reply. I have postponed this Parliamentary Question (PQ) three times since July this year and for the past three months, inflation rate has been gaining momentum and breaking records month after month. It is now 5.1% in August, the highest in 14 years. We understand that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has repeatedly said that the Government is prepared to do more if the inflation is persistently high. And now, we are experiencing this phenomenon. I think the Senior Minister of State will agree that households with a bigger number of people face more challenging headwinds in this high inflation environment compared to households with lesser members. So, would the Government consider giving more CDC vouchers to bigger households as compared to smaller households? Also, the second part of my question is, will the Government consider giving the CDC Vouchers to individual Singaporeans, rather than one per household? And lastly, what else will the Government consider doing, given that inflation has been consistent for the past few months since the last announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in May to give more help to Singaporeans?”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank Minister for pointing out that my earlier Parliamentary Question (PQ) is asking about the efficacy of the advertising framework under the Fair Consideration Framework on the MyCareersFuture website. One of the indicators for how many Singaporeans are on track to get top jobs is how many of the good jobs advertised under the Fair Consideration Framework are given to Singaporeans. The Minister has not answered my PQ as to how many of the jobs that are above $10,000 in salary per month, are filled by Singaporeans as compared to non-Singaporeans in the past five years. My second supplementary question: is there a maximum number of years that ONE Pass holders can have in Singapore because it will determine whether he has planned to pass on his expertise or get Singaporeans to fill the top jobs?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you. I also thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the comprehensive reply. Can I clarify a couple of points? How much has MAS contributed to Government's consolidated funds in the past five years, beyond FY2021/2022 that was reported in the press? How does MAS decide how much money MAS needs to contribute to the consolidated fund every year?”
“Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I also thank the Minister for the very comprehensive reply. Can I ask the Minister what is the percentage of the recent COVID-19 infections that are caused by the two subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 and whether MOH is considering sourcing Moderna and Pfizer-BioNtech's updated COVID-19 booster shots that can better target the Omicron subvariants?”
“Thank you, Speaker. Can I just understand correctly? Is the Minister saying that there were 20,000 applications for this SGUP programme but only 7,200 applicants were successful, of which, 3,400 completed the programme? If that is so, of the 20,000 applications, how many are the unique applicants? That means, we want to know what is the success rate of them getting a position under SGUP. The Minister was saying that only 3,400 have completed the programme. So, it appears that the drop-out rate is quite high. Can the Minister enlighten us why that is so?”
“Thank you, Speaker. The Fukushima nuclear plant accident in 2011 is still fresh in the memory of many people's mind. And the war in Ukraine has also reminded many of the nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986. We understand that a nuclear plant is a lot more efficient and it is cleaner. We also know that the Fukushima nuclear plant adhered to many industry standards across the globe but yet they still had the accident. So, we want to know from the Minister of State what are the areas and assurance they can give to Singaporeans and also our neighbouring countries that, in our quest for nuclear power, we will not have similar incidents like the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Secondly, will our quest for nuclear energy also prompt our neighbouring countries to go for similar technology? If so, how could we work with our neighbouring countries to ensure that such a development is safe and also minimises the impact on the environment?”
“And give a discount to the medical cost during visits to polyclinics and public hospitals for treatment as well as for medical check-ups. The discount given can be tiered according to the level of achievement based on clear KPIs. This may mean that we have to increase the budget for preventive healthcare because of all these discounts and incentives given. But such investments are worthy, especially if we can significantly reduce the pace of increase of medical cost over the next decade. Next, we need to limit the intake of sugar and salt. In 2016, MOH declared a war against sugar and set up a new task force, chaired by then Minister Gan Kim Yong. Could MOH provide an update on the result of the war against sugar? Does MOH have a similar plan to wage a war against salt as well? In summary, I concur with the need to encourage healthy living. In particular, we need to allocate more resources to preventive healthcare and the efforts to keep our Singaporeans healthy very significantly, at least in the next few years. Thereafter, we can adjust the investment into preventive healthcare. This will slow the overall healthcare cost.”
