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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“I would like to thank MHA and those who are involved in the PCRC and the public for their valuable contributions in making sweeping changes to update our Penal Code.”
“We want to protect all women from sexual abuse, especially within the confines of their marriage, where they are most vulnerable and may find it difficult to say "no". The amendment empowers them to step forward because a law has been broken. However, we do have to be careful to guard against false allegations of rape in instances where a married couple is not yet divorced, but the marriage has already broken down and the woman may want to "cry wolf" to fulfil a personal agenda. Either that, or it could be a difference in interpretation. Using another context, there have been cases of women who claim that they were raped, but the men said that it was consensual sex. Such charges are inherently based on "he says, she says", whereby it is quite impossible to obtain good evidence. It is challenging to prove a lack of consent in marital rape, due to the intimacy associated with marriage and the fluid nature of consent. Some even asked if a husband is supposed to get consent from the wife every time they have sexual relationships. A wife who consented may later retract it, in the heat of subsequent arguments. While it is morally right to protect women from abusive husbands who force themselves on their wives, I would like to ask the Minister what additional safeguards, besides enhancing the punishment of providing false statement, if any, the Police will take to prevent and deter such false allegations. Will no signs of physical injury be sufficient to prove a false allegation of marital rape? I hope the Minister can provide us with more insight. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, the Criminal Law Review Bill is timely.”
“The Police did not necessarily investigate unless the victim spent money and time to go to the Magistrate's Court to raise a complaint. Otherwise, they would not get any help. So, out of these 40 incidents, only four cases were finally prosecuted in Court. The majority of the victims could only look at the passengers going scot-free. Currently, there is a huge difference between "VCH" and "voluntary causing grievous hurt". The definition of "grievous hurt" includes serious injuries like fractures or blindness. Even if the victim was badly beaten up and was hospitalised for a few days, he may not be considered as suffering from grievous hurt and the incident may not be investigated. If he wants some form of justice, he has to pay for a medical report of his medical examination, take leave and pay another $20 to lodge a complaint at the Magistrate's Court. Only then will the Police investigate. All these take time and money, so it does not appear to be fair to the victims. Therefore, I would like to suggest to the Minister that the Police should proactively investigate incidences of "VCH" under certain circumstances, even though the victim was not deemed to have suffered grievous hurt. For example, if the injury is serious enough to warrant more than one day of medical leave to recover, or if a customer beats up service personnel, the Police can investigate immediately and charge the perpetrators in Court. (In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to continue my speech in English. It is good that we are finally repealing the marital immunity for rape, following the practice of other countries such as the UK, US and Australia.”
“How many cases were investigated by the Police due to Magistrate's complaint? How many cases were investigated by the Police without a complaint to the Magistrate? How many cases were eventually prosecuted in Court? One extreme is to follow the UK's example of making "VCH" to be a seizable offence. I do not think the Police are ready for this. I would like to propose somewhere in between. I would like to propose that the Minister consider requesting the Police to initiate investigations for all cases of "VCH" that fall under the following categories: (a) road bully, that is, assault arising from dispute of a car accident or a near-miss car accident; (b) assault by a customer on customer service staff, be it a waiter, waitress, sales person in a departmental store, customer service officer of a telecommunications company or cabbies; and (c) assault resulting in victim suffering an injury that needs more than one day of medical leave to recuperate. In the first place, there is no good reason for a person to assault another without provocation. Worse still, a customer service staff should not be assaulted by the very customer he or she is trying to serve. If the Police can initiate investigations for such assault cases without the need for the victim to lodge a Magistrate's complaint, it will go a long way to deter such violent acts and bring justice to the victim in a fast, decisive and appropriate manner. At this juncture, I would like to declare my interest as the Chief Executive Officer of ComfortDelGro Taxi Business before I continue my speech in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In 2018, there were 40 taxi drivers who were beaten up by their passengers. These were classified as causing hurt and not causing grievous hurt.”
“However, there is still a gulf between how the Police handle VCH cases and that of voluntarily causing grievous hurt. VCH under section 323 is a non-seizeable offence. There are many injuries which do not fall under "grievous hurt". Grievous hurt relates to very serious injuries, such as fracture, blindness and other permanent disability. Very often, "hurt" can be serious resulting in profuse bleeding, hospitalisation or a few days of medical leave. Yet, it is still not serious enough to be classified as grievous hurt and the offence is not seizable. The problem of a non-seizable offence is that the Police cannot make any arrest without a warrant. The victim of VCH has to lodge a Magistrate's Complaint with the Courts. This is a onerous administrative process costing $20 and requires the victim to lodge the complaint personally in Court. He also has to buy a medical report from a hospital or clinic to state how he has been hurt. This whole process is obviously a deterrent. Only when the victim of VCH has made a Magistrate's complaint that the Police will be directed by the Magistrate to investigate. Hence, many perpetrators, many persons who try to hurt other people, get away quite easily. In the UK, you can get arrested for committing such offences. Common assault, which includes pushing, slapping or merely spitting at people, such offences carry a maximum penalty of six months in prison. Actual bodily harm, which is a step up, constitutes actual physical harm which does not need to be serious. Actual bodily harm includes bruises, scratches and bite marks and the offence carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. I would like to ask the Minister: how many cases of section 323 were reported in 2018?”