“Chairman, it was Benjamin Franklin who said: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". He said it nearly 300 years ago, but it still holds true today. Mr Ong Ye Kung during his recent event has already predicted that healthcare expenditure in Singapore will triple in the coming decade to almost $60 billion by 2030. Chairman, I fully agree with the Minister that preventive healthcare is critical. In the last two years, about 5% of the MOH non-COVID-19-related budget was spent on preventive healthcare efforts, including the $330 million to fund the work of the Health Promotion Board (HPB). Spending 5% of the healthcare budget on preventive healthcare is quite respectable, as compared to 2.9% in US and 5.9% in Canada. 1.30 pm Currently, one of the main incentive of encouraging Singaporeans to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to give vouchers. For example, the scheme to give up to $380 worth of e-vouchers when one uses the LumiHealth app for the Apple Watch to achieve healthy lifestyle goals. In the private sector, at least one insurance company allows healthy members to enjoy insurance benefits, like additional coverage or premium discounts. We should up our game. If you want to prevent the steep escalation of healthcare costs by three times over the next 10 years, we need to go upstream to persuade Singaporeans to live a healthy lifestyle so as to maximise their chances of having more years of healthy living and quality living in their twilight years. Beyond e-vouchers, I suggest we could incentivise Singaporeans to exercise regularly, eat healthily and take the appropriate vaccines by giving discounts on the CareShield Life Insurance premium, that means, giving a discount to the premium that we all have to pay.”
“In order to create separate paths, the entire path needs to be widened to include the space on either side. Hence, the agencies need to be bold to take back the land or to repurpose the land which may now comprise part of a road or a grass verge to expand the PCN. COVID-19 might have slowed down our pursuit of new technologies in transport, such as autonomous vehicle or AVs. The use of AVs is an important technological milestone that we cannot miss. In 2020, Singapore was named as the world's top country for autonomous driving due to the expansion of our testing areas and training of bus drivers to operate AVs. In fact, there was an earlier announcement that three new towns would be served by driverless buses by 2022. Can MOT update on the progress of AV trials at Jurong Innovation District, Tengah and Punggol? Meanwhile, two air taxi pioneers had recently announced their ambition to launch commercial air taxi services in Singapore by 2024. Could MOT provide us an update on the regulatory framework and safety standard for air taxis in Singapore? Alongside pandemic-induced changes in the way we travel, new transport technologies like AVs and air taxis would be an important part of our transport strategy for the future to reduce traffic congestion and free up land for other uses.”
“After the construction of the North-East Line, when the ridership was much lower than what LTA had anticipated, the construction of the Circle Line and Downtown Line was delayed. That resulted in overcrowding in the oldest North-South and East-West lines. We should not create the same kind of situation again. We should still build train lines ahead of demand. I trust that MOT will continue with its plan for the Jurong Regional Line and Cross Island Line. However, we can consider reducing the number of trains deployed to save on the operating, maintenance and fixed asset costs, like rolling stock, if we are successful in flattening the peak-hour travel demand. Next, I would like to move on to the topic of cycling. The pandemic has made cycling more popular for leisure and for commuting. As what Minister S Iswaran had said, commuting by bicycle does not emit any carbon dioxide. So, it is good that Singapore is expanding its current 440-kilometre network of cycling paths to 800 kilometres by 2023 and to 1,320 kilometres by 2030. However, these paths and the park connector network, or PCN, are getting crowded as more Singaporeans are using them. I, myself, have been cycling. I have come across instances where the entire shared path was blocked by families holding hands and walking in a row side-by-side. On other occasions, I had also seen three bicycles cycling in parallel, blocking the entire PCN. To keep everyone safe, I suggest that there should be dedicated cycling and pedestrian paths as far as possible. East Coast Park is one of those parks which have dedicated cycling and pedestrian paths and we need to extend this to more places, such as the PCNs in Marina Bay, Alexandra or the Sengkang/Punggol PCN and more.”