“It built strong local networks by educating medical and social workers on the ground so that they can immediately respond to those thinking of taking their own life. It also strengthened depression tests to identify those who might be at risk. We can take a leaf from Korea’s experience. At the minimum, I suggest that we should mandate those who attempted suicide to go for counselling or treatment. For this to work, our anti-suicide effort needs to be an inter-Ministry collaboration, involving the Police, MSF and other stakeholders. Another area we have to be concerned about is teenage suicide. This is particularly problematic because the youths are shockingly vulnerable. Suicide is the leading cause of death for those aged between 10 and 29 in Singapore. These youths and teens are increasingly at risk of self-harm due to bad influences through social media and challenges. Such dark challenges could be disguised as a Momo Challenge, Blue Whale Challenge or hashtag #kys, that is, "kill yourself". When the youths feel stressed, they can also easily go online to search for methods on how to kill themselves. Thus, I hope that even with the decriminalisation of attempted suicide, the Police should not wash their hands completely. Whenever there is such self-harm reported, the Police should still be alerted to rule out any abetment of suicide. The Police can still be the referral agent to mandate Singaporeans who have attempted suicide to seek help. Next, section 323 for voluntarily causing hurt (VCH). The new section 323A fills in the gap between hurt and causing grievous hurt with intention. The Bill also enhances the punishment when hurt is inflicted on domestic workers, vulnerable persons and persons less than 14 years old. This is timely, appropriate and necessary.”
“For people who are determined to end their lives, arrest and threat to charge her in Court is a poor deterrent to re-offending. With that in mind, I would like to ask the Minister how many cases of attempted suicide were reported from 2010 to 2018. Of those, how many persons were arrested? How many persons were arrested repeatedly? Under the current law, abetment of suicide is a crime. I would also like to ask the Minister how many cases of abetment of attempted suicide were reported from 2010 to 2018. The above statistics are important for us to understand the underlying trends of suicide rate in Singapore and the effectiveness of our suicide prevention programme. With the decriminalisation of attempted suicide, I hope that Government agencies will not trivialise the act of attempted suicide, especially if the Police are no longer involved or are playing a minor role. I hope more resources, not less, will be channelled to help those who attempted suicide, more resources in terms of counselling to help the victim and victim’s families, more resources in terms of indepth studies on the causes of attempted suicide and suicide. It is through this approach that we can better preserve the sanctity of life. Perhaps we could look at what the Koreans have done. Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and the highest among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. What the South Korean government did was to conduct an extensive study on 70,000 people who committed suicide from 2012 to 2016 to establish a National Surveillance System on Suicide Trend to analyse patterns and statistics on the causes of suicide and who is more likely to attempt suicide.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the proposed changes to the Criminal Law Reform Bill are timely and relevant. In general, these amendments reflect sentiments on the ground. The amendments have broadly enhanced protection for the vulnerable in society and tackles emerging crime trends. I am glad our legal justice system is sufficiently nimble to move with the times and I stand in support of the Bill. However, there are a few sections which I have some concerns with. According to WHO, Singapore ranked 62 out of 176 countries with a suicide rate of almost 10 suicides per 100,000 people. This also means that Singapore has 2.5 times more deaths from suicide than transport accidents in 2017, when 361 people killed themselves. In terms of trends, men accounted for over 66% of these deaths. The number of elderly aged above 60 who took their own lives also reached an all-time high in 2017, at 129 suicides. This is the highest since suicide tracking started in 1991. With the current Bill, section 309 of the Penal Code is repealed. This means that attempted suicide is no more a crime. We finally recognise that it is more important to rehabilitate and support those who want to commit suicide, rather than arresting and prosecuting those who have attempted suicide. As a Police officer in my younger days, I had attended to suicide cases as well as attempted suicide cases. In one very memorable instance, I had to visit a young lady in the hospital after her second failed attempt at suicide. I had to record her statement and warned her that it was an offence to attempt suicide. She was indifferent. She could not care less about what I said. A few days later, she made a third and final attempt, and was successful.”
“Mr Speaker, I have a follow-up question for Second Minister Indranee Rajah on the security arrangement at the hostels. I understand that the student in the controversy of this NUS Peeping Tom incident said that he was at the hostel after midnight with the intention to stay over at his girlfriend's hostel room, even though he was not a resident of the hostel. I would like to ask: what is the security arrangement for the NUS hostel and the hostels at the other universities? Would they allow people to go into the hostels after midnight and what is the response from the universities?”
“Just to clarify, Minister. So, are there no more foreign ships right now in our territorial waters off Tuas at this point of time?”
“I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. I have a few supplementary questions. Could the Minister elaborate which age group among the PMETs who have been retrenched for the past few years are the most affected? At the same time, which age group has benefited most with the growth of these PMET vacancies last year? And do we know the utilisation rate of SkillsFuture Credit among those retrenched, especially among the PMETs, and whether there are any plans for the Ministry of Manpower to top up the SkillsFuture Credit?”
“Mr Chairman, I have clarifications for Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary and for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng. During my cut on "20-minute Town and 40-minute City", I have asked how many households today are staying within a 10-minute walk of an MRT station and how many current trips today to city are taking less than 45 minutes so that we can have a benchmark, compared to our Vision in 2040. I hope the Senior Minister of State can also enlighten us whether MOT has given up hope to persuade Government agencies and companies to have staggered working hours so as to smoothen out the traffic during peak hours. For Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng, I am glad that LTA has made the clarification on homologations, but this is only one example that I quoted for agencies to look at how to cut red tape. I hope LTA is not being defensive. In fact, the experience on the ground is actually quite different.”
“And the question is how? I would suggest three areas where we need to pay more attention. Firstly, on price. During peak hours, it is widely reported that surge pricing can be a few times the taxi metered fare. Should there be a cap? On the contrary, very low peak hour fares will also drive the supply away. So, we need a balance. Secondly, on availability. Today, ride hailing companies claim that their cater rate can be almost 100%. And this is because when you ask for private car, and it can come to you but it could be 20 minutes or more. For taxi companies, on the other hand, they have to ensure that their taxis arrive within 10 minutes most of the time based on current regulation. So, what should be the acceptable definition of vehicle availability? This is where the public and commuters need to be consulted. And thirdly, on safety. To ensure public safety, taxis are subjected to six-monthly inspections and taxi drivers have to be more than 30 years old, a proxy of how experienced a driver could be. Private hire cars are not subjected to the same regulations today. Safety is important and I hope that the authorities can take that into consideration. In short, I agree that a review of the P2P transport sector is timely. P2P Sector Regulatory Framework Review”
“At the same time, the authority continues to regulate the taxi sector as tight as before and this has created some distortions and disruptions to the market. Let me explain. Before the entry of private hire cars, we have 28,000 taxis. But this number is not enough to meet the peak hour demand, especially during rainy days. Today, we have an estimated 22,000 taxis and 44,000 private hire cars, and these 66,000 vehicles still cannot meet the peak hour demands. And that is why commuters are experiencing surge pricing, which can be a few times the taxi metered fare during peak hours. During off-peak, there are then too many vehicles for hire. In an era of no regulation for the ride hailing sector, the ride hailing company is buying market share by subsidising fare through generous promotion codes – burning money, burning investors' money. Commuters are happy. Drivers are also happy because they are getting generous incentives from the ride hailing company and these incentives can be more than the fares they collected. And what is the result? The result is that we have one company now dominating the vehicle booking market in Singapore and the fares start to rise as compared to days with high promotion codes. In recent days, we can also see that a player unilaterally imposing cancellation charges and location surcharge without the need of obtaining approval from the authority. So, this is the case of winner takes all. In the short run, commuters cheer the promotion codes. A certain party also urges the taxi drivers to drive for the ride hailing company to enjoy the incentives. In the long run, when one winner takes all, it will be bad for both the commuters and the drivers. And this is why the authorities see the need to intervene in the P2P transport sector.”
“I suppose rail network will be the cornerstone, the backbone and pillar of LTMP 2040. Thus, why can we not reach the vision of 45-Minute City by 2030? What will be the additional significant improvements to land transport that MOT is thinking about between 2030 and 2040? What is the current reality? How many Singaporeans can now travel to the city within 45 minutes? Is it 25%, 50% or 75%? How many households are now staying within a 10-minute walk of a train station? For people who are staying within a 10-minute walk from the train station near their home and their workplace is also within a 10-minute walk to a train station, what is the current, average and median and 90th percentile of travelling time to the city? Is it already less than 45 minutes? If not, what are the obstacles that are preventing them from doing so? With this reality check, there can be a better understanding of the current constraints that both MOT and Singaporeans can work together to reach the 2040 vision. If there are obstacles, we need to remove the obstacles together. If we need to change the mindset to better embrace public transport and shared transportation, let us work out the strategy together. Point-to-point (P2P) Sector Review I would first like to declare my interest as the chief executive officer of ComfortDelGro's taxi business. In the past few years, the P2P transport sector has been heavily disrupted by new players, new technology and new money. The recent PTC survey showed that consumers had no clear preference between private hire cars and taxis. This shows that both sectors are serving largely the same group of people. In the last few years, the authority has adopted a wait-and-see approach pertaining to the ride hailing sector.”
“Chairman, as we expand the rail network to 360 km by 2030, we will have to build up sufficient local expertise to build tunnels, railways, MRT stations as well as maintaining the train rolling stock and other components. Last year, I urged MOT to consider nurturing local expertise to build and maintain the MRT system. A good comparison is Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway. Hong Kong has acquired sufficient expertise in building, maintaining and operating their train system so much so that they are winning a lot of contracts overseas. How about us? 1.30 pm I understand LTA is trying hard. For instance, the contract to build the Sungei Bedok MRT station and its tunnels was awarded to local firm KTC Civil Engineering and Construction. But more can be done. In many countries, large Government projects typically have offset obligation of a certain percentage, some as high as 50%, to require the foreign contractor to partner and allocate works to local companies. Very often, such a scheme also involves knowledge transfers. I am not advocating imposing offset obligation immediately. However, could we not move in this direction? As part of the evaluation criteria for awarding large MRT contracts, I hope LTA can consider mandating the tenderers to showcase their plan to better engage local contractors and facilitate technology transfers. 20-Minute Towns and 45-Minute City The Panel for LTMP 2040 envisioned that Singaporeans would be able to reach neighbourhood towns within 20 minutes, and the city within 45 minutes, by 2040. And this appears very great, but 2040 appears quite far away. MOT has announced that by 2030, eight in 10 households will be within a 10-minute walk of MRT stations as our rail network increases to 360 km by then. Is this timeline still on track?”
“Between the High Speed Rail (HSR) and Rapid Transit System (RTS) between Singapore and Johor, RTS will be more important as it will bring immediate relief to 300,000 people who cross the Causeway and second link on a daily basis. RTS will be able to carry 10,000 passengers per hour and will add a capacity of 60,000 users crossing the Causeway during peak hours. RTS will be a people-mover and it can significantly reduce the congestion at the Causeway and Second link. Currently, thousands of commuters are stuck in the congestion daily. The waste of time is causing losses in productivity. With RTS, we will have less need for a third link. Thus, I would like to ask Acting Minister for Transport, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, how we can better engage Malaysia to shift the priority to RTS. What is the status of the RTS discussions now? Meanwhile, I would like to wish Minister Khaw Boon Wan a speedy recovery. With regard to Malaysia's dispute with Singapore over the port limits, it has been nearly five months since Malaysia decided to expand its port limits into Singapore's territories, which we disagree with. There seems to be no resolution yet. How would this affect the viability of our new Tuas port? What does it actually mean to us when waters within the port limits are not clearly defined? What impact would this have on Singapore’s maritime security in the short run and medium term? 1.00 pm With regard to Malaysia's dispute with Singapore over the usage of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), how would it affect the viability, safety or amount of air traffic which our new Seletar Airport can handle? What options do we have? Enhancing our Flight Information Regions (FIR) Management”
“One more question: is there a dedicated unit at the Division to investigate cybercrime, or it is just part of their general duties? If there is no dedicated unit in the Division, will the Police consider setting one up in the near future?”