“If there is a need to have an early meeting at 8.00 am, perhaps we can allow some of them to join the meeting virtually. The unions can also chip in to encourage similar practices in the private sector. Secondly, at the next review of public transport fares, perhaps the Public Transport Council, or PTC, can take the opportunity to encourage less travelling during peak hours. In London, some national rail services do not stop at the busiest interchanges at peak times in a deliberate attempt to discourage travelling during peak hours. But I do not suggest that Singapore do the same. It might be better for PTC to amend the fare structure to give a significant discount during the off-peak travel period. However, providing monetary incentives alone will not shift the travel pattern significantly. In 2013 to 2014, many of you would remember that commuters were offered free pre-peak travel if they exited certain MRT stations before 7.45 am. What was the result? There was only a sustained decrease of about 7% of commuters exiting the 16 participating MRT stations during the peak period between 8.00 am and 9.00 am. This means that there needs to be a combination of people working from home, staggered working hours and financial incentives for off-peak travelling to result in a significant and sustained impact. After going through the pandemic, I hope MOT can work with the various stakeholders to cement the change. This will also mean a more pleasant ride on our trains and buses. If we manage to flatten the curve of peak-hour travelling, should we allow or should we slow down the construction of MRT lines? I hope MOT will reply with a firm "no".”
“Chairman, the pandemic has completely changed our lives in the past two years. There may not be an exact endpoint where we can say life is going back to normal. While we are slowly restoring parts of our lives, some parts have changed forever. I would like to touch on one aspect which is close to my heart – how the pandemic has altered our transport patterns. Before I proceed, I would like to declare my interest as I am working in the land transport industry. It is amazing how all of us have been forced to work from home in one way or another in the past two years. Will working from home be a permanent feature in the future? From my conversations with many business leaders, the consensus is that most staff, barring the frontline staff, will likely be working from home between 10% and 30% of the time even after the pandemic. More employers are also willing to have their workers put on staggered working hours. Indeed, data from a study in San Francisco showed that the pandemic had reduced traffic throughout the morning peak hour and spread it all over throughout the day. Ultimately, this can also contribute to healthier communities as there is less air pollution and is aligned with our green plan. Therefore, we need to capitalise on the work-from-home trend to permanently reduce the level of travel demand during the peak hours between 7.30 am and 9.30 am. Before the pandemic, the resources devoted to the morning peak hours often defined the maximum capacity required to meet the travel demand. Going forward, firstly, I would like to suggest that the Public Service, which employs about 130,000 public officers, consider encouraging their staff to continue to work from home one to two days a week or to allow the staff to come to work after morning peak hours.”
“Third, for condominiums, few MCSTs are successful in installing the charging stations because they need to go through a long and tedious process to obtain the residents’ support. Could LTA work with MND to consider mandating all condominiums with a sizeable number of parking lots to install charging stations? Would it be possible for the Government to provide incentives for doing so, especially for the early adopters? Fourth, would the Government consider mandating all commercial properties, including shopping centres and malls with sizeable parking lots, to install charging stations? After solving the supply side of installing charging stations, we need to provide incentives to increase the ownership of EVs, like what Norway and China have been doing. In Norway, almost 65% of all new passenger cars sold in 2021 were EVs. How did Norway do it? The Norway government taxed internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles very heavily, but does not tax EVs at all. In Singapore, the various incentives for the early adoption of EVs can amount to $45,000, but only the more expensive EV models get to enjoy these maximum savings. To further encourage the adoption of mass market EVs, I would like to propose reducing the 20% excise duty of EVs with Open Market Value (OMV) of less than $30,000. The reduction in the excise duty should be inversely proportional to the EV’s OMV, so that there would be a bigger discount for a cheaper EV. This would prevent profiteering by EV distributors and make EVs more affordable to the masses.”
“Chairman, the number of registered EVs in Singapore more than doubled, from 1,397 EVs in year 2000 to 3,713 EVs in 2021 or last year. Most of the individuals who bought EVs are likely to stay in landed properties due to the high cost of EVs and the ease of installing mid-range EV home chargers for about $2,500 at the comfort of their home. Can MOT shed some light on the demographics of the first wave of EV buyers in Singapore? Before I proceed, I would like to declare my interest as I work in the transport industry. I have always maintained that whether EVs can take off in the mass market segment is dependent on whether we have sufficient public charging stations in Singapore. This is a chicken-and-an-egg situation. If we leave it to market forces, few will be willing to install charging stations in large numbers. Thus, it is very important for Singapore to decisively incentivise companies to build EV charging facilities ahead of demand, like what the European countries and China have been doing. In particular, I would like to suggest four areas for MOT to consider. First, many commercial properties are not able to install fast-charging stations at their commercial buildings because these fast-charging stations are needed by the large fleet owners, because they have to pay a high fee to build substations or upgrade the grid. So, I would urge the Government to consider paying for the upgrading cost of the grid and the expansion of the electric substations. Second, to encourage the growth of the EV mass market segment, the Government can consider providing significant incentives for companies to install up to five charging stations at all HDB car parks that have a sizeable number of parking lots.”