“I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the comprehensive reply. It is quite clear that the cybercrime trend has been going up. The Police not only need physical strength to catch the culprit, they also need cyber strength and cyber technology to help them better detect and solve the cybercrimes. I have two supplementary questions. First, are there dedicated resources at the front line in the Police Division, in the investigation team? Are there people dedicated to solve and take care of cybercrime and phone scams? Secondly, can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary elaborate how many counter staff in the banks and other remittance outlets have the Police trained and gotten in touch with? We know that the turnover for counter staff is high. So, what are the efforts to continue to educate them, especially new staff?”
“We are fortunate that a few kind souls have donated $250,000 over five years to fund JCSAS so that the scheme can be sustainable. We are also blessed to have a team of dedicated volunteers who care for the students. However, we cannot do all these in isolation. We need to collaborate with the schools. For the schools in Jurong Central, they are supportive and provide us with information on how the students are performing in school. This is because our grassroots leaders are sitting in the respective School Advisory Committees. For schools that are not in Jurong Central, it is a challenge for us to obtain such information. They often cite the Personal Data Protection Act as a reason. I would like to suggest that MOE make an effort to recognise the labours by the community to help students from challenging families as part of the larger ecosystem of support for these children. This will enable the schools to open up to us, sharing information about the students and have a more targeted and holistic approach to assist the students. At the same time, we can reduce duplicated efforts and make the best use of our limited resources.”
“Saranya is a student at Yuhua Secondary School, staying in a 3-room flat in Jurong West. She is the youngest in the family. Her mother is ill and cannot work. Her father is the sole breadwinner in the family and is earning less than $1,000 a month. So, the family is receiving financial assistance from various Government agencies and she used to have low self-esteem. I met Saranya during one of the events in the Jurong Community Club when she narrated her situation to me. We invited her to join the Jurong Central Student Assistance Scheme where we provided her with $50 vouchers every month as pocket money. On top of that, we arranged for her to attend free tuition as her school results were not very good. Our volunteers run a monthly mentorship programme with the youths based on learning theme focus, such as building character, leadership, ownership, serving with heart and to excel. The volunteers also brought her along with other students in the same scheme for outings, such as Kidzania, River Hongbao and so on. Her self-esteem grew and she passed her Mathematics test for the first time after joining the scheme. Eventually, she did well enough in her GCE "N" level examinations and is now studying for her GCE "O" level examinations. It used to take a village to raise a child in the past, but now it takes a division to raise a child. Saranya is one of the 50 students that have benefited from the Jurong Central Student Assistance Scheme (JCSAS). JCSAS is one of the two programmes that we help children from challenging families in Jurong. Over the years, we realised that it is not enough to provide financial assistance to children from low-income families. We need to dive deep and provide one-to-one mentorship, to monitor, guide and encourage the children to try harder.”
“Chairman, I understand that the ITE Work-Learn Technical Diploma has been popular. I would like to declare my interest as I am part of the senior management team in ComfortDelGro. The ITE Work-Learn Technical Diploma is successful mainly because of its partnership with the industry players providing structured on-the-job training. Thus, I would like to enquire whether MOE has any plan to expand the programme. Secondly, I would like to ask MOE to provide an update on the status of IHLs providing more short courses covering emerging technologies, such as Digital Marketing, Big Data Analytics and so on. Thirdly, I would like to ask if SSG and WSG are prepared to partner private companies to train their workers at their workplace. Many established companies have training wings to train their own workers. How could SSG and WSG partner these companies to not only train workers for their respective companies but also to train workers for the entire industry? In this way, the two Statutory Boards can tap on the training resources of the private sector to reach out to more workers. At the same time, it also allows the private companies to upgrade their training capabilities to better align with the common goal of lifelong learning. Develop Robust Ecosystem for Continuing Education and Training (CET)”
“Chairman, when junior colleges (JCs) are merged, one campus is picked over another as the site for the new merged college. The rationale for some of these selections has been quite puzzling. When Yishun and Innova JCs were merged in 2019, the chosen site was Yishun JC, which is older with aged facilities. So, why not Innova? When Jurong and Pioneer JCs were merged in 2019, the chosen site was Pioneer JC. However, the site of the old Jurong JC will be near to a new Mass Rapid Transit station when the Jurong Regional Line opens in 2026 which, in that case, would improve the connectivity for the students who are studying at the site of old Jurong JC. Would not the old Jurong JC site be a better site? I hope the Minister can explain the rationale. Also, many of the current JC buildings are old and dated. Does MOE have plans to upgrade the JCs which are more than 20 or 30 years old? Improving Junior Colleges' Environment and Facilities”
“Students doing SBB had done well and, clearly, SBB has shown that, sometimes, we pigeonhole and stream our young too early. They have potential which can be unleashed through avenues like SBB. Thus, I would like to suggest that MOE seriously consider expanding SBB further to blur the distinction between the Normal and Express Stream students. Streaming and Subject-based Banding”
“Thirty years ago, when I was an undergraduate, I worked as a relief teacher at Bukit Batok Secondary School. Ms Belinda Charles was the principal then. I taught students from both the Normal and Express Streams and the students from both Express and Normal Streams were using the same textbook. However, certain segments of the textbook were not meant for the Normal stream students. As a young and idealistic teacher at that time, I tried to interest the students in Science, no matter which streams they were from. Even when certain sections were not supposed to be taught to the Normal Stream students, I continued to teach them because I wanted to interest them. However, the Normal Stream students were quick to dismiss most of what was in their textbooks. They said, "We are taking the reduced syllabus, so no need to learn." There was a sense of resigned acceptance and defeat. That left a deep impression on me. After the lesson, one Normal Stream student came to see me for advice. She told me she had a deep interest in Chinese and she would like to study Chinese at the level that was the same as the Express Stream student. I snapped at her and told her to work hard to get herself into the Express Stream. Otherwise, she would not have the chance to learn Chinese at the higher level. She left very disappointed. That left another deep impression on me. Streaming has been a part of our education system since 1980. It was introduced with good intentions, to allow every student to learn at a pace suited to their abilities. However, the biggest drawback is labelling. Students in the Normal Stream often feel defeated and that limits their potential. To address that, SBB was introduced, and it was very good.”
“In the larger scheme of things, such exchanges not only help to develop more relevant regulations, better enforcement policies and better incentive schemes for the private sector, the private and public sectors can also exploit the mutual learning between the two sectors for the better good of Singapore. I hope that my suggestions can spark some discussion, more ideas and more channels where industry feedback can be solicited, evaluated and acted upon as well as deepen the understanding between the public and private sectors. For that matter, I am pleased that Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat had indicated yesterday that he would be leading efforts to simplify the regulations in the food industry. This is good news. I hope Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat can review the same in other sectors as well. For Singapore to thrive in this uncertain world with constant technological and geopolitical disruptions, the Government has to keep listening. Mr Speaker, Sir, I support the Budget.”
“Private companies can also send their staff for work stints in the Public Service. The private sector workers can better appreciate the need for regulations, understand the complexity of taking into account the interests of various parties and help the Government to better design incentives to shape the behaviour of the private companies in the industry transformation journey. These work exchanges could last for one to two years, and the staff who are selected should be promising staff at the middle management level. On a more personal note, as the President of the Volleyball Association of Singapore, I have seen the benefits of such exchanges first-hand. Last year, a staff from Sport Singapore, which oversees the National Sports Associations (NSAs), was posted to work as a General Manager in the Volleyball Association, not to clean up the mess, just to be sure, but to develop the sport in the volleyball fraternity. This proves to be a hit. She has helped Sport Singapore to better understand the challenges face by the NSAs. At the same time, she can tap on her experience in managing the NSAs and her networks in Sport Singapore to help in nurturing the volleyball players, volleyball coaches, securing training and competition venues for volleyball and more. Her posting has been mutually beneficial, very good and rewarding. The staff exchange efforts between the public and private sectors have so far been ad hoc. Perhaps, the Head of the Civil Service can consider a more structured, scalable and sustainable programme for such work exchanges between the public and private sectors.”
“As someone who has work experience in both the public and private sectors, I have spoken on the need for this work exchange programme in the past. Since then, I have observed, and I know for a fact, that there are small but sporadic efforts to do so. Some Government agencies have started to send and pay for their staff to work at the private sector organisations that they regulate. There are many benefits for such work exchange programmes. By "walking in the other person's shoes", the public servant who returns to his organisation are likely to have a deeper understanding on how the private company works; what kind of regulations are necessary and effective; what kind of regulations are difficult to comply and do not serve the policy intent. The public servants with immersion experience in the private sector can also better help to design incentive schemes to encourage companies to upgrade, adopt new technology, embrace digital transformation and rely less on foreign labour. In addition, they can also better anticipate and detect the loopholes private companies can exploit and abuse Government incentive schemes. Had this been done earlier, schemes like the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme launched in 2010 to encourage businesses to invest in productivity and innovation, might not have been abused to such a large extent. In 2018, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said it prosecuted 13 cases involving 37 claims amounting to $804,756 of PIC cash payouts and this could be just the tip of the iceberg. The penalties and fines totalled $2.8 million. These are the cases where regulation is absolutely necessary but has to be developed and enforced with a deep understanding of how it would be interpreted on the ground.”
“We should listen to the people who have to comply with the regulations and their reasons for why they find some legal requirements very onerous. However, my concern with direct feedback is that many private companies are afraid to speak up against their regulators for fear of repercussions. Many companies have told me that they experience additional hindrance when they voice out too strongly against their regulators. In fact, over lunch just now, a company said, they do not just voice out against regulations at all. They just comply. Some companies told me they refrain from giving genuine feedback as they do not want to bite the hand that feeds them, especially when they have to bid for contracts from their regulators. In fact, all the companies that have provided me with feedback to the cases cited above have asked me not to name their organisations. How then could the Government obtain genuine, objective and timely feedback from the parties most affected by the regulations? Some say they should feedback to Members of Parliament and let Members be their mouthpiece, which is precisely what I am doing today. This is useful but definitely not enough. We need more systematic ways to obtain regular, timely and objective feedback from the industry players. To overcome the fear of repercussion, perhaps the Government can establish a neutral channel, similar to the whistleblower policy, to encourage feedback. Will such channel attract only frivolous complaints? I do not think so. Another way for us to develop and finetune our regulations is to have a deeper understanding between the Public Service which enforces those regulations, and the private sector, through work exchange programmes.”
“Thus, the prospect of the fireworks show being cancelled was imminent and preposterous. The 100,000 ticket holders would be very disappointed. More importantly, the approval for the River Hongbao fireworks had been sought months before, with no positive reply from PUB. Fireworks shows have routinely been put up in Marina Bay, with approvals granted, with no issues before. Fortunately, I had someone in the House that I could appeal to and we received approval from PUB within a day of the appeal. I do not know what actually happened, but I am grateful that the fireworks display could take place during the eighth day of River Hongbao. As a result, we had record attendance at the River Hongbao this year. I would like to say a big "thank you" to PUB and the higher authority that I would not name, who helped me. But Mr Speaker, Sir, I could keep quiet and move on. My concern is, what if I had no recourse? What if the fireworks were cancelled? What if I was not able to appeal to the authorities? It appears that we need the intervention by a higher authority in the case of the River Hongbao fireworks and the installation of DCs for “exceptions” to be made and before things can move ahead. The above industrial examples and recent episode with PUB have highlighted the frustration of many ordinary people with various Government regulatory bodies. We need to strike a balance between laws that are so general and simplistic that they become ambiguous, and regulations which go into such nitty-gritty that it becomes a nightmare to observe and abide by. We need to review regulations and strike them off when it becomes more of a hindrance than a help. The best way to get a sense of what may be obsolete is to rely on feedback.”