“Chairman, the rise of China and the evolving geopolitical situation between China and the US had a global impact, especially on Singapore. When US President Richard Nixon visited China 50 years ago in 1972, the US was a superpower while China was seen as the sick man of Asia. In terms of nominal GDP, the size of China's economy in 1972 was just 8.9% of the US economy. But in 2020, China's economy became 70.3% of the US economy. It is projected that China's economy will overtake the US economy by 2030. The rivalry between the two countries has given rise to stiff competition in technology, innovation and defence build-up. As a result, Quad and AUKUS were formed to counter the influence of China. Many ASEAN countries, including Singapore, have been asked to take sides. We are being swept up in this current of geopolitical change. I would like to ask the Minister for Defence what is the impact of the Quad and AUKUS on our relationship with the US and China and how does it impact the current Five-Power Defence Arrangement, or FPDA, which was started in 1971 as a third security arrangement involving Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Malaysia and Singapore? Will Singapore continue to welcome US nuclear submarines at our naval base and, eventually, host Australia's nuclear submarine when New Zealand had categorically said no? In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the latest Omicron wave, how does it affect MINDEF's engagement with its US and Chinese counterparts, including the joint exercises with these two countries respectively? Has the ongoing Ukraine war affected our defence relations with the US and China? Defence Diplomacy”
“Therefore, I am heartened that Members of Parliament who have questioned why defence spending is so high in the past, or have asked the Government to freeze or even cut defence spending, are no longer making the same request. However, the biggest difference now is that several Members of Parliament have called for using more Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC). Currently, half of NIRC is spent on Government spending and the other half is used for topping up our reserves to increase investment capitals, thus increasing the returns on our net investment. Due to COVID-19, we have spent nearly $43 billion of our national reserves. Without this $43 billion, the NIRC will also be reduced. At the same time, the Finance Minister has also said that it is difficult to plug this big hole with current Government revenue, especially taxes. Without the trees planted by our forefathers, we would not have the reserves to help Singaporeans to cope with the impact of COVID-19 in the past two years. Singapore is a small country. We do not know how many other crises like COVID-19 or the Financial Crisis will happen in the future and whether or not we need to use reserves. Therefore, I suggest that for the sake of our children and future generations, we should use half of our NIRC to slowly top up the $43 billion reserves that have been used. We cannot afford to sit idle and use up all our savings. (In English): I support the Budget.”
“That being the case, the IHLs have the urgent need to incorporate tech components in almost every course in the university. More importantly, the IHLs have the mission to provide continuous training to existing professionals to equip them with technology and skills so that they can keep up with the industry trends. If we take a step back, we may need to examine if we need to put a time stamp on the degree conferred by universities. What do we mean by time stamp? One radical idea is to put it as a requirement that the graduates have to attend upgrading courses every five years or so. If you do not upgrade, your degree will fade over time and you no longer can claim the degree as your credential after a while. Does it sound scary? Mr Speaker, Sir, if we are serious about continuous training and lifelong learning, we have to be radical about transformation. It may not and should not happen overnight. But, we have to start to transform our IHLs. Mr Speaker, Sir, in Mandarin please. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Budget debate over the past two days has seen two consensus and one difference. The first consensus is that the Members of Parliament all agree that the country's spending needs to be increased, especially the budget for MOH. This is because our population is ageing, healthcare costs will go up year by year. The second consensus is that so far, no Member of Parliament has suggested cutting our defence spending to pay for the increase in healthcare costs. Because of the war in Ukraine, many people realised the importance of national defence. If we cannot ensure our territorial integrity, there is no need to debate this Budget here.”