“As Chairman of River Hongbao, I was a volunteer, not paid, and I had nothing to gain financially. Nonetheless, I also encountered some issues with the regulators. First of all, I would like to thank the 1.35 million people who visited River Hongbao between 3 and 10 February 2019 for their support. Many visitors, comprising mainly local residents of all races, told me they enjoyed the larger-than-life lanterns, food street, stage performances and, particularly, the spectacular international fireworks display. I would like to thank the organising committee, the partners and the volunteers for their hard work to make River Hongbao one of the most successful in the recent years. Very importantly, I have to thank the sponsors for their generous support for the fireworks. However, I would like to share that the beloved fireworks display almost could not happen. This year, we appointed an experienced fireworks vendor to arrange for the fireworks display at River Hongbao. This fireworks vendor has been the company behind the fireworks display for the National Day parades for the past decade. It has years of experience in applying for all of the necessary fireworks permits, including getting approval from the Public Utilities Board (PUB), which is the custodian of the Marina Bay reservoir. For some reasons, this year, a PUB executive refused to issue the permit for the fireworks as late as a fortnight before the opening ceremony of the River Hongbao at which the Prime Minster was the Guest-of-Honour. They asked the vendor many questions. I was, of course, very worried. By that time, the interest in the River Hongbao fireworks was so strong that we had already issued 100,000 fireworks tickets.”
“Another example is getting approval to install a Direct Charger (DC) to charge full electric vehicles in double quick time. ABB, a large company, had been trying for six months to seek approval from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) without success to install a 50 kilowatt-hours DC to fully charge an electric car in 30 minutes. In this case, the CEO of EMA personally intervened and the DCs are now installed island-wide by the Singapore Power (SP) Group. But not many regulatory authorities are as progressive as EMA. Maybe that is one of the reasons why a few former EMA CEOs have now become Ministers. To be objective, many industry players do not like to be regulated. Very often, private companies feel that competition will drive quality and there is no need for the regulators to impose many rules. They feel that Singapore should be as laissez-faire as Hong Kong. However, competition is often not perfect and some form of regulation is important, necessary and, at times, essential. On the other hand, over-regulation can stifle creativity, slow down processes and add compliance costs without obvious benefits. A total removal of regulations could lead to many other problems like unfair competition or hurting the interests of consumers, like the Hokkien saying, 树倒猴子耍, it means that when the tree serving as a pillar falls, all hell breaks loose. No private company likes to be regulated, no matter how altruistic one is. Thus, it is often considered as biased, not objective and self-serving when the parties being regulated complain that the regulator is enforcing unnecessary rules. This includes myself when my industry is being regulated by LTA. However, my views changed when I was preparing for River Hongbao 2019 which has just ended.”
“Non-structural building works include building of walls and partitions so that contractors can install pipes and wires early. Prior to 2014, contractors could start non-structural work with a good preliminary building plan and a Qualified Person's (QP's) undertaking to comply with the building codes. The new requirement to obtain approval of the full building plan which has to incorporate approvals from various authorities like the National Environment Agency (NEA), the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the National Parks Board (NParks), typically would delay the project for months. Appeals by architects to BCA have fallen on deaf ears, for reasons best known to BCA. Next, I would like to turn to a Statutory Board that is closer to my heart, LTA. Every new car model has to go through a homologation process – a mouthful – by LTA to verify whether the car model is safe to be driven on Singapore roads. The homologation process is relatively manual, tedious and lengthy. For example, LTA requires motor traders to input 52 safety items into LTA's system while our closest competitor, Hong Kong needs only 26 items. There are also many rounds of clarifications by LTA which has slowed down the approval process. As a result, even current models with minor improvements or facelift also takes about eight weeks to homologate instead of two to three weeks previously. Industry players have given feedback to LTA on many occasions to simplify the homologation process, which can be stretched for months. However, LTA is quite happy to keep the process lengthy. Perhaps this is the way LTA is trying to make Singapore car-lite? More importantly, these are the difficulties arising from bureaucratic red tape which many people have been complaining about.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, Winston Churchill famously said, "If you make 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for the law". In Singapore, I have received a lot of feedback that people are getting increasingly frustrated by a host of seemingly unnecessary and irrelevant regulations that are putting the brakes on their work or their lives. In an increasingly complex society where change is happening more and more quickly, the tendency is to come up with more regulations to protect the interests of many diverse groups. Of course, some regulations are necessary and are good for the society. When more people started using Personal Mobility Devices (PMDS), for instance, we had to come up with rules to protect the safety of others. Or Workfare regulations, which have been protecting older lower-income Singaporean workers. But in other areas, the amount and nature of regulations might be adding more red tape and making our lives miserable for businesses. Before I elaborate, I would like to declare my interest as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ComfortDelGro Taxi business. My architect friends have been complaining to me about their less than pleasant experience with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Fire Safety and Shelter Department (FSSD). I face the same issues when I need to construct a new building, either as part of my community work or in the course of my work in my company. They have shared many stories with us. But I will cite one that is the most painful to the architects. On 13 March 2014, BCA issued a circular to inform building industry players that they would have to obtain approval of building plans before commencing non-structural building works.”
“An Economist Intelligence Unit survey commissioned by insurance company Prudential Singapore which was conducted recently in March 2018 found that most of those surveyed were still keen to work after the age of 62. I suggest that for those retirees who are keen to continue contributing, we can put in place a more formalised structure and clearer processes to facilitate the matching of their talents to organisations in need of it. We could leverage existing platforms, like BoardMatch by the Centre for Non-Profit Leadership. It matches senior executives with at least five years of management experience and leadership experiences from both the public and private sectors to the boards of non-profit organisations. Alternatively, an appropriate Government agency can take a lead in registering retired senior executives from the public and private sectors to better tap on their talents even during their golden years. Allow me to summarise and conclude in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] We cannot change the fact of population ageing in Singapore. Hence, all of us must work together to allow our seniors to age peacefully. Firstly, I would like to propose that we treat our elderly workers fairly, especially those aged between 55 and 60, so that they can enjoy the same employer's CPF contribution rate as those below 55, which is 17%. Secondly, PA or the Silver Generation Office must design more appropriate activities which are attractive to elderly men. Current activities for elderly persons are having a tough time in drawing men. Thirdly, we must make better use of retired senior management executives in the public or private sector, so that they can contribute more to the elderly.”
“And we are finding more of Mr Sharim and we are expanding the scope. So, for that matter, I would like to urge the PA to take a hard look and design activities that elderly men in the community would like to join. Rather than activities which revolve around social gathering and chit-chat, it may be more useful to come up with "work-based" activities, as men identify with their work or careers much more than women. It is also good to look at what other countries are doing to engage the elderly men. For instance, we could consider the example of Australia, the UK and the US where they have a "Men's Shed" movement. Their slogan is "Shoulder to Shoulder", shortened from "Men don't talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder", which says a lot about how we should engage elderly men. Men’s Shed comprises designated spaces where elderly men can gather to work on community projects, through carpentry, woodworking and metalworking. The things they make could even be sold, especially simple furniture pieces. This is a step up from hanging around in the coffee shops, I mean elderly men drinking coffee and beer in the coffee shops. As elderly men spend their time and talents on useful pursuits, they will have a greater sense of achievement and can better contribute to the community. They will also make new friends and feel less lonely. With an ageing and increasingly well-educated population, there is a growing population of very competent and knowledgeable elderly whom we can tap on. Examples are retired heads of Government agencies, retired principals and retired top executives from private organisations. With their wealth of experience, they will still have much to give in terms of leadership and mentorship.”
“They will have more money to pay for the housing mortgage, more money to pay for their children’s tertiary education, more money to pay for their MediShield Life, CareShield Life and more. Nonetheless, we still need to balance the interest of employers. For that, I would like to urge the Minister for Finance to extend the Special Employment Credit (SEC) for older workers for another three years to cushion the impact of the higher CPF contribution by employers for older workers if that materialises. Next, I would like to touch on how to better engage the seniors as they age. PA has been doing a good job in organising social activities for the elderly, like brisk walking, craft activities, mass dancing and outings like festive shopping, for example. However, I have observed that most of the time, 80% of those taking part in these social activities are women. Where are the elderly men? What are the elderly men doing? I am not entirely sure. However, I see many elderly man drinking coffee at coffee shops. I see many elderly man playing chess games while drinking beer. Although women live longer, but the average life expectancy of man has also increased from 65 in 1965 to about 80 today. Thus, it is important that elderly men, especially after they have retired from their jobs, are socially engaged in healthy pursuits with their friends and kakis. As a Town Council Chairman, I have started to engage elderly men who are willing to help to inspect the estate for cleanliness, assist in light maintenance work, repairs or simple jobs like changing of light bulbs. One example is Mr Sharim. He is 74 years old. He is working with Jurong/Clementi Town Council. He moves around fixing broken locks, patching corroded cement surfaces and so on.”
“I applaud PAP.SG's recommendation to keep the CPF contribution rate for senior workers aged 55 to 60 the same as those below 55. I have advocated the same in a speech I made during the debate on the Annual Budget Statement in April 2016. I support the recommendation that the employer's CPF contribution rate for workers who are between 55 and 60 should remain at 17%. I have to declare my interest in this relatively sensitive topic of CPF for older workers. As a senior management staff of a large corporation, I would be very concerned with the ballooning wage costs if we were to increase the employer's CPF contribution rate for older workers. However, we have to be objective to look at what is best for Singapore. Will employers start to replace older workers above 55 by large numbers due to the increase in CPF contributions? Probably not. With the current tight labour market situation and an ageing population, it will be hard for companies to find younger workers to replace those above 55 in large numbers. Will employers start to consciously avoid employing older workers with the increase in CPF contribution rate? Some may, but probably not the majority. Most of the time, job skill, job fit and the potential contribution of employees are much more important contributing factors in the hiring decision. CPF contribution is not the decisive factor most of the time. In fact, with medical and technical advancements, changes in our lifestyle and greater reliance on knowledge workers rather than blue collar workers, the 50s today are our new 40s. From the perspective of older employees, the increase in employer's CPF contribution will mean a great deal.”
“My residents have also told me that they often do not receive letters even from my constituency office. So, I am also worried. With the increased popularity of emails, we often think that snail mail will lose its popularity. But when we look at the annual financial report of SingPost, in the last financial year, 90% of SingPost's profit comes from postal service. In other words, postal service is the cash cow for SingPost. So, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State, is it the case where SingPost is under-investing in postal services while they try to take some money to diversify their business?”
“For those who give up the BTO flats, do we have a profile of whether they are trying to sell the flat, they cannot sell, or for other reasons, so that we can identify this profile and, at the point of application, counsel them accordingly?”