“I know of a family where the daughter, a fresh graduate of computer science, is earning close to the pay of her mother who has been a teacher with MOE for more than 30 years. Is this an anomaly? Is the job of a teacher of less important? No. This is just market forces at play. There is an acute shortage of IT staff in Singapore and worldwide. If our IHLs are still sticking to four years to churn out IT graduates, we might not be able to close the gap in the short to medium term without importing more foreign IT talents. At the same time, we have many recent Polytechnic and University graduates that cannot find jobs. There are also many mid-career PMETs who have lost their jobs and aspire to earn the starting pay of the recent IT graduates. So, what can we do? I had the privilege of visiting Tata Consulting Services (TCS) SG United Program with Minister Iswaran about two years ago. I also recently had lunch with the Asia Pacific Head of TCS. I understand that the trainees go through foundational and specialised training courses in areas like cloud adoption, artificial intelligence, machine learning, coding and getting on-the-job training by working on projects with TCS clients. Most, if not all of their hundreds of their trainees, found good jobs after the course. We need to work with more industry partners to expand the programme to produce not hundreds but thousands of such IT personnel. If we believe in the notion that every company has to be a tech company to survive, then almost all key personnel in the company, ranging from HR, customer service, marketing, procurement, all have to be IT savvy and be able to adopt technology that can make their work more efficient and effective.”
“University education is also about sharpening the presentation skills, collaboration skills, social skills and other soft skills through project works, through tutorial seminars and internship, both locally and overseas. So, do we still need a four-year full degree course? Should we shorten the degree course? Should we have extended and more purposeful internships as part of transformation of IHLs that Minister for Education is thinking about? How do we involve industry leaders in shaping the curriculum of the IHL education so that the professors and students are more in touch with the industry’s needs and development? Can we have the flexibility of converting the second half of the full-time degree course into a part-time degree should the students want to extend his internship or even start work earlier? Above are food for thoughts as we transform our IHLs. It is always evolving, and we cannot be static. Mr Speaker, Sir, when we look at the job prospect of university graduates over the past three years, graduates of information and digital technologies are well sought after and command the highest starting pay, comparable or even higher than the starting pay of lawyers and doctors. People with tech skills are high in demand. Will this trend last? Or will it burst just like the dot.com bubble did 20 years ago? Given the trend of how digital technology has disrupted many industries, there is a high chance that this technology craze will continue for quite a while. In fact, every company has to be tech company to survive. Even the media companies that are reporting our speeches in Parliament have to be tech driven as declared by the chairman of the newly formed SPH Media Limited.”
“All things related to cryptocurrency is developing very fast and is hard to imagine how the subject can be taught in the university with sufficient currency. After working for a few months, he wants to defer his university education to pursue his interest and continue working in the same field. He does not want to miss the swift developments in the cryptocurrency industry. As his father, I was quite concerned. I am old school and very much believe in the notion of having a university degree to fall back on. But taking a step back, I am amazed that these days, young people without a university degree can do very well in certain industries especially in technology and make a very decent living. From my understanding, a significant number of young people working in the cryptocurrency industry are earning more than a hundred thousand dollars a year despite being in their 20s or early 30s. These days, even without a university degree, skill sets, personal experiences and knowledge can take a person very far. Young people may have their own ideas about their professional development. Taking this into account, our universities need to evolve to remain relevant. Unlike my time in the university, the main pillar of the curriculum was to impart knowledge and learn how to search for information in the library. But today, knowledge is abundant with the help of the Internet. The demise of print encyclopaedia reflects this reality. What is important about university education is to learn how to search information, verify the information and organise the information to present in a coherent, concise and simple manner.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in the Budget Statement, Minister for Finance said that we need to transform our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) which include the six Autonomous Universities. I agree. This is because IHLs need to keep pace with industry changes. I would like to share two personal anecdotes that would support the need for the transformation of IHLs. The first was at my workplace. A candidate applying for an IT support position in his 50s did not have any diploma in IT or a degree in IT. So, the HR department did not think he was fit to join as an executive using the conventional wisdom. But this candidate had a lot of work experience in running an IT infrastructure and support business. He self-learned over the years and was competent in IT support. Eventually, the IT head decided to hire him, and he performed very well thereafter. Clearly, his skill sets, real-world experience and knowledge about current IT practices trumped whatever IT diploma or IT degree he may have gotten 30 years ago, which would be obsolete by now. This episode reflects the need for continuous training and lifelong learning and IHLs need to play this role. The second case is closer to home. When my son was about to complete his full-time National Service last year, he was searching for a temporary job before commencing university this August. While serving his National Service, he started diving into the rabbit hole of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, decentralised finance and stablecoins. With his deep knowledge about cryptocurrency, he managed to land a temporary job with a cryptocurrency firm as an analyst despite having no official training.”
“Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Ministers and the Minister of State for their comprehensive replies. I would like to ask a couple of supplementary questions. We understand from Minister of State Desmond Tan that once the money is transferred out of Singapore during an Internet scam, it is almost as good as gone. So, I would like to ask the Minister for Finance what the proportion of Internet transfers is involving accounts overseas. Is it possible for the local user to opt, by default, to not allow the transfer of money out to overseas, unless authorised otherwise with the two-step verification? This is similar to what local mobile phone users do, where they can disable the auto-roaming so as to minimise the cost. Secondly, when banks are alerted to the significant increase in banking scams, can the bank deactivate all overseas bank transfers for a short period, so as to minimise the scam's impact?”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank both the Ministers for the very comprehensive replies. MSF has, over the years, issued transport concession cards to persons with disabilities; it has the registry and has been helping them. So, I would like to ask if MSF would consider having a similar registry for the caregivers of persons with disability and proactively reach out to them, either through the Ministries or through the community, so we can all help them? I echo what our fellow Member, Ms Denise Phua, has said. Many of us want to try to help the caregivers in our respective constituencies, but we also lack resources and the know-how to help them. So, we really hope that the Ministry can come up with programmes and roll them out fast, besides the 3i initiative that we have. We really hope that the Ministry can work with the different segments of society, the population as a whole, so that we can all work together to better prevent this very sad case of a double murder.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have two supplementary questions. The first question is for Minister of State Low Yen Ling. What are the causes of the supply chain disruptions that affect Singapore particularly? Something that happens in the rest of the world may not affect us. Because she said that these disruptions may be temporary, does she foresee that these disruptions will ease in maybe the next one to three months, or will it be longer than three months? The second question is, we note that some cost increases are those that we have to have, or for some of the services provided by the Government. But will the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) work with the Ministries to coordinate some of the increases which are within the control of the Government? For example, like revising the annual values of HDB flats which will actually lead to increase in property tax and also electricity prices which would affect the majority of people; even the coffeeshops are now using that as an excuse to increase prices for the drinks and more.”
“Therefore, I urge that when examining the grounds for divorce filed by couples, judges do not grant a divorce easily just because both parties have agreed that their marriage has broken down irretrievably. We hope that the judges will lean towards requiring divorcing couples to undergo counselling. On another note, when the Women's Charter was amended in 2016, Mr Speaker, who was then Minister for Social and Family Development, stressed that MSF would appoint maintenance officers to enforce maintenance orders more effectively. However, during my Meet-the-People Sessions, many single parents still fret over claiming maintenance. Currently, single parents have to go to different agencies in person to verify their documents before they can apply to Court to enforce the maintenance order. Therefore, I hope that MSF can further simplify the procedures, especially in light of the COVID-19 situation, to make it easier for single parents to receive maintenance from their ex-spouse. (In English): Mr Speaker, notwithstanding the above concerns, I support the Bill.”
“In 2014, The Straits Times reported an instance of a man who was ordered to pay $70,000 in maintenance to his former wife despite the fact that he was retired, she earned more than him and he paid the mortgage of their marital home. It may be timely for us to re-examine if we should further level the playing field to ensure that our maintenance laws reflect the changes in society and are fair to both parties. Mr Speaker, Sir, let me continue in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Speaker, the current amendment to the Women's Charter is mainly focused on the adjustment of the divorce proceedings by adding the sixth fact as grounds for divorce to the existing five, namely, both husband and wife can mutually agree that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, or "divorce by mutual agreement", (DMA) in short. We also understand that the Family Justice Courts has been simplifying divorce proceedings since 2015 to allow couples who want to divorce to do so after they have reached an agreement on the divorce, together with all the ancillary matters. Currently, about 60% of the divorce cases have been filed through the simplified procedures. Many people feel that once the Bill is passed, most of the divorcing couples will file for divorce on grounds of DMA. In other words, divorce will become easier. With the amendment, I hope that the divorce rate here in Singapore will not increase significantly, resulting in more single-parent families. In China, when divorce laws were relaxed in 2003, couples can divorce without going to court. As a result, the divorce rate increased significantly. As a result, the Chinese government had to tighten the divorce laws in 2021.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the major change to the Women's Charter Bill would be the addition of a sixth fact as grounds for divorce – that both husband and wife mutually agree on the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. I fully support this on the basis that this might be less damaging to the emotional well-being of any children involved and goes some way towards protecting the children. Currently, when it comes to the paying of maintenance post-divorce, the onus is usually on the man to maintain his ex-wife and children. However, times have changed. Over the years, the issue of gender-neutral maintenance has been raised in this House many times. There are more men who choose to stay at home to look after the children and the household these days. According to MOM's Labour Force in Singapore Report, there were about 1,500 stay-at-home fathers in 2017, an increase of 700 from a decade earlier. An in-depth study of some of these fathers found that most of them made the choice because their wives were earning more than them. Indeed, in a double-income household, women may be earning more than their husbands. What happens in the case of a divorce? While men were previously not allowed to seek maintenance, amendments were earlier made to the Women's Charter in 2016 to allow ill, disabled or ex-husbands to seek maintenance from their ex-wives if they are incapacitated, unable to support themselves. But it is now 2022 and perhaps we can make further progress in moving towards gender-neutral arrangements for maintenance. In many countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada and many European countries, men can claim maintenance from their wives. In Britain, spousal maintenance is paid by the man or woman with the higher income to the one with the lower income.”
“Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for the comprehensive reply. We are very thankful that MOM is able to increase the quota for MDWs. We know that many families are very anxious about getting their domestic workers to come to Singapore. We understand that the average is 900 per month from May to October. So, what is the number that MOM is expecting from November to maybe the next three months so that they can have better expectations? Also, for the 1,000 MDWs that have been facilitated to come in through the commercial programme, what is the breakdown by country? Are there any challenges in a specific country where we find it more difficult to bring in the domestic workers to Singapore than other countries?”
“Concurrently, we also need to tap on the silver generation for volunteerism as they prepare for retirement. If coordinated well, the Orange Compass can also help to mobilise the untapped resources to turn the silver tsunami into a silver lining.”
“I believe that with good planning and Singaporeans working together, we will have the opportunity to turn a silver tsunami into a silver lining and we can truly "see an elder at home as a treasure". Raising the retirement and re-employment age is the first step, so I support this Bill. However, legislation is one thing. The more important thing is how Singaporeans treat older workers. Prof Tommy Koh has called on Singaporeans not to discriminate against older workers. Hence, NTUC and SNEF have been working together to accelerate mechanisation and automation, so that blue-collar workers will still be able to do their jobs beyond the age of 65. In recent years, autonomous driving technology progressed by leaps and bounds. Many taxis are equipped with automatic emergency brake and lane departure alert. Hence, I urge the Government to raise the retirement age of taxi drivers to 78 years old. Of course, older taxi drivers have to go through health checks every year because safety comes first. This way, more older Singaporeans can continue to work beyond the retirement age. (In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, Singaporeans are better educated over the years and more are using their brain power rather than their physical strength, to contribute to the economy. At the same time, Singaporeans are living longer with medical advancement and accessibility to medical care. Thus, we need to create an environment for Singaporeans to work as long as possible and as long as they are willing, to meet the requirements of the growing economy, rather than tapping more on the foreign manpower. Increasing the retirement and re-employment age progressively is definitely the right step in the right direction.”
“It could encourage more abled seniors to volunteer to earn points and the points earned would be able to be kept in the central registry, preferably using block chain technology. If we can find sufficient sponsors, the points accumulated can be converted to food vouchers, taxi vouchers and so on to mitigate the cost of living for the seniors that volunteer. The points earned can also be kept for the future to exchange for services when the seniors become less abled. For example, seniors can volunteer when they are in their 60s and 70s, that is, when they are more abled. When the seniors are in their 80s, they can use the points accumulated in the registry to exchange for services provided by future volunteers to bring them to the hospital for medical check-ups, for example. The Orange Compass can provide the direction for more abled seniors to volunteer. When the seniors are assured that their volunteer efforts will be recognised, more will volunteer. When the seniors know that their volunteer efforts can be stored securely in the registry and redeem for services in the future, they are more likely to volunteer as well. Let me continue in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Deputy Speaker, according to the UN definition, a senior is someone who is above 65 years old. In 2010, 9% of our population was aged 65 and above. In 2020, the figure was 15.2%. By 2030, it is projected that more than 20% of our population will be 65 years old and above. In other words, our population is ageing rapidly. Economists often describe an ageing society as a silver tsunami or a silver crisis. Is that really the case?”