“I thank the Minister for the answers. I have three supplementary questions. Firstly, do we see a significant increase in the number of Singaporeans giving up BTO flats in 2018 compared to the past few years? And based on percentage, are there more second-timers that gave up BTO flats than the first-timers? Thirdly, are there plans to pick up the profile of Singaporeans who give up their BTO flats so that we can have a simple profile at the point of application and counsel them accordingly so as to minimise the chances of them giving up their BTO flats?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think Singaporeans treasure the close relationship with Malaysia. Many Singapore companies employ Malaysians, and they are essential for us doing business. Singaporeans also love to go to Malaysia for sightseeing and to shop and dine. Last month, Minister Shanmugam said that Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers had worked their guts out to clear the crowds at the Causeway so that Singaporeans can pass through the checkpoint better. So, in the midst of these sea and air disputes, what is the message that we want to send to Singaporeans to help to manage this relationship better?”
“Deputy Speaker, on the issue of refugees, I am glad that the Minister said that ASEAN countries should step up. Could I ask what kinds of specific help, financial or otherwise, other ASEAN countries, other than Myanmar, have pledged to assist to resolve the crisis? And have any countries agreed to take in some of the Rohingya refugees selectively?”
“Speaker, can I just clarify that there is no standard operating procedure to do random checks on pilots before they board airplanes? That is the first question. The second question is: what are the measures that prevent or make sure that the pilot does not consume alcohol while they are on the plane?”
“What is the timeframe for the rest of the countries to ratify CPTPP and whether the United States (US) has indicated an interest to join CPTPP?”
“Thank you, Speaker. I have just two short questions.”
“However, to encourage those who have not participated in ElderShield to join CareShield is even more important. In particular, we should encourage those low-income Singaporeans to join the scheme. Perhaps the Government can consider using the recently established ElderFund to help pay for their premiums for the first five years. The subsidies can be lowered gradually each year. I will talk about the next two "small" questions in English. (In English): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, CareShield is a very good initiative, a very good insurance scheme and a very important social safety net. With this universal insurance scheme, I am concerned that it may overlap with other insurance policies that Singaporeans have been buying. Some of these insurance policies come with disability income payouts. My understanding is that in the event of disability, people can only claim from one insurer unless the Government intervenes. We do not want a case whereby Singaporeans are over insured and paying insurance premiums more than necessary. Thus, I hope that MOH can coordinate with the insurance companies to prevent such an occurrence. Last but not least, many Singaporeans would like to rehabilitate at home with tender loving care by their loved ones. However, the caregivers at home face mounting challenges. Even with CareShield, I hope the Government will continue to invest in resources to bring the nurses, therapists and doctors to the homes to help Singaporeans recover after a mishap.”
“If a Singaporean in his 30s and 40s is, indeed, severely disabled, then he will get a payout every month for several decades. It is very costly. Insurance is risk pooling. In fact, it is quite common for a 30-year-old to buy insurance. Many Singaporeans start to buy life insurance once they start to work. The logic behind it is to prepare for rainy days when you are doing well. However, many Singaporeans are still not convinced that they must immediately join CareShield Life when they reach 30. So, I hope MOH can explain it in a way that they can easily understand, using illustrations if need be. Secondly, the Minister informed us that CareShield Life’s financing model is prefunded. Therefore, in the next 10 years, the payout rate will be as low, or even lower, than that of ElderShield. The Minister also said that CPF Board will help invest the large sum of CareShield Life premiums, and the returns will also benefit insured Singaporeans. Currently, the lowest interest rate of MediSave is 4%. I hope that CPF can peg the returns on CareShield Life to the lowest MediSave interest rate so that even if CareShield Life payouts increase by 2% annually, the premiums need not be increased. Third, since CareShield Life is described as a silver bullet by MOH, then we should intensify public education efforts so that all Singaporeans can benefit from it. However, CareShield Life cannot prevent us from falling sick. What is more important is that we exercise regularly, eat more healthy food. The Minister has also said that MOH will work closely with grassroots organisations so that they can explain how ElderShield policyholders can convert to CareShield Life. This is an important first step.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Motion. Let me begin in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] MOH's CareShield Life is a very thoughtful initiative. In the past, Singaporeans were afraid of getting sick and not being able to afford the medical cost. We, therefore, introduced MediShield Life. Today, if Singaporeans become bedridden, they will have CareShield Life as a protection so that they would not have any regret. A good policy needs to be communicated clearly to garner support from the people. Therefore, I have three "big" questions and two small ones to ask the Minister. These questions should be explained patiently but acted upon quickly. First, I hope the Government can explain clearly why Singaporeans need to start to pay CareShield Life premiums at age 30. At this age, people are still quite robust; their career would have just started, and they are beginning to have a family. This is a time when their living expenses are shooting up. Few people would envisage that they could be severely disabled at some point. So, I would like to ask the Minister, at this point in time, how many Singaporeans below the age of 40 are severely disabled? Furthermore, under the current ElderShield, people only start to pay premiums when they reach 40 years old, and the payout rate is only 4%. In other words, out of $100 premiums that Singaporeans pay, the Government only need to pay out $4 to those severely disabled. In addition, there are 36% of Singaporeans who opted out of ElderShield. In comparison, CareShield Life is universal coverage. Logically, the payout rate of CareShield Life should be much lower. Therefore, why do we ask people to start paying premiums from 30 years old? Now, consider this.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for the very comprehensive reply. I have a few supplementary questions. First is just to clarify one more time, under the agreement, there is no penalty for terminating the contract except for compensation. My second question is: what is the budgetary figure for the HSR for the Singapore portion? The last question is: if things do not go well, what is the recourse for Singapore? Is it an international court or is it a court of Singapore or Malaysia to resolve the issue of termination, if there is?”