“Thus, the time is ripe to review the retirement age of taxi drivers. During my weekly house visits in the past decade, I find that more and more elderly people are staying alone. This is not the most desirable situation. With the successful launch of Community Care Apartments in Bukit Batok, I hope HDB can accelerate the launch of Community Care Apartments in more HDB estates, especially the older towns. To encourage more seniors to take up Senior Housing Bonus scheme, I would like to urge HDB to waive the resale levy. This will also encourage the seniors to monetise their flat for better retirement adequacy. While waiting for HDB to build more Community Care Apartments, I would like to suggest that MOH and MSF further fund the Senior Activity Centres or SACs at the HDB studio apartments to provide similar services that are planned for the Community Care Apartments. For example, the SACs can provide care and support services as well as simple home fix services to the existing HDB studio apartments. As we become a super-aged society, it is not tenable to employ more and more foreign workers to take care of the less mobile seniors. The average life expectancy of Singaporean is 84 years old but many are expected to be in poor health in the last 10 years of their life . Henceforth, it is important to encourage seniors, near retirement age or for those who just retired to remain active and volunteer to help other seniors who are less mobile or in a poorer health situation. In view of the above, I would like to recommend the Government to start a National Volunteer Registry which I would name "Orange Compass". The Orange Compass could have the following benefits.”
“When they turn 55 years old, their productivity is less likely to decline as compared to the blue-collar workers. Even for the blue-collar workers, many are still fit and healthy at 55 years old, their productivity is unlikely to deteriorate significantly when they turn 55 years old. Hence, it is arbitrary to start reducing the employer’s CPF contribution rate at 55 years old. I propose that MOM and the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers consider, at the right time and, hopefully, earlier, to reduce the employer’s CPF contribution rate only at 60 years old and not 55 years old. If that is a reality, the employer’s CPF contribution rate for those below 60 years old would remain at 17% before reducing to 14% for those between 60 and 64 years old, and 10% for those between 65 and 69 years old, and 8% for those who above 70 years old. To mitigate the financial impact on the employers, we certainly hope that MOM will strengthen the senior worker support package to ease the transition. Next, I support the NTUC’s efforts to urge the employers to redesign work scope, use automation to reduce manual works so that more seniors can continue to work till 70 years old or beyond. Before I continue, I would like to declare my interest as the CEO of ComfortDelGro Taxi. As part of the efforts to create more jobs for those above 70 years old, I would like the Government to consider increasing the retirement age of taxi drivers to 78 years old progressively, up from the current 75. The retirement age of taxi drivers was last changed and revised in 2012. With more intelligent safety features like autonomous emergency brake and lane departure alert becoming a norm for taxi, it will be safer for older taxi drivers to drive, provided they pass the stringent annual medical screening.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand in support of the Retirement and Re-employment (Amendment) Bill. In 2010, 9% of the Singapore’s population was aged 65 years and above. Singapore was then considered as an ageing society. In 2020, 15.2% of our population is above 65 years old. Singapore has transited from an ageing society in 2010 to become an aged society in 2020, just within a span of 10 years. By 2030, it is projected that more than 20% of our population will be 65 years old and above. That is, we will become a super-aged society like Japan. Many economists consider this as a silver tsunami. But how do we turn the silver tsunami into a silver lining? Well, we need more of a whole-of-Government approach to tackle the issue of a super-aged society. Meanwhile, I would like to make some suggestions over three broad areas. First, to allow more senior Singaporeans to work as long as possible, where health permits and Singaporeans willing. Second, have flexible housing arrangements to allow as many elderly people as possible to age at home. Three, to create a National Volunteer Registry to encourage as many seniors as possible to volunteer when they can. I would suggest to name this programme as the Orange Compass and I would elaborate on the programme later. Many of us would agree that with better nutrition, better medical advancements and better living conditions in Singapore, Singaporeans live longer. Today’s 65 years old is like 55 years old decades ago. Hence, I totally agree with the amendment in the Retirement and Re-Employment Act to increase the retirement and re-employment age progressively from next year. Currently, almost 60% of the Singapore’s workforce is in PMET jobs.”